1. Introduction to Semantics

2. Questions… ?

3. Semantics
Usually defined as that part of Linguistics that deals with meaning
This lecture will try to outline:
How to identify semantics and meaning?

4. References Introducing English Semantics (1998) by Charles W. Kreidler
Semantics (1997) by John I. Saeed
Semantics: a Coursebook (1983) by Hurford and Heasley
Semantics 2nd Edition by R.A. Palmer
Language Files: a compilation (Advocate Publishing Group)

5. Goals of this lecture
To clarify the domain of semantics in relation to linguistics and other disciplines
To emphasise that semantics is the study of one aspect of linguistic knowledge
To introduce some current issues

6. Part 1
Preliminaries

7. The problem of knowledge (I)
Here’s a perfectly ordinary English sentence:
Arnold Schwarzenegger is better at lifting things than he was at governing states.
Have you ever heard this sentence before?
Even if you haven’t you are still able to understand it.

8. Semantics as part of grammar
Grammar (in the linguist’s sense) is a characterisation of the knowledge of a speaker/hearer (to produce and comprehend the language)
Semantics is part of a speaker’s (listener’s) linguistic knowledge.
Therefore, semantics is part of grammar.
Speakers have some internalised knowledge such that:
They understand what other people mean
They are able to say what they mean

9. Compositionality
The guiding principle to explaining the productivity of meaning is the Principle of Compositionality
The meaning of a sentence is a function of the meaning of its component words and the way they’re combined.

10. Semantic Composition
Remember, we don’t just add up all the word meanings to get the meaning of the whole. If semantics worked this way, we should expect the two sentences the cat chased the dog and the dog chased the cat to mean exactly the same words or maybe the chased dog cat the

11. Remember, nor is the order of words the only thing that helps determine meaning, it can be shown by the dog chased the cat has the same meaning as the cat was chased by the dog

12. Knowledge of language and the world
semantics
How do we account for the relationship between words and concepts?
How is linguistic meaning related to the world?
How do we decode the meaning of complex sentences?
concepts/
thoughts
things

13. The problem of knowledge
But in characterising knowledge of meaning, we also have the problem of distinguishing linguistic knowledge from world knowledge
E.g. What is the meaning of the word ostrich?
Is your knowledge of the meaning independent of your experience of the world?

14. Semantic Triangle symbol referent object reference symbolizes
refers to
stands for

15. Ogden & Richards (1923): Symbols and Semantic Triangle
Concept
Thing
Symbol
“Jaguar“

16. So what can a semantic theory look like?
Part 2
So what can a semantic theory look like?

17. You made great black coffee.
An example situation
So did you like the food?
You made great black coffee.

18. Requirements for our theory (I)
What kinds of knowledge do you need to understand a reply such as you made great black coffee:
Word meaning:
black, coffee, great, make, you
Phrasal and sentence meaning (Compositionality):
black + coffee
You, (great + black + coffee) + (make + PAST)

19. Requirements for the theory (II)
You also need to consider contextualised meaning:
Only makes sense in a context where there is an interlocutor
The task:
Design a theory that will explain a speaker’s semantic knowledge, i.e.
Word meaning
Sentence meaning …
The solution:
Suppose we just claimed that meaning is about knowing “dictionary definitions”

20. Sentence Meaning The basic sentence type is declarative.
The main use of language is to describe states of affairs.
The meaning of sentences should be described in terms of truth and falsity

21. Problem 1: Word Meaning
Knowing the meaning of a word = knowing the definition
E.g. coffee = a beverage consisting of an infusion of ground coffee beans
Problems:
We need to know the meaning of the words making up the definition (infusion, coffee beans)!
This involves giving further definitions
Where would this process stop?
The problem here is trying to define word meaning using other words

22. Problem 2: World knowledge vs. Linguistic Knowledge
Suppose you think of coffee as:
black, hot, bitter…
Suppose I think of coffee as:
ground from coffee beans, obtained from a certain plant, grown in certain countries…
Which of the two conceptions is correct? Which of these aspects belongs to language, and which are “encyclopaedic knowledge”?

23. Problem 3: Individual differences
Whose definition is the best one?
My definition of coffee says that it’s typically black.
We might not agree precisely on the true meaning of the word black:
How dark must something be to qualify?
When does black become dark brown?
People often differ on the boundaries
This doesn’t seem to stop them understanding each other
Semantics should be able to identify core meaning independent of idiolect.

24. Problem 4: Context
The phrase you made great black coffee seems to acquire new shades of meaning in different contexts:
You’re a hopeless cook, but at least, the coffee was OK…
You completely failed to impress me…

25. What is meaning? Conceptual meaning and contextual meaning
1: conceptual meaning: basic, essential components of meaning which are conveyed by the literal use of a word.
2: contextual meaning: also called associative meaning or connotative meaning. Meaning conveyed in a specific context.
NOTE: semantics focuses its attention without considering the specific situation in which the word is used or the sentence is spoken.

26. Semantics vs. pragmatics
Many linguists make a distinction between
Literal/conventionalised meaning
“core meaning”, independent of context
This belongs to semantics proper
Speaker meaning & context
What a speaker means when they say something, over and above the literal meaning.
This and other “contextual” effects belong to pragmatics
NB. The distinction between semantics and pragmatics is not hard
Is the context-dependent meaning of you a matter for semantics or pragmatics?

27. Summary Semantics is part of linguistic and encyclopaedic knowledge
This is productive and systematic
Compositionality of meaning helps us to explain how people can interpret a potentially infinite number of sentences
Theories of linguistic meaning must account for distinctions between:
Linguistic knowledge and world knowledge
Literal meaning vs contextualised or non-literal meaning