Transcript Document 7608413

The Coffee Shop Sign
The Context
• Place: a college coffee shop
• Time: 8 am on the Monday of finals week
during the winter term (e.g. March 10)
• Cast: Kevin, the guy behind the counter,
who has a weird sense of humor.
Miscellaneous sleepy students who have
been studying hard for finals. WAL
The Action
• WAL goes into the coffeeshop to get a cup
of coffee.
• Greets Kevin, orders coffee.
• Gets coffee and turns to pay, when he see
the following sign posted beside the cash
register:
Kevin’s Sign
Do not serve dead customers.
To anybody.
Some questions
• Why do we laugh at the end of the first
line?
• Why do we laugh more at the end of the
second?
• What semantic knowledge is involved here?
• What processes are involved here?
The verb feed
•
•
•
•
Do not feed the pigeons.
?Do not feed the corn.
Do not feed the pigeons (the corn).
Do not feed the corn *(to the pigeons).
The verb sell
•
•
•
•
Do not sell the cups.
?Do not sell the students.
Do not sell the students ?(the cups).
Do not sell the cups (to the students).
The verb serve
•
•
•
•
Do not serve the soup.
Do not serve the students.
Do not serve the students (the soup).
Do not sell the soup (to the students).
Conclusions
• Detailed linguistic knowledge determines what
possible interpretations are available.
• Lots of background information and “normal
expectations” influence the construction of
interpretation.
• We can be misled in recognizing which linguistic
expression was uttered.
Multiple interpretations
• The clowns all sat on Jumbo’s trunk.
• Sandra talked to Maria about her aunt.
• The chancellor told the proctor to stop
drinking in the dorms.
• I didn’t buy an SUV because they use a lot
of gas.
One more example…
A: I just won a chance to have dinner with
Ozzie Osbourne and his family.
B: Great! Are you going to take a bat?
Thanks to Deirdre Wilson.