Extensio de Niassa Semantics and Discourse Analysis Reading Notes — II Unity — Il: Sentence, Utterance and Proposition, > Sentence > Usterances > Propositions 4m this unit, some basic notions in semantics are introduced to you and itis important that you master them because right from now they will keep on recurring all along the subject. 1. Utterance An utterance is any stretch of talk, by a person, before and after which there is silence on the part of the Person. An utterance is the use by a particular speaker, on a particular occasion, of a piece of a language such as a sequence of sentences or a single phrase, or even a single word. Exercise: Decide whether the following could represent utterances: 1. “Hallo” ; 2. “Djamanii..!"; 3. “Pxgtchongtngdt” 4. “Xikhandamoya”’ Utterances are physical events. Events are ephemeral. Utterances vanish on the wind. Linguistics deals With spoken language and we'll have a lot to discuss about utterances. Now, let us concentrate our attention on another concept, that of sentence. U.Sentence A sentence is neither a physical event nor a physical object, It is an abstract entity conceived in our minds, mainly formed by complete strings of words put together through grammatical rules, realized either in utterances or inscriptions, expressing a complete thought.Exercise: + Does it make seise to talk of time and place of a sentence? Does it make sense to talk of time and place of an utterance? 3. Can one talk of loud sentence? 4. Can one talk of slow utterance? From the two definitions presented above, we can conclude that utterances, other than sentences, can be found in a particular accent, ie, in a particular way of pronouncing words. This description cannot be ‘plicable fo sentences because sentences are absttact entities only associated with phonetic characteristics, through speaker’s act of uttering them. Accent and not to sentences. such as accent and voice quality, voice quality belong strictly o utterances, Back to the definition of sentence, it is important to emphasize that, in normal conversations, people do not always produce utterances from complete strings of words, ie, from complete and well formed non- sentences. People may also communicate through utterances of and short phrases, and express a complete thought determined by sentences, such as single words the context of the dialogue. The single words and short phrases in such contexts are considered to be abbreviations of complete Sentences, as illustrated below: A B Hostess: ‘Would you lke tea or coffee?” Teacher: Who was the first president of Mozambique? Guest: “Coffee please” Student: “Samora Moises Macher Semantics is concerned with both the meaning of non-sentences (Ohrases and single words) and the meaning of whole sentence, itis convenient to start focusing the analysis on ‘on of proposition which is the heart of Semantics. But at this point in time, the meaning of whole sentence and introduce the noti ML. Proposition Proposition is that part of meaning of an utterance of a declarative sentence that describes some states Of affairs (i.e. a situation; present circumstances or conditions), The state of affairs Normally involves a Person or things referred to by expressions in the sentences, In uttering a declaratiy ‘spically asserts (assume the truth or believe in) a proy Position. The notion of truth Whether two sentences express different propositions, Thus, if there is © sentence, a speaker an be used to decide ANY conceivable set ofcircumstances in which one sentences is true, while the other is false, we can be sure that they express different propositions. Exercise: Analyze the following pairs of sentences. In each case, say whether there are any circumstances of which one i member of the pair is true and the other is false, assuming that the same name, e.g. Anita, refers to the same person. 1. a) Anita gave out the pencils to the pupils b) Anita gave the pencils out to the pupils 2. a) John looked up the street, b) John looked the street up 3. a) Mary gave Paul a book ») Paul was given a book by Mary 4. a) Frank loves Brigida b) Brigida loves Frank ‘True propositions correspond to facts, in the ordinary sense of the word fact. False propositions do not correspond to facts. Exercises: In the present ~ day world: LI a fact that there are lions in Africa? 2. Is the proposition that there are lions in Africa a true proposi 3. Isita fact that there is gas in Palma? 4. Isthe proposition that there are no living beings in Sahara desert a true proposition? One can entertain propositions inthe mind, regardless whether they are true ot false, e.g. by thinking them or believing in them. But only true propositions can be known, Exercises: |. IfJohn wonders whether Alice is deceiving him, would it seem reasonable to say that he as the proposition that Alice is deceiving him, in his mind, and he isnot sure whether itis roe 6s false proposition? Why?2. If say to you “Was your father in the Navy?”, would it seem reasonable to say that I have the proposition that your father was in the Navy in mind, and I wish to know whether this proposition is true or not? Why’? In our definition of proposition, we explicitly mentioned declarative sentences. However, propositions are clearly involved in the meanings of other types of sentences, such as interrogatives and imperatives. Normally, when a speaker utters a declarative sentence, he commits himself to the truth of the corresponding proposition, i.e. he asserts the proposition, By uttering a simple interrogative or imperative sentence, a speaker can mention a particular proposition, without asserting its truth, For example, in saying “John can go”, a speaker asserts the proposition that John can go. In saying “Can John go?”, he mentions the same proposition, but simply questions its truth. In such circumstances, we say that corresponding declaratives, interrogatives and imperatives sentences have the same propositional content. Exercises: 1. In the following utterances, is any proposition asserted by the speaker? a) “Have you seen my toothbrush?” b) “Get out of here this minute” c) “lam afraid that I’ll have to ask you to leave” 2. Fill in the chart below with (+) and (-) as appropriate. Utterances Sentences: Propositions Can be loud Can be grammatical or not Can be true or false Can be in a | regional accent Can be in a particular language.Propositions, unlike sentences, cannot be said to belong to any particular language. Sentences in different languages can correspond to the same proposition if they are perfect translations of each other. A proposition is an abstraction that can be grasped by the mind of an individual person. In this sense, a proposition is an object of thought. Do not equate propositions with thoughts because thoughts are usually held to be private, personal, mental processes, whereas propositions are public in the sense that the same proposition is accessible to different to different people. Furthermore, a proposition is not a process, whereas a thought can be seen as a process going on in an individual’s mind. Unfortunately, of course, the word thought may sometimes be used loosely in way which includes the notion of a proposition. For instance, one may say “The same thought came into both our heads at the same time.” In this case, the word thought is being used in a sense quite like that of the word proposition. The relationship between mental processes (thoughts); abstract semantic entities (propositions); linguistic entities (sentences) and actions (utterances) is problematic and complicated, Entertaining with proverbs: a. “Politics in Mozambique is like a pan. You should eat too much and fast because the spoon is unique and the food can finish any time” (Mia Couto, 2015) b. “Nao sou parafuso, mas vivo apertado” c. “All most every negative criticism has ego problems” 4. “Disability does not mean inability” fe. “Ifyou want to go quick, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” £ “A single bracelet does not jingle” g. “Make some money but don’t let money make you” h. “Money is shaper than the sword” i, “Ugliness with a good characteris better than beauty” “0 hébito nfio faz 0 monge” k. “It is much easier to fll in love than to stay in love”lo “Love never gets lost, it’s only kept” “One thread for the needle, one love for the heart” “Love has to be shown by deeds, not words” . “True love is not a feeling, but a decision” . “Patience can cook a stone”