Semantics PDF

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Summer 1 Semantics Assignment for LING 1150 at Northeastern. Includes questions....

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Semantics and Pragmatics Assignment: HW # 4 File 6.1 1. Identify each of the following statements as being either mostly about lexical semantics or mostly about compositional semantics: a. The phrase purple books describes a group of objects (books) that have a certain property (being purple). i. This statement is about compositional semantics because the phrase describes not just books but books with a certain color. b. The words couch and sofa mean roughly the same thing. i. This statement is about lexical semantics because it is posing couch and sofa as synonyms. c. Water under the bridge means something different from bridge under the water. i. This statement is about compositional semantics since ‘water under the bridge’ is actually an idiom, and is meant to be understood as a complete phrase. d. The sentence John ate a bagel for breakfast is true just in case an individual by the name of John consumed a round bread product with a hole in the middle for his morning meal. i. This is about lexical semantics because it essentially finds a substitute o definition for most of the nouns in the sentence. The sentence is being interpreted as several separate words e. The opposite of open is shut. i. This is about lexical semantics because it is showing a lexical relationship, antonymy. f. Paris is a word that refers to a particular city in France. i. This is about lexical semantics because it is defining the individual word Paris as a city in France. 2. We discussed expressions such as unicorn and the queen of United States that have no referents. a. Come up with three more examples of expressions that have no referents. b. Explain in your own words why the notion of sense is important, taking into account the particular examples you came up with for part (i). i. The President of North Korea ii. The Bermuda Circle iii. The two musketeers Sense is a mental image associated with different items. As speakers of any language we use sense to fully comprehend what we hear. If there are no referents, and no sense, for example the Bermuda Circle, the listener gets confused and communication is hindered.

File 6.2 3. Classify the following pairs of antonyms as complementary, gradable, reverses, or converses: a. wide/narrow i. This antonym pair is gradable, since it is more on a scale. b. smoking/nonsmoking i. This antonym pair is a reverse, since you either smoke or you don’t smoke. c. inflate/deflate i. This antonym pair is a reverse because the verbs just mean the opposite of the other. d. defeat/lose to i. This antonym pair is a reverse, since on one hand someone is winning, but that means that someone is losing at the same time. e. good/bad i. This is gradable since hot and cold are two extremes on a spectrum. f. innocent/guilty i. This antonym pair is a complementizer, since you cannot be both good and evil at the same time. g. hot/cold i. This antonym is gradable, since hot and cold are extremes in terms of temperature. h. teacher/student i. These antonyms are converses, since it’s displaying 2 people existing from two different views. i. grow/shrink File 6.3 4. For each of the following expressions, determine whether it expresses a proposition or not. a. woman i. This does not express a proposition, since there is no action being done. There is a referent, but no true proposition. b. like Bob i. This does not express a proposition, because there is no subject. It is unclear as to if a subject likes Bob, or if he is being compared to someone else. c. the smallest country in the world i. This does not express a proposition, despite the fact that there is a referent to the smallest country in the world. d. Sally wondered who would be at the party

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This is a proposition. For this sentence to be true, there would have to exist a person named sally (1), There would need to be a party (2), and Sally would need to be wondering about who was going to the party. Bob hates Polly i. This is a proposition. For this sentence to be true, A bob would need to exist, a Polly would need to exist, and Bob would hate her. accidentally i. This is not a proposition. There is no truth value to question. Polly liked i. This is not a proposition due to the fact that an object is missing. Polly has to like something for there to be a proposition. under the bed i. This does not express a proposition since there would have to exist a bed, but it’s unclear as to if anything or anyone is underneath it. Sally likes to sleep i. This is a proposition. For this to be true, there would need to be a person named Sally (1), who likes sleep (2). bring some beer i. This is not a proposition. The sentence is not complete.

5. Come up with original examples of each of the following: a. a pair of sentences where one entails the other, but not the other way around i. Tina likes Jorge. ii. Tina likes boys. b. a pair of mutually entailing sentences i. Leigh’s entire sorority went to the party. ii. Leigh went to the party. c. a pair of incompatible sentences i. Frank Ocean released a new album. ii. I like music. 6. Below are descriptions of several possible contexts for the sentence Do any of you have a watch? a. A frantic-looking man runs up to a group of people standing at a bus stop, checks the bus schedule, and then says hurriedly, “Do any of you have a watch?” i. This man does not want to be late to wherever he needs to go, and does not want to miss the bus. He asks for the watch, meaning time, so someone can tell him what time it is and he can compare it to the schedule. b. A group of preteen girls is comparing jewelry. One girl says, “My jewelry is best, because I have the most.” Another says, “Nope. Mine is the best because it all

