TSLB3013 LINGUISTICS

TOPIC NATURE AND FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE

1.0 SYNOPSIS

Topic 1 highlights the nature and function of language. It seeks to develop your
knowledge in English language, by defining the meaning of a language, the
purpose and properties of language. It also aims to help you understand the
difference between human language and animal communication, verbal and non-
verbal communication, speech and writing and the notion of correctness.

1.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this topic, you will be able to:

 identify the purpose and use of a language

 list the properties of language
 compare and contrast human language and animal communication
 give examples of non-verbal communication
 differentiate between speech and writing
 identify grammatically and non-grammatically correct sentences

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1.2 FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

Nature and
Nature and
Function of
Function of
Language
Language

Definition of Purpose and use Properties of

Definition of Purpose and use Properties of
language of language language
language of language language
Human language
Human language
vs animal
vs animal Forms of
communication Forms of
communication communication
common
common communication
(VC & Non VC)
communi
communi
(VC & Non VC)

cation
cation Notions of
Speech and
Speech and Notions of
writing correctness
writing correctness

1.2.1 Definition of language

There are various definitions of language.

Language is:-

 a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of

conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood
meanings
(Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language 1961)

 a system of arbitrary, vocal symbols which permit all people in a given

culture, or other people who have learned the system of that culture, to
communicate or to interact

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(Finocchiaro 1964)

 any set or system of linguistic symbols as used in a more or less uniform

fashion by a number of people who are thus enabled to communicate
intelligibly with one another
(Random House Dictionary of the English Language 1966)

 a system of communication by sound, operating through the organs of

speech and hearing, among members of a given community, and using
vocal symbols possessing arbitrary conventional meanings
(Pei 1996)

In composite, language:

 is systematic and generative.

 is a set of arbitrary symbols.
 those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also be visual.
 the symbols have conventionalized meanings to which they refer.
 is used for communication.
 operates in a speech community or culture
 is essentially human, although possibly not limited to humans.
 is acquired by all people in much the same way.

1.2.2 Purpose and use of language

There are two main functions of a language: Interactional functions and

Transactional functions

Interactional Functions

Humans use language to interact with each other, socially and emotionally; how
they indicate friendliness, co-operation or hostility, or annoyance, pain or
pleasure. Examples of interactional functions are given below:

Emotional expression 

 Emotive or expressive function of language can be used whether or not

we are alone.
 Expressive - insult, compliment, expressing anger, happiness, sadness,
disappointment.
- angry or frustrated state; swear words and obscenities

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 Expressing appreciation to poetry, literature, paintings e.g. involuntary

verbal reaction to a breathtaking scenery, and the emotional outpourings
of certain kinds of poetry.

Social interaction

• Language is used to maintain a comfortable relationship between people.

Its function is to provide a means of avoiding situation which both parties
might otherwise find embarrassing.
‘Good morning; and ‘Pleased to meet you’
‘Lovely day; How are you?
• No factual content is involved: maintain rapport between people

The anthropologist Bronislow Malinoswki refers to it as ‘phatic communion’ - the

basic need to signal friendship -social function.

• Directive - language of social control - persuasion -  advertising,

sermons, preaching, order.
Examples;
a) Sit up straight b) Pass the milk please
c) Aren’t you feeling hot? …meaning take off the coat.
d) You make a good door … meaning get out of the way

 Informative – most people think this is language primary function

E.g. It is six o’clock.
She’s almost five years old
My favourite colour is red.

Transactional functions

Humans use their language to communicate knowledge, skills and information.

It must have developed for the transfer of knowledge from one generation to
another. The transfer remains fairly restricted in time and space as long as it can
only be realised in speech.

All forms of supernatural belief involve the use of language as a means of

controlling the forces which the believers feel affect their lives. For example, the
various prayers and formulae which are directed at God, gods, devils, spirits,
objects and other physical forces, are always in highly distinctive forms of
language.

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Recording the facts

When language is used for the purpose of recording facts, it displays a much
greater degree of organisation, impersonality, and explicitness. This function of
language is represented by all kinds of record keeping such as historical records,
geographical surveys, business accounts, scientific reports, parliamentary acts
and public data bank.

The instrument of thought

People often feel the need to speak their thoughts aloud. It helps their
concentration. The common use of language as an instrument of thought is found
when people perform mathematical calculations in their head. Sometimes
people move their lips but no sound comes out of them – sub-vocal form.

The expression of identity

Many social situations display language which unites rather than informs. Our
use of language can tell our listener or reader a great deal about ourselves. A
major function of language is the expression of personal identity.
• Multifunctional utterances are normal and frequent
• E.g. Your son is a bully (informative, expressive, directive)
• I’ll see you at ten in my office (informative, directive)

1.2.3 Properties of language

In any communication system, a code is used to transmit messages. A code is a

complex pattern of association of the units of a communication system. Humans
have a highly elaborated code called language, made up of words and the rules
that combine them. (In language those units could be sound units; meaningful
units, such as words, or meaningful units that are larger than words, such as
phrases, clauses and sentences).

The study of language has identified several features of properties of language

that differentiate human and animal codes.

1. Arbitrariness
It means that human languages use neutral symbols. There is no connection
between the linguistic form and its corresponding linguistic meaning/ the thing
being referred to / concept.

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For example: Something as large as a ‘whale’ can be referred to by a very short

word. Similarly, there is no natural connection between the word ‘dog’ and the
four-legged animal it symbolises. It can be called by other names in other
languages.

Onomatopoeic words such as "meow" or "bark“, “cuckoo”, “pop”, “bang”, “slurp”,

and “squish”are often cited as counter-examples, based on the argument that
they are pronounced like the sound they refer. However, the similarity is very
loose. Give one example.

2. Cultural transmission and tradition

It indicates that human beings hand their languages down from one generation to
another. Human language is not something inborn. However, the potential to
acquire a language is innate. Humans have the genetic potential to learn to
encode their messages by acquiring the rules or grammar of their language

3. Discreteness
It means that the basic units of speech sound can be categorized as belonging to
distinct categories or treated as discrete. The sounds used in language are
meaningfully distinct. /ʃ /, /ɪ/. There is no gradual, continuous shading from one
sound to another in the linguistics system, although there may be a continuum in
the real physical world.

4. Duality of patterning /(double articulation) . Language is organised in 2

layers, the basic sound units of speech or discrete sounds e.g. /p/,/e /,/n/, - only
meaningful when combined. The discrete parts of a language can be recombined
in a systematic way to create new forms. Duality of patterning refers to the ability
to recombine small units in different orders.

5. Displacement
It means the ability to refer to things far removed in time and place. The speaker
can talk about things which are not present, either spatially or temporally. For
example, human language allows speakers to talk about the present, the past
and the future.

They can also talk about things that are physically distant (such as other
countries, the moon, etc.). They can even refer to things and events that do not
actually exist (not present in reality) like Santa Claus or the destruction of Tara in
Gone with the Wind.
Animal communication is almost exclusively designed for this moment, here and
now.

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6. Structure dependence
Humans recognise the patterned nature of language and manipulate ‘structured
chunks’ e.g. they understand that a group of words can sometimes be the
structural equivalent of one. (productivity)
For example:
- The old lady / who was wearing a white bonnet / gave the donkey a carrot.
- A carrot / was given to the donkey / by the old lady who was wearing a white
bonnet.

7. Productivity
It is the ability to produce and understand virtually unlimited number of utterances
(novel sentences) from a limited number of words. A person can talk about
anything he likes because of the ability to generate novel meanings.

8. Openness
It is the ability to add new words, phrases or other meaningful units to a
language. Humans can coin new words at will, hence adding new lexical items.

Both properties (productivity and openness) are part of the creativity aspect of
human language.

Prevarication refers to the ability to communicate about things that are not
verifiable, things for which there is no empirical proof – saying about false or
fictional things.

Generally absent in other animal communication system except perhaps some

animals may fake conditions like death to confuse a predator, some animals
mimic the sounds of other species. This playing dead and mimicking other
species is similar to lying – but genetically pre-programmed whereas humans
learn to lie.

9. Semanticity
It is the use of symbols to mean or refer to objects and actions e.g. chair means
a 4-legged contraption one sits on; jump means the act of leaping in the air.
(specific signals matched with specific meanings). Some writers claimed that
semanticity is exclusively human. Animals produce signal codes to denote a
condition rather than referring to a specific object and action- threat, fear, danger,
hunger, anger.

10. Vocal auditory channel

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Sounds are made with the vocal organs and a hearing mechanism receives
them.

11. Reciprocity/ Interchangeability

Any speaker or sender of a linguistic signal can also be a listener or receiver.
The speaker can both receive and broadcast the same signal.

Tutorial Task

1. The following are additional properties of human language. Elaborate on

each property.
(i) Broadcast transmission and directional reception
(ii) Total feedback

2. Discuss how the properties of language distinguish human and animal

codes.

3. What does it mean to know a language? Relate it to linguistic competence

and linguistic performance.

1.2.4 Human language vs animal communication

Look at the pictures.

 What do you think these animals are doing?

 Do you think they are communicating?
 What might they be saying?
 Are language and communication equivalent?
 Do they use language to communicate with
each other?

 List down the things that human use to communicate with each other.
 Then compare your answers with a partner.

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What is Communication?

Communication is the ability to share information with people, and to understand

what information and feelings are being conveyed by others. It can take on many
forms including gestures, facial expressions, signs, vocalizations (including pitch
and tone), in addition to speech and written communication.

Teachers and students frequently use nonverbal methods to communicate.

Students often show disinterest in school by avoiding eye contact or sitting back
in their chairs with their arms folded across their chests during instruction. Staff
members may indicate that they have time to talk but they may show disinterest
by grading papers or busying themselves while you are trying to talk.
Conversely, a smiling, nodding face indicates that the listener is interested in
what we are saying and encourages us to continue.

Communication includes a broad range of actions which help the teachers work
more effectively with students and other teachers. Teachers interact with many
different people during the day, including administrators, other teachers, parents,
students and others. The ability of teachers to contribute to the education
program will depend on his or her communication skills.

2.2.5 Non-Verbal Communication

There are two forms of communication: Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication.

Verbal communication requires a language. Language is defined in terms of

semantics, that is, a group of labels used to represent approximations of space-
time events and abstractions. The labels can be conveyed from one entity to
another by a variety of means : vocalization, writing, etc.

Non-verbal communication (NVC) is any communication that takes place using

non-linguistic signs, or “non-word signs” (Harrison, 1974). NVC is independent of
a formal language, whereby ideas and concepts can be expressed without the
use of coherent labels. It refers to the processes without the use of language
proper, e.g. body movements, gesture, smells but also such extra-linguistic
features of speech as intonation, speed or pause. Non-verbal messages often
convey more meaning than the spoken words. 65% of a message’s meaning is
communicated through non-verbal clues. (Birdwhistell, 1970). 90% of the
meaning of a message is transmitted non-verbally. (Fromkin & Rodman, 1983).

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Reflection

In your opinion, which of the items in the list below contribute most to
communication? Number the five most important. Then compare your answers
with a partner.

Things which human use to communicate with each other.

 Style of dress, Hair style

 Gestures, Body posture
 Listening, Fluency, Accent
 Facial expressions, Behaviour
 Accurate use of language structures, Vocabulary
 Eye movements

Types of Non-Verbal Communication

There are three types on non-verbal communication: kinesics, proxemics and

paralanguage. The types and examples are given below.

KINESICS

1. GESTURES

They are used to convey meanings. For examples:

a. Extremities of our bodies e.g. Hitchhiker’s outstretched thumb, thumb-
index finger circle for “OK”, use of middle finger.
b. Directly tied to speech - mother in the window moving her hand to her
mouth, pretending to eat, to indicate to her child outside that he/she has to
come in for dinner.

2. FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

These are similar across all cultures. Facial expressions readily reflect
different feelings: happiness, surprise, fear, sadness, anger, disgust and
interest. For examples :
a. A child opening a present. You can observe the joy and delight in his/her
eyes and facial expression.

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b. Adults receiving news that they owe Revenue Malaysia a large sum of
money. Facial muscles would become tight and rigid indicating anger and
disbelief.
c. A smile and joyful eyes when receiving expression of gratitude from some.
d. Notification of next of kin of a death. Facial expression should show
sympathy and genuine concern.

