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(123doc) - Giao-Trinh-Ngu-Nghia-Hoc-Tieng-Anh-Phan-4-Pps

This document discusses sentence meaning, propositions, utterances, and the distinction between propositions and sentences. It provides examples to illustrate the differences between propositions expressed by different sentences and pairs of sentences that do and do not share the same proposition. It also explains that propositions can be expressed by sentences in different languages, while propositions themselves do not belong to any particular language.

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Chy Chy
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
247 views27 pages

(123doc) - Giao-Trinh-Ngu-Nghia-Hoc-Tieng-Anh-Phan-4-Pps

This document discusses sentence meaning, propositions, utterances, and the distinction between propositions and sentences. It provides examples to illustrate the differences between propositions expressed by different sentences and pairs of sentences that do and do not share the same proposition. It also explains that propositions can be expressed by sentences in different languages, while propositions themselves do not belong to any particular language.

Uploaded by

Chy Chy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 27

Exercise 21: Does polysemy or homonymy contribute to the lexical

ambiguity in each of the two given sentences.


(1) She cannot bear children.
(2) The cat sat on the mat.

________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

Exercise 22: In what way are homonyms related to lexical


ambiguity?
________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

Exercise 23: In what way is a polysemous word related to lexical


ambiguity?
________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
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Exercise 24: Explain the structural ambiguity in each of the
following sentences:
1. The drunkard visitor 6. They are cooking bananas.
rolled up the carpet.
2. Is he really that kind? 7. They are moving sidewalks.
3. My fianceùe is reserved. 8. John
loves Richard more than Martha.
4. I saw her slip. 9. Old men and women
will be served first.
5. I saw her duck. 10. The thing that bothered Bill
was crouching under the table.

1(a) The drunkard visitor 1(b) The drunkard visitor


rolled up the carpet. rolled up the carpet.

2(a) Is he really that kind? 2(b) Is he really that kind?

3 (a) My fianceùe is reserved. 3(b) My fianceùe is reserved.

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4(a) I saw her slip. 4(b) I saw her slip.

5(a) We saw her duck. 5(b) We saw her duck.

6(a) They are cooking bananas. 6(b) They are cooking bananas.

7(a) They are moving sidewalks. 7(b) They are moving sidewalks.

8(a) John loves Richard 8(b) John loves Richard


more than Martha. more than Martha.

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9(a) Old men and women 9(b) Old men and women
will be served first. will be served first.

10(a) The thing that bothered Bill 10(b)The thing that bothered Bill
was crouching under the table. was crouching under the table.

2.15 Anomaly
2.15.1 Definition
Anomaly is “a violation of semantic rules to create
nonsense.” [Finegan, 1993: 148]
Ex1. That bachelor is pregnant is semantically anomalous because
bachelor is [+male] whereas pregnant is [+female].
Ex2. My brother is the only child in the family is an English
sentence that is grammatically correct and syntactically
perfect; however, it is semantically anomalous because it
represents a contradiction. The meaning of brother includes
the semantic feature [+having at least one sibling] whereas
the only child in the family is [+having no other sibling].
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2.15.2 Anomaly and contradiction
Anomaly involves us in the notion contradiction in the sense that
semantically anomalous sentences constitute a type of
contradictory sentences. For example, John killed Bill, who
remained alive for many years after is semantically anomalous
because the so-called sentence represents a contradiction: no living
organism can remain alive after being killed. In fact, Bill died right at
the moment John killed him.
Exercise 25: Explain the anomaly of each of the following
sentences.
1. Christopher is killing phonemes.
______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

2. My brother is a spinster.
______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

3. The boy swallowed the chocolate and then chewed it.


______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

4. Babies can lift one ton.


______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________
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5. Puppies are human.
______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

6. My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor.


______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

7. The bigger key and John opened the door.


______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

8. James sliced the ideas.


______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

9. Jack’s courage chewed the bones.


______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

10. I hear the cloud.


______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

11. The tiger remained alive for an hour after the hunter killed it.
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______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Exercise 26: How can each of the given sentences be changed to


avoid anomaly?
1. ____________________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________________

3. ____________________________________________________

4. ____________________________________________________

5. ____________________________________________________

6. ____________________________________________________

7. ____________________________________________________

8. ____________________________________________________

9. ____________________________________________________

10. ___________________________________________________

11. __________________________________________________

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Section
SENTENCE MEANING
3

“SENTENCE MEANING is what a sentence means,


regardless of the context and situation in which it may be used.”
[Hurford and Heasley, 1984: 269]

