Semantics: a coursebook, second edition
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particular song, that eleven hundred is used to refer to a particular number, one o’clock to a particular time, 93 million miles to a particular distance, and so on. Language is used to talk about the real world, and can be used to talk about an in finite variety of abstractions, and even of entities in imaginary, unreal worlds. Definition We de fine the UNIVERSE OF DISCOURSE for any utterance as the particular world, real or imaginary (or part real, part imaginary), that the speaker assumes he is talking about at the time. Example When an astronomy lecturer, in a serious lecture, states that the Earth revolves around the Sun, the universe of discourse is, we all assume, the real world (or universe). When I tell my children a bedtime story and say ‘The dragon set fire to the woods with his hot breath’, the universe of discourse is not the real world but a fictitious world. Practice Is the universe of discourse in each of the following cases the real world (as far as we can tell) (R), or a (partly) fictitious world (F)? (1) Newsreader on April 14th 1981: ‘The American space-shuttle successfully landed at Edwards Airforce Base, California, today’ R / F (2) Mother to child: ‘Don’t touch those berries. They might be poisonous’ R / F (3) Mother to child: ‘Santa Claus might bring you a toy telephone’ R / F (4) Patient in psychiatric ward: ‘As your Emperor, I command you to defeat the Parthians’ R / F (5) Doctor to patient: ‘You cannot expect to live longer than another two months’ R / F (6) Patient (joking bravely): ‘When I’m dead, I’ll walk to the cemetery to save the cost of a hearse’ R / F Feedback (1) R (2) R (3) F (4) F (5) R (6) F, dead people do not walk in the real world Comment These were relatively clear cases. Note that no universe of discourse is a totally fictitious world. Santa Claus is a fiction, but the toy telephones he PA RT T WO From reference . . . 62 U N I T 6 Predicates, referring expressions, and universe of discourse 63 might bring do actually exist. So in examples like this we have interaction between fact and fiction, between real and imaginary worlds. When two people are ‘arguing at cross-purposes’, they could be said to be working within partially di fferent universes of discourse. Example Theist: ‘Diseases must serve some good purpose, or God would not allow them’ Atheist: ‘I cannot accept your premisses’ Here the theist is operating with a universe of discourse which is a world in which God exists. The atheist’s assumed universe of discourse is a world in which God does not exist. Practice In the following situations, are the participants working with the same universe of discourse (S), or di fferent universes (D), as far as you can tell? (1) A: ‘Did Jack’s son come in this morning?’ B: ‘I didn’t know Jack had a son’ A: ‘Then who’s that tall chap that was here yesterday?’ B: ‘I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure Jack hasn’t got any kids’ A: ‘I’m sure Jack’s son was here yesterday’ S / D (2) Time traveller from the eighteenth century: ‘Is the King of France on good terms with the Tsar of Russia?’ Twenty- first-century person: ‘Huh?’ S / D (3) Optician: ‘Please read the letters on the bottom line of the card’ Patient: ‘E G D Z Q N B A’ Optician: ‘Correct. Well done’ S / D Feedback (1) D: in A’s universe of discourse Jack’s son exists; in B’s he does not. (2) D (3) S Comment Assuming the same universe of discourse is essential to successful communication. The participants in questions (1) and (2) are in a sense talking about di fferent worlds. Assuming different universes of discourse is not the only reason for breakdown of communication: there can be other causes – both participants’ assuming that exactly the same entities exist in the world, but referring to them by di fferent words (an extreme case of this would be two tải về 1.74 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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