Introduction to Linguistics Summary

(c) 2002-01-26 Fabian M. Suchanek

http://suchanek.name

This is a summary of the lecture "Introduction to linguistics" held

by Prof. Peter Bosch at the University of Osnabrueck in WS 2001. The
work on this summary was complicated by the fact that the script does
not give clear definitions of terms. I would be glad if you could tell
me about mistakes in this summary or mail me your comments concerning
the parts marked with a "(?)".

By reading the following text, you accept that the author does not
accept any responsibility for the correctness or completeness of
this text. If you have any corrections or remarks, please
send me a mail. This is the only way to make the publication of this
summary useful for me, too.

An annotation concerning the choice of words: I used the basic ontology

of entities and categories. Here are some equivalent expressions for
saying that "An entity A belongs to the category B", which all occur
in the script:
* A is a B (idea of concepts)
* the entity A is in the set B (idea of sets)
* A realizes B (idea of interfaces)
* A is an instance of B (idea of classes)
Note that a category can again contain categories:
* A is a special B (idea of subsets)
* A is a subcategory of B (idea of specialization)
* B is a supercategory of A (idea of generalization)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Theoretical Linguistics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Core areas of Theoretical Linguistics:

* Phonetics (speech sound analysis)
* Phonology (analysis of the function of speech sounds)
* Lexicon
* Syntax
* Sematics
* Pragmatics
* Discourse
Theoretical Linguistics is seen from a Chomskyan point of view.

Main questions of Theoretical Linguistics:

* What is the nature of the cognitive language system?
* How do we acquire this system?
* How is this system used in speaking and understanding?
* How is this system repesented in the brain?

Knowing a language: Having a mental representation of its grammar.

Competence: The theoretical abstract ability of doing something.

(Theorie)

Performance: The actual solving of a task.

(Praxis)
Extension of a word: The set of entities denoted by the word.

Referent of a word: An element of the word's extension.

Learning of a language: According to Chomsky, language is not

learned like other faculties because
* There is no stimulus for learning
* There is no explicit instruction (resp. instructing children
to learn their mother tongue does not work)
Hence there must be an innate language faculty.

Innate language faculty, Universal Grammar, UG: Built-in, species-

specific (i.e. human) faculty of acquiring a language. It
characterizes the concept of a possible human language. The UG
combines with external experience of linguistic data and forms a
language-specific grammar.

Relevance of grammar: Linguistic processing is not just grammar.

Grammar accords no rule to the plausibility of linguistic
utterances.

Plausibility: (?)

Language in the brain: Information on the location of the language

system in the brain can be acquired from
* brain lesions
* imaging techniques (e.g. event-related potentials, ERP)
* specific language impairments (SLIs)
It has been found out that Broca's area is responsible for language
production (Broca = Broduction :-) while Wernicke's area is
responsible for language comprehension.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
History of Linguistics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Early romanticism, humanism (180x):

People studied historical-comparative linguistics as part of the
study of culture.
Researchers: Friedrich Schlegel ("Ueber die Sprache und Weisheit der
Inder"), Wilhelm von Humboldt, Johann Gottfried Herder, Franz Bopp.

Becoming scientific (182x):

Grimm's law marked the beginning of the desire to make linguistics
a scientific domain.

Grimm's law (Jacob Grimm 1822): Words morph according to certain

"sound shifts" from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic.
Example: unaspirated (p,t,k) -> asprirated (f,th,h), "pied" -> "foot"
These laws succeed in the majority of cases but still have exceptions.

Neogrammarian view (1878):

The desire to find language rules with no exceptions was written down
in the "Neogrammarian manifesto" of 1878. Nevertheless, people were
aware of the fact that analyzing language would also have a
historical, a social and a psychological dimension.
Researchers: Karl Brugmann, Berthold Delbrueck, Hermann Paul.
From History to structure (1916):
De Saussures Structuralism founded the study of language as a
structure. Facts outside this system (like culture or society)
were considered less important.

Structuralism (Ferdinand de Saussure, 1916): Studying language as

a structure where everything fits with everything else ("ou tout se
tient").
* Language is seen as a system of signs (i.e. a
structure of relations). This means that every element of language
is understood by its relation to the other elements. The basic
relations are paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations.
* Distinction between "la parole" and "la langue".
* Priority of spoken language
* Descriptive, not prescriptive linguistics
* Priority of synchronic, not diachronic study of language
* The linguistic sign is arbitrary

Synchronic: Concerning the current state.

Diachronic: Concerning the process of one state in time to another.

La Parole: Human speech.

La Langue: The language system behind "la parole".

Paradigmatic relation: A and B are in a paradigmatic relation if one

can be substituted by the other.
Example: The words "John" and "Peter" are in a paradigmatic relation
because "John" can be substituted by "Peter" in a sentence like
"John is running".
All elements that can occur in the same context are paradigmatic.

