Chapter 6

Propositions
Utterances and Sentences
01. Multiple Incompatibility (Mai Tùng Vi)

02. Utterances and Utterance meaning  (Kiêm Hoàng Oanh)

03. Sentences  (Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Thanh) Agenda

04. Distinction between a sentence and an utterance  (Nguyễn Thị Minh Nguyệt)

05. Propositions (K’ Luân)

06. Distinction between a proposition and a sentence  (Triệu Thị Mai Hiền)
Distinction between a proposition, a sentence & an utterance 
- Synonymy:
+ Fast-quick
+ Permit-allow
- Antonymy
+ Close-open
+ Tall-short
What is the sense relationship between cat and
dog?
 01
Multiple Incompatibility
Mai Tùng Vi
Male and female between
them constitute the English
sex system.

True and false are the two

members of the truth system.

Other such systems can have three, or four or

any number of members.
 - What would you call the system of oppositions to which the words
Spring and Summer bothSeason
belong?
systerm
- Four member: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter
- Can you give me an example of seven member?
There are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday and Sunday
 The same, the systerm have 12 members is: the systerm of month such as
January, February,…
And four member systerm are quite common.
+ Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades (in a play card)
+ North, east, south, west
What these systems have in common is that
 
(a) All the terms in a given system are mutually incompatible

For example: a playing card cannot belong to both the hearts suit and the spades suit.

(b) Together, the members 'of a‘ system cover all the relevant area

For instance, a playing card cannot belong to both the hearts suit and the spades suit.
And besides hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades, there are no other suits.
 
Systems such as these are called systems of multiple incompatibility.
 
There are large numbers of open-ended systems of multiple incompatibility.
How many English color words (like red, grey) are there?
 
Pink, orange, purple and so on

The ANIMAL system: pig, dog, cat,…

 
The FLOWER system: rose, tulip,…
 
The FURNITURE system: table, bed,…
 
The VEHICLE system: car, bus, vans,…
Exercise:
Classify the following pairs as, Multiple incompatibles, Binary/
Relational / Gradable antonyms

cat – dog M pass – fail B

easy – difficult G pansy-primrose M

good – bad G import – export R

gold – silver M
better than – worse than R
M
deciduous – evergreen B North - East
 02
UTTERANCES AND
UTTERANCES MEANING
Kiêm Hoàng Oanh
 Utterances
Definition
An utterance is the use by a particular speaker, on a particular
occasion, for a particular purpose, of a piece of language, such as a
sequence of sentences, or a single phrase, or even a single word

Example:
“Wow!”
“Xin chào mọi người”
“ 사랑해”
-I do my housework everday.
The Characteristic of Utterance
• Is an act of saying
• Physical event. Events are ephemeral
• May be grammatical or not
• A piece of language
• Meaningful or meaningless
• Identified by a specific time or on particular occasion
• By a specific person (in particular accent).
Utterance meaning
Definition:
The meaning a speaker conveys by using a particular utterance in a
particular context situation.

Example: “My car has a flat tire.” could convey, according to

the context situation:
a) I can’t get there in time.
b) This is the reason why I’m late.
c) I have to fix my car.
d) I can’t go home now.
Exercise
Now decide whether the following could represent utterances. Indicate
your answer by circling Yes or No.

‘‘Ouch’’ YES
‘‘Not really’’ YES
‘‘Merci beaucoup.’’ YES

‘‘Fgksmxaoidj’’ NO
‘‘I like cats.’’ YES
 03
SENTENCES
Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Thanh
Definition
A sentence is…
• A string of words put together by the grammatical of rules of a
language expressing a complete thought.
• It is neither physical event nor a physical object.

For example: I am a student.

 A sentence can be thought of as the IDEAL string of words behind
various realizations in utterances and inscription.

For example: A: “Student?” -> “Are you a student?”

B: “Of course.” -> “Yes, I am a student.”
Some examples will help to get the idea of a sentence across.
Indicate your answer by stating Yes or No.

