Concise Encyclopedia of Semantics

Front Cover

Concise Encyclopedia of Semantics

Copyright Page

The Editor

Alphabetical List of Articles

Introduction

Contributors

A

Accessibility Theory

Bibliography

Acquisition of Meaning by Children

Conventionality and Contrast

In Conversation

Making Inferences

Pragmatics and Meaning

Another Approach

Sources of Meanings

Summary

Bibliography

Anaphora Resolution: Centering Theory

Anaphora Resolution with Centers of Attention

Centering Theory: Modeling Local Coherence with Centers of Attention

Centering Theory and Anaphora Resolution

Unspecified Aspects of Centering

Applications of Centering Theory as a Model of Local Coherence

Bibliography

Anaphora, Cataphora, Exophora, Logophoricity

Defining Anaphora, Cataphora, and Exophora

NP-Anaphora

The Syntactic Approach

The Semantic Approach

The Pragmatic Approach

VP-Anaphora

A Typology of VP-Anaphora

VP-Ellipsis: Properties, Issues, and Analyses

Properties

Issues

Analyses

Logophoricity

Defining Logophoricity

Cross-Linguistic Marking of Logophoricity

A Typology of Languages with Respect to Logophoricity

Some Implicational Universals with Respect to Logophoricity

Bibliography

Antonymy and Incompatibility

Incompatibility and Contrast

Antonymy and Opposition

Gradable Contrariety (Classical Antonymy, Polar Opposition)

Complementarity (Contradiction)

Directional Antonyms

Other Types of Opposition

Research Issues

Contrast and Lexical Development

A Lexical Relation?

Discourse Functions and Constructions

Defining Antonymy

Bibliography

Aristotle and Linguistics

Bibliography

Aspect and Aktionsart

Phases and Boundaries

Aspect Theories and Their Historical Development

Bibliography

Assertion

Bibliography

B

Boole and Algebraic Semantics

Bibliography

C

Categorial Grammar, Semantics in

Introduction

Montague Semantics

Lexical Semantics

Quantifiers and Scope

Anaphora

Reflexives

Pronouns

Computational Semantics for Categorial Grammars

Conclusion

Bibliography

Categorizing Percepts: Vantage Theory

Bibliography

Relevant Website

Category-Specific Knowledge

Principles of Organization

Modality-Specific Hypotheses

Domain-Specific Hypotheses

Feature-Based Hypotheses

Clues from Cognitive Neuropsychology

Explaining Category-Specific Semantic Deficits

Clues from Functional Neuroimaging

Conclusion

See also

Bibliography

Causatives

Defining Causative Constructions

Types of Causative Constructions

The Semantics of Causatives: Two Major Types of Causation

Causative Continuum and Causation Types

Bibliography

Character versus Content

Content/Character Distinction and Semantics

Content/Character Distinction and Philosophy

Bibliography

Classifiers and Noun Classes

Noun Classes

Noun Classifiers

Numeral Classifiers

Classifiers in Possessive Constructions

Verbal Classifiers

Locative Classifiers

Deictic Classifiers

Bibliography

Cognitive Semantics

Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Semantics

Meaning Is Encyclopedic in Scope

Categorization

The Usage-Basis of Cognitive Semantics

Construal

Figure-Ground Organization

Force Dynamics

Objective vs. Subjective Construal

Linguistic Conventions

Embodiment

Compositionality

The Conceptual Basis of Syntactic Categories

Relativism vs. Nativism

Conclusion

Bibliography

Coherence: Psycholinguistic Approach

Coherence in Text and in the Mind

Cohesion Markers

The Psychological Concept of a Connected, Coherent, Discourse Representation

Connecting Individuals: Anaphoric Reference

Causal Connectivity

Studies of Inferential Activity

Necessity and Elaboration

Situation-Specific Information: Scenario-Theory

Keeping Track of Things: Situation Models

Multiple Viewpoints

Coherence and Selective Processing

Selective Processing

Bibliography

Cohesion and Coherence

Bibliography

Collocations

Historical Use of the Term Collocation

Collocation in Modern Linguistics

Collocation and Lexicography

Finding Collocations in a Corpus (Annexes 1-3)

