Introduction to linguistics II 1 FACULTY OF ENGLISH

Introduction to linguistics II 1 FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE G. TOGIA SECTION ΠΗ-Ω 10/14/2009

Reading material 2 1. Dirven, R. & M. Verspoor (1998). Cognitive Exploration of Language and Linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Chapters 2, 7, and 8. 2. Yule, G. (2006) (3 rd edition). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge Press. Chapters 10, 11, 12, 18 and 19. 3. Handouts. 4. Self-assessment tests. 2

Aim of the course 3 To become familiar with issues relating to: the study of linguistic meaning, comprising semantic, pragmatic and textual parameters in the production and understanding of utterances in discourse. the study of language in its regional and social dimensions. 3

Part 1: Semantics 4 CONCEPTUAL AND ASSOCIATIVE MEANING SEMANTIC FEATURES SEMANTIC/THEMATIC ROLES PROTOTYPES LEXICAL RELATIONS 10/14/2009

Today’s topics 5 Conceptual and associative meaning Semantic features Semantic/thematic roles You can study these topics in: George Yule: Chapter 10. 5

Semantics 6 Semantics is the study of the meaning of Natural Language expressions: Expressions include words, phrases, and sentences. What is the goal of such study? Provide a definition of meaning. Explain semantic relations between expressions. 6

What is meaning? an example 7 Mare – stallion Heavy – light 7

What is meaning? Dictionary definitions? 8 How can we define meaning? Is it the dictionary definition of a word? Problem: circularity e. g. pride: the belief that you are better or more important than other people. 8

What is meaning? Mental images? 9 So, we need to find a way of viewing meaning independent of language. Is meaning the mental image conjured up by a word (e. g. Parthenon, Big Ben)? 9

What is meaning? Reference? 10 Is meaning the thing a word points to in the world, that is, its referent? 10

What is meaning? 11 Meaning is something that speakers of a language know. Linguistic vs. encyclopedic knowledge 11

Conceptual and associative meaning 12 Words do not have single, simple meanings. Conceptual meaning: the basic elements conveyed by the literal meaning of a word. Associative meaning (or connotation): the associations (emotional or otherwise) a word evokes. 12

Conceptual and associative meaning: example 13 Take the words apple or organic. Or, the words woman and chick. Or, the words innocent and genuine. 13

Semantics 14 SEMANTIC FEATURES 10/14/2009

Why is conceptual meaning helpful? 15 It allows us to account for the oddity of sentences such as: ? The apple ate the hay. ? The dog read the newspaper. ? Definiteness melted in the sun. Syntactically good, but semantically odd. Why? 15

Semantic features: definition 16 A procedure for analysing meaning into its crucial elements or features. Helps us to differentiate the meaning of one word from another. Words are composed of smaller meaning components, which are combined to form different words. 16

Semantic features: examples 17 Woman: [+animate], [+human], [+female], [+adult] Boy: [+animate], [+human], [-female], [-adult] Horse: [+animate], [-human], [-female], [+adult], [+equine] 17

Semantic features: examples 18 The same feature may be part of the meaning of many words: “human” : helps us to define, bachelor, parent, child, etc. Woman, maiden in comparison with doctor, parent. Child in comparison with doctor, parent. Think of the words father and uncle. 18

Semantic features: problem 19 There are many words in a language that cannot be defined in terms of their semantic features. E. g. advice, threat, warning. Exercises 1 - 4 19

Semantics 20 SEMANTIC/THEMATIC ROLES 10/14/2009

Semantic/thematic roles 21 Semantic features approach: Words are thought of as ‘containers’ of meaning. Semantic roles approach: Another way to analyse meaning: words can be thought of in terms of the ‘roles’ they fulfill in the situation described in a sentence. 21

Semantic/thematic roles 22 An example: The cat chased the mouse 2 entities in specific roles: The entity which carries out the action The entity which is affected by the action 22

The number of semantic roles 23 There is a small number of semantic roles: Agent and theme. Instrument and experiencer. Location, source and goal. Role assigners are mostly verbs and prepositions. 23

Agent and theme 1 24 The boy kicked the ball. The boy: Agent The ball: Theme can also be an entity described: • My dress is red. 24

Agent and theme 2 25 The wind opened the door. The earthquake destroyed the city. The dog bit the girl. The girl cut herself. Agents and themes can be human and non-human. 25

Instrument and experiencer 26 The boy cut the rope with a knife. A knife: Instrument The girl feels sad. Did you hear that noise? The girl, you: Experiencer E. g. See, hear, enjoy, know. 26

Location 27 The ball is under the bed. The bed: Location Examples: on the table, in the house, etc. 27

Source, goal 28 She moved from Greece to England. Greece: Source England: Goal/recipient Examples: She borrowed a magazine from George. Source She handed the magazine back to George. Goal Exercises 5 - 9 28

Summary 29 Semantics is: the study of words, phrases and sentences. When discussing meaning some linguists are interested mainly in conceptual meaning, others in both conceptual and associative meaning. In this course, we will focus on conceptual meaning. 29

Summary 30 We can think of the conceptual meaning of words as: The crucial features that differentiate the meaning of words. The roles words fulfil in the situation described by a sentence. 30

Next week. . . 31 Polysemy. Homonymy. Homophony. Prototypes. Metonymy and metaphor. 31