Meaning change in Chinese: A numeral phrase construction from adjectives to superlatives to definite descriptions

Linguistics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 599-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawei Jin ◽  
Jun Chen
Keyword(s):  
Change Process ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Literal Meaning ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Gradable Adjectives ◽  
Meaning Change ◽  
Truth Conditional

Abstract This paper analyzes a hitherto unnoticed semantic change process in Chinese, in which lexical (adjectival) materials develop into superlative operators, and subsequently turn into definiteness markers. Our analysis focuses on the semantic factors that underlie this meaning change trajectory. Specifically, we argue that frequent association of gradable adjectives with superlative implication leads to pragmatic strengthening in which the superlative implication conventionally enters the literal meaning. Furthermore, we show that a further change in the extension of the nominal part of superlative phrases leads to a maximality reanalysis that is compatible with the semantics of definite NPs. This paper contributes to the burgeoning field of applying truth-conditional semantics to theories of grammaticalization.

Cognitive processing of scalar implicatures with Chinese gradable adjectives

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-403
Author(s):  
Si Liu ◽  
Yi Yang
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Literal Meaning ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
Scalar Implicatures ◽  
Gradable Adjectives ◽  
Gradable Adjective ◽  
Background Belief ◽  
Default Model

Abstract In previous research comparing the Context-driven Model with the Default Model of meaning processing, the former was preferred. It predicts that contexts play an exclusively decisive role in meaning processing, whereas the latter holds that the inference of literal meaning generally goes through, unless it is subsequently defaulted or cancelled by the context it is associated with. The Standardization Model, which we added to our experiments, highlights that implicatures are figured out from standardized forms typically based on the mutual background belief and speaker’s intention. We tested whether Chinese people’s processing of the gradable adjective scale <hot, burning> conformed more to the Context-driven Model, the Default Model, or the Standardization Model. The results demonstrated that the Standardization Model is the most acceptable among the three. The findings of this study, which is the first study using the experimental paradigm on Chinese gradable adjectives, highlighted a need for further studies to investigate the same questions with different languages and cultures.

Semantic Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Closs Traugott
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Enabling Factors ◽  
Contextual Data ◽  
Analogical Thinking ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Meaning Change ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
Types Of Change

Traditional approaches to semantic change typically focus on outcomes of meaning change and list types of change such as metaphoric and metonymic extension, broadening and narrowing, and the development of positive and negative meanings. Examples are usually considered out of context, and are lexical members of nominal and adjectival word classes. However, language is a communicative activity that is highly dependent on context, whether that of the ongoing discourse or of social and ideological changes. Much recent work on semantic change has focused, not on results of change, but on pragmatic enabling factors for change in the flow of speech. Attention has been paid to the contributions of cognitive processes, such as analogical thinking, production of cues as to how a message is to be interpreted, and perception or interpretation of meaning, especially in grammaticalization. Mechanisms of change such as metaphorization, metonymization, and subjectification have been among topics of special interest and debate. The work has been enabled by the fine-grained approach to contextual data that electronic corpora allow.

Time and truth

2000 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Detges
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Past Participle ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Meaning Change ◽  
Discourse Strategies ◽  
The Invisible

This paper is concerned with the “invisible hand” behind the polygenetic pathways of semantic change in grammaticalization. A comparison between Old English habban + Past Participle and Spanish tener + Past Participle brings to light specific discourse strategies which speakers use resultatives for. On the basis of this analysis, the paper re-examines the problem of explaining the shift from non-temporal to temporal meaning. It is argued that this shift is brought about by some very basic discourse strategies which are strong motives for repeated meaning change in the same direction.

scholarly journals The Study of Semantic Change and its Effect on Linguistic and Literary Comprehension of ESL Learners

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-54
Author(s):  
Azka Khalid
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Literal Meaning ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
Negative Attribute ◽  
Multiple Meanings ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
Over Time

