UGC NET ENGLISH UNIT 5 LANGUAGE - Semantics & Pragmatics

COMPLETE SEMANTICS & PRAGMATICS GUIDE FOR UGC NET 2024

SEMANTICS: The systematic study of linguistic meaning, including word meanings (lexical semantics) and how words combine to form sentence meanings (compositional semantics). Examines relationships between words, truth conditions, and logical structures.

PRAGMATICS: The study of how context contributes to meaning, including speaker intention, presupposition, conversational implicature, and how utterances are used in social interaction. Focuses on language in use rather than abstract meaning.

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1. LEXICAL SEMANTICS

1.1 Sense Relations

Relation	Definition	Examples	UGC NET Relevance
Synonymy	Words with similar meanings in most contexts (not necessarily identical)	happy/joyful, buy/purchase, quick/rapid	2018 Q15, 2021 Q28 (Testing near-synonym differentiation)
Antonymy	Words with opposite meanings. Includes gradable (hot/cold), complementary (alive/dead), and relational (buy/sell)	hot/cold (gradable), alive/dead (complementary), doctor/patient (relational)	2019 Q32 (Gradable vs complementary distinction)
Hyponymy	Hierarchical specific-general relation where the meaning of one word is included in another (hyponym is more specific)	rose → flower → plant, poodle → dog → animal	2020 Q17 (Taxonomic relations in word meaning)
Meronymy	Part-whole relationship between lexical items	wheel-car, branch-tree, finger-hand	2022 Q24 (Part-whole vs type-kind distinctions)
Polysemy	Single word with multiple related meanings (contrast with homonymy which are unrelated meanings)	bank (river/financial), head (body part/leader), run (move quickly/manage)	2023 Q11 (Polysemy vs Homonymy distinction)

Exam Focus: UGC NET frequently tests the ability to distinguish between:

• Polysemy vs Homonymy: Related meanings (polysemy) vs unrelated coincidental similarity (homonymy - bank/river vs bank/financial)
• Gradable vs Complementary Antonyms: Gradable have intermediate states (hot-warm-cool-cold) while complementary are either/or (alive-dead)
• Hyponymy vs Meronymy: Type-kind (apple-fruit) vs part-whole (branch-tree) relationships

1.2 Semantic Features & Theories

Binary Features Analysis

Woman: [+human], [+female], [+adult]
Girl: [+human], [+female], [-adult]
Man: [+human], [-female], [+adult]
Boy: [+human], [-female], [-adult]
Table: [-animate], [+furniture], [+flat surface]

This approach breaks down meaning into atomic components. Useful for analyzing semantic relationships and anomalies (*"The table became pregnant").

Prototype Theory (Rosch)

Bird prototype: robin > sparrow > penguin > bat
Furniture prototype: chair > table > lamp > telephone
(Central vs peripheral category members)

Challenges classical categories by suggesting fuzzy boundaries and graded membership based on typicality rather than strict definitions.

Other Important Lexical Theories

• Componential Analysis: Breaking down word meanings into semantic components (e.g., "bachelor" = [+male], [+adult], [-married])
• Lexical Field Theory: Words in semantic fields share common features (e.g., color terms, kinship terms)
• Frame Semantics: Words evoke frames of knowledge (e.g., "buy" evokes buyer, seller, money, goods)

1.3 Semantic Change & Metaphor

Type of Change	Definition	Examples	UGC NET Relevance
Broadening	Meaning becomes more general	holiday (holy day → any vacation), bird (young bird → any bird)	2021 Q22 (Historical semantics)
Narrowing	Meaning becomes more specific	meat (any food → animal flesh), deer (any animal → specific animal)	2017 Q31
Amelioration	Meaning improves	nice (foolish → pleasant), knight (boy → nobleman)	2020 Q25
Pejoration	Meaning worsens	silly (happy → foolish), villain (farm worker → criminal)	2019 Q28

Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson):

• Structural Metaphors: Organize one concept in terms of another ("TIME IS MONEY" - spend time, save time, invest time)
• Orientational Metaphors: Spatial organization ("HAPPY IS UP" - feeling up, depressed)
• Ontological Metaphors: Abstract as concrete ("THE MIND IS A MACHINE" - brainwave, mental breakdown)

