O'Grady, W. (1997). Contemporary Linguistics.

Bedford/St. Martin's.
seven

S EMANTICS :
THE ANALYSIS
OF MEANING
William O'Grady

,
'

�. .
. . . in every object there is inexhaustible meaning.
. , j,\
'\ - THOMAS CARLYLE

up to now, this book has focused on the form of utterances-their sound pattern,
morphological structure, and syntactic organization. But there is more to language
than just form. In order for language to fulfil its communicative function, utterances
must also convey a message; they must have content. Speaking very generally, we
can call this message or content the utterance's meaning.
This chapter is concerned with semantics, the study of meaning in human lan­
guage� Because some work in this complicated area of linguistic analysis presupposes
consid erable knowledge of other disciplines (particularly logic, mathematics, and
philosophy), not all aspects of contemporary semantics are suitable for presentation
in an introductory linguistics textbook. We will restrict our attention here to four
major topics in semantics: (1) the nature of meaning, (2) some properties of the con­
ceptual system underlying meaning, (3) the contribution of syntactic structure to
the interpretation of sentences, and (4) the role of nongrammatical factors in the
· understanding of utterances.

1 T H E N AT U R E O F M E A N I N G
Long before linguistics existed as a discipline, thinkers were speculating about the
nature of meaning. For thousands of years, this question has been considered cen­
tral to philosophy. More recently, it has come to be important in other disciplines as
well, including psychology and sociology in addition to linguistics. Contributions to
semantics have come from a diverse group of scholars, ranging from Plato and
Aristotle in ancient Greece to Bertrand Russell in the twentieth century. Our goal in
this section will be to consider in a very general way what this research has revealed
246 CHAPTER SEVEN
about meaning in human language. We will begin by considering some of the basic
analytic notions used in evaluating the meanings of words and sentences.

1.1 S EMANTIC R E LATI O N S AMONG WORDS

By virtue o f their meaning, words and phrases may enter into a variety o f semantic
relations with other words and phrases in the language) Because these relationships
help identify those aspects of meaning relevant to linguistic analysis, they constitute
a good starting point for this chapter.

Synonymy
Synonyms are words or expressions that have the same meanings in some or all
contexts. The following pairs of words provide plausible examples of synonymy in
'English.

Table 7.1 Some synonyms in English

youth adolescent
automobile car
remember recall
purchase buy
filbert hazelnut
big large

Although it is easy to think of contexts in which both words in each pair have essen­
tially the same meaning, there are also contexts in whicl] their meanings diverge at
least slightly. For example, although youtll and adolescent both refer to people of
about the same age, only the latter word has the meaning of 'immature' in a phrase
such as What an adolescent! Many linguists b�lieve that it would be inefficient for a
language to have two words or phrases whose mea11ings are absolutely identical in
all contexts, and that complete synonymy is therefo're rare or nonexistent.

Antonymy
Antonyms are words or phrases that are opposites with respect to some component
of their meaning. The following pairs of words provide examples of antonymy.

Table 7.2 Some antonyms in English

dark light
boy girl
hot cold
up down
in out
come go
 I )

SEMA N TI C S : THE A NA L YSIS OF MEANING 247 )

)
In each of these pairs, the two words contrast with respect to at least one compo­
nent of their meaning. Thus, t he m ea nings of boy and girl are opposites with respect J
to sex, although they are alike with respect to species (both are human). Similarly,
)
come and go are opposites with respect to direction, although both involve the con­
cept of movement. J:

Polysemy and homophony )

Polysemy occurs where a word has two or more related meanings. The following
table contains some examples of polysemous words in English. )
Table 7.3 Some polysemy in English _)
Word Mea11i11g a Mea11i11g /J

bright 'shining' 'i n telligent ' .)

)
to glare ' to shine intensely' 'to stare angrily'

)
a deposi t 'minerals in the earth' 'm on ey in the bank'

.)
If you consult a reasonably comprehensive dictionary for any language, you will find
numerous examples of polysemy.
Homophony exists where a single form has two or more entirely distinct mean­ )
)
ings. In such cases, it is assumed that there are two (or more) separate words with
the same pronunciation rather than a single word with different meanings.
)
Table 7.4 Some homophones in English
)
.)
Word Mea11i11g a Meaning b

)
bat 'a mouselike flying mammal' 'a piece of equipment used in baseball'
'a small cliff at the edge of a river'
.)
bank 'a financial institution'
club 'a social organization' 'a b)unt weapon'

)
pen 'a wri ti n g instrument' 'a small enclosure'

Polysemy and homophony create lexical ambiguity in that a single form has )
two or more meanings. Thus, a sentence such as 1) could mean either that Liz pur­
chased an instrument to write with or that she bought a small enclosure.
J
1) _)
)
I
Liz bought a pen.
Of course, in actual speech the surrounding words and sentences usually make the )
)
intended meani,ng clear. The lexical amb iguity in sentences such as the following
therefore norma!Jy goes unnoticed.
2)
He got a loan from the bn11k. )
3) ,,I

Because Liz needed a place to keep her goat, she went downtown and bought a )
)
pe11 for $100.

)
 )
)
) 248 CHAPTER S E VEN·

) 1 .2 S EMANTIC R E LATIO N S INVOLV I N G S ENTE N C E S

) Like words, sentences have meanings that can be analyzed in terms of their relation
) to other meanings. We consider three such relations here-paraphrase, entailment,
and contradiction.
)
) Paraphrase
Two sentences that can have the same meaning are said to be paraphrases of each
) other. The following pairs of sentences provide examples of paraphrase .
..) 4)
.J a. The police chased the burglar.
b. The burglar was chased by the police.
)

)
)
5)
a. I gave the summons to Erin.
b. I gave Erin the summons.

IJ 6)

II ..J)
a. It is unfortunate that the team lost.
b. Unfortunately, the team lost.
7)

i·� a. Paul bought a car from Sue.

b. Sue sold a car to Paul.
8)
)
_)
a. The game will begin at 3:00 r.M.
b. At 3:00 r.M., the game will begin.

_) The a) and b) sentences in each of the above pairs are obviously very similar in

_)
meaning. Indeed, it would be impossible for one sentence in any pair to be true
without the other also being true. Thus, if it is true that the police chased the bur­

'J .)
glar, it must also be true that the burglar was chased by the police. Similarly, if it is
false that the police chased the burglar, then it must also be false that the burglar
I) was chased by the police. (Sentences whose meanings are related to each other in
'

this way are said to have the same truth conditions.)

)
For some linguists, this is enough to justify saying that the two sentences have
the same meaning. However, you may notice that there are subtle differences in
) emphasis between the a) and b) sentences in 4) to 8). For instance, it is natural to
interpret 4a) as a statement about what the police did and 4b) as a statement about
)
)
what happened to the burglar. Similarly, 8b) seems to place more emphasis on the
. '"
starting time of the game than Ba) does. As is the case with synonymy, many lin­
guists ·feel that languages do not permit two or more structures to have absolutely
) identical meanings and that paraphrases are therefore never perfect.
!
Entailment
-1 A relation in which the truth of one sentence necessarily implies the truth of
) another, as happens in examples 4) to 8) above, is called entailment. In the cases
we have been considering, the entailment relation between the a) and b) sentences
)
 SEMANTICS: THE ANALYSIS MEANING OF 249

is mutual since the truth of either sentence guarantees the truth of the other. In
some cases, however, entailment is asymmetrical. The following examples illustrate
this.
9)
a. The park wardens killed the bear.
b. The bear is dead.
10)
a. Robin is a man.
b. Robin is human.

The a) sentences in 9) and 10) entail the b) sentences. If it is true that the park war­
dens killed the bear, then it must also be true that the bear is dead. However, the
reverse does not follow since the bear could be dead without the park wardens hav­
ing killed it. Similarly, if it is true that Robin is a man, then it is also true that Robin
is human. Once again though, the reverse does ,not hold: Even if we know that Robin
is a human, we cannot conclude that Robin is a man rather than a woman or a child.

Contradiction
Sometimes, it turns out that if one sentence is true, then another sentence must be
false. This is the case with the examples in 1 1).
11)
a. Charles is a bachelor.
b. Charles is married.

If it is true that Charles is a bachelor, then it cannot be true that he is married. When
two sentences cannot both be true, we say that there is a contradiction.

1 .3 WHAT I S MEANING?
Although i t i s relatively easy t o determine whether two words o r sentences have
identical or different meanings, it is much more difficult to determine precisely what
meaning is in the first place. In fact, despite many centuries of study, we still know
very little about the nature of meaning or h ow it is represented in the human mind.
Nonetheless, it is worthwhile to review briefly some of the better known proposals
and the problems that they encounter.

Connotation
One notion that is closely linked with the concept of meaning is connotation, the
set of associations that a word's use can evoke. For most Minnesotans, for example,
the word winter evokes thoughts of snow, bitter cold, short evenings, frozen finger­
tips, and the like. These associations make up the word's connotation, but they can­
not be its meaning (or at least not its entire meaning). The word winter does not
become meaningless just because it is a mild year or because one moves to Florida
in November. We must therefore look beyond connotation for our understanding of
what meaning is.
 250 CHAPTER S E VE N

Denotation
One well-known approach to semantics attempts to equate the meaning of a word
or phrase with the entities to which it refers-its denotation or referents. The
denotation of the word winter, for example, corresponds to the season around the
winter solstice (regardless of whether it is cold and unpleasant). Similarly, the deno­
tation of the word dog corresponds to the set of canines, and so on.
Although a word's denotation is clearly connected to its meaning in some way,
they cannot be one and the same thing. This is because there are words such as uni­
corn and phrases such as tile present king ofFrance, which have no referents in the real
world even though they are far from meaningless.
A problem of a different sort arises with expressions such as tile Prime Minister of
England and the leader of the Conservative Party, both of which refer (in 1996, at least)
to John Major. Although these two expressions may have the same referent, it seems
wrong to say that they mean the same thing. Thus, we would not say that the phrase
Prime Minister ofEngland is defined as 'the leader of the Conservative Party' or that the
definition of the phrase leader ofthe Conservative Party is 'Prime Minister of England'.

