This response draws on the sources provided to define and illustrate key concepts in

Semantics and Pragmatics, organized by the chapters found in the textbook excerpts.

Chapter One: Introduction to Semantics

The Study of Meaning

Concept Definition Examples

Linguistics has three main

Linguistics
branches: Syntax, Semantics, and N/A
Branches
Pragmatics.

The study of grammar

Syntax (Ngữ
(phonology, morphology, syntax, N/A
Pháp Học)
and textual grammar).

Semantic Meaning (Ex 1): Bill’s

reply, “I’ve got to finish a piece of
The study of MEANING in work,” simply informs Peter he has
Semantics (Ngữ LANGUAGE (i.e., what language a piece of work to finish. Semantic
Nghĩa Học) means). Semantics is context- Meaning (Ex 2): The speaker
free. simply informs the hearer of the
new Korean restaurant on Vo Thi
Sau Street.

Considers the MEANING in Pragmatic Meaning (Ex 1): Bill’s

SOCIAL CONTEXTS and the ways reply ("I’ve got to finish a piece of
people produce and comprehend work") will normally be taken to
Pragmatics
MEANINGS through language (i.e., indicate that he is not free to go to
(Ngữ Dụng Học)
what people mean by the the pub. Pragmatic Meaning (Ex
language they use). Pragmatics is 2): The speaker suggests trying that
context-dependent. new Korean restaurant.

What a sentence (or word)

Sentence
means, i.e., what it counts as the
Meaning (or N/A
equivalent of in the language
Word Meaning)
concerned.

What a speaker means (i.e.,

Speaker
intends to convey) when he uses a N/A
Meaning
piece of language.
Sentences, Utterances, and Propositions

Concept Definition Examples

A grammatically complete string of

Sentence (câu) words expressing a complete N/A
thought.

Any stretch of talk (a sequence of

sentences, a single phrase, or even a
single word) by one person, before
Utterance
and after which there is silence on N/A
(phát ngôn)
the part of that person. Each
utterance is unique and cannot be
repeated.

That part of the meaning of the Same Proposition: The tea is so

utterance of a declarative sentence hot that I can’t drink it / The tea
Proposition which describes some state of affairs. is too hot for me to drink.
(mệnh đề) The notion of truth can determine if Different Propositions: Peter is
two sentences express the same or going out with Lulu / Peter isn’t
different propositions. going out with Lulu.

Reference and Sense

Concept Definition Examples

The expression “Tom’s son” has

The relationships between language
a reference, which is the
Reference (sở and the world (words and the things,
relationship between the
chỉ) actions, events, and qualities they
expression and the boy who
refer to).
calls Tom dad.

my wife (the woman I am

Referent (vật sở The thing the speaker is talking about;
married to), this page (the page
chỉ) the object referred to.
we are reading, page 5).
 The relationships inside the language “spinster” and “unmarried
(relationships between expressions woman”. The sense of "pencil-
and other expressions in the sharpener" is its definition: a
Sense (nghĩa)
language). Every expression that has small device with a blade
meaning has sense, but not every inside, used for making pencils
expression has reference. sharp.

Variable The same linguistic expression may "My mother” may refer to
Reference (sở refer to different objects (referents). many different ladies
chỉ không cố The reference varies according to depending on different
định) time, place, and topic. speakers.

the Evening Star and the

Morning Star (both refer to the
Co-reference Different expressions refer to the planet Venus). Ho Chi Minh,
(đồng sở chỉ) same object (referent). Nguyen Ai Quoc, and Nguyen
Tat Thanh (all refer to the same
person).

Constant One expression always refers to the Unique things like the Eiffel
Reference (sở same object, regardless of the Tower, the sun, the moon,
chỉ cố định) speaker. Russia, Italy, Rome.

Chapter Two: Word Meaning

Semantic Features, Denotation, and Connotation

Concept Definition Examples

Father includes the semantic

features: [+male], [+adult],
Semantic
The smallest units of meaning [+human], [+married], [+having
Features (Nét
in a word. children]. School, teacher, and teach
nghĩa)
all share the semantic feature
[educational].

The core meaning of a word The name „Hollywood‟ denotes an

Denotation found in a dictionary. It is also area of Los Angeles, worldwide
(nghĩa sở thị) called descriptive or referential known as the center of the American
meaning. movie industry.

