DOCSLIB.ORG

A Semantic Analysis of Run: a Corpus Study an Undergraduate Thesis

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Semantic Analysis of Run: a Corpus Study an Undergraduate Thesis PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI A SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF RUN: A CORPUS STUDY AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By ALEXANDRA IRA INDIRA SARI Student Number: 154214049 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2019 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI A SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF RUN: A CORPUS STUDY AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By ALEXANDRA IRA INDIRA SARI Student Number: 154214049 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2019 ii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Be kind to one another (Ellen DeGeneres) vii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI I dedicate my thesis To my loving parents, dearest brother, and wonderful best friends. viii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is a genuine pleasure to express my gratitude to Jesus Christ for always gives me His countless blessing of making this research. I owe a deep sense of gratitude to Fransisca Kristanti S.Pd., M.Hum. who is willing to be my thesis adviser. Her guidance, timely advice, meticulous scrutiny, and assistance have helped me to accomplish this research. Additionally, I would like to express my thanks to my co-adviser, Simon Arsa Manggala S.S., M.Hum. His timely suggestions and additional knowledge have enabled me to complete my research. I thank profusely all the English Letters lecturers and staffs of Universitas Sanata Dharma for their help and guidance throughout my study period. Without them, I would not be able to finish my study completely. I am extremely thankful to my loving parents, who always support me in everything I do, to my dearest brother, Emmanuel Ivan, who is always be an admirable brother, to Rm. Mahar, Rm. Sani, and Rm. Tomi, who support me, and to all my wonderful best friends, Deni, Juan, Nes, Nova, Bagas (Tayo), Aan, Anggrid, Abeng, and Garda for helping me survive all the stress from the first year in campus to now and for never letting me give up. Alexandra Ira Indira Sari ix PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................. ii APPROVAL PAGE ....................................................................................... iii ACCEPTANCE PAGE .................................................................................. iv STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .............................................................. v LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ....................................................................... vi MOTTO PAGE .............................................................................................. vii DEDICATION PAGE .................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................ x ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... xii ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................ xiii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1 A. Background of the Study .......................................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation ................................................................................ 3 C. Objectives of the Study ............................................................................ 4 D. Definition of Terms ................................................................................. 4 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE .............................................. 6 A. Review of Related Studies ....................................................................... 6 B. Review of Related Theories ................................................................... 10 1. Corpus Study ....................................................................................... 10 2. Semantics ............................................................................................ 11 3. Semantic Features ................................................................................. 12 4. Componential Analysis ......................................................................... 13 5. Linguistic Context ................................................................................. 14 C. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................ 15 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .............................................................. 16 A. Object of the Study ................................................................................... 16 B. Approach of the Study .............................................................................. 16 C. Method of the Study ................................................................................. 17 1. Data Collection...................................................................................... 17 2. Data Analysis ........................................................................................ 18 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ................... 20 A. The Possible Meaning of “Run” .............................................................. 20 1. Possible Meaning of “Run” as Verb ..................................................... 23 2. Possible Meaning of “Run” as Noun .................................................... 33 B. The Linguistic Context of Dominant Meanings of “Run” ....................... 38 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ...................................................................... 50 x PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 52 APPENDICES ................................................................................................. 