Extension and intension

The impossibility of equating an element's meaning with its referents has led to a
distinction between extension and intension. Whereas an expression's extension
corresponds to the set of entities that it picks out in the world (its referents), its
intension corresponds to its inherent sense, the concepts that it evokes. Thus, the
extension of woman is a set of real world entities (women) while its intension
involves notions like 'female' and 'human'. Similarly, the phrase Prime Minister of
England has as its extension an individual Oohn Major), but its intension involves
the concept 'leader of the governing party'.

Table 7.S Extension versus intension

Phrase Extension !11 te11s io11

Prime Minister of Engl and John Major leader o f the governing party
Stanley Cup ch ampions New Jersey Devils winners of the hockey
(1995) championship
Capital of Missouri Jefferson City city containing the
state legislature

The distinction between intension and extension does not allow us to resolve the
question of what meaning is. It simply permits us to pose it in a new way: What are
intensions?
One suggestion is that intensions correspond to mental images. This is an obvi­
ous improvement over the referential theory since it is possible to have a mental

I image of a unicorn or even of the king of France, although there are no such entities
in the real world. However, problems arise with the meanings of words such as dog,

I which can be used to refer to animals of many different sizes, shapes, and colors. If
the meaning of this word corresponds to a mental image, that image would have to
I be general enough to include Chihuahuas and St. Bernards, yet still exclude foxes

l
 )
S E M A N T I C S : THE A NA L YSIS OF MEANING 251
)'
and wolves. If you try to draw a picture that satisfies these requirements, you will see )
just how hard it is to equate word meanings with images in such cases.
)
Componential analysis )
Still another approach to meaning tries to represent a word's in tension by breaking
it down into smaller semantic components. Sometimes known as componential ).
analysis or semantic decomposition, this approach has long been used to ana­ )
lyze the meaning of certain types of nouns in terms of semantic features. The fol­
lowing analysis for the words man, woman, boy, and g rl illustrates this. (Nothing )
i
depends on the choice of feature names here; the analysis would work just as well /
with the feature ±FEMALE as ±�ALE.)
111n11: boy:
�
[+HUMAN] [+HUMAN] _,)
,)
+:VIALE +MALE
+ADULT -ADULT
.J

.)
IVOl/lnll:
[+HUMAN] [:i�/�MAN]
-MALE -MALE )
)
+ADULT -ADULT
Semantic feature co mposition for man, woman, boy, girl
Figure 7.1
c.J
An obvious advantage of this approach is that it allows us to group entities into nat­ )
)
ural classes (much as we do in phonology). Hence, man and boy could be grouped
together as [+HUMAN, +MALE] while mnn and woman could be put in a class defined by
the features [+HUMAN, +ADULT]. )
)
Componential analysis can also be used to analyze verb meanings, although here

)
the semantic components tend not to be written as binary features. A semantic com­
ponent that is especially useful for the analysis of verb meaning is co, which is used
.;)
to represent change of various sorts. As the following examples help sho�. the
notion of change associated with co can be manifested in different ways.
12) )
manifestations of the concept co: .../
a. positional change:
.)
)
Harvey went from CJ:iicago to Dubuque.
b. possessional change:
The inheritance went to Marla.

)
c. identificational change:

)
Max went from being a rational gentleman to being a stark raving lunatic.
This concept is manifested in many verbs other than just go. For example, positional
GO is present in the meaning of fly ('go through the air), walk ('go on foot'), crawl ('go )
on hands and knees'), and so forth. Possessional GO is manifested in the meaning of
give, b11y, and i11herit, all of which involve a change of possession, while identifica­
tional GO shows up in become and t11m into (as in The caterpillar turned into a butterfly). )

)
)
 �
)
)
252 CHA P T E R S E V E N

) Componential analysis i s most useful for uncovering and representing similarities

among semantically related words. As illustrated above, a few simple features allow
) us to express the similarities and differences among subclasses of people-men,
) women, boys, and girls. Similarly, componential analysis reveals a surprising simi­
larity in the meaning of (for instance) fly, give, and become, all of which incorporate
) the GO concept (positional in the first case, possessional in the second, and identifi­
) cational in the third).
However, there are limits on the insights into word meaning offered by compo­
) nential analysis. What value, for example, is .there in characterizing the meaning of
dog as [+ANIMAL, +cANJNE) so long as there is no further analysis of these features?
)
Similarly, do we say that the meaning of blue consists of the feature [+COLOR) and
.) something else? If so, what is that other thing? Isn't it blueness? If so, then we still
) have not broken the meaning of blue into smaller components, and we are back
where we started.
·)
)
2 T H E C O N C E PTUAL S Y S T E M
.)
) Underlying the use o f words and sentences t o express meaning i n human language
is a conceptual system capable of organizing and classifying every imaginable aspect
..) of our experience, from inner feelings and perceptions, to cultural and social phe­
) nomena, to the physical world that surrounds us. This section focuses on what the
study of this conceptual system reveals about how meaning is expressed through
..) language. We will begin by considering some examples that illustrate the way in
J which these concepts are structured, extended, and interrelated .

.)
)
2.1 Fuzzy C O N C E PTS
We tend to think that the concepts expressed by the words and phrases of our lan­
_) guage have precise definitions with clear-cut boundaries that distinguish them from
J other concepts. Some concepts may indeed be like this. For example, the concept
expressed by the word s�nator seems to be clear-cut enough: One is a senator if and
)
)
only if one is duly elected to a particular legislative body; no other person can be
truthfully called a senator. .
)
But are all concepts so straightforward? Consider the concept associated with the
word ric/1. How much does one have to be worth to be called rich? Five hundred
) thousand dollars? Eight hundred thousand? A million? ls there any figure that we

:)
can give that would be so precise that a person who was short by just five cents
would not be called rich? It seems not. While one could miss out on being a sena­
.J tor by five votes, it does not seem possible to miss out on being rich by just five
) cents. Moreover, whereas some people clearly qualify as rich and others uncontro­
versially do not, an indefinitely large number of people fall into the unclear area at
�. ) the borderline of the concept and it is just not possible to say definitively whether
or not they count as rich. This is because the notion of 'richness' does not have clear­
I) cut boundaries; it is what we call a fuzzy concept.
) Many linguists believe that this type of fuzziness pervades the human conceptual
system: Certainly, 'it is not hard to think of everyday concepts whose boundaries are
)
 S E M A N TICS: THE A NA L Y S I S OF M E A N I N G 253

fuzzy in the same way as the preceding example-tall, old, athlete, strong, gray-haired,
genius, clean, barga in-the list seems almost endiess.

,.
Graded membership

terms of their typicality. Consider first a fuzzy concept such as 'figure-skating star'.
A second important fact about concepts is that their members can. be graded in

Even within the set of people who we can agree are figure-skating stars, some pro­
vide better examples of this concept than others. At the time of writing, for instance,
Nancy Kerrigan is a better example of a skating star than is Michelle Kwan. Although
skating fans agree that both are stars, Kerrigan has won more medals,'endorsed more
products on TV, received more media attention, and so on. This makes her a better
example of a star than Michelle Kwan.
Even concepts whose boundaries can be scientifically defined exhi!J!t this type of
graded membership. A good example of this involves the concept 'bird'. Even
assuming that English speakers all think of birds as 'warm-blooded, egg-laying,
feathered vertebrates with forelimbs modified to form wings' (the dictionary defini­
tion), they still feel that some of these creatures are more bird-like than qthers. Thus,
robins and magpies, for example, are intuitively better examples of bi!ds than are
hummingbirds, ostriches, or penguins.
Examples like these suggest that concepts have an internal structure, with the
best or prototypkal exemplars (Nancy Kerrigan in the case of 'figure skaters',
robins in the case of 'birds') close to the core and less typical members arranged in
successively more peripheral regions.

ostriches

storks

penguins

Figure 7.2 Internal structure of the concept 'bird'

254 CHAPTER S E VE N

The existence of fuzzy concepts and of graded membership in concepts provides

important insights into the nature of the human conceptual system. In particular, i t
seems that many (perhaps even most) concepts expressed in language are not rigid
all-or-nothing notions with precise and clear-cut boundaries. Rather, they are char­
acterized by an internal structure that recognizes degrees of typicality as well as by
.
fuzzy boundaries that sometimes overlap with other concepts and ma�e categoriza­
tion uncertain in some cases.

2.2 METAPHOR
The concepts expressed through language are not isolated from each other. Rather,
they make up a giant network, with many interconnections and associations among
the various subparts. A good example of these interconnections involves
�etaphor, the understanding of one concept in terms of another.
· We have a tendency to think of metaphor as a literary device reserved for the use
of authors and poets. In fact, however,.there is reason to think that it has a promi­
nent place in the conceptual system sh � fed by all human beings. The effects of this
prominence are seen in the way in which we use language to talk about various
abstract notions.
A simple example of this involves the concept of time, which we analyze
metaphorically by treating it as if it were a concrete commodity. Consider in this
regard the following sentences, which illustrate how we talk about time.
13)
a. You're wasting my time.
b. This gadget will save you hours.
c. How do you spend your time these days?
d. I have invested a lot of time in that project.

f. Is that worth your while?

e. You need to budget your time.

g. He's Jiving on borrowed time.

h. You don't use your time profitably.

The words that we use in speaking about time suggest that it is conceptualized as
something concrete-a commodity that can be saved, wasted, and invested just like
other valuable things can.
What is the basis for the metaphor that determines how we talk about time?
There is apparently no objective, inherent simil�rity between time and commodities
such as gold or money. What brings these two concepts together is the perception,
based in part on culture and in part on feelings that all human beings share, that the
passing of time is reminiscent of . the passage of valuable commodities from one
hand to another.

