scholarly journals A Persona-based Semantics for Slurs

2020 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Burnett
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Target Group ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Neutral Form ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Utterance Interpretation

This paper presents a new style of semantic analysis for (some) slurs: linguistic expressions used to denigrate individuals based on some aspects of their identity. As an illustration, the author will focus on one slur in particular: dyke, which is generally considered to be a derogatory term for lesbians. The author argues that not enough attention in the literature has been paid to the use of dyke by members of the target group, who can often use it in a non-insulting manner; secondly, the author argues not enough attention has been paid to the use of the “neutral” form, lesbian, which is generally treated as having a simple, clear meaning, such as “engage[s] in same-sex sex” (Jeshion, 2013a, 312). Following McConnell-Ginet (2002), the author argues that taking into account all the uses of both dyke and lesbian requires a new semantics and pragmatics for both terms. More specifically, the author proposes that dyke and lesbian are associated with different sets of personae: abstract identities or stereotypes. Dyke is associated with an anti-mainstream persona, which the vast majority of speakers views negatively; whereas, lesbian is associated with a mainstream persona, which many speakers view favourably. The author proposes that the semantic puzzles associated with dyke and lesbian can be resolved through the combination of a theory of these personae and a theory of how listeners’ beliefs about their interlocutors’ ideologies affect utterance interpretation.

The development of a semantic annotation scheme for Chinese kinship

Corpora ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yufang Qian ◽  
Scott Piao
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Semantic Annotation ◽  
Corpus Annotation ◽  
Semantic Field ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Annotation Scheme ◽  
Marital Relations ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Analysis System ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

In this paper, we propose a corpus annotation scheme and lexicon for Chinese kinship terms. We modify existing traditional Chinese kinship schemes into a comprehensive semantic field framework that covers kinship semantic categories in contemporary Chinese. The scheme is inspired by the Lancaster USAS (UCREL Semantic Analysis System) taxonomy, which contains categories for English kinship terms. We show how our scheme works with a Chinese kinship semantic lexicon which covers parents, siblings, marital relations, off-spring and same-sex partnerships. The kinship lexicon was created through a pilot study involving the Lancaster University Mandarin Corpus. We foresee that our annotation scheme and lexicon will provide a framework and resource for the kinship annotation of Chinese corpora and corpus-based kinship studies.

Sémantique Et/Ou Roman Feuilleton? Sur Un Style D'Analyse Sémantique Qui Semble à La Mode Aujourd'Hui

1983 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-422
Author(s):  
Jean Molino
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Magic Formula ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics

Semantics and/or Serial About a Style in Semantic Analysis that Seems to be Fashionable Nowadays. In a chapter of his book Les Mots du Discours, O. Ducrot propounds an analysis of the French adverb décidément that seems to us typical of semantics and pragmatics in France nowadays. The detailed discussion of this analysis brings out the difficulties that originate from the author's method; he wants to reconstruct, with comments of a literary and psychological kind, "movements of thought" which is impossible to bear out or invalidate. And these reconstructions come from a conception of linguistics which is based on questionable principles: isomorphism of the signifier and the signified, epistemological irresponsibility, failure to recognize the methods appropriate to linguistics, diachronic and synchronic invariability. In conclusion, there is no magic formula that is likely to explain the meaning of a word, but only differing uses we must try to arrange in homogeneous classes.

scholarly journals LEXICAL AND WORLD-MODELING ACTIVITY OF SOMATISMS AND ANTHROPOMORPHISM OF LANGUAGE CATEGORIZATION IN THE PROVERB

2021 ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Хуа Ван
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Universal Constant ◽  
The Body ◽  
The World ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
World Modeling ◽  
Constant Characteristics ◽  
Russian Linguistic ◽  
Conceptual Meaning ◽  
Selection Of

