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SEMANTICS
Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh
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Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh

Unit 5: Predicates
• The predicator of a simple declarative sentence is the word (sometimes a
group of words) which does not belong to any of the referring expressions
and which, of the remainder, makes the most specific contribution to the
meaning of the sentence.
• Predicators can be of different parts of speech, and despite their syntactic
differences they all function the same way semantically. However,
conjunctions and articles can never be predicators.
• In a simple declarative sentence, there are two basic semantic roles:
predicator and argument.
▫ Sara ate the apple

argument predicator argument

▫ The verb ‘eat’ is a two degree predicate

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Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh

Unit 5: Predicates
• The semantic analysis of a sentence into predicator and arguments does not
always correspond to the traditional grammatical analysis of predicate and
subject.
• Predicate and predicator are terms of different sorts. Predicate identifies
elements in the language system regardless of a certain sentence, but
predicator identifies the semantic role played by a word or group of words
in a specific given sample sentence.
• The degree of a predicate is a number indicating the number of arguments
it is normally understood to have in simple sentences.
• There are predicates of one degree (one-place predicate) of two degrees
(two-place predicate) and predicates of three degrees (three-place
predicate)
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Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh

Unit 5: Predicates
• The majority of adjectives are one-place predicates.
• Prepositions are two-degree predicates.
• Most nouns are one-place predicates
• In English, the verb 'be' may either be used as an identity predicate or
simply just a grammatical device to link the predicate (that is not a verb) to
its first argument. It could also be used as a device to carry tense.
• The verb ‘be’ functions as an identity predicate in equative sentences.
▫ That man is my father (‘is’ functions as an identity predicate)
▫ The book is red ( ‘is’ does not function semantically, but grammaticaly)
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Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh

Unit 6: Predicates, referring

expressions, and universe of discourse
• Proper names always function as referring expressions and never as
predicates, no matter what the context.
• Verbs and prepositions are always predicates and never function as
referring expressions no matter what the context.
• Some words and phrases (mainly indefinite noun phrases) can function as
both predicate and referring expression.
▫ That woman is a nurse (‘nurse’ here is a predicate)
▫ I saw a nurse (‘nurse’ here is a referring expression)
• Predicates never refer, but they can be used to identify the referent of a
referring expression when embedded in a referring expression.
• A generic sentence is a sentence in which some statement is made about a
whole unrestricted class of individuals, as opposed to any particular
individual. A generic sentence may contain a, the, or neither.
▫ The whale is a mammal (generic sentence)
▫ That whale is a mammal (not a generic sentence)
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Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh

Unit 6: Predicates, referring

expressions, and universe of discourse
• We define the universe of discourse for any utterance as the particular
world, real or imaginary (or part real and part imaginary), that the speaker
assumes he is talking about at the time.
• When two people are arguing at cross purposes they could be said to be
working within partially different universes of discourse.
• Assuming the same universe of discourse is essential to successful
communication.