AREAS OF ENQUIRY: SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS

Nombre de los alumnos: Agustín Aguilar y Carla Deheza

Nombre de la docente: Laura Gabetta

Asignatura: Lingüística I

Carrera: Profesorado de Inglés y Tecnicatura Superior en Traducción de Inglés

Curso: 3er año

Villa María

2020
2
 AREAS OF ENQUIRY SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS

2.4. SEMANTICS

Activity 1

Read the following passage from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. Underline

all the instances of the word mean.

"(...) that shows that there are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get

unbirthday presents."

"Certainly," said Alice.

"And only one for birthday presents, you know. There's glory for you!" “I don't know what

you ​mean​ by 'glory,” Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you

don't - till I tell you. I ​mean​ 'there's a nice knockdown argument for you.'"

“But glory' doesn't ​mean ​'a nice knockdown argument,'” Alice objected.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone,"it ​means​ what I choose

it to ​mean ​-- neither more nor less."

“The question is," said Alice, whether you can make words ​mean​ so many different things."

“The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master - that's all."

1. What is the subject of the verb mean in each occurrence you have underlined?

a. You mean

b. I mean

c. Glory

d. It means

e. I … mean

f. Words mean

3
2. In what senses is the word “mean" used in this passage?

a. You mean​: In this context, the word “mean” refers to the other person's perspective or
thought.
b. I mean​: In this context, the word “mean” refers to intend.
c. Glory doesn´t mean​: In this context, the word “mean” refers to the meaning of the
word, the definition.
d. It means​: In this context, the same as the previous one, refers to the meaning or the
definition.
e. I mean​: In this context, the word “mean” refers to the meaning that we give to words.
f. Words mean​: In this context, it refers to all the meanings that a word can have since
words have different senses.

3​. ​A dictionary can be considered as a list of word meanings. Would it be possible to

make a list of what speakers mean?

No, it wouldn’t be possible since, from semantics, the analyzing of words has a literal

meaning. So, it is impossible to make a list of what speakers try to say, because the

possibilities are infinite.

Activity 2

Although it is hard to say what meaning is, it is fairly easy to show what knowledge speakers

have about meanings in their language and therefore what things must be included in an

account of semantics. The following activity is intended to demonstrate some aspects of any

speaker's semantic knowledge.

1. Can you tell which of the following are meaningful in English?

a) Henry drew a picture​. ​b) Henry laughed.​ c) The picture laughed. d) Picture a Henry

laughed

4
2. Which of the following sentences have essentially the same meaning?

a) Sally got home before Robert.​ ​b) Robert got home before Sally.​ c) Robert arrived at home

after Sally.​ ​d) Sally got home later than Robert.

3. In each sentence below one word is underlined. Following the sentence is a group of

words, one of which can replace the underlined word without changing the meaning o

the sentence.

a) Where did you ​purchase ​these tools?

use – ​buy​- ​release - modify -- take

b) At the end of the street we saw two ​enormous ​statues.

pink – smooth - nice – ​huge​ ​- original

4. The sentences below are all about the same person, but two of them are related in

such a way that if one is true the other must be false.

a) Paul is married. ​b) Paul is an engineer.​ c) Paul is no longer young. ​d) Paul is a

bachelor.

5. Choose from the group of words following each of the sentences below the word

which means the opposite of the underlined word.

a) Betty cut a ​thick ​slice of cake.

bright - new - soft - ​thin ​- wet

b) The train ​departs​ at 12:25.

arrives ​– leaves – waits -- swerves

5
6. In each of the following groups of words, all but one of the words have something in

common. Which is the word that doesn't belong?

a) street - lane - road - path - ​house ​- avenue '

b) buy - take - ​use ​- steal - acquire - inherit

7. The following newspaper headlines are all ambiguous in that there are at least two

potential meanings for each one. Try to identify the word(s) that have caused the

problem​,

RETIRED PRIEST ​MAY MARRY​ BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN.

DEFENDANT'S SPEECH ENDS ​IN LONG SENTENCE.

CROWDS RUSHING TO SEE POPE ​TRAMPLE 6 TO DEATH.

8. What is the relationship between the statements in each of the following pairs?

a) There are ​tulips ​in the garden​.

b) There are ​flowers ​in the garden.

a) The ladder ​is too short ​to reach the roof.

b) The ladder ​isn't long enough​ ​to reach the roof.

PRAGMATICS: THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE USE

What do these children still need to learn about using language?

a) A little boy comes in the front door.

Mother: Wipe your feet, please.

He removes his muddy shoes and socks and carefully wipes his clean feet on the

doormat.

