Semantics

Incheol Choi

Truth-conditional semantics• Truth-conditional semantics. The truth conditions of a

sentence are the conditions that must obtain in the world in order for the sentence to be considered true.

• In the sentence pairs, it would be impossible for one sentence to be true without the other also being true. Thus, they are truth-conditionally the same.– The police chased the burglar. / The burglar was chased by the

police.– I gave the summons to Erin. / I gave Erin the summons.

Entailments• Given two sentences S 1 and S2, suppose that any world condition

which makes S 1 true also makes S2 true. Then we say that S 1 entails S2.– John owns a poodle.– John owns a dog.

• Since alI poodles are dogs, it follows that whenever John owns a poodle he must own a dog. So whenever S1 is true then S2 is also true. Thus S1 entails S2.

1. Dana met an Italian communist.______ Dana met a communist.

2 . Dana met an alleged communist._______ Dana met a communist.

3 . Kim ate breakfast today at 8 a.m._______ Kim ate breakfast today.

Downward vs. Upward entailing• If ‘Det Fs are G’ entails ‘Det Es are G’ and F⊇E, then F

is downward-entailing– ‘Every dog is white’ entails ‘Every large dog is white’.– ‘No dogs are white’ entails ‘No large dogs are white’.– ‘Few dogs are white’ entails ‘Few large dogs are white’.

• If ‘Det Fs are G’ entails ‘Det Es are G’ and F⊆E, then F is upward-entailing– ‘Some dogs are white’ does not entails ‘Some large dogs are

whitecf. ‘Some large dogs are white’ entails ‘Some dogs are white’.

– ‘Four large dogs are white’ entails ‘Four dogs are white’.

Downward vs. Upward entailing• If ‘Det Fs are G’ entails ‘Det Fs are H’ and G⊇H, then G

is downward-entailing– ‘No one is whistling’ entails ‘No one is whistling “Dixie” ’.– ‘Few people are whistling’ entails ‘Few people are whistling

“Dixie” ’.

• If ‘Det Fs are G’ entails ‘Det Fs are H’ and G⊆H, then G is upward-entailing– ‘Everyone is whistling’ does not entails ‘Everyone is whistling

“Dixie” ‘.cf. ‘Everyone is whistling “Dixie” ’ entails ‘Everyone is whistling’.

– “Someone is whistling “Dixie” ‘ entails ‘Someone is whistling’.

ParaphrasesIf S 1 and S2 entail each other, then we saythat S1 and S2 are paraphrases.

ex. S1. I can’t stand lima beans. S2. Lima beans, I can’t stand.

ex. S1. John sold a car to Bill.S2. Bill bought a car from John.

Contraries and contradiction

• Contraries– Proposition A is contrary to proposition A’

when they cannot both be true.• no angels can fly -- All angels can fly

• Contradiction (logical negation)– when A and A’ cannot both be true and

cannot both be false.• no angels can fly – some angels can fly

Contradiction: Necessarily false (i.e. false under all world conditions).

- The bachelor is married.

Tautology: Necessarily true (i.e. true under all world conditions).

- That bachelor is unmarried.

Sense vs. Reference• She bought a dog

– The underlined nominals identify or refer to specific entities in the world. The relationship by which language hooks onto the world is usually called reference extension.

– Sense is what one can understand from the words alone, divorcing from the context of use Intension: e.g. she [+ pronoun, + female..]

• The evening star is the morning star.– The sentence above is true from an earthly

perspective, but can be false in other world since morning and evening do not mean the same.

Ambiguity

The principle of Compositionality

• The meaning of a sentence is determined by the meaning of its component parts and the manner in which they are arranged in syntactic structure.

– Lexical ambiguity– Structural ambiguity

Lexical ambiguity

• Polysemy and homophony create lexical ambiguity– polysemy: a mark on the road / punctuation mark

here / a good mark on the math test.– homophony: light ‘not heavy’ / light ‘illumination’

He got a loan from the bank.Liz bought a pen

(Because Liz needed a place to keep her guinea pig, she went downtown and bought a pen for $20.)

Structural ambiguity

• wealthy men and women

NPAP N

N Con N

wealthy men and women

wealthy men and women

NP

NP NP

AP

NA Con N

Exercise: structural ambiguity

• The sentences below are ambiguous. Explain the ambiguity by using tree diagrams.

– Nicole saw the people with binoculars.

– the daughter of a preacher who became a drug abuser

Thematic Roles• Agent the one who performs an action• Theme the one or thing that is acted upon• Location the place where the action occurs• Goal the place to which action is directed• Source the place from which an action originates• Instrument the means by which an action is

performed• Experiencer one who perceives something or takes

on a state of being• Causative a natural force that causes a change• Possessor one who has something

put <(agent), theme, goal>Someone put my keys in the recycling bin.My keys were put in the recycling bin.My keys were put in the recycling bin by someone.*Someone put the keys.*Someone put in the recycling bin.

