Wrong about Meaning

Kasia Jaszczolt

Newnham Collegeand

Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics

http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/kmj21

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M. C. Escher, Still Life and Street, 1937

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Linguistics Philosophy

X Linguistic philosophy

Philosophy of language

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Two concepts, one object:‘Snowdon’, ‘Yr Wyddfa’ – the highest mountain in Wales.

Two objects, one concept:‘elm’ – elm, beech

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Antoni Gaudí’s ‘Sagrada Família’

‘The architect of this church must have been mad.’5

Antoni Gaudí’s ‘Sagrada Família’

‘The architect of this church must have been mad.’6

Ambiguity and vagueness

Every bottle is empty.

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Ambiguity and vagueness

Every bottle is empty.Every bottle at the party is empty.

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Ambiguity and vagueness

Every bottle is empty.Every bottle at the party is empty.

The temperature fell below zero and the lake froze.

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Ambiguity and vagueness

Every bottle is empty.Every bottle at the party is empty.

The temperature fell below zero and the lake froze.The temperature fell below zero and as a result the lake froze.

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Ambiguity and vagueness

Every bottle is empty.Every bottle at the party is empty.

The temperature fell below zero and the lake froze.The temperature fell below zero and as a result the lake froze.

Some dogs have fleas.

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Ambiguity and vagueness

Every bottle is empty.Every bottle at the party is empty.

The temperature fell below zero and the lake froze.The temperature fell below zero and as a result the lake froze.

Some dogs have fleas.Some but not all dogs have fleas.

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Which meaning?

Child to mother: Everybody has a bike.

All of the child’s friends have bikes.

Many/most of the child’s classmates have bikes.

The mother should buy her son a bike.

Cycling is a popular form of exercise among children.

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Which meaning?

Child to mother: Everybody has a bike.

All of the child’s friends have bikes.

Many/most of the child’s classmates have bikes.

The mother should buy her son a bike.

Cycling is a popular form of exercise among children.

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Where does meaning come from?

Two examples:

Speaking about time

Speaking about oneself

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Example 1

Speaking about time

What is expressed by using words in one language may be expressed by grammar in another.

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What is expressed by using words in one language may be expressed by grammar in another.

What is expressed overtly in one language may be left out (and only implied) in another.

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Main questions

Is the human concept of time a universal concept?Yes

Can it be explained in terms of simpler concepts?Yes

How do linguistic expressions of time reflect it?Through interaction with other sources of information

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A-series

B-series

St’àt’imcets (Lillooet Salish), British Columbia

only future (kelh) – non-future distinction

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Swahili: consecutive tense marker ka

a. …wa-Ingereza wa-li-wa-chukua wa-le maiti,3Pl-British 3Pl-Past-3Pl-take 3Pl-Dem corpses

‘…then the British took the corpses, b. wa-ka-wa-tia katika bao moja,

3Pl-Cons-3Pl-put.on on board one

put them on a flat board,

c. wa-ka-ya-telemesha maji-ni kwa utaratibu w-ote…3Pl-Cons-3Pl-lower water-Loc with order 3Pl-all

and lowered them steadily into the water…’

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Narration in English:

Lidia played a sonata. The audience applauded. e1 e2

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Time in Thai

m3ae:r3i:I kh2ian n3iy3ai:

Mary write novel

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(a) Mary wrote a novel.(b) Mary was writing a novel.(c) Mary started writing a novel but did not finish it.(d) Mary has written a novel.(e) Mary has been writing a novel.(f) Mary writes novels. / Mary is a novelist.(g) Mary is writing a novel.(h) Mary will write a novel.(i) Mary will be writing a novel.

from Srioutai (2006: 45)

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f3on t1okrain fall

(a) It is raining. (default meaning)(b) It was raining. (possible intended meaning)

Our commitment to the Past

(1) Lidia went to a concert yesterday.(regular past)

(2) This is what happened yesterday. Lidia goes to a concert, meets her school friend and tells her…(past of narration)

(3) Lidia would have gone to a concert (then).(epistemic necessity past)

(4) Lidia must have gone to a concert (yesterday). (epistemic necessity past)

(5) Lidia may have gone to a concert (yesterday).(epistemic possibility past)

(6) Lidia might have gone to a concert (yesterday).(epistemic possibility past)

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Degree of commitment for selected expressions with past-time reference

rp, pn enp epp

1 0

Sources of information for

(i) world knowledge (WK)(ii) word meaning and sentence structure (WS)(iii) situation of discourse (SD)(iv) properties of the human inferential system (IS)(v) stereotypes and presumptions about society and culture

(SC)

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World knowledge:

The temperature fell below zero and the lake froze.

The temperature fell below zero and as a result the lake froze.