3.1 Proposition, utterance and sentence


3.1.1 “A PROPOSITION is that part of the meaning of the
utterance of a declarative sentence which describes some
state of affairs. The state of affairs typically involves persons or
things referred to by expressions in the sentence. In uttering a
declarative sentence a speaker typically asserts a proposition.”
[Hurford and Heasley, 1984: 19]

Ex1. The following pair of sentences expresses the same


proposition:
1(a) Harry took out the garbage.
1(b) Harry took the garbage out.
The following pair of sentences expresses different propositions:
2(a) Isobel loves Tony.
2(b) Tony loves Isobel.

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Ex2. The following pair of sentences expresses the same
proposition:
3(a) John gave Mary a book.
3(b) Mary was given a book by John.
The following pair of sentences expresses different propositions:
4(a) George danced with Ethel.
4(b) George didn’t dance with Ethel.
Exercise 27: Do the two following sentences have the same
proposition?
(1) Mr Dindlay killed Janet.
(2) Mr Dindlay caused Janet to die.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

Exercise 28: Explain why the two members of each of the


following pairs of sentences35 do not share the same
proposition.

35
This means the two members of each pair are not paraphrases of each other.
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1(a) John is the parent of James. 3(a) The fly was on the wall.
1(b) James is the parent of John. 3(b) The wall was under the fly.

2(a) The hunter bit the lion. 4(a) Jack was injured by a stone.
2(b) The lion bit the hunter. 4(b) Jack was injured with a stone.

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

3.1.2 Distinction between a proposition and a sentence


“Propositions, unlike sentences, cannot be said to belong to
any particular language. Sentences in different languages can
correspond to the same proposition, if the two sentences are
perfect translations of each other.” [Hurford and Heasley, 1984:
21-22] For example, English I’am cold, French J’ai froid, German
Mir ist kalt and Vietnamese Toâi laïnh can, to the extent to which
they are perfect translations of each other, be said to correspond to
the same proposition.

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3.1.3 Distinction between an utterance and a sentence
“An UTTERANCE is the USE by a particular speaker, on a
particular occasion, for a particular purpose, of a piece of
language, such as a sequence of sentences, or a single phrase,
or even a single word.” [Hurford and Heasley, 1984: 15]
“A SENTENCE is neither a physical event nor a physical
object. It is conceived abstractly, a string of words 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.” [Hurford and Heasley,
1984: 16]
Jane: ‘Coffee?’ ← Would you like some coffee?
Steve: ‘Sure!’ ← I’m sure to love it.
Jane: ‘White?’ ← Would you like (black coffee or) white coffee?
Steve: ‘Black.’ ← I’d like black coffee, please.
(One-word utterances) (Well-formed sentences)
“The distinction between sentence and utterance is of
fundamental importance to both semantics and pragmatics.
Essentially, we want to say that a sentence is an abstract
theoretical entity defined within a theory of grammar, while
utterance is the issuance of a sentence.” [Levinson, 1983: 18]
“Utterances of non-sentences, e.g. short phrases or
single words, are used by people in communication all the time.
People do not converse wholly in (tokens of) well-formed
sentences. But the abstract idea of a sentence is the basis for
understanding even those expressions, which are not
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sentences. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the meaning of
non-sentences can be best analysed by considering them to be
abbreviations, or incomplete versions, of whole sentences.”
[Hurford and Heasley, 1984: 18]
“The term ‘utterance’ can be used to refer either to the
process (or activity) of uttering or to the product of that
process (or activity). Utterances in the first of these two senses
are commonly referred to nowadays as speech acts; utterances in
the second sense may be referred to — in a specialized sense of
the term — as inscriptions36.” [Lyons, 1995: 235]
3.1.3 Distinction between a proposition, a sentence and an
utterance
3.1.3.1 “It is useful to envisage the kind of family tree
relationship between the three notions shown in the diagram. For
example, a single proposition could be expressed by using
several sentences (say The Monday Club deposed Mrs Thatcher, or
Mrs Thatcher was deposed by The Monday Club) and each of these
sentences could be uttered an indefinite number of times.”
[Hurford and Heasley, 1984: 23]
PROPOSITION