Language is continuously changing. Words change their meaning over time and this process is known as semantic change. Change can occur both in the literal meaning and in the pragmatic use of words. In this research, semantic change is studied from a different perspective. Words that go through rapid semantic changes are the focus of this study. Users of English as a second language are also the focus of this study. The study observes whether these users are able to keep up with semantic change. It also gives us an idea regarding how much the users know about the multiple meanings of the same words. Another aspect of this study is to find out whether semantic change affects the comprehension of literature containing the words which went through semantic change. This research was conducted through a close-ended questionnaire designed by selecting fifteen words which changed their meaning over time. The respondents were fifty in number and were all females who had different educational backgrounds. The results were analyzed through pie charts. The results showed that the majority of ESL learners are able to keep up with semantic change, although a significant proportion is still struggling to understand the process. The results also showed that the learners of English as a second language have little knowledge of the previous meanings of words. If a word which has changed its meaning over time occurs in any literary work, ESL learners are not able to comprehend its meaning as it is intended to be understood. This can be considered as a negative attribute of semantic change. So, it was concluded that ESL learners are able to keep up with the change but most of them are unable to comprehend literature as it is intended to be understood.

scholarly journals On the relationship between argument structure change and semantic change

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Bethany J. Christiansen ◽  
Brian D. Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Structure Change ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Meaning Change ◽  
The Relationship

Argument structure (AS) and meaning are closely related, but the nature of the relationship is disputed. It is not entirely deterministic, as not all aspects of AS and meaning necessarily match up. Most discussion has focused on theory-internal issues and/or synchronic analysis of argument alternations. We, however, take a diachronic perspective, addressing how change in a verb’s AS correlates with meaning and vice-versa, and specifically asking if AS changes first, giving new semantics, or if meaning change triggers a different AS. We study these issues empirically via corpus work on the verb babysit, since it shows interesting changes involving AS and semantics in the relatively shallow diachrony of modern English.

scholarly journals Semantic Change of Arabic Nouns in the al-Qur’ān: Form, Process and Social Impact l Tagyīr al-Ma’nā min Kalimah Ism al-Lugah al-’Arābiyyah fī al-Qur’ān: al-Syakl wa al-‘Amaliyyah wa al-Âŝar al-Ijtimā’iyyah

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-321
Author(s):  
Aan Najib ◽  
Ahmad Abdul Malik
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Literal Meaning ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Original Form ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Social Culture ◽  
History Of

This study discusses the semantic change of Arabic nouns in the Al-Qur'an: the form, process, and social impact. The theory used in this research is socio-semantic, which is a combination of sociology and semantics. When the absorption form is analyzed, a comparison of the original form with the absorption form is used. In this research, some Arabic nouns in Al-Qur'an that have semantic change are found, such as isim ma'rifah, nākirah, mudzakkar, muannats, masdār, mufrād, mutsanna ,jama’ etc. Semantic change occurs due to the linguistic factors surrounding them, including phonetic, syntactic and morphological; or non-linguist factors including the history of language, aspects of social culture, aspects of science and technology, aspects of foreign languages, aspects of differences in the usage, and aspects of psychological. The change of its meaning has a positive impact on people's mindsets and understanding of the study of Al-Qur'an in a comprehensive and integrated way. Then,  every word is not only understood  by its literal meaning, but also its multi-meaning.

On the Non-Unified Nature of Scalar Implicature: An Empirical Investigation

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Baker ◽  
Ryan Doran ◽  
Yaron McNabb ◽  
Meredith Larson ◽  
Gregory Ward
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Scalar Implicature ◽  
Conversational Implicature ◽  
Experimental Setting ◽  
Scalar Implicatures ◽  
Gradable Adjectives ◽  
Discourse Context ◽  
Scale Type ◽  
Truth Conditional ◽  
Scale Types

AbstractScalar implicaure is often offered as the exemplar of generalized conversational implicature. However, despite the wealth of literature devoted to both the phenomenon in general and to specific examples, little attention has been paid to the various factors that may influence the generation and interpretation of scalar implicatures. This study employs the “Literal Lucy” methodology developed in Larson et al. (in press) to further investigate these factors in a controlled experimental setting. The results of our empirical investigation suggest that the type of scale employed affects whether or not speakers judge a particular scalar implicature to be part of the truth-conditional meaning of an utterance. Moreover, we found that features of the conversational context in which the implicature is situated also play an important role. Specifically, we have found that the number of scalar values evoked in the discourse context plays a significant role in the interpretation of scalar implicatures generated from gradable adjective scales but not other scale types. With respect to the effects of scale type, we have found that gradable adjectives were less frequently incorporated into truth-conditional meaning than cardinals, quantificational items, and ranked orderings. Additionally, ranked orderings were incorporated less than cardinals. Thus, the results from the current study show that the interpretation of scalar implicature is sensitive to both the associated scale type and discourse context.

