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This book provides an introduction to the study of meaning in human language, from a linguistic perspective. It covers a fairly broad range of topics, including lexical semantics, compositional semantics, and pragmatics. The chapters are organized into six units: (1) Foundational concepts; (2) Word meanings; (3) Implicature (including indirect speech acts); (4) Compositional semantics; (5) Modals, conditionals, and causation; (6) Tense & aspect.Most of the chapters include exercises which can be used for class discussion and/or homework assignments, and each chapter contains references for additional reading on the topics covered.As the title indicates, this book is truly an INTRODUCTION: it provides a solid foundation which will prepare students to take more advanced and specialized courses in semantics and/or pragmatics. It is also intended as a reference for fieldworkers doing primary research on under-documented languages, to help them write grammatical descriptions that deal carefully and clearly with semantic issues. The approach adopted here is largely descriptive and non-formal (or, in some places, semi-formal), although some basic logical notation is introduced. The book is written at level which should be appropriate for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students. It presupposes some previous coursework in linguistics, but does not presuppose any background in formal logic or set theory.
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Author(s): Paul R. Kroeger
Series: Textbooks in Language Sciences
Edition: Second corrected and slightly revised edition
Publisher: Freie Universität Berlin
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 482
Contents......Page 5
Preface......Page 13
Abbreviations......Page 15
I Foundational concepts......Page 17
1.1 Semantics and pragmatics......Page 19
1.2 Three “levels” of meaning......Page 21
1.3 Relation between form and meaning......Page 22
1.4 What does mean mean?......Page 23
1.5 Saying, meaning, and doing......Page 25
1.6 “More lies ahead” (a roadmap)......Page 27
2.1 Talking about the world......Page 31
2.2 Denotational semantics vs. cognitive semantics......Page 32
2.3 Types of referring expressions......Page 33
2.4 Sense vs. denotation......Page 37
2.5 Ambiguity......Page 39
2.6 Expressive meaning: Ouch and oops......Page 41
2.6.3 Immunity......Page 42
2.6.5 Descriptive ineffability......Page 43
2.6.6 Case study: Expressive uses of diminutives......Page 45
2.7 Conclusion......Page 46
3.1 Truth as a guide to sentence meaning......Page 51
3.2 Analytic sentences, synthetic sentences, and contradictions......Page 52
3.3 Meaning relations between propositions......Page 53
3.4 Presupposition......Page 56
3.4.1 How to identify a presupposition......Page 57
3.4.2 Accommodation: a repair strategy......Page 60
3.4.3 Pragmatic vs. semantic aspects of presupposition......Page 61
3.5 Conclusion......Page 63
4.1 What logic can do for you......Page 69
4.2 Valid patterns of inference......Page 71
4.3.1 Propositional operators......Page 74
4.3.2 Meaning relations and rules of inference......Page 78
4.4 Predicate logic......Page 83
4.4.1 Quantifiers (an introduction)......Page 84
4.5 Conclusion......Page 88
II Word meanings......Page 93
5.2 Word meanings as construals of external reality......Page 95
5.3.1 Ambiguity, vagueness, and indeterminacy......Page 96
5.3.2 Distinguishing ambiguity from vagueness and indeterminacy......Page 100
5.3.3 Polysemy vs. homonymy......Page 105
5.3.4 One sense at a time......Page 108
5.3.5 Disambiguation in context......Page 111
5.4 Context-dependent extensions of meaning......Page 113
5.4.1 Figurative senses......Page 114
5.4.2 How figurative senses become established......Page 115
5.5 “Facets” of meaning......Page 117
5.6 Conclusion......Page 118
6.2 Identifying sense relations......Page 123
6.2.1 Synonyms......Page 124
6.2.2.1 Complementary pairs (simple antonyms)......Page 125
6.2.2.2 Gradable (scalar) antonyms......Page 126
6.2.2.4 Reverse pairs......Page 128
6.2.3 Hyponymy and taxonomy......Page 129
6.3 Defining words in terms of sense relations......Page 131
6.4 Conclusion......Page 133
7.1 Introduction......Page 135
7.2 Lexical entailments......Page 136
7.3 Selectional restrictions......Page 137
7.4 Componential analysis......Page 140
7.5 Verb meanings......Page 142
7.6 Conclusion......Page 147
III Implicature......Page 153
8.1 Sometimes we mean more than we say......Page 155
8.2 Conversational implicatures......Page 156
8.3 Grice’s Maxims of Conversation......Page 157
8.4.1 Generalized Conversational Implicature......Page 162
8.4.2 Conventional Implicature......Page 164
8.5 Distinguishing features of conversational implicatures......Page 165
8.6 How to tell one kind of inference from another......Page 167
8.7 Conclusion......Page 172
9.2 Meanings of English words vs. logical operators......Page 177