SENTENCE SENTENCE SENTENCE

UTTERANCE UTTERANCE UTTERANCE UTTERANCE UTTERANCE UTTERANCE

36
The term ‘inscriptions’ is “not widely used by linguists. It must be interpreted
as being more appropriate to the written than it is to the spoken language.”
[Lyons, 1995: 235]
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3.1.3.2 Also, it is interesting to note that the same
proposition can be expressed by different sentences and that
the same sentence can be realised by different utterances on
particular occasions.
Exercise 29: Fill in the following chart given by Hurford and
Heasley [1984: 23] with ‘+’ or ‘–’ as appropriate. Thus, for
example, if it makes sense to think of a proposition being a
particular regional accent, put a ‘+’ in the appropriate box; if
not put a ‘–.’

Utterances Sentences Propositions

Can be loud or quiet

Can be grammatical or not

Can be true or false

In a particular regional accent

In a particular language

3.2 Sentence types (classified according to truth value37)

37
“You can understand well-formed sentences of your language without knowing
their truth value. Knowing the truth conditions is not the same as knowing the
actual facts. Rather, the truth conditions, the meaning, permit you to examine
the world and learn the actual facts … Knowing a language includes knowing
the semantic rules for combining meanings and the conditions under which
sentences are true or false.” [Fromkin and Rodman, 1993: 146]
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3.2.1 “An ANALYTIC sentence is one that is necessarily
TRUE, as a result of the senses of the words in it.” [Hurford and
Heasley, 1984: 91-92]
Ex1. All elephants are animals.
The truth of this sentence follows from the senses of
elephants and animals.
Ex2. Sam’s wife is married.
The truth of this sentence follows from the senses of wife and
married.
3.2.2 A contradictory sentence, which is also called “A
CONTRADICTION38, is a sentence that is necessarily FALSE, as a
result of the senses of the words in it. Thus a contradiction is in a
way the opposite of an analytic sentence.” [Hurford and Heasley,
1984: 93]
Ex1. This animal is a vegetable is a contradictory sentence; it
must be false because of the senses of animal and vegetable.
Ex2. Sam is older than himself 39 is a contradictory sentence; it
must be false because of the senses of older than and
himself. In fact, Sam can be older (or younger) than somebody
else, but not than himself.

A contradictory sentence is also referred to as a contradiction by Peccei


38

[1999: 9] and Hurford and Heasley [1984: 93]. Goddard [1998: 17] uses the term
contradiction to refer to a somewhat different notion: “Contradiction is where a
sentence must be false because of the meanings involved.”
39
Notice that Sam looks older than he is proves to be a synthetic sentence.
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3.2.3 “A SYNTHETIC sentence is one which is NOT analytic,
but may be either true or false, depending on the way the world
is.” [Hurford and Heasley, 1984: 92]
Ex1. John is from Ireland.
There is nothing in the senses of John, Ireland or from
which makes the sentence necessarily true or false.
Ex2. Sam’s wife is German.
There is nothing in the senses of Sam’s, wife or German
which makes the sentence necessarily true or false.
Exercise 30: Circle the following sentences A for analytic, S for
synthetic or C for contradiction, as appropriate.
1. John’s nine-year-old brother is a boy. A/S/C
2. John’s brother is nine years old. A/S/C
3. Cats are not vegetables. A/S/C
4. No cats like to bathe. A/S/C
5. Cats never live more than 20 years. A/S/C
6. My watch is slow. A/S/C
7. My watch is a device for telling the time. A/S/C
8. That girl is her own mother’s mother. A/S/C
9. That boy is his own father’s son. A/S/C
10. Alice is Ken’s sister. A/S/C
11. Some typewriters are dusty. A/S/C
12. If it breaks, it breaks. A/S/C
13. John killed Bill, who remained alive for many years after. A / S / C
14. Bachelors cannot form lasting relationships. A/S/C
15. Bachelors are lonely. A/S/C
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3.3 Paraphrase
3.3.1 Definition
3.3.1.1 PARAPHRASE is “the relationship between a word
and a combination of other words with the same meaning. For
instance, many people would agree that loud means something like
can be heard from far away. Ultimately, the whole project of
describing or explaining word-meanings depends on paraphrase
because we must use words — or other equivalent symbols —
to explain other words.” [Goddard, 1998: 18]
3.3.1.2 “When asked what a sentence means, people usually
provide another sentence that has virtually the same
meaning, a paraphrase.” [Peccei, 1999: 3]
3.3.1.3 “A sentence which expresses the same proposition
as another sentence is a paraphrase of that sentence.”
[Hurford and Heasley, 1984: 104]
3.3.1.4 “Sentences are paraphrases if they have the same
meaning (except possibly for minor differences in
emphases).” [Fromkin and Rodman, 1993: 132]
Consider the two following sentences:
(1) The girl kissed the boy.
(2) The boy was kissed by the girl.
Although there may be a difference in the emphasis in these two
sentences — in the second the emphasis is on what happened to the
boy, whereas in the first the emphasis is on what the girl did — the
meaning relations between the verb kiss and the two noun

