Table of contentsBASIC IDEAS IN SEMANTICS 2FROM REFERENCE4TO SENSE. . . 8LOGIC13WORD MEANING 14INTERPERSONAL AND NON-LITERAL MEANING 16P1 | P a g eBASIC IDEAS IN SEMANTICSSemantics is the study of meaning in language. This study is focused on how investigate andunderstand the meaning of language which can be vague, insubstantial, elusive andambiguous. Themeaningoflanguagecanbeseenfromtwodifferent pointsofview,asfollow:a. Speaker meaning is what a speaker means (i.e. intends to convey) when speaker uses a pieceof language.b. Sentence meaning (or word meaning) is what a sentence (or word) means, i.e. what it countsas the equivalent of in the language concerned. !ample of both meaning :"ungry person at the dinner table :#I could eat a horse . ($n speaker meaning, this sentence refers to an e!pression of someone who totally hungry(starving). %ut in sentence meaning, this sentence refers to someone who able to eat a horsebecause she&he wants to.)The theory of semantics is a part of a large enterprise, linguistic theory, which includes thestudy of synta! (grammar) and phonetics (pronunciation) besides the study of meaning. $tmeans that a sentence has different meaning when the structure of synta! can be changed(writing), in the other hand a sentence also has different meaning when someone says it withdifferent pronunciation (stress, intonation, pause, and etc.).Synta! :The girl hits, the man with umbrella '()(This sentence means * the man who has the umbrellaThe girl hits the man, with umbrellaThis sentence means * the girl uses umbrella to hit the manThis is also happened when someone says it in different intonation (or pause) this sentencewill produce difference meaning (utterances).2 | P a g eSentence+n utterance is any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which there is silence onthe part of that person (physical events). + sentence is neither a physical event but it can bethought of as the ideal string of words behind various reali,ations in utterances andinscriptions. $ntheutterance, wecanmakethemeaningofadeclarativesentencewhichdescribes some state of affairs (the sentences can be true or false), this is called asProposition.!ample: $soble loves tony Tony loves isoble(roposition (the ideas in your mind)Sentence(ritten) Sentencesentence -tterance -tterance(Spo!en) -tterance-tterance -tterance -tterance"e#erenceisaphrasewhichreferstoperson&thing&animal. .eferencealsodescribeasarelationship between parts of language and things outside the language (in the world).!ample: The present (resident of the -nited states in /001 is 2eorge 3. %ush.(2eorge 3. %ush is reference of the present (resident of -nited states in /001)4our left ear.(when you touch your left ear. $t means ear is a part of the world. %ecause languagedoes not have ear)Sense of an e!pression is its place in a system of semantic relationship with other e!pressionin the language (sentences which have same meaning)3 | P a g e5ne could be true and the other false!ample: .upert took off his 6acket. .upert took his 6acket off.$"%M "E$E"ENCE . . .$n reference, there is also a referring e!pression and anopaque conte!t.Are#errin&e'pressionis any e!pression used in an utterance to refer to something or someone (or aclearly delimited collection of things or people), i.e. used with a particular referent in mind.!ample: 7red hit me.(when you say 87red#, you have a particular person in your mind (you know who7red is) There9s no 7red at this address. (this is not a referring e!pression, because the speaker does not have particular personin his&her mind)An opa(ue conte't is a part of a sentence which could be made into a complete sentence bythe addition of referring e!pression, but where the addition of different referring e!pressions,even though they refer to the same thing or person, in a given situation, will yield sentenceswith different meanings when uttered in a given situation.!ample: :aura %ush thinks that . . . is a genius.(wecanaddareferringinformationtomakethesentencecomplete. %ut whenweusedifferent utterance in particular situation it will make the sentences have different meaning)4 | P a g eSame sense :aura %ush thinks that the (resident is a genius. :aura %ush thinks that the :eader of the .epublican (arty is a genius.(The president and the :eader of the .epublican (arty have different meaning, because in thesituation of /0;immy was waiting for the downtown bus. (ait #oris apredicator whichdescribes the process involving6immyandthedowntown bus.)A predicate is any word (or sequence of words) which (in a given single sense) can functionas the predicator of a sentence.!ample: + tall, handsome stranger entered the saloon.(This sentence has 6ust one predicator 8enter#, but the sentence also contains the words tall,handsome, stranger, and saloon. +ll of which are predicates, and can function as predicators5 | P a g einothersentences. !ample:Johnistall, Heishandsome, Heisastranger, andThatramshackle building is a saloon.)Simple e!ample to determine between predicator and predicate:"uman7emale =other is a predicate (one sense that is not ambiguous)+dult$nthecourseofasequenceofutterances, speakersusereferringe!pressionstorefer toentities which may be concrete or abstract, real or fictitious. The predicates embedded in areferring e!pression help the hearer to identify its referent. Semantics is not concerned withthefactual status of things intheworldbut withmeaninginlanguage.Thenotiono#uni)erse o# discourseis introduced to account for the way in which language allows us torefer to non?e!istent things.A deictic *ord is one which takes some element of its meaning from the conte!t or situation(i.e. the speaker, the addressee, the time and the place) of the utterance in which it is used.!ample: %en "easley says 8I9ve lost the contract9($ in the utterance refer to %en "easley (The Speaker) This present is for you(4ou in the utterance is a deictic word (the addressee(s))@eicticterms helpthe hearer toidentifythe referent of areferringe!pressionthrough itsspatial or temporal relationship with the situation of utterance.De#initeness is a feature of a noun phrase selected by a speaker to convey his assumption thatthe hearer will be able to identify the referent of the noun phrase, usually because it is theonly thing of its kind in the conte!t of the utterance, or because it is unique in the universediscourse. 