THEMEANINGSOFSENTENCES

PART1

OURROADMAP

o PHILOSOPHICALCONTEMPLATION•Worlds,situations,andthemeaningsofsentences

o NEGATIVEPOLARITYITEMSANDDOWNWARDENTAILMENT

o WHAT’SSEMANTIC?WHAT’SPRAGMATIC?WHERE’STHELINE?

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BACKTOTHEREFERENTIALVSINTERNALIST DEBATEINTERNALIST

• Themeaningofasentenceisacompositionally-derivedinternalmentalstructure.

REFERENTIAL• Sentencemeaningsareabstract“objects.”

• Twokindsofabstractobjects

• Russellian proposition<x,y>:anorderedpairconsistingofxandthepropertyy

• Possibleworlds:includemodality(necessity,possibility,contingency).

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ElizabethIIiswise.<ElizabethII,wisdom>• Setsareabstractobjects• MappingfromElizabethIItopropertyof

wisdom.

Thesnowmusthavemelted.-Ineveryworld,thesnowisgone.

Thesnowmighthavemelted.

-It’spossiblethatthereisaworldinwhichthereissnow.

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“Ifthereisoneobjectthatisthemeaningofanutteredsentence,thisseemstoprovideabetterfoundationforsuccessfulcommunicationthanthesituationthattheinternalist alternativewouldenvisage…” [p.44]

• BasedonSentence 1,wecandeducethetruthofSentence2.• ThereisanobjectthatHaroldandFionahaveabeliefrelationshipto.• ThatabstractobjectisthepropositionthatthereislifeonVenus.

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Sentence1:“HaroldbelievesthatthereislifeonVenus,andFionadoestoo."

Sentence2:“Thereissomethingtheybothbelieve– towit,thatthereislifeonVenus.”

FROMAREFERENTIALPERSPECTIVE…

FROMANINTERNALISTPERSPECTIVE…

• Sentencemeaningsareinternalmentalstructures.

• “Thereissomethingtheybothbelieve”isambiguousinthesamewaythat“Thereissomethingtheybothown”isambiguous.

• Iftheybothownhouses,thisdoesn’tnecessarily meantheyownthesamehouse.

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PossibleWorlds(DavidLewis)

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• Meaningsofsentencesaresetsofpossibleworlds.• Ifyouknowthemeaningofasentence,thenyouknowtheconditionsthatmustholdinorderforthesentencetobetrue.

• Twoplusthreeequalsfiveand Threeplusfourequalsseven• Bothtrueineverypossibleworld.• Themeaningofeachsentenceisthesetofallpossibleworlds.ØThesetwosentenceshavethesamemeaning.

• TwoplusthreeequalssixandThreeplusfourequalseight• Botharefalseineverypossibleworld.ØThesetwosentenceshavethesamemeaning. ◔_◔

ENTERSITUATIONS

• SITUATION:Spatiotemporallydelineatedpartoftheworld(orpossibleworld)

• Cherlon’s officebetween8:00and9:00p.m.

• Aminimalsituationinwhichsomeconditionholdscontains:• Justenoughentities,properties,andrelationstomakethat

conditionhold.

• AminimalsituationinwhichTwoplusthreeequalsfiveisdistinctfromaminimalsituationinwhichThreeplusfourequalsseven.• Bothsentencesaretrueinallpossibleworlds,but…

• ...theydon’thavethesamemeaningbecausetheydon’thavethesamesetofsituations.

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Barwise andPerry:Sentencemeaningsaresetsofpossiblesituations.

≠

NECESSARYFALSEHOODS:NOPOSSIBLESITUATIONINWHICHSOMEPROPOSITIONISTRUE

• NoactualsituationinwhichTwoplusthreeequalssix istrue.

• BUT,thesetofsituationsinwhichTwoplusthreeequalssixorThreeplusfourequalseightmightbetruearedistinct.

• SO…situationscanbeimpossible.

