LINGUIS 101 1st Edition Lecture 25 Semantics part 1 pragmatics Meaning Semantics is the study of the literal meaning of words phrases and sentences o Lexical semantics the meaning of individual words or morphemes which are listed in the lexicon o Compositional semantics how complex phrase and sentence meanings are built from the meanings of their component parts lexical items Pragmatics is the study of how factors of use and context contribute to messages conveyed by speakers Sentence and utterance Sentence group of words used to express a complete idea Dogs are furry o An abstract linguistic object o Exists independent of context Utterance a particular use of a sentence which occurs in a particular context o A physical event o Occurs at a certain time in a certain place has a actual speaker and audience Example can you take out the trash o Literal meaning are you capable of taking out the trash yes or no o Different utterances of the same sentence may mean A request please take out the trash A literal question about physical capabilities A request that someone go away A request that someone remove someone else Speaker meaning and literal meaning Two different kids of meanings o Literal meaning literal meaning of the linguistic structures Sentences have only literal meaning o Speaker meaning what we can construe about the speaker s intended message Derived from the literal meaning plus information about the context of utterance An utterance has speaker meaning as well as literal meaning Literal meaning o The literal meaning of a sentence is computed from two primary sources The lexicon meanings of individual words and morphemes in the language The syntax rules for combining these units in the language Speaker meaning o Speaker meaning is computed from two components Literal meaning lexicon syntax Context Who is speaking Who are they speaking to Where are they What are they doing What other events led up to the utterance Computing speaker meaning Speaker meaning can vary from context to context Yet the conclusions speakers raw are systematic and consistent How are we computing speaker meaning o Rule governed process of linguistic inference Cooperative speech partners H P Grice 1913 1988 speakers assume that their conversation partners always follow the cooperative principle o The cooperative principle make your contribution appropriate to the conversation Grice s conversational maxims o What is an appropriate contribution The maxim of relevance be relevant The maxim of quality try to make your contribution one that is true The maxim of quantity do not make your contribution more or less informative than required The maxim of manner avoid ambiguity and obscurity be brief and orderly Deviant discourse someone violating a maxim either on purpose or by accident but is hiding it Implicature People sometimes intentionally violate a conversational maxim in an obvious way in order to implicate a certain speaker meaning If the literal meaning does not satisfy the cooperative principle speakers will make an inference that the speaker meaning is different from the literal meaning Implicature a linguistic inference based on literal meaning and context of utterance o Relevance implicatures Q Are you going to the movie tonight A I have to study Speaker meaning no I m not going to the movie o Quality implicatures Q what s the weather like today A oh just another hot and steamy December day in Wisconsin time to break out the suntan lotion Speaker meaning what a stupid question it s December in Wisconsin its cold o Quantity implicatures context there are three students in the class Mary Bob and Jill Q how did the students do on the exam A Mary and Bpb did well Speaker meaning jill did not do well o Manner implicatures Q did you get the homework I turned in A I received two pieces of paper stapled together and covered in black squiggles Speaker meaning that homework was not good