2354-7340 Analyzing Speech Act Found in the Efl

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

2354-7340 Analyzing Speech Act Found in the Efl ELT Perspective 3(2), September 2015 ANALYZING SPEECH ACT FOUND IN THE EFL CLASS Adya Barnas ([email protected]) SMPN 2 Cirebon Utara Abstract In teaching learning, lecturers teach the students with a good sentence. But there is one of students may not understand what she said although in grammatically is correct, so it will happen miscommunication between lecturer and student. This research concerns in the classroom interaction in Class I,J as the main data of this research because there are many speech acts especially categories of speech act employed by lecturer and students in the interaction related to the context and situation. This research belongs to descriptive qualitative research since it employs the analysis of descriptive and qualitative methods. The type of this research is descriptive qualitative. The participants of this classroom interaction are Mrs. Lutfhi as the lecturer and students from class I,J whereas the 6 men and 27 women. The topic is talking about social problem. In this case the writer analyzes the speech act found in the classroom interaction. The listener of this interaction ought to understand the meaning of the speaker. Keywords: speech act, meaning INTRODUCTION indirect contact. As mentioned in the Bilingual and multilingual speakers meaning appears from the speech act can be found in the daily life of people, introduced Ey Austin (2002), —by saying such as at office, at market, at school, or something, we do something“ everything even at university. Language is a tool for we say means everything we do, we have communication that people can interact done and we will do. with others. People use language in daily In teaching learning, lecturers activitieslike conversation, speaking, teach the students with a good language. interaction, and many more. Language is But there is one of students may not used in human life as Fromkin said in a understand what she said although in book titled ”An Introduction to /anguage‘ grammatically is correct, so it will that language is the source of human life happen miscommunication between and power (Fromkin, et. al, 1995). Human lecturer and student .In this case the communicates each other with direct writer analyzes the speech act found in contact and indirect contact. Dialog and the classroom interaction. The listener of gestures as the example of direct this interaction ought to understand the contact.Poem , song, literacy, letter, meaning of the speaker. novels and reading text is the example of ISSN: 2354-7340 ELT Perspective 3(2), September 2015 Usually, lecturer talks using a good collected by searching and reading the text, language and structural sentences. numbering each utterance, classifying the Sometimes it can make the students speech acts and categorizing into the confused what the lecturer said. For the appropriate part. And finally giving example in the classroom situation lecturer meaning as the final analysis. There were said — Hello — , if the students don‘t Nnow 20 utterances which were divided into 3 the meaning they do not understand and classifications of speech acts. Three continue talking with a friend, it is contrary categories for locutionary, five categories if the students know the meaning, they for illocutionary and two categories for would be silent and listen to the lecturer. perlocutionary. Hopefully, students understand what the The writer used the descriptive lecturer said and there‘s no qualitative method to be applied in this miscommunication between them. research. She collected the data by Based on the case above, it is searching it. Forward, she analyzed the needed pragmatic approach to connect utterances by numbering, classifying, the speaNer and listener ”cause the categorizing and gave meaning of the utterances depend on the context and HWS. For the example: situation. Austin (Related to speech act, Peccei J.S (1999) states that there are Promise me that you will leave some classification of speech act which me never ! is commonly performed through the utterances as follows :declarative, The example above is a command representative, directive, commisive, ± Peccei (1999) Command is one of expressive and rogatives. Fraser (in Directive in the words, so this is a kind Richardsans Schmidt, 1983:30-31) of illocutionary act, it is directives one. defines pragmatics as theory of linguistic The singer ask to the bride, that she has communication. The aims of the study to promise not to leave him, don‘t ever are stated as follows: go, never leave him alone, always beside 1. To find out the kinds of speech act him in each condition classification in classroom The second previous research, the interaction. writer summarizes the research from 2. To find out the most dominant of Thesis which has the same topic. The kinds speech act classification. writer took the thesis from Risnawati (2013) Faculty of Humanities Related studies Diponegoro University Semarang In their thesis, entitled— The entitled —Directive /ocutionary Acts in Content Analysis of Andy :illiams‘ Relation to Politeness Strategy in the Hawaiian Wedding Song Text.