54 Appendix 1 : ................................................................................................. 54 Appendix 2 : ................................................................................................. 59 Appendix 3 : ................................................................................................. 60 xi PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI ABSTRACT SARI, ALEXANDRA IRA INDIRA. (2019). A SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF RUN: A CORPUS STUDY. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Sanata Dharma. The word “run” is commonly used in society within daily conversation. Most English learners understand “run” as a quick movement of two legs and faster than a walk. However, in practice, “run” has other meanings and the meanings change depending on the context. The fact that “run” carries various meanings applied in different context makes it interesting in this research focus. This research has two objectives: (1) to analyze the possible meaning of “run” from clauses in British National Corpus and (2) to identify the linguistic context of the dominant meaning of “run”. To accomplish the aim, theories of corpus study, semantics, semantic features, componential analysis, and linguistic context are applied in this research. Semantics approach was utilized in this research to analyze the meanings and linguistic contexts. The methodology used in this research was qualitative method to identify and elaborate “run” through some test of semantic features. Then, this research grouped the results of the analysis to show the frequency of the meaning. Later, the linguistic contexts were analyzed through the explanation of each lexicon. All analysis was described with some examples of clauses. The finding of this research presents several possible meanings of “run” as verbs and nouns. Nevertheless, this research finds three dominant meanings of “run” as verbs, and no dominant meanings of “run” as nouns. Those three dominant meanings are “to control or manage something”, “to move with two legs more quickly”, and “to operate a computer or program”. These three dominant meanings reveal the linguistic context of “business”, “education”, “charity”, “politics”, “sport”, and “technology”. “Politics” is the only linguistic context that appears more than one times. Keywords: semantics, run, linguistic context, corpus xii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI ABSTRAK SARI, ALEXANDRA IRA INDIRA. (2019). A SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF RUN: A CORPUS STUDY. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Masyarakat sering menggunakan kata “run” dalam berkomunikasi. Mayoritas, masyarakat yang menggunakan bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa kedua memahami “run” sebagai sebuah perpindahan yang lebih cepat daripada berjalan menggunakan kedua kaki. Realitanya, kata “run” memiliki lebih dari satu arti dan kata tersebut dapat berubah arti berdasarkan konteksnya. Mengacu pada fakta tersebut, fenomena ini menarik untuk diteliti. Penelitian ini memiliki dua tujuan: (1) untuk menganalisis kemungkinan arti dari
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Operational Semantics Page 1
    Operational Semantics Page 1 Operational Semantics Class notes for a lecture given by Mooly Sagiv Tel Aviv University 24/5/2007 By Roy Ganor and Uri Juhasz Reference Semantics with Applications, H. Nielson and F. Nielson, Chapter 2. http://www.daimi.au.dk/~bra8130/Wiley_book/wiley.html Introduction Semantics is the study of meaning of languages. Formal semantics for programming languages is the study of formalization of the practice of computer programming. A computer language consists of a (formal) syntax – describing the actual structure of programs and the semantics – which describes the meaning of programs. Many tools exist for programming languages (compilers, interpreters, verification tools, … ), the basis on which these tools can cooperate is the formal semantics of the language. Formal Semantics When designing a programming language, formal semantics gives an (hopefully) unambiguous definition of what a program written in the language should do. This definition has several uses: • People learning the language can understand the subtleties of its use • The model over which the semantics is defined (the semantic domain) can indicate what the requirements are for implementing the language (as a compiler/interpreter/…) • Global properties of any program written in the language, and any state occurring in such a program, can be understood from the formal semantics • Implementers of tools for the language (parsers, compilers, interpreters, debuggers etc) have a formal reference for their tool and a formal definition of its correctness/completeness
    [Show full text]
  • Extensible Transition System Semantics
    Extensible Transition System Semantics Casper Bach Poulsen Submitted to Swansea University in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Computer Science Swansea University 2015 Declaration This work has not been previously accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ............................................................ (candidate) Date ............................................................ Statement 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed ............................................................ (candidate) Date ............................................................ Statement 2 I hereby give my consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ............................................................ (candidate) Date ............................................................ Abstract Structural operational semantics (SOS) come in two main styles: big-step and small- step. Each style has its merits and drawbacks, and it is sometimes useful to maintain specifications in both styles. But it is both tedious and error-prone to maintain multiple specifications of the same language. Additionally, big-step SOS has poor support for