What’s really going on with the ham sandwich?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-55
Author(s):  
Josephine Bowerman
Keyword(s):  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Definite Description ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Literal Meaning ◽  
Ham Sandwich

Abstract Working within the framework of Relevance Theory, I investigate the nature of referential metonymy (specifically, metonymically-used definite descriptions), aiming to elucidate (i) the pragmatic mechanisms involved in referential metonymy comprehension, and (ii) the contribution of a metonymically-used definite description to the explicitly communicated content of an utterance. I propose that, while the interpretation of referential metonymy is properly inferential in nature, it cannot be explained in terms of ‘meaning modulation’ (narrowing and broadening); rather, the literal meaning of a metonymically-used referring expression remains intact, and is used as evidence of the speaker’s target referent. In addition, I argue that the referential/attributive distinction proposed by Donnellan (1966) for literally-used definite descriptions also applies to metonymically-used definite descriptions. Thus, the contribution of a metonymically-used definite description to explicit utterance content differs according to whether the definite description is used ‘referentially’ or ‘attributively’.

scholarly journals Default Semantics

Linguistics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Jaszczolt
Keyword(s):  
Logical Form ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Cognitive Representations ◽  
Pragmatic Inference ◽  
Truth Conditional

Default Semantics (DS) is a theory of discourse that represents the main meaning intended by the speaker and recovered by the addressee, using truth-conditional, formal, but pragmatics-rich representations. It was originally developed at the University of Cambridge by K. M. Jaszczolt in the late 1990s and has since been applied to a variety of constructions, phenomena, and languages. The category of primary meaning, as it is understood in DS and represented in its semantic qua conceptual representations, cuts across the explicit/implicit divide. Semantic representations are not limited by the constraints imposed by the logical form of the sentence; they allow for its modifications but also, unlike in other post-Gricean theories, they allow for it to be overridden when the main informational content is conveyed through sources other than the linguistic expression itself. DS identifies five sources of information, all operating on an equal footing: word meaning and sentence structure (WS); situation of discourse (SD); properties of human inferential system (IS); stereotypes and presumptions about society and culture (SC); and world knowledge (WK). Since all of the sources can contribute to the truth-conditional representation, the traditional syntactic constraint that ties the representation to the logical form of the uttered sentence could be abandoned, resulting in modeling a cognitively plausible, main message as intended by a Model Speaker and recovered by a Model Addressee. As a result, DS-theoretic representations can pertain either to (i) the logical form of the sentence; (ii) the logical form with saturated indexical expressions; (iii) the logical form that is freely modified; as well as (iv) representations that do not make use of the logical form of the sentence. The identified sources of information are mapped onto four types of processes that interact in producing the representation (called merger representation, or Σ): processing of word meaning and sentence structure (WS); conscious pragmatic inference (CPI); cognitive defaults (CD, capturing strong informativeness, or strong intentionality of the underlying mental states, for example referential rather attributive reading of definite descriptions); and social, cultural, and world knowledge defaults (SCWD, capturing the relevant sociocultural conventions and encyclopedic knowledge). “Defaults” are understood there as automatic interpretations, “shortcuts through conscious inference” for the speaker and for the context, and as such are by definition not cancellable and are immune to controversies engendered by the “noncism”-“defaultism” debates in post-Gricean pragmatics. DS subscribes to the methodological and ontological assumption of compositionality of meaning on the level of such cognitive representations (Σs).

scholarly journals Meaning change in a petri dish: constructions, semantic vector spaces, and motion charts

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Hilpert ◽  
Florent Perek
Keyword(s):  
Petri Dish ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Meaning Change ◽  
Space Modeling ◽  
Semantic Shift ◽  
Vector Space Modeling ◽  
The Many ◽  
Linguistic Units

AbstractThis paper explores how the visualization tool of motion charts can be used for the analysis of meaning change in linguistic constructions. In previous work, linguistic motion charts have been used to represent diachronic frequency trends and changes in the morphosyntactic behavior of linguistic units. The present paper builds on that work, but it shifts the focus to the study of semantic change. How can motion charts be used to visualize semantic change over time? In order to answer this question, we draw on semantic vector space modeling to visualize aspects of linguistic meaning. As an analogy to this approach, the title of this paper alludes to a petri dish in which the growth and development of biological microorganisms can be observed. On the basis of diachronic corpus data, we monitor developments in the semantic ecology of a construction. This allows us to observe processes such as semantic broadening, semantic narrowing, or semantic shift. We illustrate our approach on the basis of a case study that investigates the diachrony of an English construction that we call the ‘many a NOUN’ construction.

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