Negation

1. Logical Negation1. a The cat is on the mat.

b The cat is not on the mat.2. a John smokes.

b John doesn’t smoke.

b is true whenever a is false, and vice versa.

Logical Negation Rule (tentative version 1). To form the logical negation of sentence S, change the sentence in the following way: Negate sentence S. (I.e. place not after the finite auxiliary V; if the finite V is not an auxiliary, then add do not).

assertive words non-assertive words (‘Negative Polarity Items’ or NPIs)

some anysome-one/body/thing/where any-one/thing/where

sometimes ever

3. a. John bought somethingb. John didn’t buy anything.

4. a. John walked somewhere.b. John didn’t walk anywhere.

Logical Negation Rule 2: To form the logical negation of sentence S, change sentences S in the following way: Negate sentence S and change assertive words to NPIs.

5. a. John sometimes acts silly.

b. *John ever doesn’t act silly.

c. John sometimes doesn’t acts silly.

d. John never acts silly.

Q: Which one is the logical negation of 5a?

A: 5d

Q: Does 5b raise any problem with respect to Logical Negation Rule II?

A: Yes

Assertive words NPIs Negative Words

some any none/nosome-one /body /thing/where

any-one/ body /thing/where

no-one/body /thing/where

sometimes ever never

NPI rule: An NPI must be preceded by some negative element.

What happens if an assertive word precedes V?

6 a. Someone is at the door.

b. *Anyone isn’t at the door.

c. No one is at the door.

The negation of sentence with several assertives, one preceding V:

7 a. John sometimes buys something for some of his friends.

b. John never buys anything for any of his friends.

Subordinate Clause:

8 a. I don’t think [that any rain fell anywhere else].

He had not realized [that anytime had elapsed].

Other NPI ‘licensers’ besides negation

9 a. John doubts that he will ever discover the truth.

We are surprised that he bought anything at all.

John is sorry that he ever came here.

It is strange that anyone could solve the mystery so quickly.

Markedness and Blocking Effects

Marked and unmarked adjectives• *a female nurse vs. a male nurse

– Being female is unmarked for nurses whereas being male is a marked state for nurses.e.g. midwives, prostitutes, ballet dancers,

housekeeperse.g. policeman, salesman, postman, fireman,

chairman

• Does the notion of markedness explain the different acceptability between the two sentences below:

* Jane is an eyed and haired girl.Jane is a blue-eyed and long-haired girl.

Positive / Negativelong : short, old : young, wide : narrow

– positive – unmarked: long, old, wide– negative – marked: short, young, narrow

The English word formation below reflects the semantic property:– common >> uncommon– wise >> unwise– frequent >> infrequent– ( man >> woman ??? )

Making positives out of negatives with a prefix is rare.

Adjectives and Markedness

• When you ask someone’s age or height:(a) how old’s your brother?(b) how tall’s your sister?(c) ! how young’s your brother?(d) ! how short’s your sister?– presupposition for (c) and (d)?

Quantification and Markedness• Quantification: the preference for unmarked form in

quantification of a simple adjective– Mount Fuji is 4000 meters high. * … 4000 meters low.– that train was only 15 meters long. * … 15 meters short.

• nominalization – long : short - length fat : skinny – fatness– wide : narrow – width thick : thin – thickness– deep : shallow – depth sharp : dull – sharpness– What is the length of this train?– What is the width of your street?

• Negative adjectives are marked because they have an extra element [Neg].

Lexical blocking

• Which sentence are you going to use, when you are bitten by a dog? i.e. a fox-terrior? a dog– I was bitten by a fox-terrier.– I was bitten by a dog.

– I was bitten by a pit-bull.– I was bitten by a dog.

Principles of Contrast• If there is a common word that means just what you want

to say, you should use it rather than some more general word. For example, If you saw a cow in my office, how would you say:– I saw an animal in his office!– I saw a cow in his office!

• Cow [marked one] blocks other words, words of more general meaning [unmarked one]: Principles of Contrast: It does not mean that one does or should choose words that are as specific as possible, but only that when one selects a specific word, there is something in that extra meaning that one wants to communicate.

Blocking• The word sheep is blocked by lamb if their youth

is important.

• These blocking relationships sometimes lead people to think that the general word has two meanings, but it is misconception.

lamb

sheep

[Yng] [Neg-Yng]

[Shp]

If age is known and relevant

If otherwise (‘unmarked)

Blocking: goose vs. gander• Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary: goose – goose,

female goose (presupposition).