3. EYE GAZE OR EYE CONTACT

This is an important means of giving social recognition. In some cultures,

people of lower status tend not to look into the eyes of people of higher status
or authority. When an individual of lower status does directly look at someone
of authority, that directness may indicate hostility or confrontation. Avoiding
eye contact may accompany emotions such as anxiety, shame and
embarrassment. For examples:
a. Romeo lovingly gazing into the eyes of Juliet. His eyes will express
warmth, passion and affection.
b. A teenager having purchased his first car. His eyes will express pride and
satisfaction.
c. During a suspect interview, an accused may avoid direct eye contact with
the police officers in the denial of his/her actions

4. BODY POSTURE OR BODY MOVEMENT

This kinetic factor can communicate attitude, self-image and relationship.

Examples:
a. The body movements of a potential employee in a job-related interview.
Palms may be sweaty, maybe biting his nails.
b. A father confronting his child about his wrongdoing.
The child will fidget on the edge of the chair as he looks for a way out of
the situation.

PROXEMICS

INTERPERSONAL DISTANCE or “SPACE BUBBLE” that surrounds each

person.

Interpersonal distances:
a. Intimate Distance – up to 18 inches

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b. Personal Distance – 1 ½ feet to 4 feet

c. Social Distance – 1 foot to about 12 feet
d. Public Distance – 12 feet or over
e. Canadians communicate at an arm’s distance from each other. Narrowing
the gap and actually touching the person being spoken to identifies the
communication and establishes power. Restricting and invading another’s
personal space creates tension for him or her.

Examples:
a. In the observation of an argument, you will notice one of the parties involved
moving in close to the other one while trying to make the point.
b. When you meet someone for the first time, you leave them a polite distance
and if the person moves within this distance, you become uncomfortable
and uneasy (perhaps move away).
c. Police officer places hand on someone?
d. Police officer putting hands on somebody – confrontation. “The strong hand
of the law”.

PARALANGUAGE

 Tone of voice indicating attitude, authority, empathy.

 Pitch of voice indicating emotions and tensions and stress.
 Volume indicating the importance of certain words or phrases as well as
emotions.

Examples:

a. Arriving at the scene of a motor vehicle accident, the police officer has to take
charge of the situation. The voice will be strong and firm expressing authority.
b. When a police officer is giving evidence in court, the voice will be steady and
confident, showing impartiality.

A. Barbour, author of Louder Than Words: Nonverbal Communication said that

the total impact of a message breaks down is: 7% verbal (words); 38% vocal
(volume, pitch, rhythm, etc.); and 55% body movements (mostly facial
expressions. This breakdown indicates that effective nonverbal communication
skills are essential.

Non-Verbal Communication: Cues, Signals and Symbols

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A cue is a type of communication used by an adult to let a child know what is

expected of him/her in a given situation. Cues are a type of receptive
communication.

Signals are movements the child used to communicate needs, desires and
feelings to adults. Signals are a form of expressive communication.

Symbols are representations of an event, object, person, or place that can be

used to communicate about the event, action, person, or place. They can be
used for both receptive and expressive communication. They may start as cues
and signals.

One thing is certain is that whatever the means of non-verbal communication

may be, it will have to be related to the senses of the communicators because,
obviously, it is the senses which receive information. We, as humans, are aware
of five senses suitable to be used in communicating. Communication for us can
be related to any of these senses.

Task: Non-Verbal Communication Activity

In this exercise you will be asked to exhibit some non-verbal communications.
Ask a friend to help you with this exercise. Try to communicate the following
using non-verbal communications.

a) No b) Sit down c) Come in d) Be quiet

e) I don't know f) Stand up g) I'm mad h) I'm happy
i) Stop j) Go away or get away

After you have practiced with a colleague or friend member, try to use non-verbal
communication with your other friends.

Reflection

 What is your reaction to the activity?

 Did you feel you could communicate without speaking?
 Do you think we sometimes convey one message verbally and a different
message nonverbally? If so, which message is taken as most important?

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Tutorial Task

Communication Profile

 What are your own communication behaviors?

 Identify your non-verbal and verbal behaviors.
 Reflect on how you would react and answer the following questions.

How do you stand (arms, legs and posture) in the following situations?
 Angry
 Sad
 Relaxed
 Happy

What is your voice like in the situations above?

What facial expressions do you use for the following?

 Angry
 Sad
 Relaxed
 Happy

What gestures do you use in the situations above?

What is your eye contact like?

Do you have good eye contact when you are angry or happy?

Do you consider yourself to be a verbal or nonverbal person?

Remember that students are unaware of many of the behaviours that they exhibit
when communicating. By perfecting your own communication skills you can
become a positive role model for children and adolescents, helping them
become more effective communicators as they practice good communication
skills.

Tutorial Task

Find out why non-verbal communication is important? Be prepared to discuss

your answers during the face-to-face interaction with your tutor.

1.2.6 Speech and writing

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When we talk about language, sometimes we mean speech (spoken language),

sometimes writing (written language).

Reflection

 What is speech (spoken language)?

 What is writing (written language)?
 How are they similar?
 How are they different?

Speech is an interpersonal communication where sound is the medium. We use

speech organs (mouth, throat) and ears in speaking and listening. Para-
linguistics features, e.g. pause, loudness, stress, intonation etc. and extra-
linguistics features, e.g. gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, nods, body
posture, etc. used to aid communication. Speech is where thinking, speaking
and listening go on at almost the same time. If the listener fails to understand
what the speaker says it at the time, he will not get another chance to listen to it
again.

Writing is a system for interpersonal communication using visible signs or graphic

symbols on a flat surface such as paper, cloth or even stone slabs. Every
language has its own graphic symbols. Written English uses a system consisting
26 letters (a, b, c, …..z). Writing is thinking put on paper and is a very complex
skill. The writer needs to know the subject matter, purpose, interaction and a
sense of audience, language, conventions, thinking skills, organizational skills,
value systems, mechanics and the writing process.

1.9 Summary of Differences between Spoken and Written Language

No. Differences Spoken Language Written Language

1. Medium Sound is the medium. We use Words on a page or screen

speech organs (mouth, throat) is the medium. We use our
and ears in speaking and hands to write and our eyes
listening. to read.
2. Resources Para-linguistics features and only words on the page and
extra- linguistics features are punctuation marks available.
used to aid communication.

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3. Processing thinking, speaking and listening the writer can take his time in
time go on at almost the same time. composing and the reader
Speech is ephemeral. can take his time reading and
re-reading what is written.
Writing is permanent.

4. Feedback the speaker can find out the delayed feedback. The writer
listeners’ response to what he has to wait until he gets a
said almost instantly. reply to his letter or review of
his ideas.

5. Language usually simple sentences and more sophisticated and

vocabulary used. complex structures and
vocabulary used.

6. Organization more meandering and fewer Usually well-organized

organizational markers, because more time for
especially in spontaneous planning.
speech, e.g. conversation.

7. Performance many false starts, fillers, editing. Therefore, no

pauses, etc found. mistakes visible.

Tutorial Task:

There are some other differences between speech and writing (e.g. age,
universality, acquisition, level of structure, interdependence, retrievability,
prestige, standardization, formality, literacy and change).

Briefly explain what these differences are.

1.2.7 Notions of correctness

What is grammar?
Grammar is what we know. It represents our linguistic competence -
linguistic knowledge. Linguistic knowledge is learned subconsciously, with
no awareness that rules are being learned => represents a complex
cognitive system. Linguistic performance is applying (using) this knowledge
in actual speech production and comprehension (e.g. slips of tongue,
hesitations, repetitions etc.) The grammar of a language consist of the
sounds and sound patterns, the basic units of meaning such as words, and
the rules to combine all of these to form sentences with the desired meaning.

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Grammatical versus ungrammatical

In all languages, every sentence is a sequence of words but not every

sequence of words is a sentence. A sequence of words that conform to the
rules of syntax are said to be well-formed or grammatical. Violation to the
syntactic rules are ill-formed or ungrammatical. A sentence is said to be
grammatical when it conforms to the rule of grammar – mental grammar and
description of the internalised grammar. Not all strings of words constitute
sentences in a language - our knowledge of a language determines which
are and which are not “rules for forming sentences”.

Grammaticality is based on rules acquired or constructed unconsciously as

children. The ability to make grammatical judgments depends on syntactic
knowledge. For examples: Enormous crickets in pink socks danced at the
prom; and A verb crumpled the milk. Grammatical judgments do not depend
on whether the sentence is meaningful or not. Grammaticality does not
depend on the truth of sentences.

The notion of ungrammatical is used to characterize utterances that cannot

be said by native speakers of a language. For example, any violation of a
relatively small set of prescriptive “rules” like these:

1. Never split the infinitive.

2. Never begin a sentence with and or but
3. It’s me is ungrammatical; it is I is grammatical.

Exercise 1
Check the grammaticality of the following sentences:

1. Robin forced the sheriff leave.

2. The devil made Faust leave.
3. That birds can fly amazes.
4. Myself bit John.
5. It is easy to frighten Emily.

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TOPIC 2 PHONOLOGY: THE SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE

2.0 SYNOPSIS

Topic 2 provides you with some basic information on the English sounds system.
It gives you some practice in saying the words correctly with the right stress and
intonation. It encourages you to tell your experience and your views on how you
learn to speak English and the strategies that you use to encourage your pupils
to speak. This will prepare you to speak with more confident and express your
views fluently.

2.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this Session, you will be able to:

 label the articulators in the speech organs used in producing different

English sounds
 know the phonetic symbol of the alphabets;
 transcribe and pronounce words according to their phonetic symbols
 identify and analyse vowel/ diphthong sounds and consonant sounds
 speak with correct pronunciation, enunciation, stress and intonation

2.2 FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

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Phonology:
Phonology:
The Sounds
The Sounds
of Language
of Language

Phonemes
Phonemes
and Introduction
Speech and Introduction
Speech Sounds of Phonemic to Supra-
Organs and Sounds of Phonemic to Supra-
Organs and English Transcription segmental
Articulation English Transcription segmental
Articulation s Features
s Features

Dipthongs
Dipthongs Consonants
Vowels Consonants Stress Rhythm Intonation
Vowels Stress Rhythm Intonation

CONTENT

2.2.1 What is Phonology?

Do you often wonder why some words are not pronounced the way they are
spelt? Isn’t it frustrating when you can spell words correctly but don’t know how
they are pronounced? Now, that’s the
beauty of the English language.

To start off, let’s be clear of what

phonology is and then look at the
seven main articulators in our speech
organs that are used in the production
of speech.

Phonology is the study of the sound

systems of languages, and of the
general properties displayed by these
systems (the contrast in sound
[phonemes] which make the
difference within the language.

2.2.2 Speech organs and articulation

There are seven main articulators.

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Pharynx – a tube which begins just above the larynx. It is divided into two at its
top, one part being the back of the mouth and the other being the beginning of
the way through the nasal cavity. If you look in the mirror with your mouth open,
you can see the back of the pharynx.

Velum / Soft Palate – often in speech, the velum is raised so that air cannot
escape through the nose. It is
also one of the articulators that
can be touched by the tongue.
When we make the sounds / k /
and / g / the tongue is in contact
with the lower side of the velum.
Hence, these sounds are called
velar consonants.

Hard Palate – it is often called

‘roof of the mouth’. You can feel its smooth curved surface with your tongue.

Alveolar Ridge – it is between the top front teeth and the hard palate. Its surface
is covered with little ridges. You can feel its shape with your tongue. Sounds
made with the tongue touching hers such as / t / and / d / are called alveolar.
Tongue – it is a very important articulator and can be moved into many different
places and different shapes. The tongue is divided into different parts such as
tip, blade, front, back and root. (see Figure 2.)

Teeth (upper and lower) – most speakers have teeth to the sides of their mouth.
The back is almost to the soft palate. The tongue is in contact with the upper
side for many speech sounds. Sounds made with the tongue touching the front
teeth are called dental.

Lips – they are important in speech. The lips can be pressed together (to
produce the sounds / p /, brought into contact with teeth (as in / f /, / v /), or
rounded to produce the lip-shape for vowels like / u: /. Sounds in which lips are
in contact with each other are called bilabial, while those with lip-to-teeth contact
are called labiodental.

