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: Ulrike Harbort Typesetting: Felix Kopecky, Paul Kroeger, Sebastian Nordhoff Proofreading: Aleksandrs Berdicevskis, Andreas Hölzl, Anne Kilgus, Bev Erasmus, Carla Parra, Catherine Rudin, Christian Döhler, David Lukeš, David Nash, Eitan Grossman, Eugen Costetchi, Guohua Zhang, Ikmi Nur Oktavianti, Jean Nitzke, Jeroen van de Weijer, José Poblete Bravo, Joseph De Veaugh, Lachlan Mackenzie, Luigi Talamo, Martin Haspelmath, Mike Aubrey, Monika Czerepowicka, Myke Brinkerhoff, Parviz Parsafar, Prisca Jerono, Ritesh Kumar, Sandra Auderset, Torgrim Solstad, Vadim Kimmelman, Vasiliki Foufi Fonts: Linux Libertine, Arimo, DejaVu Sans Mono, AR PL UMing Typesetting software:Ǝ X LATEX Language Science Press Unter den Linden 6 10099 Berlin, Germany langsci-press.org Storage and cataloguing done by FU Berlin Contents Preface xi Abbreviations xiii I Foundational concepts 1 1 The meaning of meaning 3 1.1 Semantics and pragmatics ..................... 3 1.2 Three “levels” of meaning ...................... 5 1.3 Relation between form and meaning ................ 6 1.4 What does mean mean? ....................... 7 1.5 Saying, meaning, and doing .................... 9 1.6 “More lies ahead” (a roadmap) ................... 11 2 Referring, denoting, and expressing 15 2.1 Talking about the world ....................... 15 2.2 Denotational semantics vs. cognitive semantics ......... 16 2.3 Types of referring expressions ................... 17 2.4 Sense vs. denotation ......................... 21 2.5 Ambiguity .............................. 23 2.6 Expressive meaning: Ouch and oops ................ 25 2.6.1 Independence ........................ 26 2.6.2 Nondisplaceability ..................... 26 2.6.3 Immunity .......................... 26 2.6.4 Scalability and repeatability ................ 27 2.6.5 Descriptive ineffability ................... 27 2.6.6 Case study: Expressive uses of diminutives ........ 29 2.7 Conclusion .............................. 30 3 Truth and inference 35 3.1 Truth as a guide to sentence meaning ............... 35 Contents 3.2 Analytic sentences, synthetic sentences, and contradictions ... 36 3.3 Meaning relations between propositions ............. 37 3.4 Presupposition ............................ 40 3.4.1 How to identify a presupposition ............. 41 3.4.2 Accommodation: a repair strategy ............ 44 3.4.3 Pragmatic vs. semantic aspects of presupposition .... 45 3.5 Conclusion .............................. 47 4 The logic of truth 53 4.1 What logic can do for you ..................... 53 4.2 Valid patterns of inference ..................... 55 4.3 Propositional logic .......................... 58 4.3.1 Propositional operators .................. 58 4.3.2 Meaning relations and rules of inference ......... 62 4.4 Predicate logic ............................ 67 4.4.1 Quantifiers (an introduction) ............... 68 4.4.2 Scope ambiguities ...................... 72 4.5 Conclusion .............................. 72 II Word meanings 77 5 Word senses 79 5.1 Introduction ............................. 79 5.2 Word meanings as construals of external reality ......... 79 5.3 Lexical ambiguity .......................... 80 5.3.1 Ambiguity, vagueness, and indeterminacy ........ 80 5.3.2 Distinguishing ambiguity from vagueness and indeter- minacy ............................ 84 5.3.3 Polysemy vs. homonymy .................. 89 5.3.4 One sense at a time ..................... 92 5.3.5 Disambiguation in context ................. 94 5.4 Context-dependent extensions of meaning ............ 97 5.4.1 Figurative senses ...................... 98 5.4.2 How figurative senses become established ........ 99 5.5 “Facets” of meaning ......................... 100 5.6 Conclusion .............................. 102 iv Contents 6 Lexical sense relations 107 6.1 Meaning relations between words ................. 107 6.2 Identifying sense relations ..................... 107 6.2.1 Synonyms .......................... 108 6.2.2 Antonyms .......................... 