Unraveling the Meaning of 'Killing': Semantic Interpretations

1. Discovery Seminar UE141 PP– Spring 2009Solving Crimes using Referent Tracking Introduction to ‘meaning’January 29, 2009 Werner CEUSTERS Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences Ontology Research Group University at Buffalo, NY, USA

2. Homework of last week • What would it mean to say: • ‘X kills Y’ • ‘X killed Y’ • ‘X killed Y at time t1’ • ‘Y was killed’ • ‘Y was killed by X’ • ‘Y was killed by X at time t1’ • ‘Y was killed by X at time t2’ • Explain first what you understand by ‘meaning’. Then use this to explain what ‘killing’ means to you. Then use that meaning of ‘killing’ to explain the meaning of each of the sentences above using only ONE scenario, perhaps by stating that under your definition of ‘killing’ some sentences are non-sensical. • Send me your answer • in PowerPoint • by email (ceusters@buffalo.edu) • not later than January 27, 10 PM, • Answers should include reference to or citations from any source or document that you used to formulate an answer

3. Hints given • Word • Sentence • Definition • Meaning • Semantic triangle • Denotation • Reference • Reality • Belief • Representation

4. Students’ meanings for ‘meaning’ (1) • S3: - to be the cause that creates effects • S13: - the implied importance and significance of an action or expression (the nonlinguistic cultural correlate, reference, or denotation of a linguistic form) • S2: - what something stands for or actually is • S6: - the definition of something and how one chooses to interpret it. - how someone chooses to express something • S5: - the literal understanding of a word; how someone interprets a word and therefore how they use it. • S14: - something that is conveyed or implied

5. Students’ meanings for ‘meaning’ (2) • S1: - meaning do not lie in words; they lie in people. A word means whatever you intended for it to mean • S7: - that which adequately describes, represents, or explains the essential nature or intrinsic value of some thought or concept developed by humankind which ultimately refers to an action or object currently in existence or theorized to exist somewhere in the universe at any given time • S9: - the interpretation of a word or object that is understood by an individual, not necessarily the dictionary definition of a word. These three understood the hint ‘semantic triangle’

6. Standard Semiotic/Semantic Triangle

7. Standard Semiotic/Semantic Triangle Useful, but nevertheless wrong !

8. Useful to build multi-lingual dictionaries Concept ‘cat’ cat chat kat Katze …

9. Problem: several interpretations of the Semiotic/Semantic triangle Reference: Concept / Sense / Model / View / Partition Sign: Language/ Term/ Symbol Referent: Reality/ Object

10. Aristotle’s triadic meaning model Words spoken are signs or symbols (symbola) of affections or impressions (pathemata) of the soul (psyche); written words (graphomena) are the signs of words spoken (phoné). As writing (grammatta), so also is speech not the same for all races of men. But the mental affections themselves, of which these words are primarily signs (semeia), are the same for the whole of mankind, as are also the objects (pragmata) of which those affections are representations or likenesses, images, copies (homoiomata). Aristotle, 'On Interpretation', 1.16.a.4-9, Translated by Cooke & Tredennick, Loeb Classical Library, William Heinemann, London, UK, 1938. pathema semeia  gramma/ phoné pragma

11. my your understanding understanding Richards’ semantic triangle • Reference (“concept”): “indicates the realm of memory where recollections of past experiences and contexts occur”. • Hence: as with Aristotle, the reference is “mind-related”: thought. • But: not “the same for all”, rather individual mind-related reference symbol referent

12. R1 R2 R3 mole (skin lesion) mole (unit) mole (animal) Don’t confuse with homonymy ! “mole”

13. One concept understanding of x understanding of y referent symbol Different thoughts Homonymy R2 R3 R1 mole “skinlesion” mole “unit” “mole” mole “animal”

14. And by the way, synonymy... the Aristotelian view Richards’ view “sweat” “sweat” “perspiration” “perspiration”

15. Frege’s view • “sense” is an objective feature of how words are used and not a thought or concept in somebody’s head • 2 names with the same reference can have different senses • 2 names with the same sense have the same reference (synonyms) • a name with a sense does not need to have a reference (“Beethoven’s 10th symphony”) sense name reference (=referent)

16. Representation and Reference terms concepts about First Order Reality The alternative: the semantic triangle revisited concepts objects terms

17. representational units universals particulars Terminology Realist Ontology Representation and Reference terms concepts about objects First Order Reality

18. Terminology Realist Ontology Representation and Reference terms concepts representational units about objects universals particulars First Order Reality

19. Terminology Realist Ontology Representation and Reference representational units terms concepts cognitive units communicative units about objects universals particulars First Order Reality

20. Representational units in various • forms about (1), (2) or (3) (2) Cognitive entities which are our beliefs about (1) (1) Entities with objective existence which are not about anything Three levels of reality in Realist Ontology Terminology Realist Ontology Representation and Reference representational units cognitive units communicative units universals particulars First Order Reality