The seven articulators described above are the main ones but there are three
other things to remember:

Larynx – it could also be described as an articulator; a very complex and an

independent one. You can feel the vibration in your larynx (Adam’s apple) when
you produce voiced sounds such as / z /.

Jaws – they are sometimes called articulators because the movement of the jaws
(especially the lower one) helps a lot in speaking. However, the jaws are not

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articulators in the same way as the others because they themselves cannot
make contact with other articulators.

Nose and nasal cavity – they are a very important part of our vocal apparatus of
making sounds, particularly nasal consonants such as / m /, / n /. However, the
nose and nasal cavity cannot really be described as articulators in the same way
as the seven main articulators described above.

Reflection

How do you think speech sounds are produced?

How Are Speech Sounds Produced?

First, air coming from the lungs passes through the vocal tract, which shapes it
into different speech sounds. The air then exits the vocal tract through the mouth
or nose or both. The process by which air is made to more out of the lungs is
called an aggressive pulmonic airstream.

The processes that the vocal tract uses in creating a multitude of sounds are
similar to those of wind instruments and organ pipes, which produce different
musical sounds by varying the shape, size and acoustic character of the cavities
through which air passes.

Likewise, every speech sound sounds different because of some unique

combination of features in the way you shape your mouth and tongue and move
parts of the vocal apparatus when you speak. All English sounds are produced
in this manner.

2.2.3 Sounds of English

There are 26 letters in the English language, 5 vowels and 21 consonants.

However, what we are more concerned with is the spoken sounds of the
alphabets. The spoken English has 44 phonic sounds, 20 spoken vowels and 24
spoken consonants. We will look at the phonic structure of English in detail.

Vowel Sounds

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Vowels (20 vowels sounds) – are articulated without any obstruction as the air
passes from the larynx to the lips. The vocal cords always vibrate. In contrast,
the air flow has to be obstructed at different points when articulating consonants.

cat sun rose, boat, toe girl, curl, fern poor, lure

car cape, sail, moon, blue, house, cow letter

hay screw

saw, vault, ball bee, leaf book coin, boy

kid hen rose, boat, toe hare, fair

dog kite, tie, light fork, core ear, deer, here

List of phonetic symbols and keywords

Short vowels Long Vowels

 as in bt i: as in sheep

e as in bed α: as in father

æ as in cat : as in door

 as in dog ‫כ‬: as in four

˄ as in but u: as in boot

 as in put з: as in bird

ᵊ as in about
i as in happy

u as in actuality

Diphthongs

Diphthongs (8 diphthongs) – a sound which consists of a glide from one vowel to

another. A vowel which does not glide is a pure vowel. Some vowels end in a
glide / i:j /, / u:w /.

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Diphthongs glide between two vowels. The ending vowel in a diphthong is one of
/ a /, / I /, or / u /, e.g. / ia / beer, / ea / bare, / eI / make, / eu / home, / ai / five,
/au / how, etc. (see diagram)

eI: as in make ‫כ‬I: as in boy aU as in now e∂ as in hair u∂ as in actual

aI: as in lie ∂U as in note I∂ as in real U∂ as in sure i∂ as in peculiar

Some examples of diphthongs can be seen in the table above.

Consonants

Consonants have the following characteristics:

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24 consonant sounds

bed hen pup wig chimp

cat, kid, sock jet rod yak then

dog log sun zip thumb

fan mop tub ring, sink television

gum net van shop

Consonants

p as in pen g as in get s as in soon x as in loch ŋ as in sung

b as in back f as in fat z as in zero tƒ as in cheer w as in wet

t as in ten v as in view ƒ as in ship dЗ as in jump 1 as in let

d as in day θ as in thing З as in pleasure m as in sum r as in red

k as in key δ as in then h as in hour n as in sun j as in yet

Now that you have gone through the phonetic sounds and symbols, let’s look at
some exercises.

Exercise 1

In this exercise you are to rewrite the following words into phonetic symbols. (you
can refer to the dictionary to help you).

Words Phonetic symbols

Apologise

Bewilder

Comprehend

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Confess

Confide

Demolish

Devour

Discuss

Expose

Exercise 2

In this exercise, you are to rewrite the following phonetic symbols into words.

Phonetic symbols Words

θІŋĸ

Δıѕ

ƒUd

δ∂

DV

gз:lz

Strong and Weak Forms

Certain well-known English words can be pronounced in two different ways:

these are called strong forms and weak forms.

Weak forms are those words that are pronounced in an unstressed manner.
They are called function words or grammatical words such as conjunctions,
articles, pronouns, prepositions and some auxiliary and modal verbs.

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The pronunciation of a weak form can be so different from the strong form that it
is barely recognizable as being the same word. If said in isolation, it would be all
but unintelligible. Usually, it is the context that makes it understandable.

It is possible to use only strong forms in English, and some non-native speakers
do exactly this. However, it sounds very unnatural to a native speaker and it will
also mean that a person who only uses the strong form of English will have
trouble understanding native speakers of English who use the weak form all the
time.
Examples:

Word Strong form Weak form Example

As z z
But b t b t
And nd n
Of v v
Than n n
You ju:
Does d d
From fr m fr m
At t t
His h z z

There is sometimes an important difference in meaning between strong and

weak forms, e.g.

I’m gonna be sick (prediction)

I’m going to school (destination)

What have we gotta take? (necessity)

What have we got to eat? (availability)

Tutorial Question

Prepare your answer to the following questions for your tutorial session.

(a) How do you differentiate between long vowels and short vowels?
(b) How would you define consonant clusters?
(c) How would you define vowel clusters?

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(d) What are the problems that you faced while completing this topic?

2.2.4 Phonemes and phonemic transcriptions

A phoneme can be defined as a minimal sound unit which is capable of

contrasting word meaning. This can be illustrated using minimal pairs.

e.g. tip bit mate pat bet but

dip bid made pad bed bud

The words in each pair have different meanings and this difference is signaled by
the difference between / t / and / d /. Therefore, / t / and / d / are separate
phonemes. Another way of saying this is to state that sounds are separate
phonemes if they contrast in identical environments.

In English, there are 44 phonemes (24 consonants and 20 vowels).

The / p / is aspirated (puff of air) as in ‘pill’ and ‘poker’ whereas un-aspirated / p /

occurs after ‘s’ as in ‘sprint’ and ‘spine’. The different / p / sound is called an
allophone. An allophone is described as a variant of a phoneme. Allophones
occur only in certain positions within a word.

When two or more sounds do not occur in the same sound environment, they are
said to be in complementary distribution. An example of complementary
distribution occurs in the allophones of / l / in English. Dark / l / always occurs at
the end of a syllable while light / l / always occurs at the beginning of a syllable.
Neither allophone may occur in the other’s position.

Another type of relationship between allophones of a single phoneme is called

free variation. Two allophones are said to be in free variation when a word is
pronounced in two different ways – using two different phonemes but has no
effect on the meaning. For example, pronunciation of the word ‘tomato’. There

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is no difference in meaning between the two ways of pronouncing the word. As

such, the sounds / a: / and /ei / are in free variation of this word.

2.2.5 Introduction to Suprasegmental Features

Suprasegmental, also called Prosodic Feature, in phonetics, is a speech feature

such as stress, rhythm, tone (intonation), or word juncture that accompanies or is
added over consonants and vowels. These features are not limited to single
sounds but often extend over syllables, words, or phrases. Suprasegmentals are
so called in contrast to consonants and vowels, which are treated as serially
ordered segments of the spoken utterance.

Stress

Stress refers to the degree of prominence a syllable has. Generally three stress
syllable are recognized. They are: primary, secondary and unstressed.

Word Stress

Study the stress pattern for each of the words shown below:

‘photograph

pho’ tographer

photo’graphic

Using the correct stress patterns, try to pronounce the words.

Exercise 1

Practise pronouncing these words with the correct stress patterns.

Tiresome humanitarian ceremony

distinction praiseworthy downstream

exception particular exceptional

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Exercise 2

Place a primary stress mark over the syllable that has the greatest prominence.

1. defer _________________

2. differ _________________

3. pervert (verb) _________________

4. pervert (noun) _________________

5. conflict (verb) _________________

6. conflict (noun) _________________

7. superb _________________

8. romance _________________

9. defense _________________

10. research _________________

11. accent _________________

12. education _________________

13. interruption _________________

14. humanitarian _________________

15. socialised _________________

Rhythm

Rhythm is the occurrence of stressed syllables at regular intervals of time.

English speech is rhythmical.

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Rhythm is important in English because it can result in miscommunication.

Contrast “talking to themselves” and “talking to damsels”.

We need to understand rhythm patterns in English in order to understand native

speakers of English and also to try to speak in that rhythm so that we may be
understood by them.

Intonation

Intonation refers to the tune a speaker uses when speaking. There are two basic
patterns of intonation: the rising tune and the falling tune. They can be put
together in various combinations: rise-fall-rise, fall-rise-fall, etc.

Intonation and sentence stress are very clearly connected in speech. They are
used together to put the precise message across to the listener.

The following two utterances are examples:

1. You speak English, don’t you? Falling tune

2. You speak English, don’t you? Rising tune

Exercise 1

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Read the dialogue and mark the intonation pattern.

See Ti : Hello, Ah Boo. How are you?

Ah Boo : Just fine, fine. What about you?

See Ti : Oh, not bad. Ah Boo, you know Rani, don’t you?

Ah Boo : Yes, I met her in our London office last month.

See Ti : In London?

TOPIC 3 MORPHOLOGY: THE WORDS OF LANGUAGE

3.0 SYNOPSIS

Topic 3 introduces you to the word structure and word formation of the English
language. It seeks to develop your knowledge in English language, by
understanding the different types of morphemes and how English words are
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structured and formed. It also aims to help you further improve your skills in
listening, speaking, reading and writing and develop your confidence and fluency
in using English in a variety of context.

3.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this Session, you will be able to:

1. discuss word structure and formation;

2. identify the different classification of morphemes
3. give reasons for the classification
4. analyze word formation processes

3.2 FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

Morphology:
Morphology:
The Words of
The Words of
Language
Language

Types of
Types of Word Formation
Morphemes Word Formation
Morphemes Processes
Processes

Free Bound Derivational Inflectional

Free Bound Derivational Inflectional
Morpheme Morpheme Morpheme Morpheme
Morpheme Morpheme Morpheme Morpheme

CONTENT

3.2.1 What is Morphology?

Morphology is the study of word structure and word formation. Words - though
impossible to define in absolute terms, can be thought of as the units that are
combined to form sentences in a language such as English.

Simple Words - consisting of a single morpheme; a word that cannot be analyzed

into smaller meaningful parts, e.g. ‘item’, ‘five’, ‘chunk’, ‘the’. Complex words
consist of a root, plus one or more affixes (e.g. ‘items’, ‘walked’, ‘dirty’).

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Compound word is a word that is formed from two or more simple or complex
words (e.g. landlord, red-hot, window cleaner)

3.2.2 Types of Morphemes

Just as sentences can be broken down in smaller units (words), we can break
words down into smaller, meaningful parts. The smallest meaningful part of a
word is called a morpheme. Not all words have more than one morpheme.
Words that have only one morpheme are also called monomorphemic words
(e.g. boy). Words with more than one morpheme are called polymorphemic
words, as in foolishness (fool + ish + ness). Morphemes can be classified as
either free or bound.

3.2.2.1 Free and Bound Morphemes

Free morphemes are units of meaning which can stand alone as an

independent word or alongside another free or bound morpheme (e.g. lid, sink,
air, car – individual words). They cannot be split into anything smaller (e.g. tree,
gate, pillow, butter, flower, rhinoceros etc.). However, the terms gate, butter and
flower can also exist alongside another free morpheme e.g. gatepost,
buttermilk, sunflower – consists two free morphemes.

A bound morpheme is a unit of meaning which can only exist alongside a free
morpheme. It cannot stand alone as an independent word, but must be attached
to another morpheme/word (affixes, such as plural ‘-s’, prefixes – ungrateful,
insufficient, and suffixes – childish, goodness - are always bound). It cannot be
split into anything smaller. They must be bound to one or more free morphemes.

