<img class="r-stretch" src="Nina_images/captainkirk.jpeg"> --- ### It's grade change and exception request season - Please check out this guide to grade change and exception requests before sending one! - <https://wstyler.ucsd.edu/gradechanges/> - Good requests are *always* welcome, but problematic requests burn bridges, show poor integrity, and work against you - Please, don't be that student. --- # Semantics and Pragmatics: Words in Worlds ### Nina Hagen Kaldhol - LIGN 101 --- ### Last time, we talked about meaning, more broadly - Truth in sentences - Ambiguity - Entailment - "Shades of meaning" - Connotation vs. Denotation - Gradient meaning --- ### Today, we're going to drill into words a bit more, then talk about conversation --- ### Today's Plan: Semantics - Word Meaning Relationships - Word Sense --- ### Today's Plan: Pragmatics - The Cooperative Principle - Flouting vs. Violating maxims - Presupposition - Conversational Implicature - Speech acts - Deixis --- # Word Meaning Relationships --- ### Words have meanings - Different words have related meanings - ... and we find it helpful to talk about those relationships by classifying them --- ### Word Relationships in 101 - Synonym/Antonym - Homonym/Homograph/Homophone - Hyponym/Hypernym - Metonymy --- ## Synonyms Two words which share the same denotational meaning, but with different spoken form - e.g. Cop/Police Officer, Sick/Ill, Sofa/Couch - The usage may be slightly different, but they 'mean' the same thing --- ## Antonyms Two words which have (nearly) opposite denotational meanings - e.g. sick/healthy, happy/sad, dead/alive, do/undo - "exactly" opposite is hard, but nearly opposite is fine --- ### Let's find some antonyms - Always - Coming - From - Take - Me - Down --- ## Hyponym/Hypernym - **Hyponym**: A word which is a specific instance of a broader class - **Hypernym**: The greater class - e.g. Poodle/Dog, Laptop/Computer, iPad/Tablet, Skyscraper/Building - "X is a type of Y": X are hyponyms, Y is the hypernym --- ## Metonymy When word X, related to word Y, is used to represent the same meaning as Y. - Beijing has rejected the offer - (Beijing == Chinese Gov't) - "The White House declined to comment" - (The White House == The US President's staff) --- <section class="clicker"></section> ### Which word is a synonym of "large" as in "most mountains are large"? A) Small B) Big C) Large (as in "He was paid 200 large ($200,000) to switch companies") D) Large (as in "A massive corporation and a small startup were both bidding for spectrum. Large won, as always.") E) Size --- ### Which word is a synonym of "large" as in "most mountains are large"? A) Small B) <correct>Big</correct> C) Large (as in "He was paid 200 large ($200,000) to switch companies") D) Large (as in "A massive corporation and a small startup were both bidding for spectrum. Large won, as always.") E) Size --- <section class="clicker"></section> ### Which word is a hypernym of "sofa" A) Sectional B) Loveseat C) Cushion D) Furniture E) Living Room --- ### Which word is a hypernym of "sofa" A) Sectional B) Loveseat C) Cushion D) <correct>Furniture</correct> E) Living Room --- <section class="clicker"></section> ### Which of the following is an example of a metonymic use A) France in "I spent last summer in France" B) The White House in "The White House has a large security perimeter around it" C) Hagyeong in "Hagyeong said it's OK, so we'll use her place" D) The Dean in "We'll have to see if the Dean approves" E) Geisel in "Provided that Geisel agrees, we'll finalize the new library policy next week" --- ### Which of the following is an example of a metonymic use A) France in "I spent last summer in France" B) The White House in "The White House has a large security perimeter around it" C) Hagyeong in "Hagyeong said it's OK, so we'll use her place" D) The Dean in "We'll have to see if the Dean approves" E) <correct>Geisel in "Provided that Geisel agrees, we'll finalize the new library policy next week"</correct> --- ## Homonyms Words with different meanings, but the same form (written or spoken) - **Homographs**: share the same written form - e.g. tear (drop)/tear, bass (instrument)/bass (fish) - **Homophones**: share the same pronounciation - e.g. they're/there, but/butt, banned/band, to/too - Some word pairs are both homographs and homophones: - e.g. Bank (river)/Bank (institution), Mug (coffee)/Mug (street robbery), Phone (iPhone)/Phone ([t] or [ŋ]) - **Homonyms are words which are spelled the same and/or sound the same but have different senses** --- ## Homonyms *Homograph* and *homophone* are hyponyms of *homonym* --- ## The 'Same words' can have different meanings - The fact that one word can have many meanings is called **polysemy** --- ### Polysemy is a BIG problem - Roger busted the bank. - Is Roger a toddler with a piggy-bank, or an agent with the SEC? - The fireplace was lit. - Best fireplace ever! --- ### Word Sense The specific meaning of a word being used in a given situation - Many words have multiple senses --- ### We've been talking about meaning in isolation - "What does this verb mean, *everywhere*?" - "What is *always* true about the relation between "up" and "down"?" - "What is *always* true about Y, given X?" --- ### ... but words can mean something different in context - "Lots of folks wear deodorant" --- ### Apple juice seat - Sometimes, context is necessary to get the meaning! --- ### When meaning stops being about the word and starts being about the situation, we've entered the land of... --- # Pragmatics --- ## Pragmatics The study of meaning in a discourse context --- ### Semantics is abstract - The semantic meaning of a word doesn't depend on the context. - The meaning of "fast" doesn't turn into "slow" in a conversation - We'll get to sarcasm later. - Entailment is true *in every possible universe*. --- ### Pragmatics is contextual - It considers the current conversation - It assumes things about the current world - It uses elements of our situation to 'fill in the blanks' --- ### Everything in pragmatics flows from the idea of discourse - Conversation and linguistic interaction - We have conversations with goals in mind - Social goals - Practical goals - Informational goals - ... and we assume some cooperation --- ### The "Cooperative Principle" helps us accomplish these goals - "I will try to act in such a way as to help the exchange of information, rather than hinder it" - This is not a rule in the sense of grammatical rules, but a guiding principle - It can be broken down into four maxims, developed by H. Paul Grice --- # Gricean Maxims --- ## The Maxim of Quality **"Tell the truth and give accurate information"** - Do not say things you believe to be false - Do not say things you don't know (or have evidence to believe) to be true --- ## The Maxim of Quantity **"Give enough information, but not too much"** - Be as informative as required, but not more so - It's just as uncooperative to give too much information as to give too little --- ## The Maxim of Relation **"Give relevant information and only relevant information"** - Your responses should have *something* to do with the matter under discussion - This is also called the maxim of 'relevance' --- ## The Maxim of Manner **"Be as clear as you can be"** - Don't be obscure when you can avoid it - Avoid ambiguous words or phrasings - Avoid unnecessary wordyness - Quantity is about how informative you are, Manner is about wordyness - Organize your thoughts --- ### Let's test this... Your Roommate Tasha arrives home, and asks where your other roommate Devon is. You're not sure, but you know Devon left earlier. --- ## The Maxim of Quality **"Tell the truth and give accurate information"** Do not say things you believe to be false Do not say things you don't know (or have evidence to believe) to be true --- ## The Maxim of Quantity **"Give enough information, but not too much"** Be as informative as required, but not more so It's just as uncooperative to give too much information as to give too little --- ## The Maxim of Relation **"Give relevant information and only relevant information"** Your responses should have *something* to do with the matter under discussion --- ## The Maxim of Manner **"Be as clear as you can be"** Don't be obscure when you can avoid it Avoid ambiguous words or phrasings Avoid unnecessary wordyness Organize your thoughts --- ### The lines can be blurry - A Manner violation is when the right information is presented confusingly or badly - Quantity is when you've *clearly* given too much or not enough information - Relation is when you're giving the right amount of information *about something that doesn't matter to the conversation* - Quantity is when you're giving too much or too little information about what does matter - The boundaries are fluid, and generally, multiple maxims may be violated at once! --- ### We assume people are following these maxims - It allows us to get a lot more done. - Less confirmation, clarification - More efficiency --- <img class="r-stretch" src="img/no_longer_dating.jpg"> --- ### Violating a maxim - *Actually being uncooperative* by failing to follow these guidelines - Violating maxims actually messes up conversations - You will violate these maxims for your Semantics and Pragmatics Homework - You're gonna have fun with this. --- ### Maxim Violation in Action <video controls src="video/randy_savage.mp4"></video> --- ### Flouting a Maxim - Intentionally violating a maxim *in a way that the listener can detect* to express a specific meaning - This *carries meaning* in the conversation - It can have great comedic effect - Unless it's undetected, the conversation is not messed up at all --- ### Examples of Maxim Flouting - "Oh, yes, Taco Bell is truly gourmet cuisine" (it is clearly not) - "Is this going to be on the test?" "That's a good question." - "How does my hair look?" "We haven't been to a cat show in a while." - "Should I build syntax trees or work on phonology problems for the exam?" "Yes" --- ### So, those were Grice's maxims. - Quality - Quantity - Relevance - Manner --- ## Conversational Implicature --- ## Conversational Implicature What is suggested, but not expressed or entailed, by an utterance. - As a listener, you "draw an implicature" from a statement. --- ### What does "Jelena finally bought a hard drive to back up her computer" entail? --- ### "Jelena finally bought