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phrases the girl and the boy are the same in both cases, and on
this basis the two sentences are paraphrases of each other.
3.3.2 Possible ways to paraphrase a sentence
There are a variety of ways that we could paraphrase a sentence:
(1) Change individual words:
1(a) using synonyms:
Cats DRINK cream. ⇔ Domestic felines CONSUME
the liquid fat of milk.
1(b) using relational antonyms (also called converses):
I LENT that book to Jim. ⇔ Jim BORROWED that book from me.
(2) Change sentence structure:
Cats DRINK cream. ⇔ Cream IS DRUNK by cats.
(3) Change both individual words and sentence structure:
Cats DRINK cream. ⇔ The liquid fat of milk IS DRUNK
by domestic felines.
To provide a paraphrase we use our knowledge of both the
meanings of individual words and of the English grammar.

Exercise 31: The following pairs are paraphrases of each other.


Identify the way employed to paraphrase them.

1(a) The house was CONCEALED by the tree.


1(b) The house was HIDDEN by the tree.

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2(a) The needle is too short.
2(b) The needle is not long enough.

3(a) Some countries have no coastline.


3(b) Not all countries have a coastline.

4(a) Watching television is not a waste of time.


4(b) Watching television is a good way to spend one’s time.

5(a) My friend LOATHES string beans.


5(b) My pal HATES pole beans.

6(a) I’ll LOOK FOR that book right now.


6(b) I’ll SEEK FOR that book at once/immediately.

7(a) Steve HUGGED Jane.


7(b) Steve GAVE Jane a hug.

8(a) John is the parent of James.


8(b) James is the child of John.

9(a) My father OWNS this car.


9(b) This car BELONGS TO my father.

10(a) John SOLD the book to David.


10(b) David BOUGHT the book from John.

11(a) Steve HUGGED Jane.


11(b) Jane WAS HUGGED by Steve.

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12(a) We HAD hardly BEGUN our work when it rained.
12(b) Hardly HAD we BEGUN our work when it rained.

13(a) Sitting in one place for so long is very uncomfortable.


13(b) It is very uncomfortable to sit in one place for so long

14(a) I saw Ted at the party.


14(b) It was Ted that I saw at the party.

15(a) The nearest service station is 50 miles away.


15(b) It is 50 miles to the nearest service station.

16(a) Jenny and Kevin are twins.


16(b) Kevin and Jenny are twins.

17(a) They had a wonderful holiday


even though the weather was bad.
17(b) Despite/In spite of the bad weather,
they had a wonderful holiday.
17(c) They had a wonderful holiday, despite the bad weather.
17(d) They had a wonderful holiday in spite of the bad weather.

18(a) Bachelors PREFER red-haired girls.


18(b) Girls with red hair ARE PREFERRED by unmarried men.

19(a) Sam SLICED the salami with a knife.


19(b) Sam USED a knife to slice the salami.

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20(a) Considering your condition, we won’t press charges.
20(b) Under the circumstances, we won’t press charges.

21(a) The laser HAS a wide variety of applications.


21(b) As we have seen, the use of the laser IS numerous.

22(a) In order to make a good impression at a job interview,


you should prepare well for the interview.
22(b) As you can see, it is necessary to be well prepared for
the job interview.

23(a) Synonyms, words that have the same basic meaning,


do not always have the same emotional meaning.
23(b) Many so-called synonyms are not really synonyms at all.

24(a) The composition proficiency requirements as now stated


should not apply.
24(b) I would propose that the standard used to judge international
student papers be relaxed or done away with.