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WTFDOESTHISHAVETODOWITHANYTHING???!!!

oThepermissibilityofcertainwords/phrasesdependsonthepresenceofotherwords/phrases.

oSuggeststhatwe’reevaluatingsetsofpossibleworlds.

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NEGATIVEPOLARITYITEMS

• Any,atall,yet,liftafingerarenegativepolarityitems(NPIs).

• Not,atmostareNPIlicensors.

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(1)a.Richardhadnotmetany classicists.

b.*Richardhadmetany classicists.

(2)a.Richardhadmetmanyclassicists

b.Richardhadnotmetmanyclassicists.

(3)a.Henrydidnot discussthebacchanalatall.

b.*Henrydiscussedthebacchanalatall.

(4)a.Henrydidnot ever discussthebacchanal.

b.*Henryever discussedthebacchanal.

(5)a.Henryhasnot discussedthebacchanalyet.

b.*Henryhasdiscussedthebacchanalyet.

(6)a.Henrydidnot liftafingertopreventCloke beingincriminated.

b.*HenryliftedafingertopreventCloke beingincriminated.

• NPIlicensorsaredownwardentailing.

• Ifonesentenceentailstheother,thereisnopossibleworldinwhichthefirstsentenceistrueandthesecondsentenceisfalse.

DownwardEntailing

a.Nogodsworry.Nogodsworryaboutincometax.

b.Atmostthreegodsworry.Atmostthreegodsworryaboutincometax.

NotDownwardEntailing

c.Somegodsworry.Somegodsworryaboutincometax.

d.Allgodsworry.Allgodsworryaboutincometax.

NPILICENSING&DOWNWARDENTAILMENT

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THEBIGPICTURE

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a. Nogodsshowanymercytomortals.

b. Atmostthreegodsshowanymercytomortals.

c. *Somegodsshowanymercytomortals.

d. *Allgodsshowanymercytomortals. [p.56]

Ladusaw’s Theory:NPIsteachusthatsentencemeaningsaresetsofpossibleworldsandthatsomepartofourbrainisperformingsettheoreticcalculationsinordertoevaluatesentencemeanings.

Sidebar:PositivePolarityItems• notOKwithnegation

a.BillwouldratherbeinMontpelier.b.*Billwouldn’tratherbeinMontpelier.c.Johnisherealready.d.*Johnisn’therealready.

Positivepolarityexamplesfrom:Giannakidou,Anastasia.2011. Positivepolarityitemsandnegativepolarityitems:variation,licensing,andcompositionality. InSemantics:AnInternationalHandbookofNaturalLanguageMeaning(Secondedition;ed.byC.Maienborn,K.vonHeusinger,andP.Portner).Berlin:MoutondeGruyter.pp.1660-1712.

WHATELSEISPARTOFSENTENCEMEANING?

“CHERLON,HAVEYOUSTOPPEDBUYINGNECKLACES?”

• Presupposes thatCherlon bought(several)necklacesintherecentpast.

• Cherlon,haven’tyoustoppedbuyingnecklaces?

• NegatingthesentencemaintainsthepresuppositionthatCherlonboughtnecklaces.

• Cherlon cancancelthepresupposition.• “Well,actually,noIhaven’tstoppedbuyingnecklacesbecauseIneverstarted.Theywereallgiventome.”

“CHERLON,HAVEYOUSTOPPEDBUYINGNECKLACES?”

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a.BillClintonwasimpeached.b.BillClintonhadsexualrelationswithMonicaLewinsky.

• apresupposes b• Again,wecannegate(a)andstillmaintainthepresupposition:• BillClintonwasnotimpeached,eventhoughweallknowhehadsexualrelationswithMonicaLewinsky.

• Orwecancancelthepresupposition:• BillClintonwasimpeached,eventhoughhedidn’tactuallyhavesexualrelationswithMonicaLewinsky.

