Meaning: Semantics and Pragmatics

Lecture 12: Snow Hoax, when rules are broken, language in context

The Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis:

Does language constrain thought? Strong version of the W-S hypothesis:
The way we perceive the world is constrained by (or limited by) the way our language is organized (e.g., having a name for something vs. not having a name)

Weak version of the W-S hypothesis:

The language we use to describe the world reflects the way we perceive the world. A culture's language has a significant impact on how the members of the culture perceive things.

The Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax

Eskimos have a huge number of words for snow, maybe hundreds. Claim: This reflects a different worldview: When it snows, others see snow, but Eskimos cant see just snow they see one of their snow-vocabulary items.

The Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax

Some entries from M. Fortesques West Greenlandic, 1984

Inuktitut
aput qana piqsirpoq qimuqsuq snow on the ground falling snow drifting snow snow drift

Implications?
But even if Eskimos did have a huge inventory of words for snow, would it imply that the world view of the Eskimo is different than that of an English speaker? English
glimmer glitter flare glisten flicker glare gleam shimmer flash glow shine sparkle

Would this list imply that perception of light is particularly important to English speakers? Or that perception of light is particularly important in the culture of English speakers?

Some English words for snow

avalanche blowing snow flurry hail igloo sleet snowbank snowhouse snowflake blizzard dusting frost hardpack powder slush snowfort snowman snowstorm

Does language determine what you can say (or describe)?

Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.
Roman Jakobson, On linguistic aspects of translation, (1959)

Consider a culture where a cat is seen for the first time:

This type of animal here, even though we don't have a word for it (yet)."

Freges Principle of Compositionality

The meaning of a whole is a function of the meanings of the parts and of the way they are syntactically combined

Idioms and Compositionality

When rules are broken . . .
red herring kick the bucket break a leg keep tabs on let the cat out of the bag

Getting around rules of another sort . . .

extra credit example:
http://crispyquips.wordpress.com/2 007/08/17/better-undergroundmusic-through-linguistics/ anti-establishment Indie rock band in China? English lyrics Band is required to submit translations into Chinese to the government for approval Use lyrics that rely heavily on idiomatic expressions . . . . . . and translate literally.

Rebuilding the Rights of Statues (RE-TROS)

Limited Participation in Syntactic Processes

kick the bucket He kicked the bucket. The bucket was kicked by him. non idiomatic break a leg Youll break a leg. Hope you broke a leg! non idiomatic keep tabs on The FBI kept tabs on radicals. Tabs were kept on radicals by the FBI. let the cat out of the bag Mary let the cat out of the bag. The cat was let out of the bag by Mary. ??? put his foot in his mouth John put his foot in his mouth. Johns foot was put in his mouth. non idiomatic

Idioms as a diagnostic
Raising verbs: e.g. seems, appears, is certain
The fat lady seems to have sung. Tabs seem to have been kept on the radicals. The [poop] seems to have hit the fan

Control verbs: e.g. want, tried, expect

The fat lady tried to have sung. Tabs tried to have been kept on the radicals. The [poop] tried to have hit the fan

Semantics Summary
Computing meanings is (normally) based on:
what individual elements mean (Lexical semantics) how these elements are combined (Compositional semantics)

Meanings involve
both reference and sense truth conditions

An infinite number of meanings can be built from a finite number of meanings

Beyond Truth Conditions

But context and world knowledge affect meaning, too.
A: Has she ever been convicted of a crime? B: Convicted? Oh, no, shes never been convicted of a crime. Whats B trying to convey that isnt in the text? A: What did you do last night? B: I went downtown and got hamburgers with Max. Were the burgers encased in solid gold?

Beyond Truth Conditions

Consider how you would interpret this sentence:
B: I went downtown and got hamburgers with Max.

in response to one of the following questions:

A: What did you do last night? A: Did you see the basketball game last night? A: Did you take Jane out on a date last night?

Sentence meaning: Truth conditional semantics Speaker meaning: What we convey by what we say We dont just encode the meanings (truth conditions) of sentences.

Pragmatics
How meanings and world knowledge interact:
How people use language within a context Why people use language in particular ways What is said and what is meant

Speech Acts
What we can do with language:
convey information: John likes Mary. give orders: Be quiet! make requests: Please pass the salt. give warnings: Theres a gremlin under your car. make bets: I bet you five bucks she aces the test. give advice: You ought to start going to class. make promises: I promise to take you dancing. etc.

illocutionary force: the purpose of a speech act

Illocutionary Force vs. Sentence Type

Particular syntactic structures have a conventional illocutionary force
grammatical form declarative interrogative imperative speech act assertion question orders & requests function conveys information, is T or F elicits information causes others to behave in certain ways

Illocutionary Force vs. Sentence Type

Can we use illocutionary force to classify sentences? Consider commands:
Do commands correspond to a single syntactic sentence type? Intuitively, we would like to associate commands with the sentence type imperative.
Close the door! Please sit down!

