Semantics and Pragmatics Flashcards
What is semantics?
how we put together
the meanings of words to understand the
meaning of sentences
What is pragmatics?
the study of how people understand
what people want to communicate by what
they say
What is the most important idea in semantics and what does it explain?
Compositionality
-It explains how we can understand new
sentences as long as we understand the words
and the syntactic rules putting the words
together as sentences
Describe non-compositionality
-Not a literal meaning
-meanings
that can not be computed from the
parts of the expression
-Ex-idioms (he was dressed to kill)
`Pragmatics deals with how _____ can affect
the ______ of an utterance
context
meaning
An example of a pragmatic expression “it is dark in here” can mean:
a request to turn on the lights, a
comment on how pleasant it is in the room, or
express a desire to buy a new house
Who was Paul Grice?
a famous British philosopher, noted that all
conversations follow a basic set of rules, which people use
to express themselves when speaking
What are the rules of conversations?
principles to try to further the conversation and prevent
meaningless discourse
List all of Grice’s Maxims…
- Quality
- Quantity
- Relevance
- Manner
Grice’s Maxim of Quality:
What you say should be true
(We assume that when we engage in communication
we are communicating what we believe to be true)
Grice’s Maxim of Relevence:
Make sure what you say is relevant to the
conversation
Grice’s Maxim of Quantity:
Do not say more than you need, or less than is
necessary
Grice’s Maxim of Manner:
Be clear, avoid obfuscation
Explain why it is possible to violate Grice’s principles
The maxims are not prescriptive rules, they
are observations about cooperative ways to
make the conversation more cohesive