1. Do all (authentic) performances of ‘Macbeth’ begin by using the

same sentence? YES
2. Do all (authentic) performances of ‘Macbeth’ begin with the same
utterance? NO
3. Does it make sense to talk of the time and place of a sentence? NO
4. Does it make sense to talk of the time and place of an utterance? YES
5. Can one talk of a loud sentence? NO
6. Can one talk of a slow utterance? YES
A sentence is..
• A grammatically complete string of words
expressing a complete thought.
• This very traditional definition is unfortunately
vague, but it is hard to arrive at a better one for our
purpose.
 
For example:
- I would like to say something. -> A sentence
- Say something, please. -> Not a sentence
- In the garden. -> Not a sentence
- There is many flowers in the garden. -> A sentence
EXERCISE.
Which of the following utterances are tokens of whole
sentences (S) and which are not (NS)?

“John” NS

“Who is there?” S

“Mine” NS

“It’s mine.” S

“Where shall I …?” NS

• Utterances of non-sentences,
e.g. short phrases or single
words, are used by people in
communication all the time.
• People do not converse wholly
in (tokens of) well-formed
sentences.
• The abstract idea of a sentence is
the basis for understanding even
those expressions, which are not
sentences.
• The meaning of non-sentences can
be best analized by considering
them to be abbreviations, or
incomplete versions, of whole
sentences.
For examples:
1. When was you born?
“In 2000” -> I was born in 2000.
2. Would you like an orange or banana?
“Banana.” -> I would like a banana, please.
3. Which teams won the EURO 2020?
“Italy”. -> Italy is the nation which won the EURO 2020.
 04
Distinction between
a sentence and an utterance
Nguyễn Thị Minh Nguyệt
   Sentence Utterance 
An utterance is a natural unit of
Definition A sentence is a group of words that speech bounded by breaths or
  convey a complete meaning. pauses, thus usually not conveying a
complete meaning.

Form A sentence exists in both spoken and An utterance exists only in the
  written form spoken form

Linguistic Sentences are the basic structures in Utterances are the smallest unit of
Category semantics speech

A sentence varies according to the An utterance does not have a

Semantic language. specific semantic structure since
Structure A sentence basically has a subject, a even a burp, or a pause is
verb, and an object categorized as an utterance.
Conclusion:
The main difference between sentence and utterance is that:
• Sentence coveys a complete meaning expressed either in the
spoken or written form.
• Utterance usually does not convey a complete meaning and it
is primarily expressed in the spoken form.
 05
PROPOSITION
K’Luân
DEFINITION
A proposition is that part
of the meaning of the
utterance of a declarative
sentence which describes
some state of affairs.
• Involves persons or things
referred to by expressions in
the sentence.
• It uttering a declarative
sentence a speaker typically
asserts a proposition.
[Hurford and Heasley, 1984:19]
For example:
Different sentences maybe converted into and an identical
proposition.
1. John killed Sam.
2. John caused Sam to die.
3. Sam was killed by John.
4. John ha ucciso sam. (Italia)
All these sentences have the same meaning.
 All these statements is a proposition because it is
either true or false, or put differently, it has truth
value.
• The concept that the proposition emphasizes is KILLING
(John, Agent, subject) Sam (Theme/object).
• So the proposition doesn’t care for the grammatical
information.
It care for the core essential meaning that all the sentences share
regardless of the language.

It is after the idea of KILLING here that can be expressed

universally by any language such as English, French,
Chinese, etc.
Levels of abstraction