6 | P a g e(redicato!ample: That book (definite)(it can only appropriately be used when the speaker assumes the hearer can tell which book isbeing referred to.) (ersonal pronoun (e.g. she) is definite (it can only appropriately be used when the speaker assumes the hearer can tell which personis being referred to.) The arth (definite)(it is the only thing in a normal universe of discourse known by this name)The re#erent of a referring e!pression is the thing picked out by the use of that e!pression ona particular occasion of utterance.The e'tension of a predicate is the complete set of all things which could potentially (i.e. inany possible utterance) be the referent of a referring e!pression whose head constituent is thatpredicate. $t is appropriate with particular time of utterance (past, present and future).!ample: The e!tensions of window is the set of all windows in the universe.A prototype of a predicate is an ob6ect which is held to be very typical of the kind of ob6ectwhich can bereferred toby an e!pressioncontainingthepredicate.inotherword, it isatypical member of its e!tension.!ample:+ man of medium height and average buildThe age is between A0 and ohn opened the door.(+gent) (affected) (instrument)15 | P a g eINTE"PE"S%NA+ AND N%N.+ITE"A+ MEANIN,An act o# assertion is carried out when a speaker utters a declarative sentence (which can beeither true or false), and undertakes a certain responsibility, or commitment, to the hearer, thaa particular state of affairs, or situation, e!ists in the world.!ample:+le! says, 8Simon is in the kitchen#.(ale! assert to the hearer that in the real world a situation e!ists in which a person namedsimon is in a room identified by the by the referring e!pression the kitchen.)The descripti)e #allacyis the view that the sole purpose of making assertion is to describesome state of affairs.!ample:8Simon is in the kitchen# would be describe a particular state of affairs.A per#ormati)e utterance is one that actually describes the act that it performs.!ample:$ promise to repay you tomorrow(when saying it, the speaker does what the utterance describe)Aconstati)eutteranceis onewhichmakesanassertion(it is oftentheutteranceof adeclarative sentence) but is not performative.!ample:$9m trying to get this bo! open with screwdriver(the utterance does not simultaneously describe and perform the same act).The perlocutionary act(or 6ust simply the perlocution) carried out by speaker making anutterance is the act of causing a certain effect on the hearer and others.!ample:16 | P a g e>ohn says, 8there is a hornet in your left ear#(the speaker may scream and scratch wildly at your ear (certain effect of speaker)The illocutionary act (or simply the illocution) carried out by a speaker making an utteranceistheact viewed in terms oftheutterance9ssignificancewithin aconventional systemofsocial interaction. i.e. thanking, complaining, congratulating, etc.!ample:Saying: 8$9m very grateful to you for all you have done for me#.((erforms the illocutionary act of thanking)The phonic act involved in an utterance is the physical act of making certain vocal sounds.Thepropositionalact involvedinanutteranceconsistsinthementalactsofreferring(tocertain ob6ects or people in the world) and of predicating.The #elicity conditions o# an illocutionary actare conditions that must be fulfilled in thesituation in which the act is carried out if the act is to be said to be carried out properly orfelicitously.!ample:+ servant says to the Cueen 85pen the window# (infelicity in the act)+ Cueen says 85pen the window: to the servant. (there is no infelicity) A sincerity condition on an illocutionary act is a condition that must be fulfilled if the act issaid to be carried out sincerely, but failure to meet such a condition does not prevent thecarrying out of the act altogether. !ample:>ohn, 8$9m sorry to come in here at this moment9 (when he believes what he does is wrong)The direct illocution o# an utteranceis the illocution most directly indicated by a literalreading of the grammatical form and vocabulary of the sentence uttered.The indirect illocution o# an utterance is any further illocution the utterance may have.1 | P a g e!ample:>ohn says,#can you pass the saltL# (direct: hearer ability to pass the salt. $ndirect: speakerrequests to the hearer to pass the salt)A directi)e actis any illocutionary act which essentially involves the speaker trying to getthe hearer to behave in some required way. .g. ordering and suggesting A commissi)e act is any illocutionary act which essentially involves the speaker committinghimself to behave in some required way. .g. promising and swearingThe propositional content of a directive illocution can be e!pressed by a declarative sentencedescribing the action that the speaker requires of the hearerThepropositional content of acommissiveillocutioncanbee!pressedbyadeclarativesentence describing the action which the speaker undertakes to perform. Theconversational implicatureisa form of reasonable inference. $mplicature, a nation ofutterance meaning, contrast with entailment, a notion of sentence meaning.18 | P a g e