Syntagmatic relation: A and B are in a syntagmatic relation if

A follows B or B follows A.
Example: The words "John" and "runs" are in a syntagmatic
relation because one precedes the other in a sentence like
"John runs".

Linguistic sign, signe: Arbitrary association of a sound and a concept.

The concept ("le signifie") is described by a sound image ("le
signifiant"). The relation is arbitrary, i.e. it the signifie
cannot be determined by the signifiant or vice versa without explicit
knowledge about the relation.

American Structuralism (1930):

Linguistics was seen as a scientific explanation of linguistic
behavior (behaviorism). Speech was seen as a substitute social
action, where a stimulus (language) triggered a conditioned
response (an action or an answer). No speculation was done about
the process in between (a black box process).
Researchers: Leonard Bloomflied ("Language", 1933), Edward Sapir
("Language", 1921), Zellig Harris ("Methods in structural
linguistics", 1951).

Aspects of a sign (Morris 1938):

A linguistic sign has three aspects:
* Its relation to other signs (syntax)
 * Its reference to a real world object (semantics)
* Its use (pragmatics)

Mentalism (1950):
Chomsky began concentrating on language competence rather than
on performance and founded "Mentalism":
* Focus on the speakers knowledge of language (competence)
* Notion of linguistic creativity
* Importance of grammar
* Empirical testing of deductively developed theories
* Idea of a universal grammar

Linguistic creativity: The human ability to generate infinitively

many sentences.

Structuralist Phonology (Trubetzkoy): Linguistic sounds receive their

identity not from their physical quality, but from their
distinctiveness. (s.b. -> "Phonology")

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sounds of language
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speech sounds: All sounds which

* serve communication and
* are produced by the human speech organs.

Human speech organs:

* Lungs
* human vocal organs

Human vocal organs:

Here is a list of the most important human vocal organs
* Nasal cavity (Nasenhoehle)
* Hard palate (harter Gaumen)
* Alveolar ridge (Zahnansaetze)
* Soft palate, velum (weicher Gaumen)
* Tip of the tonue, apex (Zungenspitze)
* Dorsum (Zungenruecken)
* Uvula (Zaepfchen)
* Radix
* Pharynx (Rachen)
* Epiglottis
* False vocal cords
* True vocal cords :-)
* Larynx (Kehlkopf)
* Esophagus
* Trachea
(?) Translation still missing for all of these
Sound spectogram: Graphical representation of a sequence of sound
frequencies.

Phonetics: The study of speech sounds independent of their role

and function in language. Studies the following properties of
sounds:
* physical, physiological, acoustic properties
* articulatory properties
* auditory properties
Segmentation: Dividing a continuous speech into a list of elements.

Classification: Establishing categories of similar sound elements.

Vowel classification, vowel quadrilateral: Categorizing vowels

in a two-dimensional matrix according to their frequency (high,
middel, low) and location of production in the mouth (front,
central, back).

Consonant classification: Categorizing consonants according to

* their manner
* plosive
* frictative
* nasal
* liquid
* semivowel
* their place of production (cf. ->"Human vocal organs")
* labial (lips)
* dental (teeths)
* labiodental (lips+teeth)
* alveolar (gums)
* palatal (palate)
* palate-alveolar (gums+palate)
* velar (soft palate)
* glottal (glottis)
* their voicing
* plus voicing (like "b", "d")
* minus voicing (like "p", "t")

The international phonetic alphabet, IPA (revised 1993): Mapping of

combinations of phonetic properties to signs.
Example: The fricative labiodental sound is described by "f".

Phone: A speech sound as classified by the IPA.

Phonology: The study of the role and function of speech sounds in

language. Phonology thus does not care for
* color of voice
* stammering
* stuttering etc.
What matters are the phonemes.

Phoneme: A category of phones which differ in a way which is not

linguistically relevant. Redundant (i.e. predictable) sound
differences do not count as linguistically relevant. Phonemes are
particular to a language. A phoneme is defined by a minimal pair.

Minimal pair: A pair of two different words which in their phonetical

form just differ in one sound.
Example: "fill" and "feel" demonstrates that the difference between
[i] and [i:] is linguistically relevant. Thus, [i] and [i:] belong to
two different phonemes.

