This paper surveys possible means of expressing 'the lack of something'. Various solutions are available for that purpose (using an independent word, circumscription, derived adjectives, postpositional adjectives, anterior or posterior constituents of compounds, as well as adjectives with derivational suffix-like posterior constituents). Of these, a detailed description is given of the meanings and mutual relationships of words involving the denominal privative suffix '–talan /-telen' (-less), the derivational suffix-like posterior constituent '-mentes' (-free), the postpositional adjective 'nélküli' (without), or the posterior compound constituent '-szegény' (poor in). For determining the meanings and semantic relations of various realisations expressing the lack of something, the author employs a method of categorisation based on the notion of prototype as in cognitive semantics in order to find out whether these data can be appropriately explored within the theoretical framework chosen.
The article deals with the problem of the possibility of defining lexical unit of contemporary Polish language 'muzyka' (music) as a specific kind of non-material artefact. The author attempts to prove that 'muzyka' can be defined as 'somethingi made by someone (j) to be heard by someone (k) who (because of the act of hearing) would feel something (l)'. The author suggests that the meaning of natural language units such as 'literatura' (literature), 'film' (film), 'malarstwo' (painting) and 'reklama' (advertisement) can be explained in a similar way.
The author's answer to the question asked in the title is that Hungarian semantics does exist, just like Hungarian phonology, Hungarian morphology, and Hungarian syntax do. Following Zoltán Gombocz, one can say that the task of Hungarian semantics is to explore whatever is characteristic of Hungarian among general semantic considerations and to account for the specific linguistic devices that implement those general features. The author dwells on the morphology-semantics interface and on the syntax-semantics interface at some length since, as far as we know today, it is in these areas that generalizations can be drawn more safely. But this does not mean that research on Hungarian semantics should be restricted to those two areas: with an appropriate typological background, the structure of semantic fields or the lexicalization patterns attested in that language can be explored, too; another rational problem for semantics could be the study of the way the mental image of the world is reflected in linguistic expressions, and so forth. However, beyond morphosemantics and syntactic semantics, we do not as yet possess reliable knowledge in the area of Hungarian semantics.
The paper is devoted to the concept of truth in mathematics. The starting point is Tarski's definition of truth. The philosophical background of this definition is discussed, its meaning for the language of mathematics and for philosophy, its relation to various definitions of truth. The relation provability vs. truth is also considered. With use of some results of mathematical logic, it is shown that the conditions from Tarski's definition are too weak to assure the uniqueness of interpretation of truth predicate. It is also shown that semantic notions such as satisfaction and truth are not finitistic and require the concept of infinity.
Based on the generally recognized close relationship between functional sentence perspective (FSP) and semantics, this paper concentrates on the treatment of the semantic component of this relationship in the works of Vilem Mathesius, Bohumil Trnka and members of the Brno school. While Mathesius laid the foundations of the theory, Trnka touched upon it only in a general outline. A detailed elaboration of the semantic aspect has been presented within his theoretical framework by Jan Firbas, who treats the relationship of FSP to semantics in terms of a dual semantics, static and dynamic. In the works of his colleagues and followers, this approach has been extended to more complex structures, and accordingly somewhat modified. This paper draws attention to the question of whether the specific FSP semantics entirely cancels differing sentence semantics or whether the latter still plays a role and the two can be brought into agreement.
The aim of this paper is to prove certain relations between some type of hyper-intensional operators, namely context shifting operators, and compositionality in natural languages. Various authors (e.g. von Fintel & Matthewson 2008; Stalnaker 2014) have argued that context-shifting operators are incompatible with compositionality. In fact, some of them understand Kaplan’s (1989) famous ban on context-shifting operators as a constraint on compositionality. Others, (e.g. Rabern 2013) take context-shifting operators to be compatible with compositionality but, unfortunately, do not provide a proof, or an argument in favour of their position. The aim of this paper is to do precisely that. Additionally, the author provides a new proof that compositionality for propositional content (intension) is a proper generalization of compositionality for character (hyper-intensions).
