M2 session 4 slides Sense and Sense Relations

LINGUISTICS 2
M2 SESSION 4
INSTRUCTOR: LE NGUYEN NHU ANH

CONTENTS
Sense and sense properties
Sense relations (1) Identity and similarity of
sense
Sense relations (2) Oppositeness and
dissimilarity of sense and ambiguity

SENSE
The SENSE of an expression is its indispensable
hard core of meaning.
The sense is associated with words and sentences
by the language system, and NOT the speaker
meaning specifically associated with utterances
made by speakers on particular occasions.
This definition deliberately excludes any influence
of context or situation of utterance on the senses
of expressions.
The sense of an expression can be thought of as
the sum of its sense properties and sense
relations with other expressions.
Three important sense properties of sentences:
analytic, synthetic, and contradictory.

SENSE
An ANALYTIC sentence is one that is necessarily
TRUE, as a result of the senses of the words in it.
An analytic sentence, therefore, reflects a tacit
(unspoken) agreement by speakers of the language
about the senses of the words in it.
Example:
All elephants are animals.

SENSE PROPERTIES
A SYNTHETIC sentence is one which is NOT
analytic, but may be either true or false,
depending on the way the world is.
Example:
John is from Ireland.

SENSE PROPERTIES
Label the following sentences either T for true,
F for false, or D for don’t know, as appropriate.
(a) Cats are animals T / F / D
(b) Bachelors are unmarried T / F / D
(c) Cats never live more than 20 years T / F / D
(d) Bachelors cannot form lasting relationships T / F / D
(e) Cats are not vegetables T / F / D
(f) Bachelors are male T / F / D
(g) No cat likes to bathe T / F / D
(h) Bachelors are lonely T / F / D

SENSE PROPERTIES
Label the following sentences either T for true,
F for false, or D for don’t know, as appropriate.
(a) Cats are animals T / F / D
(b) Bachelors are unmarried T / F / D
(c) Cats never live more than 20 years T / F / D
(d) Bachelors cannot form lasting relationships T / F / D
(e) Cats are not vegetables T / F / D
(f) Bachelors are male T / F / D
(g) No cat likes to bathe T / F / D
(h) Bachelors are lonely T / F / D
analytic
analytic
analytic
analytic
synthetic
synthetic
synthetic
synthetic

SENSE PROPERTIES
X
X
X
X
X
X
• Analytic sentences are always true (necessarily so, by
virtue of the senses of the words in them)
• Synthetic sentences can be sometimes true, sometimes
false, depending on the circumstances.

SENSE PROPERTIES
A CONTRADICTION is a sentence that is
necessarily FALSE, as a result of the senses
of the words in it.
A contradiction is in a way the opposite of an
analytic sentence.
Example:
This animal is a vegetable.

SENSE PROPERTIES
X
X
X
X
X
X
Analytic sentences can be formed from contradictions, and
vice versa, by the insertion or removal, as appropriate, of the
negative particle word NOT.

SENSE PROPERTIES
Analyticity, syntheticity, and contradiction are
sense properties of sentences.
Example:
That man is human has the sense property of
analyticity (or of being analytic).
That man is tall has the sense property of
syntheticity (or of being synthetic).
That man is a woman has the sense property
of being a contradiction.

SENSE RELATIONS: Identity and
similarity of sense
SYNONYMY is the relationship between to
predicates that have the same sense.
Example:
In most dialects of English, stubborn and obstinate
are synonyms.
In many dialects, brigand and bandit are synonyms.
In many dialects, mercury and quicksilver are
synonyms.

similarity of sense
Synonymy is a relation between predicates,
and not between words (i.e. word-forms).
Recall that a word may have many different
senses;
Each distinct sense of a word is a predicate.

similarity of sense
A sentence which expresses the same proposition
as another sentence is a PARAPHRASE of that
sentence (assuming the same referents for any
referring expressions involved).
Paraphrase is to SENTENCES (on individual
interpretations)
SYNONYMY is to PREDICATES
Example:
Bachelors prefer redhaired girls
is a paraphrase of
Girls with red hair are preferred by unmarried
men.

