16. What is a semantic field? Give examples.

In what way are semantically similar items

organized into various semantic fields? What is a lexical gap? Give two examples.
*Lexical/Semantic Field is a set of words with identifiable semantic affinities. It is organization of
related words and expressions into a system which shows their relationship to one another. It is
related to the same concept or notion based on association.
(một nhóm các từ có liên quan về ý nghĩa đề cập đến một chủ đề cụ thể. Hoặc chúng có mối quan
hệ thông qua các ý nghĩa tương tự hoặc thông qua quan điểm khái niệm.- Semantic field is basically
a group of words related in meaning which refers to a specific subject. Either they are in relation
through similar meanings or through a conceptual point of view.)
Example: lexical field of cook: bake, boil, fry, stew, poach….
 The semantic field of drinking vessels: cup, mug, tumbler, wine glass, beer glass, etc.
 Lexcical field of kinship terms: father, mother, brother, sister, uncle…
- In a lexical field, not all lexical items necessarily have the same status.
Example:
(1) Blue, red, green, black..
(2) Indigo, royal blue, bisque..
(1) is more usual than (2) and (1) is less marked than words of set (2)
Collotion is also a type of semantic field, it refers to the restrictions on how words can be used
together.
Ex: perform is used with operation, action..
*SEMANTICALLY WAY SIMILAR ITEMS ORGANISE IN TO VARIOUS SEMANTIC
FIELDS?
A. items related by topics:
- Types of fruit: apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, pears, plums, etc.
- Pieces of furniture: seats, tables, beds, storage, etc.
B. Terms describing people whose weight is below normal: thin, bony, skinny, scrawny,
underweight, emaciated, slender, slim, etc.
C. Items which form pairs of antonyms: long/short, light/heavy, alive/dead, love/hate,
approve/disapprove, approve/ disapprove, begin/end, inside/outside, upstairs/downstairs, etc.
D. Items which form pairs or trios of synonyms: smart/bright/intelligent,
conserve/preserve/safeguard, fix/repair/mend, kind/sort/type/variety, happy/glad, etc.
E. Items grouped as an activity or a process:
Do the housework: clean the rooms, do the washing, iron the clothes, get the food, prepare a meal,
wash up, etc.
Do research: make hypotheses, collect data, analyze data…
f. Age and sex:
Male: waiter, tiger, actor, host, landlord, sir, etc.
 Female: waitress, tigress, actress, hostess, landlady, madam, etc. 2.
Age: grown-ups, adults, elderly people, middle-aged people, teenagers, children, infants, babies, etc.
 LEXICAL GAPS: “The absence of a word in a particular place in a lexical field of a language” is
called a lexical gap. For example, in English there is no singular noun that covers bull, cow and
calf either as horse covers stallion, mare and foal or as goat covers billy-goat, nanny-goat and kid.
Example: Parent: mother- father
But we don’t have singular noun that cover “uncle” and “aunt” > lexical Gaps
17. WHAT IS A PROPOSITION, A SENTENCE, AN UTTERANCE? GIVE TWO
EXAMPLES
* PROPOSITION: is that part of meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence which
describes some state of affairs. (KIỂU NHƯ Mệnh đề là một phần nghĩa của một mệnh đề hoặc
một câu không đổi, MẶC DÙ CÓ SỰ thay đổi về như giọng điệu hoặc lực diễn đạt của mệnh đề
đó.)
- that is a claim about the world, it has just the form of an idea
- a proposition is a (potential) fact about the world, which can be true or false.
Ex: It is an active declarative sentence either it s true or false.
— The sun rises everyday.
— William Shakespeare died in 1945
- different sentences in different languages have the same proposition. the meaning in any sentence
in any language is called a proposition
ex: I love you = Je t'aime= ti amo
By uttering a simple interrogative or imperativem a speaker can mention a pariticular proposition,
without asserting its truth.
in saying, "John can go", the speaker asserts the proposition that John can go. But in saying, "Can
John go?", he mentions the same proposition but merely question is truth.
* A SENTENCE: is a grammatically complete string of words expressing a complete thought.
- A sentence is a complete expression in a language. a sentence is a group of words that give a
complete meaning.
Ex: I would like a cup of coffee
- a given sentence always consists of the same words, and in the same order, any changes in the
words or in their order, make a different sentence, for different purposes
Ex: Helen rolled up the carpet.
Helen rolled the carpet up
(Different sentences)
- SENTENCE May be in the form of a single phrase or word.
Example:"Five"as an answer to the question:"How many languages can you speak?“
* UTTERANCE: is any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which there is silence on
the part of that person. This usually applies to spoken language and not to written language.
- that is any sound of talk, that a human produces of language.
An utterance can be a single word, a group of words, a clause, or even a complete sentence.
Unlike written language, in spoken language, there are more pauses and silences
Ex: A police officer yelling "Stop!" is an utterance.
“Hummmpfh”’“Pxdgytguaargh”. Are not utterance, it is not from any language.
18. DISTINGUISH SENTENCE MEANING FROM UTTERANCE MEANING?

