The clothes smelled fresh.I smelled the fragrance of flowers in the air.Will you smell the milk to see if it is sour?

Porphyria’s Lover – Robert Browning

The rain set early in tonight,

The sullen wind was soon awake,

It tore the elm-tops down for spite,

And did its worst to vex the lake (…)

Today (R11, HW8-part 2) RR11 Discussion (Allen & Diana) Sentential relations

Monday (HW8) Gricean Maxims, Metaphor

Wednesday (HW9) Metaphor, Sociolinguistics

Heads-ups

Semantics

Sentential relations (Pragmatics)

The judge denied the prisoner’s request because he was cautious.

The judge denied the prisoner’s request because he was dangerous.

Amber just walked through the door.

contradiction Amber walked through the door but she didn’t open the door.We kill the Batman. We just can’t hurt him.Everything I say is a lie.

paraphrase Stan’s evil goldfish killed Kenny.Kenny was killed by Stan’s evil goldfish.“I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine. And he shall be my Squishy.”

For a chronically absent employee “A man like him is hard

to find.”

For a dishonest employee

3) “He’s an unbelievable worker.”

For a lazy employee

4) “You would indeed be fortunate to get this person to work for you.”

For the office drunk

5) “Every hour with him was a happy hour.”

2) “I most enthusiastically recommend this candidate with no qualifications whatsoever.”

For an employee who is so unproductive that the job is better left unfilled

1) “I can assure you that no person would be better for the job.”

http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/humor/

“There is nothing you can teach a man like him.”

For a stupid employee

1)

3)

4)

5)

2)

Voldemort murdered Harry’s parents. Harry’s parents are dead.

Obama lives with his wife and two kids. Obama lives with three people.

Andy is from Dallas.Andy is from Texas.

entailment

so he’s kind of weird

He knows that he’s boring.He doesn’t know that he’s boring.

Are you surprised that Kim and Kanye are having a baby?My brother stopped working out.Do you want to see The Croods again?I read Twilight, but it wasn’t that bad.Christina was speeding again.

presupposition

“We’re cutting prices

again!”

•The Queen, predictably, regrets her affair with Mick Jagger.•The monarch of Britain regrets engaging in a relationship with the Rolling Stones frontman.•The Queen is glad to have had an affair.•The Queen has regrets.•The Queen had an affair with Mick Jagger.

Beginning sentence

Presupposition. One sentence assumes that another sentence is true.

Paraphrase. Two sentences with the same meaning.

Contradiction. One sentence guarantees the falsity of another sentence.Entailment. One sentence guarantees the truth of another sentence.

1) I knew you were trouble when you walked in.

2) Why did you steal the money?3) The senator did not reveal that he was

ill.4) Scar returned to power.5) Megan is a better ice-skater than

Stephen.