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Lecture 10 - Semantics II

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Lecture 10 - Semantics II

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tschekwann
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Semantics II

Propositional meaning
Warm-up
Logical Semantics: Study of sentence meaning by means of logical languages.

Basic Concepts
a) Proposition (p): the basic semantic content of a sentence, describing a
state of affairs
e.g. p: [that] Macau is a Portuguese colony
p: [that] The sky is blue

b) Truth value: a sentence's being true or false.


c) Truth conditions: the facts that have to obtain in reality to make a sentence
true or false.
Sense & reference
• What does “Superman” mean?

• Superman: the alien from Krypton with superhuman powers who can
fly and deflect bullets and goes by the alias Clark Kent...
• So, who is Superman?

• Quite simply, Superman is the person who meets this description.

• But, is there any problem?


Problem 1: exhaustivity and circularity
• The description misses a lot of labels typically associated with
superman
His original name was Kal-EL;
His eyes can emit bursts of heat;
He’s got a girlfriend Lois Lane….
• This list can never end, since there is no description which can exhaust
all the features of Superman.
• In addition, if we describe his power as “superhuman” power, this
becomes circular.
• If the meaning of “Superman” includes “superhuman”, then what is
the meaning of “superhuman”?
Problem 2: indefiniteness
• Suppose Superman gets hit by some unexpected Kryptonite and loses
the ability to fly.

• He no longer fits our description of Superman.


• Is he still Superman?
What is the problem then?
• Why we fail to define superman with a series of descriptions?

• This approach never gets us out of the realm of language, so it cannot


explain how languages connects to entities and states in the real world.

• We need to know what we are really talking about.


The Semantic Triangle
• We need the meaning of Superman to be his referent in the “real” world.
• Referent: the object or entity to which a word refers.
• In other words, the physical guy, Superman, is the meaning of Superman.
• Note: by “real world” here, we mean the DC Universe where Superman exists.

• The meaning of Superman here is connected to its referent, the physical


Superman in the real world.
“Superman is flying overhead.”
• The sentence is truth iff (if and only if) superman is flying overhead.
(a) Superman is flying overhead.
(b) Clark Kent is flying overhead.
• If (a) is true, (b) must also be true, because both Superman and Clark
Kent have the same referent: they refer to the same entity in the real
world.

• But can we really say that Superman and Clark Kent “mean” the same
thing?
(a) Lois believes that Superman can fly.
(b) Lois believes that Clark Kent can fly.

• (b) is not necessarily true even if (a) is true, because in most episodes
(in the early years of this series), Lois Lane does not know that Clark
Kent is Superman.
Frege’s puzzle
• German philosopher Gottlob Frege
• If a and b refer to the same object, then a = b has the same meaning as a = a.
• But a = b is an informative statement, while a = a is a tautology!
The solution
• Frege proposed that there are TWO aspects to meaning:
1. Reference: the relation between the linguistic expression and the
object in extralinguistic reality to which the expression refers.
2: Sense (the relation between the linguistic elements)

• Therefore, a = b is informative because a and b do not have the same


sense, although they have the same referent.
• The meaning of an expression is the Idea or Concept associated with it
in the mind of anyone who knows it. The relation between a word and
a thing it refers to is not direct.

• Note: there is no clear content for sense even with the same referent,
since it varies individually.
Sense and reference can explain a lot
• The current president of China.
• Xi Jin-ping.
• They have the same referent but differ in sense.

• The current king of China


• Non-referring expression: expressions for which we can find no
referent in the real world.
• But it still has sense!
Constant vs. variable reference
• Certain expressions will always refer to the same thing (constant
reference), while others will vary depending on who is speaking and
other factors (variable reference).

(a) my friend (variable)


(b) the current prime minister of China (variable)
(c) the first prime minister of China (constant)
Sentential meaning relationships
• Entailment （蕴含）
• If sentence (a) and (b) have a relationship such that if (a) is true, (b)
must be true, we say that (a) entails (b).
• This relationship is called entailment.
(a) She has a shiba.
(b) She has a dog.
(a) She has a shiba.
(b) She has a dog.

• If (b) is false…
(a) is false.

• If (a) is false…
(b) could be true or false.

• If (b) is true…
(a) could be true or false.
Exercise
• Does (a) entail (b)?

1.
(a) Everyone got an A on the midterm.
(b) No one got a B on the midterm.
• Yes
2.
(a) He is single.
(b) He is not married.
• Yes

3.
(a) I am applying for a job.
(b) I am applying for a position at Citibank.
• No
Presupposition （预设）
• Presuppositions are the backgrounded, implicit assumptions of a
sentence.
• They are not the focus of the main proposition in the sentence.

(a) Nala’s office is near Rebecca’s office.


(b) Nala and Rebecca both have an office.
• (b) is presupposed by (a).
• The key feature of presupposition is Consistency under negation: They
remain presuppositions even after the sentence is negated.
(a) Nala’s office is not near Rebecca’s office.
(b) Nala and Rebecca both have an office.

• This does not apply to entailment:


(a) John is eating an apple.
(b) John is not eating an apple.
(c) John is eating a fruit.
• Only (a) entails (c).
Presupposition vs. Entailment
(a) Xi Jin-ping is the current president of China.
(b) China has a president.
(c) Xi Jin-ping has a job.
(a) entails…
(c)
(a) presupposes
(b)
• How to test it?
• Consistency under negation only applies to presuppositions

(a’) Xi Jin-ping is NOT the current president of China.


(b) China has a president.
(c) Xi Jin-ping has a job.

(b) is still true.


(c) is not necessarily true.
Presupposition triggers
• There are many constructions (words or syntactic patterns) that trigger
certain presuppositions.

1. factive verbs:
(a) I realized she was a doctor.
(a’) I didn’t realize she was a doctor.
(b) I regret eating that carrot cake.
(b’) I don’t regret eating that carrot cake.
2. Clefts:
(a) It was my phone that burst into flames.
(a’) It wasn’t my phone that burst into flames.
Presupposition: something burst into flames.

3. Temporal clauses:
(a) She called me before she went to dinner.
(a’) She didn’t call me before she went to dinner.
Presupposition: she went to dinner.
4. Change of state:
(a) It has stopped raining.
(a’) It hasn’t stopped raining.
Presupposition: it was raining at some point before.

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