Connotation The implied, additional „Hollywood‟ connotes such things

(nghĩa hàm thị, meaning that the word has as glitz, glamour, celebrity, and
 beyond its denotative meaning, dreams of stardom. "Thrifty" has a
showing people's emotions. It positive connotation (suggests
liên tưởng) is also called social or affective smart), while "stingy" has a negative
meaning. Connotations can be connotation (suggests greed), even
positive or negative. though both refer to saving money.

Figures of Speech

Concept Definition Examples

The basic or usual

meaning of a word, a
Literal meaning phrase, or a sentence.
N/A
(Nghĩa đen) Literal language means
exactly what it says
(Compare Denotation).

The meaning which is

Figurative meaning different from its usual
or Non-literal (literal) meaning and
N/A
meaning (Nghĩa which creates vivid
bóng) mental images (Compare
Connotation).

“A word or phrase which

is used for special effect,
Figure of Speech
and which doesn't have N/A
(Hình thái tu từ)
its usual or literal
meaning”.

Direct comparison of one

Simile (tỉ dụ, so thing with another, using as cool as a cucumber, fight like a
sánh) the function words like or tiger.
as.

Indirect implied
Metaphor (ẩn dụ) comparison (no function She has a heart of gold.
words).

Dead Metaphor A metaphor which has the eye of a needle, the head of the
lost its metaphoric state, the foot of the mountain, the leg
characteristic and of the table.
 become a fixed
expression or idiom.

'He is a pig' (may be interpreted as he

A metaphor used is fat; he is lazy; he is stupid; he is dirty,
consciously, intentionally etc.). Have you digested the lesson
Live Metaphor
by a speaker with various yet? (comparing
figurative meanings. learning/understanding lessons to
eating/digesting food).

The butter is as soft as a marble piece

Say the opposite of one's (meaning the butter is not soft at all).
Irony (mỉa mai) thought for emphasis, for He is so intelligent that no examiner
fun or mocking. has agreed to pass him so far
(meaning he is rather stupid).

Part for Whole: This work requires an

intelligent brain (= person). The war
The use of a part for the
Synecdoche (cải has robbed 2,000 souls of the village (=
whole or the whole for a
dung) people). Whole for Part: The United
part.
States won the cup (meaning a team
from the United States).

“The pen is mightier than the sword.”

("pen" substitutes for written words,
A word or phrase is used
Metonymy (hoán and “sword” substitutes for violence or
to stand in for another
dụ) warfare). The White House (in place of
word.
the President or others who work
there).

A figure of speech in
The wind whispered through dry grass.
Personification which a thing, an idea, or
The flowers danced in the gentle
(nhân cách hóa) an animal is given human
breeze.
attributes.

Hyperbole (cường Overstatement or I’ve told you a million times. I am so

điệu) exaggeration. hungry. I could eat a horse.

Litotes (phép nói Understatement by using The ice cream was not too bad.
giảm) double negatives, (meaning very good). I cannot
expressing a positive disagree with your point of view.
statement by negating its
 opposite expressions. (meaning totally agree).

The use of pleasant, mild,

comforting, or indirect
Euphemism (uyển “Let someone go” for “fire someone.”
expression for one that is
ngữ, nói tránh) “Pass away” for “die”.
taboo, negative,
offensive, or too direct.

Synonymy and Antonymy

Concept Definition Examples

Two words have the same or buy = purchase, hide =

Synonym (Đồng nghĩa) almost the same denotative conceal, deep = profound,
meaning. film = movie.

deep / profound shock

A word that shares one of the
(interchangeable), but
Partial Synonym meanings with another word
only deep can be used in
in some certain contexts.
The lake is very deep.

Two words of opposite hot/cold; sooner/later;

Antonym (Trái nghĩa)
meaning. success/failure.

Two words exclude each

Complementary/Non- other. Being "not X"
asleep $\neq$ awake;
gradable/Binary Antonym automatically means being
male $\neq$ female.
(Tính trái nghĩa lưỡng phân) "Y". These cannot be used in a
comparative sense.

Two members of a pair are at

opposite ends of a continuous
scale of values (intermediate
Gradable Antonym (trái grades exist). They can be good < fair < average <
nghĩa thang độ) used in a comparative sense poor < bad.
(e.g., more interesting = less
boring) or qualified by
adverbs (e.g., quite hot).

Converse or Relational Expressions conveying a buy/sell; husband/wife; in

Antonym (trái nghĩa nghịch relationship such that if A front of/behind. If Tom is
đảo) relates to B in one way, B Sue’s husband, then Sue
relates to A in the opposite
 order. must be Tom’s wife.