a hard drive to back up her computer" implies that... - Jelena didn't have one before - She'd needed one for a long time - Her computer wasn't backed up - Jelena owns a computer - Jelena used her own money --- ### "Jelena finally bought a hard drive to back up her computer" *does not* imply that... - Jelena is Serbian - Jelena owns a Mac - Jelena is a Dean at UCSD - She went to Costco for the hard drive - ... everything else --- ### Unlike entailments, implicatures do not need to be true in every situation --- ### "Jelena finally bought a hard drive to back up her computer" implies that... - Jelena didn't have one before - She'd needed one for a long time - Her computer wasn't backed up - Jelena owns a computer - Jelena used her own money --- ### Implicatures are possible *because* of the Cooperative Principle and Gricean Maxims - We can draw implicatures because we think people are cooperating - We are trying to find a way that the other person's phrasing is in accordance with the maxims - Behind every implicature is a maxim which would otherwise be violated --- ### "Robert might have eaten the cookie" - Implies that the speaker is unsure whether Robert ate the cookie. - If the cookie is known to have been eaten by Robert, this is a Quality violation. --- ### "Bub ate some of the cat treats" - Implies Bub didn't eat them all - This is called a "scalar implicature" - If she did, this statement is a Quantity violation --- ### "John, who is 100% not a lizard person, is coming to dinner" - Implies that John might, in fact, be a lizard person - If he is not, this statement is a Relevance violation --- ### "Who do you think stole the cookie?" "I heard Nina was in town" - Implies reason to believe that Nina might have stolen the cookie - If not, this statement is a Relevance violation --- ### "Hey, you, did you write this note?" "No quiero responder a esta pregunta." - Implies that I don't speak English. - If I also speak English, this statement is a Manner violation --- ### Common implicatures - "You're interested in Ron? He cheated on his last girlfriend!" - "You claim you paid my client in full. Was this before or after your conviction for armed robbery?" - "Will I be getting fired?" "We've had to make some really tough decisions." - "Robert and Kim sure have been hanging out a lot" - "Lots of folks wear deodorant" - "It's getting late" --- ### Implicature is important - It's everywhere! - It can be intentional or unintentional - They can even be deceptive --- ### Deceptive Implicature - "Herman's Rice is Gluten Free!" - Implies that all other rice isn't - "You promise me that you didn't eat my cookie?" - "We've been friends for 10 years!" - "Do you have any overseas bank accounts in which you're storing money?" - "Pfft, no, I don't have any secret numbered swiss bank accounts" - In reality, he has several accounts in the Caymans - "Where were you last night?" - "Home" - (No mention of the 6 hours during which he was robbing a bank) --- ### Implicature is an important part of Pragmatics - it stems from the cooperative principle, as well as conversational context - and it's different from... --- # Presuppositions --- ## Presupposition Those things which are *implicitly assumed* about the discourse, participants, and world more generally --- ### Presupposition Examples - "Were you there when Nina made that bad joke?" - Presupposes that Nina made a bad joke - "Do you still eat breadsticks with every meal?" - Presupposes that the person ate breadsticks with every meal - "Did you meet the happy linguistics majors?" - Presupposes that happy linguistics majors exist - (Of course they do!) - If you try to deny the presupposition, you're contradicting yourself! --- ### 'How is this different from entailment?!' - Entailment is a logical relationship between sentences - Presuppositions are assumptions made by speakers, and can be true or false - "Do you like [smalahove](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smalahove)?" (A sheep's head, a Norwegian delicacy) - "I've never tried it before!" --- ### Entailment is canceled by negation - "Rebecca had a weird student" - Entails that she had a student - "Rebecca didn't have a weird student" - Doesn't entail that she had a student --- ### Presupposition survives negation - "Rebecca's student was weird" - Presupposes that she has a student - "Rebecca's student was not weird" - Still presupposes that she has a student --- ### Let's try some examples - Will regretted eating the week-old enchiladas - Jessica forgot to water the plants - If Lakshmi had come earlier, the party would've been better. - Nina threw her remote while lecturing again. --- ### Sentence negation doesn't cancel presuppositions - Will didn't regret eating the week-old enchiladas - Jessica didn't forget to water the plants - If Lakshmi had come earlier, the party wouldn't have been better. - Nina didn't throw her remote while lecturing again, it stayed in her hand. --- ### Weaponized Presuppositions - *Presuppositions can be made in bad faith, taking as presupposed things that aren't true or agreed upon* - "Were you angry when you stole my cookies?" - "Have you stopped assigning evil homeworks?" - "Ugh, is