A base is an element (free or bound, root morpheme or complex word) to which

additional morphemes are added. It is also called a stem. It can consist of a
single root morpheme, as with the ‘kind’ of ‘kindness’. It can also be a word that
itself contains more than one morpheme (e.g. kindness as a base to form the
word ‘kindnesses’)

A root is a (usually free) morpheme around which words can be built up through
the addition of affixes (e.g. the root ‘kind’ can have affixes added to it to form
‘kindly’, ‘kindness’, ‘kinder’, ‘kindest’. The root is the item you have left when you
strip all other morphemes off of a complex word.

The meaning of a word can be changed by adding another word or part of a word
to it. Examples:

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Root-word Prefix Suffix

able unable Ability
care uncaring Careless/careful/carefully

able – means can She is able to do the job.

Unable – means cannot She is unable to do the job.
ability – means skill need She has the ability to take up the challenge of
to do something. the job.
Now, take a look at the Prefixes.

We add prefixes at the start of a word. Some prefixes are:

Prefix Meaning Example

anti- Against something anti-social
counter- Take opposite action counter-attack
dis Not dislike, disapprove, disagree
ex- Former, previous, past ex-wife, ex-student, ex-boyfriend
in-, im-, Not inactive, impossible,
il-, ir- iilogical, irreplaceable
un- Not, changes a word to the unkind, untidy, unable
opposite meaning
mis- Done incorrectly mistake, misadventure, misuse
non- Not non-violent, non-conformist
re- Do over again, go back redo, replace, recycle, rewind
inter- Between interfere, international, interchange
Remember, when words are added at the start of a word, they are called
prefixes. Now, take at a look at Exercises 1 and 2 and do the exercises to
check your understanding.

Exercise 1

Using the dictionary, find out what these words mean.

Word Meaning Root-word

glorious glory (n)
eateries eatery (n)
probably probable (adj)
assortments assortment (n)
temptation tempt (v)
surrounded surround (v)

Exercise 2

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Add suitable prefixes to the following words.

Word Prefix Word Prefix

like behave
proper unite
responsible rational
known pack

Suffixes

Suffixes are added to the end of a word. They not only change the meaning of a
word, they also change the part of speech.

Suffix Meaning New word is a: Example

-or, -er Person noun Teenager, actor
-eer Person noun Engineer, auctioneer
-ster Person doing an noun Gangster
activity
-let, -ette Small noun Booklet, statuette
-ess Female noun Waitress
-hood, Status, condition noun Childhood, friendship,
-ship, -dom freedom
-ful The amount something noun, adjective Spoonful
has, being full of Wasteful
-ite Member of a noun Penangnite
community
-ese, -(i)an Member of a noun, adjective Chinese, Christian
community
-ist Person or party noun, adjective Buddhist
-ism Belief, attitude, actions abstract noun Marxism, heroism,
tourism
-ant Person or instrument noun Combatant
-tion, -sion State, action, group abstract, Generation,
collective noun persuasion
-ment State mainly abstract Excitement
-age Result of action abstract noun Weightage
-ness, -ity
-ify, -ize Cause to make or verb Quantify, specialize,
-en become madden
-less Being empty of adjective Sleepless
-ay, -al, -ish, Having the qualities of adjective Friendly, nutty, global,

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-ive, -ous, bookish, talkative,

-able, -ible, tortuous, readable,
-like credible, warlike
-ly In this way adverb Cheaply, tiredly

Remember, for suffixes, the word is added at the end of the word. Now, look at
Exercise 1 and try to add suffixes to the words.

Exercise 1:

Add suffixes to the following words. Use your dictionary to check your answers

glorious polite
regular unite
proper lawful
possible difficult
safe savour

Would you like to have more practice in prefixes and suffixes? You can list
down as many words as you can think of and add prefixes or suffixes to these
words.

The previous section gives you an idea of how words if added new word or part
of a word to them would mean different things. Therefore, when you come
across words with prefixes or suffixes, you need to be extra careful with their
meanings.

Categories of Morphemes

A content morpheme is a morpheme that names a concept/idea in our record of

experience of the world. It has semantic content – independent and identifiable
meaning; and has a full lexical meaning of its own. They fall into the classes of
noun, verb, adjective, adverb.

A function morpheme is a morpheme whose primary meaning/function is to

signal relationships between other morphemes. They provide information about
grammatical function by relating certain words in a sentence to each other. Free
morphemes can also be function morphemes. Function words have no
independent meaning but just contributes to the grammatical meaning of a

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construction (the, by, of). Generally, they fall into classes such as articles (a,
the), prepositions (of, at), auxiliary verbs (was eating, have slept), etc.

Allomorphs are the different forms/variations (pronunciations) of a single

morpheme. Example: the plural morpheme in English is { -z }. Its allormorphs
are / s /, / z /, and the upside-down, backwards e / ez /. Also the morpheme ‘leaf’
has two allomorphs: ‘leaf’ in words built from it (e.g. leafy) and ‘leav-’, found only
in the plural ‘leaves’.

Types of Allomorphs

Allomorphs of plural morpheme:-

 / s / - shops, nuts, books
 / z / - cubs, mugs, stands
 / iz / - glasses, judges, dishes, houses

Allomorphs of past tense morpheme:-

 / t / - packed, milked, faked, chopped
 / d / - played, robbed, cared, died
 / id / - shouted, arrested, counted, pointed

Allomorphs of negative morpheme

 Un – able, certain, lucky, true
 Ir – responsible, relevant, regular
 Im – possible, proper, polite
 In – ability, correct, experienced
 Dis – agree, qualify, regard
 Mis – spell, spend, use, management
 Non – smoker, stop, payment, resident
 Il – logical, legal, legitimate
 De – frost, camp, classify, throne
 Mal – function, nutrition, formation

3.2.2.2 Derivational & Inflectional Morphemes

Derivation is the process by which affixes combine with roots to create new
words (e.g. in ‘modern-ize’, ‘read-er’, ‘-ize’ and ‘-er’ are derivational suffixes. It is
viewed as using existing words to make new words. It is much less regular, (e.g.
plural form – add ‘s’ or ‘es’ ; and much less predictable (e.g. nouns derived from
verbs – refuse – refusal, pay – payment).

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Derivational morphemes change the part of speech or meaning of a word. E.g.,

-ment added to a verb forms a noun, judg-ment, re-activate means “activate
again”. They are not required by syntax. They typically indicate semantic
semantic relations within a word, but no syntactic relations outside the word…,
e.g., un-kind relates un-”not” to kind but has no particular syntactic connections
outside the word – note that the same word can be used in he is unkind and they
are unkind.

They are usually not very productive and are generally selective about what they
will combine with, e.g., the suffix –hood occurs with just a few nouns such as
brother, neighbour, and knight, but not with most others. E.g., friend, daughter,
or candle.

They typically occur before inflectional suffixes, e.g. govern-ment-s: -ment, a

derivational suffix, precedes –s, an inflectional suffix. May be prefixes or suffixes
(in English), e.g. pre-arrange, arrange-ment

Inflection is the process by which affixes combine with roots to indicate basic
grammatical categories such as tense or plurality (e.g. in ‘cat-s’, ‘talk-ed’, ‘-s’ and
‘-ed’ are inflectional suffixes). It is viewed as the process of adding very general
meanings to existing words, not as the creation of new words.

Inflectional morphemes do not change meaning or part of speech, e.g big,

bigg-er, bigg-est are all adjectives. They are required by the syntax. They
typically indicate syntactic or semantic relations between different words in the
sentence, e.g Nim love-s banana-s: -s marks the 3rd person singular present form
of the verb, relating it to the 3rd singular subject Nim.

They are very productive. They typically occur with all members of some large
class of morphemes, e.g. the plural morpheme –s occurs with almost all nouns.
They occur at the margin of a word, after any derivational morphemes, e.g.,
ration-al-ation-s: -s is inflectional, and appears at the very end of the word. They
are suffixes only (in English).

3.2.3 Word Formation Processes

Many words are formed or created from combinations of other words, or from
combinations of words and prefixes or suffixes. There are many possible ways
of forming or creating new words in English.

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Derivation

The most productive process of word formation in a language is the use of

derivational morphemes to form new words from already existing forms (.e.g.
from arrange we can derive rearrange, from which we can still derive
rearrangement). Can you think of other examples?

Coinage

Coinage is the invention of totally new words. The process usually involves the
extension of a product a name from a specific reference to a more general one,
e.g. Kleenex, Xerox and Kodak. These started as names of specific products
but now used as the generic names for different brands of types of product. Can
you think of other examples?

Conversion

Conversion is the extension of the use of one word from its original grammatical
category to another category as well, e.g. the word must is a verb (e.g. “You
must attend classes regularly”), but it can also used as a noun as in “Class
attendance is a must”.

Borrowing

New words also enter a language through borrowing from other languages.
English, for example, borrowed a lot of French words as a result of the Norman
invasion in 1066. (e.g. croissant, chauffeur, dentist, resign)

Other examples of foreign words found their way into English:

(a) leak, yacht (from Dutch)
(b) Barbecue, cockroach (from Spanish)
(c) Piano, concerto (from Italian)
(d) Algebra, amulet, caramel, carat, coffee, safari, syrup, sheriff, soda (from
Arabic).
(e) Yam, banana (from African languages).

Back-formation

Back-formation is the formation of a new word by removing an affix; that base

then is used as a root, and becomes a word through widespread use.
Examples: pronunciate (pronunciation, pronounce), enthuse (enthusiasm), burgle
(burglar), burger (hamburger) televise (television), edit (editor).

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Compounding

Compounding is combining two or more words together to form a new complex

word. Examples:

(a) post + card = postcard

(b) post + office = post office
(c) book + case = bookcase
(d) mother-in-law,
(e) sergeant-at-arms.

Blending

Blending is another way of combining words to form a new word. The difference
between blending and compounding, however, is that in blending only parts of
the words, not the whole words, are combined.

Examples: smoke + fog = smog

motor + hotel = motel
breakfast + lunch = brunch

Clipping

Clipping is the shortening of a longer word. Examples: pro (professional), prof

(professor), math (mathematics), sub (substitute or submarine), fax (facsimile),
gym (gymnasium), lab (laboratory)

Acronyms

They are words created from the initial letters of several words. Examples:
NATO, FBI, CIA, UN, UNICEF, UNESCO, RECSAM, RELC, AIDS, radar (radio
detecting and ranging), laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of
radiation).

Onomatopoeia

A new word is formed by analogy with the sound made by the thing it names.
Examples: buzz, beep, hiss,

Suppletion

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Suppletion is about irregularity. It is the replacement of a word form by a

completely different word. They are morphologically complex forms in which the
connection between the base and the newly created form is not obvious at all.
Examples: go (present) = went (past); good = better.

Reduplication

A way of building up words by repeating either a part or all of the base word.
We don’t have this in English. Examples: total reduplication in B.M. (rumah-
rumah); partial reduplication in Tagalog. We take the verb {bili} and reduplicate
only the first two sounds to get the future form {bibili}

Morpheme-internal changes (ablaut)

Adding morphemes results in changes to a part of the word (stem internal vowel
change). Some cases of this in English, though not “productive” ones.
Examples:
sing (present) - sang (past)
mouse (singular) - mice (plural)

Exercise 1

Identify the word formation processes that created the bold-printed words and try
to find their meaning!
 
1). Eggers is owner of probably the most Googled name out there right now.
 2). Hollywood has put Evita through the banalysis machine and found her just
another little girl who wants to be a star.
 3). Scuba divers can protect only small areas.
4). Hyperfliers can be identified by pale complexion, red, watery eyes and a
crease in their stomach from having a laptop crushed into their body by the
reclining seat in front of them.
 5). Similar high-pressure zones on Earth —under the Antarctic ice, for instance
— are suitable only for specially adapted organisms known as
extremophiles.
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6). Tornado chasing, one form of weather tourism, has become particularly
popular lately.
7). Can I talk to my bro on the phone ?
8). Rock was a roly-poly detective who looked like a no-hoper but who always
outwitted the  opposition with sly brilliance.
9). Jauch's fund-raising show not only was a telethon but turned out to be a
begathon.
10). If I did burgle Madge's house, like you said, then I wouldn't come round here
and tell you about it.
11). He was taken off the CIA payroll.