Введение. Рассматривается лексическая и миромоделирующая активность единиц лексико-семантической группы «Части тела» ‒ соматизмов, находящая отражение в текстах русских народных пословиц. Особенности семантики и прагматики соматизмов, обусловливающие специфику их функционирования в фольклорном тексте, позволяют определять соматическую лексику в качестве маркеров национальной идентичности. Целью исследования является изучение соматизмов, функционирующих в текстах русских народных пословиц, в аспекте реализации ими своего лексического и миромоделирующего потенциала. Материал и методы. В качестве материала исследования привлекаются тексты русских народных пословиц, содержащих лексемы-соматизмы. Принцип отбора эмпирического материала ‒ на основании сплошной выборки наиболее частотно встречающихся соматических единиц из текстов. Методологию исследования составляют методы наблюдения, количественного анализа, лексико-семантического анализа с привлечением элементов дискурсивного и концептуального анализа. Результаты и обсуждение. Соматизмы, значение которых строится на основе смыслов антропоморфности, играют значительную роль в формировании представления о человеке в языковой и концептуальной картине мира. Концептуальный смысл соматизмов проявляется неодинаково в разных лингвокультурах. При наличии универсальных, константных характеристик, свойственных всем этносам, наблюдается присутствие трактовок, обусловленных спецификой той или иной культуры. Это становится очевидным при сопоставлении случаев функционирования соматизмов в текстах русских и китайских пословиц: названные лингвокультуры чрезвычайно различаются в культурном и языковом планах. Выявлено, что наибольшим лексическим и миромоделирующим потенциалом, судя по текстам пословиц, в русской языковой картине мира обладают соматизмы голова, рука, глаза. За каждой соматической лексемой закреплен конкретный концептуальный смысл, важной составляющей частью которого является аксиологический компонент «ценность». Так, соматизм голова интерпретируется как «ценность интеллекта», рука ‒ «ценность жизненной активности», глаза ‒ «ценность личного участия». В меньшем количестве в пословицах присутствуют соматизмы волосы, ноги, рот, язык, нос. В этом перечне в первую очередь очевидны такие интерпретации, как ноги, символизирующие «ценность мобильности», и волосы ‒ маркер антиценности «внешнего» в противовес ценности «внутреннего». Заключение. Изучение соматизмов в аспекте рассмотрения их лексической и миромоделирующей активности, проявляющейся в фольклорных текстах (в данном случае в пословицах), позволяет формировать представление о фрагментах языковой и концептуальной картины мира этноса. Introduction. The article is devoted to the consideration of the lexical and world-modeling activity of units of the lexical-semantic group «Parts of the body» - somatisms, which is reflected in the texts of Russian folk proverbs. The peculiarities of the semantics and pragmatics of somatisms, which determine the specifics of their functioning in a folklore text, make it possible to define somatic vocabulary as markers of national identity. Aim and objectives. The aim of the research is to study the somatisms that function in the texts of Russian folk proverbs, in the aspect of their realization of their lexical and world-modeling potential. Material and methods. As the research material, the texts of Russian folk proverbs containing somatism lexemes are used. The principle of selection of empirical material is based on a continuous sample of the most frequently encountered somatic units from texts. The research methodology consists of methods of observation, quantitative analysis, lexical and semantic analysis, with the involvement of elements of discourse and conceptual analysis. Results and discussion. Somatisms, the meaning of which is based on the meanings of anthropomorphism, play a significant role in the formation of the idea of a person in the linguistic and conceptual picture of the world. The conceptual meaning of somatisms is manifested differently in different linguocultures. In the presence of undoubted universal, constant characteristics inherent in all ethnic groups, there is a presence of interpretations due to the specificity of a particular culture. This becomes obvious when comparing the cases of the functioning of somatisms in the texts of Russian and Chinese proverbs: the named linguocultures are extremely different in cultural and linguistic terms. It was revealed that the greatest lexical and world-modeling potential, judging by the texts of proverbs, in the Russian linguistic picture of the world is possessed by the somatisms head, hand, and eyes. Each somatic lexeme has a specific conceptual meaning, an important component of which is the axiological component “value”. So, somatism, the head is interpreted as «the value of the intellect», the hand is the «value of vital activity», the eyes are the «value of personal participation.» In fewer proverbs, there are somatisms hair, legs, mouth, tongue, nose. In this list, interpretations such as legs, symbolizing the «value of mobility,» and hair, a marker of the anti-value of «external» as opposed to the value of «internal», are primarily evident. Conclusion. The study of somatisms in the aspect of considering their lexical and world-modeling activity, manifested in folklore texts (in this case, in proverbs), makes it possible to form an idea of fragments of the linguistic and conceptual picture of the world of an ethnic group.

scholarly journals Unarticulated constituents and neo-Gricean pragmatics

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Huang
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Conversational Implicature ◽  
Pragmatic Theory ◽  
Pragmatic Enrichment ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Gricean Pragmatics ◽  
Unarticulated Constituents

Abstract In recent years, the concept of unarticulated constitutes has generated a fierce debate both in the philosophy of language and in linguistic semantics and pragmatics. By unarticulated constituent is meant a propositional (or conceptual) constituent of a sentence that is communicated by the speaker in uttering that sentence, but is not linguistically represented in that uttered sentence. The main aim of this article is to provide a neo-Gricean pragmatic analysis of unarticulated constituents, showing that the current existing mechanism of neo-Gricean pragmatic theory can handle unarticulated constituents in a straightforward and elegant way. Second, I defend the neo-Gricean position that the pragmatic enrichment of unarticulated constituents is nothing but a neo-Gricean, pre-semantic conversational implicature. And third and finally, I briefly evaluate an alternative, formal syntactico-semantic analysis of unarticulated constituents.