• The word goose is not ambiguous in fact: the blocking effect

gander

goose

[Msc] [Fem]

If sex is relevant

sex unknown, mixed or irrelevant

thumb/finger• thumb naturally blocks finger when we talk about thumbs.

• Lexical blocking prevents the use of the general term only in specific circumstances, which, if common, can make it look ambiguous with a general meaning and a specific meaning.

thumbfinger

[opposed] [any other]

if which one is relevant

if which one is unimportant

(but this is rare)

Blocking effect

• The blocking effect explains why there are some missing composition of words:– ! to cause X to die kill X– When can we use ‘to cause X to die’.

• Using a marked word when its unmarked counterpart would do as well is appropriate only if that extra element is true and important to the communication..

Adjectives and Blocking Effects

• He is not\ happy.[it is not true that he is happy: vaguely

(un)happy or unhappy]• He is not happy\

[vaguely (un)happy, but not unhappy]• He is unhappy

Aspect and Aspectual Classes

Aspectual Classes• State (cf. stative verbs: own, be + adjectives)

– John wears glasses.– They believe in ghosts.

• Achievement (cf. achievement verbs: find, recognize)– John awoke.– Mary reached the top.

• Accomplishment (cf. accomplishment verbs: build, repair)– Shelby ate the bone.– John walked to the school.

• Activity (cf. active verbs: laugh, run)– Shelby ran around in the yard.– John walked in the park.

• Semelfactives (e.g. knock, hiccup, flap)– He knocked at the door.

Progressive• The progressive cannot be used easily with states.

This is because a state does not have a natural point of termination of the event.– *He is being tall.– cf. He’s being silly.– *You are knowing me.– I am believing this theory more and more.

• The progressive is not compatible with the meaning of the achievement. When the progressive is used with the achievement, the event will have the stretching of the event or iterative meaning.– I was jumping over the fence when the shot rang out.– The firecrackers were exploding when she kissed him.

Completion

• Accomplishment verbs depict an action that includes the end-point.– *I bribed the mayor, but she refused to accept the

bribe.– *He started the motor, but it was too cold to start.

• for vs. in– He drank my beer for ten minutes.– *He drank up my beer for ten minutes.– He drank up my beer in ten minutes.

2016 서술형 문제

(1) a. They built the barn. (telic)b. They reached the summit.

(2) a. The room was sunny. (atelic)b. The choir sang.

Distribution of in/for adverbials(3) a. They built the barn in two days.

b. #They built the barn for two days.(4) a. They reached the summit in half an hour.

b. #They reached the summit for half an hour.(5) a. #The room was sunny in an hour.

b. The room was sunny for an hour.

Ambiguitycf. (6) a. The room will be sunny in an hour.

b. They will build the barn in two days.

2016 서술형 문제

(i) a. John walked to the park.b. John walked in the park.

(ii) a. John will arrive at the station in five minutes.b. John will eat the pizza in five minutes.c. John will play football in five minutes.

- TASK Identification1. Identify the type of event, telic or atelic, that each sentence of (i) describes.2. choose ONE ambiguous sentence in (ii) and explain why it is ambiguous.

Brainstorming for TASK 1

a. John walked to the park.b. John walked in the park.a’. John walked to the park in 5 minutes.a’’. *John walked to the park for 5 minutes.b’. John walked in the park in 5 minutes.b’’. John walked in the park for 5 minutes.a: telic eventb: atelic event

Brainstorming for TASK 2a. John will arrive at the station in five minutes.b. John will eat the pizza in five minutes.c. John will play football in five minutes.

b’. John will eat the pizza and the event will be completed in 5 minutes. (event duration interpretation)b’’. John will begin to eat the pizza in 5 minutes. (event delay interpretation)

In event duration interpretation, the completion of the event will take five minutes. On the other hand, In the event delay interpretation, the event for eating the pizza can be started after five minutes. So the five minutes specifies the time that elapses before beginning of the eating the pizza event.

2009년 중등 임용시험 (2차)When speaking or writing in English, Korean high school students frequently makemistakes with stative verbs like know and dynamic verbs like wipe. Your task is toexplain how the two types of verbs differ in usage. First, explain the semantic differencebetween stative and dynamic verbs. Second, using your own examples, explain how andwhy the two types of verbs behave differently with respect to manner adverbs,progressives, and imperatives. Use approximately 200 words (20 lines). [15 points]

Identification of TasksWhen speaking or writing in English, Korean high school students frequently makemistakes with stative verbs like know and dynamic verbs like wipe. Your task is toexplain how the two types of verbs differ in usage. [1]First, explain the semantic differencebetween stative and dynamic verbs. Second, using your own examples, [2]explain how andwhy the two types of verbs behave differently with respect to [2-1]manner adverbs,[2-2]progressives, and [2-3]imperatives. Use approximately 200 words (20 lines). [15 points]

Brainstorming

1. The semantic differencebetween stative and dynamic verbs

- Stative verbs: don’t have well-defined beginning and end points. A state of affairs- Dynamic verbs: refer to an event with a definite beginning and end points.

