Semantic Sense in Language Expressions
Part 2 – Practice: 5-12
And
13-15
Semantic Unit 3
Sense
The
sense
of an expression is its place in the system of semantic
relationships with other expressions in the language.
Words, Phrases, and Sentences have sense
Sameness of Meaning
:
I
almost / nearly
fell over. S/D
It is
likely / probable
that Raymond will be here tomorrow. S/D
Your gatepost doesn’t seem to be quite
vertical / upright
. S/D
He painted the fireplace
aquamarine / vermillion
. S/D
I’ll see you on
Wednesday / Thursday
. S/D
Sense of Phrases and Sentences
Intuitively, do the following pairs mean the same thing?
(1) Rupert took off his jacket
Rupert took his jacket off
(2) Harriet wrote the answer down
Harriet wrote down the answer
(3) Bachelors prefer redheads
Girls with red hair are preferred by unmarried men
In some cases, the same word can have more than one sense!
Does the word
bank
have the same meaning in the following sentence pairs?
(1) 1 have an account at the Bank of Scotland
We steered the raft to the other bank of the river Yes/No
(2)
The DC-10 banked sharply to avoid a crash
I banked the furnace up with coke last night Yes/No
Sentences can have more than one Sense
(1) Write down two sentences bringing out clearly the two different
meanings of
The chicken is ready to eat.
(2) Write down two sentences 'bringing out clearly the two different senses
of
He greeted the girl with a smile.
(3) Do likewise for
He turned over the field.
On the relationship between sense and reference:
Referent
of an expression is often a
thing or a person
in the world;
Sense
of an expression is
not a thing at all
.
In fact, it is difficult to say what sort of entity the sense of an expression is.
It is much easier to say whether or not two expressions have the same
sense.
.
When a person understands fully what is said to him, it is reasonable
to say that he grasps the sense of the expressions he hears
Every expression
that has
meaning has sense
, but
not
every expression has
reference
.
Do these words refer to things in the world?
1. Almost 2. Probable 3. And 4.If
1. When you look up the meaning of a word in the dictionary,
what do you find there, it’s referent, or an expression with
the same sense?
(2) Is a dictionary full of words or full of things, like a box or a
sack?
Sense
-
continued
(3) Could a foreigner learn the meanings of his very first
words of English by having their typical referents
pointed out to him?
Yes / No
(4) Could a foreigner learn the meanings of his very first
words of English by looking them up in an English
dictionary?
Yes /No
Comment:
There is something essentially circular about the set of definitions in a
dictionary. Similarly, defining the senses of words and other
expressions often has something of this circular nature. This is not
necessarily a bad thing, and in any case it is often unavoidable, since in
" many cases (e.g. cases of expressions that have no referents:
and,
etc.)
there is no way of indicating the meaning of an expression except with
other words.
Circular Nature of Definitions
Propositions are Complete Independent Thoughts
Are the senses of the following expressions propositions?
(1) Johnny has got a new master Yes
/
No
(2) A new master
(not understood as an elliptical sentence-
fragment)
Yes
/
No
(3) Johnny
(not understood as an elliptical sentence-
fragment)
Yes
/
No
(4) This is the house that Jack built
Yes /No
To the extent that perfect translation between languages is possible
(and this is a very debatable point), the same sense can be said to belong
to expressions in different languages.
(I) Do
AI. Berger s 'est rase ce marin
and
AI. Berger shaved
himself this morning
express the same proposition?
Yes/No
(2) Do the two sentences in (I) have the same sense?
Yes/No
(3) Do the expressions
ce marin
and
this morning
have the
Yes/No
same sense?
(4) Do the expressions
s 'est rase
and
shaved himselfhave
the same sense?
Yes/No
(5) Does
ein unverheirateter Mann
have the same sense as
an unmarried man?
Yes
/
No
Comment
Just as one can talk of the
same sense in different Languages
, so one can
talk of expressions in
different dialects
of one language as having the
same sense
.
Different Dialects, Same Sense
(l
) Do
pavement
in British English and
sidewalk
in American
English have the same sense?
Yes/No
(2) Do
pal
and
chum
have the same sense?
Yes/No
(3) Can expressions with entirely different social conno-
tations have the same sense? For example, can the
following have the same sense?
People walking in close spatio-temporal proximity
People walking near each other
Yes/No
Both referring and uttering are acts performed, by par-
ticular speakers on particular occasions.
Imagine that a friend of yours says to you, "John is putting on weight
these days", and imagine that a friend of ours (Le, the authors of this
book) happens to utter the same sentence to us one day.
(1) Would this be a case of one utterance or two?
-----------------------------------
(2) Would the John refereed to be the same John or two different Johns? '
-----------------------------------
In the two separate utterances above, there are
two separate acts of
referring
. In fact, most utterances contain, or are accompanied by, one
or more acts of referring. An act of referring is the
picking out of a .
particular referent by a speaker
in the course of a particular utterance.
Reference VS Sense
What is intended by the word
mean, meaning,
etc. in the following
examples, reference
(R)
or sense (S)? .
(I) When' Helen mentioned "the fruit cake", she meant that
rock-hard object in the middle of the table. R/S
(2) When Albert talks about "his former friend" he means me. R/S
(3) Daddy, what does
unique
mean?
R/S
(4) Purchase
has the same meaning as
buy.