Spatial metaphor
Another very prevalent metaphor in our language involves the use of words that are
prjmarily associated with spatial orientation to talk about physical and psychologi­
cai states.
 )
SEMANTICS: THE ANALYSIS OF MEANING 255 )
)
Table 7.6 Metaphorical use of spatial terms
)
EMOTIONS: HAPPY IS UP; SAD IS DOWN

I'm feeling 11p. I'm feeling down. )

That boosted my spirits. He fell into a depression. r
My spirits ros�. Her spirits sank.
You're in iligil spirits. He's feeling low.
the height of ecstasy the depths of depression
That gave me a lift.
;:

)
PHYSICAL HEALTH: HEALTH AND LIFE ARE ur; SICKNESS AND DEATH ARE DOWN

He's at th e peak of health

�
He's si11kii1g fast.
Lazarus rose from the dead. He feil ill.
)
He's in top shape. He came down with the flu.
Her health is declining.
She's feeling under the weather. ,/

)
The basis for these metaphors appear� to lie in our physical experience. Unhappiness
and ill health tend to be associated with lethargy and inactivity, which often involve ,)
being on one's back (physically dowh ). In contrast, happiness and good health are
)
often correlated with energy and movement, which involve being on one's feet
(physically up). J
These few examples illustrate a more general point about language and meaning.
The innumerably many concepts that we express through language do not all exist
)
independent of each other. Rather, many concepts are structured and understood )
metaphorically in terms of notions more basic to our physical and cultural experi­
)
)
ence. Thus, time is understood in terms of a commodity metaphor, health and hap­
piness in terms of a spatial metaphor, and so on. By studying how concepts are
)
represented in language, we can gain valuable insights into the role of experience
and metaphor in the human conceptual system.

i.3 T H E LEXICALIZATION O F C O N C EPTS )

Do all human beings share the same conceptual system? Do all languages express j
concepts in the same way? Thes� are questions that have fascinated and puzzled )
)
researchers for many decades. At the present time, there is no reason to believe that
human beings in different linguistic communities have different coriceptual sys­
)
tems. But there is ample evidence that languages can differ from each other in terms

)
of how they express concepts.

Lexicalization ' l

)
The classic and frequently distorted example of how languages can differ from each
other in the expression of concepts involves the words for 'snow' in Inuktitut.
Sometimes estimated in the hundreds by unknowledgeable commentators, the set of
)
simple (one-morpheme) words for 'snow' in Inuktitut is in fact much smaller. For
example, one well-known dictionary gives only the following four items (although
other dictionaries give several more for at least some varieties of Inuktitut). J

)
)
 )
) 256 CHAPTER S E VE N

) Table 7.7 Words for 'snow' in lnuktitut

I.
) aput 'snow on the ground'
) qana 'falling snow'
'drifting snow'
)
piqsirpoq
qimuqsuq 'snow drift'
)
As you can see, there is nothing particularly startling about this list of words. ln fact,
) even in English there is more than just one word to describe snow in its various
_) forms-snow, slush, blizzard, and sleet come to mind, for example.
The types of differences we are considering involve lexicalization, the process
) whereby concepts are encoded in the words of a language. Thus, Inuktitut lexical­
.) izes the concepts 'falling' and 'snow' in a single word (qana) while English uses two
separate word�1 While some lexicalization differences may correlate with cultural
) factors (the relative importance of types of snow in traditional Inuit culture), this is
) not always so. For example, English has an unusually rich set of vocabulary items
pertaining to the perception of light.
J
) Table 7.8 Some verbs pertaining to light in English

_; glimmer glisten
gleam glow
) glitter flicker

) shimmer sh ine
flare glare
.) fl<}sh sparkle
;;
Although most English speakers know and use the words in this list, it is hard to see
..) how the variety found in this particular area of vocabulary can be correlated with
) any identifiable feature of our culture or society.
Contrary to popular belief, the lexicalization differences just illustrated are not
) considered by linguists to have any special importance. As we have tried to empha­
) size throughout this book, the focus of linguistic analysis is on the system of knowl­
edge that makes it possible to speak and understand a language. The fact that a
) particular language has more words pertaining to snow or light does not in and of
� itself provide any insight into the nature of the human linguistic system, and there­
fore does not merit special attention. However, as we will see in the next subsection,
J there are Iexicalization differences whose properties can shed light on how linguis­
tjc systems express meaning.
:)
) fyiotion verbs
)
go, and move, among many others). However, recent work suggests that there may
All languages have words that can describe motion through space (in English, come,
)
cepts related to it. In English, for example, there are many verbs that can simulta­
be systematic differences in terms of how languages express motion and the con­
j
neously express both the concept of motion and the manner in which the motion
.) occurs.
_)
)
 OF
SEMANTICS: THE ANALYSIS MEANING 257

Table 7.9 Some verbs expressing motion and manner in English

The rock rolled down the hill.
The puck slid across the ice.
She limped through the house .
The smoke swirled through the opening.

Notice how each of these verbs expresses both the fact that something moved and
the manner in which it moved (by rolling, sliding, limping, and so on).
Interestingly, Romance languages (descendants of Latin) cannot express motion
events in this way. Thus, while Spanish has a verb radar with the meaning 'to roll',
it does not use this verb to express both manner and motion as English does.
14)
*La botella rod6 en la cueva.
'The bottle rolled into the cave.'
Instead, the motion and its manner have to be expressed separately.
15)
La botella entr6 en la cueva, rodando.
'The bottle entered the cave, rolling.'
However, Spanish does have a series of verbs that jointly express the concept of
motion and the path along which it occurs.

Table 7.10 Some verbs expressing motion and path in Spanish

El globo baj6 por Ja chimenea.
'The balloon moved-down through the chimney'
El globo subi6 por la chimenea.
'The balloon m oved up through the chimney'
-

La botella volvi6 a la orilla.

'The bottle moved-back to the bank.'
La botella cn1z6 el canal.
'The bottle moved-across the canal.'
La botella sali6 de la cueva.
'The bottle moved-out from the cave.'

As the English translations show, Spanish verbs of motion express both the concept
of movement and the direction of its path-down, up, back, across, out, and so forth.
(English too has verbs that can express both motion and path descend, ascend,
-

retum, and so on-but these words are not part of its native vocabulary. Rather they
were borrowed into English from latinate sources, usually through French.)
Another lexicalization option is found in the Amerindian language Atsugewi
(spoken in northern California), in which verbs can express both motion and the
type of thing that moves.
258 CHAPTER SEVEN
Table 7.11 Some verb roots expressing motion and the thing moving in
Atsugewi
for movement of a small, shiny spherical object (a hailstone)
for movement of a smallish, flat ob ject that can be attached to another
l11p
t

cnq
(a stamp, a clothing patch, a shingle)
for movement of a slimy, lumpish object (a toad, a cow dropping)
swat for movement of a limp linear obj ect, suspended by one end (a shirt on a
clothesline, a hanging dead rabbit)

staq
qput for movement of loose, dry dirt
for movement of runny, unpleasant material (manure, guts, chewed gum,
rotten tomatoes)

We learn two things from these facts. First; the concept of motion is associated
with a number of other concepts, including 'path', 'manner of movement', and
'moving thing'. Second, the way in which these concepts are grouped together for
purposes of lexicalization can differ systematically from language to language.
Languages such as English have verbs that simultaneously lexicalize motion and
manner while other languages have verbs that simultaneously lexicalize motion and
path (Spanish) or motion and the type of thing that moves (Atsugewi).
The general picture that is emerging from this type of work is consistent with the
key idea underlying componential analysis (Section 1.3). In particular, it seems that
at least within certain semantic domains, there may be a small universal set of con­
cepts (motion, manner, path, thing that moves, and so on) and a small set of options
for how these concepts can be combined for purposes of lexicalization. Unlike the
lexicalization differences involving snow and light discussed earlier, these differ­
ences appear to be highly systematic and to reveal some general tendencies about
the way in which meaning can be expressed in human language. Further work of
this type should provide additional insights into the organization of the human
conceptual system as well as the ways in which its component notions can be lexi­
calized in human language.

2.4 THE GRAMMATICIZATI O N OF C O N C EPTS

Of the indefinitely large set of concepts expressible in human language, a relatively
small subset enjoys a special status. These are the concepts that are lexicalized as
affixes and nonlexical (functional) categories in one language or another. Some of the
concepts that are treated this way in English are listed in Table 7.12. Concepts that are
expressed as affixes or nonlexical categories are said to have been grammaticized.
Some concepts tend to be highly grammaticizable in that most, if not all, lan­
guages lexicalize them as affixes or special nonlexical categories. Negation and con­
junction are possible examples of concepts that are grammaticized in all languages.
Contrasts involving singular versus plural and past versus nonpast are encoded by
special affixes in many languages, but not all Still other concepts are grammaticized
in a smaller number of languages, as the example .in Table 7.13 from the Siouan lan­
guage Hidatsa illustrates.
 )
S E M A N TI C S : THE A N A L YSIS OF MEANING 259 )
)
in English
Table 7.12 Some concepts associated with affixes and nonlexical categories
)
Concept Affix )
Past -ed ) .
)
More than one -s
Again re-
Negation in-, un- )
Concept No11-lexical category ; ·

Ob li gation 11/llSt )
Possibility may
)
Definite, speci fi c tile
Indefinite, nonspecific a )"
Disjunction or
)
Negation not
Conjunction and ,)
..)
Hidatsa assertion morphemes .J .

following five categories it exemplifies. (Still other markers are used for questions,
In Hidatsa, each statement is accompanied by a morpheme to indicate which of the )
commands, and wishes.) )_
Table 7.13 Assertion particles in Hidatsa )
_)
ski THE SPEAKER IS CERTAIN OF THE STATEMENT'S TRUTH

Waceo iikipi kure heo -ski )

)
'The man (definitely) carried the pipe.'

C THE SPEAKER BELIEVES THE STATEMENT TO BE TRUE

Waceo iikipi kure heo ·f.

'The man (supposedly) carried the pipe.' .J
wareac TH E SPEAKER REGARDS THE STATEMENT TO BE COMMON KNOWLEDGE )
Waceo iikipi kure heo -wareac.
.J
)
'The man carried the pipe (they say).'

mile TH E STATEMENT IS BASED ON AN UNVERIFIED REPORT FROM SOMEONE ELSE

Waceo wiira rackci heo -rahe. )

)
'The man roasted the goose (it is rumored).'

toak THE TRUTH OF THE STATE'.v!ENT IS UNKNOWN TO BOTH SPEAKER AND LISTENER
Waceo cihpa rakci heo -toak.
'The man roasted the prairie dog (perhaps).'