similarity of sense
HYPONYMY is a sense relation between
predicates (or sometimes longer phrases)
such that the meaning of one predicate (or
phrase) is included in the meaning of the
other.
Example:
The meaning of red is included in the meaning of
scarlet.
Red is the superordinate term; scarlet is a hyponym
of red (scarlet is a kind of red).
=> The superordinate term is more abstract,
general, or schematic than its hyponyms.

similarity of sense
Given two synonyms, such as mercury and
quicksilver, we say for convenience that these
also illustrate the hyponymy relationship, and
that mercury and quicksilver are hyponyms of
each other.
⇒Thus SYNONYMY can be seen as a special
case of HYPONYMY, i.e. SYMMETRICAL
HYPONYMY.
⇒If X is a hyponym of Y and if Y is also a
hyponym of X, then X and Y are synonymous.

similarity of sense
A proposition X ENTAILS a proposition Y if the
truth of Y follows necessarily from the truth of X.
A SENTENCE expressing proposition X entails a
sentence expressing proposition Y if the truth of Y
follows necessarily from the truth of X.
Example:
John ate all the kippers (X) entails Someone ate
something (Y).
John killed Bill (X) entails Bill died (Y).

similarity of sense

similarity of sense
Entailment applies cumulatively. Thus if X entails Y and
Y entails Z, then X entails Z.
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.

similarity of sense
Two sentences may be said to be
PARAPHRASES of each other if and only if
they have exactly the same set of
ENTAILMENTS; or, which comes to the same
thing, if and only if they mutually entail each
other so that whenever one is true the other
must also be true.

similarity of sense
Relation
between pairs
of sentences
Relation
between pairs
of words
Not necessarily
symmetric
(i.e. can be
‘one-way’)
ENTAILMENT HYPONYMY
Symmetric (i.e.
‘both ways’)
PARAPHRASE SYNONYMY

similarity of sense
Given two sentences A and B, identical in every
way except that A contains a word X where B
contains a different word Y, and X is a hyponym
of Y, then sentence A entails sentence B.

A B
• Tulip
• Sheep
• Steal
• Square
• Flower
• Animal
• Take
• Rectangular
• Henry was chewing a tulip
• Denis got savaged by a
sheep
• David stole a pound of
beef
• Mary climbed through a
square hole in the roof
• Henry was chewing a
flower
• Denis got savaged by an
animal
• David took a pound of
beef
• Mary climbed through a
rectangular hole in the roof
hole in the roof
If A is true, B must be true

similarity of sense
Given two negative sentences A and B,
identical in every way except that A contains a
word X where B contains a different word Y,
and X is a hyponym of Y, then sentence B
entails sentence A.

A B
• Tulip
• Sheep
• Steal
• Square
• Flower
• Animal
• Take
• Rectangular
• Henry was NOT chewing a
tulip
• Denis didn’t get savaged by
a sheep
• David didn’t steal a pound
of beef
• Mary didn’t climb through a
square hole in the roof
• Henry was NOT chewing a
flower
• Denis didn’t get savaged by
an animal
• David didn’t take a pound
of beef
• Mary didn’t climb through a
rectangular hole in the roof
hole in the roof
If B is true, A must be true

A B
• Tulip
• Sheep
• Square
• Flower
• Animal
• Rectangular
• Henry chewed up all my
tulips
• All Denis’s sheep have
foot-root
• Mary coloured all the
square shapes purple
• Henry chewed up all my
flowers
• All Denis’ animals have
foot-root
• Mary coloured all the
rectangular shapes purple
B entails A only when the set of things referred to by the
phrase including all actually exists.

similarity of sense
The presence of gradable words upsets the
normal relationship between hyponymy and
entailment.
A B
• John saw a big mouse
• A tall pygmy came in
• We went in a small bus
• That was an expensive
sandwich
• John saw a big animal
• A tall person came in
• We went in a small vehicle
• That was an expensive
meal

SENSE RELATIONS: Oppositeness and
BINARY ANTONYMS are predicates which
come in pairs and between them exhaust all
the relevant possibilities.
If the one predicate is applicable, then the
other cannot be, and vice versa.
A predicate is a binary antonym of another
predicate if it entails the negative of the other
predicate.
Example:
true and false are binary antonyms.

