ENG508 MIDS SHORT NOTES

Lesson no 1
Topic-001: Definition of Semantics and Pragmatics Learning Theories

Semantics: Semantics is like the detective work of language. It's all about understanding the
literal, grammatical meaning of words and how they're organized to express ideas. In other
words, it's about figuring out what words conventionally mean, regardless of who's saying them
or where they're being said. Semantics helps us explore the relationships between words, signs,
and what they represent.

Pragmatics: Pragmatics is like the interpreter of meaning in communication. It's not just about
what's said or written, but also about what's implied or understood. Pragmatics deals with the
invisible meaning behind words, like understanding someone's tone, intention, or context. It
involves considering background knowledge and cultural differences to interpret meaning
accurately. Pragmatics focuses on how language is used to achieve communicative goals and
how linguistic forms relate to their communicative functions.

In simpler terms:

- Semantics: Literal meaning of words and how they're organized.

- Pragmatics: Understanding implied meaning and how language is used in context.

Topic – 002: The Borderline between Semantics and Pragmatics

Semantics: Semantics focuses on the literal meaning of words and how they combine to create
meaning within phrases and sentences. It deals with the contribution made to meaning by the
meanings of individual words and how they interact grammatically. For example, lexical
semantics examines the meaning of individual words, while compositional semantics looks at
how these meanings combine to form larger units of meaning, like phrases and sentences.

Pragmatics: Pragmatics, on the other hand, is concerned with the inferred or implied meaning of
language in context. It goes beyond the literal meaning of words to consider how language is
used in real-life situations and how meaning is influenced by factors such as tone, context, and
speaker intention. Pragmatics looks at what is conveyed by a particular utterance of a phrase by a
speaker in a specific context.

In simpler terms:

- Semantics: Focuses on the literal meaning of words and how they combine grammatically.
- Pragmatics: Considers the inferred or implied meaning of language in context, including
factors like tone, context, and speaker intention.

The boundary between semantics and pragmatics lies at the division between the literal meaning
of words (semantics) and the inferred meaning influenced by context and speaker intention
(pragmatics).

Topic – 003 Sentences and Utterances

Sentences and Utterances:

- Sentences: Sentences are like blueprints for communication. They're abstract linguistic
structures that represent ideas and meaning, but they don't exist in the physical world. They're
made up of words combined in specific ways to convey meaning. For example, "The cat sat on
the mat" is a sentence.

- Utterances: Utterances are like the spoken or written manifestations of sentences. They're the
actual instances of someone saying or writing a sentence in a specific context. Utterances have
physical properties like sound waves or ink on paper and occur in a particular time and place. For
example, when someone says "The cat sat on the mat" out loud, that's an utterance.

In simpler terms:

- Sentences: Abstract linguistic structures representing meaning.

- Utterances: Actual instances of speaking or writing sentences in real life.

Topic 004: Language and Logic:

- Language: Language is like a tool we use to express and communicate ideas. It's made up of
words and rules for combining them to convey meaning. Language can be spoken, written, or
signed, and it allows us to share thoughts and information with others.

- Logic: Logic is like the rulebook for reasoning and making sense of ideas. It's concerned with
how ideas relate to each other and can be combined to form new ideas with confidence.
Logicians use propositions, which are the basic units of logical analysis. Propositions are the
meanings expressed by declarative sentences, and their logical meaning is determined by the
principle of compositionality, which says that the meaning of a whole proposition is made up of
the meanings of its parts.

In simpler terms:

- Language: Tool for expressing and communicating ideas.

- Logic: Rulebook for reasoning and making sense of ideas, using propositions as basic units of
analysis.

Topic – 005 The Explicit and the Implicit

Pragmatists are curious about situations where what someone means is different from what their
words directly say. They call what someone means beyond their words "implicit meaning" and
what their words directly say "explicit meaning."