Collocation in Computational Linguistics, Pedagogy, and Translation

Conclusions and the Future

Bibliography

Color Terms

Color Perception

Color Vocabulary

Color Term Universals

Explaining Basic Color Terms

Bibliography

Relevant Website

Comparatives

Introduction

Gradability

Comparison

Comparison Cross-Linguistically

Bibliography

Comparative Constructions

Definition of the Domain

The Comparison of Inequality: Parameters

Predicate Marking in Comparative Constructions

Explanation of the Typology of Comparative Constructions

Bibliography

Componential Analysis

Componential Analysis

The European Tradition of Componential Analysis

The American Tradition of Componential Analysis

The Contemporary Situation

Bibliography

Compositionality

Bibliography

Concepts

The Classical Theory

Probabilistic Theories

The Theory-Theory

Conceptual Atomism

Bibliography

Concessive Clauses

Meaning and Syntactic Properties

Concessive Connectives

Relationship to Other Types of Adverbial Clauses

Types of Concessive Clauses

Bibliography

Conditionals

Form and Meaning

Truth-Conditional Semantics

Material Conditional

(Variably) Strict Implication

Relative Likelihood

Probability

Summary

Bibliography

Connectives in Text

The Semantics of Connectives

Connectives in Language Development and Discourse Processing

Conclusion

Bibliography

Connotation

Bibliography

Constants and Variables

Bibliography

Context

Introduction

Emergence

Context as a Sheer Situation

Relevant Settings

Semiotic Field, Symbolic and Demonstrative

Embedding

Social Field

Contextualization Processes

Conclusion

Bibliography

Context and Common Ground

History

Bases for Common Ground

Communal Common Ground

Personal Common Ground

Language and Communal Common Ground

Discourse and Personal Common Ground

Bibilography

Context Principle

Sentence Primacy: Three Interpretations of the Context Principle

Motivating the Context Principle

A Possible Objection to the Context Principle

Bibliography

Conventions in Language

Convention and Analyticity

Grice

Lewis

Lewis’s General Notion of Convention

Conventions of Language

A Basic Difficulty for Grice-Lewis

Chomskyan Accounts of Linguistic Convention

Convention versus Inference

Bibliography

Cooperative Principle

The Principle Itself

What Counts as Cooperation?

The Cooperative Principle and the Maxims of Cooperative Discourse

Failures to Fulfill Maxims and Implicature

Major Critiques of the Cooperative Principle

Problems with the Term 'Cooperation '

Problems with the Maxims: The Haphazardness of Communication and the Specificity of Maxims

Scholarship Influenced by the Cooperative Principle

Grammar

Neo-Gricean Pragmatics

Politeness Theory

Question Processing

Gender Studies

Teacher Research and Pedagogy

Conclusion

Bibliography

Coreference: Identity and Similarity

Defining Coreference

Identity

Similarity

Bound-Variable Anaphora

E-Type Anaphora

Anaphora of Laziness

Bridging Cross-reference Anaphora

Bibliography

Counterfactuals

Metalinguistic Approaches

Possible Worlds Approach

Some Issues

Bibliography

D

Default Semantics

Bibliography

Definite and Indefinite

What Does 'Definite ' Mean?

Uniqueness?

Familiarity?

Some Puzzling Cases

Grammatical Phenomena

Existential Sentences

The Have Construction

Other Kinds of Definite and Indefinite NPs

Other Kinds of Definite NPs

Bare NPs

Other Types of Indefinite NPs

Other Kinds of Categorizations

Old and New

The Givenness Hierarchy

The Accessibility Hierarchy

Definite and Indefinite in Other Languages

Bibliography

Definite and Indefinite Articles

Definite Articles

Indefinite Articles

Geographic Distribution

Concluding Remarks

Bibliography

Definite and Indefinite Descriptions

Russell’s Theories of Description

Russell’s Early Theory of Denoting

Russell’s Mature Theory

Definite Descriptions in Principia mathematica

Descriptions and Scope

Responses to Russell’s Theory of Definite Descriptions

Strawson’s Critique of Russell

The Ambiguity Thesis

Responses to Russell’s Theory of Indefinite Descriptions

Referential Uses of Indefinite Descriptions

An Alternative Nonreferential Account

Bibliography

Definition in Lexicology

Bibliography

Definitions

Uses

Varieties

Comparatively Context-Free Forms of Definition

Comparatively Context-Dependent Definitions

Uses Again

Bibliography

Demonstratives

The Semantic Properties of Demonstratives

The Syntactic Properties of Demonstratives

The Pragmatic Functions of Demonstratives

The Grammaticalization of Demonstratives

Grammatical Markers Derived from Pronominal Demonstratives

Grammatical Markers Derived from Adnominal Demonstratives

Grammatical Markers Derived from Adverbial Demonstratives

Grammatical Markers Derived from Demonstratives in Nonverbal Clauses

The Diachronic Origin of Demonstratives and Their Status in Language

Bibliography

Dictionaries

Bibliography

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias: Relationship

Bibliography

Diminutives and Augmentatives

Bibliography

Direct Reference

What Is Direct Reference?

Some Closely Related Concepts

Problems with Direct Reference

Bibliography

Disambiguation

Introduction

Making Sense of Words

Polysemy

Context and Disambiguation

Measures of Difficulty

Applications and the Sense Inventory

Four Sources of Sense Inventories

Applications

Machine Translation

Lexicography and Information Extraction

Information Retrieval

Historical Context

Methods for Word Sense Disambiguation

Computational Formulation of the Problem

Dictionary-Based Methods

Selectional Restriction-Based Methods

Connectionist Methods

Domain-Based Methods

Supervised Corpus-Based Methods

Unsupervised Corpus-Based Approaches

Evaluation

Accuracy against a Reference Corpus

Senseval

Other Ways to Evaluate

Current Research Efforts

Bibliography

Discourse Anaphora

Introduction

Some Useful Concepts and Distinctions in the Study of Indexical Reference: ‘Anaphora,’ ‘Deixis,’ and ‘Textual/Discourse Deixis’

