UNIT 1: Basic ideas in semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning in language

Speaker meaning is what a speaker means (i.e. intends to convey) when he
uses a piece of language.
SENTENCE MEANING (or WORD MEANING) is what a sentence (or word)
means, i.e. what it counts as the equivalent of in the language concerned.
A THEORY is a precisely specified, coherent, and economical frame-work of
interdependent statements and definitions, constructed so that as large a
number as possible of particular basic facts can either be seen to follow from
it or be describable in terms of it. Ex: Alive means the opposite of dead.
(True)/ If the sentence John killed Bill is true of any situation, then so is the
sentence Bill is alive (False).

UNIT 2: Sentences, Utterances,

and propositions
An UTTERANCE is any stretch of talk, by one person, before and
after which there is silence on the part of that person . An utterance is
the USE by a particular speaker, on a particular occasion, of a piece of language,
such as a sequence of sentences, or a single phrase, or even a single word. Ex:
Hello, Hi, everything you say and belongs to language.

A SENTENCE is neither a physical event nor a physical object. It is,

conceived (partial) abstractly (trừu tượng), a string of words(chuỗi
các từ)put together by the grammatical rules of a language. A
sentence can be thought of as the IDEAL string of words behind various realizations
in utterances and inscriptions.

Rule:We have defined a sentence as a string of words. A given

sentence always consists of the same words, and in the same
order. Any change in the words, or in their order, makes a
different sentence, for our purposes.
A SENTENCE is a grammatically complete string of words
expressing a complete thought.
A PROPOSITION (mệnh đề) is that part of the meaning of the
utterance of a declarative sentence which describes some state of
affairs.
Utterances: can be loud or quiet, can be grammatical or not, can
be true or false, in a particular regional accent, in a particular
language
Sentences: Can be grammatical or not, can be true or false, in a
particular language
Propositions: can be true or false
Declarative sentence: câu trần thuật
Interrogative sentence: Câu nghi vấn
Inpretative sentence: câu cầu khiến, câu mệnh lệnh
Q1: 2 Is semantics concerned only with complete
sentences? Explain
In summary, while complete sentences are an essential focus of
semantic analysis, semantics extends beyond them to encompass
the study of meaning at various levels of language, including
words, phrases, and sentence structures.
Q2: utterances can be loud or quiet, in a particular
regional accent, and in a particular language. Can you
think of other characteristics of utterances?
- Pitch and intonation (cao độ và ngữ điệu (goes up or
down), tempo and rhythm (tốc độ và nhịp
điệu(stressed or unstressed), emphasis and stress,
pauses, emotions and affective content.

UNIT 3: REFERENCE AND SENSE

The SENSE of an expression is its place in a system of
semantic relationships with other expressions in the language.
(Nghĩa của một biểu thức là vị trí của nó trong một hệ thống các
mối quan hệ ngữ nghĩa với các biểu thức khác trong ngôn ngữ)
Note: The referent of an expression is often a thing or a person in
the world, whereas the sense of an expression is not a thing at all.
Rule: Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not every
expression has reference
Note: The relationship between reference and utterance is not so
direct as that between sense and proposition, but there is a
similarity worth pointing out. Both referring and uttering are acts
performed by particular speakers on particular occasions.
The concept of reference is fundamentally related to
utterances, in that acts of reference only actually happen
in the course of utterances
Referent refers to actual object or entity that a word or
phrase refers to. Meanwhile, reference refers to the
relationship between a word or phrase and its referent (a
specific real-world object or entity that it directly points
to, which is referred to as "reference.")
For example, referent: the dog, reference: the word “the
dog”
Note: The reference of the word will depend on the
context in which it is used.
*A dialect is a form of a language that has different words and
grammar from other forms.
Different expressions have the same referent: Take up 70% of the
human’s body/ Water
Same expressions have different referents: The monitor:
+ refers to the display screen of a computer or other electronic
devices
+ refers to a medical device that tracks and displays vital signs or
physiological parameters of a patient
Ex: invariable referent: “The current President of The United
States”- refer to the individual currently serving as the President,
but it will change after the next presidential election
“In VN, the currently tallest building is Landmark”
5. Explain this sentence from this unit in your own words: ‘Every
expression that has meaning has sense, but not every expression
has reference’.
In simpler terms, when we use language, every expression we use
has some meaning or sense behind it. It conveys information or
carries a certain intention. However, not every expression
necessarily corresponds to or refers to something tangible or
specific in the real world. For example, expressions like "unicorn,"
"flying spaghetti monster," or "the largest prime number" have
meaning or sense in terms of the concepts they represent, but
they do not have a direct reference to actual objects or entities in
reality. In contrast, expressions like "the Eiffel Tower," "my pet
dog," or "the year 2021" have both meaning or sense and a
specific reference to real-world objects, places, or time periods.