“ Siswoyo Historical Movie the King‘s Speech— and Insiyah (2013) used qualitative This research explains the directive descriptive with instruments was the illocutionary from the movie the .ing‘s researcher herself, the text and audio of Speech. The researcher is interesting in Hawaiian Wedding Song. The data was illocutionary act in relation to politeness ISSN: 2354-7340 317 Barnas, A. strategy, the most focus in this thesis is on these concepts has direct what kinds of directive illocutionary acts consequences for the methodology of of the dialogues in The King‘s Speech are speech act research.Based on the used by the speaker seen from the aspect statement above, to extend to of (i) explicit or implicit performative, crosscultural and interlangauge (ii) direct or indirect directive pragmatic in speech act conversation illocutionary acts, (iii) literal or needs three concepts. They are action, nonliteral directive illocutionary acts, meaning and context. (iv) function of directive illocutionary. In this research, the participant The researcher uses descriptive interaction in the classroom is lecturer qualitative method to be applied in this and the students. It means that interaction research. The purposes of this research needs action , meaning and context. are 1. Elaborating the classification of Mey (2001: 119) said contextual directive illocutionary acts of the conditions of speech acting, that is, the dialogues in The King‘s Speech into type, social framework in which a speech act mood, and function of directive has to be performed in order to be valid. illocutionary acts used by the speaker to It means with a context the meaning will the hearer in this movie, and 2. be valid. Pragmatic must has a context Analyzing the politeness principle and between speaker and listener. strategy used by the speaker in uttering Fasolddan Linton (2006:137-138) directive illocutionary acts. said to understand semantic/pragmatic Based on the both of previous meaning we have to bring together three research, the writer concludes the main components: the context in which a researches have the same either purposes sentence is used, the meanings of word or scope and limitation. They have the in the sentence, and its morphological same method, it is descriptive qualitative and syntactic structure. Statements above and pragmatic approach. can be explained that the speech of Kasper (2004) in the book of sentence not only used for the words in speech acts in the interaction: Towards the sentence, morphological and Discursive Pragmatics said in any kind structure but also in the current context. of research on speech acts and therefore extend to cross cultural and inter Speech Act language pragmatics as well as to the The phenomenon to be discussed study of speech acts in interaction is very widespread and obvious, and it between competent speakers of the same cannot fail to have been already noticed, language or language variety. My at least here and there by others. discussion will be organized around three (Austin, 1975, p. 1) states a series of central concepts: action, meaning, and lectures by the philosopher, J.L.Austin, context. Theexamine how these concepts which were given at Harvard University are typically handled in speech act in 1955 and later published under the research and conversation analysis, and title How to Do Things with Words. The hope to show that the theoretical stance proverbs Actions speak louder than 318 ISSN: 2354-7340 ELT Perspective 3(2), September 2015 words and Easier said than done seem to grammatical structures and words when make a clear distinction between they attempt to express themselves, but speaking and acting. However, Austin they also perform actions via those pointed out that, contrary to popular utterances. Actions performed via belief, there is often no clear distinction utterances are generally called speech between the two. He was one of the first acts (Yule, 1996b:47). modern scholars to recognize that Therefore, speech act is the act ”words‘ are in themselves actions and performed by a speaker in uttering a that these speech acts can and should be sentence. Making an utterance involves a systematically studied . hierarchy of acts, act of utterance. The Yule (1996:47), speech act is the action performed by producing an actions performed by utterances. It utterance consists of three related acts. means that when people communicate Austin (in Fasold, 1990:52) defines three with others, they do not only produce basic senses in which saying something utterances containing grammatical one is doing something. structures and words, but they also perform action via those utterances. Locution, Illocution, Perlocution Meanwhile, Austin in Thomas (1995:51) Austin in Stillwell (2001) pointed used the term —speech act“ to refer to an out that in analyzing a speech act, we utterance and the Ätotal situation in need to make a distinction between the which the utterance is issued.
