The Coffee Shop Sign

1
The Coffee Shop Sign
2
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

3
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

4
Kevins Sign
Do not serve dead customers.
To anybody.
5
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?

6
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).

7
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).

8
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).

9
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.

10
Multiple interpretations

• The clowns all sat on Jumbos trunk.
• Sandra talked to Maria about her aunt.
• The chancellor told the proctor to stop drinking
  in the dorms.
• I didnt buy an SUV because they use a lot of gas.

11
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.