Introduction to Semantics & Pragmatics Flashcards
What area of meaning is semantics interested in?
The literal meaning
What area of meaning is pragmatics interested in?
The meaning within context
What is the idea theory?
Words are concepts, tied in with mental representation
Which theory of meaning to psychologists like?
Idea theory
What is the referential theory?
Words are compiled of a set of all the possible realisations in the world
What is a pitfall in the idea theory of meaning?
What do you do with words such as ‘on’, ‘a’ or ‘ing’?
What is a pitfall in the referential theory of meaning?
What do you do with words like tall? What counts as tall? It’s relative
What is compositionally?
The meaning of a linguistics expression is a function of the meaning of its parts
What is an intransitive verb (truth-value)?
A function that takes an individual and returns a truth-value
What is a transitive verb?
A function that takes an individual and returns a function from individuals to truth-values
Sentences can be context-invariant and context-
dependent
What is entailment?
When a sentence implies another sentence - thus one sentence entails another
Can entailment survive negation?
Sometimes
Who created the conversational maxims?
Grice
What are the conversational maxims? (4)
Quality; Quantity; Relation; Manner
Are the conversational maxims absolute?
No! One can flout them in specific contexts to imply certain things
What are the properties of conversational implicature?
Cancellable; Reinforceable; Non-detachable; Calculable; Non-conventional
What are the problems with Grice’s maxims? (2)
They are largely based on western languages; thus they do not apply to all languages
Who coined the Speech Act Theory?
Austin
What is a constative?
Factual statement, expressions used to make statements
What is a performative?
Used to perform an action, to bring about change
What are felicity conditions?
Rules to be met if a performance will succeed
What are the felicity conditions? (3)
Conventional procedure; executed properly; sincerity
Why did Austin later revise his theory?
Because some performatives can be assessed for truth-value
What three features are to be identified in a speech act?
locutionary (the act of saying something); illocutionary (the act in saying something); perlocutionary (what is done by saying something)
Who revised Austin’s Speech Act Theory?
John Searle
What is an example of an indirect speech act?
Making requests
What are the semantic rules?
If the NP refers to the set of the VP, it is true. (Rule 2 integrates the second individual into the VP)
What is reductionism?
Semantics and pragmatics should be one topic
What is complementarism?
Semantics and pragmatics should be separate topics