Exercise 2

Can you guess which words have combined to form the following computer
terms?

 Emoticon,
 netiquette,
 netizen,
 technophobe

Exercise 3

Fill in blanks transforming the words in brackets:

1. The tailor took my _______ and said my suit would be ready in two weeks.
(measure)

2. The cream cakes looked delicious but Harry resisted the _______ to have one.
(tempt)

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3. The police were puzzled by the _______ disappearance of the jewels.

(mystery)

4. Bill always looks smart although his clothes are not very _______. (fashion)

5. Thompson's new novel is a considerable _______ on his last one. (improve)

6. It is very _______ whether the plan will go ahead. (doubt)

7. Despite hours of discussion, the members of the committee could not reach
_______. (agree)

8. Karen is a very _______ person and loves outdoor holidays. (energy)

9. Leslie _______ broke a plate while doing the washing up. (accident)

10. Is everything included in the price or are there any _______ charges? (add)

TOPIC 4 SYNTAX: THE SENTENCE PATTERNS OF

LANGUAGE

4.0 SYNOPSIS

Topic 4 introduces you to the sentence patterns of English language. It provides

the basic types of sentences that you can use in speaking or writing. By
understanding these sentences, it will make it easier for you to write simple and
grammatical correct sentences. It also aims to help you further improve your
knowledge in phrase structure and transformational rules, your skills in listening,
speaking, reading and writing and develop your confidence and fluency in using
English in a variety of context.

4.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

1. identify the different types of sentences in English

2. Analyze the sentence patterns in English

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3. explain the different types of ambiguities in sentences

4. draw a tree diagram on sentences based on Phrase Structure Rules
5. apply transformational rules in analyzing the sentences

4.2 FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

Syntax
Syntax

Phrase Transfor-
Clause Phrase Transfor-
Clause Sentence Structure mational
Types Sentence Structure mational
Grammar
Types Types Rules Grammar
Types Rules

Indepen- Depen-
Indepen- Depen- Simple Compound Complex Tree
dent dent Simple Compound Complex Tree Ambiguity
dent dent Sentence Sentence Sentence Diagram Ambiguity
Clause Clause Sentence Sentence Sentence Diagram
Clause Clause

CONTENT

4.2.1 What is Syntax?

Syntax is the study of the structure of sentences which attempts to uncover the
underlying principles, or rules, for constructing well- informed sentences of a
particular language. There are two rules in syntax: (1) phrase structure rules,
and (2) transformational rules

Phrases are any groups of two or more words that together form a thought or
express one meaning. A phrase has no subject or verb.

Clauses are groups of two or more words that have a subject and a predicate.
Clauses are either principal or subordinate. Principal clauses are also called
independent, or main clauses. Only principal clauses can stand alone as
complete sentences. Subordinate clauses are also called dependent clauses.
Subordinate clauses express ideas or information related to principal clauses.

Example: The dog was sick because he ate grass.

4.2.2 Clause types

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Clause elements combine into a very small number of patterns. Most sentences
can be analysed into one of only seven basic clause types, each minimally
consisting of two, three, or four elements as shown in the examples below.

 S + V: I / yawned.
 S + V + O: I / opened / the door.
 S + V + C: I / am / ready.
 S + V + A: I / went / to London.

 S + V + O + O: I / gave / him / a pen.

 S + V + O + C: I / got / my shoes / wet.

 S + V + O + A: I / put/ the box/ on the floor.

How would you analyse the sentence below below?

He saw a cat, a dog, and a cow .

Do you know what is a subject?

The subject usually appears before the verb in statements, and after the first verb
in questions. Examples:

The boy yawned.

Are you going?

The subject controls whether the verb is singular or plural in the third person of
the present tense. Examples:

She looks fine.

They look fine.

The subject controls the form of certain objects and complements. Examples:

I shaved myself. They shaved themselves.

Subjects can be noun phrases (including singular nouns), pronouns, or certain

kinds of subordinate clause. Examples:

The train was late.

Carpets, cupboards and mirrors are for sale.

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Mary went home.

What he said was funny.

Do you know what a verb is?

The verb plays a central role in clause structure. We can omit other clause
elements except the verb : drinks

That farmer drinks beer by the bucketful.

S V O A

Do you know what an object is?

Object elements usually follow the subject and verb in a clause. There are two
types: direct and indirect.

The direct object is the common one, typically referring to some person or thing
directly affected by the action expressed by the verb.
The child lost her ball. I remember the occasion.
The indirect object typically refers to an animate being which is the recipient of
the action.
She gave the dog a stroke.
I told them my news.
I gave my paper to the boy.

Objects can be noun phrases (including single nouns), pronouns, or certain kinds
of subordinate clause.
I saw our new house. We asked John.

Exercise 1

Analyse the following sentences into clause types.

1) She is a teacher.
2) They asked her.
3) I walked quietly.
4) I told them my news.
5) He bought her a wallet .

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6) They kept the books in the cupboard.

7) They laughed.

4.2.3 Sentence types

Do you know what a sentence is? It is a group of words which expresses a

complete thought. Sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a full
stop, exclamation mark or question mark. You can make a sentence by putting a
noun (subject) and a verb (predicate) together.
Noun Verb
(subject) (predicate)
I go.
Mosquitoes bite.

Sentences are constructed in three main ways: simple, compound and complex.

Simple sentences

Simple sentences contain one complete verb and are made up of one main
clause:

The cow ate the grass.

Did the boys arrive before breakfast?

Study the two examples given.

Ate is the verb and the grass is the main clause.
Arrive is the verb and before breakfast is the main clause.

Exercise 2

Rearrange the jumbled words to form simple sentences.

e.g. is flat / tyre / the / back

The back tyre is flat.

1. last night / went / he / the theatre / to

_______________________________________

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2. enjoy / each other / they / arguing with

________________________________________

3. her / an expensive / bought / he / necklace

_______________________________________

4. the baby / proud parents / the / with love / shower

_______________________________________

5. watching birds / Allen’s / is / hobby

_______________________________________

Now, we move on to Compound sentences.

A compound sentence is made up of two or more main clauses. The main

clauses are joined by a conjunction, semicolon, or sentence connector. Look at
the examples given below.

The pool was cold, so we only paddled.

We heard the news; we couldn’t believe our ears.
I know you want to come with me; however, I won’t let you.

The pool was cold – main clause

We only paddled – main clause

The pool was cold so we only paddled. In this case the two clauses are joined by
a conjunction so.

Exercise 3

Look at the following sentences.

Underline the main clauses in them and circle the coordinating conjunction.

1. Suki was poor but he worked hard to support his family.

2. After the exercise, I felt tired and I also felt sleepy.

3. He did not give them any money for he did not have any in his pocket.

4. He must have woken up late or he had forgotten about it.

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5. The principal spoke loudly and he reminded the students to be punctual.

Remember, a simple sentence has one main clause or main idea, but a
compound sentence has two main clauses or two main ideas. And these two
main clauses or ideas are joined by a conjunction, a semicolon or sentence
connectors. If you can remember these points, you will find it easy to write your
sentences.

The next section is on complex sentences which is slightly difficult. So read

carefully and try to understand what is a Complex sentence.

Complex sentences

A complex sentence is made up of a main clause and one or more

subordinate clauses.
We had to go because the children were tired.

We had to go – main clause

Because the children were tired – subordinate clause

Exercise 4

Underline the main clause in the following sentences and circle the conjunction.

1. Hand in your forms as soon as you have completed them.

2. Before you leave this room, please turn off all the lights.

3. He missed the train because of the flash flood.

4. He ate so greedily as if he had not eaten for days.

5. The pupils ran out of the classrooms as soon as they heard the bell for recess.

Exercise 5

Combine the clauses below into a complex sentence using the subordinate
conjunctions ‘although’, ‘because’, ‘before’, or ‘so that’.
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1. We packed all our things into our car the night before. We could leave early
the next morning.
______________________________________________________________

2. Thomas had attended an intensive course in Japanese. He went to Japan to

study.

______________________________________________________________

3. Nina had worked for ten years, she could not afford to buy a house.

_____________________________________________________________

4. My mother bought five tins of cooking oil. The price of cooking oil went up.

______________________________________________________________

5. We have to work quickly. We can all go home at 5.00 pm.

______________________________________________________________

Reflections

Based on your learning experience, did your teacher(s) explain to you the
different types of sentences?

When you wrote your essay, could you remember what types of sentences you
always used.

Now that you have learnt and understood the different types of sentences, can
you suggest an activity that you can use to teach your pupils the types of
sentences?

4.2.4 Phrase Structure Rules (PS rules)

Phrase Structure Rules govern the structure of sentences in a language. One

example is the rule that English sentences must consist of a Noun Phrase (NP)
and a Verb Phrase (VP)

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Phrase Structure Rules (rewriting rules)

S NP VP
NP art N
VP V NP
Art the, a
N man, horse
V saw

4.2.4.1 Tree diagrams

A phrase structure tree is a form of representation of sentences in which nodes

or elements are labeled by syntactic category (noun phrase (NP), verb phrase
(VP), prepositional phrase (PP), etc.)

Examples of Tree Diagrams

S S

NP VP NP VP

N V N V NP

He ate N

He saw her
S

NP VP

N V NP
NP

N art N

He gave her the book

S

NP VP

N V PP

P N

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She went to sea

NP VP

N V PP PP/AP

det Adj P N P N P NP

adj det N

The old man went to sea in a boat

Draw tree diagrams for the following sentences

1. I chopped potatoes on the board.

2. He gave John the book.
3. A black bird flew into the room.
4. Which book did you read?
5. Ahmad ate the meat pie yesterday.

4.2.4.2 Ambiguity

A word, phrase or sentence is ambiguous if it has more than one meaning.

Example:

(a) ambiguous word = light ( not very heavy or not very dark)
(b) phrase = porcelain egg container
porcelain egg container
(c ) sentence= The police shot the rioters with gun.

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The police shot the rioters with gun.

Types of ambiguity

Lexical ambiguity

e.g. nouns = bank, chip etc.

verbs = call, draw etc.

Structural ambiguity

e.g. Tibetan history teacher

The chicken is ready to eat.

Identify and explain the ambiguity in the following sentences.

Examples:

(1) William saw a star.

Type: lexical ambiguity

Meaning A: William saw a celestial object.
Meaning B: William saw a celebrity.

(2) I saw the man with the telescope.

Type: structural ambiguity

Meaning A: I saw the man who had the telescope.
Meaning B: I used the telescope to see the man.

(1) He seemed nice to her.

(2) I want the music box on the table.
(3) She attacked the man with a knife.
(4) Young girls and boys are admitted.
(5) The English literature teacher was absent yesterday.
(6) My old coin collection has disappeared.
(7) Bruce is a large sheep farmer.
(8) Flying aeroplanes can be dangerous.

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(9) The woman cannot bear children.

(10) Visiting relatives can be tiring.

One other feature of Phrase Structure Rules is that they will generate all
sentences with fairly fixed word order to the constituents.

Example: adverbs will always come at the end of their sentences if we follow the
rules

(i) George helped Mary yesterday.

This is fine for generating this sentence, but how would we get the second
sentence?

(ii) Yesterday George helped Mary.

To do this, we need a set of rules which change or move constituents in the

structures derived from the phrase structure rules. These are called
Transformational Rules.

4.2.5 Transformational Grammar

Originally interpreted as string operations, mapping one string onto another by

reordering, inserting (context-sensitive rewrite rule) or deleting (unrestricted
rewrite rules) material. The passive transformation given earlier involves the first
two operations. Essentially what TRs do is to take a ‘branch’ of the ‘tree’ away
from one part of the tree diagram, and attach it to a different part.

Example:

S S

NP VP Adv NP VP

V NP Adv V NP

George helped Mary yesterday Yesterday George helped Mary

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This is an example of a movement transformation.

One of the best arguments for having transformational rules involves what seems
to be the movement of a very small element in English sentence structure.

Example: two sentences having a great deal in common.

(i) Doobie picked up the magazine.

(ii) Doobie picked the magazine up.