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2. FORMAL SEMANTICS

2.1 Truth-Conditional Semantics

Key Principles

• Compositionality: Meaning of whole determined by parts + structure ("The cat chased the dog" ≠ "The dog chased the cat")
• Truth Conditions: Conditions under which sentence is true ("It's raining" is true iff it is raining at time/place of utterance)
• Entailment: Relationship where truth of one guarantees truth of another ("The cat killed the mouse" entails "The mouse is dead")
• Presupposition: Background assumptions that must hold for utterance to be appropriate ("John stopped smoking" presupposes "John used to smoke")
• Reference vs Sense: Reference is actual entity referred to, sense is meaning in the language system ("Morning star" and "Evening star" refer to Venus but have different senses)

Truth Table for Logical Connectives

P	Q	P ∧ Q (AND)	P ∨ Q (OR)	P → Q (IF-THEN)	¬P (NOT)
T	T	T	T	T	F
T	F	F	T	F	F
F	T	F	T	T	T
F	F	F	F	T	T

UGC NET Focus: Be able to compute truth values for complex propositions and identify tautologies (always true) and contradictions (always false).

2.2 Thematic Roles & Predicate Logic

Thematic Role	Definition	Example
Agent	Doer of action	[John]Agent kicked the ball
Patient	Undergoes action	John kicked [the ball]Patient
Theme	Entity moved/experienced	Mary gave [the book]Theme to John
Experiencer	Perceiver/feeler	[John]Experiencer heard the music
Goal	Endpoint of motion	She walked [to school]Goal

Predicate Logic Examples:

• "All linguists are smart": ∀x (L(x) → S(x))
• "Some students passed": ∃x (S(x) ∧ P(x))
• "John loves Mary": L(j,m)
• "Every student read some book": ∀x (S(x) → ∃y (B(y) ∧ R(x,y)))

2.3 Presupposition & Projection

Presupposition Triggers

• Definite descriptions: "The king of France" → France has a king
• Factive verbs: "She regrets leaving" → She left
• Change of state verbs: "He stopped smoking" → He used to smoke
• Iteratives: "She called again" → She called before
• Clefts: "It was John who left" → Someone left

Projection Problem

How presuppositions survive in complex sentences:

• "John has children and his children are smart" → Presupposition ("John has children") survives
• "If John has children, his children are smart" → Presupposition projects
• "Either John has no children or his children are smart" → Presupposition cancelled

3. PRAGMATICS

3.1 Speech Act Theory (Austin & Searle)

J.L. Austin (1962)

Developed the initial distinction between:

• Constatives: Statements that can be true/false
• Performatives: Utterances that perform actions (e.g., "I name this ship...")

Later developed into locutionary, illocutionary, perlocutionary acts

John Searle (1969)

Refined the theory with:

• Classification of illocutionary acts
• Felicity conditions for successful speech acts
• Direction of fit (word-to-world vs world-to-word)

Act Type	Definition	Examples	UGC NET Relevance
Locutionary	Literal meaning (phonetic, phatic, rhetic acts)	"It's cold here" as statement about temperature	2017 Q29 (Identifying act types)
Illocutionary	Intended communicative force	Request to close window, promise to help	2020 Q33 (Direct vs Indirect speech acts)
Perlocutionary	Effect on hearer/context	Listener closes window, feels offended	2021 Q19 (Effects vs intentions)

Searle's Classification (5 Types)

1. Representatives: Assertions that commit speaker to truth (assert, conclude)
2. Directives: Attempts to get hearer to do something (request, command)
3. Commissives: Commit speaker to future action (promise, threaten)
4. Expressives: Express psychological state (thank, apologize)
5. Declarations: Change institutional reality ("I pronounce you married")

Felicity Conditions

• Preparatory: Speaker has authority/ability, circumstances appropriate
• Sincerity: Speaker genuinely intends the act
• Essential: Recognized as conventional act
• Propositional: Content conditions (e.g., promise must be future act)

Infelicities: When conditions fail (misfires, abuses)

3.2 Grice's Cooperative Principle

Conversational Maxims

1. Quantity: Be as informative as required (not more, not less)
2. Quality: Be truthful (don't say what you believe false or lack evidence for)
3. Relation: Be relevant
4. Manner: Be clear (avoid obscurity, ambiguity, be brief, orderly)

Implicature Types

• Generalized: Don't require specific context ("Some students passed" → Not all)
• Particularized: Depend on context ("The cat looks happy" → after eating fish)
• Scalar: Using weaker term implies not stronger ("some" implies "not all")
• Conventional: Attached to specific words ("but" implies contrast)

Flouting Maxims (Creating Implicature):