Illocutionary Force vs. Sentence Type

Consider, however:
I wish you would close the door (declarative) Wont you sit down? (interrogative)

Having the illocutionary force of a command is generally not sufficient for identifying an imperative

Additional examples
I would like to know if John married Mary (declarative, but is a question) Isnt it a beautiful day? (interrogative, but is an assertion)

Direct vs. Indirect Speech Acts

Direct: The meaning is more or less encoded in the literal meaning of the utterance
Did John marry Helen? I ask you whether or not John married Helen.

Indirect: The meaning that is relevant is the speech act meaning, not simply the literal meaning
I would like to know if John married Helen. Do you know if John married Helen?

Speech act theory: how we do things with sentences

aims to tell us, e.g., why we may appear to ask a question but really be giving an order

Rules of Conversation
H.P. Grices research program:
Conversational implicature: we draw inferences about what is meant but not actually said. How does a speakers meaning arise from the literal sentence meaning?

Grices Cooperative Principle:

Make your contribution appropriate to the conversation

Reliance on shared information:

knowledge of the world knowledge of the conventions of language use

Rules of Conversation
Grices grammar of appropriateness Grices Maxims
Maxim of Relevance Maxims of Quality Maxims of Quantity Maxims of Manner

Flouting the maxims

Grices observations are about normal conversation suspension of a maxim is also informative

Maxim of Relevance
Be relevant
A: Would you like to go to a movie? B: I have to study for an exam. A: Wasnt that a great movie? B: Well, the costumes were really authentic.

Flouting the maxim of relevance: changing the subject

Maxims of Quality: (Tell the truth)

Dont say what you believe to be false Dont say that for which you lack evidence
Of course, people differ in what is considered good evidence, esp. in religion and politics! A: Whats the weather like? B: Its snowing.

Flouting the maxim of quality: sarcasm

A and B live in a desert, and every morning, A asks: A: Whats the weather like? B: Oh, today its snowing, as usual.

Maxim of Quantity
Make your contribution informative enough Dont say more than is required
A: How many kids does John have? B: Three. (implied: not four) A: Where did Mary go? B: Shes either at the library or the laundromat. (implied: uncertainty) Depends on speakers perception of hearers needs A: Where does Sally live? B: Kansas (if A is curious about general area) B: 813 Baxter Ave (if A is sending out invitations)

Maxim of Quantity
Flouting the maxim of quantity: misleading
B is taking A to a surprise party for A. A: What are we doing tonight? B: I thought we could have dinner together. (implied: without other people)

Being relevant + flouting the maxim of quantity: damning with faint praise
Dear Admissions Committee: I am pleased to write on behalf of Mr. John J. Jones, who is applying to your program. Mr. Jones is unfailingly polite, is neatly dressed at all times, and is always on time for his classes. Sincerely, Professor Harry H. Homer

Maxims of Manner:
Avoid obscurity & ambiguity Be brief and orderly
Compare: Thats the guy that Mary lives with. Thats Marys husband. He drove the car down the street. He was sitting behind the steering wheel as the car rolled down the street.

 Note that implicature is overrideable:

A: Taking care of two kids is manageable, but I dont know how anyone can manage to stay sane with three. B: Peggy has three kids. In fact, she has four.

Quiz: which rule is exploited?

A: Is Gail dating anyone these days? B: Well, she goes to Cleveland every weekend. Which rule leads you to infer that Gail is dating someone in Cleveland?

Quiz: which rule is exploited?

Jokes often rely on the hearers knowledge of rules of conversation for their humorous effect: I came home last night, and theres a car in the dining room. I said to my wife, How did you get the car in the dining room? She said, It was easy. I made a left turn when I came out of the kitchen.
Henry Youngman Which rule is being flouted here?

Quiz: which rule is exploited?

Advertising also exploits Grices maxims to formulate claims that implicate a lot (but entail little)
This soup has one third less salt. one third less salt than . . .
it used to have? its competitors version? The Great Salt Lake?

Presupposition
Have you stopped hugging your sheepdog? My brother is rich. Would you like another slice of cake? The dog with the curly tail won the contest.

Pragmatics Summary
Sentences carry more meaning than just their literal meaning. This additional meaning arises from interaction of language and world knowledge, including:
our ability to identify speech acts our knowledge of conversational rules