Chapter 4
1. Compositional semantics.
a. i, iii
b. i. the set consisting of Anna
ii. the set consisting of Paul and Benjamin
2. Truth (falsity) in virtue of meaning vs. truth dependent on the facts.
a. T
b. C
c. S
d. S
3. Homonyms. The pairs of words flour and flower are homonyms, i.e., they sound the same but are differ-
4. What a speaker means. No. There are many facets of “meaning” that, while related to the meanings of
words and the way they are put together (linguistic meaning), are not strictly part of this linguistic mean-
ing. An example is the word or. Suppose that you ask your mother where your jacket is, and she re-
5. Ambiguity; paraphrases.
Part One
a. We laughed at the colorful ball.
i. At the colorful dance, we laughed.
ii. We found the colorful dance amusing.
f. The license fee for pets owned by senior citizens who have not been altered is $1.50. (Actual notice)
i. The license fee for pets owned by unaltered senior citizens is $1.50.
Part Two
a. POLICE BEGIN CAMPAIGN TO RUN DOWN JAYWALKERS
i. Police begin campaign to systemically clamp down on jaywalking.
ii. Police begin campaign to run over jaywalkers with squad cars.
b. DRUNK GETS NINE MONTHS IN VIOLIN CASE
ing case.
6. Ambiguities.
a. He waited by the bank.
i. He waited by the financial building.
ii. He waited by the shore.
b. Is he really that kind?
i. Is he really that type?
ii. Is he really that compassionate?
7. Idioms. Answer here will vary. Sample answers:
a. They tied the knot.
8. Etymology of idioms. Students should try to research the etymology of their idioms, but are free to
speculate as well. Answers will vary. Sample answers:
a. They tied the knot. According to the webpage www.phrases.org.uk, “. . . this expression derives from
the nets of knotted string which supported beds prior to the introduction of metal-sprung bedframes.
c. She called him every name in the book. We couldn’t find any information about this online, but it
seems like it might come from the idea that there is a book full of all the bad names one might call
shaking a leg that has “fallen asleep” as you slept.
9. Semantic properties.
a. The (a) and (b) words are male animate.
The (a) words are human.
The (b) words are nonhuman.
necessarily for the type of adjectives in (a).
10. Research project: “-nym.” Answers will vary. Sample answers:
According to Wiktionary.org, –onym comes from the Ancient Greek onuma, which is the Doric dialec-
tal form of onoma, meaning ‘name’. We see this in the common English word synonym and the not–so–
11. Complementary, gradable, and relational opposites.
A B C
good bad g
expensive cheap g
12. Homonyms.
a. “naked”: bare bear
b. “base metal”: lead led
13. Proper name puns.
a. Custer’s last stand
b. enchiladas
c. ptomaine (commonly known as food poisoning)
14. Thematic relations.
a t
a. Mary found a ball.
a s g
b. The children ran from the playground to the wading pool.
15. “The Jabberwocky.”
a. gyre: v. to move in a circle or spiral; n. a circular or spiral motion or form, especially a giant circular
oceanic surface current.
16. Performatives. Answers will vary. Samples:
a. In a game of tag, someone becomes “it” when the person who is currently “it” touches him/her and
shouts, “You’re it!”
17. Performative utterances. The performative sentences are:
a. I testify that she met the agent.
18. Grice’s Maxims.
a. This example is similar to the example “Can you pass the salt?” in the textbook. In this case, asking
someone what cookie crumbs are doing, if answered literally, would force the responder into stating
ably not surprising to the reader/listener, so the cat pointing it out is humorous.
19. Grice’s Maxims in the wild.
a. Answers will vary. Here are a few I found in my own home:
1. Child: “Mama, will you play with me?” Mama: “Sorry, honey, but my hands are full.” In order not
to be violating the maxim of relevance, the mother is really saying, “I can’t/won’t play with you
right now because my hands are full.”
20. Sentence interpretation.
a. a. red
b. He shot him.
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site, in whole or in part.
b. a. True
b. False
c. False
d. False
e. True
f. False
g. True
21. Presuppositions.
a. We have been to the ball park before.
b. Valerie did not receive a new T-bird for Labor Day.
c. Emily had a pet turtle.
22. Proforms. Answers will vary. Here are some examples, but there are many others.
pro-verb: did, because it can stand in for a verb, as in John swam and Sally did, too.
pro-adjective: like that seems to function as a pro-adjective but must occur after the modified noun, as
in:
23. Talking in code. When Alex tells Bruce “The eagle has landed,” he is violating the maxims of relevance
and manner. Bruce, then, has to choose whether to interpret Alex’s comment literally as a completely ir-
24. Implicatures.
a. Statement: You make a better door than a window.
Situation: Someone is blocking your view.
Implicature: I want you to move out of the way.
25. Conversational implicatures.
a. Jack: Did you make a doctor’s appointment?
Laura: Their line was busy.
Implicature: No.
b. Jack: Do you have the play tickets?
26. Negative polarity items.
a. Answers will vary. Here are some examples:
1. Jack hasn’t been here in years. / *Jack has been here in years.
b. Challenge exercise: Answers will vary. The major contexts are listed below, but there are many oth-
ers. The negative polarity item in each example has been underlined.
27. Challenge exercise: “No baby.” Under this modified theory, Semantic Rule I determines that if the sen-
tence no baby sleeps is true, then whatever thing the NP no baby refers to, call it Ø, must be a member of
28. The meaning of words. Students may respond freely. A possible answer might refer to Grice’s Maxims
and point out that sometimes we mean something different from what we are literally saying. For exam-
29. The Second Amendment of the Constitution. Answers may vary.
If the student disagrees, then it can be pointed out that the maxim of quantity means that in the minds of
30. Challenge exercise: Long-distance reflexives. Apparent exceptions to the rule for reflexive pronouns
presented in the chapter are not limited to the examples presented here. Many languages have cases
where the antecedent of a reflexive pronoun and the reflexive pronoun itself have an intervening NP. Re-
31. Antonyms.
a. 1. dis-: please / displease; infect / disinfect; regard / disregard
2. in-/im-: e.g. possible / impossible; probable / improbable; tractable / intractable