MEANING IN SENTENCE LEVEL

Susilo Mulawarman University, Samarinda, Indonesia

UTTERANCE SENTENCE PROPOSITION

Important terms

Any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which there is a silence on the part of that person; the use by a particular speaker, on a particular occasion, of a piece of language.

UTTERANCE

It is conceived abstractly, a string of words put together by grammatical rules of a language.

sentence

I would like a cup of coffee --- sentence? Yes

“Coffee, please?”sentence? No, Utterance? Yes.

Please put it in the kitchen? sentence? yes

Can one talk of a loud sentence? Can one talk of a slow utterance?

Harry took out the garbage Harry took the garbage out

How many propositions are there?Ho many sentences are there?

John gave Mary a bookMary was given a book by John

Proposition

I have an account at the Bank of Scotland We steered the raft to the other bank of the river

Fred hit me There is no Fred at this address

What does “Fred” refer to in the 1st and 2nd sentence?

Reference, expression and sense

Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not every expression has reference.

SENTENCE RELATION AND TRUTH(TRUTH CONDITIONAL-SEMANTICS)

To know the meaning of a sentence is to know under what condition that sentence would be true.

  Tarki’s definition of truth:   S is true if and only if P   S = sentence P = the condition which guarantee the truth of S  

Assumption:

Sentence A is synonymous with B means that A has the same meaning as B

my brother is a bachelor my brother has never married

Synonymous:

Sentence A entails B means that if A then automatically B

the anarchist assassinated the emperor the emperor is died

Entailment

Sentence A contradicts B means that A is inconsistent with B

my brother Sebastian has just come from Rome

my brother Sebastian has never been to Rome

Contradiction

Sentence B presupposes B means that A is part of the assumed background against which A is said

the Mayor of Manchester is a women there is a Mayor of Manchester

Presupposition

Sentence A is a tautology means that A is automatically true by virtue of its own meaning, but informationally empty

Ireland is Ireland

Tautology

Modus Ponens p → q if Smith left work early, then

he is in the pub p Smith left work early -------- q Smith is in the pub

LOGIC AND TRUTH

Modus Tollens p → q If Smith has arrived,

then he is in the pub - q Smith is not in the pub -------- -p Smith has not arrived

Hypothetical Syllogism p → q if Smith is in the pub, then

he is drinking beer q → r if Smith is drinking beer, he is

drinking Guinness -------- p → r if Smith is in the pub, then he

is drinking Guinness

Disjunctive Syllogism p v q Smith is in the public bar or he

is in the lounge - p Smith is not in the public

bar -------- q Smith is in the lounge

p -p the symbol – for negation --------- T F F T

p=The house is on fire; -p=the house is not on fire

T=True F=False

LOGICAL CONNECTIVES

p q p Λ q the symbol Λ for and ---------------- T T T T F F F T F F F F

p= The house is on fire and q=the fire brigade are on the way

p q p v q --------------------- T T T T F T F T T F F F

the symbol v for or(inclusive or) (p = )I’ll see you today or (q=) I’ll see you

tomorrow

p q p ve q ---------------------- T T F T F T F T T F F F

the symbol ve for or (exclusive or) (p=)You will pay the fine or (q= )you will go to

jail  

In Semantics, to understand logic and truth, we should recognize:

Truth value -----whether a sentence is being true or false

Truth Condition ----the facts that would have to obtain in reality to make a sentence true or false

Based on what a speaker knows (epistemology), truth can be:

a priori truth ---Truth is known before or without experience

a posteriori truth---- Truth can only be known on the basis of empirical testing

So, there is always a couple of truth:

Necessary truth ----cannot be denied without forcing a contradictionTwo and two make four

Contingent truth -----can be contradicted, depending on the factsOrang utan is extinct

Based on what the world is like (metaphysic), truth can be:

Analytic truth ---truth follows from the meaning relations within the sentence, regardless of any relationship with the world.My father is my father

Synthetic truth --- being true is because of the facts of the world My father is a sailor

Based on semantic orientation (semantics), truth can be: