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Semantics: a coursebook
(second edition)
James R. Hurford,
Brendan Heasley
Michael B. Smith
ANSWER KEY
FOR UNIT QUESTIONS
AND EXERCISES
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ANSWER KEY Semantics: a coursebook
Preface
The purpose of this supplement is to provide suggested answers for most of the study
guide questions and exercises that appear at the end of each unit of Semantics: A
Coursebook, 2nd edition. I have retained the original format of the study guide and
questions from each unit, though there are no "answers" provided for item 1 in each set,
which consists of terms and concepts students should know. In many cases I have also
not given suggested answers for certain questions that require open-ended explanation or
discussions of the issues, since these will vary considerably. All suggested answers are
written in a different font (Tahoma) than the original questions.
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ANSWER KEY Semantics: a coursebook
Unit 1 Study Guide and Exercises
Directions: After you have read Unit 1 you should be able to tackle the following questions to
test your understanding of the main ideas raised in the unit.
1. You should understand these terms and concepts from this unit:
semantics linguistics
sentence (word) meaning language
speaker meaning componentsof language
native speaker (informant) theory of semantics
"knowing" the meaning(s) of a word
2. Try to paraphrase (restate in your own words) each of the following uses of the word mean
as it is used in each sentence below. Do you think each use is more reflective of speaker
meaning or sentence meaning? Briefly explain.
a. I mean to be there tomorrow. mean = 'intend'
b. A stalling car may mean a tune-up. mean = 'require,
signify'
c. "Calligraphy" means beautiful handwriting. mean = 'signify'
d. It wasn't what he said but what he meant. mean = 'intend'
e. What does the German word Hund mean? mean = 'be equivalent to'
f. Those clouds mean rain. mean = 'signify, portend'
Answers may vary. Speaker meaning seems more pronounced in the use of
mean in 2a,d, because it evokes the idea that the speaker intends to do
something. Sentence meaning is clearly found in the use of mean in 2e,
because it evokes the notion of equivalency rather than speaker intent.
Sentence meaning is also most likely evoked in 2b,c,f, because these uses of
mean do not seem to evoke the speaker's intent, but to indicate that
something signifies or represents something else.
3. Look up the words mean and meaning in any handy collegiate dictionary and find out how
many senses of the words are listed there. What sense(s) of mean seem(s) to correspond most
closely to the sense(s) that the text is concerned with?
Answers will vary depending on the dictionary chosen.
4. What is meant by a theory of semantics? Try to explain this briefly in your own words.
A theory of semantics should include a set of assumptions and principles
that allows for the explanation and prediction of meaning phenomena
relative to those assumptions. It typically has a technical vocabulary and a
formalism for the sake of precision.
5. Which of the following items appear to illustrate sentence meaning and which illustrate
speaker meaning in the way these concepts were introduced in this unit? Be able to explain
your choice.
a. A bachelor is an unmarried man.
Sentence meaning
b. A red light means 'stop'.
Speaker meaning (could also evoke sarcasm)
c. A fine product THEY put out! (THEY is strongly emphasized)
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Speaker meaning
d. The sentences in the following pair appear to be opposite in meaning:
1) The bear killed the man.
Sentence meaning
2) The man killed the bear.
Sentence meaning
e. My feet are killing me.
Speaker meaning
6. Is meaningfulness synonymous with informativeness? Explain in your own words and
supply an illustration.
Not necessarily. Speakers can convey speaker meaning without being
particularly informative, i.e. bringing up new information. The language is
full of expressions whose primary function is to keep the conversation going,
such as "That's right, go on", or to maintain a friendly social atmosphere, as
in "Nice weather we're having, isn't it?" when it is clear that the weather is
nice without having to say so.
7. A semantic theory should account for items like the following, which we will study in the
following units. Can you guess now what aspect of meaning is involved in each example?
a. The President of the United States is the Commander-in-Chief.
This sentence equates two entities with each other.
b. She can't bear children.
The word bear has more than one meaning (it's homonymous).
c. You're sitting in the apple-juice seat.
Context is needed to understand apple-juice seat as the place
at the breakfast table where the apple juice has been
placed.
d. How long did John stay in New York?
This interrogative queries (asks about) the proposition that
John stayed in New York.
e. A tulip is a flower.
In generic sentences the noun phrases do not refer to
particular entities, but to whole classes of individuals.
f. John's present wife is unmarried.
This sentence is a contradiction (can't possibly be true).
g. The car needs to be washed.
This can be used as an indirect request to wash the car.
h. If John killed Bill is true, then so is Bill is dead.
The truth of the first sentence guarantees the truth of the
second sentence. (Entailment relation between sentences.)
8. In this unit we claimed that semantics "concentrates on the similarities between languages,
rather than on the differences" (p.11). Do you agree with this sort of focus? Does it seem too
narrow? Why or why not?
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One might claim that the differences between languages are also of great
interest, and that more complete theories of semantics ought to address this
issue, as well.
9. Explain in your own words the statement that "No theory...[including] semantic theory...is
complete" (p. 12).
An answer should include the idea that, as we learn more about a particular
area of knowledge such as semantics, we are able to continually refine the
principles that underlie the theory and account for a greater array of
semantic data. But it is unlikely that we will ever be able to learn all there is
to know, therefore raising the possibility that the theory can never be truly
complete.
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Unit 2 Study Guide and Exercises
Directions: After you have read Unit 2 you should be able to tackle the following questions to
test your understanding of the main ideas raised in the unit.
1. You should understand these terms and concepts from this unit:
sentence declarative sentence
utterance interrogative sentence
proposition imperative sentence
2. Is semantics concerned only with complete sentences? Explain.
No, since many uses of language consist of partial sentences or just individual
words. Example: "Coffee, please" uttered in a café.
