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LI2: Structures and Meanings: Topics

The document discusses the compositionality of language, emphasizing how sentences are structured and the importance of syntax in organizing words to convey complex meanings. It introduces semantics, which explores how meaning arises from word combinations, and pragmatics, which examines additional meanings derived from context. The paper outlines topics to be covered in lectures related to structures and meanings in language, including formal approaches, syntax, and the interplay between lexical and utterance meanings.

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Traian Ivanescu
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2 views1 page

LI2: Structures and Meanings: Topics

The document discusses the compositionality of language, emphasizing how sentences are structured and the importance of syntax in organizing words to convey complex meanings. It introduces semantics, which explores how meaning arises from word combinations, and pragmatics, which examines additional meanings derived from context. The paper outlines topics to be covered in lectures related to structures and meanings in language, including formal approaches, syntax, and the interplay between lexical and utterance meanings.

Uploaded by

Traian Ivanescu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LI2: Structures and Meanings

A fundamental property of language - one which gives it its enormous power and flexibility - is
its 'compositionality', the building of larger elements (such as sentences) out of smaller
(words).

Sentences are not random strings of words. Languages impose limitations on the order in
which they can be placed (in English statements, the verb normally comes after the subject,
whereas in Japanese it goes at the end of the sentence).

Equally importantly, the sentence is associated with an abstract structure, which for instance
defines a position in the sentence where we can put John in John left for Moscow today or
equivalently a much more complex expression fulfilling the same role in the sentence, as in
That student we met in Bonn last year and who's been visiting us left for Moscow today.

Syntax, the level of linguistic description which deals with the structure of sentences, the
order of elements within them, and the relations between the elements, is introduced in this
paper.

The purpose of combining words is to convey complex meanings, and the study of how
language conveys meaning is semantics. It is concerned with the meaning of individual words
- for instance 'deictic' terms such as today in the sentence above which can only be fully
interpreted in the context of utterance - but also crucially with how meaning arises from the
combination of words and yet is more than a simple function of the meaning of the individual
words.

Semantics is closely related to pragmatics, which deals with the additional meanings that a
hearer can draw from an utterance, in its context, beyond that conveyed directly by the words.
For instance How old were you when you passed your driving test? presupposes that you
have already passed it; and I'm so thirsty this afternoon! may be an indirect way of requesting
a drink.

Both semantics and pragmatics, like syntax, differ between languages and cultures. Even
common phenomena such as time are expressed in different ways; and yet the semanticist,
like the syntactician, seeks general cognitive principles which accommodate these
differences.

Topics:

The paper begins with an introduction to formal approaches to language. For Structures the
lectures will visit topics such as categories and constituents, phrase-structure rules and
constituency tests, X'-theory, Wh-movement, pronouns, binding and c-command, syntax
beyond English and the architecture of the grammar.

For Meanings lectures will discuss lexical meaning, theta-roles, sentence meaning and truth,
Quantification, utterance meaning and speaker’s intentions and politeness.

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