Semantics: a coursebook, second edition
Unit 8 Study Guide and Exercises Directions
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| Unit 8 Study Guide and Exercises
Directions After you have read Unit 8 you should be able to tackle the following questions to test your understanding of the main ideas raised in the unit. 1 You should understand these terms and concepts from this unit: extension fuzzy set extension of a one-place predicate ostensive de finition prototype denotation 2 Is the di fference between reference and sense clear-cut or not? Explain and illustrate. 3 Explain the notion of potential referents in connection with the phrase the book. 4 What term introduced in this unit describes the set of potential referents of a referring expression such as the noun phrase the book in 3 above? 5 Distinguish between referent and extension. 6 Make sure you understand the chart on page 81 in which the di fferences and similarities between sense, extension, and reference are described. In what way are sense and extension alike, and unlike reference? In what way are extension and reference alike, and unlike sense? 7 In this unit we said that ‘A speaker’s knowledge of the sense of a predicate provides . . . an idea of its extension’. In other words, we noted that sense fixes (determines) extension. Explain as best you can in your own words. 8 Do you think it would be possible for the extension of a predicate to fix (determine) the sense of that predicate? Why or why not? 9 Describe brie fly the extension of car. 10 What is meant by the statement that ‘extensions are relative to all times, past, present, and future’? How can we restrict the extension of a predicate? 11 In this unit we noted that extension and meaning cannot be equated (cf. featherless biped and rational animal). Why not? 12 What is the basic flaw in the idea of extensions? What are fuzzy sets and how is this notion supposed to resolve the problem? Give your own example. 13 What role does the notion of natural kind play with respect to the notion of extension? What originally motivated the notion of an extension? 14 Brie fly describe prototypical examples of the following entities, along with one or two non-prototypical examples that could also be referred to by each predicate. Explain why the non-prototypical examples diverge from the prototype. U N I T 8 Words and things: extensions and prototypes 91 a bird d dog b book e flower c furniture f chair 15 What does the concept prototype have to do with meaning? How is it related to the learning of the meanings of certain expressions? 16 In this unit we gave several examples in which cultural di fferences can lead to di fferent prototypes. Think of some more examples not mentioned in the book. 17 Give some examples not in the book which would probably be learned via tải về 1.74 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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