SEMÁNTICA DE LA LENGUA

INGLESA

Aitana Fernández Sáenz

3º Estudios Ingleses, 2022/23

Aitana Fernández, 2022/23 Semántica de la lengua inglesa

UNIT 0: INTRODUCTION

WHERE DOES MEANING COME FROM?

1. OUR BODY / MIND

We create meaning with our own resources, that is, our body. We could also say that we build meaning

from our corporeal experiences. We would conclude that the meaning of words is, indeed, not in words

themselves, but in our minds.

2. SYNTAX

Some meanings emerge from syntax, and not from every single word on their own. The way in which a

sentence is organized, and the whole collection of words that create a sentence, is what gives us meaning.

This is known as constructional meaning.

3. SHARED WORLD / CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

It would be impossible to understand if there is no common knowledge of the world between the

speaker and the listener in a conversation. In this way, that cultural information is what gives us the

meaning of a word or sentence.

4. CONTEXT

The majority of the time, the meaning of a word or the meaning of a sentence is given by the context.

For example, deixis, that is, words that change meaning depending on the context, points of view,

different perspectives… This is also the case of polysemy and ambiguity: we need the context to get the

meaning.

5. PHONEMES

Sometimes phonemes and sounds imply meaning. This is called sound symbolism, and we have

examples of this phenomenon in pairs of words like “sit” and “shit”: the only difference (apart from the

spelling) between these two words is one sound, but this sound completely changes their meaning.

6. FORMS / SHAPES

Some other times, although not so frequently, meaning is given by forms or shapes.

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UNIT 1: SEMANTICS. DEFINITION & CONNECTIONS WITH OTHER LINGUISTIC DISCIPLINES

SEMANTICS: BASIC NOTIONS

THE MEANING OF MEANING

Ogden and Richard, in their work The meaning of meaning, from 1923, offered 22 different de nitions

for the verb “mean”. In this piece of writing, they also said that the goal of semantics is to clarify the

meaning of words so that no misunderstanding takes place.

THE NATURALIST V.S. THE CONVENTIONALIST VIEWS OF MEANING

Before Ogden and Richard, the nature of meaning had been a subject of interest already for the Greek

philosophers Plato and Aristotle. From their thoughts, two main views emerged:

a. PLATO: he had a naturalist view of meaning. This means that he believed there exists a natural,

intrinsic or intuitive relation between the sound and the sense of a word. If this view were valid, we

would be able to tell the meaning of words (mostly onomatopoeic) just by hearing them.

b. ARISTOTLE: he had a conventionalist view of meaning. For Aristotle, there was a purely

arbitrary connection between the sound and form of a word and its meaning. This idea does not

explain aspects such as the speaker’s meaning, indirect meanings, hyperboles, sarcasm, etc.

MEANING AS REFERENCE TO OBJECTS IN THE WORLD

Words name and refer to things in the world, that is, we can say that meaning is reference. This view

stems from Plato, and his work Cratylus. This view of meaning works well with verbs, adjectives, proper

names and concrete nouns. However, there are many words which do not have a referent in the world, for

example, function words, conjunctions, prepositions, abstracts words, etc. In fact, most words seem unable

to relate to things in any clear way.

To overcome the weakness of a referential account of meaning, Ogden and Richards put forward the

notion of “semiotic triangle”.

OGDEN AND RICHARD’S SEMIOTIC TRIANGLE

ABSTRACT CONCEPTS Meaning is located here

Words, icons,
SIGNS REAL WORLD OBJECTS
sounds

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• MAIN ADVANTAGES:
1. It allows us to account for abstract notions which do not have a referent in the real world

(“love” or other abstract nouns, function words, etc.).

2. It explains our ability to speak and think about objects which are not present at the moment

of speaking.

• MAIN DISADVANTAGES:
1. How do we de ne a concept? Is it a visual image, a mental image, a prototype, a set of

abstract features…?

2. The concepts different people have of an object or entity may not coincide.

SEMANTICS AND SEMIOTICS: PIERCE’S NOTIONS OF “ICON”, “INDEX” AND “SYMBOL"

In 1914, Saussure pointed out that semantics is also a branch of semiotics because semiotics studies

every kind of sign, and semantics focuses on linguistic signs.

Some important de nitions:

• semiotics: it is the general study of sign systems.

• signs: they are a pairing of a form and a meaning. Linguistic signs are the most sophisticated
example of the human use of signs. These signs are broken into:

(i) signi ed: the concept that a signi er refers to

(ii) signi er: the physical forms of a sign, such as sound, word or image that create

communication. Here is where we nd the icons, the symbols and the indexes.

Pierce, who was one of Saussure’s disciples, made a useful distinction between 3 different types of

signs: icons, indexes and symbols. To distinguish between them it must be taken into account the

relationship between the form and the meaning.

(a) icons: there exists a relationship of similarity between the form of a sign and its meaning (for

example, onomatopoeia, traf c signs, portraits, photographs…)

(b) indexes: there is a causal relationship between the form of a sign and its meaning. This means

that the signi er cannot exist without the physical presence of the signi ed (smoke as an index of

re: there is a cause-effect relationship)

(c) symbols: the relationship between the form of a sign and its meaning is conventional or

arbitrary. This is the case of words. They are the opposite of icons.

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THE SCIENCE OF SEMANTICS: SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY, CONTEXTUALISM AND MENTALISM

First, we are going to establish some differences between these terms:

1) linguist: they study the language with the purpose of understanding why we are capable of

understanding the language. They also study the structure of particular languages (apart from

them as a human ability).

2) polyglot: a polyglot is somebody who speaks many languages.

3) philologist: the work of a philologist is to learn a language, its structure, which involves how it

is structured, the morphology, syntax… they also learn about the literature, culture and history of

that language.

Semantics make use of the scienti c method, which is a unique one. It has been argued that semantics

is not scienti c because its object of inquiry, which is meaning, is not directly observable, that is, we

cannot see meaning, but the same applies to other scienti c aspects like black holes (which have to do

with mathematics). In the same way as science does, semantics can make predictions about the nature of

meaning, and as long as the methods used to formulate and test these predictions are scienti c, then

semantics can be said to be a science.

The scienti c method is an inductive-deductive method. This is the method used in all sciences (maths,

astronomy, chemistry, etc). There are some steps to follow:

1. Study previous theories and determine an area that needs further investigation, or a

problem that needs solving.

2. Make a hypothesis based on intuition (your own thoughts and beliefs).

3. Look for evidence to proof your hypothesis in observable data.

Semantics has not always made use of the inductive-deductive method. It has only recently started to

be used in semantics (from 1950 onwards). Before that, there were two opposed methodological trends:

1. CONTEXTUALISM

This trend was developed between 1920 and 1930. At this time, semantics showed a tendency towards

the use of an inductive methodology. According to this tendency, concepts are mental entities, they are in

our minds and they are not observable. Semantics should study “meaning in use”, only real examples of

language use, that is, what words mean when used by a speaker.

• ADVANTAGES:
1. The study of real examples of language in real context has several advantages since

context helps to determine the meaning of expressions in at least three different ways.

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• DISADVANTAGES:
1. One can look at 1000 examples and may not nd the phenomenon one is looking for.

2. Language is constantly changing. If all we can see about language is based on real existing

examples, then, we won’t be able to predict anything about the future evolution of a language.

2. MENTALISM

This trend was developed between 1950 and 1970, and it was an opposed tendency in linguistic

studies towards the use of deductive methods. The data or examples we need to study language can be

supplied by our own native speaker’s intuition. Mentalists had also been known as armchair linguists, as

they were on a sofa thinking about how language works. Our knowledge of a language (that is, our

linguistic competence) allows to invent examples of sentences which we can use as data for our study of

language.

This tendency, however, presents some problems:

A. The study of language based on intuition is highly subjective. One can lie about one’s intuitions

and no one can check their veracity.

B. This deductive method is not very appropriate, unless some mechanisms are established in

order to control the validity of the linguist’s intuitions.

C. One way of doing so would be to look at real examples of language in use and see if they

con rm or refute the linguist’s intuitions.

CONCLUSION: We can conclude that the use of a mixed inductive-deductive method helps to

overcome the weaknesses of each of them when used in isolation.

TYPES OF LINGUISTIC MEANING

DENOTATION OR EXTENSIONAL V.S. SENSE OR CONCEPTUAL / INTENSIONAL MEANING

This distinction is related to the semiotic triangle of Ogden and Richard.

• denotation: the relations between signs and real-world objects; it is a synonym of extensional.

• sense or conceptual / intensional: abstract objects; sense is the same as conceptual and the
same as intentional (dictionary meaning).

The principal problem is to explain intensional meaning:

Meaning is de ned as an abstract notion, but… what is an abstract notion? We need to take a look

at the theory of prototypes:

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• THEORY OF PROTOTYPES: it was proposed by Rosch in the 70s, and it says that, when de ning an
abstract concept, we have to look at its prototype, the best example of a category. For example,

when looking at the prototype of chair, we have:

- Mental images

- Semantic features: four legs, back board, sitting board

PROTOTYPE
(de nes the core
PERIPHERAL
meaning of a
concept)
With more similarities, we
are nearer to the
prototype

ASSOCIATIVE MEANING: CONNOTATIVE, SOCIAL, AFFECTIVE, REFLECTED & COLLOCATIVE

Associative meaning is everything that is not a core meaning. For example:

Core meaning: literally the image of a dog

DOG
Associative meaning: faithful, friendly

There are different types of associative meaning:

1. CONNOTATIVE MEANING

Everything that a word evokes and which is not part of its conceptual/intensional meaning.

Characteristics:

i. UNSTABLE: it varies according to the culture, historical period, individual perception.

ii. OPEN-ENDED: different shades of connotative meaning can be added to a word along

time (v.s. conceptual meaning, which can be described in terms of a limited set of features).

2. SOCIAL MEANING

Those aspects of meaning of a word which convey information about social facts / circumstances, such

as the geographical origin of the speaker, social origin, social relationship between speakers, social status

of the speakers.

- “Give me a cookie / biscuit” it gives us information about from where the speakers

are: “cookie” is from the USA and “biscuit” from the UK.

- “What’s up?” it gives us information about the age of the speakers and their social

power.

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3. AFFECTIVE MEANING

Those aspects of the meaning of a word which re ected the personal feelings of the speaker, his

attitude towards the listener or to something he is speaking about.

- “Bravo!”, “Alas!”, “Honey!”

4. REFLECTED MEANING

Arises in those cases in which a word is polysemous and although it is used with a certain sense, one of

its other senses is also activated.

- “Fuck you!”, “Shit!”

5. COLLOCATIVE MEANING

The meaning that a word acquires from the meaning of the words which tend to occur in its

environment.

- “High / tall”

SENTENCE MEANING

The meaning that arises from the way a speaker organizes the message, in terms of order, focus and

emphasis. It is a matter of a choice between alternative grammatical constructions. This is the case of the

active / passive alternation:

• Mrs Smith donated the rst prize (emphasis on action)

• The rst prize was donated by Mrs Smith (emphasis on agent)

different meaning
• Every American owns two cars (any kind of car) depending on the way
we organize the words in
• Two cars are owned by every American (2 speci c cars) a sentence

• ¿Qué quieres? Estoy haciendo la compra

• Estoy haciendo la compra, ¿qué quieres?

PRAGMATIC AND DISCOURSE MEANING

The meaning that arises from the context of a message, from the use of language in a concrete, real

situation. Context is not an easy concept, and there are different types of context:

1. LINGUISTIC CONTEXT - COTEXT: the chunks of discourse or language that precede or follow the

phrase or sentence to be interpreted. (I’m so lucky to have you. I love you the most out of all the girls

in the world / who love me back).

2. SITUATIONAL OR PHYSICAL CONTEXT: all the physical, material, social, non-linguistic information

in the environment of the speakers. (Pass me the newspaper: is there a newspaper? You pass it, or you

say that there is no newspaper).