Making sense of terms of address in European languages through the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM)

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Wierzbicka
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Cultural Scripts ◽  
Cultural Assumptions ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
French And English ◽  
French Words ◽  
Key Terms

Abstract Building on the author’s earlier work on address practices and focusing on the French words monsieur and madame, this paper seeks to demonstrate that generic titles used daily across Europe have relatively stable meanings, different in different languages, and that their semantic analysis can provide keys to the speakers’ cultural assumptions and attitudes. But to use these keys effectively, we need some basic locksmith skills. The NSM approach, with its stock of primes and molecules and its mini-grammar for combining these into explications and cultural scripts, provides both the necessary tools and the necessary techniques. The unique feature of the NSM approach to both semantics and pragmatics is the reliance on a set of simple, cross-translatable words and phrases, in terms of which interactional meanings and norms can be articulated, compared, and explained to linguistic and cultural outsiders. Using this approach, this paper assigns intuitive, intelligible and cross-translatable meanings to several key terms of address in French and English, and it shows how these meanings can account for many aspects of these terms’ use. The paper offers a framework for studying the use of terms of address in Europe and elsewhere and has implications for language teaching, cross-cultural communication and education.

Analyses of the Semantics of Mood

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Nikolaeva
Keyword(s):  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Utterance Interpretation ◽  
Different Sources

This article examines the semantics of “mood”, both in the sense of the opposition among clause types, that is, “sentential/sentence moods,” or “sentential forces”, and in the sense of the distinction between realis and irrealis, or indicative and subjunctive. It begins by considering the most important sentence moods, namely, declaratives, imperatives, interrogatives, exclamatives and optatives. It then discusses the notions of realis and irrealis or indicative and subjunctive. It concludes by underscoring the importance of a study of interpretive effects in elucidating the interaction between semantics and pragmatics, since the semantics of mood appears to depend on a set of contextual clues which arise from different sources and provide non-conceptual input to the pragmatic process of utterance interpretation.

Textual Inference

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Zaenen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Scalar Implicatures ◽  
Language Understanding ◽  
Computational Approaches ◽  
The World ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
State Of Affairs

Hearers and readers make inferences on the basis of what they hear or read. These inferences are partly determined by the linguistic form that the writer or speaker chooses to give to her utterance. The inferences can be about the state of the world that the speaker or writer wants the hearer or reader to conclude are pertinent, or they can be about the attitude of the speaker or writer vis-à-vis this state of affairs. The attention here goes to the inferences of the first type. Research in semantics and pragmatics has isolated a number of linguistic phenomena that make specific contributions to the process of inference. Broadly, entailments of asserted material, presuppositions (e.g., factive constructions), and invited inferences (especially scalar implicatures) can be distinguished. While we make these inferences all the time, they have been studied piecemeal only in theoretical linguistics. When attempts are made to build natural language understanding systems, the need for a more systematic and wholesale approach to the problem is felt. Some of the approaches developed in Natural Language Processing are based on linguistic insights, whereas others use methods that do not require (full) semantic analysis. In this article, I give an overview of the main linguistic issues and of a variety of computational approaches, especially those stimulated by the RTE challenges first proposed in 2004.

The Distinction between Semantics and Pragmatics

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltán Gendler Szabó
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
What Is Said ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Utterance Interpretation

Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning, or more precisely, the study of the relation between linguistic expressions and their meanings. This article gives a sketch of the distinction between semantics and pragmatics; it is the intention of the rest of this article to make it more precise. It starts by considering three alternative characterizations and explain what the article finds problematic about each of them. This leads to the discussion of utterance interpretation, which situates semantics and pragmatics in a larger enterprise. But the characterization of their contrast remains sketchy until the final section, where the article discusses how truth-conditions and the notion of what is said fit into the picture.

Language Onset and Concomitant Speech and Language Problems in Subgroups of Stutterers and Their Siblings

1982 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin A. Seider ◽  
Keith L. Gladstien ◽  
Kenneth K. Kidd
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Negative Family History ◽  
Late Talkers ◽  
Language Problems ◽  
History Of ◽  
Language Onset

Time of language onset and frequencies of speech and language problems were examined in stutterers and their nonstuttering siblings. These families were grouped according to six characteristics of the index stutterer: sex, recovery or persistence of stuttering, and positive or negative family history of stuttering. Stutterers and their nonstuttering same-sex siblings were found to be distributed identically in early, average, and late categories of language onset. Comparisons of six subgroups of stutterers and their respective nonstuttering siblings showed no significant differences in the number of their reported articulation problems. Stutterers who were reported to be late talkers did not differ from their nonstuttering siblings in the frequency of their articulation problems, but these two groups had significantly higher frequencies of articulation problems than did stutterers who were early or average talkers and their siblings.

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