Syntax - Semantics PDF

7 Syntax Epilogue Introduction to English Linguistics – Schleburg 7 Syntax Structural ambiguity Syntactic surface structures are often compatible with different analyses involving only subtle differences in meaning … he cooked a lunch for...

7 Syntax Epilogue Introduction to English Linguistics – Schleburg 7 Syntax Structural ambiguity Syntactic surface structures are often compatible with different analyses involving only subtle differences in meaning … he cooked a lunch for his family (1) S V O (2) S V O A … or in fact very palpable ones: she saw the man with the telescope (1) S V O (2) S V O A 7 Syntax Multiple analysis Certain structures of language pose systematic problems to any discrete analysis: Mrs Jenkins looked after our parrot during the holidays (1) S V AOBL A (2) S V O A Arguments for analysis (1): Arguments for analysis (2): she returned after the war, our parrot was looked after by … she looked behind the curtain it was our parrot that she looked after – she looked carefully *it was after our parrot that she looked after our parrot – What did she look after? Our parrot. – *she looked after carefully *What/where did she look? After our parrot. our parrot lexicalised meaning 7 Syntax gradient of ›adjectivity‹ Gradience So realistically speaking, syntactic categories may not be discrete after all … Adjectives vs. adverbs:...er... noun seem... very... more... hungry + + + + central adjectives infinite + + – – afraid – + + + peripheral utter + – – – adjectives asleep – + – – soon – – + + adverbs abroad – – – – 8 Lexicology Semantics 8 Semantics True or false? Aristotle wrote in the 4th century BCE: »Spoken words are the symbols of mental experience … ›Signifiants and signifiés stand in a symbolic relation.‹ ARISTOTLE … and written words are the symbols of spoken words. ›Spoken language has the chronological and structural priority.‹ Just as all men have not the same writing, so all men have not the same speech sounds, … ›Signifiants differ across languages.‹ … but the mental experiences, which these directly symbolize, are the same for all, as also are those things of which our experiences are the images.« ›But all languages have the same signifiés.‹ On interpretation 1 (translated by E. M. EDGHILL) 8 Semantics This is how many people think languages are related to reality extralinguistic reality class A class B class C direct mirroring language 1 word a1 word b1 word c1 language 2 word a2 word b2 word c2 language 3 word a3 word b3 word c3 Turm spire turret tower rook 8 Semantics This is how languages are in fact related to reality extralinguistic reality physiological perception cultural interpretation language 1 word a1 word b1 language 2 word c2 word d2 (gap) word e2 language 3 word f3 eat – essen / fressen; brush – Pinsel / Bürste; pregnant – schwanger / trächtig; contrastive wall – Mauer / Wand ape / monkey – Affe; heaven / sky – Himmel; snail / slug – Schnecke; town / city – Stadt The very way human culture classifies the phenomena of the world into types is arbitrary. 8 Semantics Traditional classification In the traditional (Aristotelian) view categories are defined by a checklist of properties shared by all of the members: the (well defined) category of birds feathers two legs a bird two wings a bill not a bird lays eggs … a bird a bird In this approach there are only two options: in or out. So all members of the category are equally ›good examples‹. 8 Eleanor ROSCH (*1938) Semantics Prototype theory In this approach, categories are based on overall similarity with a central (prototypical) member; they include ›good examples‹ and ›less good‹ (peripheral) members and may have fuzzy boundaries: the (fuzzy) category of birds a very good bird probably not a bird a somewhat untypical bird a rather strange bird 8 Semantics More complex semantic structures Cognitive linguistics has found that words are not stored separately but organised in coherent structures of world knowledge: Frame: pattern or situation with functional slots desktop computer: case, keyboard, mouse, screen, hard disk, USB port, power supply, software … children’s birthday party: birthday child, guests, cake, gifts, balloons, sweets, games … Script: sequence of events dining out: reserve table → go to restaurant → enter → greet → get seated → browse menu → order → get drinks → raise glass, toast → get food → post photo → say »Bon appetit!« or similar → eat → praise food or complain → order bill → pay and tip → leave 8 Semantics The meanings of meaning meaning sense reference utterance-independent meaning of a lexical item, pointing relation between determined by semantic relations within the system an individual utterance and extralinguistic reality denotation connotation relation between a linguistic cultural, emotional, expression and a category in stylistic … the world-picture of a associations speech community langue parole 8 referent Semantics The meanings of meaning How far might that one be away from me? star denotation: self-luminous heavenly body connotation: night, ›Twinkle Twinkle Little Star‹, astronomy, science fiction … reference: e. g. HD 23568 = HIP 17664 8 Semantics The meanings of a word Polysemy: multiple meanings of a word star: celestial body – symbol ✱ – celebrity foot: body part – bottom of a mountain – unit of length – infantry bachelor: young knight – unmarried man – academic degree Compare homonymy (formal identity of different words): bat (stick) – bat (flying mammal) lie (rest) – lie (speak falsely) While homonymy is coincidence, the meanings of a polysemous word are diachronic historically related. Synchronically the distinction is not always obvious: pupil ‘centre of the eye’ < ‘little image in another’s eye’ ‘doll, child’ pupil ‘student’ < ‘ward, charge’ 8 Semantics The meanings of a word Polysemy is often based on cognitive patterns: Metaphor is based on (perceived) similarity: He’s the father of computer science. His team’s defeat hit him hard. That idea is old hat! Conceptual metaphor maps an entire domain onto another: ›knowledge is light‹: bright, brilliant, elucidate, illuminating, obscure, point of view, I see ›good is up‹: bottom of the hierarchy, high-quality, low trick, peak, rise to the top, upward mobility Metonymy is based on contiguity, i. e. co-occurrence in reality: I hate to read Heidegger. (author → product) We need some new faces here. (part → whole) The White House is active on X again. (container → content) 8 Semantics Syntagmatic semantics Collocation: statistically significant co-occurrence of words (›the company a word keeps‹) blond hair; rancid butter, addled eggs, sour milk a flock of sheep, a herd of cows, a school of whales, a pack of wolves, a pride of lions to grow old, to go crazy, to fall ill, to turn pale, to run dry Selection restrictions: *As we sailed up the Ganges we saw dozens of dead bodies swimming down the river. – ACTIVE + ACTIVE