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matches.” This sort of thing goes on for a while. Finally the last girl pipes up that she thinks she has the best jewelry. “Oh yeah? What makes you so special?” She replies, “Just look at my wrist! Do any of you have a watch?” i. This girl wants to brag about the jewelry she has. This watch, symbolizing maturity, would give the girl a better, more refined look than the rest of the young girls, so asking if any of them have a watch is her setting herself aside from the others. A mugger traps a group of people in a dark alley and waves a gun at them while screaming, “Do any of you have a watch?” i. This mugger wants to rob these people, and is really demanding someone hand him a watch for its value. Your linguistics instructor left his watch at home this morning, but he will need to monitor his time use in class. He wanders into the department lounge and says to his colleagues, “Do any of you have a watch?” i. The linguistics instructor needs to keep a close watch on the time, and a watch will let him do just that. He is asking to borrow a watch so he can do this. A woman goes to a masquerade ball and falls in love with one of her dance partners. However, of course, she cannot see his face. She knows only that he wore a very ornate and easily recognizable wristwatch. Now, every time that she approaches a group of eligible-looking men, she begins her conversation with, “Do any of you have a watch?” i. This woman, on her quest for love, now believes she can find her dance partner if she matches up the watch she has in her mind to the watch of eligible-looking men. By asking if they have a watch she is trying to discern whether or not they could be the dancer she fell in love with. A zookeeper is about to let a group of patrons try holding an exotic bird with a known tendency to peck at shiny objects. Before letting anybody hold her, the keeper says, “Do any of you have a watch?”

g. i.

The zookeeper is giving out a warning, since the exotic girl likes to pick at shiny objects. If anyone has a watch, they can put it away so the bird doesn’t peck them. h. A Martian has read all about Earth and is very interested in its time-telling devices. On its first trip to our planet, it exits its flying saucer and oozes up to the first group of people it sees. It says excitedly, “Do any of you have a watch?” i. This martian is excited about observing human life, and is interested in human inventions. When it first gets here, the first thing it wants is a clock.

7. Words can hold many meanings, depending on their context. With context, and choice verbs, a simple phrase can become loving, violent, and terrifying experience. How and what is said is very important for meaning. 8. In File 7.1, we introduced four possible interpretations of the sentence Can you take the trash out? Now, come up with your own context for Can you take the trash out? that differs from all of those given so far and that thereby gives it a different meaning from all of those given so far. Describe the context, and then tell what the sentence would mean if uttered in that context. a. A comedian is having a stand up show. Despite numerous warnings, hecklers interrupt the show consistently with rude and demeaning comments. After a half hour of these interruptions, the exasperated comedian turns to security and says, “Can you take the trash out?” 9. For each of the following questions, write one felicitous response and one infelicitous response. Explain what makes your infelicitous responses infelicitous. a. What did you do for your birthday? i. My friends threw me a surprise party! ii. # Get older. ‘Get older’ is an infelicitous response because it’s not specific enough for what the listener means. Getting older is something that everyone does by the time it’s their birthday b. Which classes do you think you will take next spring? i. Syntax, Language and Culture, Cognition, and maybe Calculus. ii. # The ones I need to graduate. This is an infelicitous response because it violates the Maxim of quantity, since this is barely a sufficient answer to the specific classes the original speaker is implying the listener to list. c. I’m going to the grocery store. Do you need me to pick anything up for you? i. Sure! Could you grab some juice and paper towels? ii. # What do you think I should wear to the park today? This is an infelicitous response because it violates the Maxim of relevance. The speaker said one thing, but the listener said something completely different. 10. a. Violation of the Maxim of Quality- This professor has a nice voice, but the majority of what he says is not based on fact. By using “unfounded opinion”, and not supporting anything with evidence, he is violating the Maxim of Quality. b. Violation of the Maxim of Manner- By using superfluous vocabulary, long sentences, and not clarifying, this professor is violating the Maxim of Manner, in which one is supposed to be clear and concise in meaning. c. Violation of the Maxim of Relation- The many tangents this professor goes on clearly violate the Maxim of Relation. By not staying on task and focusing on one

particular lesson, the professor is not being relevant, despite going on tangents in the general realm of history. d. Violation of the Maxim of Quantity- This professor is clearly not giving enough information to her students about the questions they ask. “Because you’re warm blooded” is not a sufficient answer, or enough information for the student to learn from. 11. Suppose that you ask a friend what he thought of a new movie, and he replies, “Well, the costumes were authentic.” His answer does seem to be saying something positive about the movie. Nevertheless, he is guiding you to infer that he probably did not like the movie. 12. i. Which maxim is he flouting in order to do this? a. He’s using (or violating) the Maxim of Relation to get his point across. 13. ii. Why might he choose to convey his dislike by flouting that maxim instead of saying directly that he didn’t like the movie? a. This could be your favorite movie, and he doesn’t want to hurt your feelings. He may not like saying negative things, or the movie could be a hit that everyone loves, and if you asked this to your friend in a group, he may not want to argue his opinions.

Part 3: Pragmatics in the real world

At the end of the 90s Nickelodeon show Kenan and Kel, Kenan would always list off a random list of items for Kel to grab and meet him at a random location, with no explanation or logic. Kel would then ask many questions trying to clarify, but by then Kenan had already left. This is a violation of the maxim of quantity and the maxim of manner, since Kenan does not give any information as to why Kel needs those items, and is fairly ambiguous and obscure as to his motives.

Clip: ‘Kenan and Kel Freezer Burned avi Part 3’ https://youtu.be/pisHjG9epsA?t=2m30s (starts at 2:30)...