Complementary distribution: A and B are complementary distributed,

if they never occur together. If A and B are phones and are
complementary distributed, their occurance is predictable (if A, then
not B) and hence redundant.
Phonetic variant of a phoneme, allophone of a phoneme: One of those
phones which belong to the phoneme. The differences between the
allophones/phonetic variants of one phoneme are not linguistically
relevant.
Examples:
* In German, [s] and [th] are phonetic variants, since mixing them
up (as do lisperers) does not change words
* In English, the difference between [ei] and [e:i] in "mate" vs.
"made" is a phonetic variant since it is determined by context:
[ei] and voiced consonants appear in complementary distribution,
either there is a [ei] or there is a voiced consonant.
* In English, the difference between aspirated and unaspirated
plosives (as in "pit" vs. "spit") is a phonetic variant: At the
beginning of a word, the plosive is aspirated while after an [s],
it is not. The pattern is hence predictable and thus redundant.
* In Chinese, [l] and [r] are phonetic variants, while in English,
they are not (minimal pair: "low" vs. "row").
* In Spanish, [v] and [b] are phonetic variants, while in English,
they are not (minimal pair: "vat" vs. "bat").

Relevance of Context: Two phonetically identical utterances may

have different meanings depending on the context.
Example:
It's hard to recognize speech.
It's hard to wreck a nice beach.

Universal Phonology (Jakobson 1951): The approach to describe

phoneme differences for all human languages in terms of a universal
inventory of distinctive features.

Suprasegmental phonology, prosody: The study of linguistically relevant

properties of speech sound that are not properties of phonetic
speech elements (like word stress and sentence stress).

Word stress: Emphasis of a word, sometimes resulting in different

meanings (e.g. "UMfahren" vs. "umFAHRen"). Thus, word stress is
linguistically relevant and belongs to the domain of phonology.

Sentence stress: Emphasis of a sentence, sometimes resulting in

different meanings (e.g. questions vs. claims). Thus, sentence
stress is linguistically relevant and belongs to the domain of
phonology.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Morphology
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Morphology: The study of the formation of new words.

Word: Undefined syntactic constituent of a linguistic utterance.

Pragmatic definition: Roughly everything that goes
between two interpunctuation marks or blanks in a written sentence.
According to this definition, "and" and "and" are two different words,
since they occur in different places of the sentence. (cf. "Counting
the words of a text.")

Word form: A category of equivalent words.

Example: The different words "went", "went" and "went" all belong to
 the same word form, namely "went"
Word forms may by grammatically ambiguous, i.e. in many cases you
cannot tell the grammatical function of a word form without its
context.

Lexeme, lemma: An category of related word forms, usually written

in uppercase.
Example: the word form "went" and the word form "goes" belong to
the lexeme "GO"

Grammatical word: A word form plus an unambiguous grammatical

description.
Example: "sleep 1st person singular present"
or "sleep 1st person plural present"

Homonym: A graphic form (word form) which realizes different,

semantically unrelated lexemes.
Example: "bank"

Homophon: A phonological form which realizes different lexems.

Example: [rait] ("right", "rite", "write")

Synonym: A word is a synonym of another word if both have the

same meaning.
Example: "boat" is synonymous to "ship"

Polysem: A word which has different, though related meanings.

Example: "work" can either be a verb or a noun

Antonym: A word is an antonym of another word if their

meaning is opposed. This opposition may be binary (as in
"dead" vs. "alive") or scalar (as in "hot", "arm", "cold").

Hyperonym: Superconcept.
Example: "vehicle" is a hyperonym of "car"

Hyponym: Subconcept.
Example: "car" is a hyponym of "vehicle"

Ambiguous expression: An expression which has multiple meanings.

Lexical ambiguity: The ambiguity resulting from homonyms.

Example: "bank"

Syntactical ambiguity: The ambiguity resulting from an unclear

grammatical structure of a sentence. The ambiguity can be resolved by
specifying a PS for the sentence.
Example: "They were visiting relatives"

Morph: A minimal constituent of a word which carries meaning.

Morpheme: A category of morphs which carry the same meaning.

Free morpheme: A morpheme which may occur as a single word.

Example: "house"

Bound morpheme, affix: A morpheme which can not occur as a single

word.
Examples: "-ly", "-ion", "-ness", "un-", ...
Root: A simple morpheme that can take affixes.
Example: "agree"

Stem, base: A stem is ((a root) or (a stem plus an affix)).

Examples: "establish" in "establishment",
"disagree" in "disagreement"

Allomorph of a morpheme: A morph which belongs to this morpheme.

Allomorphs of one morpheme carry the same meaning.

Phonological allomorph: An allomorph which is different from other

allomorphs of the same morpheme by a distinction in sound.
Example: "cats" [kats] and "dogs" [dogz]

Lexical allomorph: An allomorph which is different from other

allomorphs of the same morpheme by a distinction in writing.
Example: "knives" and "indices"

Allomorphic variation: The differences between two allomorphs

of the same morpheme.

Suppletion: The fact that the stems of two word forms of the same
lexeme differ.

Partial suppletion: The fact that the stems of two word forms of the
same lexeme differ, although they are still similar.

Ablaut suppletion: Special form of partial suppletion where the stem

vowel in one word form is another than in the other word form.
Example: "drink", "drank", "drunk"

Full suppletion: The fact that the stems of two word forms of the
same lexeme are completely different.
Example: "good", "better", "best"

Portemanteau morph: A morph which simultaneously belongs to several

morphemes.
Examples: "te" in German "legte" realizes past tense and 3rd
person singular.

