Unit 1

Question 1

Meaning depends on the different perspectives that people may have about the world, true or false?

Answer 1

True

Question 2

It could not be _______ without meaning

Answer 2

Language

Question 3

What does “reference” mean?

Answer 3

The mental idea or projection of the mind that speakers have about a word

Question 4

Since different referents may stand for different symbols, always depending on the language, language is _________

Answer 4

Arbitrary

Question 5

Which is the symbol of the word “elephant”? And its referent?

Answer 5

Symbol: the word/term
Referent: animal animal

Question 6

Which are the most basic units of language?

Answer 6

Lexemes

Question 7

Do onomatopeic words have any relationship between its referent and symbol?

Answer 7

No

Question 8

“Have, has and had” correspond to the ______ ______ of the verb “to have”

Answer 8

citation form

Question 9

Sense is the stable (non-context dependent) meaning of a word, true or false?

Answer 9

True

Question 10

The sense of the word “blanket” is our own interpretation of the meaning of the term, true or false?

Answer 10

False

Question 11

Can a word stand for different referents?

Answer 11

Yes, for instance the word “Queen”

Question 12

How do we call the set of all referents that a word stand for?

Answer 12

Denotation of a word

Question 13

Connotations depend on emotional forces of the level of formality of the speaker and do not affect the sense of a word, true or false?

Answer 13

True

Question 14

How do we understand sentences that we have never heard before?

Answer 14

Because of compositionality

Question 15

Why is meaning compositional?

Answer 15

Because the meaning of a sentence is infered by the meaning of each constituent

Question 16

Is the expression “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” compositional or non-compositional?

Answer 16

Non-compositional

Question 17

The language in which we describe the definition of particular word is called ______

Answer 17

Metalanguage

Question 18

Definitions are circular since we can substitute a word as the definition for another word, true or false?

Answer 18

True

Question 19

What is the main problem with referential theory?

Answer 19

Abstract words

Question 20

Concepts are the basic constituents of thoughts which are built from primitive ones, true or false?

Answer 20

True

Question 21

One of the main advantages of conceptual theory is that since the main function of language is that of communicating ideas, language works as a conduit for concepts, true or flase?

Answer 21

True

Question 22

Speakers having different concepts or ideas about a specific term may challenge conceptual theory, true or false?

Answer 22

True

Question 23

The major difficulty with brain state meaning theory is the property intentionality due to the fact that physical things can’t have intentionality, true or false?

Answer 23

True

Question 24

What does the use theory of suggest according to Skinner or Bloomfield?

Answer 24

Language should be studied in use, in other words, in real coversations

Question 25

One of the matters with the use theory of meaning is that it avoids compositionality, true or false?

Answer 25

True

Question 26

As situations in which language is used are completely limited, the use theory of meaning succeeds in breaking the circularity of meaning, true or false?

Answer 26

False