Choice of the appropriate assertion particle is extremely importan t in Hidatsa. A

speaker who utters a false sentence marked by the p article -ski is considered to be a

)
 )
)
) 260 CHAPTER SE VEN

) liar. Had he or she used the particle -c, on the other hand, it would be assumed that
he or she simply made a mistake.
.) While English has ways of indicating these contrasts (by using expressions such
.J as per/1aps, I heard that, and I guess), it does not have a grammatical system of mor­
)
phemes that obligatorily encodes this information in every sentence. By investigat­
ing the grammaticization options found in different languages, it may eventually be
) possible to identify the factors that determine which concepts are singled out for
association with affixes and nonlexical categories.
_)
.)
.)
3 SYNTAX A N D S E N T E N C E
I N T E R P RETAT I O N
)
) The two preceding .sections have focused o n the meaning conveyed by the individ­
ual words and phrases that make up a sentence. In this section, we turn to the prob­
.) lem of sentence interpretation, with an emphasis on how the positioning of words
) and phrases in syntactic structure helps determine the meaning of the entire sen­
tence, consistent with the following principle.
_)
16)
) The Principle of Compositionality:
J The meaning of a sentence is determined by the meaning of its component
parts and the manner in which they are arranged in syntactic structure.
_)
There are many different ideas about precisely how the meaning of a sentence's com­
.) ponent words and their arrangement in syntactic structure determine sentence
) meaning. For purposes of illustration, we will consider the relevance of syntactic
structure to three aspects of sentence interpretation-the representation of structural
_) ambiguity, the assignment of thematic roles, and the interpretation of pronouns.
._)
_) 3.1 STRUCTURAL A M B I GUITY

ponent words can be combined in more than one way. A simple example of this is
Some sentences are structurally ambiguous in that the meanings of their com­
_)
..) found in the phrase wealthy men and women, where 'wealthy' can be seen as a prop­

tations or readings are depicted in Figure 7.3. (Con = conjunction)

erty of both the men and the women or of just the men alone. These two interpre­
.)
J Figure 7.3a corresponds to the reading in which wealthy modifies both men and
women. This is shown by having the adjective combine with a category that includes
)
both nouns. In Figure 7.3b, on the other hand, the adjective combines only with the
.� N men. This structure corresponds to the reading in which 'wealthy' applies only to
the men.
) Another case of structural ambiguity is found in sentences such as 1 7).
: ) 1 7)
,J Nicole saw the people with binoculars.
_)
)
)
 SEMA N TICS: THE A N A L YSIS OF M E A N I N G 261

a b NP

NP NP
�N
A
I
AP
�
N Con N
1:\
A N Con N
I
wealthy men
I
I andI women I
wealthy men
I I
and
I
women
Figure 7.3 An ambiguous phrase. The structure on the left indicates that both the
men and the women are wealthy; in the structure on the right, only the men are said to
be wealthy.

In one interpretation of 1 7), the people had binoculars when Nicole noticed them
(the phrase with binoculars modifies the noun people) while in the other interpreta­
tion Nicole saw the people by using the binoculars (the PP modifies the verb). These
two readings can be represented as follows:

a s SF
sJt�P�V
PL /"�
N V Det N . PP
I
Nicole saw
I l l �
the people with binoculars

�
b

,!,, �
NPInfl VP

N V Det N PP
I
Nicole saw
I l l �
the people with binoculars
Figure 7.4 An ambiguous sentence. In the first structure, the people have the binoc­
ulars; in the second structure, Nicole uses the binoculars to see the people.

In Figure 7.4a, the PP with binoculars occurs with the N people, reflecting the first
reading for this sentence. In Figure 7.4b, on the other hand, the PP occurs with the
VP consisting of the verb and its complement. This corresponds to the interpreta­
tion in which with binoculars describes how Nicole saw the people.
262 CHAPTER S E VE N

We see, then, that the manner in which words are grouped together i n syntactic
structure reflects the way in which their meanings are combined by the semantic
component of the grammar. It is therefore possible to represent structural ambigu­
ity in language by providing a different tree structure for each interpretation that a
particular utterance has.

3.2 THEMATIC R O L E S
Another aspect of semantic interpretation involves determining the roles that the
referents of NPs play in the situations described by sentences. Consider in this regard
the sentence in 18).
18)
The senator sent the lobster from Boston to Seattle.
It would be impossible to understand this sentence if we could not identify the sen­
ator as the person who is responsible for sending something, the lobster as the thing
that is sent, and so on. The term thematic role is used to describe the part played
by a particular entity in an event. In most linguistic analyses, at least the following
thematic roles are r.ecognized.

Table 7.14 Thematic roles

Agent the entity that performs an action
Theme the entity undergoing an action or a movement
Source the starting point for a movement
Goal the end point for a movement
Location the place where an action occurs

Instances of these thematic roles can be seen in sentences such as the following.
19)
a. The senator sent the lobster from Boston to Seattle.
agent theme source goal
b. The athletes practiced in the Astrodome.
agent location

The notion of movement used in the definition of theme, source, and goal is
intended to involve not only actual physical motion, but also changes in possession,
as in 20), and identity, as in 21).
20)
Terry gave the skis to Mary.
agent theme goal

21)
The magician changed .the ball into a rabbit.
agent theme goal
 )
SEMA N T I C S : THE A NA LYSIS OF MEA N I N G 263 )
)
Thematic role assignment
Where do thematic roles come from, and how does the grammar ensure that the )
appropriate thematic role is associated with each NP in a sentence? Thematic roles
)
originate in word meaning. Thus, if the sentence Harry hit the ball contains an agent
and a theme, it is because the verb hit has the type of meaning that implies an entity ).
that does the hitting (an agent) and an entity that gets hit (a theme). Similarly, if we
)
understand Boston as a source and Seattle as a goal in sentence 18a), it is b ecause of
the difference in tpe meaning of the prepositions from and to that occur with these /
.
N�.
._)'
Table 7.15 Some words and the thematic roles implied by their meanings )
hit <agent, theme> )
)
walk <agent>
to <goal>
from <source> ,)
_,)
near <location>

These roles are then assigned to NPs based on their position in syntactic structure, �
with each NP receiving a single role. .J
As a first example of this, let us consider the complement of a preposition. In such
cases, the process of thematic role assignment can be summarized as follows: )

22)
)
A P assigns a thematic role to its complement NP. .J
The operation of this convention is illustrated in Figure 7.5. .)
)
a pp b pp

�NP �NP )
p p
)
I 6 I � _)
from
<SOU �
Boston to
<go�Seattle
j
)
Figure 7.5 Themati c role assignment by prepositions
)
Matters are slightly more complicated in the case· of Vs. Here we must distinguish

)
between the theme role, which is assigned to the V's complement, and the agent
role, which is assigned to its subject.
23) )
A V assigns a theme role (if it has one) to its complement NP.
A V assigns an agent role (if it has one) to its subject NP.

)
This is exemplified in the following structures.

)
 )
y- 264 CHAPTER S E VE N

) a b s

l�p
J
)
N Infl V
)
) Det N v Det N
I
Students
I I
should exercise
I I I I I
)
�
g>

)
The campers
� � boiled the
ag,th>
water

.)

) Figure 7.6 Thematic role assignment py verbs

. _)
In accordance with 23), the theme role (where present) is assigned to the V's NP
) complement while the agent role is assigned to the subject.
The structure in Figure 7.7 illustrates the assignment of thematic roles in a sen­
.) tence that contains a P in addition to a V.
J
s
..) �
/IA
NP Infl . VP
.)
_) PL
.) V NP P NP
N
..) I I � 1 6
_) �
Terry waxed the skis in
� the attic

J
t <lo
.)
.) Figure 7.7 Thematic role assignment in a complex sentence
.J
Here, the P in assigns its location role to its complement NP (the attic) while the
verb wax assigns its theme role to the complement the skis and its agent role to the
subject Terry.

Deep structure and thematic roles

In the examples considered to this point, it is unclear whether an NP receives its the­
matic role on the basis of its position in deep structure or surface structure. This is
because our previous example sentences are all formed without the help of move­
ment transformations, so that each NP occupies the same position in both deep
structure and surface structure. But now · consider a sentence such as 24), which is
formed with the help of WI! Movement.
24)
What should the man bring?
 SEMANTICS: THE ANALYSIS MEANING OF 265

This sentence has the deep structure depicted in figure 7 .8.

A-A
NP lnfl V NP
/'>.
The man
I
should
I
bring
I
what

�v
,t

Figure 7.8 Thematic role assignment in a w/z question

Since the theme role is assigned to the complement of V (see Figure 7.7 above), it
follows that the NP what in the above example receives this role by virtue of its posi­
tion in deep structure, not surface structure (where it occurs at the beginning of the
sentence). This allows us to draw the following conclusion.
25)
An NP's deep structure position determines its thematic role.
The relevance of deep structure to the assignment of thematic roles is important
for two reasons. First, it shows that syntactic structure not only represents the way
in which words are organized into phrases, but also is relevant to semantic inter­
pretation. Second, the fact that an NP's position in deep structure determines its the­
matic role provides additional support for the existence of this underlying level of
syntactic structure. This, in turn, lends support to the claim that there must be at
least two types of syntactic rules: phrase structure rules, which form the deep struc­
ture, and transformations, which convert it into surface structure.

Passives (Advanced)
Now let us reconsider the passive structures first discussed in Section 6 of Chapter S.
26)
The thief was arrested (by the police).
theme agent
From the point of view of thematic role assignment, this sentence is strange in two
respects. First, the NP that occurs in subject position in this sentence (the thief> bears
the theme role since it refers to the person who is placed in custody. Yet, as we saw
earlier, the theme role should be assigned to the complement of the verb, not its sub­
ject. Second, instead of being assigned to the subject position, the agent role (corre­
sponding to the person doing the arresting) is assigned to an NP that occurs in an
optional PP headed by the P by. How are we to account for these facts?
The first of these facts follows straightforwardly from the type of deep structure
assigned to passive sentences. (For the time being, we ignore the PP by the police;
as indicated in Note 2 of Chapter S, auxiliary be is treated as a V that takes a VP
complement.)

