Semantics Flashcards
semantics
study of linguistic meaning
lexical semantics
meanings of morphemes and words
compositional semantics
meanings of phrases and sentences
truth conditions
included in a speaker’s knowledge of sentence meaning
entails
a condition where the truth value of one sentence can be implied from the truth value of another. When the original sentence is negated, the entailment does not remain
paraphrases
sentence that are both true or both false in the same situations
contradictory
sentences where one is always true/false when the other is false/true
tautology
sentence that is always true regardless of the circumstance
contradictions
sentences that are always false regardless of the situation
paradox
contradictory, but can nevertheless be true
Anomaly
When the meaning of a sentence cannot be determined from the meaning of its parts
metaphors
sentences that appear anomalous but to which a deeper meaning can be attached
idioms
whole phrases whose meaning is not compositional but learned as a unit
reference
meaning of a word as the associated objects the word refers to
sense
additional meaning outside the reference
negative polarity items
words that have a semantic feature of negation implied
John doubts that Mary gives a hoot. BUT *John thinks that Mary gives a hoot.
Semantic Rule #1
If the meaning of NP is a member of VP, then the sentence is TRUE: otherwise it is FALSE
Semantic Rule #2
the meaning of V NP, is the set of individuals X such that X is the first member f any pair in the meaning of V whose second member is the meaning of NP
maxims of conversation
Quality(truth), quantity(information), Relation(relevance), Manner(clarity)
implicature
meaning that is implied from the context
presuppositions
contextual information that is implied by the utterance
performative verbs
verbs that, when used in the first person, accomplish an additional function besides the completion of an utterance (dare, warn, bet). In different contexts they have different illocutionary force.
