Tema 4.
Truth-conditional semantics
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
“Knowledge of meaning involves (at least) the knowledge
of the conditions under which a sentence is true and those
under which it is false”. (Portner 2005: 13)
‘Knowledge of meaning’ = semantic competence
Conditions = features, description
True: accurate description
False: inaccurate description
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
The circle is inside the square
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
The circle is inside the square
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Terminological issues:
• Truth-conditions have nothing to do with actual truth or
falsehood (truth-value)
• The meaning of a sentence (its proposition) is a set of truth-
conditions.
• Truth-conditions have to be evaluated against a world (or possible
worlds)
• The extension of a complex expression is, then, the set of all
possible worlds in which it is true.
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Possible worlds:
• Speakers share a great deal of background information
• We evaluate our addressee’s background information
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
If I start a conversation with:
Will John come to the party?
I assume:
• There will be a party
• You and I know someone named John (i.e. John exists)
• He may or may not come to the party
So, worlds are necessary both in communication and sentence
interpretation.
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Advantages of truth-conditional semantics:
• Logical words: The circle is inside the square and the circle is dark
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Advantages of truth-conditional semantics:
• Logical words
But:
• John and Mary visited the country
• One more step and I’ll kill you
• a tall young man
• a potential/alleged criminal
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Advantages of truth-conditional semantics:
Semantic relations: synonymy
• The square is bigger than the circle (5)
• The circle is smaller than the square (6)
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Synonymy: two expressions with the same truth-conditions
p: The train tracks are under the bridge.
q: The bridge is over the train tracks.
Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Synonymy
p: The glass is half full.
q: The glass is half empty.
Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Semantic relations: entailment
• The circle is inside the square (9)
• The square is bigger than the circle (10)
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Entailment
The man killed the rat.
>>The rat is dead
If the proposition p is true, than all the truth
conditions of p must also be satisfied, i.e. all
entailments of p must be true.
Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Advantages of truth-conditional semantics:
Semantic relations: tautology (true in all possible worlds)
• The teacher is the teacher
True
True True True
True True
True
True True
True True
True …
True
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Advantages of truth-conditional semantics:
Semantic relations: contradiction (empty set in all possible worlds)
• The teacher is not the teacher
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Tema 4. Truth-conditional semantics
Contradictory propositions
p: John Perry is alive.
q: John Perry is dead.
Two expressions both cannot be true, nor can
they both be false.
They are mutually opposed; one is the denial or
negation of the other.
Contrary propositions
p: All students are hard workers.
q: No students are hard workers.
The expressions cannot both be true, but one
expression can be true and the other false or
both can be false.