UNIT 4: REFERRING EXPRESSIONS

A REFERRING EXPRESSION is any expression used in an
utterance to refer to something or someone (or a clearly
delimited collection of things or people), i.e. used with a
particular referent in mind.
Ex: Mạnh hit me, so “Mạnh” is referring expression
The words “Everyone” in the example “Everyone should keep
their shape” is not a referring expressions. Because we have no
opinion or imagine in mind about “everyone” in this situation.
An OPAQUE CONTEXT is a part of a sentence which could
be made into a complete sentence by the addition of a
referring expression, but where the addition of different
referring expressions, even though they refer to the same
thing or person, in a given situation, will yield sentences
with DIFFERENT meanings when uttered in a given
situation. Notice that opaque contexts typically involve a
certain kind of verb, like want, believe, think, and wonder
about.
EX: The incomplete sentence Laura Bush thinks that ... is
a genius constitutes an opaque context, because, even in
a conversation about American politics in 2007, the
following two utterances would make different claims:
A: ‘Laura Bush thinks that the President is a genius’
B: ‘Laura Bush thinks that the Leader of the Republican
Party is a genius’
If, for example, Laura Bush believes erroneously that the
President is not the Leader of the Republican Party, then
A and B will mean different things.
An EQUATIVE SENTENCE is one which is used to assert
the identity of the referents of two referring expressions,
i.e. to assert that two referring expressions have the
same referent. Equative sentences can be false.
Ex: The girl who standing in the classroom is my daughter
(equative sentence)
Landmark is a large building in Viet Nam (not equative
sentence)
Note: A feature of many equative sentences is that the
order of the two referring expressions can be reversed
without loss of acceptability (có thể đảo ngược biểu thức
mà không mất khả năng chấp nhận)

UNIT 5: PREDICATES
The PREDICATOR of a simple declarative sentence is the word
(sometimes a (partial) group of words) which does not belong to any of the referring
expressions and which, of the remainder, makes the most specific contribution to
the meaning of the sentence. Intuitively speaking, the predicator describes the
state or process (trạng thái hoặc quá trình) in which the referring expressions are
involved.
- The predicator in sentences can be:
+ adjective
+ verbs
+ prepositions
+ nouns
cannot be the predicator:
+ conjunction (and, but, or) (lien tu)
+ articles (the, a, an) (mao tu)
-> These are the role of predicator.
- The role(s) of argument(s), played by the referring expressions.
EX: Tuan took Pablo to Rio
Predicator: took
Argument: Tuan, Pablo, Rio
*The term “predicate” identifies elements in the language system.
*The term “predicator” identifies the semantics role played by a particular word (or
group of words) in a particular sentence.
*” Predicate can function as predicator in other sentences”.
EX: A young, beautiful familiar women entered the supermarket.
+ predicator: enter.
+ predicate: young, beautiful, familiar, woman, supermarket
Predicate can function as predicator in other sentences for instance: She is young,
she is beautiful, she is familiar, she is woman,…
*A simple sentence only has one predicator, although it may well contain more than
one instance of a predicate.
The DEGREE of a predicate is a number indicating the number of arguments it is
normally understood to have in simple sentences.
Asleep is a predicate of degree one (often called a one-place predicate) Love (verb)
is a predicate of degree two (a two-place predicate)
*A verb that is understood must naturally with two arguments, one as its subject,
and one as its object is a two-place predicate.
EX: Manh hit me, so it has two arguments: Manh as a subject and “me” as direct
object.
elliptical (i.e. seems to omit something that one would normally expect to be
mentioned)