Cranbery morph: A morph which only occurs as a constituent of one word.

Examples: "cran" in "cranberry", "Schorn" in "Schornstein"

Inflection: The fact that different word forms belong to one lexeme.
Examples: "amo", "ami", "ama", "amiamo", "amate", "amano"

Inflectional category: A category of grammatical morphemes which

are complementary. (?)
Example: The grammatical morphemes for "Plural" and "Singular" are
complementary. Their inflectional category is "number".

Inflectional categories of nouns:

(with their complementary morphemes)
gender: masculine, feminine, neuter, ...
number: singular, plural, dual, trial, ...
case: nominative, dative, ...
class: animate, dangerous, ...
Different languages know different subsets of this incomplete
 list.

Inflectional categories of verbs:

(with their complementary morphemes)
person: 1st, 2nd, ...
number: singular, plural, ...
tense: past, future, ...
aspect, aktionsart: state, process, perfect, ...
modus: indicative, conjunctive, ...
polarity: negative, positive
Different languages know different subsets of this incomplete
list.

Word formation, morphological process: The process of building new

lexemes. Morphological processes are highly constrained and only
take place under certain conditions.

Concatenative word formation: The process of building a new word

from combining morphemes with other morphemes.

Derivation: A special concatenative word formation where

a bound morpheme is combined with a free morpheme.
Example: "verwert-bar"

Constraints on derivation:
* by parts of speech of base
Example: "-bar" can only be attached to verbs
* by syntactic properties of base
Example: "-bar" can only be attached to transitive verbs
* by sematic properties of base
Example: "Ge-e" can not be attached to stative verbs
* by (morpho)phonological properties of the base
Example: bases ending in "-lich" can take "-keit" but
not "-heit"
* by morphological character of base
Example: "Ge-e" only with unprefixed verbs
* by origin of base
Example: "-abel" only with foreign nouns
* various semantic constraints

Compounding: A special concatenative word formation where

two free morphemes are combined.
Example: "Haus-Boot"

Compound: A word resulting from compounding.

The meaning of a compound is undetermined and cannot be
predicted without knowing the word.

lexicalized compound: A compound whose meaning cannot be

derived well from the menaing of its constituents.
Example: "kindergarten" is not a garden

Endocentric, determinative compound: A word of two

morphemes (Modifier+Head) whose extension is a subset of
the head. The modifier adds a property to the head. The head
fixes the syntactic properties of the compound.
Endocentric compounding is highly productive in English and
German.
Example: A house-boat is a kind of boat
Synthetic compound: A special endocentric compound where the
modifier fills the argument slot of the head.
Example: "cab driver"

Exocentric compound: A word whose extension is not a subset

of the head's extension but rather something new.

Possesive, bahuvrihi compound: A special exocentric compound

which denotes a feature of its referents.
Example: A "red hair" has red hair.

Copulative, dvandva compound: A special exocentric compound

which denotes an entity made up of the parts denoted
by the compounded words.
Example: Austria-Hungary

Non-concatenative word formation: The process of building new

words without appending morphemes to other morphemes.

Conversion: A special non-concatenative word formation

where the grammatical function of a word is changed.
Example: "gruenen" from "gruen"

Clipping: A special non-concatenative word formation

where parts of words are cut off.
Example: "Bus" from "Autobus"

Blending: A special non-concatenative word formation where

parts of words which are not morphemes are assembled to new words.
Example: "Smoke"+"Fog" becomes "Smog"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lexicon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lexicon: A list of free and bound morphemes which cannot be derived

from the general rules. Even phrasal morphemes (like "to take off")
belong to the lexicon.
In contrast to word formation by the rules of morphology, the
lexicon provides a faster access for known and frequent words.

Criteria for listedness: Criteria for being listed in the lexicon.

* difficulty of deriving the linguistic properties according to rules
("non-transparency of composition")
* high frequency
* identity of meaning (?)

Data in the lexicon: The lexicon contains for each item

* the phonemic representation
* the ortogrpahic representation
* morphological properties
* syntactic (grammatical) properties
* sematic properties (aspects of its meaning)
* the concept representation (the main meaning)

Speech error: Mistake in speaking.

Spoonerism: A speech error involving a stem exchange.
Example: "I left the briefcase in my cigar"

Affix shift: A speech error where an affix which belongs to

one word swapped to another.
Example: "I have forgot abouten that"

Function word shifts: A speech error where words of different

grammatical function swapped. This speech error does not occur.
Example: "I left the in my cigar briefcase"

Blocking: A process in which a listed item in the lexicon prevents

the word formation of a new word.
Example: "went" blocks the creation of "goed"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grammar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phrase: A sequence of words which belong together.

