On Referring

 

 

1. Sentence, Utterance,Proposition

1.1 Definitions

  • Sentence actual string of words / symbols used in language

    It is a string of words that could be generated by the grammatical rules of a language

    Sentence [1/2]

    1. You're doing the web readings for your Pragmatics class.
    2. your for Pragmatics class doing You're web readings the.

    [1] is a sentence but [2] is not

  • Utterance a token instance of a sentence in a larger context

    It is a pairing of a sentence with a context

    You can think of the utterance as the bridge between a sentence and a proposition

    The context surrounding the utterance (time, place, person speaking, etc.) determines which proposition is being expressed by the sentence uttered

  • Proposition the meaning / idea expressed by the utterance of a sentence

    Propositions are either TRUE or FALSE

 

 

1.2 Properties

  • All sentences are utterances

    Sentence [4/5/6/7/8]

    1. Beryl applauded John. She admired him.
    2. Beryl applauded John. She pleased him.
    3. Beryl applauded John. She hated him.
    4. Beryl applauded John.
    5. Please open the window.

    They are both sentences and utterances

  • Not all utterances are sentences

    Sentence [9]

    1. Goodbye!

    It is an utterance but not a full sentence!

  • Different sentences can express the same proposition

    Sentence [10/11]

    1. Beryl applauded John.
    2. John was applauded by Beryl

    They convey the same proposition BERYL APPLAUDED JOHN

  • The same sentence can express different propositions

    Sentence [12]

    1. My father is German

    It describes different states of affairs depending on who the speaker is (because of the "My")

    • A TRUE proposition if the speaker's father is actually German

      If Hannah says it, it expresses the proposition HANNAH's FATHER IS GERMAN, which is TRUE

    • A FALSE proposition if the speaker's father is not German

      If Izumi says it, it expresses the proposition IZUMI's FATHER IS GERMAN, which is FALSE

  • About Questions

    • A question can be both a sentence and an utterance

      Sentence [13]

      1. Can you open the window?

      As an utterance, a "can you ..." question could convey different meaning depending on the context

      • might be about the ability ("Are you able to...")
      • might be an indirect request ("Please open the window")

    • A question might convey a set of propositions

      Sentence [14]

      1. Who applauded John?

      A "Wh-" question are often assigned a meaning of the set of propositions that are possible answers to the questions

      The set assigned to [14] might consist of the following propositions:

      • BERYL APPLAUDED JOHN
      • HANNAH APPLAUDED JOHN
      • BERYL AND HANNAH APPLAUDED JOHN
      • NO ONE APPLAUDED JOHN

 

 

 

2. Presupposition

  • Presuppositions the things that a sentence takes for granted

    Example

    1. The King of France is bald
    2. The King of France is not bald

    Both sentences presupposes that there is a King of France

  • Presupposition Failure

    • Russell: FALSE

    • Strawson: Truth-Valueless / Meaningless

      Assume it is uttered in the 21th century

      The King of France doesn't exist presupposition failure

      Strawson believed that sentences with presupposition failure lacked any Truth Value.

    The question of whether this sentence is FALSE or Meaningless is one of the big choice points in philosophy of language

    Philosophers are split on which is correct way to go

  • Other Controversy

    Someone says the second half of the sentence above is TRUE, hence the whole sentence is meaningful

    Someone says the first half of the sentence above is meaningless, hence the whole sentence is meaningless