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One. meaning and communication. What you should get out of this. This is an experimental lecture It’s a superficial overview of semantics The goal is to Motivate some of the programming and art theory that is to come

claudia-dale
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  1. One meaning and communication

  2. What you should get out of this • This is an experimental lecture • It’s a superficial overview of semantics • The goal is to • Motivate some of the programming and art theory that is to come • Get you to see meaning as being a very complicated (and interesting) phenomenon • I will not test you on it • Although subsequent lectures will go over some of this stuff in more detail, and then it will be fair game

  3. A simple model “all life is suffering” • There are thoughts in the speaker’s head • They are represented in language • They are reproduced in the hearer’s head

  4. Form and content “Buddha” notation denotation (sort of) • Form is the concrete manifestation of the message (sound/object/pattern) • Content is the object referred to (denoted by) the message

  5. A more detailed model encode “Buddha” decode • Speaker encodes meanings as messages • Listener decodes messages to recover the meaning • Encoding and decoding processes are inverses Speaker Listener

  6. Syntax and semantics • Forms have structure • Sentences are made of phrases • Phrases are made of words • Words are made of syllables • Syllables are made of phonemes • Images are made of lines and forms • Lines and forms are made of points • The structure of the form is its syntax • Example: “I walked to the lake” can be read as • Noun phrase: “I” • Verb phrase: “walked to the lake”, which can be broken up as: • Verb: “walked” • Prepositional phrase: “to the lake”, which could be broken up further if I weren’t running out of room on this slide

  7. Syntax and semantics • Meanings also have structure • (This one’s way more subtle because philosophers can’t even agree on whether meanings really exist) • By many theories, meanings are “made of” • Objects being referred to in the world • Properties being ascribed to them • Relations being claimed to hold between them • Example: the meaning of “water is wet” can be decomposed into: • An object: water • A property ascribed to it: wetness

  8. Syntax and semantics • And now the important part: • The structure of form and content (roughly) mirror one another • So the encoding/decoding process can be (roughly) described in terms of the structures of form and content • These rules for encoding/decoding are called the semantics of the forms • Example: “water is wet” ascribes wetness to water • More generally, sentences of the form “noun is adjective” are decoded by • Finding the meaning of the noun (an object) • Finding the meaning of the adjective (a property) • Ascribing the property to the object

  9. Visual semantics • Visual decoding follows some basic rules of thumb: • Closed contours describe objects • Occlusion signals depth ordering

  10. Generativity • Language is generative • It has a relatively small set of words(400-50,000 depending on language and speaker) • It has a relatively small number of rules for combining them • Every sentence has a subject and a predicate • Every predicate has a verb and arguments • Etc. • These combine to create an infinite number of sentences • With an infinite number of possible meanings

  11. A more accurate model “all life is suffering” • In practice, the decoding process does not produce an exact copy of the meaning in the listener’s head • In fact, it usually produces many meanings • Many of which may be completely unintended or “wrong”

  12. Intension and extension • The extension (aka referent, denotation) of a term is the object(s) it refers to in the world • But extension is not a good model of meaning • The following phrases have all been used in public discourse to refer to the same person • “Our commander and chief” • “The president” • “The stupid one”(spoken by a French journalist when the election results were announced) • In their use-contexts, they all have the same extension • But they are not equivalent • The intension of a term is, well, the rest of its meaning

  13. This is where math stops • In math and (almost all) formal logic, the meaning of expressions defined by their extension • “5” and “4+1” are completely interchangeable • No intension • Most Anglo-American philosophy also focuses on extensional semantics, rather than intention • Extension can be defined rigorously • And systematized • And theorized with good predictive power • Intension’s open-endedness makes it very hard to theorize

  14. This is where computers stop • Computer science also uses extensional semantics because • It grew out of math and logic • Extensional semantics can be systematized • Also because • You don’t want your word processor exercising poetic license with your term paper • We can’t (presently) make computers understand connotation even when we try

  15. Signifier Signified Meaning in continental philosophy:Semiotics/semiology • Meaning is communicated through signification • A sound or image refers to/suggests/signifiesa set of ideas or meanings • Signs as units of language • Signifier • Material manifestation • Image/sound/object • Signified • Meaning/idea • “Weaker” theory than analytic philosophy • (I.e. fewer predictions) • But consequently a much broader domain of application • Including connotation Sign

  16. Signifier Signified Signified Sign Barthes:Connotation as second-order signification • Connotation is communicated through association • As complete sign is used in a meta-sign to signify another idea • Myths • Pervasive, “mythic” values and beliefs used by a society to understand itself and the world • Idealized fictions (for him at least) • Operate at the level of connotation

  17. Sometimesa cigar isn’t a cigar

  18. A more detailed model associations inference encode “Buddha” decode • Speaker encodes meanings as messages • Listener decodes messages to recover the meaning • Encoding and decoding processes are inverses Speaker Listener

