Semantics: a coursebook, second edition

U N I T   2
Sentences, utterances, and propositions
21
Comment True propositions correspond to facts, in the ordinary sense of the word fact.
False propositions do not correspond to facts.
Practice In the present-day world,
(1) Is it a fact that there are lions in Africa?
Yes / No
(2) Is the proposition that there are lions in Africa a 
true proposition?
Yes / No
(3) Is it a fact that the state of Arkansas is uninhabited by 
human beings?
Yes / No
(4) Is the proposition that the state of Arkansas is 
uninhabited by human beings true?
Yes / No
Feedback
(1) Yes (2) Yes (3) No (4) No
Comment One can entertain propositions in the mind regardless of whether they are
true or false, e.g. by thinking them, or believing them. But only true
propositions can be known.
Practice (1) If John wonders whether Alice is deceiving him,
would it seem reasonable to say that he has the 
proposition that Alice is deceiving him in his mind,
and is not sure whether it is a true or a false proposition?
Yes / No
(2) If I say to you, ‘If Mary came to the party, Phyllis 
must have been upset’, do I thereby put in your mind 
the proposition that Mary came to the party, without 
necessarily indicating whether it is true or not?
Yes / No
(3) If I say to you, ‘Was your father in the Navy?’, would 
it seem reasonable to say that I have the proposition 
that your father was in the Navy in my mind, and 
wish to know whether this proposition is true or not?
Yes / No
(4) Is there something odd about the following sentence? If so, what? 
Pamela considered the fact that her mother was alive and realized that it
could not possibly be true.
.........................................................................................................................
(5) Is there something similarly odd about the following sentence? If so,
what?
Pamela considered the proposition that her mother was alive and realized
that it could not possibly be true.
.........................................................................................................................

Feedback
(1) Yes (2) Yes (3) Yes (4) Yes, there is a kind of contradiction here, in that 
the same thing is said to be both ‘a fact’ and ‘not possibly true’. (5) No, there
is nothing odd about this sentence, because we stated that propositions can
be either true or false.
Comment In our de
finition of ‘proposition’ we explicitly mentioned declarative
sentences, but propositions are clearly involved in the meanings of other
types of sentences, such as interrogatives, which are used to ask questions,
and imperatives, which are used to convey orders. Normally, when a speaker
utters a simple declarative sentence, he commits himself to the truth of the
corresponding proposition: i.e. he asserts the proposition. By uttering a
simple interrogative or imperative, a speaker can mention a particular
proposition, without asserting its truth.
Example In saying, ‘John can go’ a speaker asserts the proposition that John can go.
In saying, ‘Can John go?’, he mentions the same proposition but merely
questions its truth. We say that corresponding declaratives and interrogatives
(and imperatives) have the same propositional content.
Practice (1) In the following utterances, is any proposition asserted by the speaker?
(a) ‘Have you seen my toothbrush?’
Yes / No
(b) ‘Get out of here this minute!’
Yes / No
(c) ‘I’m afraid that I’ll have to ask you to leave’
Yes / No
(2) Would you say that the members of the following sentence pairs have the
same propositional content?
(a) Go away, will you? 
You will go away
Yes / No
(b) Pigs might 
fly 
I’m a Dutchman
Yes / No
(c) I am an idiot
Am I an idiot?
Yes / No
Feedback
(1) (a) No (b) No (c) Yes (2) (a) Yes (b) No common proposition is 
involved. (c) Yes
Comment The notion of propositional content will be taken up again in unit 25.
Propositions, unlike sentences, cannot be said to belong to any particular
language. Sentences in di
fferent languages can correspond to the same
proposition, if the two sentences are perfect translations of each other.
Example English I am cold, French J’ai froid, German Mir ist kalt, and Russian Mne
xolodno can, to the extent to which they are perfect translations of each other,
be said to correspond to the same proposition.
PA RT   O N E
Basic ideas in semantics
22

U N I T   2
Sentences, utterances, and propositions
Comment One may question whether perfect translation between languages is ever
possible. In point of fact, many linguists disagree about this and it is likely
that absolutely perfect translation of the same proposition from one language
to another is impossible. However, to simplify matters here we shall assume
that in some, possibly very few, cases, perfect translation IS possible.
We shall have a lot to say in later units about utterances, sentences and
propositions, since these concepts are at the bottom of all talk about meaning.
We shall see that we have to be very careful, when talking about meaning, to
make it clear whether we are dealing with utterances or sentences. To this end
we shall try summarizing the relationship between these notions.
We shall use the terms ‘proposition’, ‘sentence’, and ‘utterance’ in such a way
that anything that can be said of propositions can also be said of utterances,
but not necessarily vice versa, and anything that can be said of sentences can
also be said of utterances, but not necessarily vice versa. We have already seen
an example of this when we said it was sensible to talk of a sentence being
in a particular language, and also sensible to talk of an utterance being in a

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