LING 201 Final

transformation

an operation that makes a new tree out of an old one

inversion transformation

move T to the left edge of the sentence

conventionalized / fixed

basic meaning of words and sentences

not conventionalized

worked out, additional conclusions we draw

semantics

basic, fixed.conventionalized meaning of words and phrases

pragmatics

worked-out, additional meaning associated with the circumstance of use

entailment

a meaning that must logically be true if a sentence is true

implicature

a meaning that is implied by context but not directly stated and can be canceled.

truth conditions

whether it can be true in this world or not

false disagreement

when two people seem to disagree but are actually talking about different meanings or interpretations

principle of compositionality

the meaning of a constituent is determined by its daughters (and the way they are put together)

non branching nodes rule

if a node in a tree only has one daughter, it has the same meaning as its daughter

constituent

a group of words in a sentence that functions as a single unit (can be moved, replaced, or stand together).

cancellability (or ‘defeasability’) test

if you can add a phrase that cancels the implied meaning without contradiction, then it’s an implicature.

cooperative principle

the listener assumes the speaker is cooperating towards the common goal of communicating and draws conclusions from this assumptions

gricean maxims

four rules speakers usually follow to communicate clearly:

• Quantity: say the right amount (not too much or too little)

• Quality: be truthful

• Relation: be relevant

• Manner: be clear and orderly

maxims of quality

say only things that they believe to be true and have evidence for

maxim of quantity

make every statement as strong that is informative as possible

maxim of relevance/relation

say only what is relevant

maxim of manner

say things in a sensible manner: clear, briefly, orderly