    [Show full text]
  • A. Detailed Course Structure of MA (Linguistics)
    A. Detailed Course Structure of M.A. (Linguistics) Semester I Course Course Title Status Module & Marks Credits Code LIN 101 Introduction to Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Linguistics LIN 102 Levels of Language Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Study LIN 103 Phonetics Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 LIN 104 Basic Morphology & Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Basic Syntax LIN 105 Indo-European Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Linguistics & Schools of Linguistics Semester II LIN 201 Phonology Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 LIN 202 Introduction to Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Semantics & Pragmatics LIN 203 Historical Linguistics Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 LIN 204 Indo-Aryan Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Linguistics LIN 205 Lexicography Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Semester III LIN 301 Sociolinguistics Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 LIN 302 Psycholinguistics Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 LIN 303 Old Indo-Aryan Discipline 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Specific Elective Lin 304 Middle Indo-Aryan Discipline 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Specific Elective LIN 305 Bengali Linguistics Discipline 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 1 Specific Elective LIN 306 Stylistics Discipline 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Specific Elective LIN 307 Discourse Analysis Generic 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Elective Semester IV LIN 401 Advanced Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Morphology & Advanced Syntax LIN 402 Field Methods Core 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 LIN 403 New Indo-Aryan Discipline 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Specific Elective LIN 404 Language & the Discipline 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Nation Specific Elective LIN 405 Language Teaching Discipline 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Specific Elective LIN 406 Term Paper Discipline 50 6 Specific Elective LIN 407 Language Generic 20(M1)+20(M2)+10(IA) 4 Classification & Elective Typology B.
    [Show full text]
  • Axiomatic Semantics I
    Spring 2016 Program Analysis and Verification Lecture 3: Axiomatic Semantics I Roman Manevich Ben-Gurion University Warm-up exercises 1. Define program state: 2. Define structural semantics configurations: 3. Define the form of structural semantics transitions: 2 Tentative syllabus Abstract Program Program Analysis Interpretation Verification Analysis Basics Techniques fundamentals Operational Control Flow Numerical Lattices semantics Graphs Domains Axiomatic Equation Fixed-Points Alias analysis Verification Systems Collecting Chaotic Interprocedural Semantics Iteration Analysis Galois Shape Using Soot Connections Analysis Domain CEGAR constructors Widening/ Narrowing 3 Agenda • Basic concepts of correctness • Axiomatic semantics (pages 175-183) – Motivation – First-order logic reminder – Hoare Logic 4 program correctness 5 Program correctness concepts • Specification = a certain relationship between initial state and final state Main focus of this course • Partial correctness = specifications that hold if the program terminates • Termination = program always terminates – i.e., for every input state partial correctness + termination = total correctness Other correctness concepts exist: liveness, resource usage, … 6 Verifying factorial with structural semantics 7 Structural semantics for While [asssos] x := a, 1 [x Aa] [skipsos] skip, 1 1 S1, 1 S1’, ’ [comp sos] S1; S2, 1 S1’; S2, 2 S1, 1 ’ [comp sos] S1; S2, 1 S2, ’ tt [if sos] if b then S1 else S2, 1 S1, if B b = tt ff [if sos] if b then S1 else S2, 1 S2, if B b = ff while
    [Show full text]
  • Lexical and Semantics Literatures and Their Trends Mohana Dass Ramasamy & Devi Vadiveloo Department of Indian Studies University of Malaya
    Lexical and Semantics Literatures and Their Trends Mohana Dass Ramasamy & Devi Vadiveloo Department of Indian Studies University of Malaya Introduction with his imagination give birth to new word formation whenever there is a need and necessity. The process of making or coining the new term, sometime easy and sometime not. By adding an affix or suffix to a root word, an intended word could be formed to fill the blank of missing message delivery. The only criteria of succession is it has to be the best term that could represent the abstract mental message or image borne in the mind. as a special innate mental module. The field of study known as lexical and lexical semantic have been established well in the literature, but they were less studied in the Tamil background. This study, therefore, aimed at giving an impressive look at the existing literatures on these fields, and possibly arguing for how they could be matched in the Tamil. Word Formation Literatures Word has different connection with various academic fields in this world. However, strong inter- connection between word and linguistic have created an academic discipline alone, known as today. Lexical has different perspective from each discipline in academic world [Palmer (1981), Trask (1993), Crystal (1997)]. Morphology is study of lexical structure and semantics is the study of lexical meaning. Lexical participation in every field played a vital role to create great success in academic today. Lexical Semantics also garnered extensive interest of the scholarly world. Since lexical semantics defined as study of word meaning, Lexical semanticists are interested in what words mean, why they mean so, what they mean, how they are and discourse(CaritaParadis 2013: 1).
