Extensions (Denotations) and Prototypes
Muchamad Adam Basori, M.A. TESOL
Meeting Unit 6
Background
Reference is a relationship between certain uttered expressions and things in the world.
The sense of an expression is its relationship to semantically equivalent or semantically related expressions in the same language.
Hearers identify the referent of a referring expression (other than a proper name) by seeking in the context of the utterance some object to which the predicates in the referring expression apply.
These following words are predicates: square, expensive, under, love
The context of an utterance is a part of the universe of discourse.
Background
Predicate has one sense that is not ambiguous. It shows general entities of a world. For example, mother is a predicator of the human, female, adult. So, when we talk about mother, we refer to its predicator: human, female, adult.
Predicate is restricted to general facts. We cannot use the Predicate to specific facts as they have variable particular entities of a world.
Introduction
The EXTENSION of a one-place predicate is the set of all individuals to which that predicate can truthfully be applied. It is the set of things which can POTENTIALLY be referred to by using an expression whose main element is that predicate.
The extension of window is the set of all windows in the universe.
The extension of dog is the set of all dogs in the universe.
The extension of house is the set of all houses.
The extension of red is the set of all red things.
Extensions
Extensions are relative to all times, past, present, and future. Thus, the extension of window, for example, includes all past windows, all present windows, and all future windows.
Similarly, the extension of dead includes all things which have been dead in the past (and presumably still are, if they still exist), which are dead now, and which will be dead in the future.
Predicates are tenseless, i.e. unspecified for past, present, or future.
In actual use, predicates are almost always accompanied in sentences by a marker of tense (past or present) or a future marker, such as will. These have the effect of restricting the extensions of the predicates they modify, so that, for example, the extension of the phrase is dead could be said to be the set of all things which are dead at the time of utterance.
Correspondingly, the extension of the phrase is alive could be said to be the set of all things alive at the time of utterance. Thus the extensions of is dead and is alive are different in the appropriate way at any particular time of utterance.
Segala sesuatu yang disebut ‘memiliki empat kaki’ adalah mereka seperti hewan e.g. kucing, kuda etc. dan benda e.g. kursi, meja
Prototype
A PROTOTYPE of a predicate is an object which is held to be very TYPICAL of the kind of object which can be referred to by an expression containing the predicate. In other words, the prototype of a predicate can be thought of as the most typical member of the extension of a predicate.
Example
A man of medium height and average build, between 30 and 50 years old, with brownish hair, with no particularly distinctive characteristics or defects, could be a prototype of the predicate man in certain areas of the world.
A dwarf or a hugely muscular body-builder could not be a prototype of the predicate man.
Explanation of Prototype
The idea of a prototype is perhaps most useful in explaining how people learn to use (some of) the predicates in their language correctly. Recent research on the acquisition of categories in human language indicates that the prototypical members of the extension of a predicate are usually learned earlier than non-prototypical members. Predicates like man, cat, dog are often first taught to toddlers by pointing out to them typical examples of men, cats, dogs, etc. A mother may point to a cat and tell her child ‘That’s a cat’, or point to the child’s father and say ‘Daddy’s a man’. This kind of definition by pointing is called ostensive definition. It is very plausible to believe that a child’s first concepts of many concrete terms are induced by ostensive definition involving a prototype. Obviously, however, not all concepts can be learned in this way.
Summary
The REFERENT of a referring expression is the thing picked out by the use of that expression on a particular occasion of utterance.
The EXTENSION of a predicate is the complete set of all things which could potentially (i.e. in any possible utterance) be the referent of a referring expression whose head constituent is that predicate.
A PROTOTYPE of a predicate is a typical member of its extension.
Summary (Contd.)
In many cases denotation can be thought of as equivalent to extension. Thus, for example, the predicate cat can be said to denote the set of all cats. But often the term is used in a wider, essentially vaguer, sense, especially in connection with predicates whose extensions are problematical. Thus one may find statements about meaning such as ‘redness denotes the property common to all red things’, or ‘ambition denotes a human quality’, or ‘the preposition under denotes a spatial relationship’.
Summary (Contd.)
Reference, extension, and prototype all focus attention on the relationship between words and things.
Clearly, language does not exist in a vacuum. It is used to make statements about the world outside, and these three notions are useful in an analysis of exactly how the relationship between language and the world works.
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