Semantics: a coursebook, second edition

PA RT   T H R E E
. . . to  sense
102
Example The stereotype of cat would be something like:
Quadruped, domesticated, either black, or white, or grey, or tortoise-shell,
or marmalade in colour, or some combination of these colours, adult
specimens about 50 cm long from nose to tip of tail, furry, with sharp
retractable claws, etc., etc.
Practice (1) Suggest four characteristics which should be included in the stereotype
of the predicate elephant. (Be sure not to include any more basic term,
properly belonging to the SENSE of elephant.)
..........................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................
(2) Give two characteristics which should be included in the stereotype of
mother.
..........................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................
(3) Give four characteristics which should be included in the stereotype of cup.
..........................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................
(4) Give four characteristics which should be included in the stereotype of
building.
..........................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................
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(1) e.g. grey, very thick-skinned, virtually hairless, with a trunk and two 
tusks, adult specimens weighing several tons, etc. (2) e.g. caring for her
young, living with their father, etc. (3) e.g. between 3 and 6 cm high,
round in cross-section, wider at the top than at the bottom, of china, with
a handle, made to 
fit a saucer, etc. (4) e.g. containing upward of three or
four rooms, built of a durable material, such as concrete, wood, stone,
with a roof, doors, and windows, used regularly by human beings, etc.
Comment A stereotype is related to a prototype (see previous unit) but is not the same
thing. A prototype of elephant is some actual elephant, whereas the stereotype
of elephant is a list of characteristics which describes the prototype. The
stereotype of a predicate may often specify a range of possibilities (e.g. the
range of colours of typical cats), but an individual prototype of this predicate
will necessarily take some particular place within this range (e.g. black).
Another important di
fference between prototype and stereotype is that a
speaker may well know a stereotype for some predicate, such as ghost,

U N I T   9
Sense properties and stereotypes
103
witchdoctor,
flying saucer, but not actually be acquainted with any prototypes of
it. Stereotypes of expressions for things learnt about at second hand, through
descriptions rather than direct experience, are generally known in this way.
The relationships between stereotype, prototype, sense, and extension are
summarized very brie
fly in the chart. The notions of prototype
Thing (or set of
Abstract 
things) speci
fied
speci
fication
Pertaining to all examples
EXTENSION
SENSE
Pertaining to typical examples
PROTOTYPE
STEREOTYPE
and stereotype are relatively recent in semantics. We have in fact given
de
finitions which sharpen up the difference between the two terms, which
are sometimes used vaguely or even interchangeably. Important though the
notion of stereotype is in everyday language, it is obviously not so basic to
meaning as the idea of sense, which we have de
fined as an indispensable hard
core of meaning. In this book we will deal no further with the notions of
prototype and stereotype, but we will give a lot of attention to sense.
Summary The sense of an expression can be thought of as the sum of its sense 
properties and sense relations. Sense properties of sentences include those
of being analytic, synthetic, and a contradiction.
With the exception of a few predicates such as bachelor, father, square,
sphere, etc. it is not possible to give complete de
finitions of the sense of most
predicates by sets of necessary and su
fficient conditions. Stereotypes defined
in terms of typical characteristics account for the fact that people usually
agree on the meanings of the words they use.

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