Proposition - More abstract

- We can’t hear

Sentence - Grammatical

Utterance - Less abstract

(concrete/physical)
- We can hear.
Two types of proposition

THE SAME
PROPOSITION

PROPOSITION

DIFFERENT
PROPOSITION
 Example
The same proposition
(a) Harry took out the garbage.
(b) Harry took the garbage out.
(c) John gave Mary a book.
(d) Mary was given a book by John.
=>These are always either both true
or both false. We cannot imagine any
situation in which one is true and the
other false.
Different proposition
(a) Isobel loves Tony.
(b) Tony loves Isobel.
(c) George danced with Ethel.
(d) George didn’t dance with
Ethel.
=> one could be true and the other
false.
Note
• A proposition or statement about the sate of affairs
of the world is a sentence that is either true or
false.
• proposition doesn’t care for the grammatical
information.
• It is more abstract.
• It is the core meaning that all the sentences share
regardless of the language.
Exercise
Do the following sentences have the same proposition?
(1) Mr Dindlay killed Janet.
(2) Mr Dindlay caused Janet to die.
Answer is: NO
For example in the situation where Dr Findlay had caused Janet to
die, but not intentionally, say by sending her to a place where,
unknown to him, she was attacked. Someone else could in fact be
guilty of killing her.
Not have the same proposition
Exercise
Explain why the two members of each of the following
pairs of sentences do not share the same proposition

1.(a) John is the parent of James. 3.(a) The fly was on the wall.
1.(b) James is the parent of John. 3.(b) The wall was under the fly.

2.(a) The hunter bit the lion. 4.(a) Jack was injured by a stone.
2.(b) The lion bit the hunter. 4.(b) Jack was injured with a stone.
 06
Distinction between
a proposition and a sentence
Distinction between a proposition,
a sentence & an utterance
Triệu Thị Mai Hiền
Distinction between a proposition and a sentence

Propositions cannot be said Sentences in different

to belong to any particular languages can correspond to the
language. same proposition, if the two
[Hurford and Heasley, 1984] sentences are perfect
translation of each other.
For example:
The perfect translation that corresponds with the same proposition

English: “I am cold” “I have a car”

French: “J’ai froid” "J'ai un auto"
German: “Mir ist kalt” "Tenho um carro"
Vietnamese: “Tôi lạnh” “Tôi có một chiếc xe hơi”
Distinction between
a proposition, a sentence & an utterance
It is useful to envisage the kind of family tree relationship between the
three notions (proposition, utterance, and sentence).

more abstract.

less astract or concrete

A single proposition could be expressed by using several
different sentences:
The Monday Club deposed Mrs. Thatcher.
Mrs. Thatcher was deposed by the Monday Club

Practice:
Write a single proposition could be expressed by using several
different sentences:
A: John ate the apple
B: The apple was eaten by John
And each of these sentences could be uttered an infinite
number of times.
 
The same sentence can be realized by different utterances
on particular occasions

I like apples
I like apples I like apples

I like apples
SMALL SUM UP
Utterance:
“Utterance" is any group of words that convey some
meaning, even if it is anaphoric.
All sentences are utterances, but not all utterances are
sentences, because they may lack the grammatical
structure (subject/predicate) of a sentence.
Sentence
• "Sentence" is a category in
grammar, not in logic.
• It is a complete meaningful
utterance.
• A sentence as much as a
proposition, and it may be said
that all propositions must be a
grammatical sentence.
• But the opposite is not true
Proposition
• “Proposition" is a category
in logic, not in grammar.
• A proposition is a
statement about the state
of affairs of the world, and
it can be true or false.
• The same proposition
though those are evidently
different sentences or
utterances.
Practice:
Are these below utterance, sentence, proposition, or
all of them?

utterance, sentence, proposition

JK: I lose a key.
utterance
RM: Sorry?
utterance, sentence
JK: You lose a key?

RM: Yupp. utterance

 Fill in the chart below with ‘+’ or ‘-’ as appropriate
UTTERANCES SENTENCES PROPOSITIONS
CAN BE LOUD OR QUIET
+ - -
CAN BE GRAMMATICAL
OR NOT
+ + -
CAN BE TRUE OR FALSE

IN A PARTICULAR
+ + +
REGIONAL ACCENT
IN A PARTICULAR + - -
LANGUAGE
+ + -
TIME FOR GAME
Big numbers catch your audience’s attention
THANKS FOR
ENJOYING!
Group 7th’s Presentation