Some Sense Properties of Sentences
Analytic:
An analytic sentence is one which is necessarily true, because of the senses
of the words in it. Therefore, an analytic sentence can be judged true without
recourse to real world knowledge separate from the sense of the words contained
in it.
EXAMPLES: Elephants are animals Cats are not fish.
My brother is male.
Contradictory: A contradictory sentence (or a contradiction)
is a sentence which is necessarily false, because of the senses of the words
in the sentence.
EXAMPLES: Elephants are not animals. Cats are fish.
A man is a butterfly.
Synthetic: A synthetic sentence is one which is not analytic
or contradictory, but which may be true or false depending on the way the
world is.
EXAMPLES: My oldest cousin is female. My brother is tall.
Some cats eat wool.
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Data Analysis 1: Identify each of the following sentences
as analytic, synthetic or contradictory. For some you will have to imagine
relevant situations.
1. That girl is her own mother's mother.
2. That boy is his own father's son.
3. Alice is Ken's sister.
4. Some typewriters are dusty.
5. If it breaks, it breaks.
6. John killed Bill, who remained alive for many years after.
From Semantics: A Coursebook, Hurford & Heasley
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One way we talk about the meaning of synthetic sentences is by evaluating
the conditions under which they would be true or false--we call these truth
conditions. Two or more synthetic sentences would be synonymous if they were
true under all the same conditions and false under all the same conditions.
In other words, if all possible universes they shared the same truth conditions.
So, for example, it is not possible to have a world in which Mary arrested
Bill, but Bill was not arrested by Mary and vice versa, in which Mary did
not arrest Bill, but Bill was arrested by Mary. These sentences are synonymous.
Some sentences, however, don't have truth conditions; that is, they cannot
be judged either true or false. Sometimes this is just because the sentences
is anomalous. Consider the sentence The present king of France is bald. If
this sentence were true, then the negative of it, The present king of France
is not bald would have to be false. If it were false, then the negative of
it would have to be true. However, there is no present king of France to have
hair or to lack it. So the sentences The present king of France is bald and
The present king of France is not bald are equally true or false -- or to
put it another way, unevaluatable for truth, not false, but anomalous.
Other Sense Properties: Presuppostion and Assertion
Presuppositions: the propositions or beliefs assumed by an
utterance.
Those people stopped smoking presupposes that (1) the designated
people exist; (2) that the activity called smoking exists; (3) that that activity
is known to the hearers; and (4) that the designated people habitually smoked
in the past.
Assertions: the propositions or beliefs which are conveyed,
but not assumed, by an utterance.
The utterance above assertions that the designated people ended the habitual
activity (smoking).
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Data Analysis 2: Consider the following sentences: What do
they presuppose and what do they assert?
1. Surprisingly enough, Marvin turned out to be nice guy.
2. Everybody believes that the world is round.
3. Everybody knows that the world is round.
4. After the children finished eating his dinner, they went up to bed.
5. I like to sing.
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Data Analysis 3: Notice that the anomalous sentence discussed
above (The present king of France is bald) is anomalous because it presupposes
something (the existence of a present king of France) which is not true. If
the presupposition fails, the assertion cannot be evaluated for truth. Some
sentences don't have truth values because they don't make assertions; they
do something else. They perform some kind of act. Consider the following sentences,
and decide whether they can be evaluated as true or false in any universe
of discourse:
1. Do your homework!
2. If you don't do your homework, you will not do well in this class.
3. I warn you to do your homework.
4. I warned you to do your homework.
5. Will you do your homework?
While some of the sentence above don't have truth conditions, they do have
conditions under which they are appropriate--that is, necessary conditions
for them to work. Consider the sentences which you determined could not be
evaluated as true or false. What were they intending to do? Under what conditions
could they work?
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Semantic/Thematic Roles
Semantic/Thematic Roles: "the term...used to describe
the part played by a particular entity in an event." (O'Grady, Dobrovolsky,
& Aronoff: 226)
Some thematic roles (O,D,&A: 227):
Agent: the entity who deliberately performs an action Harriet broke the window with a baseball bat.
Theme: the entity undergoing a change of state or transfer Harriet broke the window with a baseball bat.
Source: the starting point for a transfer Harriet took the baseball bat from the closet.
Goal: the end point for a transfer Harriet put the baseball bat in the closet.
Experiencer: the entity perceiving something Harriet heard a noise.
Location: the place at which an entity or action is located. Harriet worked in her office.
Stimulus: the entity perceived Harriet heard a noise.
Instrument: the entity used to carry out an action Harriet broke the window with a baseball bat.
Some other proposed thematic roles (http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook/box-thematic.html) include
Cause/Actor: the entitiy that brings about some event or state The wind broke the window.
Measure: the extension on some dimension (size, time, price) Harriet worked in her office for five hours.