研究生语义学课1概要1.ppt

The scope of meaning I: external context Prof. Hui Zhang Email: coglinger2011@126.com 1940987567@ Main Points Linguistic expressions can only occur in particular contexts; as a result, working out what role context plays in the determination of meaning is an important part of semantic analysis. This chapter considers one essential type of context: the external or real-world context to which linguistic expressions refer. Meaning and context Examples: a. Denise’s teacher got burnt. b. Denise’s brioche got burnt. (1a) means ‘the person who teaches Denise got burnt’. (1b) means ‘the brioche belonging to Denise got burnt’ Does this difference result from a difference in the meaning of the possessive case, or is it a product of the context in which it is used? Our understanding of expressions’ meaning is often closely related to our knowledge of the external or real-world context. Is this idea really true? How can we test it? Evidence for real world knowledge Peter Hagoort, et al. 2004. Integration of Word Meaning and World Knowledge in Language Comprehension. Science. Vol. 304. Some background Knowledge Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) ERPs are potential changes in the EEG that are time-locked to sensory or cognitive events and which may therefore be used to examine the brain’s response to critical stimuli (e.g. words or sentences). They present electrophysiological data that show the rapid parallel integration of both semantic and world knowledge during the interpretation of a sentence. Beside the external or real-world context to which linguistic expressions refer, the interpersonal context of linguistic action in which any utterance is placed also play an important role in language comprehension. In order to interpret an expression correctly, it would seem that a hearer must perform a number of related tasks which involve these two different types of context. One example All golfers need to find some good clubs. 1. Disambiguate the noun cl