9.2.1 On the ambiguity of and......Page 180
9.2.2 On the ambiguity of or......Page 181
9.3 Explicatures: bridging the gap between what is said vs. what is implicated......Page 183
9.4 Implicatures and the semantics/pragmatics boundary......Page 186
9.4.1 Why numeral words are special......Page 188
9.5 Conclusion......Page 191
10.1 Introduction......Page 195
10.2 Performatives......Page 196
10.3 Indirect speech acts......Page 201
10.4 Indirect speech acts across languages......Page 207
10.5 Conclusion......Page 208
11.1 Introduction......Page 213
11.2.1 Diagnostic properties of conventional implicatures......Page 214
11.2.2 Speaker-oriented adverbs......Page 216
11.3 Japanese honorifics......Page 220
11.4 Korean speech style markers......Page 222
11.5 Other ways of marking politeness......Page 224
11.6 Discourse particles in German......Page 225
11.7 Conclusion......Page 228
IV Compositional semantics......Page 231
12.1 Introduction......Page 233
12.2 Two simple examples......Page 234
12.3 Frege on compositionality and substitutivity......Page 236
12.4 Propositional attitudes......Page 239
12.5 De dicto vs. de re ambiguity......Page 241
12.6 Conclusion......Page 242
13.1 Introduction......Page 245
13.2 Why a model might be useful......Page 246
13.3 Basic concepts in set theory......Page 248
13.3.1 Relations and functions......Page 250
13.3.2 Operations and relations on sets......Page 252
13.4 Truth relative to a model......Page 256
13.5 Rules of interpretation......Page 258
13.6 Conclusion......Page 262
14.1 Introduction......Page 269
14.2 Quantifiers as relations between sets......Page 270
14.3 Quantifiers in logical form......Page 273
14.4 Two types of quantifiers......Page 277
14.5 Scope ambiguities......Page 280
14.6 Conclusion......Page 283
15.1 Introduction......Page 289
15.2 When substitutivity fails......Page 290
15.3 Non-intersective adjectives......Page 291
15.4 Other intensional contexts......Page 297
15.5 Subjunctive mood as a marker of intensionality......Page 301
15.6 Defining functions via lambda abstraction......Page 303
15.7 Conclusion......Page 305
V Modals, conditionals, and causation......Page 307
16.1 Possibility and necessity......Page 309
16.2 The range of modal meanings: strength vs. type of modality......Page 310
16.2.1 Are modals polysemous?......Page 311
16.3 Modality as quantification over possible worlds......Page 314
16.3.1 A simple quantificational analysis......Page 315
16.3.2 Kratzer’s analysis......Page 318
16.4 Cross-linguistic variation......Page 321
16.5 On the nature of epistemic modality......Page 323
16.6 Conclusion......Page 328
17.2 Some common types of evidential systems......Page 333
17.3 Evidentiality and epistemic modality......Page 336
17.4 Distinguishing evidentiality from tense and modality......Page 337
17.5 Two types of evidentials......Page 339
17.6 Conclusion......Page 343
18.1 Introduction......Page 345
18.2 Because as a two-place operator......Page 346
18.3 Use-conditional because......Page 348
18.4 Structural issues: co-ordination vs. subordination......Page 351
18.5 Two words for ‘because’ in German......Page 354
18.6 Conclusion......Page 358
19.1 Conditionals and modals......Page 363
19.2 Four uses of if......Page 365
19.3 Degrees of hypotheticality......Page 368
19.4 English if vs. material implication......Page 373
19.5 If as a restrictor......Page 375
19.6 Counterfactual conditionals......Page 378
19.7 Speech Act conditionals......Page 382
19.8 Conclusion......Page 388
VI Tense & aspect......Page 393
20.1 Introduction......Page 395
20.2 Situation type (Aktionsart)......Page 396
20.3 Time of speaking, time of situation, and “topic time”......Page 402
20.4 Grammatical Aspect (= “viewpoint aspect”)......Page 404
20.4.1 Typology of grammatical aspect......Page 406
20.4.2 Imperfective aspect in Mandarin Chinese......Page 407
20.5 Interactions between situation type (Aktionsart) and grammatical aspect......Page 410
20.6 Aspectual sensitivity and coercion effects......Page 413
20.7 Conclusion......Page 416
21.1 Introduction......Page 421
21.2 Tense relates Topic Time to the Time of Utterance......Page 422
21.3 Case study: English simple present tense......Page 424
21.4 Relative tense......Page 427
21.4.1 Complex (“absolute-relative”) tense marking......Page 431
21.4.2 Sequence of tenses in indirect speech......Page 432
21.5 Temporal remoteness markers (“metrical tense”)......Page 436
21.6 Conclusion......Page 439
22.1 Introduction: perfect vs. perfective......Page 443
22.2 Uses of the perfect......Page 444
22.3.1 The present perfect puzzle......Page 446
22.3.2 Distinguishing perfect aspect vs. relative tense......Page 448
22.4 Arguments for polysemous aspectual senses of the English perfect......Page 450
22.5 Case study: Perfect aspect in Baraïn (Chadic)......Page 453
22.6 Case study: Experiential nobreakguo in Mandarin......Page 455
22.7 Conclusion......Page 462
References......Page 469
Name index......Page 491
Language index......Page 497