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world knowledge (WK)

word meaning and sentence structure (WS)

situation of discourse (SD)

stereotypes and presumptions properties of human inferential system (IS) about society and culture (SC)

Fig. 1: Sources of information contributing to a merger representation Σ

merger representation Σ

sources of information types of processes

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Primary meaning:

combination of word meaning and sentence structure (WS)

conscious pragmatic inferencepm (from situation of discourse, social and

social, cultural and cognitive defaults (CD) cultural assumptions, and world world-knowledge defaultspm (SCWDpm) knowledge) (CPIpm) Secondary meanings:

Social, cultural and world-knowledge defaultssm (SCWDsm) conscious pragmatic inferencesm (CPIsm)

Fig. 2: Utterance interpretation according to the processing model of the revised version of Default Semantics

merger representation Σ

Some meanings automatically ‘click in’, others take time and effort:

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A: So, is this your first film?B: No, it’s my twenty second.A: Any favourites among the twenty two?B: Working with Leonardo.A: da Vinci?B: DiCaprio.A: Of course. And is he your favourite Italian

director?(Richard Curtiss, Notting Hill, 1999)

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A: So, is this your first film?B: No, it’s my twenty second.A: Any favourites among the twenty two?B: Working with Leonardo.A: da Vinci?B: DiCaprio.A: Of course. And is he your favourite Italian

director?(Richard Curtiss, Notting Hill, 1999)

x y '

[m3ae:r3i:I]CD (x)

[n3iy3ai:]CD (y) ' [x kh2ian y]WS [ACC

rp ├ ']WS, CPIpm

for Thai ‘Mary wrote a novel’ (regular past)

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Example 2

Speaking about oneself

The scenario:

The person who agreed to organise the drinks is to blame.

I am to blame. I completely forgot I was put in charge.

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The difference?

The person who agreed to organise the drinks is to blame.

=

I am to blame.

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Self-awareness:

x common nouns, descriptions, proper names

pronouns

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Sammy wants a biscuit.Mummy will be with you in a moment.

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Honorifics: Japanese, Thai, Burmese, Javanese, Khmer, Korean, Malay, or

Vietnamese

The word for ‘I’ has the characteristics of both a pronoun (‘I’) and a noun (‘the presenter’).

‘slave’, ‘servant’, royal slave’, ‘lord’s servant’, ‘Buddha’s servant’

Thai: ‘mouse’

Thai: 27 expressions of first person Japanese: 51 expressions

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Acoma (New Mexico), Wari’ (Brazil): no personal pronouns

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Referring to oneself ‘to some extent’

One can hear the wolves from the veranda.

It is scary to hear the wolves from the veranda.

‘detached self-reference’

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If I were you I would wait a couple of days before issuing a complaint.

Wait a couple of days before issuing a complaint.

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‘this’, ‘here’

Thai phŏm1 nii2 ( ‘one male this’);

Japanese kotira, Korean yeogi, and Vietnamese hây (‘here’)

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‘I’ I

I’m the only one around here who can take care of my children.Only I admitted what I did wrong.

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Tylko ja jeden przyznałem się do błędu.

only 1Sg soleSgMNom admit1SgPastM Refl to mistakeSgMGen

Tylko ja jedna tutaj potrafię zajmować się

Only 1Sg soleSgFNom here can1SgPres careInf Refl

swoimi dziećmi. ReflPronPl Instr childPl Instr

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Conscious awareness is present to different degrees:

(1)I put this book back on the shelf.(2)I remember putting this book back on the shelf.(3)I remember I put this book back on the shelf.(4)I think I remember putting this book back on the shelf.(5)I think I put this book back on the shelf.

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‘It1+t2 believe I should have prepared the drinks party. In a way It1 also believed that It1+t2 should have done it when It1 walked into the room. The fact is, the person appointed by the Faculty Board should have done it and as It1 later realised It1+t2 was this person.’

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Wiemt1+t2, że to jat1+t2 powinnam byłat1+t2

know1SgPres that Dem INom should1SgFPast

przygotować te drinki. W pewnym sensie, prepareInf thisAccPl drinkPlMAcc In certainSgMInstr senseSgMInstr

wtedy też wiedziałamt1, ponieważ miała je

then also know1SgFPast because be-toSgFPast theyNMAcc

przygotować osoba wybranaprzez Radę Wydziału,prepareInf personSgFNom selected by BoardSgFAcc FacultySgMGen

a to jat1+t2 byłam tą osobą.

and Dem INom beSgFPast DemSgFInstr personSgFInstr

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Alice wants what Lidia wants. underlying ‘I’-thought

But:Lidia’s mother wants what Lidia wants and that’s why she is

buying her lots of scientific books.no underlying ‘I’-thought

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Do sentences convey self-awareness?

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‘I believed, in a sense, I was to blame.’ (marked reading)

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x y ’

[Kasia]CD (x)

[Kasia]CPI (y) [y=x]WS [[x]CD [believe]CPI’]WS

’: [[y]CPI isto blame]WS

Wrong about meaning

X Formal, precise methods of explaining meaning in language concern sentences and their strings.

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Right about meaning

Formal, precise methods of explaining meaning in language model linguistic interaction (speaker’s meaning, addressee’s meaning).

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Guesswork or algorithms?

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Thank you!

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