  19. Connotation über alles “Kerry”, that sounds French, doesn’t it? - Unnamed Whitehouse source, Fall 2002 • In practice, denotation is often irrelevant • Much political and ethical discourse operates almost entirely at the level of connotation • Most people don’t even know the lyrics to their favorite songs

  20. In case you didn’t believe me I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly. I'm crying. Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come. Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday. Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long. I am the eggman, they are the eggmen. I am the walrus, goo goo goo joob - Lennon and McCartney, I am the Walrus (UK, 1966)

  21. The Psychedelic Furs,All of This and Nothing (UK, 1981) a phonebook full of accidents a girl to drive your car a suit to wear on mondays and a coat a magazine a heavy rain, a holiday a painting of the wall a knife a fork and memories a light to see it all you didn't leave me anything that i can understand hey i never meant that stuff i want to turn you round

  22. The PoliceWith Every Breath You Take (UK, 1983)

  23. The PoliceWith Every Breath You Take (UK, 1983) Every breath you take and every move you make Every bond you break, every step you take I'll be watchin' you Every single day and every word you say Every game you play, every night you stay I'll be watchin' you

  24. Signs have (partial) autonomy • People never completely work out their intended meaning before they speak • People use signifiers without fully understanding their consensual meanings • People interpret signifiers differently • The consensual meanings of signifiers change over time

  25. Appropriation • Signs can also be appropriated by third parties and retasked for new meanings • Quotation • Warhol and Cornell’s use of celebrity photographs • Sampling in Hip-hop Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Penny Arcade Portrait of Lauren Bacall) 1945-46

  26. A3, Woke Up This Morning (UK, 1997) Woke up this morning Got yourself a gun, Your mama always said you’d be The Chosen One. She said: You’re One in a million You’ve got to burn to shine, But you were born under a bad sign, With a blue moon in your eyes. Woke up this morning All that love had gone, Your Papa never told you About right and wrong. But you’re looking good, baby, I believe that you’re a feeling fine, shame about it, Born under a bad sign With a blue moon in your eyes.

  27. Here's a little song I wrote You might want to sing it note for note Don't worry, be happy In every life we have some trouble But when you worryyou make it double Don't worry, be happy Don't worry, be happy now Don't worry, be happy Don't worry,be happy Don't worry, be happy Don't worry,be happy Ain't got no place to lay your head Somebody came and took your bed Don't worry, be happy The landlord say your rent is late He may have to litigate Don't worry, be happy Don't worry, be happy Don't worry, be happy, Don't worry, be happy Don't worry, be happy, Don't worry, be happy Bobby McFerrinDon’t Worry, Be Happy (USA, 1988)

  28. More cultural appropriation

  29. A less detailed model “Buddha” • All communication takes place in the context of culture • Culture constantly shifts the meanings of its signifiers • As a result of ongoing discourse over the meanings of signifiers

  30. How to do things with words • We don’t just communicate to exchange information • J.L. Austin, How to do things with words, 1960 • Communication is a form of action • Requesting assistance • Ordering subordinates • Promising future action • Persuading others to thought or action • Seeing an object or concept in a new light • Seeing connections not previously seen • … without ever actually stating the new thought

  31. Communication as action “this mind is not Buddha” • The speaker seeks to change the listener’s mind • The speaker chooses words to effect that change • The listener is changed

  32. she is benedictionshe is addicted to theeshe is the root connection she is connecting with he here I go and I don't know why I fell so ceaselessly could it be he's taking over me... I'm dancing barefoot heading for a spin some strange music draws me in makes me come on like some heroin/e she is sublimation she is the essence of thee she is concentrating on he, who is chosen by she here I go and I don't know why I spin so ceaselessly,could it be he's taking over me…I'm dancing barefoot heading for a spin some strange music draws me in makes me come on like some heroin/e Patti Smith: Dancing Barefoot

  33. Communication as social action

  34. Neil Young - Ohio Tin soldiers and nixon coming,We’re finally on our own.This summer I hear the drumming,Four dead in ohio.Gotta get down to itSoldiers are gunning us downShould have been done long ago.What if you knew herAnd found her dead on the groundHow can you run when you know?

  35. Art and communication • Art is communication • Your goal is to learn to • Understand the role of signs in our culture • The dominant sign systems that organize our thinking • The “ecology” of signs • Learn to do good encoding • Understand the decoding process • Become a good listener to your own decoding process

  36. Computers and communication • Programming is also communication • From programmer to computer • From programmer to programmer • Your goal is to learn to understand • The syntax of programs • Recognize gibberish • The semantics of programs • Given a desired computation, understand how to formulate a program to do it • Given a program, understand how to determine what it’s doing

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