Polysemy and Homonymy

Concept Definition Examples

Different meanings which The word walk can mean to stroll (in
Polysemy (từ đa are associated with one the park), to exercise (walk the dog), or
nghĩa) form, where these meanings to go on strike (the workers threatened
are closely related. to walk).

The driver turned left (opposite of

Words of the same sound,
Homonym (đồng right) and left (departed from) the
same spelling, but different
âm đồng tự) main road. A bear (the animal) can
meanings.
bear (tolerate) very cold temperatures.

Words of the same sound,

Homophone wait – weight; read – red; know – no;
different spellings, and
(Đồng âm dị tự) sight – site.
different meanings.

Homograph Words of the same spelling, bow (a weapon used for shooting
(Quan hệ đồng different sounds, different arrows /bau/) vs. bow (an act of
tự) meanings. bending one’s head /boʊ/).

Hyponymy

Concept Definition Examples

A word whose referent is totally

daisy and rose are hyponyms
included in the referent of another
Hyponym (Hạ danh) of flower. A screwdriver is a
term. It is a subcategory of a more
kind of tool.
general class.

Superordinate A word whose referent covers all animal is a superordinate of

(Thượng danh) the referents of its hyponyms. elephant.

Chapter Three: Sentence Meaning

Concept Definition Examples

One which is necessarily

Analytic All elephants are animals. Bachelors are
true as a result of the
Sentence unmarried.
senses of the words in it.

Synthetic One which is NOT analytic, John is from Ireland. My watch is slow.
 but may be either true or
Sentence false, depending on the way
the world is.

A sentence that is
necessarily FALSE, as a This animal is a vegetable. John killed
Contradiction result of the senses of the Bill, who remained alive for many years
words in it (the opposite of after.
an analytic sentence).

‘A violation of semantic
rules to create nonsense’. My brother is the only child in the
An anomalous sentence is family (brother requires siblings, only
Anomaly
grammatically correct and child prohibits them). Honesty plays
syntactically perfect, but golf. He frightened a tree.
semantically nonsensical.

A sentence which expresses

the same proposition as Tom sent a book to John $\
Paraphrase (Câu
another sentence; leftrightarrow$ John received a book
mô phỏng)
sentences that have the from Tom.
same meaning.

Put the box on the table by the window

in the kitchen (Can mean: put the box
Sentences and words that
onto the table, OR take the box off the
Ambiguity have more than ONE
table and put it by the window, OR take
possible meaning.
the box off the table and put it in the
kitchen).

Ambiguity caused by John went to the bank (meaning the

Lexical
Polysemy, Homonymy or edge of a river OR a financial
Ambiguity
Homography. institution).

She finds inspiration in cooking her

Lack or overuse of
family and her dog (suggesting she
Punctuation punctuation (especially
cooks her family and dog) vs. She finds
Ambiguity commas) that can alter
inspiration in cooking, her family, and
meaning.
her dog.
Structural Ambiguity caused by the
N/A
Ambiguity sentence structure.

Hand me the red and yellow balls (Can

Grouping Words in the sentence can mean: the red ball and the yellow ball,
ambiguity be put into different groups. OR the balls that are both red and
yellow).

She likes candy more than her husband

A sentence containing one
Function (Can mean: more than she likes her
word with different
Ambiguity husband (Object), OR more than her
functions.
husband likes candy (Subject)).

Sentence X entails sentence

Y if and only if whenever X
Entailment (kế Alan lives in Toronto (X) entails Alan
is true, Y is also true (the
thừa) lives in Canada (Y).
circumstances that make X
true, make Y true).

One sentence entails the Alan lives in Toronto ($\rightarrow$)

One-way
other, but the reverse is not Alan lives in Canada (He lives in Canada,
entailment
necessarily true. but not necessarily Toronto).

You have my deep sympathy ($\

Two-way The sentences are true
leftrightarrow$) You have my profound
entailment paraphrases of each other.
sympathy.

Chapter Four: Utterance Meaning

Speech Acts

Concept Definition Examples

An utterance that has

performative function in
Speech Acts (hành
language and communication N/A
động ngôn từ)
(e.g., promising, accusing,
warning).

Father to son: “Your room is a

The performance of an
Locutionary Act pigsty.” Locutionary act: the act
utterance: the actual utterance
(Hành vi tạo lời) of making that specific
and its literal meaning.
utterance.
 The speaker’s intention when Father to son: “Your room is a
Illocutionary Act performing that utterance (e.g., pigsty.” Illocutionary act: the
(Hành vi tại lời) to praise, criticize, warn, father requests that his son
request). should clean up the room.