When there's a gap between implicit and explicit meaning, it's because there are unwritten rules,
or "pragmatic principles," that both speakers and listeners follow to understand each other.
Pragmatists want to figure out what these principles are and why people rely so much on implicit
meaning.

Usually, implicit meaning adds extra layers of information beyond what's literally said, and the
literal meaning doesn't fully capture everything being conveyed. So, in a way, words alone don't
always tell the whole story.

Lesson 2
Topic – 006 Semantics in Linguistics

1. What is Semantics?

- Semantics is all about studying meanings in language.

- It includes understanding different aspects of language but doesn't have one simple definition.

2. What does Semantics cover?

- Semantics looks at how words are pronounced, how sentences are constructed, and what they
mean.

3. Why is Semantics Important in Linguistics?

- In linguistics, we try to understand how people know and use language. Semantics helps us
understand the meaning behind what people say.

4. Connections with Other Fields:

- Semantics isn't just about linguistics; it's also linked to philosophy and psychology.

- These fields also explore how meanings are created and communicated.

5. Individual Meanings:

- It's important to note that everyone might have their own meaning for something.
 - Semantics doesn't always cover individual interpretations; it focuses on broader patterns and
understanding.

In a nutshell, semantics helps us understand the meaning behind language and its connection to
other fields like philosophy and psychology, but it doesn't always cover personal interpretations
of meaning.

Topic – 007 Semantics in a Model of Grammar

1. Palmer (1997) on the structure of language:

- Imagine language as a spectrum. On one end, you have the meanings of words and phrases
(semantics), and on the other end, you have the sounds of speech (phonetics).

- In the middle of this spectrum sits grammar, which organizes how words and phrases are put
together to form meaningful sentences.

2. Saeed (2004) on word, phrase, and sentence meanings:

- Words have meanings, and so do phrases and sentences.

- The key difference is in productivity. Productivity means how easily new linguistic elements
can be created.

- It's relatively easy to create new words, but not as common to create new phrases or
sentences.

3. Chomsky's view on sentence formation and generative grammar:

- Chomsky talks about how sentences are formed creatively by speakers.

- Generative grammar is a theory that explains how speakers can create an infinite number of
sentences using a finite set of words.

- This theory relies on recursive rules, which means rules that allow parts of a sentence to be
repeated or combined in various ways. This flexibility enables the creation of many different
sentences from a limited set of words.

In simple terms, these points explain how language works, from the meanings of words to the
formation of sentences, and how grammar plays a central role in organizing it all.

Topic – 008 Historical Semantics

Let's simplify and explain each point:

1. Semantic Changes according to Palmer (1997):

- The term "semantics" originally referred to the development and alteration of meanings in
language.

- There are various reasons why meanings of words change over time:

- Generalization of meaning: For instance, the word "arrive" comes from Latin "arripare,"
which originally meant "movement ending at the banks of a river," but its meaning generalized
over time.

- Specialization of meaning: For example, the word "girl" originally meant "children in
general" but became restricted to refer to "female children" only.

- Fortuitous changes: Sometimes, changes happen coincidentally. For instance, "money" is

related to Latin "moneo" (warn) because coins were made in the temple of the goddess Juno
Moneta in Rome.

- Changes due to new needs: The word "car" was once an obsolete term for "chariot" until
the invention of the motor-car created a need for a new word.

- Taboo: Certain words related to unpleasant topics might be replaced frequently. For
example, English has used terms like "privy," "lavatory," "toilet," "bathroom," "loo," etc., over
time.

2. Historical Linguistics and Comparative Philology:

- Historical linguistics or comparative philology aims to reconstruct the history of languages

and establish relationships between languages that seem to have a common origin.

3. Etymology and Diachronic Study of Language:

- Etymology is the study of the origin and usage of words, including their previous meanings or
predecessors.

- Etymological dictionaries aim to provide the most recent origin of each word.

