Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 17/09/2004 22:53, C. Stirling Bartholomew wrote:

> On 9/17/04 6:34 AM, "Rolf Furuli" <furuli AT online.no> wrote:
>
>  
>
> > Because my model turns completely upside down the almost universally
> > accepted grammatical ideas of modern hebraists ...
> >    
>
> On 9/17/04 6:46 AM, "Peter Kirk" <peterkirk AT qaya.org> wrote:
>
>  
>
> > I am aware that one of your main points
> > is that semantic meaning is uncancellable (and this is what I mainly
> > object to)...
> >    
>
> I find some room for agreement with both Peter and Rolf.
> The proposition: "semantic meaning is uncancellable" turns completely upside
> down the almost universally accepted ideas about semantics.
>
> However, if Rolf is drawing a distinction between the meaning attached to
> the code (morphology, etc) and the inferential meaning provided by the
> cognitive framework of the audience then this seems like an idea worth
> exploring. 
>
> I have been approaching the position* (without actually arriving there) that
> the code is semantically vacuous. ...

Clay, I tend to agree with you. I am reminded of the lecturer in 
semantics who claimed that in some languages two negatives make a 
positive, and in some two negatives make a negative, but there are no 
languages in which two positives make a negative. To which a student 
replied "Yeah, right".

Unfortunately I have to explain the joke to those for whom English is 
not their first language. "Yeah" (a form of "Yes") and "right" are both 
positive words indicating affirmation. If they have any semantic meaning 
at all, it is entirely positive and affirmative. But the two words taken 
together, and spoken in a particular tone of voice within certain 
contexts, clearly mean "I think you are wrong". In other words, the 
positive semantics of the two words are entirely cancelled by the 
context and way in which they are spoken. Or you could define that these 
words don't have positive meaning, only positive pragmatics, but if 
"Yes" doesn't have clear semantics, do any words at all?

Another way in which the semantic(?) meaning of almost any word or 
sentence can be cancelled is by changing it to a question intonation, or 
adding a question mark. If "Yes!" is uncancellably positive, how can 
"Yes?" be an expression of uncertainty? But it is.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/