LING2006 Semantics Week 11 lecture Mar 22, 2024

Instructor: CHEN Zhuo

Lecture: Fri 09:30-11:15, LSK 306
Tutorials: Wed 09:30-10:15, LSK 208, LDS 218.
Office hours: G27 Leung Kau Kui Building or https://cuhk.zoom.us/j/5652900145, by appointment
Email: [email protected]

TAs: CHEN Yige, LI Xiangyu

Office hours: G19 Leung Kau Kui Building, Wed 2-4pm (CHEN Yige), or by appointment
Emails: [email protected], [email protected]

Things to do:
1. Read Saeed (2016) pp. 94-105;
2. The anonymous Google form survey is available;
3. Download class handouts from Blackboard and check your emails regularly;
4. Reach out to us if you cannot attend the class physically.

Truth and inference II

1. Presupposition vs. Entailment

1.1 Projection tests
• Entailment under question and negation
 If p (e.g., 1a) entails q (e.g., 1b), then any speaker who states that p is true is committed to
believing that q is also true.

(1) a. p: Thor has broken the glass door

b. q: The glass door broke

 However, if a speaker asks whether p is true (2a) or denies that p is true (2b), s/he makes no
commitment concerning the truth value of q (e.g., the glass door might have broken or not).

(2) a. Has Thor broken the glass door?

b. Thor hasn’t broken the glass door

• Presupposition under question and negation

 If p (e.g., 3a) presupposes q (e.g., 3b), then, either asking whether p is true (4a), or denies that p
is true (4b) does not change the fact that q is nevertheless true.

(3) a. p: Thor apologized for having broken the glass door

b. q: Thor has broken the glass door

(4) a. Did Thor apologize for having broken the glass door?
b. Thor didn’t apologize for having broken the glass door.

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• Diagnosing presuppositions
 In most cases, if a positive declarative sentence like (5a) triggers a certain presupposition (5b),
that presupposition will also be triggered by a “family” of related sentences which includes
negative assertions, (yes-no) questions, if-clauses and certain modalities.
- When a speaker utters any sentence in (6), s/he is still committed to the truth of the
proposition (5b) presupposed by (5a).

Projection test (also called P-family test) (Chierchia & McConnell-Ginet 2000):
If p presupposes q, the presupposition q is inherited by “not p”, “p?”, “if p, then r”, “perhaps p”.

(5) a. Mirror gave a live performance at Loki’s brother’s wedding.

b. Presupposition: Loki has a brother.

(6) a. “not p”
Mirror didn’t Mirror give a live performance at Loki’s brother’s wedding.

b. “p?”
Did Mirror give a live performance at Loki’s brother’s wedding?

c. “if p, then r”
If Mirror gave a live performance at Loki’s brother’s wedding, then his brother must be delighted.

d. “perhaps p”
Perhaps Mirror gave a live performance at Loki’s brother’s wedding.

• Entailments cannot pass the P-family tests

 (5a = 7a) also entails that Mirror were at Loki’s brother’s wedding (7b), but such an entailment
does not hold under the tests illustrated in (6)
- When a speaker utters any sentence in (6), s/he is not necessarily committed to the truth of
the entailed proposition (7b).

(7) a. Mirror gave a live performance at Loki’s brother’s wedding.

b. Entailment: Mirror were at Loki’s brother’s wedding.

• Truth tables based on the Projection Tests

 If p presupposes q, then q nevertheless is true even when p is false
p q
T → T
F → T

 If p entails q, then q may be true or false when p is false

p q
T → T
F → T or F

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1.2 “Hey, wait a minute” test

• “Hey, wait a minute!” (von Fintel & Matthewson 2008)
 If a triggered presupposition is not in fact part of the common ground, i.e., when a
____________________ happens, the hearer/addressee can appropriately object by saying
something like, “Wait a minute, I didn’t know that!” (8b)

(8) a. Superman: Hey, guess what, Mirror gave a live performance at Loki’s brother’s wedding!
b. Batman: Wait a minute! I didn’t know that [Loki has a brother].

