The Meaning of Names: a Defence of the Pragmatic Theory of Properhood (TPTP) Addressed to Van Langendonck, Anderson, Colman and Mcclure
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Focusing on Lexis in English Classrooms in Japan: Analyses of Textbook Exercises and Proposals for Consciousness-Raising Activities
Focusing on Lexis in English Classrooms in Japan: Analyses of Textbook Exercises and Proposals for Consciousness-raising Activities by Michiko Kasuya A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Birmingham in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language (TEFL/TESL) This dissertation consists of approximately 15,000 words Supervisor: Dr Susan Hunston Centre for English Language Studies School of English University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT England March 2000 ABSTRACT Recently the importance of focusing on lexis has been widely recognised in language acquisition theories. In particular, it is considered indispensable to deal with fixed expressions, lexical collocations and patterns, in consciousness-raising ways. This dissertation has attempted to reveal the problems of activities in the current English classrooms in Japan, especially regarding lexis teaching, and to propose activities that could develop learners’ competence to use the language. By analysing exercises from authorised textbooks, it has become obvious that English teaching in Japan has two problems. Firstly, the activities need to be more carefully constructed as to what knowledge they aim to develop in learners. There is too much emphasis on features of single words and not enough focus on lexical collocations. Secondly, the ways the activities are conducted need improvement. They merely require learners to memorise and manipulate the lexical items, and do not encourage learners to examine them. This dissertation proposes several activities, such as creating a learner’s concordance, comparing English collocations with Japanese collocations, and connecting patterns and meanings using reference materials. -
Two-Dimensionalism: Semantics and Metasemantics
Two-Dimensionalism: Semantics and Metasemantics YEUNG, \y,ang -C-hun ...:' . '",~ ... ~ .. A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy In Philosophy The Chinese University of Hong Kong January 2010 Abstract of thesis entitled: Two-Dimensionalism: Semantics and Metasemantics Submitted by YEUNG, Wang Chun for the degree of Master of Philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in July 2009 This ,thesis investigates problems surrounding the lively debate about how Kripke's examples of necessary a posteriori truths and contingent a priori truths should be explained. Two-dimensionalism is a recent development that offers a non-reductive analysis of such truths. The semantic interpretation of two-dimensionalism, proposed by Jackson and Chalmers, has certain 'descriptive' elements, which can be articulated in terms of the following three claims: (a) names and natural kind terms are reference-fixed by some associated properties, (b) these properties are known a priori by every competent speaker, and (c) these properties reflect the cognitive significance of sentences containing such terms. In this thesis, I argue against two arguments directed at such 'descriptive' elements, namely, The Argument from Ignorance and Error ('AlE'), and The Argument from Variability ('AV'). I thereby suggest that reference-fixing properties belong to the semantics of names and natural kind terms, and not to their metasemantics. Chapter 1 is a survey of some central notions related to the debate between descriptivism and direct reference theory, e.g. sense, reference, and rigidity. Chapter 2 outlines the two-dimensional approach and introduces the va~ieties of interpretations 11 of the two-dimensional framework. -
Denotational Semantics
Denotational Semantics CS 6520, Spring 2006 1 Denotations So far in class, we have studied operational semantics in depth. In operational semantics, we define a language by describing the way that it behaves. In a sense, no attempt is made to attach a “meaning” to terms, outside the way that they are evaluated. For example, the symbol ’elephant doesn’t mean anything in particular within the language; it’s up to a programmer to mentally associate meaning to the symbol while defining a program useful for zookeeppers. Similarly, the definition of a sort function has no inherent meaning in the operational view outside of a particular program. Nevertheless, the programmer knows that sort manipulates lists in a useful way: it makes animals in a list easier for a zookeeper to find. In denotational semantics, we define a language by assigning a mathematical meaning to functions; i.e., we say that each expression denotes a particular mathematical object. We might say, for example, that a sort implementation denotes the mathematical sort function, which has certain properties independent of the programming language used to implement it. In other words, operational semantics defines evaluation by sourceExpression1 −→ sourceExpression2 whereas denotational semantics defines evaluation by means means sourceExpression1 → mathematicalEntity1 = mathematicalEntity2 ← sourceExpression2 One advantage of the denotational approach is that we can exploit existing theories by mapping source expressions to mathematical objects in the theory. The denotation of expressions in a language is typically defined using a structurally-recursive definition over expressions. By convention, if e is a source expression, then [[e]] means “the denotation of e”, or “the mathematical object represented by e”. -
