Bài giảng môn Ngữ nghĩa học (Semantics) - Unit 6: Predicates, referring expressions, and universe of discourse - Trương Văn Ánh

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1. Semantics Sai Gon University tvanh@sgu.edu.vn
2. Summary Speaker meaning Sentence meaning Utterance Sentence Proposition Sense Reference Referent: Variable, constant, co-referent Referring expression Opaque context Equative sentence Predicator Predicate Degree of (Arguments)
3. UNIT 6: PREDICATES, REFERRING EXPRESSIONS, AND UNIVERSE OF DISCOURSE We explore further the distinction and the relationship between referring expressions and predicates. We will see how the same word can be used for the radically different functions of reference and predication. And we will begin to see how these two functions fit together in the overall language system.
4. A GENERIC SENTENCE is a sentence in which some statement is made about a whole unrestricted class of individuals, as opposed to any particular individual. Ex: The whale is a mammal (understood in the most usual way) is a generic sentence. That whale over there is a mammal is not a generic sentence. The cattle have four legs. The poultry have two legs.
5. Human beings are the most intelligent animals. Einstein is the most intelligent person. Class >< individual The dogs are very loyal. Hachiko is very loyal. The Vietnamese are very intelligent. Ngo Bao Chau is very intelligent.
6. We define the UNIVERSE OF DISCOURSE for any utterance as the particular world, real or imaginary (or part real, part imaginary), that the speaker assumes he is talking about at the time. Ex: When an astronomy lecturer, in a serious lecture, states that the Earth revolves around the Sun, the universe of discourse is, we all assume, the real world (or universe). When I tell my children a bedtime story and say ‘The dragon set fire to the woods with his hot breath’, the universe of discourse is not the real world but a fictitious world.
7. In the course of a sequence of utterances, speakers use referring expressions to refer to entities which may be concrete or abstract, real or fictitious. The predicates embedded in a referring expression help the hearer to identify its referent. Semantics is not concerned with the factual status of things in the world but with meaning in language. The notion of universe of discourse is introduced to account for the way in which language allows us to refer to non- existent things.
8. Summary Speaker meaning Sentence meaning Utterance Sentence Proposition Sense Reference Referent: Variable, constant, co-referent Referring expression Opaque context Equative sentence Predicator Predicate Degree of (Arguments) Generic sentence Universe of discourse
9. GOOD LUCK!