Semantics: The study of meaning in language. Two main branches are:
Lexical Semantics: Focuses on the meaning of individual words.
Compositional Semantics: Examines the meaning of phrases based on the words they include and how they are combined.
Quiz 5: Due today (Nov. 7) - Topic: •Semantics (both lexical and compositional)
Homework 4: Opens today, due next Thursday (Nov. 14) - Focus on signed languages
Reading: Review Language Files sections 1.5; 2.7; 3.1.2; 4.2.3; 11.3.3 for Friday.
Next Week: Monday no lecture due to Veteran's Day; Tuesday Quiz 6 on ASL.
Key Concepts:
Vocabulary related to semantics.
Identifying senses and referents of expressions.
Understanding relationships between sentences (entailment).
Types of adjectives, hypernyms, and hyponyms.
Topics covered:
Phonetic Parameters: Components of signed languages, especially ASL.
Phonological Constraints: Rules governing sound patterns in signed languages.
Design Features: Application to signed languages.
Morphology and Syntax: Understanding structure and formation in sign language.
Language Acquisition Theories: Recognizing and applying various theories to contexts.
The meaning of expressions is determined by:
Meanings of Individual Words
Syntactic Combination of Words
This principle is known as compositionality: the combined meaning is not merely the sum of the parts.
Example: "The cat chased the mouse" does not mean the same as "The mouse chased the cat."
Idiom: Fixed expressions with meanings not derived from the literal meanings (e.g., "the cat is out of the bag").
Metaphor: Implies similarity by referring to something not literal (e.g., "She is a walking dictionary").
Anomaly: Well-formed structures that are nonsensical (e.g., "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously").
Proposition: The claim expressed by a sentence.
Truth Value: The conditions under which a proposition can be determined to be true or false.
Importance: Propositions allow us to understand the conditions that guarantee their truth.
Truth Condition: A statement that must be true for a proposition to hold; e.g., for "The cat is on the mat," both the existence of the cat and mat must be validated.
Entailment: Relationship between sentences where the truth of one (A) guarantees the truth of another (B).
Mutual Entailment: When two sentences entail each other (e.g., "The dog chased the mailman" and "The mailman was chased by the dog").
Testing for Entailment: If a scenario exists where one statement is true but the other is not, they do not entail each other.
Example pairs to analyze for entailment:
A: All the dogs barked.
B: The large dogs all barked.
Determine: A entails B, B entails A, mutual entailment, or no entailment based on context.
Further examples include combinations of sentences regarding actions, subjects, and specific conditions of reality.