In fact, most adjectives are one-place predicates. Most nouns are one-place
predicates. But a few nouns could be said to be ‘inherently relational’. These are
nouns such as father, son, brother, mother, daughter, neighbors.
4) How does the concept of predicate in the semantic sense differ from the concept
of grammatical predicate? Does one seem to be more revealing than the other?
The concept of predicate in the semantic sense refers to the part of a sentence that
expresses the action, state, or relationship of the subject. It provides information
about what is being said about the subject. In this sense, the predicate carries the
main semantic content of the sentence. For example, in the sentence "John loves
Mary," the predicate is "loves Mary," which expresses the action of loving.
On the other hand, the concept of grammatical predicate refers to the part of a
sentence that includes the verb and any other elements that are syntactically
required or optional to complete the sentence structure. It includes the verb and
other grammatical constituents such as direct objects, indirect objects,
complements, and modifiers. In the sentence "John loves Mary," the grammatical
predicate is "loves Mary," which includes the verb "loves" and the direct object
"Mary."

UNIT 6: PREDICATES, REFERRING EXPRESSIONS, AND UNIVERSE OF DISCOURSE

A GENERIC SENTENCE is a sentence in which some statement is made about a
whole unrestricted class of individuals, as opposed to any individual.
Example: The whale is a mammal (understood in the most usual way) is a generic
sentence. That whale over there is a mammal is not a generic sentence.
We define the UNIVERSE OF DISCOURSE for any utterance as the particular world,
real or imaginary (or part real, part imaginary), that the speaker assumes he is
talking about at the time.
EX: + When an astronomy lecturer, in a serious lecture, states that the Earth
revolves around the Sun, the universe of discourse is, we all assume, the real world
(or universe).
+ When I tell my children a bedtime story and say ‘The dragon set fire to the woods
with his hot breath’, the universe of discourse is not the real world but a fictitious
world.

UNIT 7: DEIXIS AND DEFINITENESS

+ All languages do contain small sets of words whose meanings vary systematically
according to who uses them, and where and when they are used.
+ These words are called deictic words: the general phenomenon of their
occurrence is called deixis. The word deixis is from a Greek word meaning pointing.

* A DEICTIC word is one which takes some element of its meaning from the context
or situation (i.e. the speaker, the addressee, the time and the place) of the
utterance in which it is used.
(Deictic words, also known as deictics or deixis, are linguistic expressions that
depend on the context of the utterance for their meaning. They are inherently
relative and their interpretation relies on the speaker, the addressee, the time, and
the place of the communication. Deictic words are used to refer to entities or
locations that are not fixed or objective, but rather depend on the perspective of the
speaker or the listener. These words include pronouns, adverbs, and
demonstratives, among others.) CHAT GPT
FOR EXAMPLE: Personal Pronouns: The pronouns "I," "you," "he," "she," "it," "we,"
and "they" are deictic words
Demonstratives: Words like "this," "that," "these," and "those" are deictic. Their
meaning depends on the physical location of the speaker and the addressee. For
instance, "this" refers to something close to the speaker, while "that" refers to
something farther away from the speaker.
Adverbs of Place and Time: Adverbs such as “here”, “there”, “now” and “then” are
deictic.
Inherently relative: tinh chat tuong doi
Entities or locations: thuc the hoac vi tri
Demonstratives: tu chi dinh
EX: When H20 say “I will go to school”, so the word “I” here refers to H20.
Note: Such deictic terms help the hearer to identify the referent of a referring
expression through its spatial or temporal relationship with the situation of
utterance.
Spatial or temporal: khong gian hoac thoi gian
Note: In our definition of deixis, ‘time of utterance’ and ‘place of utterance’ must
generally be taken very flexibly. In addition to deictic words (such as here, now,
come, and bring), there are in English and other languages certain grammatical
devices called tenses for indicating past, present, and future time, which must also
be regarded as deictic, because past, present, and future times are defined by
reference to the time of utterance.