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Unit 4

The document discusses referring expressions and their use in language. It defines referring expressions as expressions used to refer to something or someone. It distinguishes between opaque contexts, equative sentences, indefinite and definite noun phrases. Examples are provided to illustrate ambiguous and unambiguous referring expressions. The document also contains sample questions and answers about referring expressions.

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143 views4 pages

Unit 4

The document discusses referring expressions and their use in language. It defines referring expressions as expressions used to refer to something or someone. It distinguishes between opaque contexts, equative sentences, indefinite and definite noun phrases. Examples are provided to illustrate ambiguous and unambiguous referring expressions. The document also contains sample questions and answers about referring expressions.

Uploaded by

Thanh Thanh
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Semantics task

Unit 4: Referring expression

9.0

Members of Group 2 (Monday period 8,9,10):

STT Họ và Tên MSSV


1 Phạm Thị Tú Anh 3120130009

2 Trần Thị Ngọc Hạnh 3120130036


3 Nguyễn Ngọc Như Tâm 3120380247
4 Trần Nguyên Thi 3120380264
5 Nguyễn Thị Luyến 3120380167

ANSWERS

1.

- Referring expression is any expression used in an utterance to refer to something or


someone (or a clearly delimited collection of things or people), i.e., used with a
particular referent in mind of the speaker.

- Opaque context is a part of the sentence which could be made into a complete sentence
by the addition of a referring expression.

 Refer to the same thing or person but the addition of different referring
expressions.
 Different meaning when uttured in a given situation.

- Equative sentence is one which is used to assert the identity of the referents of two
referring expressions, i.e. to assert that two referring expressions have the same referent.

- Indefinite noun phrase has the same expression, can be a referring expression or not.

 It may or may not have a referring interpretation.


 Depending on a linguistic context and on circumstances of utterance.
 It gives our definitions, which allude to what in the mind of the speaker on a
particular occasion of utterance.
- Definite noun phrase comes in various kinds: proper names (John, Mary, Anna…),
personal pronouns (he, she, it…), longer descriptive expressions → can be used as
referring expression.

 Typically involve a certain kind of verb, like want, believe, think, and wonder
about.

2.

a. my table → Yes → in real world.

b. a unicorn → Yes → in real world.

c. no love → No → doesn’t talk about anything.

d. travel → No → just talk about the action.

e. or → No → it is a linking word.

f. Mary→ Yes → proper name.

g. a book → Yes → real world.

h. Abraham Lincoln → Yes → a name of a person.

3. His father married a dancer → Yes

4. John wants to marry a dancer

→ Ambiguous. It depends on whether the speaker has in mind a particular person whom
John wants to marry.

5. The whale is the largest mammal → Yes

6. The man who shot Kennedy was Lee Harvey Oswald → Yes

7. Explain the ambiguity in: I am looking for a pencil

→ It depends on whether the speaker has a particular pencil in mind.

8. George W. Bush was the president of the United States in 2007. But if Dan believes
erroneously that the president of the United States in 2007 is not George W. Bush, then it
will mean different thing.

9.
a. Fred is the man with the gun → Yes

“Fred” and “the man with the gun” are two different referring expressions but they relate
to the same referent. We can see that “Fred” is a proper name and “the man with the gun”
is the defining noun phrase.

b. William the Conqueror is the current King of England → Yes

“William the Conqueror” and “the current King of England” relate to one person in real
world, have the same referent.

c. Detroit is a nearby city → No

This sentence does not state identity of reference. It just has one referring expression
“Detroit” and we don’t know it is nearby what.

d. Mary is a genius → No

This sentence does not state identity of reference. Because there are a lot of people whose
name is Mary.

e. A box of cookies is what I would like → Yes

“A box of cookies” and “what I like” are the two different referring expressions but they
relate to the same referent.

f. Detroit is not the largest city in the USA → No

This sentence is not an equative sentence because in the USA there are still many cites
that is not the largest city of it. Besides, we have ''not'', it means we have 2 different
referents: “Detroit” and “the largest city in the USA”.

10. It’s a tree

- Sentence: because this example is written in italic, with the correct grammatical rules
of a language like it goes with “is” and before “tree”, we have “a” to show the singular
noun. The example also expresses the complete thought.

- Utterance: because it is uttered by a particular person on a particular occasion to pick


out a particular tree.

- Reference: "a tree" is a plant in real life and it refers to the particular thing that the
speaker has in mind so the relationship between them is reference. We have an article “a”
and “a” is one of the reference types.
- Referent: tree in real world. The tree is the object of the reference so it is the referent.

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