ENG508 Midterm Short Notes Set 2 by MAS All Rounder

A Comparative Table of Semantics & Pragmatics · Semantics Vs Pragmatics · Semantics · Pragmatics

Study of the relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent. study of meaning as communicated by the speaker and interpreted by the listener

Literal ( lafzi matlab) (e.g. “God is one” show clear meaning, no confusion) Invisible / non-literal (e.g. Khuda ganjy ko nakhan na day)

de-contextualized Contextualized (background knowledge context) Grammatical (e.g.as we say yes for consent) Expression-based (e.g. as we show thumb up to give consent with smile) is always an attempt to focus on what the words mean is always an attempt to focus on what the speaker/listener mean relationships between signs and symbols Relationship between speaker and listener In the semantic analysis, there is always an attempt to focus on what the words conventionally mean Pragmatics is the study of “invisible” meaning, or how we recognize what is meant even when it isn’t actually said or written Linguistic semantics is the study of how languages organize and express meanings (Kreidler, 1998). The relationship between the linguistic form and communicative function is of central interest in “Pragmatics”.

pragmatics is concerned with what is conveyed by a particular utterance of a phrase, by a speaker, in a context. Sentence meaning Speaker meaning Truth-conditional Non-truth-conditional Encoded Inferred Sentences are abstract linguistic structures Utterance will have spatio-temporal and physical properties Sentences are linguistic entities An utterance is an instance of the production of a sentence or a fragment of a sentence

Q What is Semantics?

The field of linguistics which is concerned with the study of meaning in language is called Semantics. Semantics is the part of linguistics that is concerned with the study of literal, decontextualized and grammatical meaning (Frawley, 1992). Semantics can also refer to the branch of study within linguistics that deals with language and how we understand meaning. This has been a particularly interesting field for philosophers as they debate the essence of meaning, how we build meaning, how we share meaning with others, and how meaning changes over time. Linguistic semantics is the study of how languages organize and express meanings (Kreidler, 1998)..

Q What is Pragmatics?

Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics, which is the study of language. Pragmatics focuses on conversational implicature, which is a process in which the speaker implies and a listener infers. Simply put, pragmatics studies language that is not directly spoken. Instead, the speaker hints at or suggests a meaning, and the listener assumes the correct intention.

Pragmatics is the study of meaning as communicated by the speaker and interpreted by the listener”. According to Yule (2010), ‘Pragmatics is the study of “invisible” meaning, or how we recognize what is meant even when it isn’t actually said or written’. This includes background knowledge context i.e. people know about each other and the world. Pragmatics may vary from culture to culture.

Q Differentiate Utterances, Sentences, and Proposition.

 Utterance

Definition:An utterance is any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which there is silence on the part of that person.

Rule: An utterance is the use by a particular speaker, on a particular occasion, of a piece of language, such as a sequence of sentences, or a single phrase, or even a single word. Example:‘Hello’, ‘Not much’ are utterances. Where as,‘Pxgotmgt’ and

‘Schplotzenpflaaaaaaargh!’ are not utterances because these strings of sounds is not from any language.

 Sentence

Definition: A sentence is neither a physical event nor a physical object. It is, conceived abstractly, a string of words put together by the grammatical rules of a language. A sentence can be thought of as the ideal string of words behind various realizations in utterances and inscriptions.

Rule: We have defined a sentence as a string of words. A given sentence always consists of the same words, and in the same order. Any change in the words, or in their order, makes a different sentence, for our purposes.

Example:

a) Helen rolled up the carpet

a)Sincerity may frighten the boy

 Proposition

Definition: A proposition is that part of the meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence which describes some state of affairs.

The state of affairs typically involves persons or things referred to by expressions in the sentence and the situation or action they are involved in. In uttering a declarative sentence a speaker typically asserts a proposition. It contains predicate(Aspect of entity, quality, state, activity, relation with other entity/ things)+Argument(entity, some sort of thing).

Rule: The notion of truth can be used to decide whether two sentences express different propositions. Thus if there is any conceivable set of circumstances in which one sentence is true, while the other is false, we can be sure that they express different propositions.

True propositions correspond to facts, in the ordinary sense of the word fact. False propositions do not correspond to facts.

Example

In the present-day world, a) Is it a fact that there are lions in Africa? Yes / No b) Is the proposition that there are lions in Africa a true proposition? Yes / No

Q Differentiate Language and Logic

The difference between language and logic is that language is (countable) a form of communication using words either spoken or gestured with the hands and structured with grammar, often with a writing system while logic is (uncountable) a method of human thought that involves thinking in a linear, step-by-step manner about how a problem can be solved logic is the basis of many principles including the scientific method. The difference between language and logic is that language is to communicate by language; to express in language while logic is (pejorative) to engage in excessive or inappropriate application of logic.

Q What is Compositionality?

Propositions are the meanings that are expressed by declarative sentences; can be the contents of thoughts. The logical meaning of simple propositions is determined by the principle of compositionality. Compositionality holds that the meaning of a whole is made up by combining together, by ‘adding’, the meaning of its parts. Thus, the meaning of a proposition is composed of the meaning of subject plus meaning of the predicate.

Q Define Explicit and the Implicit meanings. Explicit concern obvious meaning and Implicit concern unobvious meaning. So if something was explicit in a text, it means that the information is clearly stated for you. E.g. Josh was wearing a blue, woolly hat yesterday morning. The colour of his hat is explicit information that we have learnt. However, implicit information is what we are not told but we can guess. E.g. Josh was wearing a blue, woolly hat yesterday morning. We could guess that it was cold yesterday morning because Josh is wearing a blue, woolly hat. The sentence doesn't tell us this information directly, but we know that