    [Show full text]
  • Axiomatic Semantics II
    Spring 2016 Program Analysis and Verification Lecture 5: Axiomatic Semantics II Roman Manevich Ben-Gurion University Tentative syllabus Abstract Program Program Analysis Interpretation Verification Analysis Basics Techniques fundamentals Operational Control Flow Numerical Lattices semantics Graphs Domains Equation Hoare Logic Fixed-Points Alias analysis Systems Applying Hoare Collecting Chaotic Interprocedural Logic Semantics Iteration Analysis Weakest Galois Shape Precondition Using Soot Connections Analysis Calculus Proving Domain CEGAR Termination constructors Widening/ Data structures Narrowing 2 Previously • Basic notions of correctness • Formalizing Hoare triples • FO logic – Free variables – Substitutions • Hoare logic rules 3 Warm-up exercises 1. Define program state: 2. Define state predicate: 3. Define P 4. Formalize {P} C {Q} via structural semantics: 5. FV(m. x=k+1 0mx-1 nums(m)res) = { } 6. (m. x=k+1 0mx-1 nums(m)res)[x+1/x] = 4 Agenda • Inference system • Annotating programs with proofs • Properties of the semantics Chapter 6 • Predicate transformer calculus – Weakest precondition calculus – Strongest postcondition calculus 5 Axiomatic semantics as an inference system 6 Inference trees • Trees describing rule applications that ultimately prove a program correct • Leaves are axiom applications • Internal nodes correspond to rule applications over triples inferred from sub-trees • Inference tree is called – Simple if tree is only an axiom – Composite otherwise 7 Factorial proof inference tree Goal: { x=n } y:=1; while
    [Show full text]
  • Ogden and Richards' the Meaning of Meaning and Early Analytic
    Ogden and Richards’ The Meaning of Meaning and early analytic philosophy. James McElvenny [email protected] This is the green open access copy of my paper in Language Sciences (2014, 41.212-221). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2013.10.001 This version silently corrects a few small errors in the published paper. Abstract C.K. Ogden (1889–1957) and I.A. Richards’ (1893–1979) The Meaning of Meaning is widely recognised as a classic text of early twentieth-century linguistic semantics and semiotics, but less well known are its links to the ‘logical atomism’ of Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), one of the foundational doctrines of analytic philosophy. In this paper a detailed comparison of The Meaning of Meaning and logical atomism is made, in which several key similarities between the two theories in subject matter and approach are identified: both attempt to describe meaning in terms of the latest psychological doctrines and both pursue a normative program aimed at rectifying the perceived deficiencies of language. But there are also a number of differences between the theories. Ogden and Richards – most probably inspired by Victoria Lady Welby (1837–1912) – offered a pragmatically oriented account of ordinary language, while Russell sought a ‘logically perfect language’ beyond interpretation, and rejected the work of Welby and her allies. These differences contributed significantly to Russell’s largely negative opinion of The Meaning of Meaning. Despite this, several ideas pioneered in The Meaning of Meaning re-appear in Russell’s later writings. The Meaning of Meaning, it would seem, not only drew inspiration from Russell’s philosophy but may have also contributed to its further development.
