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Semantics: Study of Linguistic Meanings and Relationships Between Words and Sentences

Explore the variety of meanings and relationships that exist between words and sentences in the field of semantics. Learn about denotation, referent, and reference, as well as metaphorical and logical entailment. Understand how presuppositions impact the interpretation of sentences.

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Semantics: Study of Linguistic Meanings and Relationships Between Words and Sentences

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  1. SEMANTICS

  2. SEMANTICS 1. Study of linguistic meanings 2. Explores the variety of meanings and meaning relationships that hold between words and sentences 3. Has 2 sub-domains: Lexical (words) and sentential (sentences)

  3. denotations VS referents Denotation: literal meaning of word/phrase Referent: the actual entity (ies) that a word signifies. Reference: the relationship that exists between a word and its referent(s).

  4. denotations VS referents a) The President of the United States

  5. denotations VS referents b) Capital of Canada

  6. denotations VS referents c) The women who walked on the moon

  7. denotations VS referents d) My linguistic professor

  8. metaphors we live by The eye of a needle The foot of the bed The hands of the clock The arm of a chair Describes non-living entities in terms of physical human features

  9. metaphors we live by The lecture is easy to digest He just eats up the lecturer’s words Chew on this thought for a while Listen to this juicy piece of gossip Describes knowledgein terms of food-related terminology

  10. metaphors we live by Your claims are indefensible He shotdown all my arguments His criticisms were right on target If you use that strategy, he’ll wipe you out I demolished his argument He attacked every weak point in my argument Describes argumentsin terms of war terminology

  11. metaphors we live by He unleashed his anger Her anger was aroused Your temper is ferocious She was bristling with rage Describes wrathin terms of animalistic features

  12. logical entailment Sentential semantics – Relations between sentences AKA Logical connections Paraphrase Entailment Contradiction Presupposition

  13. logical entailment Definition of entailment: Proposition A entails Proposition B if the truth of A makes B necessarily true. i.e The truth of sentence A ensures the truth of sentence B. Lecture example A: I boiled an egg. B: I cooked an egg.

  14. logical entailment “The truth of sentence A makes B necessarily true.”

  15. logical entailment “The truth of sentence A makes B necessarily true.”

  16. logical entailment “The truth of sentence A makes B necessarily true.”

  17. logical entailment “The truth of sentence A makes B necessarily true.”

  18. logical entailment “The truth of sentence A makes B necessarily true.”

  19. logical entailment “The truth of sentence A makes B necessarily true.”

  20. Presupposition Definition of Presupposition: An implicit assumption about the world or background belief relating to a sentence whose truth is taken for granted, so to speak.

  21. presupposition (A) • John regrets that Maria went to the graduation ceremony. John believes that Maria went to the graduation ceremony. • Ans: John regretsthat Maria went to the graduation ceremony. • Regrets: Presupposition that Maria has gone to the graduation ceremony already. • Believes: Encapsulates a personal opinion.

  22. presupposition (A) • The captain thought that the ship was in danger. The captain realized that the ship was in danger. • Ans: The captain realizedthat the ship was in danger. • Realized: Presupposition that the ship is already in danger. • Thought: Encapsulates a personal opinion.

  23. presupposition (A) It is significant that the criminal was sentenced. It is likely that the criminal was sentenced. Answer: It is significantthat the criminal was sentenced. Significant Presupposition that criminal is already sentenced Likely encapsulates a personal opinion and criminal might not be sentenced yet.

  24. presupposition (B) A. Who killed Sylvia? • Sylvia is dead • Murderer is unknown • There must be a Sylvia

  25. presupposition (B) B. Where did you put the cheese? • Cheese has to exist in this world • The cheese is not at its original position • Someone/something is responsible for misplacing the cheese

  26. presupposition (B) C. Why is there sadness in the world? • There is must be an emotion called sadness in the world • A world has to be in existence

  27. THANKYOU

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