25(a) Although Grants Pass, Oregon, is a fairly small town,


it offers much to amuse summer visitors.
25(b) If you want to give your family a nice, wholesome
vacation, try visiting Grants Pass, Oregon.

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3.4 Entailment
3.4.1 Definition
3.4.1.1 “Entailment is a relationship that applies between two
sentences40, where the truth of one implies the truth of the
other because of the meanings of the words involved.” [Goddard,
1998: 17]
For example, John was killed entails John died. Obviously,
John died could not be true any time before it was true that John was
killed.
3.4.1.2 “An entailment is something that logically follows
from what is asserted in the utterance.” [Yule, 1996: 25]
Shirley: ‘It’s so sad. George regrets getting Mary pregnant.’
Jean: ‘But he didn’t get her pregnant. We know that now.’
In the above conversation, Jean’s utterance of ‘he didn’t get
her pregnant’ actually entails ‘George didn’t get Mary pregnant’
as a logical consequence. “The entailment (a necessary
consequence of what is said) is simply more powerful than the
presupposition (an earlier assumption41).” [Yule, 1996: 32]
3.4.1.3 “Entailments are inferences that can be drawn
solely from our knowledge about the semantic relationships

40
For brevity here, as elsewhere in the little textbook, we speak of entailment
between sentences, rather than, more strictly, between the propositions
underlying sentences.
41
Quite contrary to the entailment ‘George didn’t get Mary pregnant’ is the
earlier assumption that ‘George got Mary pregnant’.
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in a language. This knowledge allows us to communicate much
more than we actually ‘say’.” [Peccei, 1999: 14]
3.4.2 Characteristics
3.4.2.1 “Entailment applies cumulatively. Thus if X entails Y
and Y entails Z, then X entails Z.” [Hurford and Heasley, 1984: 108]
Take the following as an example:
X, Some boys ran down the street entails Y, Some kids ran
down the street.
Y, Some kids ran down the street entails Z, Some kids went
down the street.
Therefore
X, Some boys ran down the street entails Z, Some kids went
down the street.
3.4.2.2 “Hyponymy involves entailment. To say This is a
tulip entails This is a flower, and This is scarlet entails This is
red.” [Palmer, 1981: 87] The relation between tulip and flower
and between scarlet and red brings out the HIERARCHICAL
CLASSIFICATION involved in hyponymy.

3.4.3 Types of entailment


There are two types of entailment:
(i) One-way entailment:
The entailments of this first type come about because of
hyponymic relations between words:
Ex1. Alfred saw a bear asymmetrically entails Alfred saw an animal.
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If Alfred saw a bear then he necessarily saw an animal; but if
Alfred saw an animal, he could have seen a bear but not
necessarily. It could be a big bad wolf, for example.
Ex2. Max ate the pizza asymmetrically entails
Max did something to the pizza.
Since the meaning do something to is found in eat, the
sentence Max ate the pizza asymmetrically entails Max did
something to the pizza; but if Max did something to the pizza,
he could have eaten it but not necessarily. He could have baked
or bought it, for example.
(ii) Two-way entailment42:
The entailments between a pair of sentences are mutual since
the truth of either sentence guarantees the truth of the other.
Ex1. Paul borrowed a car from Sue symmetrically entails
Sue lent a car to Paul.
Ex2. The police chased the burglar symmetrically entails
The burglar was chased by the police.
It is interesting to notice that  hyponymic relations
between words result in a great number of one-way
entailments;  paraphrases are two-way entailments; and 
relational pairs of antonyms such as sell--buy, lend--borrow,
own--belong to, etc. do contribute to two-way entailments.

Two-way entailment is also referred as mutual entailment by Peccei [1999: 12].


42
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Exercise 32: Use ⇒ to show one-way entailment and ⇔ to show
two-way entailment in each of the following pairs of
sentences:
1(a) John is a bachelor. 11(a) Eliza plays the flute.
1(b) John is a man. 11(b) Someone/Eliza plays a musical instrument.

2(a) I’m wearing black boots. 12(a) Alan planted roses.


2(b)I’m wearing black footwear. 12(b) Someone/Alan planted flowers.

3(a) Mary owns three houses. 13(a) All dogs have fleas.
3(b) Mary owns a house. 13(b) My dog has fleas./Some dogs have fleas.

