Transcript Selectional Restrictions

syntagmatic relations
Introduction
presupposition
Outline
collocation
Semantic
normality
and abnormali
Selectional restriction
 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.
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)
Selectional restriction :
According to the viewpoint of “ structural semantics” ,it
can be defined as the requirement for a ‘ normal ‘
combination. (Cruse ,2006:164)
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.
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 .
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)
1.
 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 .
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.
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)

The boy
?The sandwich
ate
ate
the sandwich
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)
Thematic Roles and Selectional
Restrictions
 Selectional restrictions: semantic constraint that a word
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(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
1. Synonymous:
 Sentence A is synonymous with B means that A
has the same meaning as B
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my brother is a bachelor
my brother has never married
2- Entailment
 Sentence A entails B means that if A then
automatically B
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The anarchist assassinated the emperor
The emperor is died
3-Contradiction
 Sentence A contradicts B means that A is
inconsistent with B
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My brother Ahmed has just come from Rome
My brother Ahmed has never been to Rome
4-Presupposition
 Sentence B presupposes A means that A is part of
the assumed background against which A is said
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The Mayor of Erbil is a women
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There is a Mayor of Erbil
5-Tautology
 Sentence A is a tautology means that A is
automatically true by virtue of its own meaning,
but informationally empty
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Ireland is Ireland
 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
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)
Watch a video advertisement,
do you know what it is advertising?
True Love
Illy Coffee
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
Why does presupposition exist?
Because it enables us to communicate
succinctly(briefly ).
It is much easier to say …
John doesn’t write any more
…than it is to say …..
A person we both know and agree that his name is John,
knows how to write, and who is able to
and who
some past time,
write poetry, wrote poetry in
and know he does not write poetry
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 .
Semantic presupposing
 Azad brother has just got back from Soran.
 Azad has a brother .
Truth table
P
q
T
T
F
T
T or F
T
(Saeed,2009:103)
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)
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?
P
q
T
T
F
T
T or F
T
?(T v F)
F
(truth -value gap)
 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.
 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.
1. Existential presupposition:
Entities named by the speaker and assumed to be
present
 - noun phrase.
 - possessive constructions.
-noun phrase :
 "The Cold War has ended”
-possessive constructions :
 “Tony’s car is new”
 That Tony exists and that he has a
car.
2-Factive presupposition:
Identified by the presence of some verbs such as
"know“, "realize“,“be glad”, “be sorry”, ‘’be odd’’ etc.
 She didn’t realize he was ill.
(+< He was ill)
 We regret telling him.
(+< We told him)
 I wasn’t aware that she was married.
(+< She was married)
 It isn’t odd that he left early.
(+< He left early)
 I’m glad that it’s over.
(+< It’s over)
( Griffiths,2006:147)
3- Lexical presupposition:
In using one word, the speaker can act as if
another meaning will be understood. For
instance:
 Mary stopped running. (+<She used to run.)
 You are late again. (+< You were late before.)
 Are you still such a bad driver?
(+< You were a bad driver)
4- Structural presupposition:
It is the assumption associated with the use of
certain structures.
 - wh-question constructions.
 When did she travel to the USA? ( +< she travelled)
 Where did you buy the book? (+< you bought the
book)
5- Non- factive presupposition:
 it is an assumption referred to something that is
not true.
 For example, verbs like "dream", "imagine“ and
"pretend" are used with the presupposition that
what follows is not true.
I dreamed that I was rich. (+< I was not rich)
We imagined that we were in London.
(+< We were not in London)
6- Counterfactual presupposition:
It is the assumption that what is presupposed is not
only untrue, but is the opposite of what is true, or
contrary to facts.
If you were my daughter, I would not allow you to
do this.
( +< you are not my daughter)
If I were rich I would buy a Ferrari.
(+< I’m not rich)
Presuppositions and context
 Presupposition behavior seems to be sensitive to
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context .different levels of context can cause
fluctuations in the presuppositional behaviour.
The context provided by :
Background knowledge .
Topic of the conversation .
Surrounding syntactic structure.
S0 we have problems with semantic presupposition
which depends on the formal relations between
sentences.
 Defensibility : presupposition can be cancelled or
suspended.
 She died before she finish her thesis.
 She finish her thesis.
 The presupposition is blocked or cancelled by our
general knowledge of the world .
 The projection problem : complex sentences affect
whether presuppositions are interrupted as
commitments of the speaker.
 John will regret doing linguistics .
 John is doing \will do linguistics.
 If john does linguistics , he ‘ll regret.
 Presupposition is not the same as entailment .It fails with
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the negation of the entailing sentence .Is not the speaker ‘s
and hearer’s beliefs.
(Cruse ,2002:138)
(Palmer,F.,1976:146)
E.g., A
a- I saw my father today .
b- I saw some one today .
B
a- I didn’t see my father today .
B- I saw someone today .
(entailment fails)
 Speakers have presuppositions while sentences
have entailments.
 EXAMPLE:
 Susan’s sister bought two houses.
 This sentence presupposes that Susan exists and
that she has a sister.
 This sentence has the entailments that
Susan’s sister bought something; a house, and
other similar logical consequences, now she has 2
houses.
The entailments are communicated without being
said and are not dependent on the speaker’s
intention.
 1) Presupposition
 a. The King of France is bald.
 b. There is a King of France.
 c. The King of France is not bald.
2)Entailment
 a. The President of Polvenia is a bachelor.
 b. The President of Polvenia is unmarried.
 c. The President of Polvenia is not a bachelor.
 The speaker will necessarily produce a very large
number of background entailments, but the speaker
will indicate how these entailments are to be ordered.
How?
by stress
 So ,The hearer will understand which entailment is
assumed to be more important for interpreting
intended meaning.
THE FOREGROUND ENTAILMENT
BOB ate three sandwiches.
Bob ATE three sandwiches.
Bob ate THREE sandwiches.
Bob ate three SANDWICHES.
 To test presupposition we have two ways:
 The negation
 But It sometime fails as Palmer mentions in his
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example:
John was \was not worried about his wife ‘s infidelity.
(+< his wife was unfaithful)
(+<she was unfaithful but that he was not worry)
(+< he was not worried because was not unfaithful)
Questions or Comments?
Sources
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Aronoff ,M .&Rees-Miller , J. 2003 . The Handbook of
Linguistics. Blackwell Publishing.
Cruse,A.,2006.A Glossary of Semantics and
Pragmatics. Edinburgh University Press.
Griffiths , P.,2006. An Introduction to English
Semantics and Pragmatics. Edinburgh University
Press.
Lyons ,J. 1977. Semantics,V.1, Cambridge University
Press
Saeed,John I.,2009. Semantics . Wiley-Black Well.
Smith,M.,and et al.2007.Semantics: a
coursebook.Cambridge.
Matthews,P.H.,2007.Concise Dictionary of
Linguistics Oxford University press.
Yule,G.,2006.The Study of Language .Cambridge.
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