Introduction:
Palmar debunks the assumption that semantics deals only with presenting factual information. He suggests that other than the lexical and Structural meaning there are six different types of meanings dependent upon the prosodic and paralinguistic features, signal devices, speech acts, implicatures, presupposition, and based on phatic communication. Following is the list of three of the six meanings Palmer refers:
Prosodic and Paralinguistic Meaning:
There are different
prosodic and paralinguistic features on which meaning depends. Prosodic
features include features such as intonation and stress whereas paralinguistic
features include features such as tone, body language, and gestures.
- Prosodic features:
The meaning can be
conveyed through different prosodic fractures such as intonation and stress.
Intonation refers to the rise and fall of voice during speech whereas stress
refers to an emphasis on a syllable in a word or a word in a phrase or a
sentence. Consider the following example:
- She is a very INTELLIGENT girl.
In the above example,
the stress on the word “intelligent” can be interpreted in two ways. Firstly,
it can be used to emphasize her intelligence. Secondly, it can be used
sarcastically by the writer/ speaker.
- Paralinguistic features:
The meaning can be
conveyed through different paralinguistic features such as a wink or thumbs up.
For instance, moving one’s head up and down conveys the meaning of affirmation
whereas moving it from left to right convey the meaning of negation to whatever
is being asked.
Presupposition:
The presupposition is
also used to determine the meaning of a sentence by presupposing an even or
action indicated in a sentence. Consider the following examples:
- My brother has stopped playing cricket.
- Have you stopped beating your wife?
The first sentence
presupposed two things. Firstly, it presupposes that I have a brother and
secondly it presupposes that he used to play cricket. Similarly, the second
sentence also presupposes two notions that the person has a wife, and secondly,
he used to beat her.
In presupposition, a
word or a phrase acts as a trigger. In the first example “my” and “stopped”
are triggers whereas in the second example “your” and “stopped”
are triggers as they help in presupposing different events and relations.
Speech Acts:
Language is not only
used to convert factual I formation. It is also used to perform certain speech
acts such as the action of requesting, demanding, commanding, etc. Consider the
following example:
- Teacher to a student: These are stairs.
In the following
example, the sentence meaning is that the teacher is telling the student about
the stairs whereas the utterance meaning is a request. The teacher is
requesting the student to move away from the status as he is blocking the
way.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, one may
say that Palmer in the book rejects the notion that language is only used to
convert factual information. He presents other notions such as prosodic and
paralinguistic features, speech acts, presupposition, and phatic communication
which are used by the speakers to convert different types of meanings
independent of the lexical and structural meaning.