These sentences contain a verb-particle construction (verb=pick; particle= up)

which can be symbolized as: V Vb part.

The particle can be separated from the verb and moved to the end of the
sentence.

A constituent structure analysis would have some difficulty accommodating this

type of sentence.

A phrase structure analysis would have to create two distinct tree diagrams.
Under circumstances like these, the optional transformation called “Particle
Movement” which takes that structural description and yields the structural
change to NP Verb NP Particle is proposed.

Phrase S
Structure NP VP
Tree
V NP

Vb part. Art N

Doobie picked up the magazine

Particle Movement: Doobie picked the magazine up

By taking this simple transformational rule, we have provided the means for
explicitly relating the two structures in sentences (i) and (ii) as ‘surface’ variations
of a single underlying structure. This type of transformational analysis can solve
a number of tricky problems for syntactic descriptions.

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The transformational part of the grammar operates on the deep, abstract

structures as specified by the PSR’s of the grammar. Transformational rules
operate on bits and pieces of the deep structure: these rules may delete
constituents, add constituents, or change constituents around.

Examples:
• The boy shot the dog.
• The boy could shoot the dog.

Transformations that could apply to these sentences (if the correct deep structure
is specified) are the following:

Question transform:
• Did the boy shoot the dog?
• Could the boy shoot the dog?

Negative transform:
• The boy didn’t shoot the dog.
• The boy couldn’t shoot the dog.

Passive transform:
• The dog was shot by the boy.
• The dog could be shot by the boy.

Command (imperative) transform:

• Shoot the dog!

Subject-Auxiliary Inversion and Wh- Movement.

Two principal kinds of questions exist in English: Yes/No questions and

information questions.

Yes/No Questions. In the pairs of statements and questions below, the

questions are called “yes/no questions” because they can be answered with a
reply of yes or no.

1. Sue will earn a fair wage.

Will Sue earn a fair wage?

2. John was winning the race when he stumbled.

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Was John winning the race when he stumbled?

If you compare the form of the statement with the form of the question above,
you will see that a yes/no question requires inverting the subject NP with the
auxiliary verb. Verbs such as will in 1 above and was in 2 – as well as did and
does in 3 and 4 – are called auxiliary verbs, as distinguished from main verbs like
earn and winning. Auxiliary verbs are precisely those that can be inverted with
the subject NP to form questions; they are also the constituent of the verb phrase
that carried the negative element in contractions such as can’t, shouldn’t, and
wasn’t. An auxiliary constituent is postulated in the underlying structure of
sentences. It can be generated by a phrase-structure rule. Instead of the earlier
expansion of S as NP VP, the following expansion is assumed:

S NP AUX VP

We can represent the structure or this expansion in a tree diagram:

NP AUX VP

The operation that transform the constituent structure of the yes/no question
does so by inverting NP and Aux. Thus, subject-auxiliary inversion does this:

S S

NP AUX VP AUX NP VP

Write down important notes on the phrase structure rules and the
transformational rules. Give a few examples of each.

Surf the internet to get more information on these rules.

Construct ten simple/compound/complex sentences and draw tree diagrams to

show your understanding of phrase structure rules.

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TOPIC 5 SEMANTICS: LANGUAGE AND MEANING

5.0 SYNOPSIS

Topic 5 introduces you to language and its meaning. It seeks to develop your
knowledge in English language, by improving your knowledge in figurative
language as well as phrasal verbs. It also aims to help you further improve your
skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing and develop your confidence and
fluency in using English in a variety of context.

5.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this Session, you will be able to:

1. understand how figurative language is used in communication

2. use figurative and phrasal verbs in spoken and written language

5.2 FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

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Semantics
Semantics

Phrase and Lexical and

Word Phrase and Lexical and Figurative Phrasal
Word Sentence Structural Figurative Phrasal
Meaning Sentence Structural Language Verbs
Meaning Meaning Meaning Language Verbs
Meaning Meaning

Denotative Connotative Idioms Metaphors

Denotative Connotative Idioms Metaphors

5.2.1 What is Semantics?

Semantics is the study of the linguistic meanings of words, phrases and

sentences in human language. A word’s meaning is determined by the people
who use that word, not by the dictionary. In other words, the meaning is decided
by convention or consensus of the people.

Why is semantics important in linguistics / language teaching?

(i) To be able to understand each other – hence facilitating communication

(ii) To disambiguate ambiguities

5.2.2 Word meaning

Meaning is a multifaceted notion. Word meaning can be content words or

function words

Denotative Meaning

Referential meaning (Denotation/Denotative meaning) refers to the person,

object, abstract notion, event or state of affairs described by a word. It is
described in terms of a set of semantic properties which serves to identify the

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particular concept associated with the word in question. Examples of words as

having referential or denotative meaning:

(i) I went to the store this morning.

(ii) All dogs are animals

What can you comment with regard to the truth of the sentences?

(i) It may not be true. The speaker may be lying.

(ii) Is inherently true.

Meaning is probably also determined in part by the conditions under which a

sentence may be used: questions, orders, wishes etc.

Connotative Meaning

In addition to denotative meaning, a word may convey certain affective or

evaluative associations. For example: house vs home: meaning goes beyond
referential meaning i.e. affection, feelings, emotional attachment. It reflects what
the language user feels about the content. This is connotative meaning.

Some connotations are shared by people of the same status, social or economic
background. Consider violin & fiddle; and cheap & inexpensive.
I’m thrifty; you’re tight; he’s stingy.

5.2.3 Phrase and sentence meaning

What do you know when you know what a sentence means?

Anyone who knows a sentence meaning knows the conditions under which it
would be true. Sentence meaning depends on the meaning of the individual
words but semantic roles must be taken into consideration. Utterance meaning
on the other hand, is entirely dependent on circumstances.

5.2.4 Lexical and structural meaning e.g. collocations

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Another basic distinction in semantics is the contrast between lexical meaning

and sentence meaning. We know that sentence structure makes a contribution to
sentence meaning as seen in Kearns’ examples:

(i) The rat that bit the dog chased the cat.
(ii) The cat that chased the dog bit the rat.

These sentences are made out of the same words, but put together in different
ways. The differences tell a speaker of English what bit what and what chased
what.

English speakers do not find other word orders to be equally unambiguous, e.g.,
            Chased the dog the cat.

We use the combination of word meanings and sentence structure to compose

the meanings of sentences and larger units of discourse. One of the goals of
linguistic semantics is to understand how speakers construct the compositional
meanings of sentences.

5.2.5 What is Figurative Language?

Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else,

you are using figurative language. 

Figurative language is a word or phrase that departs from everyday literal

language for the sake of comparison, emphasis, clarity, or freshness. Metaphor
and simile are the two most commonly used figures of speech, but things like
hyperbole, synecdoche, puns, and personification are also figures of speech.

Used well, figurative language enhances your fiction and can be an economical
way of getting an image or a point across. However, used incorrectly, figurative
language can be confusing or downright silly.

Also Known As: figure of speech, rhetorical figure, metaphorical language.

Examples:

"Its fleece was white as snow" is an example of a figurative language from a

children's rhyme. In this case, comparing the lamb's fleece to snow helps create
a picture of how white Mary's lamb really was.

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Though we might associate figurative language more with poetry than with
fiction, most of us automatically use figurative language all the time in our writing.
Done well, it helps us communicate and makes our prose fresher and more vivid.

What Is a Metaphor?

Some people think of metaphors as nothing more than the sweet stuff of songs
and poems--Love is a jewel, or a rose, or a butterfly. But in fact all of us speak
and write and think in metaphors every day. They can't be avoided: metaphors
are built right into our language.

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made

between two unlike things that actually have something important in common.
The word metaphor itself is a metaphor, coming from a Greek word meaning to
"transfer" or "carry across." Metaphors "carry" meaning from one word, image, or
idea to another.

When Dr. Gregory House (in the TV series House, M.D.) says, "I'm a night owl,
Wilson's an early bird. We're different species," he's speaking metaphorically.
When Dr. Cuddy replies, "Then move him into his own cage," she's extending
House's bird metaphor--which he caps off with the remark, "Who'll clean the
droppings from mine?"

Conventional Metaphors

Some metaphors are so common that we may not even notice that they are
metaphors. Take the familiar metaphor of life as a journey, for example. We find
it in advertising slogans:

"Life is a journey, travel it well." (United Airlines)

"Life is a journey. Enjoy the Ride." (Nissan)

"Life is a journey. Enjoy the ride with a GM reward card." (General Motors)

What is a Simile?

A simile uses the words “like” or “as” to compare one object or idea with another
to suggest they are alike.

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Example: busy as a bee

The metaphor states a fact or draws a verbal picture by the use of comparison.
A simile would say you are like something; a metaphor is more positive - it says
you are something. Example: You are what you eat.

What is an Idiom?

According to Webster's Dictionary, an idiom is defined as: peculiar to itself

either grammatically (as no, it wasn't me) or in having a meaning
that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements
(as Monday week for "the Monday a week after next Monday")

5.2.6 Phrasal Verbs

A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition, a verb and an

adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition, any of which are part of
the syntax of the sentence, and so are a complete semantic unit. Sentences may
contain direct and indirect objects in addition to the phrasal verb. Phrasal verbs
are particularly frequent in the English language. A phrasal verb often has a
meaning which is different from the original verb.

Phrasal verbs are usually used informally in everyday speech as opposed to the
more formal Latinate verbs, such as “to get together” rather than “to congregate”,
“to put off” rather than “to postpone”, or “to get out” rather than “to exit”.

Literal usage

Many verbs in English can be combined with an adverb or a preposition, and

readers or listeners will easily understand a phrasal verb used in a literal sense
with a preposition:

 "He walked across the square."

Verb and adverb constructions can also easily be understood when used literally:

 "She opened the shutters and looked outside."

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 "When he heard the crash, he looked up."

An adverb in a literal phrasal verb modifies the verb it is attached to, and a
preposition links the verb to the object.

Idiomatic usage

It is, however, the figurative or idiomatic application in everyday speech which

makes phrasal verbs so important:

 "I hope you will get over your operation quickly."

 "Work hard, and get your examination over with."

The literal meaning of “to get over”, in the sense of “to climb over something to
get to the other side”, no longer applies to explain the subject's enduring an
operation or the stress of an examination which they have to overcome. It is
when the combined meaning of verb plus adverb, or verb plus preposition is
totally different from each of its component parts, that the semantic content of the
phrasal verb cannot be predicted by its constituent parts and so becomes much
more difficult for a student learning English to recognise.

Other idiomatic usages of phrasal verbs show a:

verb + direct object + preposition/adverb + indirect object construction:

Idioms which are formed from phrasal verbs, such as let the cat out of the bag.
These idioms are printed in heavy type. Idioms have a meaning which is different
from the meaning of the single words, and usually have a fixed word order. [3]

Courtney then cites among many other examples in the dictionary such phrases
as "to add insult to injury", "to add fuel to the flames", "to leave someone in the
lurch", "to scare someone out of their wits", etc.

Phrasal verb patterns

A phrasal verb contains either a preposition or an adverb (or both), and may also
combine with one or more nouns or pronouns.

Particle verbs

Phrasal verbs that contain adverbs are sometimes called "particle verbs", and
are related to separable verbs in other Germanic languages. There are two main

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patterns: intransitive and transitive. An intransitive particle verb does not have an
object:

 “When I entered the room he looked up.”

A transitive particle verb has a nominal object in addition to the adverb. If the
object is an ordinary noun, it can usually appear on either side of the adverb,
although very long noun phrases tend to come after the adverb:

 Switch off the light.

 Switch the light off.
 Switch off the lights in the hallway next to the bedroom in which the
president is sleeping.

With some transitive particle verbs, however, the noun object must come after
the adverb. Such examples are said to involve "inseparable" phrasal verbs:

 The gas gave off fumes. (not *The gas gave fumes off.)

Other transitive particle verbs require the object to precede the adverb, even
when the object is a long noun phrase:

 I cannot tell the dogs apart. (not *I cannot tell apart the dogs.)
 I cannot tell the bulldogs and the pugs who look like them apart.

However, some authors say that the particle must be adjacent to the verb
whenever the noun phrase is lengthy and complicated.

