3/19/2018

Basic Ideas in Semantics

Group 1
Jati Widya Iswara 0203517021
Hadziq Najmuddin Purwanto 0203517056
Dian Rahayuningsih 0203517019
Wigati Martina 0203517023

Main Topics

About Semantics

Sentences, Utterances,
and Propositions

Reference and Sense

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LANGUAGE

sound form meanings

Phonetics
Words > Morphology Semantics : LITERAL
Phonolog
phrases Pragmatics : CONTEXTUAL
y Synatx
clauses

Let’s see and guess, what does it means in your own

perspective

A.
1. A human can be referred to as a male, female, child, adult, baby,
bachelor, father or mother.
2. Let’s talk about rights and lefts. You’re right, so I left.
3. The doctor said to his patient: “ say no more, i’m going to take an
amazing care of you, So, don’t be worry.
4. It is very cold

B.
1. Have you got any cash on you.
2. Who do you think you are? (the addresse do an impolite in a formal
way)
3. It is very cold.

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What’s on your mind about semantics?

Semantic is the study of the meaning of language. It also

deals with varieties and changes in the meaning of words,
phrases, sentences and text. Narrow as it deals with only
meaning.

The distinction between semantics and pragmatics :

Semantics is limited to the relation of words to which they

refer, whereas pragmatics covers the study of relationships
between words, the interlocutors (lawan bicara) and also
the context (suasana).

Sentences, Utterances, and Propositions

Utterance

 Any stretch of talk by one person, before and after

which there is silence on the part of that person.

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 The USE by a particular speaker

 On a particular occassion
 Of a piece of language (A sequence of sentence, a single
phrase, or a single word)
 A physical event
 These events are lasting for a very short period of time
(ephemeral)

Exercises

 ‘How’s life?’ Utterance

 ‘Fine’ Utterance

 ‘Language is the method of human communication, either

spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a
structured and conventional way.‘ Utterance

 ‘Brlghrgrhgr’ Not an
utterance
 ‘Knslhunpoiuytsdfghj’ Not an
utterance

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Sentence

Sentence is neither a physical event nor a physical object.

It is, conceived abstractly, a string of words put together
by the grammatical rules of a language.

 The IDEAL string of words behind various realizations in

utterances and inscriptions.
 A grammatically complete strings of words expressing a
complete thought

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Exercises
 Please turn on the A/C Sentence

 As usual Not a
sentence
 Sincerity turns into a luxury when it should
be a standard Sentence

 ‘At this point, I am too afraid to ask’ Not a

sentence

 This has been the worst trade deal in the

Sentence
history of trade deals, maybe ever.

Proposition

2. Seals are hunted

1. Shark hunt seals
by sharks

Proposition

3. Seals are prey to 4. These chase and

sharks kill these others.

Difference sentences can carry the same meaning

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Definition

Proposition is the A Proposition is that

term for a kind of part of the meaning
A Proposition is a
core sentence of the utterance of a
claim about the
meaning, the declarative sentence
world. It has just the
abstract idea that which describes some
form of an idea
remains the same. state of affairs.
(Griffiths, 2006) (Hurford et al, 2007)

Proposition
 A boy is playing football Two plus two makes five

The sky is blue

A proposition is a potential fact about the world, which

can be true or false.

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 The notion of truth can be used to decide whether two

sentences express different proposition.
 Thus, if there is any conceivable set of circumstances in
which one sentence is true, while the other is false, we
can be sure that they express different propositions.
e.g.
Tony loves Isobel
Isobel loves Tony

John gave Mary a book

Marry was given a book by John

 Not all true beliefs are knowledge, not all unknown beliefs are false

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 Propositions are involved in the meanings of other types of

sentences in addition to declarative.

Declarative

• The speaker commits himself to the truth of the

corresponding proposition. i.e. the speaker asserts the
proposition

Interrogative

• Is used to ask questions. Questions the truth of the 1. You said something.
proposition. Doesn’t assert the truth of the proposition. 2. What did you say?
3. Tell me what you said.
Imperative 4. Tell me now!

• Is used to convey orders. Demands carrying out the

proposition. Doesn’t assert the truth of the proposition.

The relationship between the 3 notions

Utterances Sentences Propositions

Can be loud or quit v x x
Can be grammatical v v x
or not
Can be true or false v v v

In a particular v x x
regional accent
In a particular v v x
language

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Family tree relationship between proposition, sentence,

and utterance

Most Abstract

Proposition

Sentence Sentence

Utterance Utterance Utterance Utterance

Least Abstract

Reference and Sense

Generally speaking, sense deals with relationship inside the
language while reference is the relationship between language
and the word.

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Reference indicates which things in the

world are being talked about.

Example:
1. The door is closed.
‘The door’ is part of the world represented in the expression. In this
case, probably the classroom’s door.
2. Have you locked the door?
‘the door’ in this expression is probably your room’s door.
‘The door’ in the 1st and 2nd example probably have different reference.
So, the same expression can, in some cases, be used to refer to
different things.

Constant Vs Variable

 Reference that doesn’t change in whatever expression

used is called constant reference. For example, The
Moon, United States of America, etc.
 Mostly, however, there are variable references which
depend on the context in which expressions are used. For
example, the dean, the president, the man in the corner,
etc. they are bounded with time, place and context.

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Sense of an expression is its place in a system of

semantic relationship with other expression in the
language.
Sense deals with sameness meaning. you will need intuition
to recognize it.
Example:
1. I nearly/almost fell over.
2. The snake ate the mouse.
The mouse was eaten by the snake.
Sense doesn’t only occur in words but also in phrases or
sentences.

Some Rules
 Different words can have the same sense (almost-nearly, likely-
probable)
 The same words can have different sense (bank-river bank)
 Every expression has sense but not every expression has reference
(almost, and, or, above)
 The same word with different composition can have either different or
the same sense.
example: He took over the case
He took the case over
The chicken is ready to eat
The chicken is ready to eat the seed.
 Every expression, even a single word, has sense but not always has a
proposition.

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Reference and Sense in Different Languages

 Certain sense may belong to expression in different

languages. Even though sometimes it isn’t exactly the
same. Therefore, to get full understanding of the sense,
there should be other words to indicate the meaning.
 A referent can be represented by different expressions
even different language.

Checking Your Understanding

 Does every expression have reference?
 Does every expression have sense?
 Can different expressions have the same referent?
 Can the same expressions have different referent?
 Can different language expressions have the same sense?
 Can different language expressions have the same referent?
 When you look up in the dictionary, is it the reference or the
sense?
 Can a foreigner learn the meaning of a word for a very first time
by showing him the referent?
 Can a foreigner learn the meaning of a word for a very first time
by looking up in the dictionary?

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