more semantics pragmatics questions

Cards (162)

  • Lyons' approach share Saussurean belief that meanings are not substantive, but relational, and are constituted by contrasts within the same system.
  • For a localist, contextual variation can be accounted for by rules of interaction with contexts.
  • Functional roles include functional roles, case roles, deep cases, participant roles, and thematic roles.
  • OBJECTIVE is the semantically most neutral case, conceivably the concept should be limited to things which are affected by the action or state identified by the verb, such as in Mary opened the door.
  • Every, creates a downward-entailing environment for its subject and an upward-entailing environment for its predicate.
  • Problematic aspects of prototype model include the bases of GOE ratings, which are made on the basis of two words (category name and item name), and cannot be reduced to familiarity ratings.
  • Lexemes can be regarded as groupings of one or more word forms, which are individuated by their roots and/or derivational aftixes.
  • A natural category has no real boundaries, there is no fixed limit on how far something can depart from the prototype and still be assimilated to the class, there is general agreement that category boundaries are typically fuzzy.
  • Jackendoff is strongly componentialist, and believes that intuitively perceived relationships should (must) be accounted for in terms of shared semantic building blocks.
  • Discreteness
    the degree to which different parts or structures are clearly distinct and separate from one another.
  • The tense systems of most languages

    are vectorial, indicating the direction along the time-line from speaking time to event time.
  • conversational implicature
    something that is implied or suggested in a conversation
    Propositions or assumptions: Implicatures convey certain propositions or assumptions that are not directly expressed.
  • Non-detachability
    a conventional implicature cannot be detached or separated from the utterance without altering the meaning.
  • definite reference
    a unique and identifiable referent in the particular context
  • The use of spatial deictic expressions
    Words like "this", "that", "here", "there") can extend beyond just indicating physical spatial relationships to also signal psychological/emotive distancing or closeness.

    with the proximal forms ("this", "here") suggesting closeness, positivity or amenability, and the distal forms ("that", "there") implying distance, negativity or disassociation.
  • Gricean approach

    ssumes that implicatures (implied meanings) arise from maxims of conversation and conventional meanings of words/constructions.
  • downward entailing
    if a statement is true for a given set, then it must also be true for any subset of that set.
  • subject term
    downward entailment goes from a more general set to more specific subsets. For example:
    All birds fly. Therefore, all ravens fly. (Raven is a subset of birds)
  • the predicate term
    he valid entailment goes in the opposite upward direction - from more specific properties to more general properties.
    For example: All ravens are black birds. Therefore, all ravens are birds.
  • essential conditions
    the core components or criteria that define and constitute the particular speech act being performed
  • conventional implicatures
    do not affect the truth conditions or literal truth value of the statement. They provide additional implied meaning beyond just the truth-conditional semantic content.
  • Conversational implicatures
    can be recognized by context dependence: an expression with a single meaning can give rise to different conversational implicatures in different contexts.
  • Uptakevs acceptance
    uptake is about comprehending the intended act, while acceptance concerns whether the hearer is receptive to that act's performance.
  • basic level item

    dog we encounter frequently
    we have a clear picture
  • priming
    when a word preced with another simple word it is easy to recognize the second word
  • GOE
    Lo bueno que es un ejemplo de la categoria
  • intuitive unit/ polyvalence
    Intuitive unit: fell something fits perfectly, even when we cannot say why
    polyvalence: different ways of describe a prototype
  • prototype limitations
    category boundaries
    degress of membership
  • domain
    provide necessary context for concepts
    content need context- central of the cognitive linguistic approach
  • Concepts
    Articulation of events, entities or situations
  • inchoactive/medial/terminative
    • Inchoatives encode the initiation/starting point of an event/state
    • Medials encode the internal ongoing process/unfolding of an event
    • Terminatives encode the final or completion phase of an event
  • Functional Roles

    These refer to the grammatical roles that words or phrases play within a sentence.
    For example, in the sentence "John kicked the ball,"
    NP-subject,object, direct object
  • Case Roles

    also known as grammatical cases.
    They indicate the relationship between a noun and verb
    NP: Agent, patient, theme, experiencer
  • Deep Cases
    Noun and predicate
    agent, patient, and beneficiary.
  • Participant Roles
    Participant roles describe the function of entities involved in an event or action described by a sentence. These roles are based on the semantic relationships between entities rather than their grammatical functions.
  • Thematic Roles

    , thematic roles are more specific and can include roles like experiencer (the entity experiencing a sensation or emotion), instrument (the means by which an action is performed), and location (the place where an action occurs).
  • Upward vs Downward-
    • In an upward-entailing environment, if a statement is true of a smaller set, it is also true of any larger set containing that smaller set.
    • In a downward-entailing environment, if a statement is true of a larger set, it is also true of any subset of that larger set.
  • Componential approach
    breaks down the meaning of a word into smaller, basic units that help define it.
    decomposed into more basic semantic components
  • Semantic Prime
    e most basic and irreducible elements of meaning
  • Semes
    the smallest units of meaning that can't be broken down further.