This homework directs you to work with conc epts explained in the textbook and provides an additional opportunity to demonstrate understanding of the constancy test.
The reference of a term may shift during the move from expression meaning to utterance meaning so that its utterance meaning (meaningu) in a particular Context of Use (CoU) seems different (though related to) its descriptive meaninge. In Chapter 3 of the text, Loebner discusses two kinds of shift: metonymical and metaphorical. Explain the difference and give examples (other than ones in the book) of each type.
Use the sentences below (recycled from HW 1) to discuss the ways in which utterances can get many readings based upon the meaninge of their parts during composition. Your answer should be a discussion of each case and how it is related to the concepts of homonymy, polysemy, and vagueness/indeterminacy.
1. The clowns sat on JumboÕs trunk.
2. Maria told Sandy a story about her aunt.
Consider the following sentences:
3. Neil ate an apple after he ate the pear.
4. Neil ate the pear before he ate an apple.
Taking the role of the interpreter, if someone uttered (3), I would infer that Neil ate an apple. I would also infer that he ate the pear. (In all of this discussion, we will assume that the reference (meaningu) of the pronoun he is Neil.) These are undeniable implications of (3), and therefore we can consider them to be entailments of (3).
[A] Using the constancy test, decide whether these entailments are presumed or at issue.
[B] Now consider (4) with before instead of after. Does before have the same profile of entailments as after?