R/S
(5) Look up the meaning of
apoplexy
in your dictionary. R/S
(6) If you look out of the window now, you'll see who I mean. R/S
Sense
Reference
Idealization of our understanding
of meaning
We must act more certain than
we are about expressions and if
they have the same sense
More elusive than reference
More abstract
More concrete
Easier to be certain of
Can grasp the concept more
readily
Assignment for Next Class
Unit 4 – Referring Expressions
Practice: 1-6
Mid. 1
Wednesday, Oct. 17
In Class
Explore the concept of semantic sense in language expressions, including the relationship between sense and reference, multiple senses of words, and examples of phrases with different meanings. Discover how sense plays a crucial role in understanding language and communication.
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Semantic Unit 3 Part 2 Practice: 5-12 And 13-15
Sense The sense of an expression is its place in the system of semantic relationships with other expressions in the language. Words, Phrases, and Sentences have sense Sameness of Meaning: I almost / nearly fell over. S/D It is likely / probable that Raymond will be here tomorrow. S/D Your gatepost doesn t seem to be quite vertical / upright. S/D He painted the fireplace aquamarine / vermillion. S/D I ll see you on Wednesday / Thursday. S/D
Sense of Phrases and Sentences Intuitively, do the following pairs mean the same thing? (1) Rupert took off his jacket Rupert took his jacket off (2) Harriet wrote the answer down Harriet wrote down the answer (3) Bachelors prefer redheads Girls with red hair are preferred by unmarried men In some cases, the same word can have more than one sense! Does the word bank have the same meaning in the following sentence pairs? (1) 1 have an account at the Bank of Scotland We steered the raft to the other bank of the river Yes/No (2) The DC-10 banked sharply to avoid a crash I banked the furnace up with coke last night Yes/No
Sentences can have more than one Sense (1) Write down two sentences bringing out clearly the two different meanings of The chicken is ready to eat. (2) Write down two sentences 'bringing out clearly the two different senses of He greeted the girl with a smile. (3) Do likewise for He turned over the field. On the relationship between sense and reference: Referent of an expression is often a thing or a person in the world; Sense of an expression is not a thing at all. In fact, it is difficult to say what sort of entity the sense of an expression is. It is much easier to say whether or not two expressions have the same sense.
. When a person understands fully what is said to him, it is reasonable to say that he grasps the sense of the expressions he hears Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not every expression has reference. Do these words refer to things in the world? 1. Almost 2. Probable 3. And 4.If 1. When you look up the meaning of a word in the dictionary, what do you find there, it s referent, or an expression with the same sense? (2) Is a dictionary full of words or full of things, like a box or a sack?
Sense -continued (3) Could a foreigner learn the meanings of his very first words of English by having their typical referents pointed out to him? Yes / No (4) Could a foreigner learn the meanings of his very first words of English by looking them up in an English dictionary? Yes /No Comment: There is something essentially circular about the set of definitions in a dictionary. Similarly, defining the senses of words and other expressions often has something of this circular nature. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and in any case it is often unavoidable, since in " many cases (e.g. cases of expressions that have no referents: and, etc.) there is no way of indicating the meaning of an expression except with other words.
Circular Nature of Definitions Happy Glad Delighted Ecstatic Overjoyed Elated
Propositions are Complete Independent Thoughts Are the senses of the following expressions propositions? (1) Johnny has got a new master Yes / No (2) A new master (not understood as an elliptical sentence- fragment) (3) Johnny (not understood as an elliptical sentence- fragment) (4) This is the house that Jack built Yes / No Yes / No Yes /No To the extent that perfect translation between languages is possible (and this is a very debatable point), the same sense can be said to belong to expressions in different languages.
(I) Do AI. Berger s 'est rase ce marin and AI. Berger shaved himself this morning express the same proposition? Yes/No (2) Do the two sentences in (I) have the same sense? Yes/No (3) Do the expressions ce marin and this morning have the Yes/No same sense? (4) Do the expressions s 'est rase and shaved himselfhave the same sense? (5) Does ein unverheirateter Mann have the same sense as an unmarried man? Comment Just as one can talk of the same sense in different Languages, so one can talk of expressions in different dialects of one language as having the same sense. Yes/No Yes / No
Different Dialects, Same Sense (l) Do pavement in British English and sidewalk in American English have the same sense? Yes/No (2) Do pal and chum have the same sense? Yes/No (3) Can expressions with entirely different social conno- tations have the same sense? For example, can the following have the same sense? People walking in close spatio-temporal proximity People walking near each other Yes/No
Both referring and uttering are acts performed, by par- ticular speakers on particular occasions. Imagine that a friend of yours says to you, "John is putting on weight these days", and imagine that a friend of ours (Le, the authors of this book) happens to utter the same sentence to us one day. (1) Would this be a case of one utterance or two? ----------------------------------- (2) Would the John refereed to be the same John or two different Johns? ' ----------------------------------- In the two separate utterances above, there are two separate acts of referring. In fact, most utterances contain, or are accompanied by, one or more acts of referring. An act of referring is the picking out of a . particular referent by a speaker in the course of a particular utterance.
Reference VS Sense What is intended by the word mean, meaning, etc. in the following examples, reference (R) or sense (S)? . (I) When' Helen mentioned "the fruit cake", she meant that rock-hard object in the middle of the table. R/S (2) When Albert talks about "his former friend" he means me. R/S (3) Daddy, what does unique mean? (4) Purchase has the same meaning as buy. (5) Look up the meaning of apoplexy in your dictionary. R/S (6) If you look out of the window now, you'll see who I mean. R/S R/S R/S
Sense Reference Reference Idealization of our understanding of meaning We must act more certain than we are about expressions and if they have the same sense More elusive than reference More abstract More concrete Easier to be certain of Can grasp the concept more readily
Assignment for Next Class Unit 4 Referring Expressions Practice: 1-6 Mid. 1 Wednesday, Oct. 17 In Class