Three Essential Ingredients of the Operation of Discourse Anaphora: ‘Antecedent-Trigger,’ ‘Antecedent,’ and ‘Anaphor’

The Antecedent-Trigger

The Antecedent

The Anaphor

The Text - as Well as Discourse - Sensitivity of Discourse Anaphora

Conclusion

Bibliography

Discourse Domain

Bibliography

Discourse Parsing, Automatic

Introduction

Discourse Structure Representations

Observables Used for Inferring Discourse Relations

Algorithms

Algorithms for Identifying Discourse Relations

Algorithms for Discourse Structure Derivation (Discourse Parsing)

Performance

Public Resources

Bibliography

Relevant Websites

Discourse Representation Theory

The Problem of Unbound Anaphora

Basic Ideas

Discourse Representation Structures (DRSs)

Extensions: Tense and Plurals

Incorporating Generalized Quantifiers

Discourse Structures and Partial Models

Reasoning with DRSs

Definition 1 (DRT)

Definition 2 (Semantics of DRT)

Definition 3 (DRT Consequence)

Theorem 4

Proof

Theorem 5

The Treatment of Ambiguities

Bibliography

Discourse Semantics

Introduction

Incrementation

Subdomain Structures

Bibliography

Donkey Sentences

Bibliography

Dthat

Bibliography

Dynamic Semantics

Information and Information Change

Discourse Representation Theory and File Change Semantics

Dynamic Predicate Logic

Update Semantics

Presuppositions

Further Reading

Bibliography

E

Event-Based Semantics

Bibliography

Evidentiality

Bibliography

Evolution of Semantics

Cognitive Preadaptations for Semantic Knowledge

The Importance of Motor Evolution

The Importance of Intention-Reading Skills

The Importance of Personality Types

The Nature and Evolution of Semantic Knowledge

Concept Formation

The Nature of Lexical Concepts: The Natural Partitions Hypothesis

Lexical Concepts and Concept-Combination

Polysemy

Abstract Concepts

Cultural Evolution

Bibliography

Existence

What Existence Is

The Hume-Kant View

The Frege-Russell View

The Meinong-Russell View

Bibliography

Expression Meaning vs Utterance/Speaker Meaning

Bibliography

Extensionality and Intensionality

Semantical Aspects of Extensionality and Intensionality

Extensionality and Intensionality in Formal Settings

Bibliography

F

Face

Background

'Face ' According to Goffman

Brown and Levinson’s 'Face ' and Its Critics

Future of Face Research

Bibliography

Factivity

Bibliography

False Friends

Bibliography

Relevant Websites

Field Work Methods in Semantics

Bibliography

Folk Etymology

Bibliography

Formal Semantics

Introduction

Semantics vs. Lexicography

The Notion of Synonymy and Its Problems

Truth and Semantic Competence

Semantic Modeling

The Semantics/Pragmatics Interface

Conclusions

Bibliography

Frame Semantics

Introduction

Oppositions

Word Choice

Beyond Literal Meaning

Frames and Framing

Cognitive Frames

Minsky Frames

Goffman Frames

The Word 'Frame ' in Linguistics

Case Frames

Merging the Two Research Strands

Frames and the Lexicon

An Example: The Revenge Frame

Polysemy

The FrameNet Database

The Basic Data

The Frame-to-Frame Relations

Applications and Extensions

Bibliography

Future Tense and Future Time Reference

Bibliography

G

Game-Theoretical Semantics

Bibliography

Gender

What Is Gender and Why Do Linguists Study It?

Theorizing Gender: From Difference to Diversity

Language and Gender in the Variationist Paradigm

Gendered Discourse Styles

Conclusion

Bibliography

General Semantics

Bibliography

Relevant Website

Generating Referring Expressions

Introduction: An Informal Characterization of the Problem

A More Formal Characterization of the Problem

Approaches to the Problem

Early Work

Producing Minimal Distinguishing Descriptions

More Efficient Algorithms

Referring to Entities Using Relations

Logical Extensions: Sets, Booleans, and Quantifiers

Broader Issues and Outstanding Problems

Other Forms of Anaphoric Reference

Initial Reference

The Pragmatics of Reference

Bibliography

Generative Lexicon

Introduction

Traditional Lexical Representations

The Nature of Polysemy

Levels of Lexical Meaning

Qualia Structure

Coercion and Compositionality

Complex Types in Language

Recent Developments in Generative Lexicon

Bibliography

Generative Semantics

Foreword (by Randy Harris)

Generative Semantics (by James D McCawley)