Observation concerning speech pauses: Speech pauses tend to occur

at phrase junctures.

Observation concerning repetitions and corrections: Repetitions

and corrections tend to concern whole phrases.

Unit of substitution: A set of paradigmatic words.

Grammar: Generative device which defines a language. It is a finite

mechanism which generates an infinite set of sentences. It is often
described by a phrase marker.

Phrase Structure, PS, PS-grammar, constituent structure:

A set of rules how to construct complex language structures
from simpler language structures. They are of the form
<identifier> -> <structure>
where <structure> is one of the following
* <identifier> (e.g. "N" "V" "VP")
* <structure> + <structure> (indicating a combination)
* <structure> ( + <identifier> ) (indicating an optional part)
* { <identifier>, <identifier>, ... } (indicating a choice)

Example: S -> NP + VP
means "A sentence consists of a noun phrase an a verb phrase"

The rules thus define a linear order, a constituent structure

(s.b.) and syntactic categories (s.b.).

Non-terminal, constituent: A structure of a PS-grammar, as denoted by an

<identifier>.
Examples:
* S Sentence
* N Noun
* NP Noun Phrase
* V Verb
* VP Verb Phrase
 * A Adjective
* P Preposition
* C Complement
* D Determiner (Article)
* DP Proper name

Phrase Marker: Graphical representation of a Phrase structure in

form of a tree. The root of the tree represents the most complex
structure (in most cases "sentence") and its children are its
constituents (in most cases "NP" and "VP"). Every constituent is
again a sub-tree of the same form down to basic language
constituents. If a constituent consists of known sub-constituents,
it can be "abbreviated" by a triagle.

Mother: A parent node in a phrase marker is called mother.

Daughter: A child node in a phrase marker is called daughter.

Sister: A child node in a phrase marker is called sister if there

are other children of this node's mother.

Domination: Relation between a mother and a daughter in a phrase

marker.

c-commanding: Relation between sisters in a phrase marker.

Terminal element, lexical item: A word of the language.

Lexical insertion: Defining terminal elements for a PS-grammar.

Rules of the form
<identifier> -> {<word>, <word>, ...}
specify which lexical items are appropriate for insertion for a
constituent.

Syntactic category,
type,
lexical category,
part of speech,
grammatical function of a word:
The PS-constituent the word belongs to.

Subcategorization: Making multiple different PS-constituents of one

PS-constituent in order to be more precise and prevent undesired
output of the grammar.
Example: Introduce the difference between transitive and
intransitive verbs to prevent sentences like "John slept Franzerl."

Complement clause: A PS-constituent which contains a "sentence" as

a constituent.
Example: CP -> C + S, "that *you go*"

General phrase structure: A phrase structure of the form

X'' -> Specifier + X'
X' -> X (+ Complement)
"X'" is also written as "XP".
All major constituents such as N, V, A, P, D show the
general phrase structure pattern.

Head of phrase: The X of a general phrase structure. In English, this

 is the leftmost sub-constituent of a XP. Lexical properties of the
head are projected to the XP.

X' theory: The theory of general phrase structures. The X' theory is
regarded to be part of the universal grammar.
///// Something might be missing here (?)

head parameter: An additional information needed to build a general

phrase structure, namely whether X precedes the complement
(parameter value is "left") or the complement precedes X (parameter
value is "right"). In English, "left" is required, while in Japanese,
"right" is required.

Test for constituent structure: A method of finding out which words

of a sentence belong to the same PS-constituent.

Substitution: A test for constituent structure involving the

replacement of a word by another, near-synonymous word. A terminal
element of a PS-constituent can be replaced by another similar word.
Example: "John" and "Bob" belong to the same PS-constituent since
they can be replaced for each other in "John hit Franzerl".

Question formation: A test for constituent structure involving the

trial to ask for a specific part of a sentence. A constituent can
be the answer to a question.
Example: John hit Franzerl. Who hit Franzerl? John.

Conjunction of constituents: A test for constituent structure

involving the insertion of an "and" plus another word. Identical
constituents can be conjoined.
Example: "John (and Bob) hit Franzerl."

Pseudo-clifting: A test for constituent structure involving the

construction of a sentence beginning with "It is...". A consituent
can be pseudo-clefted.
Example: "It is John who hit Franzerl."

Discontinuous constituents: Constituents which are spread over

a sentence.
Example: "Fred called up Mary" or "Fred called Mary up"

Particle: Part of a discontinuos constituent.

Transformation: A re-arrangement of a phrase marker which preserves

meaning.