3. Indicate the conventions used in the text to distinguish a sentence from an utterance. Give an
illustration of each.
Sentences are written in italics, utterances are enclosed in double quotes.
Example: Mary wrote a letter is a sentence, whereas "Mary wrote a letter" is an
utterance of that sentence on a particular occasion.
4. Indicate whether each of the following sentence pairs expresses the same or different
propositions.
a. Mary read the book/The book was read by Mary. Same
b. Fred took back the book/Fred took the book back. Same
c. The cat chased the rat/The cat was chased by the rat. Different
d. The chef cooked the meal/The chef had the meal cooked. Different
e. Hondas are easy to fix/It's easy to fix Hondas. Same
5. Explain the following from the text (p. 21): "Normally, when a speaker utters a simple
declarative sentence, he commits himself to the truth of the corresponding proposition: i.e. he
asserts the proposition. By uttering a simple interrogative or imperative, a speaker can mention a
particular proposition, without asserting its truth."
Answers will vary, but should follow the presentation in the book fairly closely.
Student should try to answer without looking at the page in question.
6. In each of the following, indicate whether a proposition is asserted or not:
a. John left yesterday. Proposition is asserted.
b. Did John leave yesterday? Proposition is not asserted.
c. Can John leave this afternoon? Proposition is not asserted.
d. John, get out of here. Proposition is not asserted.
e. John! Proposition is not asserted.
Comment: Propositions are only asserted using declarative statements.
7. Decide whether each pair of sentences below has the same or different propositional content.
If they have the same propositional content, identify the proposition that they both share.
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a. Can John have some cake?/John has some cake. Same
Proposition: John possesses some cake.
b. Take out the garbage/You will take out the garbage. Same
Proposition: The addressee will remove the garbage.
c. Can you pass the salt?/The salt shaker is nearly empty. Different
8. Utterances can be loud or quiet, in a particular regional accent, and in a particular language.
Can you think of other characteristics of utterances?
Utterances can be sung, spoken fast or slow, at a high or low pitch, interrupted
by a cough or sneeze, or be affected by false starts, etc.
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Unit 3 Study Guide and Exercises
Directions: After you have read Unit 3 you should be able to tackle the following questions to
test your understanding of the main ideas raised in the unit.
1. You should understand these terms and concepts from this unit:
sense context
reference dialect
referent proposition
2. Can different expressions have the same referent? Give an example not found in this unit.
Yes. Abraham Lincoln and The 16th President of the United States of America
3. Can the same expression have different referents? Give an example not found in this unit.
Yes. The book, a flower, etc. This is extremely common in the language.
4. Give an example of an expression not found in this unit that has an invariable referent and of
one that has no referent.
Expressions with invariable referent: The planet Saturn, the Grand Canyon
Expressions with no referent: The unicorn, perhaps
5. Explain this sentence from this unit in your own words: "Every expression that has meaning
has sense, but not every expression has reference".
Answers will vary, but should contain the idea that meaning is not tied
exclusively to just the referring function of language, but involves aspects of
knowledge that is more abstract and elusive.
6. Characterize a typical dictionary definition of a word. Does the definition include everything a
typical native speaker knows about the word's meaning? Is it possible to write such an entry
which is complete?
A typical dictionary entry for a word is a set of expressions that have similar
senses to that of the word in question. It rarely includes everything a speaker
knows about the word's meaning, because it's nearly impossible to know what
the limits on that knowledge are (it likely varies from one speaker to another).
A complete entry is also rarely possible, partially because entries tend to be
circular: an entry that attempts to define a word often contains one or more
words whose own entries contain the original word that was to be defined.
Comment of the following examples, making reference to concepts introduced in this unit:
7. the evening star/the morning star
Expressions with the same referent, but different senses.
8. the President of the United States/the Commander-in-Chief/the leader of the Republican Party
Expressions with the same referent, but different senses.
9. Visiting relatives can be boring.
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An ambiguous sentence, because it has different senses.
10. the planet Mars
Expression with invariant reference.
11. Smoking grass can be dangerous.
An ambiguous sentence, because it has different senses.
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Unit 4 Study Guide and Exercises
Directions: After you have read Unit 4 you should be able to tackle the following questions to
test your understanding of the main ideas raised in the unit.
1. You should understand these terms and concepts from this unit:
referring expression opaque context
indefinite noun phrase equative sentence
definite noun phrase
2. Which of the following could be used as referring expressions? Be able to explain why or why
not.
Correct answers (a,b,f,g,h) are in boldface (but see comment below).
a. my table e. or
b. a unicorn (?) f. Mary
c. no love g. a book
d. travel h. Abraham Lincoln
Comment: Some students may be unsure of how to deal with a unicorn in 2b,
since these entities don't exist in the real world we live in. In a later unit (6) we
will clarify that the notion of reference will have to be extended to include such
entities as unicorns. For now, it is sufficient to leave the matter open.
For sentences 3-6 below decide whether the italicized noun phrases are referring expressions or
not, and explain why (or why not). If the sentence is ambiguous explain why it is ambiguous.
3. His father married a dancer.
Referring expression; a dancer refers to a particular dancer that his father
married.
4. John wants to marry a dancer.
Either referring or non-referring, depending on whether John has a particular
person in mind.
5. The whale is the largest mammal.
Non-referring. This is a generic sentence. As typically understood, the noun
phrase the whale does not refer here to any particular whale, but to the whole
class of possible whales.
6. The man who shot Kennedy was Lee Harvey Oswald.
Referring expression; it picks out a unique individual.
7. Explain the ambiguity in: I am looking for a pencil.
The ambiguity depends on whether I have a particular pencil in mind, which
depends on how the indefinite article a is interpreted.
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