With all transitive particle verbs, if the object is a pronoun, it must, with just one
type of exception, precede the adverb:

 Switch it off. (not *Switch off it.)

 The smell put them off. (not *put off them)
 They let him through. (not *they let through him)

The exception occurs if the direct object is contrastively stressed, as in

 Figure out THESE, not THOSE.

Most phrasal verbs consist of two words, but a few consist of three words, which
always stay together.

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Verb Meaning Example

ask someone Brian asked Judy out to dinner

invite on a date
out and a movie.

ask many people the same I asked around but nobody has
ask around
question seen my wallet.

add up to Your purchases add up to

equal
something $205.32.

back You'll have to back up your car

reverse
something up so that I can get out.

back someone My wife backed me up over my

support
up decision to quit my job.

The racing car blew up after it

blow up explode
crashed into the fence.

blow We have to blow 50 balloons up

add air
something up for the party.

stop functioning (vehicle, Our car broke down at the side

break down
machine) of the highway in the snowstorm.

The woman broke down when

break down get upset the police told her that her son
had died.

break Our teacher broke the final

something divide into smaller parts project down into three separate
down parts.

Somebody broke in last night

break in force entry to a building
and stole our stereo.

break into The firemen had to break into

enter forcibly
something the room to rescue the children.

wear something a few times

break I need to break these shoes in
so that it doesn't look/feel
something in before we run next week.
new

The TV station broke in to report

break in interrupt
the news of the president's death.

break up end a relationship My boyfriend and I broke up

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before I moved to America.

The kids just broke up as soon

break up start laughing (informal)
as the clown started talking.

The prisoners broke out of jail

break out escape
when the guards weren't looking.

break out in I broke out in a rash after our

develop a skin condition
something camping trip.

Draw a table as above and write down as many phrasal verbs as you can,
explain the meanings and give examples.

TOPIC 6 PRAGMATICS: MEANING AND CONTENT, AND THE

INTENTION TO COMMUNICATE

6.0 SYNOPSIS

Topic 6 introduces you to pragmatics. It seeks to develop your ability to describe

how language can be used in social contexts by knowing the ways in which
context contributes to meaning. You will learn that all conversations follow a
basic set of rules which people use to express themselves when speaking. It
also aims to help you further improve your skills in listening, speaking, reading
and writing and develop your confidence and fluency in using English in a variety
of context.

6.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this Session, you will be able to:

1. explain the nature and scope of pragmatics and its place within linguistics
2. identify the key features of speech act theory, conversational maxims, and
politeness theory.

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3. demonstrate understanding of the kinds of cognitive processes involved in

utterance comprehension
4. express different levels of understanding when speaking
5. follow the basic set of rules when speaking

6.2 FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

PRAGMATICS
PRAGMATICS

Pronouns and Maxims of

Pronouns Deixis Maxims of Implicatures Speech Acts
discourseand Deixis Conversation
Conversation Implicatures Speech Acts
discourse

Direct Indirect
Direct Indirect

6.2.1 What is Pragmatics?

A branch of linguistics concerned with the use of language in social contexts and
the ways in which people produce and comprehend meanings through language.
In other words, it is language use to perform speech acts.

Examples:
Assert, inform, claim, declare, state…
Predict, forecast, …
Describe, assess, classify, …
Offer, propose, ….
Apologize, condole, congratulate, greet, thank, ...

In pragmatics, two kinds of contexts are relevant. The first is linguistic context –
the discourse that precedes the phrase or sentence to be interpreted; the second
is situational context – virtually everything non-linguistic in the environment of the
speaker.

Speakers know how to combine words and phrases to form sentences, and they
also know how to combine sentences into a larger discourse to express complex
thoughts and ideas. Discourse analysis is concerned with the broad speech
units comprising multiple sentences. It involves questions of style,

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appropriateness, cohesiveness, rhetorical force, topic/subtopic structure,

differences between written and spoken discourse, as well as grammatical
properties.

Within a discourse, preceding sentences affect the meaning of sentences that

follow them in various ways. For example, the reference or meaning of pronouns
often depends on prior discourse. As well, prior discourse often disambiguates
words like bank, in that situation the discussion may be about rafting on a river or
interest rates.

Situational context, on the other hand, is the nonlinguistic environment in which a

sentence or discourse happens. It is the context that allows speakers to
seamlessly, even unknowingly, interpret questions like Can you pass the salt?
as requests to carry out a certain action. Situational context includes the
speaker, hearer, and any third parties present, along with their beliefs and their
beliefs about what the others believe. It includes the physical environemnt, the
subject of conversation, the time of the day, and so on, ad infinitum. Almost any
imaginable extralinguistic factor may, under appropriate circumstances, influence
the way language is interpreted.

Pronouns provide a good way to illustrate the two kinds of contexts – linguistic
and situational – that affect meaning.

6.2.2 Pronouns and Discourse

Pronouns may be used in place of noun phrases from prior discourse or may be
used to refer to entities presumably known to the participants of a discourse.
When that presumption fails, it may result in miscommunication.

In a discourse, prior linguistic context plays a primary role in pronoun

interpretation. In the following discourse:

It seems that the man loves the woman.

Many people think he loves her.

the most natural interpretation of her is ‘the woman’ referred to in the first
sentence, whoever she happens to be. But it is also possible for her to refer to a
different person, perhaps one indicated with a gesture. In such a case her would
be spoken with added emphasis:

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Many people think he loves her!

Similar remarks apply to the reference of he, which is ordinarily co-referential

with the man, but not necessarily so. Again, intonation and emphasis would
provide clues.

When semantic rules and contextual interpretation determine that a pronoun is

co-referential with an NP (Noun Phrase), we say that the pronoun is bound to the
noun phrase antecedent. If her in the previous example refers to ‘the woman’ it
would be a bound pronoun. Reflective pronouns are always bound. When a
pronoun refers to some object not explicitly mentioned in the discourse, it is said
to be free or unbound. The reference of a free pronoun must ultimately be
determined by the situational context.

First and second person non-reflexive (Are, you) pronouns are bound to the
speaker and hearer respectively. They therefore depend on the situational
context, namely, who is doing the talking and who is being addressed. With
third-person pronouns, as in the preceding example, semantic rules permit her
either to be bound to the woman, or to be a free pronoun, referring to some
person not explicitly mentioned. The ultimate interpretation is context-
dependent.

Referring to the previous discourse, strictly speaking, it would be ungrammatical

if the discourse went this way:

It seems that the man loves the woman.

Many people think the man loves the woman.

However, most people would find that the discourse sounds stilted. Often in
discourse, the use of pronouns is a stylistic decision, which is part of pragmatics.

6.2.3 Deixis

In pragmatics (linguistics), deixis is a process whereby words or expressions rely

absolutely on context. The Origo is the context from which the reference is
made, in other words, the "point of view" that must be to be understood in order
to interpret the statement. (If Tom is speaking and he says "I", he refers to
himself, but if Tom is hearing Betty and she says "I", then the origo is with Betty
and the reference is to Betty.) A word that depends on deictic clues is called a

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deictic or a deictic word.

Pronouns are generally considered to be deictics, but a finer distinction is often

made between personal pronouns such as I, you, he, she, it and pronouns that
refer to places and times such as now, then, here, there. In most texts, the word
"deictic" implies the latter but not necessarily the former.

It is common for languages to show at least a two-way referential distinction in

their deictic system: one category of deictics refers to things and places near or
closer to the speaker, while the other refers to things and places far from the
speaker and/or closer to the hearer. English exemplifies this with such pairs as
this/that, here/there. In other languages the distinction is a three-way one: near
the speaker vs. near the hearer vs. far from both. This is the case in Romances
and Japanese.

Closer-to-speaker deictic references are often termed proximal, while the others
are named distal.

Spatial deictics are often reused as anaphoric pronouns that stand for phrases or
propositions (that is, items of discourse, not items of the outside reality). Consider
the following statement:

"There may be ice hidden in unexplored places of the Moon. This ice could be
useful for future lunar expeditions."

In the above example, this ice is not near the speaker in the physical sense, but
the deictic doesn't refer to real ice. This refers to the phrase ice hidden in
unexplored places, which is "near" the speaker in the discourse flow.

6.2.4 Maxims of Conversation

A conversation is communication by two or more people, or sometimes with

one’s self, on a particular topic. Conversations are the ideal form of
communication in some respects, because they allow people with different
views on a topic to learn from each other.

Paul Grice, a British-educated philosopher of language who spent the final two
decades of his career in the U.S., noted that all conversations follow a basic
set of rules which people use to express themselves when speaking.

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Imagine what would happen to language if there were no rules to follow

during conversations.

It would be perfectly acceptable to follow “Hi, how are you doing?” with “birds
fly in the sky”, or to simply lie with every statement you make. But then
conversations would be impossible to have. And while everyone follows Grice’s
rules, it doesn’t necessarily mean that people are aware of what the rules are
or how they work. In fact, Grice’s maxims often work outside of our immediate
awareness.

The question now is, what exactly are these rules?

One of the most basic assumptions we must make for successful communication
to take place is that both people in a conversation are cooperating – this is called
the Cooperative Principle. Grice further identified 4 groups of maxims (a “maxim”
is kind of like a rule of thumb) which people implicitly obey when communicating.

The four Conversational Maxims

A. Maxims of quality

According to the first rule, people are expected to say what they know to be
true. When talking with each other we expect the others to tell us the truth. If
your friend asks, “…have you seen my dog?” an honest answer is expected.

1. Do not say what your belief to be false.

2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

It is also possible to violate the first maxim by being too informative. For example,
some of my students occasionally invite me to eat with them in the campus
dining halls. When we arrange a luncheon date, they often ask something like
"Where should we meet?" My response ought to be something on the order of
"How about if you come to my office?" rather than something much more detailed
like "Please come to my office door, and I will be standing 27 centimeters inside
of it." The latter is bizarre, presumably by virtue of being overly specific.

B. Maxims of quantity

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According to this rule, when talking, we are expected to provide just enough
information to get our point across. We usually assume that people are telling
us everything we need to know. If they don’t say something, then we assume
they simply don’t know that information.

1. Make your contribution as informative as required.

2. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

The second maxim has to do with truthfulness. Generally, conversation partners

assume that the other is telling the truth, or at least what the speaker believes to
be the truth. On some occasions, it is permissible to violate this maxim-for
example, to be ironic. Imagine that a friend who's missed a lecture in a class in
which you are both enrolled asks, "How was class today?" You can respond,
"Utterly fascinating!" even if it really was dry as toast, if you somehow signal that
your answer isn't to be taken literally. Rolled eyes, exaggerated intonation, winks,
and the like help to communicate that your violation of the maxim of quality is
itself meant to communicate something-in this case, ironic humor. If you simply
utter an untruthful response without letting your listener know that you aren't
being candid, then your conversation will not be successful, and your
conversation partner could legitimately complain about your conversation skills.

Someone who consistently violates the maxims of quantity or quality may well be
perceived as uncooperative or obnoxious and, after a while, may find it difficult to
attract conversation partners.

C. Maxim of relation

According to this rule, you are expected to stay on the topic. In other words,
make sure that what you say is relevant for what is talked about. If asked, “Isn’t
Larry the biggest jerk you ever met?” you certainly won’t be on topic if you
answer by saying “Uh, it sure is nice for this time of year, eh?”

1. Be relevant.

Someone who consistently violates the third maxim of relation by responding with
irrelevant utterances will have a bigger problem: He or she will simply be
regarded as, at best, very bizarre. To illustrate, imagine a conversation between
Tom and Joe, two college roommates:

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TOM (looking around): Hey, Joe, have you seen my sweater?

JOE (looking at Tom, and smiling): Lo, a flaming squirrel!

If Joe persists in violating the maxim of relation, he will likely find himself at a
complete loss for conversation partners, if not roommates and friends.

D. Maxims of manner

The last rule states that your comments should be direct, clear, and to the
point. This maxim relates to the form of speech you use. You shouldn’t use
words you know your listeners won’t understand or say things which you know
could be taken multiple ways. You should also not state something in a long,
drawn-out way if you could say it in a much simpler manner. As an example,
we have “Miss Singer produced a series of sounds corresponding closely to the
score of The Star-Spangled Banner” vs. “Miss Singer sang The Star-Spangled
Banner.”