(
I
266 CHAPTER S E VE N

�
IA
NPlnfl VP

,J,,
V V NP
I
was
I 6
arrested the thief
<ag,
�
Figure 7.9 The deep structure for Tile tlzief was arrested; the line through the 'ag' sym­
bol beneath the verb indicates that the agent role is suppressed.

Since the NP the thief appears as complement of the verb arrest in deep structure and
since an NP's deep structure position determines its thematic role, it follows that it
will be assigned the theme role, as desired.
But what of the agent role? The crucial assumption is that the passive form of a

the verb in Figure 7.9 has a line through it. It is for this reason that passive sentences
. verb loses the abi l ity to assign an agent role-which is why the 'ag' symbol beneath

are perfectly acceptable even when there is no agent NP (for example, The thief was
arrested). When an NP bearing the agent role does appear, it occurs not in the sub­
ject position but rather as complement of the preposition by. Because the verb is
unable to assign an agent role, some other element must take responsibility for the
assignment of this role. By is that element, being unique among prepositions in hav­
ing the type of meaning that assigns an agent role. Thus, the sentence The thief was
arrested by the police has the deep structure depicted in Figure 7 . 10. (This by should
not be confused with the by in He stood by the tree, which assigns a locative role.)

NP Infl VP
I
Past VP

v V NP P
� NP
I
was
I />,
arrested the thief
I
by
�
the police
<ag th
i v
passive V cannot
<ag
V
assign agent role
Figure 7.10 Deep structure for Tile tlzief was 11rrested by tlze police
 )
)
SEMA NTICS: THE A N A L YSIS O F M E A N I N G 267
)
In this structure, the passive verb (wns) nrrested assigns its theme role to its comple­
ment (the NP the tltie() while the special preposition by assigns its agent role to its )
complement (the NP the police). This ensures that the sentence has the correct inter­ )
pretation, with the police doing the arresting and the thief getting arrested.
In order to form the correct surface structure for passive sentences, we need a )
transformation that will move the NP bearing the theme role from the direct object J
position to the subject position when the latter is empty.

)
27)
'

)
N P Movement:
Move NP into the subject position.
This transformation applies to the deep structure in Figure 7 1 0 to give the surface )
)
.

structure depicted in Figure 7 . 1 1 .

s .J
____-;r-
NP Infl VP
--__ _,}
I ..)

AA
Past
.)
_)
V V NP P NP .J

the thief
I
was
I
arrested
I
e
I /'>.
by the police
J
_)
Figure 7.11 Surface structure resulting from NP movement .)

\.ln sum, then, the transformational analysis of passives makes use of both deep )
structure and surface structure. In order to account f�r thematic role assignment, the )
NP that receives the theme role occurs as complement of the verb in deep structure
while the NP that receives the agent role, if present, occurs as complement of the J
special preposition by. A transformation then moves the NP bearing the theme role .J
from its deep structure position to the subject position in surface structure, giving
the correct final form of the sentence. J _)
)
3.3 T H E INTERPR ETATION O F PRONOUNS (ADVANCED) ../I
The �ategory of pronouns includes words such as he, she, himself, and herself These _)

)
words are characterized by the fact that their interpretation can be determined by
another element in the same sentence. (This other element is called the
antecedent.) Consider in this regard the fS> llowing two sentences. )
28) /
n. Jim's friends admire ilim. .. )

)
b. Jim admires /Ji111self

)
 5
)
268 C H A P T E R S E VE N

..)
In the first of these sentences, the pronoun ilim can have the same referent as the
) NP Jim or can be taken to refer to someone not mentioned in the sentence (say, Jim's
father). In the second sentence, in contrast, the pronoun himself must have the same
J referent as Jim; no other interpretation is possible. The former type of pronoun is
) called a pronominal and the latter type a reflexive pronoun.
The interpretation of pronominals and reflexive pronouns also differs in the fol­
) lowing sentences.
) 29)
.J a. ls Clare knew that ls Alexis trusted Iler] ] .
J b . � Clare knew that ls Alexis trusted herself]] .

J Notice that her can refer to either Clare or someone not mentioned in the sentence,
but that herselfrefers only to Alexis.
. .) The contrasts illustrated in 28) and 29) reflect the fact that the interpretation
of reflexive pronouns, but not ordinary pronominals, is subject to the following
)
principle.
_)
30)
) A reflexive pronoun must have an antecedent in the ·smallest S containing it.
) Matters are straightforward in 28b), where there is only one S. The sentence in 29b)
) presents a somewhat more interesting case in that there are two Ss, with Clare in the
larger one and Alexis and herself in the smaller one. However, only the NP Alexis can
.) serve as antecedent since only it occurs in the smallest S containing the reflexive
_) pronoun.

i J Principle A
' : .) A somewhat more abstract feature of syntactic structure enters into the interpreta­
tion of the reflexive pronouns in a sentence such as 31), which has the tree structure
" _) in Figure 7 .12. (Pronouns are treated as N-type categories that head NPs; to save
_) space, some word-level category labels are omitted. As noted in the previous chap­
ter, possessor NPs occur in the specifier position within larger NPs.)
_)
31)
) The boy's uncle admired himself.
_)
_) ------+-----_
: _) A rast 11fl A
) Nl3
A I I
,

_) The boy's uncle admired himself

� _) Figure 7.12 Structure containing a reflexive pronoun
)
Although there are two NPs in the same S as himself (the boy and tlw boy's uncle), only
,J one (the boy's uncle) can serve as antecedent for the reflexive pronoun. Thus, the per­
_)
son who was admired in 31) must have been the boy's uncle, not the boy.

)
 S E M A N TI C S : THE A NA L YSIS OF M E A N I N G 269

The principle needed to ensure this interpretation makes use of the notion
c-command, which is defined as follows.

32)
NP3 c-commands NPb if the first category above NP3 contains NPb.
Although c-command might appear to be a rather technical notion, the underlying
idea is very simple. Figure 7.13 illustrates the type of configuration in which c-com­

<\
mand occurs.

B ib l iot ·
1r
l'JOSf.flNA CO 'JIB
N

MOO ! CQtrlOOl•I
Carloa 1'ell1>11flnl l ll �

NPb
Figure 7.13 The c-command configuration

When trying to determine c-command relations, you can either use the definition
in 32) or apply the-template in Figure 7 . 1 3 to the tree structure being analyzed.
We can now fon;nulate the constraint on the interpretation of reflexives, called
Principle A, as follows. In order to keep the discussion at an introductory level, we
consider only the version of this principle required for simple, one-clause sentences.
33)
Principle A:
A reflexive pronoun must have an antecedent that c-commands it.
When using Principle A, the key step involves determining whether a potential
antecedent c-commands the reflexive pronoun. Compare in this regard the status of
the NPs the boy and the boy's uncle in Figure 7.12.
Since the first category above NP1 the boy's uncle (namely, S) contains the reflex­
ive, this NP c-commands himself according to our definition and can therefore serve
as its antecedent. As we have already seen, the sentence has this interpretation.
In contrast, the first rntegory above NP2 (the boy) is NP 1 , as illustrated in Figure
7.14.

----
----
first category
-.A Ir -t---_
A
above NPz

NP2 N Past V NP3

�
The boy's
I
uncle
I
admired
I
himself
Figure 7.14 Structure illustrating the absence of a c-command relation between NP2
and NP3

Since NP 1 does not contain the reflexive, the boy does· not c-command himself
according to our definition and therefore cannot serve as its antecedent.
270 CHAPTER S E VEN

Principle B
Now let us consider the interpretation of pronominals. As the following example
shows, the interpretation of the pronominal him contrasts sharply with that of the
reflexive himself in the structure that we have been considering. Thus, him can refer
to the boy, but not to the boy's uncle-the opposite of what we observed for himself
34)
The boy's uncle admired him.
How are we to account for these facts? The relevant constraint, called Principle B,
is stated in 35). (As with Principle A, we present only the version of this principle rel­
evant to simple one-clause sentences.)
35)
Principle B:
A pronominai must not have an antecedent that c-commands it.
To see how this principle works, consider the following structure.

--------r---_
NP1 Infl VP
�l I �l
A I
Past N 3

The boy's unde admired him

Figure 7.15 Structure containing a pronominal

In this structure, NP1 (the boy's uncle) c-commands him since the first category above
it (namely, S) also contains him. Principle B therefore prevents NP 1 from serving as
antecedent for him. In contrast, NP2 (the boy) does not c-command him since the first
category above it (namely, NP1) does not contain the pronoun. Thus, nothing pre­
vents the interpretation in which him and the boy refer to the same person.
There is much more that can and should be said about the interpretation of pro­
nouns. A more detailed examination of this very complex phenomenon would
reveal the need for even more abstract principles referring to additional properties
of syntactic structure. However, the examples we have already considered suffice to
illustrate the crucial point in all of this, which is that syntactic structure plays an
important role in the interpretation of both pronominals and reflexive pronouns.