GS Positions on Controversial Issues

GS Policies on the Conduct of Research

Prominent and Influential Analyses Proposed within the GS Approach

The History of GS

Bibliography

Generic Reference

Forms of Generic Reference

Theory of Generic Reference

Bibliography

Generics, Habituals and Iteratives

Bibliography

Grammatical Meaning

Bibliography

H

Honorifics

Referent Honorifics

Titles

Pronouns

Nouns

Subject Honorifics

Humbling Forms

Addressee Honorifics

Avoidance Languages

Beautification

Form of Honorifics

Distribution and Development of Honorifics

Use of Honorifics

Power and Solidarity

Power-Based Honorific Pattern

Solidarity-Based Honorific Pattern

Demeanor

Formality

Relativity of Social Distance

Conclusion

Bibliography

Human Reasoning and Language Interpretation

Bibliography

Hyponymy and Hyperonymy

Hyponymy as a Paradigmatic Relation

Types and Properties of Hyponyms

Hyponymy and Lexical Organization

Bibliography

I

Ideational Theories of Meaning

Bibliography

Ideophones

Introduction

Formal Approach

Discourse Pragmatic Approach

Bibliography

Idioms

Semantic Opacity

Grammatical and Compositional Fixity

Syntactic Function

Verbs

Nouns

Adjectives

Adverbs

Others

Clicheacutes

Bibliography

Implicature

The Basic Notions

Beyond Grice

Presumptive Meanings: Levinson’s Theory of Generalized Conversational Implicature

Division of Pragmatic Labor: Horn’s Q- and R-Principles

Relevance Theory: Carston’s Underdeterminacy Thesis

Quality Reconsidered

Implicature and the Grammar/Pragmatics Interface

Conclusions

Bibliography

Indefinite Pronouns

General

The Some-Any Distinction

Functions of Indefinite Pronouns

Diachronic Developments

Inherently Negative Pronouns

Bibliography

Indeterminacy

The Argument from Below

Reactions to the Argument from Below

The Argument from Above

Reactions to the Argument from Above

Bibliography

Indexicality

Bibliography

Inference: Abduction, Induction, Deduction

Bibliography

Ingressives

Intensifying Reflexives

Terminology

Parameters of Variation

Agreement vs. Invariance

German

Finnish

Relation to Reflexive Anaphors

French

Selectional Restrictions

Japanese

Bibliography

Intention and Semantics

Bibliography

Interpreted Logical Forms

Propositional Attitude Reports

What Are ILFs?

Puzzles and Problems

The Simple Name Puzzle

The Simple Demonstrative Puzzle

The Hard Demonstrative Puzzle

The Hard Name Puzzle

Prospects

Bibliography

Interrogatives

Metasemantics

Semantics

Bibliography

Irony

Bibliography

J

Jargon

Bibliography

L

Lexical Acquisition

Introduction

Resources

Machine-Readable Dictionaries

Machine-Readable Thesauruses

Corpora

Multilingual Resources

Automatic Techniques

The Entries and Acquired Information

Pronunciation

Part-of-Speech

Morphology

Syntax, Argument Structure, and Preferences

Semantics

Pragmatics

Multiwords

Updating the Lexicon

Evaluation

Future Directions

Bibliography

Relevant Website

Lexical Conceptual Structure

Introduction

Overview of Conceptual Semantics

Autonomy of Semantics

Lexical Conceptual Structure

Ontological Categories

Conceptual Formation Rules

X-bar Semantics

General Constraints on Semantic Theories

Comparison with Other Works

Suggested Readings

Bibliography

Lexical Conditions

Bibliography

Lexical Fields

Introduction

Background

The Concept of Lexical Field

Relevance of Lexical Fields

Bibliography

Lexical Meaning, Cognitive Dependency of

Bibliography

Lexical Semantics

Word Knowledge

Historical Overview

Ambiguity and Polysemy

Lexical Relations

The Semantics of a Lexical Entry

Lexical Semantic Classifications

Argument Structure

Event Structure and Lexical Decomposition

Qualia Structure

Bibliography

Lexicology

Introduction: The Scope of Lexicology

Polysemy and Homonymy

Metaphor and the Differentiation of Meanings

Frame Semantics

Bibliography

Lexicon/Dictionary: Computational Approaches

What Are Computational Lexicons and Dictionaries?

History of Computational Lexicology

The Study of Computational Lexicons

Making Lexicons Tractable

What Can Be Extracted From Machine-Readable Dictionaries?

Lexical Semantics

Research Using Longman’s Dictionary of Contem—porary English

Semantic Networks

Using Lexicons

Language Engineering

Word-Sense Disambiguation

Information Extraction

Question Answering

Text Summarization

Speech Recognition and Speech Synthesis

The Semantic Imperative

Bibliography

Lexicon: Structure

Bibliography

Logic and Language

Introduction

The Mathematicization of Logic: Leibniz and Boole

Logic and Language in Frege

Russell: Definite Descriptions and Logical Atomism

Wittgenstein on Logic and Language

Carnap and the Vienna Circle

Quine: the Thesis of Gradualism

Bibliography

Logical and Linguistic Notation

Propositional Calculus

Predicate Calculus

Bibliography

Logical Consequence

Fundamentals

The Formal Study of Logical Consequence

General Philosophical Concerns

Bibliography

Logical Form

Bibliography

M

Mass Expressions

Bibliography

Meaning Postulates

Bibliography

Meaning, Sense, and Reference

Meanings of Meaning

Meaning and Semiotics

Ferdinand de Saussure and Structuralism

C. S. Peirce

Dictionary vs. Encyclopedia

Umwelt - Meaning beyond Words

Summary

Bibliography

Memes

What Is a Meme?

How Are Memes like Genes?