- It's important to study language synchronically (at a particular point in time) before delving
into its diachronic study (how it changes over time) because we need to understand the
language's current state before analyzing its historical changes.

These points illustrate how language evolves over time, influenced by various factors like
societal needs, cultural shifts, and linguistic usage.
Topic – 009 Semantics in other Disciplines

1. Semantics Beyond Linguistics:

- Semantics isn't just studied by linguists; it's also of interest to philosophers, anthropologists,
and psychologists.

2. Philosophical Interest in Semantics:

- Some philosophers believe that studying ordinary language can help solve philosophical
problems, like understanding concepts such as "good" and "evil" in moral philosophy.

- Traditional logic also deals with semantics, using concepts like "and" and "or" found in
ordinary language.

3. Anthropological Perspective on Language:

- Anthropologists see language as a crucial part of people's cultural and behavioral patterns.
Linguists should consider this aspect.

- Malinowski emphasized the importance of understanding language within its context of use
or situation.

4. Psycholinguistics:

- Psycholinguistics examines how we process language during both its production and
reception.

- Behaviorist analyses of meaning, influenced by psychologists, have been proposed. Charles

Morris, in his book "Sign, Language and Behavior" (1946), focused on signs and their meanings
or significance.

These points highlight how semantics intersects with various disciplines beyond linguistics,
demonstrating its relevance to understanding human thought, behavior, and culture.

Topic – 10 Semantics and Semiotics

1. Linguistic Meaning and Semiotics:

- Linguistic meaning is a specialized aspect of human communication, which involves using

signs to convey meanings.

- For example, traffic lights use colors to instruct and warn drivers, showing how signs convey
meaning beyond language.

- Linguistic meaning is considered fundamentally different from other forms of

communication.
2. Semiotics and Linguistics:

- Scholars, such as Ferdinand de Saussure, see linguistics as a part of semiotics, the study of
sign systems.

- Semioticians explore the relationship between signs and the objects or concepts they
represent.

- Saussure distinguished between the signifier (the material thing conveying meaning) and the
signified (the concept it refers to), which together make up meaning.

3. Important Terminologies in Semiotics:

- Signifier: Any material thing that conveys meaning, like words on a page, facial expressions,
or images.

- Signified: The concept or idea that a signifier refers to.

- Sign: The smallest unit of meaning that can be used to communicate.

4. Types of Signs according to C. S. Peirce:

- C. S. Peirce categorized signs into three types: Icon, Index, and Symbol.

- Iconic Signs: Signs where the signifier resembles the signified, like a picture representing its
real-life subject.

- Indexical Signs: Signs where the signifier is caused by the signified, creating a connection
between them.

These points help us understand how language fits into the broader study of semiotics and the
different types of signs that convey meaning in various ways.

Lesson 3
Topic – 11 Reference and Sense

1. **Reference**: When we talk about reference, we're talking about the connection between a
word and the thing it represents in the real world. For example, when you say "dog," you're
referring to an actual dog that exists somewhere. It's like pointing to something real. So,
reference is about how words connect to things or ideas outside of language.

2. **Sense**: Sense, on the other hand, is more about the meaning of a word within the language
itself, regardless of any specific real-world thing. It's like understanding the word "dog" in terms
of how it relates to other words in the language, like "pet" or "animal." So, sense is about the
relationships between words within the language, without considering the actual things they refer
to.
In simple terms, reference is about words connecting to real things, while sense is about how
words relate to each other within the language itself.

Topic – 12 Utterance, Sentence and Proposition

1. Proposition:

- What is it? A proposition is essentially a statement that can be either true or false, about
something in the external world.

- Example: "The sky is blue."

- Importance: It's the basic unit of language meaning, representing an idea or assertion.

2. Sentence:

- What is it? A sentence is a grammatically correct arrangement of words that expresses a

complete thought or idea.

- Example: "The cat sat on the mat."

- Importance: Sentences convey more complex meanings and can consist of one or more
propositions.