This article focuses on the phrase ἀνθρώποι εὐδοκίας of Lucan canticle in Luke 2:14 and specifies the identity of people as addressees of peace. It examines the literary genre of the canticle proclamation, its syntax, and semantics of Greek term εὐδοκία and offers the author’s lexical choices to propose a more accurate and context-oriented translation of the phrase for Slovak professional and the general public.
The general slogan in the title of this paper (which is taken from Strawson 1952, 57) gives a general, but nevertheless accurate, expression of Strawson's view concerning the nature of formal logic per se in relation to natural language. What is at stake here is the extent to which the formal methods and the formal semantics of contemporary symbolic logic can render the meanings of natural language expressions. Strawson sets up an agenda for logical theory, which, although rather dated for a logic text, is what one naturally expects from an introduction to elementary formal logic and a systematic analysis of certain crucial meta-logical concepts, most notably entailment. However, the author own reading is that Strawson's approach to logic makes a lasting contribution to understanding the inner workings of natural language through his critical discussion of the limits of the formal renderings of the semantics of natural language expressions via canonical first-order notations. One can recognize in this critical attitude towards the limits of formal methods a consistent generalization of Strawson's own strategy from his critical response to Russell's theory of descriptions. In the paper author focus on certain examples which illustrate the general slogan that characterizes Strawson's views on the nature of logic in connection with ordinary language and talk.
In this paper, it is claimed that the artistic vision of the world is not very different from the linguistic picture of the world and that creative use of language (i.e. artistic or journalistic texts, advertisements, or even colloquial texts) can contain valuable, indeed, sometimes fundamental data for a reconstruction of the conceptual system encoded in the language. Examples of texts are provided, thanks to which one can verify hypotheses constructed on the basis of systemic facts and which draw attention to an aspect of the linguistic picture of the world. When creative uses are taken into account, semantic components inconspicuous in the general variety of the language surface, and the semantic openness of linguistic expressions is revealed - this openness is correlated with the openness of human thinking about the world. Textual connotations, merely individual at face value, usually have a clear motivation because a semantically interpretable utterance must be derived from linguistic and cultural knowledge. Situations in which the text is the only justification of unconventionalized semantic components are very rare.
This is the second part of the paper in which it is claimed that there is exactly one semantically relevant pragmatic process, namely saturation. The author analyses Recanati’s tests for free enrichment as well as Stanley’s test for saturation. It is claimed that all these tests lead to unacceptable generalizations. On the other hand, it is also claimed that minimal indexicalism avoids such generalizations because it requires a more flexible theory of language. Finally, the author outlines some methodological reasons preferring minimal indexicalism to another explanation which embraces free enrichment.
The article discusses the Balto-Slavic word *šama- ‘sheat-fish, Silurus glanis’ > Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian сом, Serbo-Croatian сȍ м, Slovenian sòm, Czech, Slovakian sumec, Polish sum, Low Sorbian som, Lithuanian šãmas, Latvian sams, which is problematic from the point of view of etymology. Giving an in depth analysis of previous hypotheses, the article suggests turning to the already known lexical material recorded in dictionaries. On semantic concretisation of the examples and drawing from the dialects of the Slavic and Baltic languages, the old etymology of this word (Proto-Indo- European *k’em- ‘stick, pole, horn’) becomes linguistically well-reasoned.
This article focuses on the semantic and pragmatic aspect of specific Greek verb εὐφραίνω in the Gospel of Luke. The verb dominates in Luke especially in the parabolic motif of the feast (12:19; 15: 23, 24, 29, 32; 16:19), in which it acquires some characteristic features that were often overlooked in previous Slovak translations. The aim of this article is to suggest a more accurate and contextoriented translation of the verb in the new Slovak translation of Luke.
