Semantics II

SemanticsIICourse:LinguisticsDate:Dec.6,2011TableofContents5.4ComponentialAnalysis5.5.SentenceMeaning5.5.1AnIntegratedTheory5.5.2LogicalSemantics5.4ComponentialanalysisSEMANTICFEATURES/SEMANTICCOMPONENTS:semanticunitssmallerthanthemeaningofawordEx.boy:HUMAN,YOUNG,MALEgirl:HUMAN,YOUNG,FEMALEman:HUMAN,ADULT,MALEwoman:HUMAN,ADULT,FEMALEYOUNG:～ADULTFEMALE:～MALEEx.father=PARENT(x,y)&MALE(x)mother=PARENT(x,y)&～MALE(x)son=CHILD(x,y)&MALE(x)daughter=CHILD(x,y)&～MALE(x)take=CAUSE(x,(HAVE(x,y)))give=CAUSE(x,(～HAVE(x,y)))die=BECOME(x,(～ALIVE(x)))kill=CAUSE(x,(BECOME(y,(～ALIVE(y)))))murder=INTEND(x,(CAUSE(x,(BECOME(y,(～ALIVE(y)))))))Synonyms:wordsorexpressionswithsimilarsemanticcomponentsEx.bachelor,unmarriedman:HUMAN,ADULT,UNMARRIEDAntonyms:wordswithcontrastingcomponentsEx.manandwoman,boyandgirlHyponyms:wordswhichhaveallthesemanticcomponentsofanotherEx.boy,girlandchild:HUMAN,～ADULTEx.a.*JohnkilledBillbutBilldidn’tdie.b.*JohnkilledBillbuthewasnotthecauseofBill’sdeath.c.*JohnmurderedBillwithoutintendingto.Entailment(衍推关系):thetruthofthesecondsentencenecessarilyfollowsfromthetruthofthefirstsentence,whilethefalsityofthefirstfollowsfromthefalsityofthesecond,i.e.thefirstsentencecontainsawordwhichhasallthesemanticcomponentsofawordusedinthesecondsentence.Ex.1.a.JohnkilledBill.b.Billdied.2.a.Isawaboy.b.Isawachild.3.a.Johnisabachelor.b.Johnisunmarried.Difficulties:Thepolysemouswordshavedifferentsetsofsemanticcomponents.Thesemanticcomponentsdiffer.C.f.MALEandFEMALE&ADULTandYOUNG(boyandman&girlandwoman)Theremaybewordswhosesemanticcomponentsaredifficulttoascertain.Anditishardtoexplainthesemanticfeaturesthemselves.Q:Howtoexpressthesemanticfeatures?•META-LANGUAGE(原语言):alanguageusedfortalkingaboutanotherlanguage5.5.SentencemeaningWordmeaningandsentencemeaningThesentencemeaning,whichisnotmerelyasumofwordmeaning,isrelatedtowordorder.Ex.a.Themanchasedthedog.b.Thedogchasedtheman.Sentenceshavethematicmeaning.Ex.a.I’vealreadyseenthatfilm.b.ThatfilmI’vealreadyseen.Thesentencemeaningisconnectedwithitssyntacticstructure.Ex.ThesonofPharaoh’sdaughteristhedaughterofPharaoh’sson.5.5.1AnIntegratedTheoryPrincipleofCOMPOSITIONALITY(组合原则):themeaningofasentencedependsonthewordorderandthesyntacticstructureKatz,J.J.&Fodor,J.A.1963.ThestructureofaSemanticTheory[C].Language39:170-210.Katz,J.J&Postal,P.M.1964.AnIntegratedTheoryofLinguisticDescriptions[M].Cambridge,Massachusetts:MITPress.grammaticalclassificationdictionarysystematicsemanticsemanticinformationtheoryinformationidiosyncraticprojectionrulesinformationDictionary:toprovidethegrammaticalclassificationandsemanticinformationofwordsGrammaticalclassificationGrammaticalmarkers/syntacticmarkers:Vtrfortransitiveverb,NcforconcretenounSemanticinformationSystematicpart:semanticmarkers(语义标记)suchas(Male),(Female),(Human),(Animal)Idiosyncraticinformation:distinguishers(辨义成分),moreword-specificEx.bachelora.[whohasnevermarried];b.[youngknightservingunderthestandardofanotherknight];c.[whohasthefirstorlowestacademicdegree];d.[youngfursealwhenwithoutamateduringthebreedingtime].Projectionrules:responsibleforcombiningthemeaningsofwordstogetherSNPVPDetNVNPthemanhitsDetNPtheAdjNcolorfulballSelectionrestrictionsProblemsThedistinctionbetweensemanticmarkeranddistinguisherisnotveryclear.Ex.(Young)Thecollocationofwordsmaynotbeaccountedforbygrammaticalmarkers,semanticmarkersorselectionrestrictions.Ex.a.Hesaidhellotothenurseandshegreetedback.b.Mycousinisamalenurse.c.?Mycousinisafemalenurse.ProblemsTheuseofsemanticmarkerslike(Human),(Male)and(Adult),iselementsofanartificialmeta-language.5.5.2LogicalSemanticsPREPOSITIONALLOGIC(命题逻辑)/PROPOSITIONALCALCULUS(命题演算)/SENTENTIALCALCULUS(句子演算):thestudyofthetruthconditionsforpropositions,i.e.,howthetruthofacompositepropositionisdeterminedbythetruthvalueofitsconstituentpropositionsandtheconnectionsbetweenthemTruthvalue:truthorfalseNOTE:Thetruthvalueofacompositeproposition(复合命题)isthefunctionof,orisdeterminedby,thetruthvaluesofitscomponentpropositionsandlogicalconnectives(逻辑连词)usedinit.Apropositionpone-placeconnective:onepropositionisinvolvednegation～or﹁two-placeconnective:twopropositionsareinvolvedconjunction(合取连词)&disjunction(析取连词)∨implication(蕴涵连词)equivalence(等值连词)≡orTruthtableforthetwo-placeconnectivespqp&qp∨qpqp≡qTTTTTTTFFTFFFTFTTFFFFFTTConnectiveconjunction:similartotheEnglish“and”Whenbothconjunctsaretrue,thecompositepropositionwillbetrue.Connectivedisjunction:similartotheEnglish“or”Onlywhenandaslongasoneoftheconstituentsistrue,thecompositepropositionwillbetrue.Connectiveimplication/conditionalimplication:correspondstotheEnglish“if…then”Unlesstheantecedentistrueandtheconsequenceisfalsethecompositepropositionwillbetrue.Connectiveequivalence/biconditional:correspondsto“iff…then”Thecompositepropositionistrueifandonlyifbothconstituentpropositionsareofthesametruthvalue,whethertrueorfalse.C.f.Negation&“not”Withcomplementaryantonyms,thedenialofoneistheassertionoftheother.Withgradable,thatisnotnecessarilythecase.E.g.Johnisn’told.Johnisold.C.f.Conjunction&“and”Conjunct