your boyfriend being a jerk again?" - "All the hard work I've done to stop academic integrity violations hasn't been enough, we need to launch cheaters into the sun." - "You forgot to give your professors a gift for Teacher's Day" --- ### Presuppositions are neat - They're commonly used (and abused) - They're different from entailment in that they're true even when negated - Speakers, not sentences, have presuppositions - Entailment, in contrast, is a logical relationship between two sentences --- # Speech Acts and Performative Speech --- ### Sometimes, a statement is more than just a statement - Most speech is declarative, interrogative, or serves to expand the discourse - Asking questions, making statements, and interacting - Sometimes, talking itself *is the action* --- ## Speech Acts ("Performative Speech") Sentences which *accomplish actions* by being uttered --- ### Speech act examples - "I declare you to be married" - "I sentence you to fifteen hours of community service" - "I swear that I didn't steal your cookie" - "I apologize for eating your cookie" - "I agree to your terms" - "I formally object to your doing this" --- ### Speech acts are an odd kind of speech - ... with four important characteristics --- ### Speech acts are always in the present - "I swore that I didn't steal your cookie" vs. "I swear I didn't..." - "I apologized for eating the cookie" vs. "I apologize for eating the cookie" - "I will agree to your terms" isn't "I agree to your terms" --- ### Speech acts are always 1st Person - "I agree to your terms" vs. "You agree to my terms" - "She declares you husband and wife" - "Robert swears he never ate the cookie" - "We the Jury find the defendant Guilty" --- ### Speech acts always use a subset of performative verbs - "I walk into the room" isn't a speech act - "I say you're going to enjoy HW4" isn't a speech act either - "I brush my teeth" sure isn't. --- ### Speech acts depend on social context - "I sentence you to 15 hours of community service" requires you to be a judge - "I declare you married" requires you to be a licensed officiant - "I apologize for eating your cookie" only works when said to the person whose cookie you stole. - There are often other rituals involved (e.g. placing your hand on a holy book or object, a hand-shake, a wedding ceremony) --- ### Not all things are speech acts... <video controls src="video/i_declare_bankruptcy.m4v"></video> --- <section class="clicker"></section> ### Which of the below sentences is a speech act? A) "We ate ten cookies last night." B) "I might have eaten ten cookies last night." C) "I swear to you, I have no idea who ate the cookies." D) "I formally declared Sooyoung to be a competent researcher." E) "She sentenced Karla to three weeks of house arrest." --- ### Which of the below sentences is a speech act? A) "We ate ten cookies last night." B) "I might have eaten ten cookies last night." C) <correct>"I swear to you, I have no idea who ate the cookies."</correct> D) "I formally declared Sooyoung to be a competent researcher." E) "She sentenced Karla to three weeks of house arrest." --- ### That context dependence is why these land in Pragmatics - ... and why they're tough to interpret outside of that context --- ### There are other things that depend on context --- # Deixis --- ### A note on the ground outside: "Meet me here tomorrow at this time" This note is uninterpretable - Where's here? - Who's me? - When's tomorrow? At what time? --- ### These are all "deictic" expressions - They make reference to the discourse context, and don't have meaning outside of it --- ## Deictic Words Words whose meaning depends on the conversational context --- ### Types of Deictic Words - Pronouns: Me, Us, Him, Her, It, Them - Temporal Expressions: Today, Next Month, Now, Then, Soon - Locatives: Here, there, close, across the street - Demonstratives: This, That, The other, those --- <section class="clicker"></section> ### Which sentence *does not* contain a deictic word? A) "Rick and Graham had their wedding there. B) "I'm not sure who you're talking about." C) "Mahesh will see to it next week." D) "Sally took some students out to dinner at a Sushi restaurant." E) "John saw a coffee shop across the parking lot." --- ### Which sentence *does not* contain a deictic word? A) "Rick and Graham had their wedding there. B) "I'm not sure who you're talking about." C) "Mahesh will see to it next week." D) <correct>"Sally took some students out to dinner at a Sushi restaurant."</correct> E) "John saw a coffee shop across the parking lot." --- ### So, that's Pragmatics - The idea that the meaning of some things is inseparable from the discourse context - ... and the final of the major subfields we're going to terribly, TERRIBLY under-describe --- <img class="r-stretch" src="ling_memes/ignoring_pragmatics.jpg"> --- ### Wrapping up - Words have relationships to one-another - We assume people are cooperative in conversation - ... and the Gricean maxims describe what that usually looks like - Implicature is everywhere - We can assume presuppositions are a thing - Speech acts are a thing - Deixis is referentacular --- ## Next time - Another guest lecture! --- <huge>Thank you!</huge>