    [Show full text]
  • Observations Regarding the Lexical Content at the Beginnings of Structural Semantics
    article doi:10.17684/i9A135en DIACRONIA ISSN: 2393-1140 Impavidi progrediamur! www.diacronia.ro Observations regarding the lexical content at the beginnings of structural semantics Dinu Moscal˚ “A. Philippide” Institute of Romanian Philology, Str. Th. Codrescu 2, 700481 Iași, Romania Article info Abstract History: This study focuses on the difficulties noted by a series of German lexicologists Received April 11, 2019 at the beginnings of structural semantics as part of their attempt to identify a Accepted April 16, 2019 possible method of organizing the lexis of a language. Their studies, beginning Published May 7, 2019 with Jost Trier, focused on the analysis of certain lexical groups called Wortfelder (“lexical fields”), regarded as parts of a completely organized lexis. Their ideal- Key words: istic perception—according to which the whole lexis of a language has an inner semantics organization that needs to be discovered—was confronted with some major structuralism issues. Our first observation, based on some examples from the lexis, reveals lexicology the fact that certain words cannot be classified as belonging to a specific lexical lexical field field. Another observation is related to the semantic continuum of the lexical diachrony field, which is compared in some works with the image of a mosaic. These issues are detailed by the argumentations of the German lexicologists, whose research was based on a diachronic analysis of the lexis. Their views were exploited in the second stage of the theorization of lexical fields. 1. Introduction Any human cognitive activity implies first and foremost the identification of the object (that can bemore or less accurate) followed by the identification of the parts that the respective object is made of.
    [Show full text]
  • Semantics the Outline
    semantics The outline • Quotation • Introduction • Basic definition • Why is it important to study semantics? • Major concerns of semantics • Approaches to the study of semantics • Branches of semantics • Semantic ambiguity • Semantic rules • References Quotation • “Semantics is about the relation of words to reality - the way that speakers commit themselves to a shared understanding of the truth, and the way their thoughts are anchored to things and situations in the world.” Steven Pinker Definition Semantics is the study of the meaning of language. It has to do with considering the meanings of words. Scholars (Boas and his most notable pupil Sapir) have frequently added to their grammatical analyses of languages some discussion of the meaning of the grammatical categories and of the correlations between the structure of the vocabularies and the cultures in which the languages operated. Why is it important to study semantics • Semantics is studied for a number of different reasons: – It is central to the study of communication – The meaning is more complex than simply the words formed in a sentence. Major concerns of semantics • Study of meaning is one of the major areas of linguistic study. Linguists have approached it in a variety of ways. Semantics is associated with different issues related to meaning including naming, concept, sense and reference Naming • Naming as a semantic process derives from the understanding that words are names or labels for things. The major problem with this naming view of semantics is that it is only nouns and nominal expressions that can be analysed semantically. In addition, abstract nuns like love, hatred, truth will be difficult to explain since they are not living things Concepts • Concepts mediate between the mind constructs and objects in the real world.