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3. CULTURAL CONTEXT / BACKGROUND OR WORLD KNOWLEDGE: includes all related information

that speakers may have about a particular topic and which they have stored in their long-termed

memory. (The rst time one of them sneezes, cut the rope: bird u, Noe’s arch) (I don’t understand it,

she reundefriend me / I don’t understand it either)

LITERAL V.S. NON-LITERAL / FIGURATIVE MEANING

gurative meaning: or non-literal meaning is the one that arises when we use one word with a

meaning different from its literal sense.

- “He is a tiger” metaphor

- “Walls have ears” personi cation (type of metaphor)

- “It’s rather hot today, huh?” (In a freezing cold day) irony

- “This suitcase weights tons” hyperbole based on a metaphor

How to identify gurative language (simile, metaphor, personi cation, hyperbole, understatement…):

Is it a comparison between two things?

YES NO

Does it use “like” or “as”? Are they exaggerating too much or too little?

YES NO YES NO

Object or idea doing

SIMILE METAPHOR Much Little
human things
HYPERBOLE UNDERSTATEMENT
YES NO

PERSONIFICATION

Traditionally, gurative language was considered a deviation (an anomaly) from the norm, implying a

negative connotation. It was a characteristic only of poetic uses of language / rhetorical language.

Nowadays, Cognitive Linguistics has highlighted the relevance of gurative meanings in everyday life

language. Apart from the poetic function, it has a conceptual function (which is, in fact, the most important

function it has). This tropes ( gures) allow us to understand abstract concepts and talk about them, they

are not only used to embellish.

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SYNTAX, SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS

FIRST THINGS FIRST: SYNTAX OR SEMANTICS OR PRAGMATICS

1. EVIDENCE FROM LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

• What do children learn rst? Semantic or syntactic aspects of language?

• What is the meaning of the word “dog” for a 2 years-old child?

• Would the 2 years-old child identify as dogs, animals as diverse as huskies, sausage dogs,
Dalmatians, etc.?

• What if he sees a wolf? Would he include it in the category of “dogs”?

CONCLUSION: semantics always comes rst. The acquisition of words cannot be carried out in the

absence of contextual information. Semantics and Pragmatics go hand in hand. It is not possible to learn

and speak a language correctly in the absence of pragmatic information derived from the context and

from our knowledge of the world.

2. EVIDENCE FROM LANGUAGE PRODUCTION

Lexical and syntactic choices are determined by contextual and social factors like social power, the

degree of formality of the situation, the social distance between the speakers, and even the object of the

request.

First, the speaker decides the context of the message (semantics). Second, the speaker adapts the

message to the particular context in which they nd themselves (pragmatics). Third, the speaker makes

use of phonological, intonational, morphological, lexical and syntactic resources in order to express his

message.

SEMANTICS V.S. SYNTAX

Syntax is semantically and pragmatically motivated. The form of a sentence is determined by the

meaning we want to convey (semantics) and by the context in which we nd ourselves (pragmatics).

SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS

There exists a problem of delimitation, which is the complementarist view of radical pragmatic. The

most promising de nitions of pragmatic are the de nitions that equate pragmatics with meaning minus

semantics, or with a theory of language understanding that takes context into account, in order to

complement the contribution that semantics makes to meaning. In conclusion, pragmatics happen when

you quit semantics out of the equation.

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UNIT 2: CONNECTIONS WITH OTHER NON-LINGUISTIC DISCIPLINES

SEMANTICS, ETHNOGRAPHY AND SOCIOLOGY

THE NATURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY

This is well explained with the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis:

1. SAPIR (1929:207)

Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as

ordinary understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the

medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality

essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving

speci c problems of communication or re ection. The fact of the matter is that the “real world” is to a

large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group… We see and hear, and

otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose

certain choices of interpretation.

