Slide 2 syntagmatic relations Outline Introduction Semantic
normality and abnormality Selectional restriction collocation
presupposition Slide 3 Syntagmatic relation is the relationship
that linguistic units ( e.g. words, clauses ) have with other units
because they may occur together in a sequence. So,syntagmatic
relations: are relations between words that go together in a
syntactic structure. (Cruse, 2006: 163) Are sytagmatic relations
important ? What for? Yes, because they lead to create sentences
and utterances which are grammatically and semantically accepted.
They affect putting meaning together. Slide 4 Putting words
together There are three possible effects of putting words together
in a well formed construction,ether the result is: normal as in
John drink the juice. Or, There is a semantic clash as in John
drank filing cabinet Pleonastic as in a female aunt
(Cruse,2003:256) Slide 5 Selectional restriction : According to the
viewpoint of structural semantics,it can be defined as the
requirement for a normal combination. (Cruse,2006:164) Slide 6
Selectional Restriction Selection restrictions and projection rules
were formalized by Katz and Fodor in 1936. Projection rules
(semantic rules )have two purposes : They distinguish meaningful
sentences from meaningless sentences. They assign to every
meaningful sentences a formal specification of its meaning or
meanings. Slide 7 The assumption In English and in other natural
languages, there are some grammatically well- formed, but
semantically ill- formed, sentences. selection Restrictions are the
mechanism for handling semantic ill- formedness. These are
associated with particular lexemes and are therefore listed in the
lexicon. Slide 8 1. They tell us, in effect, which pairs of lexemes
can combine with one another meaningfully in various grammatical
constriction. ( John Lyons, 216) For example, the adjective buxom
can modified nouns like girl', 'women, lass,etc., but not
boy,man,lad,etc. The verb sleep can take as its subject nouns such
as boy, girl,cat, etc., but not idea, love,etc.
(lyons,1977:216-217) Slide 9 If the selection restriction violated,
the projection rules will fail to operate. Consequently they will
fail to assign to the semantically ill- formed sentences a formal
specification of its meaning, thereby marking sentences as
meaningless and indicating in what way the sentence is semantically
ill formed. 2. Block certain interpretations as semantically
anomalouse,while allowing other interpretations of the same phrases
and sentences as semantically acceptable. For example : House wife
1=a women who keeps house. House wife 2 = a pocket sewing kit. If
you say good house wife the meaning will be ambiguous,but,if you
say buxom house wife this means house wife 1. Slide 10 Semantically
Combination Identify a selector which imposes semantic conditions
(selectional restrictions). Identify a selectee which satisfies or
does not satisfy the conditions. In adjective noun combination,the
adjective is the selector A\an.woman Intelligent, tall, kind,
pregnant,lefthanded, all normally combined with women. A pregnant
It requires a head noun which (a)denotes a mammal,and (b)it is not
specifically marked as not female.(like bull). So, in a modifier-
head construction,the modifier is the selector. In a head
complement construction,such as drink juice, the head is the
selector,.i.e. the verb. Slide 11 Selectional Restrictions
Selectional Restrictions limit the semantic properties of arguments
?My toothbrush loves raisins. ?pain is red. Can pain be red? No The
restriction of the predicate red to things satisfied by the
predicate concrete is a selectional restriction. (Smith and et
al,2007:208) Slide 12 The boy ate the sandwich ?The sandwich ate
the boy The kind of noun that can be the subject of the verb ate
must denotes an entity the is capable of eating. The noun sandwich
does not have the this property and the noun boy does.