109 6.2.3 Hyponymy and taxonomy ................. 113 6.2.4 Meronymy .......................... 115 6.3 Defining words in terms of sense relations ............ 115 6.4 Conclusion .............................. 117 7 Components of lexical meaning 119 7.1 Introduction ............................. 119 7.2 Lexical entailments ......................... 120 7.3 Selectional restrictions ....................... 121 7.4 Componential analysis ....................... 124 7.5 Verb meanings ............................ 126 7.6 Conclusion .............................. 131 III Implicature 137 8 Grice’s theory of Implicature 139 8.1 Sometimes we mean more than we say .............. 139 8.2 Conversational implicatures .................... 140 8.3 Grice’s Maxims of Conversation .................. 141 8.4 Types of implicatures ........................ 146 8.4.1 Generalized Conversational Implicature ......... 146 8.4.2 Conventional Implicature ................. 148 8.5 Distinguishing features of conversational implicatures ..... 149 8.6 How to tell one kind of inference from another .......... 151 8.7 Conclusion .............................. 156 9 Pragmatic inference after Grice 161 9.1 Introduction ............................. 161 9.2 Meanings of English words vs. logical operators ......... 161 9.2.1 On the ambiguity of and .................. 164 9.2.2 On the ambiguity of or ................... 165 9.3 Explicatures: bridging the gap between what is said vs. what is implicated .............................. 167 v Contents 9.4 Implicatures and the semantics/pragmatics boundary ...... 170 9.4.1 Why numeral words are special .............. 172 9.5 Conclusion .............................. 175 10 Indirect Speech Acts 179 10.1 Introduction ............................. 179 10.2 Performatives ............................ 180 10.3 Indirect speech acts ......................... 185 10.4 Indirect speech acts across languages ............... 191 10.5 Conclusion .............................. 192 11 Conventional implicature and use-conditional meaning 197 11.1 Introduction ............................. 197 11.2 Distinguishing truth-conditional vs. use-conditional meaning . 198 11.2.1 Diagnostic properties of conventional implicatures ... 198 11.2.2 Speaker-oriented adverbs ................. 200 11.3 Japanese honorifics ......................... 204 11.4 Korean speech style markers .................... 206 11.5 Other ways of marking politeness ................. 208 11.6 Discourse particles in German ................... 209 11.7 Conclusion .............................. 212 IV Compositional semantics 215 12 How meanings are composed 217 12.1 Introduction ............................. 217 12.2 Two simple examples ........................ 218 12.3 Frege on compositionality and substitutivity ........... 220 12.4 Propositional attitudes ....................... 223 12.5 De dicto vs. de re ambiguity ..................... 225 12.6 Conclusion .............................. 226 13 Modeling compositionality 229 13.1 Introduction ............................. 229 13.2 Why a model might be useful ................... 230 13.3 Basic concepts in set theory .................... 232 13.3.1 Relations and functions .................. 234 13.3.2 Operations and relations on sets ............. 236 vi Contents 13.4 Truth relative to a model ...................... 240 13.5 Rules of interpretation ....................... 242 13.6 Conclusion .............................. 246 14 Quantifiers 253 14.1 Introduction ............................. 253 14.2 Quantifiers as relations between sets ............... 254 14.3 Quantifiers in logical form ..................... 257 14.4 Two types of quantifiers ...................... 261 14.5 Scope ambiguities .......................... 264 14.6 Conclusion .............................. 267 15 Intensional contexts 273 15.1 Introduction ............................. 273 15.2 When substitutivity fails ...................... 274 15.3 Non-intersective adjectives ....................