How Are Memes unlike Genes?

The Current State of Memetics

Bibliography

Mentalese

The Basic Hypothesis

What Is Mentalese Like?

The Thinker’s Public Language, or a Proprietary Inner Code?

Psycho-Syntax and Psycho-Semantics

Further Arguments for LOT

Theories of Mental Processing Are Committed to LOT

LOT Explains Some Pervasive Features of Thought

Bibliography

Meronymy

Definition of Meronymy

Types of Meronyms

Properties of Meronymy

Meronymy in Linguistic Theory

Bibliography

Metalanguage versus Object Language

Bibliography

Metaphor and Conceptual Blending

Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Higher-Level Mappings

Primary Metaphor and Experiential Grounding

Conceptual Blending Theory

Mental Space Theory

Conceptual Blending and Metaphor

Metaphor, Conceptual Blending, and Linguistic Theory

Bibliography

Metonymy

Metonymy: History and Terminology

Metonymy: From Cognition to Social Interaction

Metaphor and Metonymy

Conclusion

Bibliography

Modal Logic

Bibliography

Monotonicity and Generalized Quantifiers

Bibliography

Montague Semantics

Historical Background

Aims

The Compositional Approach

Interpretation in a Model

Extension and Intension

A Small Fragment

Some PTQ Phenomena

Developments

Further Reading

Bibliography

Mood and Modality

Introduction

Definitions and Categories

Modal Verbs

Classifications

Diachronic Paths of Development

Post-modality

Bibliography

Mood, Clause Types, and Illocutionary Force

Bibliography

Multivalued Logics

Bibliography

N

Natural Language Understanding, Automatic

'Understanding ' Natural Language

Conversational Agents

Meanings, Consequences, and Actions

Meaning Representations

Compositionality

Adequacy of First-Order Logic

Temporal, Modal, and Intensional Logics

Dynamic Logics

Ambiguity

Corpus-Based Approaches

Inference

Structural Inference

Statistical Inference

Summary

Bibliography

Natural Semantic Metalanguage

Introduction

Semantic Primes

Grammar of Semantic Primes

Using Natural Semantic Metalanguage for Lexical Semantics (Explications)

Explicating Directly into Semantic Primes

Verbs kill and break

Adjectives sad and unhappy

The Noun friend

Explicating Complex Concepts Using Semantic Molecules

Other Uses of Semantic Primes

Bibliography

Natural versus Nonnatural Meaning

Grice’s Distinction

Grice’s Theory of Non-natural Meaning

Other Remarks

Bibliography

Negation

Classical and Nonclassical Negation

Negation and Polarity

Negation Versus Denial

Metalinguistic Negation

Bibliography

Neo-Gricean Pragmatics

The Hornian System

The Levinsonian System

Further Neo-Gricean Contributions

Bibliography

Neologisms

Neologisms Based on Common Word Formation Devices

Affixation

Conversion

Clipping and Acronyms

Blends

The Structure of Blends

Splinters Become Morphemes

Trendy Neologisms

Bibliography

Relevant Websites

Nominalism

Extreme Realism: Plato’s Ideal Exemplars

Moderate Realism or Conceptualism: Aristotle’s Universals

The Moderate Realism/Conceptualism of Medieval Aristotelians

Abstraction, Induction, and Essentialism

The Ontological Commitments of Moderate Realism

Late Medieval and Modern Nominalism

Nominalism, Antirealism, and Skepticism

Bibliography

Nonmonotonic Inference

Bibliography

Nonstandard Language Use

Bibliography

Number

Nominal and Verbal Number

Number as an Obligatory Category

The Nominals Involved in the Number System

The Semantics of Number

Number Values

The Dual

The Trial

The Paucal

The Largest Systems

Number Mismatches and the Agreement Hierarchy

Number and Numerals

Conclusion

See also

References

Numerals

Numeral Systems: Their Structure and Development

Morphology and Syntax of Numeral Expressions

Bibliography

O

Onomasiology and Lexical Variation

The Scope of Onomasiological Research

The Contribution of Various Traditions of Research

A Conceptual Map of Onomasiology

Bibliography

Operators in Semantics and Typed Logics

lambda-terms

Equivalent Terms and Alphabetic Variance

Substitution

ß-conversion

Alternative Presentations

Congruence

Nameless Terms

Combinatory Logic

Parameters of Variation

Additional Operators

Types

Church Typing

Curry Typing

Resource-sensitivity

Linguistic Applications of the lambda-calculus

The Extensional Subsystem of Montague’s PTQ

Bibliography

P

Partitives

Partitive and Pseudo-Partitive Nominal Constructions

Cross-Linguistic Variation and Geographic Distribution

Headedness in Pseudo-Partitive Constructions

Relations to Other Phenomena

References

Perfects, Resultatives, and Experientials

Bibliography

Performative Clauses

Necessary and Sufficient Conditions

Necessary Condition 1

Necessary Condition 2

Necessary Condition 3

Necessary Condition 4

Sufficient Condition

Necessary Condition 5

Other Issues

Bibliography

Philosophical Theories of Meaning

The Direct Reference Theory

Meaning as Truth Conditions

Sense and Reference

The Idea Theory

Meaning as Use

Quine’s Skepticism

Bibliography

Phrastic, Neustic, Tropic: Hare’s Trichotomy

Bibliography

Plurality

Bibliography

Polarity Items

Negative Polarity Items

Positive Polarity Items

Bibliography

Politeness

Introduction

Constructs of Politeness

The 'Social Norm View '

Pragmatic Approaches

Social Constructivist Approaches

Future Perspectives

Bibliography

Relevant Website

Politeness Strategies as Linguistic Variables

What Is Linguistic Politeness?