    [Show full text]
  • Information-Structural Semantics for English Intonation*
    MARK STEEDMAN INFORMATION-STRUCTURAL SEMANTICS FOR ENGLISH INTONATION* 1. INTRODUCTION Selkirk (1984), Hirschberg and Pierrehumbert (1986), Pierrehumbert and Hirschberg (1990), andthe present author, have offered different but related accounts of intonation structure in English and some other languages. These accounts share the assumption that the system of tones identified by Pierrehumbert (1980), as modified by Pierrehumbert and Beckman (1988) and Silverman et al. (1992), has as transparent and type-driven a semantics in these languages as do their words and phrases. While the semantics of intonation in English concerns information structure and propositional attitude, rather than the predicate-argument relations and operator- scope relations that are familiar from standard semantics in the spirit of the papers collected as Montague 1974,this information-structural semantics is fully compositional, and can be regarded as a component of the same semantic system. The present paper builds on Steedman (1991) and Steedman (2000a) to develop a new semantics for intonation structure, which shares with the earlier versions the property of being fully integrated into Combinatory Categorial Grammar (CCG, see Steedman 2000b, hereafter SP). This grammar integrates intonation structure into surface derivational structure and the associated Montague-style compositional semantics, even when the intonation structure departs from the restrictions of traditional surface structure. Many of the diverse discourse meanings that have been attributed to intonational
    [Show full text]
  • ENG 831 LEXICOLOGY and SEMANTICS of ENGLISH Course
    COURSE GUIDE ENG 831 LEXICOLOGY AND SEMANTICS OF ENGLISH Course Developer/Writer Dr Oye Taiwo Department of Linguistics & African Languages University of Ibadan Ibadan Editor Dr. Olurotimi Taiwo NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA 1 National Open University of Nigeria Headquarters 14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way Victoria Island Lagos Abuja Annex 245 Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun Street Central Business District Opposite Arewa Suites Abuja e-mail: [email protected] URL: www.nou.edu.ng National Open University of Nigeria First Printed ISBN: All Rights Reserved Printed by …………….. For National Open University of Nigeria 2 CONTENTS PAGE Introduction 3 Course Aim 3 Course Objectives 3 Working through this Course 3 Course Materials 4 Study Units 4 References and Further Reading 6 Assessment 6 Tutor Marked Assignments (TMA) 6 Final Examination and Grading 6 Course Marking Scheme 6 Course Overview and Presentation Schedule 7 What You Will Need for this Course 7 How to Get the Most from the Course 8 Facilitators/Tutors and Tutorials 8 Conclusion 8 Summary 8 3 Introduction This is a three credit unit course presented in five modules. The general aim of the first module is to provide you with an in-depth understanding of how the meaning of a sentence‘s component words and their arrangement in syntactic structure determine sentence meaning. In module two, you will learn more closely about connectives and logical quantifiers. I shall also explain the truth relations in entailment and presupposition. Modules three and four discuss other necessary information needed to determine sentence meaning apart from the syntactic structure. Some of these are the speaker‘s and addressee‘s background attitudes and beliefs, their understanding of the context in which a sentence is uttered, and their knowledge of how language can be used to inform, to persuade, to mislead, and so forth.
    [Show full text]
  • Semantic Structure, Relational Networks, and Domains of Reference1
    JOURNAL OF ENGLISH STUDIES, I (1999), 271-288 SEMANTIC STRUCTURE, RELATIONAL NETWORKS, AND DOMAINS OF REFERENCE1 FRANCISCO SANTIBÁÑEZ SÁENZ University of La Rioja ABSTRACT. In this paper we make use of some of the conceptual tools provided by Cognitive Linguistics in order to discuss the issue of knowledge organization. We start off from the account provided by Ruiz de Mendoza (1996), who fleshes out the key ideas of the network organization model postulated by Langacker (1987). In Ruiz de Mendoza’s account a semantic characterization consists of what he terms a general definer, which is a kind of semantic invariant, plus a number of prototypical instantiations of the definer. The instantiations are accessed relationally. Our own account tries to improve on Ruiz de Mendoza’s initial insights by making his proposal compatible with Langacker’s notions of base and profile, and by organizing the resulting description in the form of sets of converging cognitive models, a proposal made by Lakoff (1987) which is fully compatible with the network characterization. To illustrate our view we offer an analysis of the concept of ‘mother’, which has been variously studied by a number of linguists working within the cognitive paradigm. Our analysis is mainly based on Lakoff’s account, but we further structure each converging model in terms of the domains on which it is potentially profiled. This has the advantage of providing a much richer characterization which facilitates the instantiation process. 1. INTRODUCTION The need for an encyclopedic conception of semantics (Haiman 1980) is one of the main points of emphasis of the research programme in cognitive linguistics (see Langacker 1987, 1990; Lakoff 1987, 1989).
    [Show full text]