If a predicate describes a relationship between
two things (or people) and some other
predicate describes the same relationship
when the two things (or people) are mentioned
in the opposite order, then the two predicates
are CONVERSES of each other.
Example:
Parent and child are converses, because X is
the parent of Y (one order) describes the same
situation (relationship) as Y is the child of X
(opposite order).

Season system
4
Physical-state system
Three: liquid, solid, gas
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, …
North, East, South, West

Systems of MULTIPLE INCOMPATIBILITY:
All the terms are mutually incompatible
Together, the members of a system cover all
the relevant area
Many are open-ended
Example: Systems of
-English colour words
-English names of plants
-English names of metals

Two predicates are GRADABLE ANTONYMS if they
are at opposite ends of a continuous scale of
values (a scale which typically varies according to
the context of use).
Example:
Hot and cold are gradable antonyms.
Between hot and cold is a continuous scale of
values, which may be given names such as
warm, cool, or tepid. What is called hot in one
context (e.g. of oven temperatures in a recipe
book) could well be classed as cold in another
context (e.g. the temperatures of stars).

A good test for gradability, i.e. having a value on some
continuous scale, as gradable antonyms do, is to see
whether a word can combine with very, or very much, or
how? or how much?

A proposition is a CONTRADICTORY of another
proposition if it is impossible for them both to be
true at the same time and of the same
circumstances.
A sentence expressing one proposition is a
CONTRADICTORY of a sentence expressing
another proposition if it is impossible for both
propositions to be true at the same time and of
the same circumstances.
A sentence CONTRADICTS another sentence if it
entails the negation of the other sentence.
Example:
This beetle is alive is a contradictory of This beetle
is dead.

A word or sentence is AMBIGUOUS when it
has more than one sense.
A sentence is AMBIGUOUS if it has two (or
more) paraphrases which are not themselves
paraphrases of each other.
Example:
We saw her duck
⇒We saw her lower her head
⇒We saw the duck belonging to her

The chicken is ready to be eaten
The chicken is ready to eat some food
It can be boring to visit relatives
Relatives who are visiting can be boring
They passed the seaport at midnight
They passed the port wine at midnight
It was crouching under the table that bothered Bill
The creature that bothered Bill was crouching under the table
The captain corrected the inventory
The captain corrected the tilt

In the case of words and phrases, a word or
phrase is AMBIGUOUS if it has two (or more)
SYNONYMS that are not themselves synonyms
of each other.
Example:
Trunk is synonymous with elephant’s
proboscis and with chest, but these two are
not synonyms of each other, so trunk is
ambiguous.

A case of HOMONYMY is one of an ambiguous
word whose different senses are far apart from
each other and not obviously related to each other
in any way with respect to a native speaker’s
intuition.
Cases of homonymy seem very definitely to be
matters of mere accident or coincidence.
Example:
Mug (drinking vessel vs gullible person)
Bank (financial institution vs the side of a river or
stream)
There is no obvious conceptual connection
between the two meanings of either word.

A case of POLYSEMY is one where a word has
several very closely related senses.
A native speaker of the language has clear
intuitions that the different senses are
related to each other in some way.
Example:
Mouth (of a river vs of an animal)

A sentence which is ambiguous because its
words relate to each other in different ways,
even though none of the individual words are
ambiguous, is STRUCTURALLY (or
GRAMMATICALLY) AMBIGUOUS.
Example:
The chicken is ready to eat.

Any ambiguity resulting from the ambiguity of
a word is a LEXICAL AMBIGUITY.
Example:
The captain corrected the list.

M2 session 4 slides Sense and Sense Relations

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