2. WHORF (IN CARROL, 1956: 212-214)

(…) the background linguistic system (in other words, the grammar) of each language is not merely a

reproducing instrument for voicing ideas, but rather it is itself the shaper of ideas, the program and guide

for the individual’s mental activity, for his analysis or impressions, for his synthesis of his mental stock in

trade. Formulation of ideas is not an independent process, strictly rational in the old sense, but is part of a

particular grammar, and differs, from slightly to greatly, between different grammars. We dissect nature

along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types that we isolate from the world of

phenomena we do not nd there because they stare every observer in the face; on the contrary, the world

is presented in a kaleidoscopic ux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds – and this

means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds.

SOCIOLINGUISTICS VS SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE VS ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION

• sociolinguistics: it studies the relationship between language and society with the goal of
getting a better understanding of language. It studies how social factors such as social class, power,

age, etc. in uence the use of language.

• sociology of language: it studies the relationship between language and society with the goal of
achieving a better understanding of society. For example, how language may help to establish and

maintain social relations.

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• ethnography of communication: it is considered by some a sub eld of sociolinguistics, and it

studies language in relation to different cultures.

THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION

The Ethnography of Communication has its origin in anthropology, both from American tradition

(Boas) and the British tradition (Malinowski); and it is considered the origin of functionalism. It studies

language in relation to different cultural communities. Because of this, it is important to de ne the notion

of “Speech Community”. Hudson de ned it as a group of people that share the same language, but what

happens, for example, if we have more than one dialect inside the same language as in the case of

Basque? Alternatively, Labov de ned it as a group of people who share the same attitudes and values

regarding language form and use; they should also have a shred view of the world. Depending on how

important language is in the de nition of a community, we may nd a distinction between hard-shelled

and soft-shelled communities:

• hard-shelled communities: the language of the community prevents interaction with members
of the speech communities.

• soft-shelled communities: the language of the community facilitates interaction with members
of the speech communities.

The Ethnography of Communication studies what language is used for in different cultures. Moving on

with communicative functions, Hymes (1961) created a classi cation of them depending on the use we

give to language: expressive, directive, phatic, poetic, referential and metalinguistic.

Two other important concepts are “linguistic competence” and “communicative competence”:

• linguistic competence: it refers to the knowledge a speaker has of their own language.

• communicative competence: it is the knowledge speakers need in order to communicate

correctly in a particular speech community. For example, the knowledge of who may or may not

speak in certain settings, when to speak or remain silent, how to speak to people of different status

and routines for turn-taking.

The problem with Chomsky’s concept is that it was created after a study of language in isolation.

Because he excluded communicative contents, we would only be able to use our language by ourselves,

never with others.

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SEMANTICS AND PSYCHOLOGY

MEANING = KNOWLEDGE

Psychology studies human thought, the human ability to think, reason and understand. One essential

object of study in psychology is knowledge. Knowledge is, therefore, one issue of common interest to

both semantics and psychology. Both sciences are interested in describing knowledge and in explaining

how knowledge is acquired and stored in our minds.

Semantics is in debt with psychology, because the latter discipline is older than the former.

DECLARATIVE VS. PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE

• DECLARATIVE LANGUAGE: it is de ned as the factual (fact = event) information stored in

memory. It is the part of knowledge which describes how things are. It can also be named “know-

what” knowledge.

• PROCEDURAL LANGUAGE: it is the knowledge of how to perform or how to operate. It is also

called “know-how” knowledge. It is very dif cult to put into words (for example, although you can

write or read a description on how to draw a circle, you need to practice to actually learn).

MODELS FOR THE REPRESENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE

1. CLUSTERING MODELS (Bower, 1969)

Words that refer to entities which are alike should be grouped together. For example: animals - dog,

cat, camel; vehicles - train, plane, car. The clusters of related concepts may form hierarchies. The

disadvantage of this model is that we only have “labels” or categories, but we lack the information about

those entities.

VEHICLES

Car Bike Motorcycle

Bus Truck

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2. SET-THEORETICAL MODEL (Meyer, 1970)

Concepts are represented in our minds as sets of attributes (collections of information). For example,

birds are animated, feathered, etc. This is information we also need to store, apart from just concepts.