1. Avoid obscurity of expression.

2. Avoid ambiguity.
3. Be brief.
4. Be orderly.

The fourth maxim, the maxim of manner, generally governs the way you choose
to construct your conversation contributions. The general idea is that you should
speak as clearly as possible, using language appropriate to your listener and the
context. Among other things, this maxim forbids you to answer your professors in
pig Latin or your younger siblings in "academese." It also prevents you from
holding a filibuster (unless you are a congressperson) and requires that you at
least try to organize what you say before you begin speaking.

Why should you follow them

These maxims allow you to be more brief in communicating, since you don’t
need to say everything you would need to if you were being perfectly logical –
you don’t say “John has 4 and only 4 children”. Also, by exploiting or flouting a
maxim, they allow you to say things indirectly to avoid some of the discomfort

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which comes from saying unpleasant things directly. They can also show you
how to “read between the lines.”

Grice did not assume that all people should constantly follow these maxims.
Instead, he found it interesting when these were “flouted” or “violated” (either
purposefully or unintentionally breaking the maxims) by speakers, which would
imply some hidden meaning. Why imply instead of just saying what you mean?
Well, implication can get across a great deal of meaning with relatively little
actual speech. Thinking of what you want to get across and interpreting what
other people have said seems to take much quicker than the relatively slow
process of actually verbalizing all the necessary sounds. So saying a little,
while implying a lot, is a way to avoid “phonological bottleneck” and
communicate more efficiently.

What is interesting to note is the fact that these maxims may be better
understood as describing the assumptions listeners normally make about the
way speakers will talk, rather than prescriptions for how one ought to talk. And
the implications of this fact can be a powerful and creative way to get across a
point.

Violations of the maxims produce conversations that are noticeably odd. For
instance, if someone asks, "Do you have a watch?" and you respond, "Yes, I do,"
you are violating the first maxim of quantity: You are being less informative than
is required. Your conversation partner is not, in all likelihood, taking a census for
Timex or Rolex; he or she probably wants to know the time. As a member of the
language community that you live in, you are expected to know that the question
asked is really a request for the time and to respond appropriately.

Gricean maxims are not always obeyed, but the assumption is that people try to
obey them most of the time. When the maxims are violated, the speaker
apparently wishes to end the conversation, wishes to avoid the conversation, or
expects the listener to understand that the violation is occurring and why (Miller &
Glucksberg, 1988). Again, though, it is doubtful that the average person is
consciously aware of the rules. As with most linguistic rules, maxims are implicitly
understood even if they can't be precisely stated. 

6.2.5 Implicature

In pragmatics, it means an indirect or implicit speech act: what is meant by a

speaker's utterance - that is not part of what is explicitly said. It is the act of

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suggesting that something is true, although you do not say it directly. You are
being careful about what you say: imply, get at, convey, hedge, fudge, evade,
skirt, parry, intimate, mince (your) words. In other words, what a speaker intends
to communicate is characteristically far richer than what she directly expresses.

The probabilistic character of conversational implicature is easier to

demonstrate than define. If a stranger at the other end of a phone line has a
high-pitched voice, you may infer that the speaker is a woman. The inference
may be incorrect.

Generally speaking, a conversational implicature is an interpretive procedure

that operates to figure out what is going on. . . . Assume a husband and wife are
getting ready to go out for the evening:

1. Husband: How much longer will you be?

2. Wife: Make yourself a drink.

To interpret the utterance in Sentence 2, the husband must go through a series

of inferences based on principles that he knows the other speaker is using. . . .
The conventional response to the husband's question would be a direct answer
where the wife indicated some time frame in which she would be ready. This
would be a conventional implicature with a literal answer to a literal question.
But the husband assumes that she heard his question, that she believes that
he was genuinely asking how long she would be, and that she is capable of
indicating when she would be ready. The wife . . . chooses not to extend the
topic by ignoring the relevancy maxim. The husband then searches for a
plausible interpretation of her utterance and concludes that what she is doing is
telling him that she is not going to offer a particular time, or doesn't know, but
she will be long enough yet for him to have a drink. She may also be saying,

'Relax, I'll be ready in plenty of time.'"

6.2.6 Speech Acts

We use the term speech act to describe actions such as 'requesting,'

'commanding,' 'questioning,' or 'informing.' We can define a speech act as the
action performed by a speaker with an utterance. If you say, I'll be there at six,
you are not just speaking, you seem to be performing the speech act of

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'promising.' It is an utterance defined in terms of a speaker's intention and the

effect it has on a listener.

In order to explain what can go wrong with statements we cannot just

concentrate on the proposition involved (whatever that is) as has been done
traditionally. We must consider the total situation in which the utterance is
issued--the total speech-act--if we are to see the parallel between statements
and performative utterances, and how each can go wrong.

When an interrogative structure such as Did you . . .? Are they . . .? or Can we . .

.? is used with the function of a question, it is described as a direct speech act.
For example, when we don't know something and we ask someone to provide
the information, we usually produce a direct speech act such as:

Can you ride a bicycle?

Compare that utterance with Can you pass the salt? [Here] we are not really
asking a question about someone's ability. In fact, we don't normally use this
structure as a question at all. . . . This is an example of an indirect speech act.

Several categories of speech acts have been proposed, viz. directives

(speakers try to get their listeners to do something, e.g. begging, commanding,
requesting), commissives (speakers commit themselves to a future course of
action, e.g. promising, guaranteeing), expressives (speakers express their
feelings, e.g. apologizing, welcoming, sympathizing), declarations (the speaker's
utterance brings about a new external situation, e.g. marrying, resigning, etc).

Now let’s look at "Pragmatics" self-study exercises.

Exercise 1

Circle the right answer. Then click the answer box to check your answer.
1. Pragmatics is the study of how meaning and syntax are related in a
language.
A.  True
B.  False

2. This rule says that you must be relevant in the conversation.

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A.  Maxims of Quality

B.  Grice's Maxim of Relation
C.  Grice's Maxim of Quantity

3. Make your contribution as informative as is required.

Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

A.  Maxims of Quality

B.  Grice's Maxim of Relation
C.  Grice's Maxim of Quantity

4. Do not say what you believe to be false.

Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

A.  Maxims of Quality

B.  Grice's Maxim of Relation

C.  Grice's Maxim of Quantity

5. Background knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer.

A.  Physical context 

B.  Epistemic context 
C. Linguistic context 
D. Social context 

 6. The social relationship and setting of the speakers and the hearers.

A.  Physical context 

B.  Epistemic context 
C. Linguistic context 

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D. Social context 

 7. The utterances previous to the utterances under consideration.

A.  Physical context 

B.  Epistemic context 
C. Linguistic context 
D. Social context 

8. Where the conversation takes place, what objects are present, and what
actions are taking place.

A.  Physical context 

B.  Epistemic context 
C. Linguistic context 
D. Social context 

 9. Please take out the garbage.

A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

 
10. I don’t know if John married Helen. 

A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

 
11.  Did John Marry Helen?

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A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

 
12. I would like to know if John Married Helen.

A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

13. I ask you whether John Married Helen.

A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

 
14. Do you know if John married Helen? 

A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

 
15. I request you to take out the garbage.

A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

 
16. The garbage isn’t out yet.

A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

17. Could you take out the garbage?

A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

 
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18. Would you mind taking out the garbage?

A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

19. How many times do I have to tell you to clean  the office?

A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

 
20. I would like for you to take out the garbage.

A.  Direct speech act

B.  Indirect speech act

Exercise 2

Circle the right answer. Then click the answer button to see the correct answer.

1. [Sentence Type] What is the structure and word order of the following

sentence?

How many times do I have to tell you to clean your room?

A). Declarative:
B). Interrogative:
C). Imperative: 

 
2. [Sentence Type] What is the structure and word order of the  following
sentence?

Who is that man over there?

A). Declarative:

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B). Interrogative:
C). Imperative: 

 
3. [Sentence Type] What is the structure and word order of the following
sentence?

Could you lift 200 pounds?

A). Declarative:
B). Interrogative:
C). Imperative: 

4. What type of speech act is the following sentence?

How many times do I have to tell you to clean your room?

A). Assertion 
B). Question 
C). Directive 

 
5. What type of speech act is the following sentence?

Who is that man over there?

A). Assertion: 
B). Question: 
C). Directive: 

 
6. What type of speech act is the following sentence?

Could you lift 200 pounds?

A). Assertion: 
B). Question: 
C). Directive: 

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7. Classify this sentence:  sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect
(only choose three answers).

That sure looks like a good candy bar.  [Tom says to his friend George
during lunch]  

A. Declarative:
B. Interrogative:
C. Imperative: 
D. Assertion 
E. Question 
F. Directive 
G. Indirect
h. Direct

 
8. Classify this sentence:  sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect
(only choose three answers).

 The water is too cold in the swimming pool.  [Friend says to friend in a
public swimming pool]

A. Declarative:
B. Interrogative:
C. Imperative: 
D. Assertion 
E. Question 
F. Directive 
G. Indirect
H. Direct

9. Classify this sentence:  sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect
(only choose three answers).

It is too cold in this house.  [Husband says to wife].

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A. Declarative:
B. Interrogative:
C. Imperative: 
D. Assertion 
E. Question 
F. Directive 
G. Indirect
H. Direct

 
10. Classify this sentence:  sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect
(only choose three answers).

Jane says to her mother:  "I wonder why Frank (her brother) didn't come
home today.

A. Declarative:
B. Interrogative:
C. Imperative: 
D. Assertion 
E. Question 
F. Directive 
G. Indirect
H. Direct

11. Classify this sentence:  sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect
(only choose three answers).

Can you pass the salt?

A. Declarative:
B. Interrogative:
C. Imperative: 
D. Assertion 

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E. Question 
F. Directive 
G. Indirect
H. Direct

 
12. Classify this sentence:  sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect
(only choose three answers).

I noticed that the car hasn't been washed yet. [Father says to son]

A. Declarative:
B. Interrogative:
C. Imperative: 
D. Assertion 
E. Question 
F. Directive 
G. Indirect
H. Direct

13. Classify this sentence:  sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect
(only choose three answers).

It sure is a beautiful day.

A. Declarative:
B. Interrogative:
C. Imperative: 
D. Assertion 
E. Question 
F. Directive 
G. Indirect
H. Direct

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14. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature?

Woman: Did you bring enough food for the party?

Man: I’d say that you made just the right amount-if a couple of hundred
people show up.

A.  Maxims of Quality

B.  Grice's Maxim of Relation
C.  Grice's Maxim of Quantity

 
15. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature?

Sandy: Does Tom work right now?

Tom: Well, he goes to Riverside every weekend.
A.  Maxims of Quality
B.  Grice's Maxim of Relation
C.  Grice's Maxim of Quantity

 
16. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature?

Susan: Are you coming to the movies tonight?

Elizabeth: Do I look like I have any free time?
A.  Maxims of Quality
B.  Grice's Maxim of Relation
C.  Grice's Maxim of Quantity

 
17. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature?

Corey: Do you think Mary is pretty?

Jeff: Let’s just say that I wouldn’t vote for her in the local beauty contest.
A.  Maxims of Quality
B.  Grice's Maxim of Relation
C.  Grice's Maxim of Quantity

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18. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature?

Laura: I don’t believe any men are coming to visit today, Mother.

Amanda: What? Not one? You must be joking! Not one man? It can’t be
true! There must be a flood! There must have been a tornado!

A.  Maxims of Quality

B.  Grice's Maxim of Relation
C.  Grice's Maxim of Quantity

 
19. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature?

A: How are you today?

B: Well, my car is not working too good right now and to tell you the truth, I
don’t have very much money. In fact, I don’t know how I’m going to pay
my bills this month.

A.  Maxims of Quality

B.  Grice's Maxim of Relation
C.  Grice's Maxim of Quantity

 
20. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature?

James: Do I look fat?

Leslie: Have you thought about working out or joining a health spa?

A.  Maxims of Quality

B.  Grice's Maxim of Relation
C.  Grice's Maxim of Quantity

That’s all you have to do. Good Luck!

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