Politeness Theory

Criticisms of Brown and Levinson’s Theory

Measuring Politeness

Leech’s Politeness Principle

Post-Modern Approaches to Politeness

Social Variables and Politeness

Cross-Cultural Analyses of (Im)Politeness

Impoliteness

Where Next?

Bibliography

Polysemy and Homonymy

Evidence Used in Differentiating Homonyms and Polysemes

Theoretical Approaches to Polysemy and Homonymy

Bibliography

Possible Worlds

Bibliography

Pragmatic Determinants of What Is Said

Bibliography

Pragmatic Presupposition

Introduction

Relation with Semantic Presupposition

Relation with Conversational Implicature

Pragmatic Presuppositions: 'Classical ' Definitions

Pragmatic Presuppositions as Felicity Conditions

Toward a Pragmatic Definition of Pragmatic Presupposition

Bibliography

Pragmatics and Semantics

Critical Introduction: Metatheoretical Presuppositions as Ideological Norms Constraining the Empirical Sciences of Pragmatics a

Three Methodological Stances to Pragmatics and Semantics

The Componential View

The Perspectival View

The Critical Sociological View

The Boundary Problem

Semanticism

Complementarism

From Complementarism to Pragmaticism

Historical Contextualization of the Ideologies of Pragmatics and Semantics

Bibliography

Pre-20th Century Theories of Meaning

Early Theories of Meaning

Intension and Extension in Port-Royal Logic

The Recognition of the Historical and Cultural Nature of Meaning

The Recognition of the Genius of a Language

The Study of Metaphors

The Study of Synonymy

Condillac’s and the Ideacuteologues’ Semantics

Meaning in 19th-Century Linguistics

General Evolution

Semasiology in Germany

The Development of the Seacutemantique in France

From Sematology to Significs in England

Summary

Bibliography

Presupposition

Introduction

Operational Criteria

The Logical Problem

The Threat to Bivalence

The Russell Tradition

The Frege-Strawson Tradition

The Trivalent Solution

The Discourse Approach

The Structural Source of Presuppositions

Bibliography

Projection Problem for Presupposition

Bibliography

Pronouns

Bibliography

Proper and Common Names, Impairments of

Bibliography

Proper Names

What Is a Proper Name?

Proper Names and Proper Nouns

Personal Name Inventories

Gender-Specific Names

Change in Name Popularity

Nicknames

Personal Names for Roles

Proper Names That Shift to Common Nouns

Names for Things Other Than Persons

Animal Names

Names for Rock Bands

Street Names

Brand Names

Alternative Names

Cognates and Translations

Philosophical Aspects of Names

Bibliography

Proper Names: Philosophical Aspects

What Are Proper Names?

Two Central Issues: Meaning and Reference

Theories of Meaning

Millian Theories

Description Theories

Theories of Reference

Description Theories

Causal Theories

Hybrid Theories

Other Expressions

Definite Descriptions

Natural Kind Terms

Bibliography

Propositional and Predicate Logic

Introduction

Predicate Calculus

Propositional Calculus

Bibliography

Propositional Attitude Ascription

Bibliography

Propositional Attitudes

Bibliography

Propositions

Roles Played by Propositions

Propositions as Abstract Entities

Two Approaches: Structured and Structureless Entities

Two Structured Approaches: Russellian and Fregean

Ontology or Semantics?

A Problem for the Structureless Approach

Problems for the Structured Approaches

Bibliography

Prosody

Linguistic Meaning

Paralinguistic Meaning

Bibliography

Prototype Semantics

Bibliography

Psychology, Semantics in

Content versus Function Words

Content Words: Features and Decomposition

High-Dimensional Space Analysis

Grounded and Embodied Meaning

Procedural Semantics, Affordances, and Embodiment

The Indexical Hypothesis

Combining Words: Compositionality and Blending

Function Words

Spatial Prepositions

Quantifiers and Expressions of Amount

Semantics in Processing

Ambiguity and Metonomy

Semantic Illusions

Bibliography

Q

Quantifiers

Standard Quantifiers: Some Linguistic Generalizations

Some Non-Standard Quantifiers

Bibliography

R

Reference and Meaning, Causal Theories

Reference, Meaning, and Causal Theories

The Causal-Historical Theory of Reference

The Causal Theory of Meaning

Problems and Prospects

Bibliography

Reference: Philosophical Theories

What Is Reference?