Denotation and Connotation in Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump: Discourse Analysis of the 2016 Presidential Debates
UNIVERSIDAD PONTIFICIA COMILLAS Facultad de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales Degree in Translation and Interpreting Final Degree Project Denotation and Connotation in Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump: Discourse analysis of the 2016 presidential debates Student: Markel Lezana Escribano Director: Dr Susan Jeffrey Campbell Madrid, 8th June 2017 Index List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………….i 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3 2. Theoretical Framework............................................................................................. 5 2.1 Semantics ................................................................................................................ 5 2.2 Discourse Analysis ................................................................................................. 9 2.2.1 Functional Discourse Analysis ........................................................................ 9 2.2.2 Critical Discourse Analysis ........................................................................... 10 2.2.3 Political Discourse Analysis .......................................................................... 10 2.3 Pragmatics ............................................................................................................ 10 2.4 Tools of Analysis .................................................................................................. 11 2.4.1 Functions of Language ................................................................................. -
Lectures on English Lexicology
МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ ГОУ ВПО «Татарский государственный гуманитарно-педагогический университет» LECTURES ON ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY Курс лекций по лексикологии английского языка Казань 2010 МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ ГОУ ВПО «Татарский государственный гуманитарно-педагогический университет» LECTURES ON ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY Курс лекций по лексикологии английского языка для студентов факультетов иностранных языков Казань 2010 ББК УДК Л Печатается по решению Методического совета факультета иностранных языков Татарского государственного гуманитарно-педагогического университета в качестве учебного пособия Л Lectures on English Lexicology. Курс лекций по лексикологии английского языка. Учебное пособие для студентов иностранных языков. – Казань: ТГГПУ, 2010 - 92 с. Составитель: к.филол.н., доцент Давлетбаева Д.Н. Научный редактор: д.филол.н., профессор Садыкова А.Г. Рецензенты: д.филол.н., профессор Арсентьева Е.Ф. (КГУ) к.филол.н., доцент Мухаметдинова Р.Г. (ТГГПУ) © Давлетбаева Д.Н. © Татарский государственный гуманитарно-педагогический университет INTRODUCTION The book is intended for English language students at Pedagogical Universities taking the course of English lexicology and fully meets the requirements of the programme in the subject. It may also be of interest to all readers, whose command of English is sufficient to enable them to read texts of average difficulty and who would like to gain some information about the vocabulary resources of Modern English (for example, about synonyms -
Invitation to Semantics
Varieties of meaning http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~gawron/semantics Jean Mark Gawron San Diego State University, Department of Linguistics 2012-01-25 Ling 525 Jean Mark Gawron ( SDSU ) Gawron: Semantics intro 2012-01-25 Ling 525 1 / 59 Outline 1 Semantics and pragmatics 2 Lexical vs. structural meaning 3 Sense and denotation 4 Determining denotations 5 Sentence denotations 6 Intensions and possible worlds 7 Conclusion Jean Mark Gawron ( SDSU ) Gawron: Semantics intro 2012-01-25 Ling 525 2 / 59 Outline 1 Semantics and pragmatics 2 Lexical vs. structural meaning 3 Sense and denotation 4 Determining denotations 5 Sentence denotations 6 Intensions and possible worlds 7 Conclusion Jean Mark Gawron ( SDSU ) Gawron: Semantics intro 2012-01-25 Ling 525 3 / 59 What is semantics? Definition Semantics Semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic forms, what the words and the syntax contribute to what is communicated. Jean Mark Gawron ( SDSU ) Gawron: Semantics intro 2012-01-25 Ling 525 4 / 59 Literal meaning We call the meaning of a linguistic form its literal meaning. Sentence Literal meaning I forgot the paper Past forget(I, the paper) At some time in the past, someone forgets something [forget( , )] The speaker is the someone. The paper is the something. Each part of the sentence contributes something to this literal meaning. I the speaker of the utterance the paper an object appropriately describable as a paper forget the relation that holds between an indi- vidual and something they forget Past Tense (ed) the relation holds in the past Jean Mark Gawron ( SDSU ) Gawron: Semantics intro 2012-01-25 Ling 525 5 / 59 Semantics and pragmatics Literal meaning excludes a lot of what might actually be communicated on a particular occasion of utterance. -