Recommended publications
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Wittgenstein and Embodied Cognition: a Critique of the Language of Thought Amber Sheldon University of San Diego, [email protected]
    University of San Diego Digital USD Keck Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellows Humanities Center Spring 2019 Wittgenstein and Embodied Cognition: A Critique of the Language of Thought Amber Sheldon University of San Diego, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/hc-keck Part of the Other Philosophy Commons, Philosophy of Language Commons, and the Philosophy of Mind Commons Digital USD Citation Sheldon, Amber, "Wittgenstein and Embodied Cognition: A Critique of the Language of Thought" (2019). Keck Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellows. 2. https://digital.sandiego.edu/hc-keck/2 This Working Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Humanities Center at Digital USD. It has been accepted for inclusion in Keck Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellows by an authorized administrator of Digital USD. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sheldon Fall 2018 Wittgenstein and Embodied Cognition: A Critique of the Language of Thought Amber Sheldon University of San Diego, 2018 1 Sheldon Fall 2018 Wittgenstein and Embodied Cognition: A Critique of the Language of Thought Amber Sheldon University of San Diego, 2018 Introduction The “computer metaphor” views the content of the mind as being akin to software. Our brains are coded using abstract symbols to represent concepts and semantic rules.1 Such models for understanding the relation between mind and body have been popular among cognitive scientists and philosophers.2 Computational Functionalism views the mind/brain like a computer that works according to a system of symbolic inputs and corresponding outputs. The framework of these computational mental representations is the “language of thought.”3 This symbolic mental language is often analogized with the symbolic “language” of a computer.
    [Show full text]
  • The Logic of Sense and Reference
    The Logic of Sense and Reference Reinhard Muskens Tilburg Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science (TiLPS) Days 4 and 5 Reinhard Muskens (TiLPS) The Logic of Sense and Reference Days 4 and 5 1 / 56 Overview 1 Introduction 2 Types and Terms 3 Models 4 Proofs 5 Model Theory 6 Applications 7 Worlds 8 Conclusion Reinhard Muskens (TiLPS) The Logic of Sense and Reference Days 4 and 5 2 / 56 Introduction Intensional Models for the Theory of Types When we looked at Thomason's work, we saw that it is possible to work with propositions as primitive entities within the framework of classical type theory. Today and tomorrow we'll develop an alternative. We will generalize standard type theory so that a sense-reference distinction becomes available. We shall give up the Axiom of Extensionality. And we shall generalize the `general models' of Henkin (1950) in order to make our models match the weaker logic. Many desired notions will become available in the generalized logic and logical omniscience problems will disappear. See Muskens (2007) for references and technical details. Reinhard Muskens (TiLPS) The Logic of Sense and Reference Days 4 and 5 3 / 56 Introduction Intensionality and Extensionality Whitehead and Russell (1913) call a propositional function of propositional functions F extensional if, in modern notation: 8XY (8~x(X~x $ Y ~x) ! (FX ! FY )). (This is slightly generalized to the case where X and Y take an arbitrary finite number of arguments, not just one.) In a relational version of type theory (Orey 1959; Sch¨utte1960) the formula above defines the extensionality of relations of relations.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of Formal Semantics, Going Beyond What I Know First-Hand
    !"#$"##% Introduction ! “Semantics” can mean many different things, since there are many ways to be interested in “meaning”. One 20th century debate: how much common ground across logic, philosophy, and linguistics? The History of ! Formal semantics, which says “much!”, has been shaped over the last 40+ years by fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration among linguists, Formal Semantics philosophers, and logicians. ! In this talk I’ll reflect mainly on the development of formal semantics and to a lesser extent on formal pragmatics in linguistics and philosophy starting in the 1960’s. Barbara H. Partee ! I’ll describe some of the innovations and “big ideas” that have shaped the MGU, May 14, 2011 development of formal semantics and its relation to syntax and to (= Lecture 13, Formal Semantics Spec-kurs) pragmatics, and draw connections with foundational issues in linguistic theory, philosophy, and cognitive science. May 2011 MGU 2 Introduction “Semantics” can mean many different things ! I’m not trained as a historian of linguistics (yet) or of philosophy; what I know best comes from my experience as a graduate student of Chomsky’s ! “Semantics” used to mean quite different things to linguists in syntax at M.I.T. (1961-65), then as a junior colleague of Montague’s at and philosophers, not surprisingly, since different fields have UCLA starting in 1965, and then, after his untimely death in 1971, as one different central concerns. of a number of linguists and philosophers working to bring Montague’s " Philosophers of language have long been concerned with truth and semantics and Chomskyan syntax together, an effort that Chomsky reference, with logic, with how compositionality works, with how himself was deeply skeptical about.
