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    1semantics Intro

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    Roberto Hrvatin
    This document provides an overview of semantics and what will be covered in the class. It begins by defining semantics as the systematic study of meaning and discusses meaning at both the linguistic and conceptual levels. It outlines three perspectives that semantics draws from - philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. The class will explore topics like relations between words and sentences, the role of context and tone in communication, ambiguity, and more. Students are assigned to submit a short language observation post as part of a portfolio assignment.

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    1semantics Intro

    Uploaded by

    Roberto Hrvatin
    10 views21 pages
    This document provides an overview of semantics and what will be covered in the class. It begins by defining semantics as the systematic study of meaning and discusses meaning at both the linguistic and conceptual levels. It outlines three perspectives that semantics draws from - philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. The class will explore topics like relations between words and sentences, the role of context and tone in communication, ambiguity, and more. Students are assigned to submit a short language observation post as part of a portfolio assignment.

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    This document provides an overview of semantics and what will be covered in the class. It begins by defining semantics as the systematic study of meaning and discusses meaning at both the linguistic and conceptual levels. It outlines three perspectives that semantics draws from - philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. The class will explore topics like relations between words and sentences, the role of context and tone in communication, ambiguity, and more. Students are assigned to submit a short language observation post as part of a portfolio assignment.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    10 views21 pages

    1semantics Intro

    Uploaded by

    Roberto Hrvatin
    This document provides an overview of semantics and what will be covered in the class. It begins by defining semantics as the systematic study of meaning and discusses meaning at both the linguistic and conceptual levels. It outlines three perspectives that semantics draws from - philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. The class will explore topics like relations between words and sentences, the role of context and tone in communication, ambiguity, and more. Students are assigned to submit a short language observation post as part of a portfolio assignment.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 21

    SEMANTICS

    Understanding the basics


    LECTURER: Maja Brala-Vukanović, M.Phil. Ph.D.
    Room 910
    Task:
    What is semantics?
    from Ancient Greek: σημαντικός sēmantikós, "significant„

    Understanding MEANING!
    vs. understanding Semantics!
    Semantics: systematic study of meaning
    What is meaning?
    Meaning vs. linguistic meaning!!! (linguistic semantics)

    CLOSE YOUR EYES AND PICTURE ……


    Define ‘bachelor’
    TASK: Look up ‘bachelor’ in your favourite dictionary.
    In this class we will:
    deal with relations of words to other words, and sentences to other
    sentences;
    discuss the importance of ‘tone of voice’ and ‘body language’ in face-
    to-face exchanges, and the role of context in any communication;
    make random comparisons of features in other languages;
    explore the knowledge speakers of a language must have in common
    to enable them to communicate;
    discuss the nature of language; the structure of discourse; the
    distinction between lexical and grammatical meaning;
    examine such relations as synonymy, antonymy, and hyponymy;
    ambiguity; implication; presuppositions …
    discuss meaning in language and …
    …have fun doing it!
    Consider …
    My dog is a lion when it is with smaller dogs, but when it
    sees a very large dog, he becomes a pussycat. So, my dog,
    actually, is a pussycat. (Ironically, I never taught higly of cat
    owners).
    What is meaning?
    Whose is meaning?
    Where is meaning?
    Where does meaning come from?
    How is meaning understood?
    TASK: Look up the meaning of ‘meaning’ in a dictionary.
    Think about this…
    “I am into birds. I like them of all kinds. I love their
    colours, vibrant and flamboyant. I love hearing them sing
    in the summer breeze, and then raging in the dense and
    humid tropical forest. I’ve seen them all, from ostriches
    and cacatuas to Asian crested ibises. The only I have not
    seen is the flying pig. A species that exists only in my
    friends’ linguistics experiments.“
    What did this text ‘do’ to you?
    Any colours? Sounds?
    How about ostriches, cacatuas, or Asian crested ibises?
    What about flying pigs?
    ‘Flying pig’ ...
    Do you understand it?
    Can you picture it?
    Can you draw it?
    Flying pigs (Pigasus vs. Superswine)
    Semantics ...
     Focuses on the literal meaning of words, phrases and
    sentences but also their integration!
    The rest of meaning (in use and what users do with
    meaning) is left to pragmatics.
    To understand semantic meaning, we have to bring
    together 3 main components:
    1) the context in which a sentence is used,
    2) the meanings of the words in the sentence,
    3) the morphological and syntactic structure
    Systematic study of meaning:
    Three (key) perspectives / disciplines:
    PHILOSOPHY
    LINGUISTICS
    PSYCHOLOGY
    Three frameworks:
    Philosophical semantics

    Lexical semantics

    Cognitive semantics
    Common goal:
    Understanding how language works and what is shared
    as part of general human linguistic knowledge

    What does it mean to know a language


    Human semantic knowledge
    Recognize anomaly
    Be able to paraphrase
    Know synonymy (in precize contexts)
    Recognize contradictory statements (if one T other F)
    Know antonymy
    Intuitively recognize semantic features
    Recognize and understand ambiguity
    Produce and deal with adjacency pairs (converse)
    Understand entailment (T1 entails T2)
    Understand and use presuppositions
    Human linguistic knowledge
    Comprises:
    - Knowledge of the sound system
    - Knowledge of words
    - Creativity
    - Knowledge of grammar (sentences vs. non-senteces)

    ALL OF THE ABOVE MAKES:


    LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE

    (vs. linguistic performance)


    Compare and contrast:
    … growing foliage;
    … growing children;
    … growing discontent;
    A growing youth has a wolf in his belly.
    Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
    Don't let the grass grow under one's feet.
    They grew cold.
    They grew apart.
    … into, out, back, down, on, up …
    Look up GROW phrasal verbs!
    LANGUAGE OBSERVATION POST (LOP – part
    of PORTFOLIO tasks)
    Assignement : LANGUAGE OBSERVATION POST –
    think about an OBSERVATION regarding meaning in
    language that you can make in your everyday life /
    communication
    Due date: any time before last class in December

    hand in as part of your PORTFOLIO


    (further will be posted on MERLIN)
    And then, for a final few smiles, consider …
    In a Norwegian cocktail lounge:
    Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.
    In a Japanese hotel:
    You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.
    In a Rome laundry:
    Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon
    having a good time.

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