4 OTH E R FAC T O R S I N S E N TE N C E
I N T E R P R E TATI O N
Syntactic structure provides only a part of the information needed to determine the
meaning of a sentence. (Other necessary information comes from pragmatics,
which includes the speaker's and addressee's background attitudes and beliefs, their
 )
SEMA NTICS: THE A N A LYSIS OF M E A N I N G 271 )
)
understanding of the context in which a sentence is uttered, and their knowledge of
how lan guage can be used to inform, to persuade, to mislead, and so forth. This sec­ )
tion focuses on the role of pragmatics in sentence interpretation. )
y
4.1
)
T H E R O L E O F BELIEFS A N D ATTITUDES
A s w e saw i n the preceding section, the grammar includes a structural principle
(Principle B) that regulates the interpretation of pronominals such as he and they. j
However, as the following sentences show, nonlinguistic knowledge and beliefs can )

_)
also play an important role in selecting the antecedent for a pronominal.
36)
.)
a. The judge denied the prisoner's request because he was cautious.
b. The judge denied the prisoner's request because he was dangerous. )
These two sentences have identical syntactic structures, differing only in the choice J
of the adjective in the second clause (cautious in the first sentence versus dangerous
in the second). Yet, most people feel that he refers to the judge in 36a) but to the _)
prisoner in 36b). .)
_)
(These preferences have nothing to do with structural principles. Rather, the cru­
cial factor involves our beliefs about different groups within society. In particular,
since most people believe that a judge is more likely to be cautious and a prisoner _)
more likely to be dangerous, they take the pronoun to refer to the judge in the first
sentence but the prisoner in the second.1 J
..J
Presupposition
)
There are many other ways in which a speaker's beliefs can be reflected in language I _)
use. Compare in this regard the following two sentences.
3 7) )
a. Have you stopped exercisin.g regularly? ..)
b. Have you tried exercising regularly?
.J
Use of the verb stop implies a belief on the part of the speaker that the listener has
been exercising regularly. No such assumption is associated with the verb try. .)
The assumption or belief implied by the use of a particular word or structure is )
called a presupposition. The following two sentences provide another example of
this. )
_)
I)
38)
a. Nick admitted that the team had lost.
b. Nick said that the team had lost.
)
Choice of the verb admit in 38a) indicates that the speaker is presupposing the truth
of the claim that the team lost. No such presupposition is associated with choice of )
the verb say in 38b), where the speaker is simply reporting Nick's statement without )
taking a position on its accuracy.
Still another type of presupposition is illustrated in 39). .)
J
)
(
(

)
 ) 272 CHAPTER S E VE N

) 39)
) a. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
b. Abraham Lincoln was murdered in 1865 .
.)
Notice that use of the verb assassinate in 39a) involves the assumption that Abraham
) Lincoln was a prominent person, but that no such presupposition is associated with
) the verb murder.
)
)
4.2 S ETTING
J As noted at the beginning of this section, the pragmatic factors relevant to sentence
interpretation can include knowledge of the context in which a sentence is uttered.
_J Two types of contextual information are involved here, the first having to do with
.)
the physical environment in which a sentence is uttered (the setting) and the sec­
ond having to do with the other utterances in the speech event (the discourse) .
.)
ting enters into language use; the role of discourse will be examined in the next
In this subsection we will consider an example of how information about the set­
)
subsection. Both these issues are examined from a slightly different perspective in
.)
d'
Chapter 14.
J-· ' :i.

Deictics
) All languages have forms whose use and interpretation depend on the location of
• ) the speaker and/or hearer within a particular setting. Called spatial deictics, these
forms are exemplified in English by words such as this arid here (proximity to the
) speaker) versus that and there (proximity to the hearer and/or distance from the
) speaker). Thus, if Steve and Brian are sitting across from each other at a table, each
would refer to a plate directly in front of him as this plate and to a plate in front of
� the other or a plate distant · from both as that plate. Without an understanding of
,) how the setting in which a sentence is uttered can influence the choice of words

.)
such as this and that, it would be impossible for speakers of English to use or inter­
pret these forms correctly.
) As the preceding examples show, English makes a two-way distinction in its

)
expression of deictic contrasts. However, many languages use a third set of forms in
this part of their grammar.
)
,)
Table 7.16 A three-way deictic distinction
Language
)
'this' 'that' 'that over there'

Spanish este ese aquel

Korean i ku ce
Japanese kono sono ano
Palauan tia tih:cha se
Turkish bu Ju 0

An even more complex system is found in the Amerindian language Tlingit, which
makes a four-way distinction: yaa 'this one right here', Mi 'this one nearby', wee 'that
one over there', and y6o 'that one far off'.
 SEMA N TICS: THE A N A L YSIS O F M E A N I N G 273

Determiners are not the only type of element whose use and interpretation
require reference to features of the setting. I n English, for example, deictic contrasts
are also crucial to the understanding of such commonly used verbs as come and go.
Notice in this regard the striking difference in perspective found in the following
two sentences.
40)
a. The bear is coming into the tent!
b. The bear is going into the tent!

Whereas come with a third person subject implies movement towards the speaker or

speaker. Use of come with a first person subject (l) is different again. Hence the sen­
addressee, go with the same type of subject suggests movement away from the

tence I'm coming over implies that the speaker is about to go to where the addressee
is. As was the case with deictic determiners, we could not fully understand these sen­
tences without reference to the physical setting in which they are uttered.

4.3 D I S C O UR S E II

' Properties of other utterances in the same speech event (the discourse) are also crucial
to understanding a sentence tA very simple example of this involves the interpreta­
tion of elements such as he, it, and there, whose referent is often determined by a word
or phrase in a preceding utterance. Consider in this regard the following passage.
41)
A little girl went for a walk in the park. While there, she saw a rabbit. Since it
was injured, she took it home.
Each of the italicized words in this passage relies for its interpretation on informa­
tion encoded in a preceding sentence. Thus, we interpret there with reference to in
the park, she with reference to a little girl, and it with reference to a rabbit.

01(1 and new information

One of the most important contrasts in the study of discourse is the distinction
between new and old information. Old (or given) information consists of the
knowledge that the speaker assumes is available to the addressee at the time of the
utterance, either because it is shared by both or because it has already been intro­
duced into the discourse. In contrast, new information involves knowledge that
is introduced into the discourse for the first time. Consider the contrast between the
following two sentences.
42)
a. The man is at the front door.
b. A man is at the front door.

Choice of the as the determiner for man in 42a) suggests that the referent of the
phrase is someone who has been mentioned in the previous discourse and is there­
fore already known to the addressee (old information). In contrast, choice of the
r

274 CHAPTER SEVEN

determiner a in 42b) implies that the referent is being introduced into the discourse
for the first time (new information).
Notice that both sentences in 42) use the as the determiner for front door. This is
because the setting for the conversation presumably includes only one front door,
whose identity and location is known to both speaker and addressee. As noted, old
information can consist of shared knowledge such as this and need not always be
explicitly stated in the previous discourse.

Topics
Another important notion for the study of discourse is that of topic, which corre­
sponds to what a sentence or group of sentences is aboutl Consider the following
passage .
43)
Once upon a time there was a merchant with two sons. The older son wanted
to be a scholar. He spent his time reading and studying. As for the younger son,
he preferred to travel and see the world.
The first sentence in this passage introduces a merchant and his two sons as new
information. A topic (the older son) is selected in the second sentence and main­
tained in the third, in which ile refers back to the older son. The final sentence then
switches to a new topic (the younger son), providing some information about him.
This switch is facilitated by the expression as for, which can be used in English as a
marker c:if new topics.
In English, the subject of the sentence tends also to be the topic. This is why (as
mentioned in Section 1.2 above) it is natural to interpret the active sentence in 44a)
as being about the police and the passive sentence in b) as being about the burglar
(see also Section 6.2 of Chapter 5).
44)
a. The police chased the burglar.
b. The burglar was chased by the police.
In some languages, a special affix is used to identify the topic. The following sen­
tences from Japanese illustrate this phenomenon. (Norn nominative, the subject
=

marker; Top topic marker; Ques = question n;arker)

=

45)
Speaker A: Dare-ga kimasita-ka?
Who-Norn came -Ques?
Speaker B: John-ga kimasita.
John-Norn came.
Speaker A: John-wa dare-to kimasita-ka?
John-Top who-with came -Ques?
'Who did John come with?'
The topic marker in Japanese (the suffix -wa) is distinguished from the subject marker
(-ga) by its use to mark old or background information. This is why speaker B
 )

)
,-
S E MA N TI C S : THE A NA L YSIS OF M E A N I N G 275

responds to A's first question by using the subject marker on the NP folm. Because this
)
)
would be inappropriate. H owever, once it has been established that John is the per­
NP provid es new information here (an answer to A's question), the topic m arker
)
son who came, the corresponding NP can then bear the top i c marker. This is precisely
what happens in Speaker A's final utterance, wherein the NP John (which is now asso­ )
ciated with pr eviously established information) is marked by the topic suffix -wa.

/
4 .4 CONVER S ATIONAL STRATEGIES
I n addition to background beliefs, the setting, and the discourse context, there i s at
least one other major type of information that enters into the interpretation of utter­ )
ances_.. This information has to do with the 'rules for conversation', our understand­ _)
)
in g of how language is used in particular situations to convey a message. If, for
example, I ask someone, 'Would you like to go to a movie tonight?' and I receive as a
response 'I /Jave to study for an exam', I know that the other person is declining my .J

_)
invitation even though there is nothing in the literal meaning of the sentence that
.
says so. Moreover, even though the response does not contain an explicit answer to
my invitation, I recognize it as a perfectly appropriate way to respond. (Notice that
the same could not be said of a response like 'I /Jave to comb my hair' or 'I enjoy read­
ing books'.) .)
[- As speakers of a language, we are able to draw inferences about what is meant but )
not actually said. Information that is conveyed in this way is called a conversa­
tional implicature. The ease with which we recogn i ze and interpret implicatures J
stems from our knowledge of how people in our linguistic community use language J
to communicate with each other.
The general overarching guideline for conversational interactions is often called _)
the Cooperative Principle.
�
,,)
� • -< '!
46)
The Cooperative Principle: '

Make your contribution appropriate to the conversation. _)

More specific conversational maxims or guidelines ensure that conversational J
interactions actually satisfy the Cooperative Principle. _)
Table 7.17 Some conversational maxims )

The Maxim of Relation: )

Be relevant.

)
The Maxim of Quality:

)
Try tomake your co ntribution one that is true. (Do not say things that are false or
for which you lack adequate evidence.)

The Maxim of Quantity: )

Do not make your contribution more or less informative than required .

