PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE
Quiz: Truth Theoretic Semantics
Idea Theories of Meaning
1.
The difference between the sentence meaning and utterance meaning of a
sentence such as “The author of Mark Twain wrote that essay” is
a. To understand the sentence meaning you would need to be personally
acquainted with Mark Twain.
b. To be able to know whether the sentence is true or false you would need to
know to which essay the speaker was referring.
c. Semantic competence alone is not enough to give the audience an
understanding of the utterance meaning, what is necessary to determine
whether the sentence is true or false.
d. b and c
e. None of the above
2.
Which of the following statements are true of Davidson’s theory of meaning?
a. He provides a theory of meaning by way of providing a theory of truth.
b. He provides a theory of meaning for sentences by matching them with
sentences which state the conditions under which they would be true.
c. He has to adjust his theory to explain the meanings of non-declarative
sentences by introducing the notion of a mood indicator.
d. a and b only
e. a and c only
3.
Which of the following statements are true of Davidson’s theory of meaning?
a. One of the main principles his theory is based upon is the Principle of
Compositionality.
b. He provides a kind of “phrase book” theory of meaning in that his theory gives
the truth conditions of each linguistic expression the the language studied.
c. He sees the meaning of a sentence as the conditions under which the
sentence is true.
d. a and c only
e. b and c only
4.
What do Hume’s, Grice’s and Fodor’s theories of meaning have in common?
a. They all give the meanings of sentences by matching them up with sentences
in the metalanguage.
b. They have no similarities.
c. They are all Idea Theories of Meaning in that, for all of them, the meaning of a
term is the idea (i.e. mental phenomenon) to which the term corresponds.
d. a and c only
e. None of the above
5.
Assuming a Humean theory of meaning, which of the following is true?
a. The rules of grammar.
b. The Principle of Extensionality.
c. It is difficult to explain how we would have a different mental image for a large
mass of chocolate of 999 pounds vs. a mass of 1000 pounds.
d. There is no such principle
e. None of the above
6.
Which of the following principles describes how we get the meaning of a sentence
from the meaning of the parts?
a. The rules of grammar.
b. The Principle of Extensionality.
c. The Principle of Compositionality.
d. There is no such principle
e. None of the above
7.
Which of the following statements are true of Frege’s theory of meaning?
a. He tries to explain the difference in cognitive content between tautological
identity statements (a is a) and supposedly informative identity statements (a
is b), where ‘a’ and ‘b’ refer to the same individual.
b. He gives up the Principle of Extensionality.
c. He gives up the Principle of Compositionality.
d. a and b
e. a and c
8.
Which of the following contain objections to Grice’s theory of meaning?
a.
b.
c.
d.
It does not follow the Principle of Compositionality.
It does not give the meanings of complete sentences but only of words.
It is not a phrase book theory of meaning.
It doesn’t seem as though children would be capable of the kind of
complicated expression and recognition of intentions that form his theory of
meaning.
e. None of the above
9.
Which of the following contain arguments for Fodor’s theory of meaning in terms of
an internal language of thought?
a. There seems to be a universal grammar, something all human languages
share.
b. We have the intuition of being able to conceive of things without always
being able to put them into words.
c. Children are able to learn languages at an early age having been exposed
to only a small sample of utterances and having had little formal instruction.
d. Computational theories of mind require that we have a powerful
representational medium.
e. None of the above
10. Which of the following contain objections to Fodor’s theory of meaning in terms of
an internal language of thought?
a. There seems to be a universal grammar, something all human
languages share.
b. We have the intuition of being able to conceive of things without
always being able to put them into words.
c. Children are able to learn languages at an early age having been
exposed to only a small sample of utterances and having had little
formal instruction.
d. Computational theories of mind require that we have a powerful
representational medium.
e. None of the above
EXTRA CREDIT:
11. What is the difference between an object language and its metalanguage?
a. An object language is the set of names of objects in the world and the
metalanguage is the more abstract language (i.e. living things).
b. The object language includes all the linguistic expressions in the language.
For example, “Snow is white” is a sentence in the object language.
c. The metalanguage is the language we use to describe the truth conditions of
sentences in the object language. For example, when we say “The sentence
‘Snow is white’ is true in L if and only if snow is white, the sentence after the
phrase “if and only if” is in the metalanguage.
d. b and c only
e. a and c only