What is an utterance,

a sentence, a proposition?
Give examples
01 UTTERANCE
 UTTERANCE
Definition
An Utterance is any sound of talk, an act of saying, that a human
produces. By one person, before and after which there is silence on the
part of that person.

An utterance is used by a particular speaker, on a particular occasion, of a

piece of languages, such as a sequence of sentences, or a single phrase, or
even a single word.
 UTTERANCE

Example
a. “Hello" , "Not much" are utterances
b. He said "Good morning, I want to tell about the high
suicide rate in the area ....Let me start with some
statistics .... As you can see".
 UTTERANCE
An utterance is used by a particular speaker, on a particular occasion, of a
piece of languages, such as a sequence of sentences, or a single phrase, or
even a single word.

For example: For example:

A: “I like apples” “zgahabser”
B: “I like apples” => an utterance but not English.
C: “I like apples”
=> utterances
 The Characteristics of Utterance

• It is spoken, not in writing

• Physical event. Events are ephemeral (ex: short-lived)
• Maybe grammatical or not, utterances do not focus on the
grammatical aspect.
• A piece of language a single phrase or even a single word)
• Meaningful or meaningless (ex: "is")
• Identified by a specific time or on a particular occasion
02 SENTENCE
 SENTENCE

Definition
A sentence is a grammatically complete string of words expressing
a complete thought
This excludes any string of words that does not have a verb in it, as
well as other strings. A sentence is a complete expression in a
language
 SENTENCE
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 the order, makes a different sentence, of our purposes

For example: Sincerity may frighten the boy

Sincerity may frighten the boy
=> the same sentence
Hellen rolled up the carpet
Hellen rolled the carpet up
=> different sentence
 SENTENCE
Maybe in the form of a single phrase or word

For example:

“Five”
as an answer to the question:
“How many languages can you speak?”
implies the clause:
“I can speak five languages”
 SENTENCE
Any set of words without a verb is neglected from being a
fully formed sentence
For example:

I would like a cup of coffee (a sentence)

Coffee, please (not a sentence)
In the kitchen (not a sentence)
Please put it in the kitchen (a sentence)
 The Characteristics of Sentence
• It depends on individual words that make it up
• The meaning of the sentence could be the sum of the meaning
of its words
• Sentences are not tied to a particular time and place
• Sentences focus on grammatical rules.
03 PROPOSITION
 PROPOSITION
Definition
A proposition is that part of the meaning of the utterance of a declarative
sentence that describes some state of affairs.
Can be expressed in different sentences but keeps the original message.
Example:
John ate the apple => active
The apple was eaten by John => passive
 PROPOSITION
Definition
The notion of truth can be used to decide whether two sentences express
different propositions. True propositions correspond to facts, in the ordinary
sense of the word fact. False propositions do not correspond to facts.
Example 1:
Two plus two makes five => false proposition, not reflect the true fact
Example 2:
John makes a cup of coffee
John fait une tasse de café
John pha một ly cà phê
=> Different sentences in different languages have the same proposition
Differences between utterance, sentence, proposition