Particle movement: A special transformation which moves the particle

of a discontinuos constituent to the correct place. Particle
movements are mostly optional, but obligatory for object pronouns.
Example: "Mary called up him" -> "Mary called him up"

Specification of a transformation: A transformation is specified

by a structural description (the sequence of consituents before
the transformation, each with a number) and structural change (a new
sequence of these numbers).
Example: "Mary called up Fred"
X V Particle NP
1 2 3 4
->
 "Mary called Fred up"
1 2 4 3

Syntacic base, base component: The part of any language producing

system which
* contains all the generative power of the linguistic description
* accounts for constituent structure, categories, and linear order
* contains
* a Phrase Structure grammar
* (with) a lexicon
* (a set of transformations)

PF-LF-Pair: A sentence produced by the base component

has a phonological interpretation (performed by a phonological
component and leading to a phonological form PF) and a semantic
interpretation (performed by a semantic component, leading to a
logical form LF).

Yes-No-Question: A question requiring a binary answer.

Inversion: Changing the order of verb and subject of a sentence.

Example: "John hit Franzerl" -> "hit John Franzerl"

Yes-No-Question formation: The creation of a binary question by

applying inversion. Works only if there is an auxiliary
verb which functions as the main verb.
Example: "It is cold" -> "Is it cold?"

Wh-questions: Questions containing one of the words "Who? Where? Why?

What? How?" and requiring a non-binary answer.

Wh-question formation:
* Generate the question-pronoun in the corresponding argument
position
Example: "John's brother is who"
* Move the question pronoun to the beginning of the enclosing
sentence ("Wh-movement"). This results in a "gap" which still
remains in a special relation to the question pronoun.
Example: "Who John's brother is ___"
* Apply inversion
Example: "Who is John's brother"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Semantics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Semantics: The study of meaning.

Types of meaning:
* linguistic meaning
* idiolect meaning
* language meaning
* dialect meaning
* regional meaning
* social meaning
* speaker meaning
* literal meaning
* non-literal meaning
 * irony
* sarcasm
* metaphor

Meaning: A function from words or word constellations to entities or

real world facts. Meaning cannot be defined in terms of words because
it is something outside the realm of language. The function
"Meaning_of(X)" is also written as "|| X ||".

Understanding a sentence: Knowing what is the case when the sentence

is true (Wittgenstein). Understanding a sentence is prior to knowing
whether it is true.

Meaning of a sentence: The set of all situations where this sentence

would be true.
Example: || "Peter sleeps" || = {s | Peter sleeps in s}
The meaning of a sentence is the meaning of its verb phrase applied to
its Noun Phrase: || S || = || VP || ( || NP || )

Meaning of an intransitive verb: A function mapping an entity

to a set of situations.
Example: sleeps(x) maps "Peter" to the set of all situations where
Peter sleeps. (Note that you still cannot tell which situations
the verb "sleeps" applies to)

Meaning of a transitive verb: A function mapping the object of the

verb to the meaning of an intransitive verb.
Example: In "Peter kicks Franzerl", "kicks" is a function.
The result of "kicks(Franzerl)" is the meaning of an intransitive
verb, namely "kicking_Franzerl". This is again a function which,
when applied to an entity (e.g. "Peter") returns the meaning
of a sentence: (kicks(Franzerl))(Peter).
Annotation: Transitive verbs are thus functions returning functions.
This is only possible in very few programming languages. Java is not
one of them, but the same phenomenon can be obtained by an array
containing arrays: kicks[FRANZERL][PETER]

Meaning of a proper name: The entity this proper name refers to.

Quantifier subject: A subject which does not denote a named entity.

Examples: "Nobody", "Everyody", "Somebody"

Meaning of a quantifier subject: The meaning of a quantifier subject

is a function which maps a verb (i.e. a function) to a set of
situations where entities do the action expressed by the verb.
Example: In "Nobody sleeps", "nobody" is a function which needs
another function as its argument. We use "sleep" as an argument
for "nobody" and "nobody" returns a set of situations where
nobody sleeps.

Semantic type: A formal symbol for carriers of meaning.

Examples:
"e" ("entity") is the semantic type for proper names
"p" ("proposition") is the semantic type for sentences
"<e,p>" is the semantic type for intransitive verbs, to be
read as a function mapping an entity to a proposition
"<p,p>" is the semantic type for sentence connectives, to be
read as a function from propositions to a proposition.
"<e,<e,p>>" is the semantic type for transitive verbs, to be
 read as a function mapping an entity to an <e,p>
"<<e,p>,p>" is the semantic type for quantifiers, to be
read as a function mapping an <e,p> to a p

Semantic rules: Rules for calculating with semantic types.

Example: VP<e,p>(DP<e>) = S<p> means:
An intransitive verb (a function from e to p) applied to an entity
yields a proposition.
Example: (VP<e,<e,p>>(DP<e>))(DP<e>) = S<p>
A transitive verb (a function from e to <e,p>) applied to an
entity yields an intransitive verb (a function from e to p),
which, when applied to another entity, returns a proposition.
Example: DP<<e,p>,p>(VP<e,p>) = S<p>
A quantifier subject (a function from a verb to a proposition)
maps a verb phrase (a function from an entity to a proposition)
to a proposition.