6
 - The boy gives a literal meaning of the clause “​Wipe your feet”​ , so he needs to learn

about the meaning in context. He should wipe his shoes.

b) A father is trying to get his 3-year-old daughter to stop lifting up her dress to display

her new underwear to the assembled guests.

Father: We don't do that. II.

Daughter: I KNOW, Daddy. You don't WEAR dresses.

- The girl gives a literal meaning of the clause ​“We don't do that”, ​but she did not

understand that the father referred to her dress, giving emphasis that all girls never do

that.

(From J. S. Peccei Pragmatics, 1999)

Semantics and pragmatics are the two main areas of linguistic study that look at the
knowledge we use both to interpret meanings when we hear or read, and to generate
meanings when we speak or write. Within linguistics itself, the dividing line between these
two fields are still under considerable debate. However, generally speaking, semantics
concentrates on meaning that comes from purely linguistic knowledge, while pragmatics
focuses on those aspects of meaning that cannot be predicted from linguistic knowledge alone
and takes into account knowledge about the physical and social world, as well as shared
assumptions and beliefs. As you work through the following exercises, you should be able to
get a feel for some of the main topics pragmatics has traditionally been concerned with.

4.2. PRESUPPOSITION

Consider the following utterances:

(a) Tom stopped smoking:

(b) How long have you been selling drugs?

What is asserted in (a)?

It is asserted that Tom stopped smoking.

7
What is the main claim of the message?

The main claim of the message is the fact that ​speaker b​ is blaming ​speaker a​ for selling

drugs.

What is taken for granted or assumed to be shared knowledge?

It is assumed that ​speaker b ​thinks that ​speaker a​ sells drugs.

What's the point of the question in (b)?

The point of the question in ​b ​is to assume that ​speaker a​ has been selling drugs to Tom who

stopped smoking

What is it that the speaker wants to know?

The ​speaker b​ wants to know who sells drugs.

Activity 1

1. For each of the following utterances decide whether the accompanying inference

seems valid.

(a) Where did you leave the keys? You left the keys ​somewhere​.' (It is not valid since it is

obvious that he/she left the keys somewhere).

(b) Have you read this wonderful book? This book is ​wonderful.​' (it is valid because it is

assumed that the book is wonderful).

(c) Tom is driving Sue's car. Sue has a ​car​.' (it is valid because it is assumed that Sue has a

car).

(d) Stop complaining. ‘You are complaining.' (it is assumed that if someone tells me that I am

complaining is because I am doing so. That's why it is valid).

8
(e) Lucy knows that George doesn't love her. George doesn't love her. (in this case, it is not

valid since the fact that Lucy thinks that George doesn't love her doesn't do it true).

Now change​ did to didn't​ in (a):​ have to haven't i​ n (b); is to isn't in (c); ​stop to don't stop

in (d); and ​knows to doesn't know​ in (e). Do the inferences still hold?

- The inferences change since the meaning changes. In fact, if I change the question, the

inference makes sense.

Activity 2

In each of the following advertisement extracts, what claim or claims are being made by

presupposition rather than directly asserted?

a) What's the secret of ENRON's success? ​It is claimed that ENRON is successful

b) If we can make great athletic shoes in America, why can't our competition NEW

BALANCE is the only company that makes a full line of athletic shoes here

America." ​It is claimed that NEW BALANCE is the best company in America.

c) These are just a few of the reasons why more people rely on VISA around the world than

on all other cards combined. ​It is claimed that VISA is the only company that people rely on,

but it is based on a presupposition.

d) What makes this World Business class so special? Your own experience. ​It is claimed that

the experience makes the World Business class so special.

KLM

(Adapted from Berrone, M. (2008). A student's linguistics workbook (1st

ed., pp. 59 -62). Córdoba: Comunic-arte.)

Pragmatics

9
1) Define the following terms: Reference, (illocutionary) force and (perlocutionary)

effect.

- Reference: The reference of a word is the relation between the linguistic expression

and the entity in the real world to which it refers.

- Illocutionary force: The illocutionary force of an utterance is the speaker's intention in

producing that utterance.

- Perlocutionary effect: here, the intention is to persuade, impress or establish a sense of

common purpose or shared concern.

2) Why do people engage in a conversation subscribe to a kind of contract? What is the

name given to this contract in Pragmatics?

With speech acts, people are again concerned with relationships, but this time not those

which are internal to the language itself, but those between aspects of the language and

aspects of the external circumstances in which it is used on a particular occasion.

3) Explain very briefly the terms: Turn-taking and adjacency pair.

In linguistics, an adjacency pair is an example of conversational turn-taking. An adjacency

pair is composed of two utterances by two speakers, one after the other. The speaking of the

first utterance (the first-pair part, or the first turn) provokes a responding utterance (the

second-pair part, or the second turn).

10