DEIXIS AND DEFINITENESS (semantics)
48 likes21,846 views
The document discusses deixis and definiteness in language. It defines deixis as words that take meaning from the context of an utterance, such as personal pronouns and spatial/temporal indicators. Definiteness refers to a speaker assuming a hearer can identify a noun phrase's referent. Common definite noun phrases include proper names and those introduced with a definite determiner. The extension of a predicate is the set of all potential referents, while sense is the linguistic meaning and reference connects language to specific real-world entities.
DEIXIS AND DEFINITENESS (semantics)
- 1. GROUP 4 Vo Thi Hang Nhi Vu Thi Bich Ngoc Ngyen Thi Thanh Dao Nguyen Thi Thuy Pham Vu Minh Loc
- 3. I like studying semantics I do, too Deictic word
- 4. Definition Deictic word One which takes some element of its meaning from the situation ( the speaker, the addressee, the time and the place) of the utterance in which it is used. The general phenomenon of its occurrence is called Deixis
- 5. If Mary is preparing to travel to the USA , her mother says: “ you should bring warm clothes, the weather is cold there . “ If a visitor coming back from Halong Bay says: “ I took many beautiful pictures there .” Deictic word
- 6. Some types of deixis Personal deixis: I, you, he, … Demonstratives: this, that, these, those Spatial deixis: here, there, etc Temporal deixis: yesterday, today, tomorrow, etc
- 7. Some verbs have deictic ingredient Ex : “Go to the school “ Come, take, bring, go, etc (speaker is not at the school)
- 8. Tenses are also regarded as deictic Ex: “ I graduated from high school in 2004.” This utterance can be made in or after the year 2004
- 9. In reported speech, deictic words in original utterance have to be changed to preserve the original reference Ex: John said “I won lottery yesterday.” John said he had won lottery the day before
- 10. “ I was there yesterday,” Can you point out which words are deictic? “ I was there yesterday ” personal spatial temporal
- 11. Definiteness Definition: A feature of noun phrase selected by the speaker to convey his assumption that the hearer will be able to identify the referent of the noun phrase
- 12. Example : A The sun The star The moon definite because there are only one sun, one star, one moon in the context B I was in bed when the phone rang (= the phone in my house) The phone is definite
- 13. Three main types of definite noun phrase in English - Proper name: Mary, Princess Diana - Personal pronouns: he, she, it - Phrase introduced by a definite determiner: this, that, the, those, these, my, his, …
- 14. Definiteness contributes to truth of a sentence. It follows from definition of definiteness all definite noun phrases are referring expression However not every noun phrase using the so-called “definite article” the is necessarily semantically definite Ex: In genetic sentences The whale is a mammal
- 15. THE EXTENSION OF Your dog Your neighbor’s dog All dogs in the world DOG
- 16. EXTENSION Definition : Extension of a predicate of degree one is the set of all referents which that predicate potentially refers to.
- 17. SENSE, EXTENSION and REFERENCE Not a set of things An individual thing + + - Connects language to the world - + + Independent of particular occasions of utterances - + - Involve a set Reference Extension Sense
- 18. Define the set of all individual referents ( decide what is a dog, separate it from a cat or a wolf ) Develop its extension ( the extension of dog ) Having knowledge of the sense of a predicate ( Definition of Dog : an animal with four legs and a tail, often kept as a pet or trained for work, for example hunting or guarding building )
- 19. The context of the utterance usually helps the hearers to identify which particular member is. Eg: “ The dog has bitten the postman. ” Some members of the set of dogs has bitten the postman Context of the utterance : in his own household, which has just one dog, named Bob Identify Bob as the referent of “the dog” An individual of the extension of dog
- 20. The extension of a predicate is relative to all times, past, present and future. The extension of “dog” The dog you had in the past and was dead Your present dog A dog you may own one day in the distant future
- 21. Four-legged things Four-legged creatures INTERSECTION Four-legged creatures chair table tiger cow bird cow tiger man
- 22. Striped creatures Striped human The null/empty set
- 23. A fuzzy set For some predicate, drawing a clear line around the set of all individuals, past, present and future and separating them from all the non-ones is impossible
- 24. How is “ a man ” in your mind?
- 25. Medium height Average build 30-50 Brownish hair No particularly distinctive characteristics
- 26. PROTOTYPE
- 27. What is PROTOTYPE? an object held to be very TYPICAL can be referred to by an expression containing the predicate.
- 28. QUIZZ ???
- 29. Which object should be a PROTOTYPE of the predicate?
- 30. BIRD a b c
- 31. HOUSE a b c
- 32. Cultural differences lead to different prototypes Prototype of house of the Ethnic minority in Vietnam Prototype of house of the American A B
- 33. !!! thanks FOR LISTENINGS