Descriptivism

Descriptivist Theories of Reference

Frege’s and Russell’s Versions of Descriptivism

Differences Between Descriptivist Views

Antidescriptivism and the Causal-Historical Theory of Reference

Problems With Descriptivism

The Causal-Historical Theory of Reference

Problems With the Causal-Historical Theory

Skepticism, Naturalism, and Minimalism About Reference

Summary

Bibliography

Referential versus Attributive

Donnellan’s Contrast

Donnellan’s Use of the Contrast against Russell

Pragmatic Treatments (Kripke)

Semantic Treatments (Wettstein)

Developments

Bibliography

Register

Introduction

Lexical and Grammatical Differences among Registers

Lexical Differences across Registers

Grammatical Differences across Registers

Overall Patterns of Register Variation: The MD Approach

Conclusion

Bibliography

Representation in Language and Mind

The Relationship between Language and Thought

Mental Representation as Basic

Information-Based Theories

Teleological Theories

Conceptual Role Theories

Constraints on a Theory of Mental Representation

Linguistic Representation as Basic

Norms-Based Theories

A Non-Reductive Proposal

Bibliography

Rhetoric, Classical

The Origins of Rhetoric

Defining Rhetoric

The Three Genres of Rhetoric

The Five Canons of Rhetoric

The Three Rhetorical Appeals

Classical Rhetoric in Postmodern Times

Bibiliography

Relevant Website

Rigid Designation

Introduction

Names and Rigidity

Types of Rigidity

Bibliography

Role and Reference Grammar, Semantics in

The Lexical Representation of Verbs

Semantic Roles

The Lexicon

The Semantics of Clause Linkage

Bibliography

S

Scope and Binding

Bibliography

Selectional Restrictions

Bibliography

Semantic Change

Introduction

Categories of Semantic Change

From the Perspective of Semantic Fields, Cognitive Linguistics, and Prototype Theory

From the Perspective of Neo-Gricean Pragmatics and Invited Inferencing Theory

From the Perspective of Work on Grammaticalization Theory

Constraints on Semantic Change

Conclusion

Bibliography

Semantic Change, the Internet and Text Messaging

Electronic Communication: Efficiency and Expressivity

Some Aspects of Semantic and Lexical Change in Netspeak and Texting

The Meanings of LOL: Semantic-Pragmatic Change in Electronic Communication

Conclusion: Diversity of Usages

Bibliography

Semantic Maps

Bibliography

Semantic Primitives

Bibliography

Semantic Value

Bibliography

Semantics-Pragmatics Boundary

The Philosophical Debate

The Mentalist Picture of the Semantics-Pragmatics Boundary

Bibliography

Sense and Reference

The Origins and Central Core of the Sense/Reference Distinction

More on Frege’s Distinction

Subsequent History, and Criticisms

Bibliography

Serial Verb Constructions

Introduction

Grammar and Semantics

Formal Features

Functional Features

Diachronic Aspects

Aspect

Case

Directional Markers

Grammaticalization

Typological Challenges

Bibliography

Situation Semantics

Guide to Literature

Bibliography

Sound Symbolism

Onomatopoeia

Reduplicatives

Phonesthemes

Initial Phonesthemes

Initial Single Consonant C

Initial Double Consonant CC

Initial Treble Consonant CCC-:

Final Phonesthemes

Final Vowel Plus Consonant V+C

Final Vowel Plus Two Consonants V+CC

Final Vowel Plus Three Consonants V+CCC

Vowel Phonesthemes (Phonetic Symbolism)

Phonestheme Networks

Blends

Universality of Sound Symbolism

Onomatopoeia

Phonesthemes

Sound Symbolism in Poetry and Literature

Secondary Sound Symbolism

Spoonerisms

Rhyming Slang

Malapropisms

Folk Etymology

Intonation

Gesture

The Iconicity of Language

Bibliography

Spatial Expressions

Introduction

The Scope of Spatial Semantics

Basic Spatial Semantic Concepts

Trajector

Landmark

Frame of Reference

Region

Path

Direction

Motion

Theoretical Controversies

Semantic or Conceptual

Localization or Distribution

Semantic or Pragmatic

The Nature of Spatial Polysemy

Summary

Bibliography

Specificity

Bibliography

Speech Act Verbs

Definition and Terminology

Classes of Speech Act Verbs

Speech Acts and Speech Act Verbs

Performativity

Bibliography

Speech Acts

J. L. Austin

The Performative/Constative Dichotomy

Austin’s Felicity Conditions on Performatives

Locutionary, Illocutionary, and Perlocutionary Speech Acts

J. R. Searle

Searle’s Felicity Conditions on Speech Acts

Searle’s Typology of Speech Acts

Indirect Speech Acts

Speech Acts and Culture

Cross-Cultural Variation

Interlanguage Variation

Bibliography

Speech Acts and AI Planning Theory

Language and Action

Artificial Intelligence Planning Theory

The STRIPS Formalism

Knowledge, Belief, and Action

Problems

Bibliography

Speech Acts and Grammar

Language as Action: Performatives vs Constatives

What About Grammar?

Locution, Illocution, Perlocution

What About Grammar?

Categorizing Speech Acts

What About Grammar?

