Semantics: a coursebook, second edition
parts of sentences, e.g. phrases or single words
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parts of sentences, e.g. phrases or single words. Definition A SENTENCE is a grammatically complete string of words expressing a (partial) complete thought. Comment This very traditional de finition is unfortunately vague, but it is hard to arrive at a better one for our purposes. It is intended to exclude any string of words that does not have a verb in it, as well as other strings. The idea is best shown by examples. Example I would like a cup of co ffee is a sentence. Co ffee, please is not a sentence. In the kitchen is not a sentence. Please put it in the kitchen is a sentence. Practice Which of the following utterances are tokens of whole sentences (S) and which are not (NS)? (1) ‘John’ S / NS (2) ‘Who is there?’ S / NS (3) ‘Mine’ S / NS (4) ‘It’s mine’ S / NS (5) ‘Where shall I . . .?’ S / NS Feedback (1) NS (2) S (3) NS (4) S (5) NS Comment Utterances of non-sentences, e.g. short phrases, or single words, are used by people in communication all the time. People do not converse wholly in (tokens of) wellformed sentences. But the abstract idea of a sentence is the basis for understanding even those expressions which are not sentences. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the meanings of non-sentences can best be analysed by considering them to be abbreviations, or incomplete versions, of whole sentences. Practice Given below are some sample conversations. In each case the second utterance is not a token of a sentence. Write out a full sentence expressing the intended meaning more fully. (1) Magnus: ‘When did Goethe die?’ Fred: ‘In 1832’ ............................................................................................... (2) Hostess: ‘Would you like tea or co ffee?’ Guest: ‘Co ffee, please’....................................................................................... (3) A: ‘Who won the battle of Waterloo?’ B: ‘Wellington’...................................................................................................... PA RT O N E Basic ideas in semantics 20 Feedback (1) Goethe died in 1832 (2) I would like co ffee please (3) Wellington won the battle of Waterloo Comment Semantics is concerned with the meanings of non-sentences, such as phrases and incomplete sentences, just as much as with whole sentences. But it is more convenient to begin our analysis with the case of whole sentences. The meanings of whole sentences involve propositions; the notion of a proposition is central to semantics. What exactly a proposition is, is much debated by semanticists. We shall be content with a very simple de finition. Definition A PROPOSITION is that part of the meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence which describes some state of a ffairs. Comment The state of a ffairs typically involves persons or things referred to by expressions in the sentence and the situation or action they are involved in. In uttering a declarative sentence a speaker typically asserts a proposition. Rule The notion of truth can be used to decide whether two sentences express di fferent propositions. 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 di fferent propositions. Practice Consider the following pairs of sentences. In each case, say whether there are any circumstances of which one member of the pair could be true and the other false (assuming in each case that the same name, e.g. Harry, refers to the same person). (1) Harry took out the garbage tải về 1.74 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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