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a.Theanarchistassassinatedtheemperor.b.Theemperordied.• aentails b:onecan’ttruthfullyassertaandnotalsotruthfullyassertb.

• Notareciprocalrelationship:bdoesnotentaila

oWhenanentailingsentenceisnegated,theentailmentfails:a.Theanarchistdidn’tassassinatetheemperor.

b.Theemperordied.

• Theemperormayhavedied,butitdoesn’tfollowfroma.

o Theentailmentcan’tbecanceled:• *Theanarchistassassinatedtheemperor,buttheemperordidn’tdie.

Is(b)partofthemeaningof(a)?

• Locutionary Act:theactofutteringtheactualwords• “Thisclassroomishot.”…

• IllocutionaryForce:theforceorintentionbehindthewords• …mightmeanthatIwantsomefreshair…

• Perlocutionary Effect:theeffectoftheillocutiononthehearer• …andsomekindstudentopensthedoortotheclassroom

THETHINGSWE“DO”WITHLANGUAGE:

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Isthemeaningassociatedwithillocutionaryforcepartofthemeaningofthesentence?

• “…languagecanbeviewedasasetofabstractdevices,rulesystems,andprinciplesthatservetocharacterizeformallyvariouspropertiesofthewell-formedsentencesofthatlanguage.”(C,M-G1)

• “…grammars…constituteaccuratemodelsofthe(implicit)knowledgethatunderliestheactualproductionandinterpretationofutterancesbynativespeakers.”(C,M-G1-2)

• “Thelinguisticknowledgeweseektomodel,speakers’competence,mustbedistinguishedfromtheirobservablelinguisticbehavior.”(C,M-G1-2)

WAYSOFTHINKINGABOUTMEANING

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• Mapstodifferentsituations:

• Thedoorcouldbeinastateofhavingbeenlockedforsomeindeterminateamountoftime.

• Apropertyofthedoor

• “Locked”couldbetheresultantstateofsomeonejusthavingpushedonit.

• Apropertyofthedoorthatiscloselyconnectedtoapropertyoftheimmediatelargerevent

• Metaphoric/idiomaticmeaning:Anopportunitythatonceexistednolongerdoes.

“THEDOORISLOCKED”

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What*should*weincludeinaformalmodel?

IAMREADYTOLEAVE.

Semantics

• Traditionally,semanticsisconcernedwithdetermininganabstractmeaningforwords/sentencesthatissomewhatgeneralizableacrosssituationsirrespectiveofcontext.

• Meaningisabstractedawayfromtheindividualconversationalparticipants.

• Formalsemanticmeaningisindependentofthecontext.

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PRAGMATICSLing340~Spring2018~C.Ussery

• Pragmaticsisconcernedwiththemeaningthatsentenceshavewithinaparticularcontext.

• Meaningisderivedinrelationtotheindividualconversationalparticipants.

• Thesentenceabovehasavarietyofinterpretations.• IcouldbesuggestingtoacompanionthatInolongerwishtobepresentat

areallyboringdinnerparty.• IcouldbesayingthatI’mpackedandpreparedformynexttripto

Reykjavík.• Ifit’sthedeadofwinter– ormid-April– I’mlikelysayingthatI’mreadyto

getoutofMinnesota.

IAMREADYTOLEAVE.

SUMMARY

•THEINTERPRETATIONSOFNPISSUGGESTTHATWEARECOMPUTINGSET-THEORETICPOSSIBLEWORLDSCENARIOS.

•THEREHASTRADITIONALLYBEENALINEBETWEENSEMANTICSANDPRAGMATICS,BUTIT’SNOTENTIRELYCLEARWHERETHATLINESHOULDBEDRAWN.

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REFERENCES

• Chierchia,Gennaro andSallyMcConnell-Ginet.2000.Meaningandgrammar:anintroductiontosemantics.TheMITPress:Cambridge.

• Elbourne,Paul.2011.Meaning:aslimguidetosemantics.OxfordUniversityPress:Oxford.

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