The analysis of the inner structure of algorithms makes the analysis of the development of the semantics of an algorithmic medium possible. The objective of the paper is to show the important stages of the development of the latter as related to new systems of addressing and encoding intended for backing up files as well as for operators. The author argues, that contrary to previous typographic medium, which endorsed the reproduction and automatic expansion of symbols, the new algorithmic medium endorses manipulating and automatically transforming the symbols. This difference enables us to understand the new pattern of communication in a data-driven society.
The author proposes bridging disparate explications of sentential connectives (operators). Logicians take sentential operators to denote truth functions and distinguish 16 such binary operators. On the other hand, linguists recognize much more sentential operators and even for the same truth function, distinguish several connectives with different properties. For example, the conjunction “and” can in some uses have an adversative or conditional or restrictive feature, and sometimes has a temporal or causal meaning. The author favours logic-semantic tools over pragmatic ones and proposes distinguishing operators as truth-functions from complex constructions of truth-functions. The same truth function can be constructed in different ways, which enables one to explain the different properties of a single connective discussed by linguists. The author proposes two conditional connectives – namely one for the necessary conditional relations and another for the sufficient conditional relation – the negation and the logical conjunction as the basic operators. Using these simple connectives, he defines constructions of other sentential operators and demonstrates their various properties.
This article presents subject phenomenon and terms essential for its explication. It proposes a triple approach to its indication; followed by a comparison of Jerzy Kmita’s concept with Krystyna Zamiara’s concept notions.
Tezę o związku obrazu świata z językiem weryfikuje autorka eksperymentalnie na materiale pozyskanym od trójjęzycznych Polaków urodzonych na Litwie. Badanych proszono o wymienianie spontanicznych skojarzeń z hasłami z tej samej semantycznie grupy (‘stół’, ‘dom’, ‘kobieta’, ‘chleb’, ‘głowa’ itp.), podawanych im kolejno w języku polskim, litewskim, na koniec – w rosyjskim. Okazało się, że skojarzenia w dużym stopniu zależą od języka: tylko 30% odpowiedzi pokryło się. Oznacza to, że struktura pola semantycznego w świadomości językowej osób trójjęzycznych różni się zależnie od języka, którym one mówią. Mając do swej dyspozycji trzy układy językowe, które są różnie zorganizowane semantycznie i strukturalnie, osoby trójjęzyczne wybierają w ramach współrzędnych podsuwanych przez określony język. W pewnym stopniu wybór języka wpływa na sposób myślenia i system skojarzeń.
EN
The hypotesis of the relationship between one's worldview and language has been experimentally verified on the basis of data obtained from Lithuania-born trilingual Poles. The subjects were asked to provide spontaneous associations with items from the same semantic area (table, home, woman, bread, head' etc.) presented to them in Polish, Lithuanian and Russian, in that order. It appears that one's associations to a large extent depend on the language chosen: only 30% of the responses overlapped. The structure of a semantic field in the linguistic consciousness of trilingual speakers depends on the language used on a particular occasion. Having at their disposal three linguistics systems, each with a different semantic and structural organization, trilingual speakers choose the options offered by a given language. In a sense, the choice of language influences the way of thinking and the system of emerging associations.
Autorka studium przedstawia, w jaki sposób pojęcie stereotypu funkcjonuje w nowszych pracach francuskich, głównie językoznawczych, ale też w dziedzinach pokrewnych, gdyż studia dotyczące stereotypu często mają charakter interdyscyplinarny. Lektura francuskojęzycznych książek i rozpraw wskazuje, że dla autorów z tego kręgu językowego głównymi cechami stereotypu są: powtarzalność, odtwarzalność utrwalonych składników, charakter społeczny, uproszczenie i schematyczność. Cechy te eksploatowane są na różny sposób w różnych nurtach językoznawstwa, które pojęciem stereotypu posługują się jako narzędziem analizy czy opisu. Część autorów omawianych prac ujmuje stereotyp w sposób wąski i odnosi do sposobów jego funkcjonowania w języku (składnik znaczenia wyrażeń, czynnik współbudujący relacje wewnątrztekstowe), inni rozumieją go szeroko, w sposób zbliżony do Lippmannowskiego (socjologicznego) ujęcia stereotypu jako czynnika zapewniającego możliwość komunikacji wewnątrz określonej grupy społecznej (widoczne to jest np. w dydaktyce języka francuskiego jako obcego). Choć termin stéréotype nie ma jednego jasno i wyraźnie zdefiniowanego znaczenia, to właśnie jego „nieostrość” sprawia, że jest on używany często i służy do mówienia o różnych zjawiskach natury semantycznej, gramatycznej i pragmatycznej.