How to Define Theoretical Terms Author(S): David Lewis Reviewed Work(S): Source: the Journal of Philosophy, Vol
Journal of Philosophy, Inc. How to Define Theoretical Terms Author(s): David Lewis Reviewed work(s): Source: The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 67, No. 13 (Jul. 9, 1970), pp. 427-446 Published by: Journal of Philosophy, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2023861 . Accessed: 14/10/2012 20:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Journal of Philosophy, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Philosophy. http://www.jstor.org THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY VOLUME LXVII, NO. I3, JULY 9, 19-0 HOW TO DEFINE THEORETICAL TERMS M OST philosophers of science agree that, when a newly proposed scientific theory introduces new terms, we usually cannot define the new terms using only the old terms we understood beforehand. On the contrary, I contend that there is a general method for defining the newly introduced theo- retical terms. Most philosophers of science also agree that, in order to reduce one scientific theory to another, we need to posit bridge laws: new laws, independent of the reducing theory, which serve to identify phenomena described in terms of the reduced theory with phe nomena described in terms of the reducing theory. -
Frege: “On Sense and Denotation”
Frege: “On Sense and Denotation” TERMIOLOGY • ‘On Sense and Nominatum’ is a quirky translation of ‘ Über Sinn und Bedeutung’. ‘On Sense and Denotation’ is the usual translation. • ‘Sameness’ is misleading in stating the initial puzzle. As Frege’s n.1 makes clear, the puzzle is about identity . THE PUZZLE What is identity? Is it a relation? If it is a relation, what are the relata? Frege considers two possibilities: 1. A relation between objects. 2. A relation between names (signs). (1) leads to a puzzle; (2) is the alternative Frege once preferred, but now rejects. The puzzle is this: if identity is a relation between objects, it must be a relation between a thing and itself . But everything is identical to itself, and so it is trivial to assert that a thing is identical to itself. Hence, every statement of identity should be analytic and knowable a priori . The “cognitive significance” of ‘ a = b ’ would thus turn out to be the same as that of ‘a = a’. In both cases one is asserting, of a single object, that it is identical to itself. Yet, it seems intuitively clear that these statements have different cognitive significance: “… sentences of the form a = b often contain very valuable extensions of our knowledge and cannot always be justified in an a priori manner” (p. 217). METALIGUISTIC SOLUTIO REJECTED In his Begriffschrift (1879), Frege proposed a metalinguistic solution: identity is a relation between signs. ‘ a = b’ thus asserts a relation between the signs ‘ a’ and ‘ b’. Presumably, the relation asserted would be being co-referential . -
Denotational Semantics
Denotational Semantics 8–12 lectures for Part II CST 2010/11 Marcelo Fiore Course web page: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/1011/DenotSem/ 1 Lecture 1 Introduction 2 What is this course about? • General area. Formal methods: Mathematical techniques for the specification, development, and verification of software and hardware systems. • Specific area. Formal semantics: Mathematical theories for ascribing meanings to computer languages. 3 Why do we care? • Rigour. specification of programming languages . justification of program transformations • Insight. generalisations of notions computability . higher-order functions ... data structures 4 • Feedback into language design. continuations . monads • Reasoning principles. Scott induction . Logical relations . Co-induction 5 Styles of formal semantics Operational. Meanings for program phrases defined in terms of the steps of computation they can take during program execution. Axiomatic. Meanings for program phrases defined indirectly via the ax- ioms and rules of some logic of program properties. Denotational. Concerned with giving mathematical models of programming languages. Meanings for program phrases defined abstractly as elements of some suitable mathematical structure. 6 Basic idea of denotational semantics [[−]] Syntax −→ Semantics Recursive program → Partial recursive function Boolean circuit → Boolean function P → [[P ]] Concerns: • Abstract models (i.e. implementation/machine independent). Lectures 2, 3 and 4. • Compositionality. Lectures 5 and 6. • Relationship to computation (e.g. operational semantics). Lectures 7 and 8. 7 Characteristic features of a denotational semantics • Each phrase (= part of a program), P , is given a denotation, [[P ]] — a mathematical object representing the contribution of P to the meaning of any complete program in which it occurs. • The denotation of a phrase is determined just by the denotations of its subphrases (one says that the semantics is compositional). -
Frege and the Logic of Sense and Reference