The effect that the speaker has Father to son: “Your room is a
Perlocutionary Act
on his/her audience when pigsty.” Perlocutionary act: the
(Hành vi mượn lời)
making that utterance. son goes to clean up the room.

A direct relationship between a “Please don’t talk in class.”

Direct Speech Acts structure and a function (the (Imperative structure;
intent is expressed directly). requesting function: Direct).

An indirect relationship “It’s very noisy in here!”

Indirect Speech Acts between a structure and a (Statement structure;
function. requesting function: Indirect).

Speech Act Classifications

Classification (Hành
Definition Examples
vi)

Commit the speaker to the truth of the

Representative
expressed proposition (statement, The earth is flat.
(biểu hiện)
assertion, report, hypothesis).

Commit the speaker to the course of

Commissive (cam ‘I hereby undertake to pay
action (promising, vowing,
kết) all my debts’.
threatening, offering).

Vicar at a wedding
Change the reality by bringing about
Declarative (tuyên ceremony: “I now
or altering the state of affairs (blessing,
bố) pronounce you man and
announcing, marrying, firing).
wife”.

Cause the hearer to carry out an

Directive (điều “Could you pass the salt,
action (commanding, requesting,
khiển) please?”.
warning, suggesting).

Express the speaker's attitudes and

Expressive (biểu
emotions (greeting, apologizing, ‘Thank you very much’.
cảm)
thanking, complaining).

Presuppositions
Concept Definition Examples

What the speaker assumes to “John regrets that he stopped

be the case prior to making an doing linguistics before he left
Presupposition (Tiền utterance. A key characteristic Cambridge” presupposes: John
giả định) is that the presupposition stopped doing linguistics; John left
remains the same under Cambridge; John had been at
negation or interrogation. Cambridge.

Existential
Assumes the existence of the Your daughter is cute $\
presupposition (hiện
entities being mentioned. rightarrow$ You have a daughter.
sinh)

Assumes something to be a
Factive I don’t know that she is a
fact (usually with verbs like
presupposition footballer $\rightarrow$ she is a
know, realize, regret, be
(thực tế) footballer.
aware of).

Non-factive One that is assumed not to be

I imagined we were rich $\
presupposition (phi true (usually with verbs like
rightarrow$ we are not rich.
thực tế) dream, imagine, pretend).

He’s late again $\rightarrow$ He

The use of one form
Lexical was late before. She stopped
conventionally interprets
presupposition (ngữ working as an assistant $\
another (non-asserted)
nghĩa) rightarrow$ She used to work as
meaning.
an assistant.

Certain sentence structures

Structural
conventionally and regularly Where did you have lunch? $\
presupposition (cấu
presuppose that part of the rightarrow$ You had lunch.
trúc)
structure is true.

Counter-factual What is presupposed is the

If it weren’t raining, we could go
presupposition opposite of what is true or
out $\rightarrow$ it is raining.
(không thật) contrary to facts.

Cooperative Principle and Implicature

Concept Definition Examples

The Cooperative The assumption that N/A

Principle (Nguyên tắc communicators will be
 conversationally cooperative
by attempting to be
hợp tác)
informative, truthful, relevant,
and clear.

Maxim of quantity
Give the most helpful amount
(phương châm về N/A
of information.
lượng)

Maxim of quality
Do not say what you believe to
(phương châm về N/A
be false.
chất)

Maxim of relation /
relevance (phương Be relevant. N/A
châm về tính có sẵn)

Maxim of manner Put what you say in the

(phương châm về clearest, briefest, and most N/A
phương thức) orderly manner.

What a speaker can imply,

suggest, or mean, as distinct “Some of the boys were at the
Implicature (Hàm
from what the speaker literally party.” Implicature: Not all of
ngôn)
says (an additional conveyed the boys were at the party.
meaning).

A: “Did you clean your room and

An implicature based on the
Conversational do your homework?” B: “I did
assumption that the
implicature (Hàm my homework.” Implicature: B
participants respect the
ngôn hội thoại) did not clean the room (violates
cooperative principles.
Maxim of quantity).

An implicature based on scales

(Quantity, Frequency,
“I rarely eat meat these days.”
Possibility); when any form in
Scalar implicature Implicature: I do not usually eat
a scale is asserted, the
meat these days.
negative of all forms higher on
the scale is implicated.

Conventional An implicature based on the “I tried to get some rice.”

implicature (Hàm convention associated with Implicature: I actually failed to
 buy rice (tried conventionally
implicates failure). “Even the
ngôn quy ước) specific words. president came to the football
match.” Implicature: The
president came unexpectedly.