    [Show full text]
  • Seth Cable Formal Semantics Spring 2018 Ling 620 1 the Basics Of
    Seth Cable Formal Semantics Spring 2018 Ling 620 The Basics of Intensional Semantics, Part 1: The Motivation for Intensions and How to Formalize Them 1 1. The Inadequacies of a Purely Extensional Semantics (1) Extensional Semantics a. The interpretation function “[[ ]]” is (always) a function from natural language expressions to their extensions in the (actual) world. b. The extension of a complex phrase is (always) derived by computing the extensions (and only the extensions) of its component parts. In LING 610, you saw that – amazingly – an extensional semantics is sufficient for a semantic theory of many natural language structures… …However, it won’t be enough for all natural language… (2) Negative Consequence: No ‘Counterfactual’ Language a. The Consequence: In an extensional semantics, all predicates are of type <et>, <eet>, etc.. Thus, all sentences will be T or F depending only upon properties and relations that hold in the actual world. • [[ golfs ]] = [λx : x golfs] = yields T iff x golfs (in the actual world) • [[ Seth golfs ]] = T iff Seth golfs (in the actual world) b. The Empirical Problem: There are sentences of natural language whose truth or falsity depends on properties or relations holding in (purely) hypothetical worlds. (i) Vincent might golf. (ii) Rajesh believes that Seth golfs. (iii) If Rajesh golfed, then Seth wouldn’t be alone. Nothing in our purely extensional ‘semantic toolkit’ seems like it will provide a decent analysis of these kinds of structures. 1 These notes are based upon Heim & Kratzer (1998; Chapter 12) and von Fintel & Heim (2011; Chapter 1). 1 Seth Cable Formal Semantics Spring 2018 Ling 620 (3) Negative Consequence: Arguments are Always Extensions a.
    [Show full text]
  • A. COVER.Docx
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Repositori Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACT IN THE MOVIE “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST” SKRIPSI Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of Requiurement for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd.) English Education Program By: IRA ANUGERAH ASRI NPM: 1402050226 FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRANING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH SUMATERA UTARA MEDAN 2018 ABSTRACT Asri, Ira Anugerah. 1402050226. “Directive Speech Act in the Movie Beauty and The Beast”. Skripsi. Medan. English Education Program of Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara (UMSU). 2018 This study deals with the directive speech act in the movie Beauty and The Beast. The objectives of this study were to describe the types of directive speech act which were used in the movie Beauty and The Beast to explain how directive speech act were used in the movie of Beauty and The Beast. The research used descriptive qualitative method. The data was taken from the script of the movie. Based on the result of the directive speech act in the movie Beauty and The Beast, it was found 68 occurrences of the three types of directive spech act in this research, they were 26 command act occurrences, 22 request act occurrences and 20 suggestion act occurrences. And the most dominant of the data was found 26 occurences in command act. Keyword: Directive, Speech act, Movie, Qualitative i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb In the name of Allah the most Gracious and the most merciful. Firtsly, the researcher would like to convey gratitude to Al-mighty God, who has blessed her to write this research.