Generalized quantifier subject: A quantifier subject or a proper

name. Proper names can also be regarded as functions from <e,p>
to <p>, because they could map an activity/property to a set of
situations where this individual has this property. An
individual is then regarded semantically as the sets of all those
properties the individual has.

Sentence connective: A word connecting sentences and thus

assembling a new sentence.
Examples: "and", "or", "although", ...

Meaning of a sentence connective: The meaning of a sentence

connective cannot be given directly. Rather, one specifies the
meaning of the combination <sentence> + <connective> +
<sentence>. The meaning of a sentence connective cannot be
given in form of a truth-table, because this would ignore
their discourse function. Only if one interprets semantics
in a narrower sense (ignoring the discourse function),
truth-tables can describe connectives.

Discourse function of sentence connectives: Meaning of a

sentence connective which can not be expressed by a truth-table:
Sentence connectives
* express intentions not capured by a truth table
Example: "although" means not just "and", but implies a
contradiction
* express a temporal order
Example: "He went home and he got to bed"
* express importance by order
Example: "She's nice and she's beautiful"
* often mean the exclusive "or" rather than the inclusive one
Example: "I'll go by bike or I'll go by car"
* "either... or" often implies "if not... then"
Example: "Either we'll call a doctor or he will die"
* "if... then" is not always equivalent with implication
Example: "Ex falso quod libet" problem
* "and" and "or" can also link constituents (unlike & and |)
Example: "Peter and Mary laugh"
* conjunctions may be distributive
* conjunctions may be collective

distributive conjunction: A conjunction between constituents

 which could be transformed into a conjunction between
sentences without changing the meaning.
Example: "John and Mary laughed"
= "John laughed and Mary laughed"

collective conjunction: A conjunction which is part of the

verb syntax.
Example: "John and Mary met"

Interdefinig connectives: Defining connectives by other

connectives.
Example: "a <=> b" is the same as "(a=>b) & (b=>a)"

Atomic elements of semantics: (Negation) and (disjunction or

conjunction).

Assumption of semantic atoms: The assumption that there exist

some basic concepts by which all other concepts are defined.

Principle of compositionality: The meaning of a complex

expression is a function of the meanings of its parts.

Meaning postulate: A modeling of semantic relations between

lexical expressions. Meaning postulates are part of the descriptive
apparatus of semantics (a meta-language).

Meaning postulate for a noun: A logical statement of the form

Necessarily All x: W(x) <=> P(x) & Q(x) & ...
where W is a noun and P, Q, ... are properties. Several
variables may occur.
Example:
Necessarily All x, y: mother(x,y) <=> parent(x,y) & female(y).

Intersective adjective: An adjective for which the meaning of

<Adjective>+<Noun> combines the constraints of the adjective and the
noun. The extension of <Adjective>+<Noun> is the intersection of
both extensions.
Example: "Friendly doctors": Those people which are both friendly
and doctors.

Subsective adjectives: An adjective for which the meaning of

<Adjective>+<Noun> is a hyponym of the <Noun>. The extension of
<Adjective>+<Noun> is a subset of the extension of the <Noun>.
Example: "Good doctors" are those doctors, which are good as doctors.

Non-intersective and non-subsective adjectives: Those adjectives which

are neither intersective nor subsective.
Example: "Former doctors" are no doctors and no "formers", but those
persons who were doctors some time ago.

Meaning of an adjective: The meaning of an adjective depends on its

inherent semantics (i.e. its potential for distinctions) and its
set-theoretical mode of modification (i.e. whether it is intersective
or subsective).

Interpretation of an adjective: The concept an adjective refers to on

a particular occasion of use. The interpretation also depends on the
context.
Eventuality, type of event: The category of an event, namely
"state", "activity" or "telic eventuality". Although events are
expressed by verbs, the same verb may be used to express events of
different categories. This means that eventualities do not
strictly classify the meanings of particilar lexical verbs.

State: An eventuality of those events which ignore any

reference to duration, start and end points of the event.
State verbs cannot occur in the English progressive tense and cannot
occur as imparatives, since their subjects are not viewed as agents.
Example: "Peter knows Latin" (OK)
"Peter is knowing Latin" (progressive, not OK)
"Know Latin!" (imparative, not OK)
"It took Peter 2 years to know Latin" (duration, not OK)

Activity: An eventuality of those events which include at least some

change during the time span viewed. Since any information about how
the state came about is ignored, no duration expressions may be used.
Example: "Peter shoves Franzerl" (OK)
"Peter is shoving Franzerl" (progressive, OK)
"Shove Franzerl!" (imparative, OK)
"It took Peter 2 hours to shove" (duration, not OK)