• Quantity: "War is war" (apparently uninformative → war is terrible)
• Quality: "He's a real genius" (said ironically → he's stupid)
• Relation: "Nice weather today" (when arguing → let's change subject)
• Manner: "Miss X produced a series of sounds..." (obscure → she sang badly)

3.3 Deixis & Reference

Deixis Type	Definition	Examples
Person	Reference to speaker, addressee, others	I, you, we, they
Time	Reference to temporal points	now, then, yesterday, tomorrow
Place	Reference to spatial locations	here, there, this, that
Discourse	Reference to parts of discourse	the following, aforementioned, as mentioned earlier
Social	Social relationships encoded	tu/vous (French), honorifics (Korean)

3.4 Politeness Theory (Brown & Levinson)

Face Needs

• Positive Face: Desire to be approved/liked
• Negative Face: Desire to be unimpeded

Face-Threatening Acts (FTAs): Acts that threaten these needs (requests, criticisms, etc.)

Politeness Strategies

1. Bald on-record: Direct (emergencies, efficiency)
2. Positive politeness: Appeal to solidarity ("Let's have lunch")
3. Negative politeness: Show deference ("If you wouldn't mind...")
4. Off-record: Hinting ("I'm thirsty" → request for drink)
5. Don't do FTA: Avoid the act entirely

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4. UGC NET PRACTICE SECTION

4.1 Previous Year Questions Analysis

2023 Solved Question

Question: When a speaker says "It's warm in here" to request opening a window, which pragmatic concept is illustrated?

1. Presupposition
2. Illocutionary act
3. Deixis
4. Entailment

Answer: B (Illocutionary act) - The intended meaning (request) differs from literal meaning (statement about temperature)

Explanation: This demonstrates indirect speech acts where sentence type (declarative) doesn't match illocutionary force (request).

2022 Solved Question

Question: The statement "John is a machine" violates which Gricean maxim when interpreted literally?

1. Quantity
2. Quality
3. Relation
4. Manner

Answer: B (Quality) - Literally false (metaphorical interpretation required)

Explanation: The maxim of quality requires truthfulness. Metaphors flout quality to create implicatures (John is efficient/reliable).

2021 Solved Question

Question: Which pair demonstrates converse antonymy?

1. Hot - Cold
2. Buy - Sell
3. Alive - Dead
4. Parent - Child

Answer: B (Buy - Sell)

Explanation: Converse antonyms describe reciprocal relationships (X buys from Y = Y sells to X). Other options: A=gradable, C=complementary, D=relational but not converse.

4.2 Practice Questions with Answers

Question 1: "The present king of France is bald" is problematic for which semantic theory?

1. Prototype theory
2. Truth-conditional semantics
3. Speech act theory
4. Lexical field theory

Answer: B (Truth-conditional semantics)

Explanation: Russell's analysis shows problems with definite descriptions when referent doesn't exist (France has no king). Challenges truth-value assignment.

Question 2: Which utterance is an example of a commissive speech act?

1. "The meeting is at 3pm"
2. "I promise to return your book"
3. "Please pass the salt"
4. "Congratulations on your promotion"

Answer: B ("I promise to return your book")

Explanation: Commissives commit the speaker to future action (promises, threats, pledges). A=representative, C=directive, D=expressive.

Question 3: "She's not unfriendly" implies she's somewhat friendly through which pragmatic mechanism?

1. Presupposition
2. Scalar implicature
3. Felicity condition
4. Deictic reference

Answer: B (Scalar implicature)

Explanation: The negative of "unfriendly" (extreme on scale) implies moderate position. Scalar implicatures work with graded terms (none < some < many < all).

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Exam Tip: For UGC NET, focus particularly on:

• Differentiating semantic vs pragmatic meaning (encoded vs inferred)
• Identifying speech act types in authentic examples
• Analyzing conversational implicatures and maxim violations
• Solving truth-conditional problems and logical relations
• Distinguishing types of sense relations (hyponymy vs meronymy)
• Recognizing deixis types and reference phenomena

Recommended Study Approach

1. Master Core Concepts: Ensure deep understanding of key terms (reference, sense, implicature, etc.)
2. Practice Application: Analyze real examples for semantic/pragmatic phenomena
3. Solve PYQs: Work through last 5 years' questions to identify patterns
4. Create Comparisons: Tables contrasting similar concepts (entailment vs presupposition)
5. Mock Tests: Simulate exam conditions with full-length tests