Bibliography

Stereotype Semantics

Bibliography

Summarization of Text: Automatic

Introduction

Terminology

Human Abstractors

Guidelines

Abstracting Behavior

Analysis of Empirical Abstracts

Relation of Abstracts to Sources

Challenges

Summarization Approaches: Overview

Producing Extracts

Early Approaches

Modern Approaches

Discourse-Level Features

Framework for Sentence Extraction

Corpus-Based Approaches

ImprovinSummary Coherence

Producing Abstracts

Cut-and-Paste Abstracts

Template-based Abstracts

Multidocument Summarization

Shallow Approaches

Relevance Versus Redundancy

Cohesion-based Models

Application: Biographical Summarization

Deep Approaches

Paraphrasing

Template Comparison

Summarization Evaluation

Intrinsic Methods

Factors InfluencinSummary Variability

Studies of Human Agreement

Measuring Informativeness

Automatic Scoring

Extrinsic Methods

Relevance Assessment

Reading Comprehension

Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Methods

New Areas

Multimedia and Multimodal Summarization

Narrative Summarization

Conclusion

Bibliography

Synesthesia

Synesthesia in Thought

Synesthesia in Language

Bibliography

Synesthesia and Language

Colored Graphemes

Gustatory Phonemes

Structure versus Meaning

Semantic Categories as Synesthetic Inducers

Bibliography

Relevant Websites

Synonymy

Substitution and Synonymy

Avoidance of Synonymy

Current Approaches to Synonymy

Bibliography

Syntax-Semantics Interface

The Model of Perfection: Artificial Languages

Where Natural Languages Seem Imperfect

Theories of the Syntax-Semantics Mismatch

The Deep Split Structural Isomorphism Hypothesis

The Natural Language Perfection Hypothesis

The Imperfections Reflect the Architecture of Grammars Hypothesis

Shaking Things Up

How Specified Is Grammatical Meaning?

Where Does the Meaning Come From?

See also

Bibliography

T

Taboo Words

The Nature of Taboo

Taboo Words and the 'Naturalist Hypothesis '

The Case of Naming Taboo

When Name Taboo Extends into Word Taboo

Bibliography

Taboo, Euphemism, and Political Correctness

Euphemism and Taboo

Types of Euphemism

Shortening

Circumlocution

Remodeling

Semantic Change

External Borrowing

Internal Borrowing

Dysphemism and Orthophemism

Changing Taboos

Political Correctness and X-Phemism

X-Phemism and Language Change

Political Correctness and Self-Censorship

Final Remarks

Bibliography

Temporal Logic

Tense Logic

Syntax of Priorean Tense Logic

Semantics of Tense Logic

Extensions of Tense Logic

Increasing the Expressive Power: 'Since ' and 'Until '

The Indeterminate Future

Interval Semantics

Other Forms of Temporal Logic

Bibliography

Tense

On Tense Marking

The Semantics of Tense: Basic Principles

Absolute Tenses (Present, Past, and Future)

Focal versus Nonfocal Tense Meanings

Tense in Context: Pragmatics of Tense

Relative Tenses and the (Present) Perfect

Anterior (Relative Past) and Posterior (Relative Future) Tenses

The (Present) Perfect

Deviating from the Default Use

Summary and Outlook

Bibliography

Thematic Structure

Introduction

Pamacrndotini’s Kamacrrakas

Thematic Roles in Modern Generative Grammar

Decomposition Approaches

Aspectual Decomposition

Proto-Roles and Macro-Roles

Composing Complex Word Meaning in the Syntax

Bibliography

Thesauruses

Defining 'Thesaurus '

The Thesaurus in Dictionary Research

Thesauruses in Specific Languages

Interdisciplinary Aspects

Bibliography

Thought and Language

The Relative Priority of Thought and Language

The Cartesian View

Behaviorism

Sellars: Language as a Precondition for Thought

A Closer Look at the Relation between Thought and Language

Bibliography

Truth Conditional Semantics and Meaning

Bibliography

Type versus Token

The Distinction

Its Usefulness

Universals

A Related Distinction

Do Types Exist?

Bibliography

U

Use Theories of Meaning

Bibliography

V

Vagueness

The Sorities Paradox (Paradox of the Heap)

Vagueness Is (Almost) Ubiquitous

Comparatives, Superlatives, Measure Phrases

Vagueness in Context

Vagueness versus Ambiguity

Logical Behavior

Vagueness as Ignorance

Fuzzy Logic (Multivalued Logic)

Supervaluation

Higher-Order Vagueness

Bibliography

Vagueness: Philosophical Aspects

Hallmarks of Vagueness

Three Philosophical Debates About Vagueness

Philosophical Theories of Vagueness

Bibliography

Virtual Objects

Bibliography

W

WordNet(s)

The Princeton WordNet

Background and Motivation

Design and Contents

Coverage

Relations

Nouns in WordNet

Hyponymy

Types vs. instances

Meronymy

Verbs

Adjectives

Inheritance and Reversibility

WordNet as a Thesaurus

WordNet as a Tool for Disambiguation

Limitations of WordNet

Other Wordnets

The EuroWordNet Model (EWN)

Global WordNets

See also

Bibliography

Relevant Websites

Index