 This kind of challenge is not appropriate for information that is simply entailed (9b).
- Therefore, entailments are disagreed with via a more direct “That's false.” (9c)

(9) a. Superman: Hey, guess what, Mirror gave a live performance at Loki’s brother’s wedding!
b.# Batman: Wait a minute! I didn’t know that [Mirror were at Loki’s brother’s wedding].
c. Batman: That’s not true! Mirror weren’t even there! They had a concert in Singapore on that day!

• Interim summary
 Differentiating between presupposition and entailment

Projection test (P-family test) “Hey, wait a minute”

not p p? if p, then r perhaps p
p presupposes q q is true q is true q is true q is true “Wait a minute, I
didn’t know q!”
p entails q q may be q may be q may be q may be “q is false!”
true or true or true or true or
false false false false

2. Propositional logic
• Semanticists often use formal logic as a metalanguage for representing the meanings of sentences and
other expressions in human language.

(10) All men lie.

∀x[MAN(x) → LIE(x)]

• Why are we doing this? How does translating English (or Cantonese) sentences into logical formulae
help us to understand their meaning?
 Human natural languages are characterized by ambiguity, vagueness, etc. Using formal logic can
help us provide precise and unambiguous descriptions of meanings of words and sentences.
- For instance, the nominal phrase a TA in (11) is ambiguous between a referring (11a) and a
non-referring interpretation (11b).

(11) Every student likes a TA.

a. There is a particular TA y such that every student x likes y.
∃y[TA(y) ^ (∀x[STUDENT(x) → LIKE (x, y)])]

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b. For each different student x, there is a different TA y, such that x likes y.

∀x[STUDENT(x) → (∃y [TA(y) ^ LIKE (x, y)])]

 One universal property of human languages is that they are recursive.

- Languages allow repetitive embedding (or coordination) of a syntactic category, thus
allowing for an infinite number of sentences.

(12) S → [S S (and S)∗]

a. [S S and S]
b. [S S and [S S and S]]
c. [S S and [S S and [S S and S]]]
……

(13) a. Loki will go to the University Library.

b. Loki will go to the University Library, and Thor will stay in the hostel.
c. Loki will go to the University Library, (and) Thor will stay in the hostel, and Hulk will hit the gym.

 Formal logic is also recursive. This means that a relatively small number of symbols and rules
can be used to form an unlimited number of different formulae.
- For instance, we can look at the logical negation operator ¬ ‘not’.
- The negation operator combines with a single proposition p to form a new proposition ¬p
(14).

(14) a. p: Thor will go to Eason Chan’s concert.

b. ¬ p: It’s not true [that Thor will go to Eason Chan’s concert].
= Thor will not go to Eason Chan’s concert.

- This new proposition in turn can again combine with the negation operator to form a new
proposition ¬(¬p) (15).
- There is in principle no limit to the number of formulae that can be produced in this way.

(15) a. ¬ p: It’s not true [that Thor will go to Eason Chan’s concert].
= Thor will not go to Eason Chan’s concert.
b. ¬(¬p): It’s not true [that it’s not true [that Thor will go to Eason Chan’s concert]].
= Thor will go to Eason Chan’s concert.

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• Types of logic operators

 Logical negation is referred to as a “one-place” operator, because it combines with a single
proposition to form a new proposition.
 The effect of negation on the truth-value of a statement can be shown by a truth table, where T
represents “true” and F “false”
- (16) shows that when p is true (T), ¬p is false (F); when p is false (F), ¬p is true (T).

(16) p ¬p
T F
F T

 The other basic operators of propositional logic are referred to as “two-place” operators, because
they are used to combine two propositions to form a new complex proposition.
- Conjunction: and, represented by a special symbol ∧: p∧q ‘p and q’
♦ The truth-value of a proposition consisting of two conjoined propositions by using and
is predictable from the truth of the constituent propositions.
♦ (17c) is only true when both (17a) and (17b) are true; either one of them being false will
make (17c) false. This is represented by the truth table in (18).