    [Show full text]
  • Context and Compositionality
    C ontext and C ompositionality : A n E ssay in M etasemantics Adrian Briciu A questa tesi doctoral està subjecta a la llicència Reco neixement 3.0. Espanya de Creative Commons . Esta tesis doctoral está sujeta a la licencia Reconocimi ento 3.0. España de Creative Commons . Th is doctoral thesis is licensed under the Creative Commons Att ribution 3.0. Spain License . University of Barcelona Faculty of Philosophy Department of Logic, History and Philosophy of Science CONTEXT AND COMPOSITIONALITY AN ESSAY IN METASEMANTICS ADRIAN BRICIU Program: Cognitive Science and Language (CCiL) Supervisor Max Kölbel 1 2 Contents Introduction...................................................................................................................................9 1.The Subject Matter ..............................................................................................................9 2.The Main Claims................................................................................................................13 3.Looking ahead....................................................................................................................14 CHAPTER 1: A General Framework..........................................................................................16 1. Semantic Theories: Aims, Data and Idealizations .............................................................16 2. Syntax ................................................................................................................................20 3. Semantics...........................................................................................................................25
    [Show full text]
  • Intension, Extension, and the Model of Belief and Knowledge in Economics
    Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, Volume 5, Issue 2, Autumn 2012, pp. 1-26. http://ejpe.org/pdf/5-2-art-1.pdf Intension, extension, and the model of belief and knowledge in economics IVAN MOSCATI University of Insubria Bocconi University Abstract: This paper investigates a limitation of the model of belief and knowledge prevailing in mainstream economics, namely the state-space model. Because of its set-theoretic nature, this model has difficulties in capturing the difference between expressions that designate the same object but have different meanings, i.e., expressions with the same extension but different intensions. This limitation generates puzzling results concerning what individuals believe or know about the world as well as what individuals believe or know about what other individuals believe or know about the world. The paper connects these puzzling results to two issues that are relevant for economic theory beyond the state-space model, namely, framing effects and the distinction between the model-maker and agents that appear in the model. Finally, the paper discusses three possible solutions to the limitations of the state-space model, and concludes that the two alternatives that appear practicable also have significant drawbacks. Keywords : intension, extension, belief, knowledge, interactive belief, state-space model JEL Classification: B41, C70, D80 Much of current mathematical economic analysis is based, in one way or another, on the theory of sets initiated by Georg Cantor (1883) and Richard Dedekind (1888) in the late nineteenth century, axiomatically developed by Ernst Zermelo (1908), Abraham Fraenkel (1923), John von Neumann (1928), and others in the early twentieth century, and usually AUTHOR ’S NOTE : I am grateful to Robert Aumann, Pierpaolo Battigalli, Giacomo Bonanno, Richard Bradley, Paolo Colla, Marco Dardi, Alfredo Di Tillio, Vittorioemanuele Ferrante, Francesco Guala, Conrad Heilmann, and Philippe Mongin for helpful discussions and suggestions on previous drafts.