3. Utterance:

- What is it? An utterance is any spoken or written expression produced by a speaker or writer
in a specific context.

- Example: "I am reading the novel."

- Importance: Utterances are the most concrete level of language, reflecting the actual use of
language in real-life situations.

In summary, a proposition is the basic idea expressed by language, a sentence is a grammatically

complete expression, and an utterance is the actual use of language in context. Each concept
plays a different role in understanding and communicating meaning.

Topic – 13 Activities on Utterance, Sentence and Proposition

Utterance Practice:

(1) 'Hello' - Yes (2) 'Not much' - Yes (3) Utterances may consist of a single word, a single
phrase, or a single sentence. - Yes (4) They may also consist of a sequence of sentences. - Yes
(5) It is also not unusual to find utterances that consist of one or more grammatically incomplete
sentence-fragments. - Yes (6) No simple relation of correspondence between utterances and
sentences. - Yes

Sentence Practice:

(1) Fred: "In 1832, Goethe died." (2) Guest: "I would like coffee, please." (3) B: "Wellington
won the battle of Waterloo."

Topic – 14 Literal and Non-Literal Meaning

:1. Literal Meanings:

- Definition: Literal meanings are the straightforward, dictionary definitions of words. They
represent the objective, factual descriptions of the word's reference in the real world.

- Example: Saying "I am hungry" or "I am starving" in a neutral, factually accurate way.

- Characteristics:

- They are obtained from dictionaries or common societal understanding.

- They describe things in a straightforward and accurate manner.

- Also known as conventional or conceptual meanings.

2. Non-Literal Meanings:

- Definition: Non-literal meanings involve using language in a way that goes beyond the
straightforward, factual description. Speakers deliberately use exaggerated, untrue, or impossible
terms to create special effects.

- Example: Saying "I could eat a horse" to express extreme hunger or "my stomach is
screaming for food" to vividly convey hunger.

- Characteristics:

- Deliberately deviate from literal interpretations.

- Employ various rhetorical devices like metaphor, irony, metonymy, etc.

- Also known as figurative or symbolic meanings.

In summary, literal meanings adhere closely to the dictionary definitions and factual
descriptions, while non-literal meanings involve using language creatively to achieve specific
effects, often through exaggeration or metaphorical expressions.

Topic – 15 Semantics and Pragmatics

Let's simplify the three schools of thought regarding the distinction between semantics and
pragmatics:

1.Semanticism:

- Definition: Semanticism is a school of thought that emphasizes semantics as the primary

focus of linguistics.

- Key Points:

- It considers only semantics, morphology, and syntax as pure linguistics fields.

- Pragmatics is excluded from pure linguistics because it's seen as subjective and not based on
logical rules.

- Semanticists believe that language meaning can be interpreted solely through the literal
meanings of words and structures.

2. Pragmatism:

- Definition: Pragmatism argues that pragmatics is essential for understanding real

communication.

- Key Points

- Pragmatists assert that semantics alone is insufficient for understanding language use.

- They believe that pragmatics, which considers context, intention, and social factors, is
crucial for interpreting language meaning accurately.

- Without pragmatics, meaning would be partial and incomplete.

3. Integrationist Approach:

- Definition: This school of thought advocates for the integration of both semantics and
pragmatics.

- Key Points:

- It acknowledges the importance of both semantics and pragmatics in understanding

language.
 - Semantics is seen as dealing with literal meanings, while pragmatics handles non-literal or
contextual meanings.

- By combining the two, a fuller understanding of language meaning can be achieved.

- Semantics focuses on sentence meaning, while pragmatics focuses on speaker meaning

within social contexts.

In summary, semanticism prioritizes semantics over pragmatics; pragmatism highlights the

importance of pragmatics in real communication, and the integrationist approach advocates for
considering both semantics and pragmatics for a comprehensive understanding of language
meaning.