The Maxim of Manner:

Avoid ambiguity and obscurity; be brief and orderly .
)
J
,!
)
 )
)
J 276 CHAPTER SEVEN
) These maxims are responsible for regulating normal conversation but, as we will see
directly, each can be suspended under certain circumstances to c;reate particular effects.
)
) Relation
The Maxim of Relation is crucial to evaluating the appropriateness of responses
) to the question 'Would you like to go to a movie tonight?' (the example given at the
) beginning of this section). Because we assume that the conversational contributions
)
of others are relevant to the topic at hand, we are able to infer from the response 'I
llave to study for m1 exam' that the speaker is unable or unwilling to go to the movic.
) Similarly, because it is hard to see a connection between combing one's hair and
being able to go to a movie, we judge the response 'I /!ave to comb my /!air' to be irrel­
.)
evant and hence inappropriate.
) Of course, the Maxim of Relation can sometimes be suspended by a speaker who
wants to create a particular impression. For example, if someone asks you 'Have you
·) finished that term paper yet?', and you respond 'It's been raining a lot lately, llasn't it?',
) you violate the Maxim of Relation by not responding in a relevant way. On the other
J- .
hand, by giving this response you signal to the other person that you want to
change the topic of conversation .
.)
Quality
.)
.)
The Maxim of Quality requires that the statements used in conversations have
some factual basis. I f, for example, I ask 'What's tile weatller like?' and someone
_) responds 'It's snowing', I will normally assume that this statement provides reliable
information about the current weather.
.) In order to achieve irony or sarcasm, however, it is sometimes possible to aban­
.) don the Maxim of Quality and say something that one knows to be false) Thus, if
two people live in the middle of a sweltering desert and one person insists on ask­
J ing every ·morning 'What's the weatller like?', it might be appropriate for the other
person to respond 'Oh, today it's snowing, as usual', perhaps with a particular facial
.)
expression or intonation to indicate that the statement was not intended as a true
) report of the facts.

Quantity
) (The Maxim of Quantity introduces some very subtle guidelines into a conversa­
) tion! If, for example, someone asks me where a famous American author Jives, then
the nature of my response will depend in large part on how much information I
believe to be appropriate for that point in the conversation� If I know that the other
person is simply curious about which part of the country the author lives in, it might
suffice to respond 'in Mississippi'. On the other hand, if I know that the person wants
' . ) to visit the author, then much more specific information (perhaps even an address)
) is appropriate.
(rhe Maxim of Quantity can be suspended in order to mislead a conversational
: _) partner� For example, if someone asks me where Mary is and I know that Mary does
not want to see this person, I might respond by saying '/ think sire went dow11tow11
) or something' even though I know precisely where she is. In re sponding in this way,
.J I am not being untruthful since 1 have said nothing false, but by giving less infor-
)
)
 S E M A N TI C S : THE A NA L YS I S O F M E A N I N G 277

mation than is appropriate I am violating the Maxim of Quantity and hence being
misleading.

Manner
The Maxim of Manner imposes several constraints on language use, two of which
will be exemplified here. First, imagine that I refer to a particular person as the man
w/10 Mary lives with. A listener would be justified in concluding that the man in ques­
tion is not Mary's husband. This is because, by the Maxim of Manner, a briefer and
less obscure description, Mary's l111sba11d, would have been used if it could have cor­
rectly described Mary's companion.
Second, imagine that I am writing a letter of recommendation to an employer
and I say about a former student of mine 'You will be fortunate indeed ifyou can get
Mr. X to work for you'. By using a sentence that can be interpreted in two dramati­
cally different ways ('You will be glad to have Mr. X on your staff' versus 'It is not
easy to get Mr. X to do any work'), I violate the Maxim of Manner by using an
ambiguous structure. Since the maxims are violated only for specific purposes (as
when the Maxim of Quality is suspended to yield irony), the person to whom the
letter is written might be justified in concluding that my choice of language consti­
tuted a veiled warning about Mr. X.

The maxims in other societies

The preceding maxims represent constraints on conversation that may well be an
integral part of language use in all cultures. This is not to say that the maxims are
employed in exactly the same way in all linguistic communities, however. In fact,
we know that the circumstances under which it is appropriate to suspend a maxim
can differ. A good example of this involves the Maxim of Quantity as it is used in
rural areas of the Malagasy Republic (formerly called Madagascar), the large island
off the east coast of Africa.
Because rural villages in the Malagasy Republic form small, tightly integrated soci­
eties, new information is rare and considerable prestige accrues to its holder.
Speakers are therefore often reluctant to impart it to just anyone. When asked about
a particular event, then, they may reply evasively, avoiding mention of the infor­
mation being sought by their conversational partner. Thus, a visit to the market
might be described by saying simply 'there were many people tilere' rather than giving
any specific details. This suggests not only that the Maxim of Quantity can be over­
ridden, but that the conditions under which this happens may be intertwined with
the cultural practices of a particular society.

SUMMING U P
The study of semantics is concerned with a broad range of phenomena including
the nature of meaning, the role of syntactic structure in the interpretation of sen­
tences, and the effect of pragmatics on the understanding of utterances. Although
serious problems and obstacles remain in all these areas, work in recent years has at
least begun to identify the type of relations, mechanisms, and principles involved in
2n CHAPTER S E VEN

the understanding of language. These include the notions of extension and inten­
sion in the case of word meaning, thematic role assignment in the case of sen­
tence interpretation, and c-command in the case of pronoun interpretation. Other
factors known to be involved in an utterance's interpretation include the speaker's
and hearer's backgroun d beliefs (as manifested, for example, in presuppositions),
the context provided by the setting and the discourse, and the maxims associ­
ated with the Cooperative Principle.

KEY TERMS
agent motion verbs
antecedent new information
antonyms NP movement
c-command old information
componential analysis paraphrases
connotation polysemy
contradiction pragmatics
(conversational) maxims presupposition
conversational implicature Principle A
Cooperative Principle Principle B
deictics principle of compositionality
denotation pronominal
discourse pronouns
entailment prototypes
extension readings
fuzzy concepts referents
goal reflexive pronoun
graded concept semantic decomposition
grammaticized (concepts) semantic features
homophony semantics
intension setting
lexical ambiguity source
lexicalization spatial metaphpr
location structurally ampiguous
Maxim of Manner synonyms
Maxim of Quality thematic role
Maxim of Quantity theme
Maxim of Relation topic
meaning truth conditions
metaphor

SOURCES
Surveys of the nature of word meaning and semantic relations can be found in many
sources, including the book by Allen cited below. A prominent advocate of compo­
nential analysis is Ray Jackendoff, whose book Semantic Stnictures (Cambridge, MA:
 SEMA NTICS: THE A N A L YS'IS OF M E A N I N G 279 )
MIT Press, 1991) reviews earlier ideas in addition to offering new proposals. The dis­ )
cussion of fuzzy categories and graded membership in Section 2 draws from-Part 1 )
of Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things by G. Lakoff (Chicago: University of Chicago
)
starting point the book Metnpl10rs We Live By, cited below. The four Inuktitut words
Press, 1987) and the references cited there. The discussion of metaphor takes as its
).
I
for snow in Table 7.7 are from Tile Handbook of American J11dian Languages by F. Boas
(Washington : Smithsonian Institute, 1911) and are also cited on p. 123 of the book
by Allen referenced below; for a longer list of words for snow, see Dictionnaire
fran�ais-eskimau du par/er de l'Ungava (Quebec: Presses de l'Universite Laval, 1970),

Hoax" by G. Pullum in Tire Great Eskimo Vocn/Julary Hoax mu/ O ther Jrrever1111t Essays
brought to my attention by M. Dobrovolsky; see also "The Great Eskimo Vocabulary
)
-1
011 tile Study ofLangrwge (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991 ). The discussion
of verbs of motion is based on the paper "Lexicalization Patterns: Semantic Structure
in Lexical Form" by L. Talmy in Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Vol. 3, )
.J
edited by T. Shopen (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 57-149. The def­
inition of grammaticization used in Section 2.4 is based on D. Slobin's "Cross­
linguistic Evidence for the Language-Making Capacity" in Tire Crosslinguistic Study of

.J
Language Acquisition, Vol. 2, edited by D. Slobin (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1985),
1 1 72-73. The data on Hidatsa assertion morphemes in the same section are from
Hidatsa Syntax by G. H. Matthews (The Hague: Mouton, 1965). ./
The treatment of structural ambiguity, thematic role assignment, and pronoun
interpretation in this chapter presents slightly simplified versions of views widely _)
held within generative grammar in the early 1990s. For a summary of the last two }
issues, see !11troductio11 to Govem111ent and Binding The01y, 2nd ed., by L. Haegeman
(Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1994). ,)
The data used in the discussion of deixis and in question 15 come from "Deixis" .)
by S. Anderson and E. Keenan in Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Vol. 3,
edited by l� Shopen (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 259-308. The �
discussion of topicalization draws on the "Major Functions of the Noun Phrase" by .)
.)
A. Andrews in Language Typology and Syntdctic Description, Vol. 1, edited by T. Shopen
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 62-154. The discussion of the Co­
)
operative Principle and the maxims of conversation is based primarily on "Logic and

.J
Conversation" by Paul Grice in Syntax and Semantics, Vol. 3, edited by P. Cole and ].
Morgan (New York: Academic Press, 1975), 41-58 and the paper by L. Horn cited
_)
below. The discussion of Malagasy conversation is based on "The Universality of
Conversational Postulates" by E. Ochs in Language in Society, 5:67-80 (1976). The
questions for this chapter were prepared by Joyce Hildebrand. )

R E C OMMENDED READING )
Allen, Keith. 1986. Linguistic Meaning. Vols. 1 and 2 . New York: Routledge & Kegan )
Paul.
Horn, Laurence. 1988. "Pragmatic Theory." In Linguistics: Tile Cambridge S11rvey. Vol.
l. Edited by F. Newmeyer, 1 1 3-45. London: Cambridge University Press.

)
Hurford, James, and Brendan Heasley. 1983. Semantics: A Course/Jook. New York:
Cambridge University Press.

