Foundations of Meaning

context

refers to features of the dynamic setting in which a linguistic unit is used and which somehow determines its interpretation

conventional implicature

context dependent & arises as function of linguistic forms eg. “and” vs “but”

cooperative principle

that the conversational contribution meets the requirements, at the stage at which it occurs, of the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which one is engaged

implicature

what is suggested, although not expressed nor strictly entailed by an utterance

anaphora

a relation between 2 or more linguistic expressions wherein the interpretation of one (anaphoric expression) is in some way determined by the interpretation of the other (antecedent)

identity of reference anaphora

based on referential pronouns establish co-reference with their antecedent in the same sentence/discourse

bridging anaphora

a “bridged” link between a referring expression and its antecedent

common ground

shared knowledge & assumptions between speaker & hearer

index

the information that arises from the circumstances of the utterance itself

referring expression

any phrase used to refer to something or someone, a particular referent

deictic words

refer based on their context, specifically given by the circumstances of utterance and not by the preceding conversation like with definites 

Leibniz's law

indiscernibility of identicals/principle of substitutivity 

• if A and B are identical in reference, then what is true of A is also true of B, and vice versa

transparent context

a context in which if you substitute two referring expressions that refer to the same person or thing, the meaning will always stay the same

opaque context

linguistic context where you can substitute two referring expressions that refer to the same person or thing, and the meaning of the sentence will change 

monotonicity

refers to the increasing/decreasing properties of quantified expressions

left monotonicity

broadening/narrowing of the restriction

right monotonicity

broadening/narrowing of the nuclear scope

quantificational phrase

make a statement about how many objects meet a certain description

existential quantifier

states that a certain quantity of objects meeting a description exists 

universal quantifier

states that everything that has one property also has another

negative quantifiers

negate, can be paraphrased as universal/existential eg. every rabbit doesn't have wings, there are zero rabbits that have wings

proportional quantifiers

state what percentage of a group has a property

restriction

what is being talked about

nuclear scope

what is being said about the restriction

negative polarity items

linguistic expressions that depend on the presence of certain other items that can be roughly characterised as negative

accommodation

the process by which a listener updates their background knowledge to accept information presupposed by a speaker 

reference

how words relate to the world

direct reference

phrases eg. proper nouns & definite descriptions have a direct relationship between the words and the things in the world they are talking about

problem of identity statements

questions how different terms can denote the same entity while having different implications/senses associated with them eg. my neighbour is the mayor

sense

conditions an object has to meet to be able to be the referent

presuppositions

an implicit background assumption/belief about the world that must be true for an utterance to be appropriate or meaningful 

activity terms

verbs with actions occurring over a time period without specific boundaries, those which are ongoing, are atelic, eg. running, writing

accomplishment terms

verbs those which have a climax, are telic eg. writing a letter, running a mile 

state

verbs describing properties, can be permanent or temporary

specific states

type of state verb, those of smokers, painters, etc

generic states

type of state verbs, those of rulers, educators, grocers, etc 

achievement

verb type that is punctual, happen in an instant

gradable adjective

adjective interpreted relative to a standard eg. small elephant, big mouse 

ambiguity

linguistic expression that has multiple possible meanings distinct from each other

underdetermination

linguistic expression whose literal meaning is incomplete & can’t be fully understood without context

vagueness

linguistic expression whose meaning is complete but flexible, context can help clarity but not fully

tense

locates the event/state in time

aspect

conveys information about temporal structure of the event/state 

lexical aspect

verbal predicates contain information about structure of events they describe 

telicity

having a clear end point 

meaning

information conveyed through actions/speech

Pragmatics

the study of the use of language to express meaning

Principle of compositionality

the meaning of a linguistic unit comes from the meaning of its parts and the way they're put together

Utterance

a piece of spoken/writted language produced in a particular utterance context (concrete) 

lexical semantics

the study of meaning of words & morphemes

count nouns

nouns that change in the plural eg. sandwiches, tables, mice

mass nouns

nouns that don't change in the plural eg. rice, furniture, vermin

polysemous

1 word expresses multiple meanings

homonyms

words that are either homophones, homographs, or both, but do not have the same meaning 

hyponym

2 words where one belongs to the category named by the other eg. apples, fruit

linguistic expression

phrase/constituent

proposition

the smallest complete unit of meaning

truth conditions

the conditions that the linguistic expression requires from the world in order for it to be seen as true

truth value

whether a sentence is actually true or not

inference

any further conclusion drawn from an utterance

entailment

anything that follows directly from the literal truth of a sentence

equivalence

2 sentences that have the same truth conditions

contradictory opposition

2 propositions where if one is true, the other is false & vice versa 

contrary opposition

2 propositions which can’t both be true, but both can be false

predicate

any word/sequence that describes the events or states of the sentence's arguments are participating in 

copula

linking word)

degree of predicates

the number of arguments it is understood as having

extension

the set of all individuals which that predicate can be truthfully applied

prototype

thing that is considered very typical of a particular predicate

intensions

the set of extensions of a predicate across all possible worlds, past, present and future 

argument

an expression required by a predicate