    [Show full text]
  • Analyzing Meaning an Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics
    Analyzing meaning An introduction to semantics and pragmatics Paul R. Kroeger language Textbooks in Language Sciences 5 science press Textbooks in Language Sciences Editors: Stefan Müller, Martin Haspelmath Editorial Board: Claude Hagège, Marianne Mithun, Anatol Stefanowitsch, Foong Ha Yap In this series: 1. Müller, Stefan. Grammatical theory: From transformational grammar to constraint-based approaches. 2. Schäfer, Roland. Einführung in die grammatische Beschreibung des Deutschen. 3. Freitas, Maria João & Ana Lúcia Santos (eds.). Aquisição de língua materna e não materna: Questões gerais e dados do português. 4. Roussarie, Laurent. Sémantique formelle : Introduction à la grammaire de Montague. 5. Kroeger, Paul. Analyzing meaning: An introduction to semantics and pragmatics. ISSN: 2364-6209 Analyzing meaning An introduction to semantics and pragmatics Paul R. Kroeger language science press Paul R. Kroeger. 2018. Analyzing meaning: An introduction to semantics and pragmatics (Textbooks in Language Sciences 5). Berlin: Language Science Press. This title can be downloaded at: http://langsci-press.org/catalog/144 © 2018, Paul R. Kroeger Published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence (CC BY 4.0): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ISBN: 978-3-96110-034-7 (Digital) 978-3-96110-035-4 (Hardcover) 978-3-96110-067-5 (Softcover) ISSN: 2364-6209 DOI:10.5281/zenodo.1164112 Source code available from www.github.com/langsci/144 Collaborative reading: paperhive.org/documents/remote?type=langsci&id=144 Cover and concept of design:
    [Show full text]
  • The Logic of Sense and Reference
    The Logic of Sense and Reference Reinhard Muskens Tilburg Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science (TiLPS) ESSLLI 2009, Day 1 Reinhard Muskens (TiLPS) The Logic of Sense and Reference ESSLLI 2009, Day 1 1 / 37 The Logic of Sense and Reference In this course we look at the problem of the individuation of meaning. Many semantic theories do not individuate meanings finely enough and as a consequence make wrong predictions. We will discuss strategies to arrive at fine-grained theories of meaning. They will be illustrated mainly (though not exclusively) on the basis of my work. Strategies that can be implemented in standard higher order logic will be investigated, but generalisations of that logic that help deal with the problem will be considered too. Today I'll focus on explaining the problem itself and will mention some general strategies to deal with it. One of these (that of Thomason 1980) will be worked out in slightly more detail. Reinhard Muskens (TiLPS) The Logic of Sense and Reference ESSLLI 2009, Day 1 2 / 37 But we can form theories of meaning. Lewis (1972): In order to say what a meaning is, we may first ask what a meaning does, and then find something that does that. In today's talk I want to highlight some properties that meanings seem to have. If we want to find things that behave similarly they will need to have these properties too. In particular, I will look at the individuation of meaning. When are the meanings of two expressions identical? Or, in other words, what is synonymy? Introduction What is Meaning? And what is Synonymy? What is meaning? The question is not easy to answer.
    [Show full text]
  • Meanings Via Syntactic Structures
    Paul M. Pietroski Meanings via Syntactic Structures Chomsky (1957) oered prescient suggestions about how to formulate theories of understanding for the spoken languages that human children can naturally ac- quire. We can view his proposal as a prolegomenon to a theory of meaning that combines a layered theory of syntax with an account of how humans can natu- rally use expressions in acts of referring, asserting, querying, and so on; cp. Austin (1961); Davidson (1967); Dummett (1976); Higginbotham (1985). Though crucially, Chomsky’s (1957) conception of reference diered from more familiar conceptions of denotation, as in Frege (1892b) or Russell (1905, 1912, 1957); cp. Goodman (1949, 1953), Strawson (1950), Chomsky (1977, 1995b, 2000b, 2017). I think we should de- velop the kind of semantic theory towards which Chomsky has long been point- ing; see Pietroski (2017abc). But in this essay, my aim is simply to articulate a sense in which Syntactic Structures outlined a program for semantics, well before David- son (1967), Montague (1970), and Lewis (1970). 1 Introduction Human children come equipped with a remarkable resource. Given an ordinary course of experience, an ordinary child can acquire at least one procedure that generates unboundedly many linguistic expressions that are pronounceable and meaningful. Children also tend to acquire procedures that are remarkably similar to those acquired by local peers, even though each child’s experience is limited and somewhat idiosyncratic. Correlatively, adults in a linguistic community will agree—if asked—about many subtle linguistic facts. For example, mature speakers of English can tell that (1) is ambiguous, (1) the old man was frightened by the new methods even if they have not previously encountered this string of words.
    [Show full text]