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Wrong about Meaning

Wrong about Meaning. Kasia Jaszczolt Newnham College a nd Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/kmj21. M. C. Escher, Still Life and Street , 1937. Linguistics Philosophy X Linguistic philosophy  Philosophy of language.

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Wrong about Meaning

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  1. Wrong about Meaning Kasia Jaszczolt Newnham College and Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/kmj21

  2. M. C. Escher, Still Life and Street, 1937

  3. Linguistics Philosophy X Linguistic philosophy Philosophy of language

  4. Two concepts, one object: ‘Snowdon’, ‘Yr Wyddfa’ – the highest mountain in Wales. Two objects, one concept: ‘elm’ – elm, beech

  5. Antoni Gaudí’s ‘Sagrada Família’ ‘The architect of this church must have been mad.’

  6. Antoni Gaudí’s ‘Sagrada Família’ ‘The architect of this church must have been mad.’

  7. Ambiguity and vagueness Every bottle is empty.

  8. Ambiguity and vagueness Every bottle is empty. Every bottle at the party is empty.

  9. Ambiguity and vagueness Every bottle is empty. Every bottle at the party is empty. The temperature fell below zero and the lake froze.

  10. Ambiguity and vagueness Every bottle is empty. Every bottle at the party is empty. The temperature fell below zero and the lake froze. The temperature fell below zero and as a result the lake froze.

  11. Ambiguity and vagueness Every bottle is empty. Every bottle at the party is empty. The temperature fell below zero and the lake froze. The temperature fell below zero and as a result the lake froze. Some dogs have fleas.

  12. Ambiguity and vagueness Every bottle is empty. Every bottle at the party is empty. The temperature fell below zero and the lake froze. The temperature fell below zero and as a result the lake froze. Some dogs have fleas. Some but not all dogs have fleas.

  13. Which meaning? Child to mother: Everybody has a bike. All of the child’s friends have bikes. Many/most of the child’s classmates have bikes. The mother should buy her son a bike. Cycling is a popular form of exercise among children.

  14. Which meaning? Child to mother: Everybody has a bike. All of the child’s friends have bikes. Many/most of the child’s classmates have bikes. The mother should buy her son a bike. Cycling is a popular form of exercise among children.

  15. Where does meaning come from? Two examples: • Speaking about time • Speaking about oneself

  16. Example 1 Speaking about time

  17. What is expressed by using words in one language may be expressed by grammar in another.

  18. What is expressed by using words in one language may be expressed by grammar in another. What is expressed overtly in onelanguage may be left out (and only implied) in another.

  19. Main questions • Is the human concept of time a universal concept? Yes • Can it be explained in terms of simpler concepts? Yes • How do linguistic expressions of time reflect it? Through interaction with other sources of information

  20. A-series

  21. B-series

  22. St’àt’imcets (Lillooet Salish), British Columbia only future (kelh) – non-future distinction

  23. Swahili: consecutive tense marker ka a. …wa-Ingerezawa-li-wa-chukuawa-le maiti, 3Pl-British 3Pl-Past-3Pl-take 3Pl-Dem corpses ‘…then the British took the corpses, b. wa-ka-wa-tiakatikabaomoja, 3Pl-Cons-3Pl-put.on on board one put them on a flat board, c. wa-ka-ya-telemeshamaji-nikwautaratibu w-ote… 3Pl-Cons-3Pl-lower water-Loc with order 3Pl-all and lowered them steadily into the water…’

  24. Narration in English: Lidia played a sonata. The audience applauded. e1 e2

  25. Time in Thai m3ae:r3i:I kh2ian n3iy3ai: Mary write novel

  26. Mary wrote a novel. • Mary was writing a novel. • Mary started writing a novel but did not finish it. • Mary has written a novel. • Mary has been writing a novel. • Mary writes novels. / Mary is a novelist. • Mary is writing a novel. • Mary will write a novel. • Mary will be writing a novel. from Srioutai (2006: 45)

  27. f3on t1ok rain fall • It is raining. (default meaning) • It was raining. (possible intended meaning)

  28. Our commitment to the Past (1) Lidia went to a concert yesterday. (regular past) (2) This is what happened yesterday. Lidia goes to a concert, meets her school friend and tells her… (past of narration) (3) Lidia would have gone to a concert (then). (epistemic necessity past) (4) Lidia must have gone to a concert (yesterday). (epistemic necessity past) (5) Lidia may have gone to a concert (yesterday). (epistemic possibility past) (6) Lidia might have gone to a concert (yesterday). (epistemic possibility past)

  29. Degree of commitment for selected expressions with past-time reference

  30. K.M. Jaszczolt, 2005, Default Semantics: Foundations of a Compositional Theory of Acts of Communication, Oxford: Oxford University Press. • K. M. Jaszczolt, 2010. ‘Default Semantics’. In: B. Heine and H. Narrog (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 215-246. • K. M. Jaszczolt, in progress, Interactive Semantics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  31. Sources of information for  (i) world knowledge (WK) (ii) word meaning and sentence structure (WS) (iii) situation of discourse (SD) (iv)properties of the human inferential system (IS) (v) stereotypes and presumptions about society and culture (SC)

  32. World knowledge: The temperature fell below zero and the lake froze. The temperature fell below zero and as a result the lake froze.

  33. sources of information types of processes

  34. Some meanings automatically ‘click in’, others take time and effort:

  35. A: So, is this your first film? B: No, it’s my twenty second. A: Any favourites among the twenty two? B: Working with Leonardo. A: da Vinci? B: DiCaprio. A: Of course. And is he your favourite Italian director? (Richard Curtiss, Notting Hill, 1999)

  36. A: So, is this your first film? B: No, it’s my twenty second. A: Any favourites among the twenty two? B: Working with Leonardo. A: da Vinci? B: DiCaprio. A: Of course. And is he your favourite Italian director? (Richard Curtiss, Notting Hill, 1999)

  37.  for Thai ‘Mary wrote a novel’ (regular past)

  38. Example 2 Speaking about oneself

  39. The scenario: The person who agreed to organise the drinks is to blame. I am to blame. I completely forgot I was put in charge.

  40. The difference? The person who agreed to organise the drinks is to blame. = I am to blame.

  41. Self-awareness: x common nouns, descriptions, proper names  pronouns

  42. Sammy wants a biscuit. Mummy will be with you in a moment.

  43. Honorifics: • Japanese, Thai, Burmese, Javanese, Khmer, Korean, Malay, or Vietnamese The word for ‘I’ has the characteristics of both a pronoun (‘I’) and a noun (‘the presenter’). ‘slave’, ‘servant’, royal slave’, ‘lord’s servant’, ‘Buddha’s servant’ Thai: ‘mouse’ • Thai: 27 expressions of first person • Japanese: 51 expressions

  44. Acoma (New Mexico), Wari’ (Brazil): no personal pronouns

  45. Referring to oneself ‘to some extent’ Onecan hear the wolves from the veranda. It is scary to hear the wolves from the veranda. ‘detached self-reference’

  46. If I were you I would wait a couple of days before issuing a complaint. Wait a couple of days before issuing a complaint.

  47. ‘this’, ‘here’ • Thai phŏm1 nii2 ( ‘one male this’); • Japanese kotira, Korean yeogi, and Vietnamese hây (‘here’)

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