Telic eventuality: An eventuality of those events which express an

achievement or an accomplishment. Telic events thus include a
start and an end point or a culmination point.
Example: "Peter falls asleep" (OK)
"Peter is falling asleep" (progressive, OK)
"Fall asleep!" (imparative, OK)
"It took Peter 2 seconds to fall asleep" (duration, OK)

Meaning postulate for a verb: A logic formula of the form

Necessarily All x1,x2,...: V(x1,x2,...) <=> <expression>
where V is a verb and the <expression> may contain the usual logical
operators and also the special predicates
CAUSE(cause,effect) and
BECOME(state)
Example:
Necessarily All x,y: kill(x,y) <=> CAUSE(x,BECOME(dead(y))

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pragmatics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pragmatics: The study of language use.

Aspects of usage of a linguistic sign:

* speaker
* environment
* purpose

Underdetermination by meaning: The fact that a particular utterance is

not fully specifying the speaker's intention. There are several
underdeterminations:
* Underdetermination of communicative intent
Example: "I'll be there tonight"
- A promise, a threat or a prediction?
* Underdetermination of reference
 Example "Our lecturer"
- Which lecturer?
* Underdetermination of intended meaning
Example: "I saw the boy with the binoculars"
- which of the two readings is intended?
* Underdetermination of speaker's intention
Example: "I have not yet done my linguistics assignment"
- Does the speaker aim to inform me about his progress or
does this mean he wants to copy _my_ linguistics
assignment?
* Underdetermination of effect by meaning
Example: "I will"
- uttered under the appropriate circumstances, this may
cause you to be married to the woman standing beside you
in the white dress.

Locutionary act, utterance act: The act of uttering a linguistic

expression.

Speech act: An act performed with the help of uttering a linguistic

expression.
Examples: Warning, commanding, requesting, apologizing,...

Illocutionary act: A speech act which consists of uttering a

linguistic expression with a certain intention. The speaker thereby
performes a communicative act.
Illo-Check: Test whether the verb of the speech act can be used in
a sentence like "I hereby XXX..."
Examples: Promising, reporting, asking, threatening, proposing,...

Felicity conditions for illocutionary acts: Conditions which must

be fulfilled to successfully perform a illocutionary act.
* The act must be a conventional procedure with conventional effects
* The circumstances and persons must be appropriate
* The procedure must be executed correctly and completely
* The participants must have the appropriate feelings and intentions

Perlocutionary act: A speech act which provokes certain effects in

the audiance.
Examples: Intimidating, persuading, ...

Cooperative principle (Grice 1975): "Make your contribution such as is

required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or
direction of the talk exchange in which you are engendered".
This is the common-sense principle of good-naturedness in talking. It
may be split up to the conversational maxims.

Conversational maxims: The maxims of of quantity, quality, relevance

and manner.

Maxim of quantity: "Be informative", i.e. tell as much information

as is required, but not more.

Maxim of quality: "Only say true things", i.e. do not say anything
which you know is false or for which you lack evidence.

Maxim of Relevance: "Be relevant", i.e. talk in context to the

current situation.
Maxim of Manner: "Be perspicious", i.e. avoid obscurity and ambiguity,
be brief and be orderly.

Pragmatic anomaly: The fact that a sentence expresses something which

contradicts the cooperative principle.
Example: "John has two PhDs, but I don't believe he has"

Implicature: A conclusion from a linguistic utterance which is not

alone based on this utterance.

Implicating: Drawing an implicature.

Conversational implicature: A conclusion from the things our partner

said, the conversational maxims and background knowledge.

Defeasibility of conversational implicature: The fact that

conclusions drawn with the help of the cooperative principle may be
cancelled.
Example: "The Fachschafts-Site contains 12 of my summaries. Even
13 if you count this one" :-)

Non-detachability of conversational implicature: The fact that

conversational implicatures may not be viewed outside the context.

Calculability of conversational implicature: The fact that

conversational implicatures may be formally deduced from the literal
meaning of the utterance plus the conversational maxims plus
situational background knowledge.

Non-conventionality of conversational implicature: The fact that

conversational implicatures do not rest on the conventional meaning
of linguistic expressions alone

Conventional implicature: A conclusion drawn from the usual meaning of

words.
Example: "I went home and got to bed" implicates that I first went
home and then got to bed.

Presupposition: The assumption that something is true although it is

not explicitely said. Typically, a sentence and its negation share
the same presuppositions!
Example: "I stopped smoking grass" presupposes that I smoked grass
before, as well does "I did not stop smoking grass".

Presupposition failure: If a presupposition of a sentence fails under

certain circumstances, then under those circumstances this sentence
does not express a proposition, i.e. it cannot be true or false.
Example: "Have you stopped skipping the linguistics lectures?" cannot
be answered because we never skipped a linguistics lecture :-)