4(a) Alvin is Mary’s husband. 14(a) My uncle teaches at the community college.
4(b) Mary is married. 14(b) My uncle is a teacher.

5(a) The wolf killed the bear. 15(a) My pet cobra likes the taste of chocolate.
5(b) The bear is dead. 15(b) My pet cobra finds chocolate tasty.

6(a) My father owns this car. 16(a) The Jones sold their house to the Cruses.
6(b) This car belongs to my father. 16(b) The Cruses bought the house from the Jones.

7(a) I gave Erin the summons. 17(a) Some countries have no coastline.
7(b) I gave the summons to Erin. 17(b) Not all countries have a coastline.

8(a) John is the parent of James. 18(a) I saw Ted at the party.
8(b) James is the child of John. 18(b) It was Ted that I saw at the party.

9(a) Jenny and Kevin are twins. 19(a) It is 50 miles to the nearest service station.
9(b) Kevin and Jenny are twins. 19(b) The nearest service station is 50 miles away.

10(a) The bear killed the wolf. 20(a) Bachelors prefer red-haired girls.
10(b) The wolf was killed 20(b) Girls with red hair are preferred
by the bear by unmarried men.

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Exercise 33: What sense relation holds between the two
sentences in each of the following pairs:
1(a) Tom is married to Mary. 6(a) Jim is fatter than Ed
1(b) Mary is married to Tom. and Ed is fatter than Bob.
6(b) Jim is fatter than Bob.

2(a) John is the father of Neil. 7(a) Some of the students came to my party.
2(b) Neil is the father of John. 7(b) Not all of the students came to my party.

3(a) Dick is a bachelor. 8(a) The fly was over the wall.
3(b) Dick is a man. 8(b) The wall was under the fly.

4(a) Gina plays tennis. 9(a) Jane is a spinster.


4(b) Someone/Gina plays sports. 9(b) Jane is married.

5(a) Kevin boiled an egg. 10(a) The beetle is alive.


5(b) Kevin cooked an egg. 10(b) The beetle is dead.

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Section
UTTERANCE MEANING
4

“UTTERANCE MEANING is what a speaker means when


he makes an utterance in a particular situation.” [Hurford and
Heasley, 1984: 269]

4.1 Presupposition43
4.1.1 Definition and characteristics
4.1.1.1 Presupposition is “what a speaker or writer
assumes that the receiver of the message already knows.”
[Richards et al, 1987: 228] Thus, ‘John doesn’t write poems
anymore’ presupposes that John once wrote poetry. And
‘Would you like another beer?’ presupposes that the person called
you here has already had at least one beer.
4.1.1.2 “Presuppositions are inferences about what is
assumed to be true in the utterance rather than directly
asserted to be true:
‘Faye has looked for the keys’ directly asserts Faye has
looked for the keys

43
“It is proved very difficult for authors in the area to agree on a definition for it. This
definition problem is partly a reflection of the fuzzy boundary between pragmatics
and semantics.” [Peccei, 1999: 19]
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‘Where has Faye looked for the keys? ’ presupposes Faye
has looked for the keys
‘Annie has a sofa’ directly asserts Annie has a sofa
‘Don’t sit on Annie’s sofa’ presupposes Annie has a sofa.”
[Peccei, 1999: 19]
4.1.1.3 “Speakers often make implicit assumptions about
the real world, and the sense of an utterance may depend on
those assumptions, which some linguists term
presuppositions. ” [Fromkin and Rodman, 1993: 161]
44

In the following dialogue, for example, both A and B know (1)


who Simon and Monica are; that (2) Simon has a vehicle, most
probably a car; and that (3) Monica has no vehicle at the moment.
A: ‘What about inviting Simon tonight?’
B: ‘What a good idea; then he can give Monica a lift.’
4.1.1.4 Presuppositions can be used to communicate
information indirectly. If someone says My brother is rich, we assume
that the person has a brother, even though that fact is not
explicitly stated. Much of the information that is exchanged in a
conversation or discourse is of this kind. Often, after a conversation
has ended, we will realize that some fact imparted to us was not
specifically mentioned. That fact is often a presupposition.

44
“Other linguists describe the same phenomenon as implication. Presupposition
is used here because it seems to be more widely accepted usage.” [Fromkin
et al, 1990: 193]
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