(17) a. p: Hulk likes pineapple buns.

b. q: Thor doesn’t like t pineapple buns.
c. p ∧ q: Hulk likes pineapple buns and Thor doesn’t like pineapple buns.

(18) p q p∧q
T T T
F T F
T F F
F F F

- Disjunction: inclusive or, represented by ∨: p∨q ‘p or q’

♦ A proposition consisting of two inclusively disjoined propositions is true if at least one
constituent proposition is true. It is only false when both are false.

(19) a. p: Hulk will go to Eason Chan’s concert.

b. q: Loki will go to Mirror’s concert.
c. p ∨ q: Hulk will go to Eason Chan’s concert or Loki will go to Mirror’s concert.

(20) p q p∨q
T T T
F T T
T F T
F F F

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- Exclusive or, represented by XOR: p XOR q ‘either p or q, but not both’

♦ A proposition consisting of two exclusively disjoined propositions is true if only one
constituent proposition is true. It is only false when both are false, and when both are
true.

(21) a. p: Eason Chan was born in Hong Kong.

b. q: Eason Chan was born in Los Angeles.
c. p XOR q: (Either) Eason Chan was born in Hong Kong, or he was born in LA.

(22) p q p XOR q
T T F
F T T
T F T
F F F

- Material implication, represented by →: p → q ‘if p, (then) q’

♦ The expression p → q can be roughly translated into English conditionals “If p then q”.
♦ But more accurately, p → q is only false when p (the “antecedent”) is true and q (the
“consequent”) is false.
♦ (23c) is only false when it rains (p is true), and the ceiling is not leaking (q is false).
♦ If it does not rain (p is false), then the ceiling may be not leaking (q is false), or it may as
well be still leaking (q is true) because of some other reason (there is a plumbing issue in
the upstairs unit!)

(23) a. p: It rains.
b. q: The ceiling will be leaking.
c. p → q: If it rains, then the ceiling will be leaking.

(24) p q p→q
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T

- Biconditional operator: represented by ↔: p ↔ q ‘p if and only if q’

♦ p ↔ q is true just in case p and q have the same truth value.
♦ (25c) is true when Superman passes this class (p is true), and he earns more than 60/100
in his total grade (q is true); (25c) is also true when Superman doesn’t pass this class (p
is false), and he doesn’t earn more than 60/100 in his total grade (q is false).
♦ (25c) is false when Superman passes this class (p is true), but he doesn’t earn more than
60/100 in his total grade (q false); (25c) is also false when Superman doesn’t pass this
class (p is false), but he does earn more than 60/100 in his total grade (q is true).

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(25) a. p: Superman will pass this class.

b. q: Superman earns more than 60/100 in his total grade.
c. p ↔ q: Superman will pass this class if and only if he earns more than 60/100 in his total
grade.

(26) p q p↔q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T

 Operators determine the form of the complex propositions that they are used to create.
- p¬, pq∧, ∨pq are not valid formulae.

• Truth table and complex logical formulae

 In addition to being used to illustrate the contribution of logical operators in the meaning of
propositions, truth tables can also help us evaluate more complex logical formulae.
- For instance, we can use a truth table to prove the following biconditional formula:

(27) (p ∨ q) ↔ ¬((¬p) ∧ (¬q)).

(28) a. p: Hulk will go to Eason Chan’s concert.

b. q: Hulk will go to Mirror’s concert.
c. p ∨ q: Hulk will go to Eason Chan’s concert, or he will go to Mirror’s concert.
d. ¬((¬p) ∧ (¬q)): It is not the case [[that Hulk will not go to Eason Chan’s concert] and [will
not go to Mirror’s concert]].

- Following the definition of biconditional operator, for (27) to be valid, the formulae on both
sides of the biconditional operator, i.e., p ∨ q (29) and ¬((¬p) ∧ (¬q)) (30), must have
identical truth value(s).

(29) p q p∨q
T T
F T
T F
F F

(30) p q ¬p ¬q (¬p) ∧ (¬q) ¬((¬p) ∧ (¬q))

T T
F T
T F
F F

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