CAS LX 502

1. CAS LX 502 6b. Context and inference 7.4-

2. Context and meaning • Nearly everything one reads or hears requires knowledge of context to interpret. • This can include: • Physical context • I don’t know why they did it. • Prior conversation • And then he just up and left. • Me too. • Background/common knowledge • The President has resumed eating pretzels.

3. Background knowledge • Generally assumed real-word/cultural knowledge, common ground, presuppositions of discourse. • Probably not actually mutual knowledge (that is, propositions that are both known to the interlocutors and known to be known to both. • Shall we go get some ice cream? • I’m on a diet. • Fine, a protein shake then?

4. Inference • A lot of communication actually takes the form of inference, conclusions drawn from things unsaid. Assuming connections between sentences. • I walked into the room. The windows looked out onto the bay. • We know things about rooms. They have windows, often.

5. Schank and Frames • No discussion of our reliance on background knowledge can avoid mentioning Roger Schank’s work almost 30 years ago trying to “teach computers semantics.” • Schank et al. devised scripts to represent common situations, to form a backdrop for a conversation. The standard example is the restaurant script…

6. Restaurants • Actor goes to a restaurant • Actor is seated • Actor orders a meal from waiter. • Waiter brings meal to the actor • Actor eats the meal • Actor gives money to the restaurant • Actor leaves the restaurant. • John went to a restaurant. The waiter gave John a menu. The waiter came to the table. John ordered a lobster. John was served quickly. John left a large tip. • What did John eat? (Lobster) • Who gave John the menu? (Waiter) • Who gave John the lobster? (Probably waiter)

7. Information packaging • Information in utterances is generally “packaged” in a way that can take advantage of the background knowledge and inferences available. Information structure. • One way this is accomplished by presuppositional items like theor stop, taking something in the context to be given.

8. Given vs. new • Much of what falls under information structure is the division of givenand new. • In the domain of noun phrases, for example, the indefinite article a(n) is used to introduce a new referent, which can thereafter be referred to as given (with the). • A man walked into the room. The man carefully hung up his coat and sat down. • Sometimes this is modeled by analogy to file cards. A man creates a file card (a place to hold information about an individual referent), and then the manrefers back to that file card.

9. Pronouns • Pronouns refer exclusively to given information (although their reference can come from the physical context via pointing). • Anaphora, indirect reference relation. • John ate a sandwich. He felt satisfied. • Note: When working with syntax, anaphora are generally divided into two kinds (that have distinct conditions): anaphors(himself, herself, …), and (anaphoric) pronouns (him, her, …). • Mary saw her. Mary saw her reflection. Mary saw herself.

10. Focus and given/new • Another way that information is marked as being new is through the use of focus(dividing the sentence into the focus and the presupposition, or the newand the given) • HENRY cleaned the kitchen.Someone cleaned the kitchen.(It was) Henry. • Henry CLEANED the kitchen.Henry did something to the kitchen.(It was) cleaning.

11. Contrast • Focus generally induces a kind of contrast. • What did you get for your birthday? • I got a CHEESE GRATER. • I thought John opposed that bill. • What? No, he VOTED for it. • Many languages mark focus morphologically, with a focus marking particle. English tends to use stress, or clefts, pseudo-clefts like: • It was a cheese grater that I got. • What I got was a cheese grater.

12. Topic • Often there is a sentence topic (separate from discourse topic). These too are often morphologically marked (Japanese wa), in English it can be paraphrased with As for. • As for birthday gifts, I got a cheese grater. • Me, I can’t figure him out. • Topics are either given information or introduced as if they were. • This guy, he asked me for directions. • As for him, he couldn’t care less.

13. On file cards • A woman with a small child came in • She[wa] ordered chicken-fried steak. • Next, a young man holding a tennis racket came in. • He[wa] handed her the racket and went to the bar to get a beer. • Another man and woman, who were late, came in. • It seemed (they) had been at a movie. (Portner and Yabushita 1998) • The woman who ordered chicken-fried steak left first. • ??The woman who the man had handed a racket to left first.

14. Focus and questions • John did not introduce Bill to SUE. • John did not introduce BILL to Sue. • Evoked questions • Where were you at the time of the crime? • I was at HOME. • I was at HOME. • Evoked questions, a superquestion, and a strategy.

15. Conversational implicature • Paul Grice: Inferences can be predicted by adopting a cooperative principle. • The idea is that we can draw conclusions based on what is said in addition to making the assumption that the speaker is participating cooperatively. • How is Charles getting on in his job? • Oh quite well, I think. He likes his colleagues, and he hasn’t been to prison yet. • Grice identified several aspects of this cooperation, which he called maxims.

16. Gricean maxims • Quality: Be truthful. • Do not say what you believe is false. • Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. • Quantity: Be informative. • Make your contribution as informative as required. • Do not make your contribution more informative than required. • Relation: Be relevant. • Make your contribution relevant. • Manner: Be perspicuous. • Avoid ambiguity, obscurity. • Be brief, orderly

17. Conversational implicatures • Pat has two children. • —I’m out of gas. —There’s a garage around the corner. • —I’m out of gas. —There’s a tiger eating my lunch. • The dinner was adequate. (In fact, it was great.) • Mr. Smith always shows up to class on time and well-dressed. • Ms. Smith produced a series of sounds that corresponded closely with the score of Home Sweet Home. • Bill is a fine friend.

18. Entailment and informativeness • I have a red sockI have a sock • I have one sockI have two socksI have three socksI have four socks • I have four socks is a stronger statement than I have one sock.

19. Focus sensitive adverbs • John did not give a book to MARY. • John even gave a book to MARY. • John only gave a book to MARY. • Informativeness: • John has a book. • John has two books. • John has twelve books.

20. “NPIs” • I don’t have any socks. • *I have any socks. • Do you have any socks? • If I had any socks, I wouldn’t be calling you. • Any socks would be welcome. • Pick any card. • Every student with any socks is happy. • *Every happy student has any socks.

21. Entailment • I have a red sock  I have a sock. • I don’t have a red sock  I don’t have a sock • If I had a red sock, I wouldn’t be calling you If I had a sock, I wouldn’t be calling you • A red sock would be welcome A sock would be welcome • Pick a red sock  Pick a sock • Every student with a red sock is happy Every student with a sock is happy. • I don’t have any socks. If I had any socks, I wouldn’t be calling you. Any sock would be welcome. Pick any sock. socks red socks

22. NPIs • —Do you have dry socks?—I don’t have any socks. Downward entailing • —Do you have potatoes?—Nope.—Not even bruised ones?—I don’t have any potatoes. Leave me alone. • I don’t have even one sock. DE, stronger. • *I have even one sock. UE, not stronger.

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