(Yule,2006:101) Slide 13 Thematic Roles and Selectional
Restrictions Selectional restrictions: semantic constraint that a
word (lexeme) imposes on the concepts that go with it Agent:
volitional causer -- John hit Bill. Experiencer: experiencer of
event Bill got a headache. Force: non-volitional causer The
concrete block struck Bill on the head. Theme/patient: most
affected participant John hit Bill. Instrument: instrument used --
John hit Bill with a bat Source: origin of object of transfer event
Bill fled from New York to Timbuktu Goal: destination of object --
Bill led from New York to Timbuktu Slide 14 Slide 15 1. Synonymous:
Sentence A is synonymous with B means that A has the same meaning
as B my brother is a bachelor my brother has never married Slide 16
2- Entailment Sentence A entails B means that if A then
automatically B The anarchist assassinated the emperor The emperor
is died Slide 17 3-Contradiction Sentence A contradicts B means
that A is inconsistent with B My brother Ahmed has just come from
Rome My brother Ahmed has never been to Rome Slide 18
4-Presupposition Sentence B presupposes A means that A is part of
the assumed background against which A is said The Mayor of Erbil
is a women There is a Mayor of Erbil Slide 19 5-Tautology Sentence
A is a tautology means that A is automatically true by virtue of
its own meaning, but informationally empty Ireland is Ireland Slide
20 In Semantics, to understand logic and truth, we should
recognize: Truth value -----whether a sentence is being true or
false Truth Condition ----the facts that would have to obtain in
reality to make a sentence true or false Slide 21 presupposition
+< A presupposition is a proposition whose truth is taken for
granted by the producer of an utterance and which must be known and
taken account of for the utterance to make sense to an interpreter.
(Cruse,2006:138) Relation between propositions by which a
presupposes b, for a to have a true value, b must be true.
(Mathews,2007:317) To presuppose something means to assume it.
(Saeed,2009:102) Slide 22 Watch a video advertisement, do you know
what it is advertising? Slide 23 True Love Illy Coffee Slide 24
Historic background Frege 1892: Referring expressions (names,
definite descriptions) carry the presupposition that they do in
fact refer. For a sentence to have a truth value, its
presupposition must hold. A presupposition of a sentence is also a
presupposition of its negation. The term developed in philosophy by
P.F.Strawson Thence into linguistics in the late 1960s Slide 25 Why
does presupposition exist? Because it enables us to communicate
succinctly(briefly ). It is much easier to say John doesnt write
any more than it is to say .. A person we both know and agree that
his name is John, and who knows how to write, and who is able to
write poetry, wrote poetry in some past time, and know he does not
write poetry Slide 26 Presupposition Approach Semantic
presupposition (truth relation ) Sentences are viewed as external
objects Meaning is seen as an attribute of sentences rather than
some thing constructed by the participants. Pragmatic
presupposition (transactional view) Sentences are the utterances of
individuals engaged in a communication act. Speaker =presupposition
is part of the task of packing an utterances. Listener =
presupposition is one of the number of inferences that the listener
might make on the basis of what the speaker has just said. Slide 27
Semantic presupposing Azad brother has just got back from Soran.
Azad has a brother. Truth table P q T F T T or F T (Saeed,2009:103)
Slide 28 Pragmatic presupposition Presupposition is one aspect of
speakers strategy of organizing information for maximum clarity for
the listener. Azad has a brother X X has come back from Soran.
Which one is foregrounded ? It depends on the e speaker s
intention. presuppositions are ubiquitous. (Cruse,2006:139) Slide
29 Presupposition failure Using a name or definite description to
refer presupposes the existence of the named or the described
entity. Russell example (1905) a-The king of France is bald.
b-There is a king of France. If there is no referent,no king of
France,what is the statues of a sentence? Slide 30 P q T F T T or F
T ?(T v F) F (truth -value gap) Slide 31 Russeler solution was to
analyse definite descriptions as complex expressions. The king of
France is bald is true if and only if a-at least one thing is the
king b- at most one thing is the king c- whatever is the king is
bald. Slide 32 There is is less of a problem with the transactional
approach. A speaker use of a definite NPs to refer is governed by
conventions about the accessibility of the referent to the
listener. Slide 33 1. Existential presupposition: Entities named by
the speaker and assumed to be present - noun phrase. - possessive
constructions. -noun phrase : "The Cold War has ended Slide 34 -
possessive constructions : Tonys car is new That Tony exists and
that he has a car. Slide 35 2-Factive presupposition: Identified by
the presence of some verbs such as "know, "realize,be glad, be
sorry, be odd etc. She didnt realize he was ill. (+< He was ill)
We regret telling him. (+< We told him) I wasnt aware that she
was married. (+< She was married) It isnt odd that he left
early. (+< He left early) Im glad that its over. (+< Its
over) ( Griffiths,2006:147) Slide 36 3- Lexical presupposition: In
using one word, the speaker can act as if another meaning will be
understood. For instance: Mary stopped running. (+