Some of that information are types, for example, regarding birds: robin, canary, etc.

3. SEMANTIC-FEATURE COMPARISON MODEL (Smith, Shobben, Rips, 1974)

Concepts are stored in our minds as sets of attributes, but two types of attributes are distinguished:

- de ning: what make something what it is.

- characterizing: they help distinguish categories.

For example, in the case of a robin, de ning attributes would be that it has wings, that it ies.

Characterising attributes would be that it has a red breast.

4. NETWORK MODELS (Collins & Quillian, 1969)

Each concept is represented in relation to other concepts in memory. All concepts are interrelated. It is

a more economical model, since general features are inherited and they do not need to be listed for each

concept.

LIMITATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MODELS OF KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION

None of the models described above deal with:

• PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE: it deals with the interaction between entities. For example, the
fact that birds eat worms, live in cages and are pets.

• NARRATIVE KNOWLEDGE: it deals with the dynamic nature or chronological order of events. For
example, butter y eggs are laid on the leaves of plants. When the egg hatches, a caterpillar is born.

Caterpillars grow into butter ies.

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SEMANTICS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

IS SEMANTICS A NECESSARY COMPONENT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

• ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: it a relatively new discipline (1956), whose goal is to develop

computers which are able to replicate human thought and reasoning. Psychology, semantics and

arti cial intelligence have something in common: they have the same interest, but with different

purposes. While psychology focuses on knowledge, which is thought and reason, arti cial

intelligence tries to replicate the brain, and semantics focuses on meaning, which is a part of

knowledge. It is therefore essential for AI to know how human reasoning works: how we acquire,

store and use.

1. TURING’S TEST

The … problem can be described in terms of a game which we call the “imitation game”. It is played

with three people, a man (A), a woman (B), and an interrogator (C) who may be of either sex. The

interrogator stays in a room apart from other two. The object of the game for the interrogator is to

determine which of the other two is the man and which is the woman. He knows them by labels X and Y,

and at the end of the game he says either “X is A and Y is B” or “X is B and Y is A”. The interrogator is

allowed to put questions to A and B (…). In order that tones of voice may not help the interrogator the

answers should be written, or, better still, typewritten. The ideal arrangement is to have a teleprinter

communicating between the two rooms. (…) We now ask the question, “What will happen when a

machine takes part of A in this games?” Will the interrogator decide wrongly as often when the game is

played like this as he does when the game is played between a man and a woman? These questions

replace our original, “Can machines think?”. (Turing, 1950: 434)

2. SEARLE’S CHINESE ROOM TEST

Searle imagines himself in a room with boxes of Chinese characters he cannot understand and a book

of instructions which he can. If a Chinese speaker outside the room passes him messages under the door,

Searle can follow instructions from the book to select an appropriate response. He is not understanding

what he receives, nor what he sends, because he just identi es the signs on his book, and behind there is

a possible response to what the Chinese speaker has sent him.

CONCLUSION: machines lack intention, and wee need semantics to be able to apply this knowledge.

SEMANTICS LIMITATIONS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

What Arti cial Intelligence is not considering in terms of meaning: contextual understanding, gurative

expressions and world knowledge.

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INFLUENCE OF AI UPON LINGUISTIC SEMANTICS

• FRAME: an assemblage of the knowledge we have about a certain notion. Words cannot be fully
de ned in the absence of a frame. Monday, frame is week; bank, frame can be money or park.

• SCRIPT / SCENARIO: assemblage of knowledge that we have about the sequential order of
events that are involved in a particular event. As if it were a dynamic frame. It helps us understand

what is not written. For example, a restaurant script.

These are models of knowledge organisation. George Lackoff was one of the rst linguistics who

realized how important these models are.

A frame is not a context. While contexts are in nite, frames are limited in number. Frames affect the way

we see, understand and react to the world (they are used in politics and marketing to direct people’s

thought to a certain point). It helps to draw attention to what is presented. Frames can be achieved by

association, comparison, inversion of information, reframing of the reference point, etc.

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