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    Homework - Day 1

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    duyenle08111983
    The document discusses basic ideas in semantics including the mental labor required, conceptual analysis using examples, and taking a critical approach to ideas presented. It introduces key terms like semantics, sentence meaning, speaker meaning, and components of language. The study guide tests understanding of these concepts and asks students to define terms, distinguish between sentence and speaker meaning, and consider what aspects of meaning are involved in examples.

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    Homework - Day 1

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    duyenle08111983
    17 views2 pages
    The document discusses basic ideas in semantics including the mental labor required, conceptual analysis using examples, and taking a critical approach to ideas presented. It introduces key terms like semantics, sentence meaning, speaker meaning, and components of language. The study guide tests understanding of these concepts and asks students to define terms, distinguish between sentence and speaker meaning, and consider what aspects of meaning are involved in examples.

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    Homework - day 1

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    The document discusses basic ideas in semantics including the mental labor required, conceptual analysis using examples, and taking a critical approach to ideas presented. It introduces key terms like semantics, sentence meaning, speaker meaning, and components of language. The study guide tests understanding of these concepts and asks students to define terms, distinguish between sentence and speaker meaning, and consider what aspects of meaning are involved in examples.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    17 views2 pages

    Homework - Day 1

    Uploaded by

    duyenle08111983
    The document discusses basic ideas in semantics including the mental labor required, conceptual analysis using examples, and taking a critical approach to ideas presented. It introduces key terms like semantics, sentence meaning, speaker meaning, and components of language. The study guide tests understanding of these concepts and asks students to define terms, distinguish between sentence and speaker meaning, and consider what aspects of meaning are involved in examples.

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    You are on page 1of 2

    PART ONE Basic ideas in semantics

    efforts.) Correspondingly, however, the mental labour, as with any theoretical


    discipline, can be quite arduous. The semanticist needs to be able to think in
    abstractions. Doing semantics is largely a matter of conceptual analysis,
    exploring the nature of meaning in a careful and thoughtful way, using a
    wide range of examples, many of which we can draw from our own
    knowledge.
    One thing we would recommend, as you proceed through this book, is that
    you take a positively critical attitude to the ideas being put forward. If you
    disagree with the ‘feedback’ to some exercises, try to work out why, and
    discuss the problem with your instructors and fellow students. Semantics is
    not cut-and-dried in its final state. You can contribute to its development by
    active discussion of the ideas in this book, many of which may be as
    imperfect as Hecataeus’ map.
    Bon voyage!

    Unit 1 Study Guide and Exercises


    Directions After you have read Unit 1 you should be able to tackle the following
    questions to test your understanding of the main ideas raised in the unit.
    1 You should understand these terms and concepts from this unit:
    semantics linguistics
    sentence (word) meaning language
    speaker meaning components of language
    native speaker (informant) theory of semantics
    ‘knowing’ the meaning(s) of a word
    2 Try to paraphrase (restate in your own words) each of the following uses of
    the word mean as it is employed in the sentences below. Which sentences
    are more reflective of speaker meaning and which are more reflective of
    sentence meaning? Briefly explain.
    a I mean to be there tomorrow
    b A stalling car may mean a tune-up
    c Calligraphy means beautiful handwriting
    d It wasn’t what he said but what he meant
    e What does the German word Hund mean?
    f Those clouds mean rain
    3 Look up the words mean and meaning in any handy collegiate dictionary
    and find out how many senses of the words are listed there. What sense(s)
    of mean seem(s) to correspond most closely to the sense(s) that the text is
    concerned with?
    4 What is meant by a theory of semantics? Try to explain this briefly in your
    own words.

    14
    U NIT 1 About semantics

    5 Which of the following items appear to illustrate sentence meaning and


    which illustrate speaker meaning in the way these concepts were introduced
    in this unit? Be able to explain your choice.
    a A bachelor is an unmarried man
    b A red light means ‘stop’
    c A fine product THEY put out! (THEY is strongly emphasized)
    d The sentences in the following pair appear to be opposite in meaning:
    1) The bear killed the man
    2) The man killed the bear
    e My feet are killing me
    6 Is meaningfulness synonymous with informativeness? Explain in your own
    words and supply an illustration.
    7 A semantic theory should account for items like the following, which we
    will study in the following units. Can you guess now what aspect of
    meaning is involved in each example?
    a The President of the United States is the Commander-in-Chief
    b She can’t bear children
    c You’re sitting in the apple-juice seat
    d How long did John stay in New York?
    e A tulip is a flower
    f John’s present wife is unmarried
    g The car needs to be washed
    h If John killed Bill is true, then so is Bill is dead
    8 In this unit we claimed that semantics ‘concentrates on the similarities
    between languages, rather than on the differences’ (p. 11). Do you agree
    with this sort of focus? Does it seem too narrow? Why or why not?
    9 Explain in your own words the statement that ‘No theory . . . [including]
    semantic theory . . . is complete’ (p. 11).

    15

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