EN
The article attempts to show how the notion of stereotype is used in recent French publications, mostly linguistic but also from related fields (research on stereotypes is often interdisciplinary in nature). For French authors, the main characteristics of stereotypes are: recurrence, reconstitution of stable features, social character, simplistic nature and schematicity. For analytical or descriptive purposes, the characteristics are used differently in different linguistic trends, which results in various interpretations of what stereotypes are and how they function. Some authors understand stereotypes in a narrow way and restrict their descriptions to the way the latter function in language (as components of the meaning of linguistic expressions or factors contributing to intratextual relationships); others adopt a broader perspective, closer to Lippmann's (social) understanding of stereotypes as factors facilitating communication within a given social group (this approach is characteristic of the methodology of teaching French as a foreign language). The notion of stereotype does not have one clearly and precisely defined meaning; due to its vague boundaries it is used frequently and resorted to in the analyses of various semantic, grammatical and pragmatic phenomena.
Slurs are pejorative expressions that derogate individuals or groups on the basis of their gender, race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation and so forth. In the constantly growing literature on slurs, it has become customary to appeal to so-called “neutral counterparts” for explaining the extension and truth-conditional content of slurring terms. More precisely, it is commonly assumed that every slur shares its extension and literal content with a non-evaluative counterpart term. I think this assumption is unwarranted and, in this paper, I shall present two arguments against it. (i) A careful comparison of slurs with complex or thick group-referencing pejoratives lacking neutral counterparts shows that these are in fact very hard to distinguish. (ii) Slurs lack the referential stability of their alleged neutral counterparts, which suggests that they are not coreferential. Developing (ii) will involve introducing a new concept which I regard as essential for understanding how slurs behave in natural language: referential flexibility. I shall support my claims by looking at historical and current ways in which slurs and other pejorative terms are used, and I shall argue that both etymological data and new empirical data support the conclusion that the assumption of neutral counterparts not only is unwarranted but obscures our understanding of what slurs are, and what speakers do with them.
The article presents a semantic and structural discussion of 113 names of open fishing waters, selected from four lakes lying within the area of the district of Elk. The toponyms in this article were classified and analyzed according to the model proposed by H. Gornowicz in a work on the names of the Borzechowskie lakes in the Kociewie region. Among the names gathered and presented, the most, 93, are topographic, while the names of 14 are connected with their exploitation, and 7 are commemorative. Structural classification allows to note that compound names predominate among the names of these waters (97). Represented in the greatest numbers are prepositional phrases, with the preposition 'na', very characteristic of directional localizational toponymic names, combined with an allative accusative.
The paper deals with the understanding of proper names. Though the theme goes across various disciplines - e.g. semantics, epistemology, psychology - the paper examines only selected semantic and cognitive aspects of the problem. The question runs: How should we comprehend the thesis of understanding a proper name as knowing what the name refers to? What kind of knowledge is involved here? The question is posed within the direct reference theory framework enriched by the notion of singular proposition and the compositionality principle. The distinction between an expression and an utterance of it is accepted and the original question is split up accordingly. As for expressions (as ideal signs), to understand a proper name is to grasp a meaning axiom along the lines of D. Davidson and J. McDowell. As for utterances of expressions, to understand an utterance of a proper name is to know a piece of information concerning the referent of the name; ideally, it is a fact that can be expressed by an identity statement claiming that the referent of the name under discussion is identical with the individual about which the speaker has a mental file at her disposal.
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