English Semantics
--- ---
MODULE 8
Sentence Types
Instructor: Lam Hoang Phuc
8.1. Analytic and synthetic sentences
▪ An analytic sentence is one that is necessarily true, as a
result of the senses of the words in it. An analytic
sentence, therefore, reflects a tacit (unspoken) agreement
by speakers of the language about the senses of the
words in it.
E.g. All elephants are animals
▪ The truth of the sentence follows from the senses of
elephant and animal
▪ A synthetic sentence is one which is not analytic, but may
be either true or false, depending on the way the world is.
E.g. John is from Ireland
There is nothing in the senses of John or Ireland or from
which makes this necessarily true or false.
8.1. Analytic and synthetic sentences
▪ Analytic sentences are always true (necessarily so, by
virtue of the senses of the words in them), whereas
synthetic sentences can be sometimes true, sometimes
false, depending on the circumstances.
8.2. Contradiction
▪ A contradiction is a sentence that is necessarily false, as a
result of the senses of the words in it. Thus a
contradiction is in a way the opposite of an analytic
sentence.
E.g. This animal is a vegetable is a contradiction.
This must be false because of the senses of animal and
vegetable.
▪ Analytic sentences can be formed from contradictions,
and vice versa, by the insertion or removal, as
appropriate, of the negative particle word not.
8.2. Contradiction
▪ We pay no attention here to the figurative use of both
analytic sentences and contradictions. Taken literally, the
sentence That man is not a human being is a
contradiction. This very fact is what gives it its power to
communicate a strong emotional judgement in a
figurative use (stronger than, say, the synthetic That man
is very cruel).
▪ Imperative and interrogative sentences cannot be true or
false, and so they cannot be analytic (because they cannot
be true), or synthetic, because ‘synthetic’ only makes
sense in contrast to the notion ‘analytic’.
8.2. Contradiction
▪ The notions analytic, synthetic, and contradiction each
apply to individual sentences. Analyticity, syntheticity, and
contradiction are, then, sense properties of sentences.
E.g.
- That man is human has the sense property of analyticity
(or of being analytic).
- That man is tall has the sense property of syntheticity (or
of being synthetic).
- That man is a woman has the sense property of being a
contradiction.
8.3. Paraphrase
▪ The notion of ‘sameness’ of meaning, which we referred
to as synonymy in the case of individual predicates, can be
extended to entire sentences in a language.
▪ A sentence which expresses the same proposition as
another sentence is a paraphrase of that sentence
(assuming the same referents for any referring
expressions involved).
🡪 Paraphrase is to sentences (on individual interpretations)
as synonymy is to predicates.
E.g. (A) Bachelors prefer redhaired girls is a paraphrase of (B)
Girls with red hair are preferred by unmarried men
(A) has the same truth value as (B), so that if (A) is true, (B) is
true, and vice versa; also, if (A) is false, then (B) is false, and
vice versa.
8.4. Entailment
▪ The notion of hyponymy can be extended to a particular
kind of meaning inclusion between propositions in a
language involving truth conditions called ‘entailment’.
▪ A proposition X entails a proposition Y if the truth of Y
follows necessarily from the truth of X. We extend this
basic definition in terms of propositions to cover
sentences in the following way. A sentence expressing
proposition X entails a sentence expressing proposition Y
if the truth of Y follows necessarily from the truth of X.
E.g. John ate all the kippers (X) entails Someone ate
something (Y).
It is not possible to think of any circumstances in which
sentence X is true and sentence Y false.
8.4. Entailment
▪ Entailment applies cumulatively. Thus if X entails Y and Y
entails Z, then X entails Z.
E.g.
- X, Some boys ran down the street entails Y, Some kids ran
down the street
- Y, Some kids ran down the street entails Z, Some kids went
down the street
Therefore,
- X, Some boys ran down the street entails Z, Some kids went
down the street
8.4. Entailment
▪ Two sentences may be said to be paraphrases of each
other if and only if they have exactly the same set of
entailments; or, which comes to the same thing, if and
only if they mutually entail each other so that whenever
one is true the other must also be true.
E.g.
- John and Mary are twins entails Mary and John are twins;
- Mary and John are twins entails John and Mary are twins.
Therefore,
- John and Mary are twins is a paraphrase of Mary and John
are twins
8.4. Entailment
▪ The Basic Rule of Sense Inclusion: Given two sentences A
and B, identical in every way except that A contains a
word X where B contains a different word Y, and X is a
hyponym of Y, then sentence A entails sentence B.
E.g.
- tulip is a hyponym of flower
Therefore,
- Henry was chewing a tulip entails Henry was chewing a
flower
8.4. Entailment
▪ The Basic Rule of Sense Inclusion does not work in all
cases. Given two negative sentences A and B, identical in
every way except that A contains a word X where B
contains a different word Y, and X is a hyponym of Y, then
sentence B entails sentence A.
E.g.
- tulip is a hyponym of flower
Therefore,
- Henry was not chewing a flower entails Henry was not
chewing a tulip
8.4. Entailment
▪ Given two sentences A and B, both of which involve the
word all, identical in every way except that A contains a
word X where B contains a different word Y, and X is a
hyponym of Y, then sentence B entails sentence A.
However, the entailment from B to A only holds when the
set of things referred to by the phrase including all
actually exists.
E.g. All Denis’s animals have foot-rot entails All Denis’s sheep
have foot-rot only if Denis actually has some sheep, i.e. if
some of his animals are in fact sheep.
8.4. Entailment
▪ The presence of gradable words upsets the normal
relationship between hyponymy and entailment.
E.g.
- mouse is a hyponym of animal
But,
- John saw a big mouse does not entail John saw a big
animal
(although a mouse is an animal, a big mouse is not a big
animal)
8.5. Contradictory
▪ A proposition is a contradictory of another proposition if
it is impossible for them both to be true at the same time
and of the same circumstances. The definition can
naturally be extended to sentences thus: a sentence
expressing one proposition is a contradictory of a
sentence expressing another proposition if it is impossible
for both propositions to be true at the same time and of
the same circumstances.
▪ Alternatively (and equivalently) a sentence contradicts
another sentence if it entails the negation of the other
sentence.
▪ E.g. This beetle is alive is a contradictory of This beetle is
dead.
REFERENCES
Hurford, J. R., Heasley, B. & Smith, M. B. (2007).
Semantics: A course book. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