)
 )
)
) 280 CHA P TE R S E VE N

)
Vol. 1 . Edited by F. Newmeyer, 89-1 12. London: Cambridge University Press.
Ladusaw, William. 1988. "Semantic Theory." I n Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey.
) Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. 1982. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University
) of Chicago Press.
Mccawley, James. 1993. Everytlli11g That Linguists Have Always Wanted to Know About
) Logic. 2nd edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
.J Prince, Ellen. 1988. "Discourse Analysis: A Part of the Study of Linguistic
Competence." In Linguistics: Tl1e Cambridge Survey. Vol. 2. Edited by F. Newmeyer,
.) 1 64-82. New York: Cambridge University Press .
.J
...) QUESTIONS
J 1. Two relations involving word meanings are fotonymy and synonymy. Which
)
relation is illustrated in each of the pairs of words below?
a) flourish/thrive e) uncle/aunt
) b) intelligent/stupid f) intelligent/smart
c) casual/informal g) flog/whip
J d) young/old h) drunk/sober
.) 2. It was noted in this chapter that a single form can have two or more meanings.
J Depending on whether these meanings are related to each other, this phenom­
enon involves polysemy or homophony. Which of these two relations is exem­
) plified by the forms below?
,.) a) grass herbage used for grazing animals; marijuana

c) range
b) /eec/1 a bloodsucking worm; a hanger-on who seeks advantage
_) a cooking stove; a series of mountains
..) d) key an instrument used to apply to a lock; an answer sheet for a test or
assignment
..) e) reel a spool for photographic film; round device at the butt end of a
..) fishing rod for the line
f) race the act of running competitively; people belonging to the same
.) genetic grouping
.) g) /flawar/ a blossom; finely ground wheat

) 3. Three semantic relations among sentences were covered in this chapter: para­
phrase, entailment, and contradiction. Which of these relations is exemplified
.J in each of the following pairs of sentences?
.,,I a) I saw Timothy at the anniversary party.
It was Timothy that I saw at the anniversary party.
.) b) Jules is Mary's husband.
.) Mary is married .
c) My pet cobra likes the taste of chocolate fudge.
)
d) Vera is an only child.
My pet cobra finds chocolate fudge tasty.
)
Olga is Vera's sister.
) e) It is fifty miles to the nearest service station.
) The nearest service station is fifty miles away.

)
)
 SEMA N TI C S : THE A NA L YSIS OF M E A N I N G 281

f) My cousin Bryan teaches at the community college for a living.

My cousin Bryan is a teacher.

4. In discussing the nature of meaning, we noted that it is necessary to distinguish

between intension and extension. Describe the intensions and the extensions of
each of these phrases.
a) the President of the United States
b) the Queen of England
c) the capital of Canada
d) women who have walked on the moon
e) Princess Diana's ex-husband

5. In our discussion of semantic decomposition, we noted that at least some words

have meanings that can be represented in terms of smaller semantic features.
Four such words are dog, puppy, cat, and kitten.
i) Attempt to provide the semantic features associated with each of these words.
ii) H ow are the pairs dog-puppy and cat-kitten different from man-boy and
woman-girl?
iii) Try to provide semantic features for the words circle, triangle, and quadrangle.
What problems do you encounter?

6. Each of the following words is associated with a concept.

f) husband
a) island e) food
b) soft
c) white g) baseball bat
d) wristwatch h) mountain
i) Which of these examples are fuzzy concepts?
ii) Choose one of the fuzzy concepts above. Name one prototypical member of
that concept and one member that is closer to the concept boundary.
iii) Draw a diagram for the concept 'dwelling' similar .to that of Figure 7.2 in this
chapter. Do the same for the concept 'vehicle'.

7. Examine the following sets of sentences, each of which includes words or

phrases used metaphorically.
a) She gave him an icy stare.
He gave her the cold shoulder.
He exudes a lot of warmth towards people.
They got into a heated argument.
b) He drops a lot of hints.
The con'l.mittee picked up on the issue.
She dumps all her problems on her friends.
Although he disagreed, he let it go.
c) the eye of a needle
the foot of the bed
the hands of the clock
the arm of a chair
the table legs
282 CHAPTER SEVEN

d) I'm looking forward to it.

She can foretell the future.
I
I can remember back to when was two years old.
He drags up old conflicts.
You must plan ahead for retirement.
e) This lecture is easy to digest.
He just eats up the lecturer's words.
Chew on this thought for a while.
Listen to this juicy piece of gossip.
For each set of sentences:
i) Identify the words or phrases that are used metaphorically in each sentence.
ii) Determine the basis for each of these metaphor sets.
Use the pattern: 'The metaphors in (x) describe___ in terms of __ .'
Example: The metaphors in (a) describe human relationships in terms of
tern perature.
8. The section on lexicalization of concepts discussed how some languages simulta­
neously express motion and path, motion and movement, and/or motion and
thing moving in motion verbs. Can you change the sentence He mo11ed t/1e goods
by tnick to tile wnre/1011se so that both movement and the type of vehicle are lexi­
calized in one verb? What other verbs express a similar combination of concepts?
9. Consider the following Fijian pronouns.
a11 lst person singular 'me'
iko 2nd person singular 'you'
koya 3rd person singular 'him/her/it'
kednru lst person dual 'you and me'
keim11 lst person dual 'one other (not you) and me'
kemudrau 2nd person dual 'you (two)'
ra11 3rd person dual 'them (two)'
kedntou lst person trial 'two others (including you) and me'
keitou lst person trial 'two others (excluding you) and me'
kem11do11 2nd person trial 'you (three)'
iratou 3rd person trial 'them (three)'
keda lst person plural 'us (more than three, including you)'
keimami lst person plural 'us (more than three, excluding you)'
kem11ni: 2nd person plural 'you (more than three)'
ira 3rd person plural 'them (more than three)'
i) Identify the concepts that are grammaticized in the Fijian pronoun system but
are not grammaticized in the English pronoun system.
ii) Which concept is grammaticized in the English pronoun system but not in
the Fijian system?
10. Each NP i n the following sentences has a thematic role that represents the part
that its referent plays in the situation described by the sentence.
a) The man chased the intruder.
b) The cat jumped from the chair onto the table.
 )
SEMANTICS: THE ANALYSIS OF MEANING 283
)
c) Aaron wrote a Jetter to Marilyn. )
d) The governor entertained the guests in the lounge.
e) Henry mailed the manuscript from Atlanta.
)
Using the terms described in this chapter, label the thematic role of each NP in J,
these sentences and identify the assigner for each thematic role. i
\; t}
Example: Bill wrote a novel in the park.

U
g.t <lo

1 1 . Each of the following sentences has undergone a movement transformation. )·

a) What has Larry given to the bride?
b) Who will Liane kiss?
c) Which house will the group leave from?
d) What has Marvin forgotten on the bus? ./
f) The ball was thrown to Evan by Louise.
e) The necklace was stolen by the burglar.
)
Write out the deep structure string for each of these-sentences and mark all the­
matic roles and thematic role assigners.

'-J 0 �
Example: a) Larry has given what to the bride
ag, <go

12. One of the relations involved in the interpretation of pronouns is that of c­

command. Examine the following tree structure for the sentence Marie's sister
gave herself a hairwt.
J
)
)
s

--------­
AN
NP2
�
V
NP3 NP
)

L'.S.
Marie's
I
sister
I
gave
Ls. �
herself a haircut _J
)
i) Who does herself refer to in this sentence?
ii) Does NP2 c-command NP3? )
)
iii) How does your answer to ii) relate to your answer to i)?
iv) Does the antecedent change if you change herself to her? Why?

J
13. In the following sentence, the pronoun size could, according to Principle B, refer
to either tile architect or tile secretary.
The architect gave fhe secretary a raise after she typed the report. )
i) Which interpretation for sile comes to mind first?
ii) Why?

( )
iii) What happens to the pronoun's interpretation if you change the word secre­
tary to janitor?

I '

,)
 )
)
CHA PTER S E VE N
J
284

) 14. In the following pairs o f sentences, one of the two sentences contains a pre­
supposition relating to the truth of the complement clause.
J a) John regrets that Maria went to the graduation ceremony.
) John believes that Maria went to the graduation ceremony.
b) The captain thought that the ship was in danger.
) The captain realized that the ship was i n danger.
.) c) It is significant that the criminal was sent to prison .

.)
It is likely that the criminal was sent to prison .
For each pair:
i) Identify the sentence that contains this presupposition and state what the
presupposition is .
.J ii) Locate the word that is responsible for the presupposition.
) 15. In Malagasy, the use of the deictics ety 'here' and aty 'there' depends on whether
. .) the object in question is visible to the speaker.
a) Ety ny tranony. 'Here is his house (Yisible to the speaker)'
) b) Aty ny tranony. 'There is his house (not visible to the speaker)'
) How does this differ from the English use of here/there?
.) 16. The syntactic construction It was __ that __ is called a 'cleft construction'
and is used in certain discourse contexts. Consider the following conversations
.J
involving cleft constructions.
) a) A: Did Sally claim that she saw a flying saucer last night?
' i .,,) B: No, it was a meteorite that Sally claimed she saw last night.
b) A: Did Sally claim that she saw a flying saucer last night?
I .) B: No, it was Sally that claimed she saw a meteorite last night.
j
c) A: Did Sally claim that she saw a flying saucer last night?
_)
1 ; .)
i
·I B: No, it was last week that Sally claimed she saw a flying saucer.
i) Is B's response equally acceptable in all three interactions?
ii) Choose one of the discourses in which B's response is appropriate. How do
the underlined parts correspond to new and old information?
iii) For the discourse in which B's response is unacceptable, can you now explain
...) why it is unacceptable?
iv) In addition to the cleft construction, identify the way in which new infor­
_) mation is marked phonetically in B's responses .
.) - -
<1) A: Have you washed the floor and done the dishes?
17. Each of the following examples contains a conversational implicature.
,.I
B: I've washed the floor.
) b) A: Did you get hold of Carl yet?
,_) B: I tried to call him yesterday.
c) A: What did you think of the movie?
) B: Well, the supporting actor was great.

.) What is the implicature for each example?

)
)
)