Scope of Semantics

Semantics
ENG-263
Lecture 1b
“What is the importance of the Semantics”
By : Muhammad Asif Khan

Lecturer Department of English
KUST
Course: Semantics ENG- 263-Instructor: Muhammad Asif Khan, Lecturer. Department of English,KUST—Email:arshiyan512@yahoo.com
Topic: a
Discussion Agenda
a
Topic:
Introduction
• In this lecture we will discuss two main things
– first one is the importance of semantics to Language
• and I'm sure you all know why this is a capital L
– second thing we're going to talk about is
• types of grammars and where semantics fits in
• so you might recall in the previous lecture we discussed
– the language
• and what it is made out of
• we said that it was made out of three things
– first of which was sound
– the second of which was form
– and the third of which was meaning
• In the last lecture we asked whether meanings are necessary
• Or
– Can language just work with just sound and form
Topic:
Introduction
• I want to take a look at the sentence
– Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
• Now if you notice this sentence is made up out of words
• This sentence is also made up out of the more smaller parts
– which are the sounds
• Like C (ka) sound the L sound okay so we have a sounds
– we have the syllables
– we have the morphemes
• for example color plus morpheme less makes up colorless
• and then we have the words
– and on top of that we have phrases
• colorless green ideas is a noun phrase
• sleep is a verb and
• furiously is an adverb
– all of this is a verb phrase
• Everything together is the sentence
– so really nothing is missing now – it is grammatically correct sentence
Topic:
a
• when we say the word grammatical it is important here
– because it is different from the word grammatical that we learned at school
• what we mean by grammatical here is that
– it contains everything your language should contain
• now what your school would have taught you is
– that the sentence does not violate any of the syntactic ideas
• so are we violating any syntactic notions here ?
• No
– we have a NP here that functions as subject and then
– we have a verb and
– we have a compliment or an object
• the sentence is in perfect condition when it comes to syntax
Topic:
a
• That also looks great when it comes to morphology
– In the words nothing is wrong
• but one thing is missing
– the sentence still does not sound right
» even though this syntax is exactly perfect
• Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
• The problem come up here
– Is it possible that colorless green ideas can sleep furiously?
• Ideas do not sleep - people sleep
– Animate subjects can sleep
• This is actually a sentence given by Noam Chomsky as an evidence
– for the need for meaning
• or the need for semantics
Topic:
Types of Grammar and Semantics

• This is exactly
– why we needed meaning?
• Now since we are talking about grammars
– let's make a distinction between two types of grammars
• the first type of grammar is called a prescriptive grammar
• the second type is called a descriptive grammar
• why is it important to make a distinction between these two types of grammars ?
– well because we are dealing with semantics
• and semantics is part of grammar
• Well what type of grammar is it a part of ?
– well it could be part of both parts
• but we need to make our intentions clear before we dive into studying
semantics
– because studying semantics from a prescriptive grammar point of view
differs a great deal from
» studying semantics from a descriptive point of view
Topic:
Grammar in Semantics
• so what is the difference between these two grammars
– well basically from the name
• A prescriptive grammar aims to prescribe
– what a grammar should look like
• A descriptive grammar describes
– what a grammar actually looks like
• A prescriptive grammar attempts to give us
– what language should look like
• regardless of whether speakers actually speak that way or
not
• A descriptive grammar on the other hand takes the way
– language is used and describes it as is
Topic:
• so let's see a little example here
– and a case that I'm pretty sure probably happened with you or
someone you know
• a student in class raises his or her hand and asks
– if they could go to the bathroom?
• so the student says actually
– Can I go to the bathroom?
– to which the teacher would reply
» I hope you can
• now this is meant to be a funny joke between the
teacher and the student
Topic:
• To help teach the student that can as a model verb means
– something like ability
• so the teacher hopes that the student has the ability to go to the
bathroom
– what the student should have asked was
May I go to the bathroom ?
• Since May is a modal verb that means
• to allow or to give permission
– or to make a request
• But now here's a tricky part
– Do we actually use the sentence or the phrase ?
• May I go to the bathroom?
– actually the British people do not use this sentence- No
– most of them would naturally say
» Can I go to the bathroom ?
Topic:
• So here's where these two grammars differ
– The prescriptive grammar would say - No
saying
• Can I go to the bathroom? is incorrect
– what you should say is
» May I go to the bathroom?
– The descriptive grammar approaches the same issue
– and says
• this is how native speakers use the language
they say
– Can I go to the bathroom?
• And so they would take that as a starting point for prescriptive
grammar
– and suggest that may be ‘can’ also means to make a request and
also mean ability
Topic:
a
• For the prescriptive grammar the starting point is
– just some things you see in the grammar books
• One more difference you want to make
– between descriptive and prescrptive grammar is that
• a prescriptive grammar, since it wants people to speak one way,
– when they actually don't speak that way
» brings about a class distinction
• Have you ever heard of
– received pronunciation or Queen's English
• this is the type of English that you find in grammar books
– because grammar books are basically prescriptive grammars
• they teach people how to speak in a certain way
Topic:
a
• Descriptive grammars look
– to all languages and all dialects as proper languages
• in Ebonics or the dialect spoken by African Americans
a sentence like
– I ain't did nothing
– will be frowned upon by a prescriptive grammarian
» as a sentence that has no grammar at all
• a sentence that is totally incorrect
• However, from a descriptive point of view this sentence is just fine
– because descriptively we take this to be the basis for creating a grammar
• for that particular dialect or language
– and in reality we do find that there is a great deal of systematic use
of language
Topic:
a
• This is not haphazard
– this is not random
• the way these speakers use it is in a very systematic way
– just like any other dialect or any other life
• so why are we talking about descriptive and prescriptive grammars
– well in semantics we actually have to
• we can look at the languages of the world
– and ask how are they different
• but we can also look at the language of the world
– and ask how are they similar
Topic:
a
• so which one are we dealing with
– if you are dealing with a descriptive grammar
• so you are describing every single dialect and every single language
– based on its own rules
» that means at the end of the day
• You are going to ask
• how all these different languages are similar to one
another
• what makes them similar because
• if you know what makes them similar
than you know
• what is universal to all humans
• what is shared by all human languages
that's the basic idea
Topic:
Branches of Semantics
• Lexical semantics
– Study of thematic roles
• Differnec between lexical and grammatical meanings
• Phrasal and sentential semantics
• Compositional semantics or formal semantics
Topic:
The Principle of compositionality

• a
THANK YOU

Scope of Semantics

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Scope of Semantics

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Semantics

By : Muhammad Asif Khan

Types of Grammar and Semantics

The Principle of compositionality

You might also like