FREGE AND THE LOGIC OF SENSE AND REFERENCE Kevin C. Klement Routledge New York & London Published in 2002 by Routledge 29 West 35th Street New York, NY 10001 Published in Great Britain by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper. Copyright © 2002 by Kevin C. Klement All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any infomration storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Klement, Kevin C., 1974– Frege and the logic of sense and reference / by Kevin Klement. p. cm — (Studies in philosophy) Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-415-93790-6 1. Frege, Gottlob, 1848–1925. 2. Sense (Philosophy) 3. Reference (Philosophy) I. Title II. Studies in philosophy (New York, N. Y.) B3245.F24 K54 2001 12'.68'092—dc21 2001048169 Contents Page Preface ix Abbreviations xiii 1. The Need for a Logical Calculus for the Theory of Sinn and Bedeutung 3 Introduction 3 Frege’s Project: Logicism and the Notion of Begriffsschrift 4 The Theory of Sinn and Bedeutung 8 The Limitations of the Begriffsschrift 14 Filling the Gap 21 2. The Logic of the Grundgesetze 25 Logical Language and the Content of Logic 25 Functionality and Predication 28 Quantifiers and Gothic Letters 32 Roman Letters: An Alternative Notation for Generality 38 Value-Ranges and Extensions of Concepts 42 The Syntactic Rules of the Begriffsschrift 44 The Axiomatization of Frege’s System 49 Responses to the Paradox 56 v vi Contents 3. -
Trends in Second/Foreign Language Teaching and Learning: the Position Assigned to the Learning of Lexis Over the Years
Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 7 No. 6; December 2016 Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Flourishing Creativity & Literacy Trends in Second/Foreign Language Teaching and Learning: The Position Assigned to the Learning of Lexis over the Years Debbita Tan School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia E-mail: [email protected] Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.6p.84 Received: 08/08/2016 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.6p.84 Accepted: 15/10/2016 Abstract There is no doubt that second/foreign language teaching and learning has evolved over the years, distinguishing varied trends in the course of its history. Interestingly, vocabulary has been the dominant focus in the last decades despite it being an undervalued and often overlooked component in the earlier stages. This reorientation is reflected not only in terms of classroom practices and education policies, but also in second/foreign language acquisition (SLA) research. The following seeks to provide an understanding of the position assigned to lexis within the scope of different methods implemented throughout the years, thus allowing us to: 1) trace the evolvement of the significance of vocabulary in SLA, and 2) appreciate the importance of lexical development in SLA. In congruity with these elements, current trends and practices related to second/foreign language vocabulary knowledge development are also discussed. This paper is of significance to scholars, researchers, language educators and curriculum designers. Keywords: SLA, lexis, lexical development, vocabulary learning, historical trends, current approaches 1. Introduction In recent decades, we have witnessed a general consensus among scholars, researchers and teachers that lexical development plays an essential role in mastering a second or foreign language. -
The Art of Lexicography - Niladri Sekhar Dash
LINGUISTICS - The Art of Lexicography - Niladri Sekhar Dash THE ART OF LEXICOGRAPHY Niladri Sekhar Dash Linguistic Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India Keywords: Lexicology, linguistics, grammar, encyclopedia, normative, reference, history, etymology, learner’s dictionary, electronic dictionary, planning, data collection, lexical extraction, lexical item, lexical selection, typology, headword, spelling, pronunciation, etymology, morphology, meaning, illustration, example, citation Contents 1. Introduction 2. Definition 3. The History of Lexicography 4. Lexicography and Allied Fields 4.1. Lexicology and Lexicography 4.2. Linguistics and Lexicography 4.3. Grammar and Lexicography 4.4. Encyclopedia and lexicography 5. Typological Classification of Dictionary 5.1. General Dictionary 5.2. Normative Dictionary 5.3. Referential or Descriptive Dictionary 5.4. Historical Dictionary 5.5. Etymological Dictionary 5.6. Dictionary of Loanwords 5.7. Encyclopedic Dictionary 5.8. Learner's Dictionary 5.9. Monolingual Dictionary 5.10. Special Dictionaries 6. Electronic Dictionary 7. Tasks for Dictionary Making 7.1. Panning 7.2. Data Collection 7.3. Extraction of lexical items 7.4. SelectionUNESCO of Lexical Items – EOLSS 7.5. Mode of Lexical Selection 8. Dictionary Making: General Dictionary 8.1. HeadwordsSAMPLE CHAPTERS 8.2. Spelling 8.3. Pronunciation 8.4. Etymology 8.5. Morphology and Grammar 8.6. Meaning 8.7. Illustrative Examples and Citations 9. Conclusion Acknowledgements ©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) LINGUISTICS - The Art of Lexicography - Niladri Sekhar Dash Glossary Bibliography Biographical Sketch Summary The art of dictionary making is as old as the field of linguistics. People started to cultivate this field from the very early age of our civilization, probably seven to eight hundred years before the Christian era.