Brainstorming• Differences (using examples)

– Manner adverbs• Carefully, reluctantly, …Mary wiped the floor carefully.*Mary knows the fact carefully.

– ProgressivesMary was wiping the floor.*Mary was knowing the fact

– ImperativesWipe the floor right now!*Know the fact right now!

Broadly speaking, verbs refer either to an event or a state. Dynamic verbs like ‘wipe’ refer to an event, or a happening thought as a single occurrence with a definite beginning and end. On the other hand, stative verbs describe a state of affairs which continues over a period and need not have a well-defined beginning and end. This difference results in several different behaviors in usage between these two types of verbs.

First, dynamic verbs can be modified by manner adverbs, while stative verbs cannot. This is because manner adverbs are only compatible with some verbs describing events. The sentences in (1) illustrate the contrast.

(1) (a) Mary wipe the floor carefully.(b) *Mary knows the fact carefully.

Second, stative verbs, in contrast with dynamic verbs, do not involve any specific time span. Therefore, dynamic verbs can take the progressive aspect whereas stative verbs generally cannot, as in (2).

(2)(a) Mary was wiping the floor.(b)* Mary was knowing the fact.

Third, stative verbs do not occur in imperatives, but dynamic verbs do as (3) presents:

(3)(a) Wipe the floor right now!(b) *Know the fact right now!

In sum, dynamic verbs can go well with expressions whose meaning is inherently relevant with an event. In contrast. these expressions should not co-occur with stative verbs.

scope• Quantifier scope: the scope a quantifier affects in a syntactic

structure.• In interpretation, the quantifier should be separated from the

general predicate structure. (Frege)– Every cat is proud of its whiskers.– (every cat) (it is proud of its whiskers) ; it is a place holder like a

pronoun.• Universal Quantifier vs. Existential Quantifier

– Everyone sang: ∀x [S(x)] ; for every value for x, S(x) is true.– Someone sang: ∃x [S(x)] ; for some value for x, S(x) is true.– Every girl sang: ∀x [G(x)S(x)]; for every value of x it holds that

[G(x)S(x)] is true.– Some girl sang: ∃x [G(x) ˄ S(x)] ; there is at least one value for

x for which [G(x) ˄ S(x)] is true.

Scope

• The scope of a quantifier is driven by syntactic structure. (direct scope)

• Everyone likes someone: ∀x ∃y [L(x, y)]• Someone likes everyone: ∃x ∀y [L(x, y)]

Scope ambiguity

• In some cases, a quantificational expression semantically behaves as if it appeared in a different position than its actual position in the sentence (inverse scope effect)– Everyone loves someone.

• Universal quantifier has wide scope.– Each person has one person who he or her loves ∀x

∃y [L(x, y)]

• Universal quantifier has narrow scope; existential quantifier has wide scope

– There is one person that everybody loves ∃y ∀x [L(x, y)]

Scope ambiguity

• In some cases, a quantificational expression semantically behaves as if it appeared in a different position than its actual position in the sentence (inverse scope effect)– Someone loves everyone

• Some lover to each person ∀y ∃x [L(x, y)]• Someone is a universal lover ∃x ∀y [L(x, y)]

Scope ambiguity

• every man isn’t hungry.– [[every man]I [it is not the case that [ei is

hungry]]]– ∀x[man(x) ¬ ∃x hungry(x)]– [[it is not the case that [[every man[I p[ei is

hungry]]]– ¬∀x[man(x) hungry(x)]

18 기출

There are expressions that are ambiguous because of scope interaction between a quantifier and another quantifier or between a quantifier and a negative expression. Consider the following sentences.(1) a. Every boy likes a girl.

b. Every student respects a professor.Sentence (1a) and sentence (1b) are ambiguous because every boy and every student can have a wide scope over a girl and a professor, and a girl and a professor can have a wide scope over every boy and every student, respectively.

(2) a. Every student has not done their assignment.b. I have not eaten all the cookies.

In (2a) and (2b), every student and all the cookies can have a wide scope over not, and not can have a wide scope over every student and all the cookies.Sentence (3) below is ambiguous. Write TWO possible meanings of the sentence and state how its ambiguity can be explained in terms of scope interaction.

(3) Mary refused to visit every city that Tom visited.