SENTENCE MEANING UTTERANCE MEANING

* A SENTENCE: is a grammatically * UTTERANCE: is any stretch of talk, by one
complete string of words expressing a person, before and after which there is silence
complete thought on the part of that person, an utterance can be a
a given sentence always consists of the same single word, a group of words, a clause, or even
words, and in the same order, any changes in a complete sentence.
the words or in their order, make a different
sentence, for different purposes *UTTERANCE MEANING: is what a
speaker means when he uses a piece of
* SENTENCE MEANING: is what a sentence language.
or words means, what it counts as the
equivalent of in the language concerned; * We may not notice it clearly because we take
whereas speaker means when he uses a piece of it for granted in day-to-day interaction.
language. Ex: I now pronounce you husband and wife.
This sentence may be uttered in at least 2 sets
* To understand meaning of the sentence, we
of circumstances, (1) by a real pastor presiding
must rely on the meaning of individual words.
at a ceremony to a young couple getting
married in presence of their assembled families.
* sentence refer to different events an hence
(2) by an actor dressed as a pastor for filming
have distinct referential meaning because the
words of the sentence are ordered differently.
* circumstances of utterance create different
meaning although the referential meaning of the
* Sentence meaning is not concerned with
sentence remains unchanged
utterance meaning. It must be divorced from the
context which they are uttered. *Utterances are the subject of investigation of
another branch of linguistics called pragmatics.
*sentence meaning is independent meaning of
context.
* utterance meaning depends crucially on the
circumstances of utterance.
19. WHAT IS SEMANTIC STRUCTURE OF THE SIMPLE DECLARATIVE SENTENCE?
Semantic structure of simple declarative sentences is a type of sentence that makes a statement or
provides information. Its function is to communicate information directly (typically ands in a period
“.”)
There are 2 major semantic roles played by different subparts of thr sentence, these are the role of
predicator played by predicate(s) and the role(s) of arguments, played by the referring expressions.
Arguments are played by the referring expressions
The predicator of a simple declarative sentence is the word (sometimes the group of words) which
does not belong to any of the referring expressions and which, of the remainders, makes the most
specific contribution to the meaning of the sentence. It can be adj, verb, prepositions and nouns.
Proposition= (A) – (P) – (A)
Examples:
I love this chandelier
A I LOVE c A
Lucy’s cat plays with the ball

A C PLAY WITH b A
Importance in effective communication:
 Clarity: simple declarative sentences are clear and easy to understand.
 Precision: they convet information without ambiguity.
 Foundation: many complex sentences are built upon simple declaratives.
 Engagement: they form the basis for effective commnunication.
The degree of a predicate is a number indication the number of arguments it normally understood to
have in simple sentences.
Ex: asleep – he (A) is asleep- is a predicate of degree 1
Give – Minh gave me a nice present – is predicate of three
A A A
20. WHAT IS SEMANTIC/THEMATIC ROLE? WHY IS SEMANTIC ROLE RELATE TO
SENTENCE MEANING? WHY IS NOUN PHRASE RELATED TO SEMANTIC ROLES?
- Thematic roles are the different roles or function that noun phrases (or noun phrase constituents)
can have in relation to a verb in a sentence. They help to identify the semantic relationship between
the verb and its arguments. Thematic roles provide information about the roles that participants play
in an event or action described by the verb.
- Sematic role design the meaning of sentence.
- Semantic role: refers to the way in which the referent of the noun phrase contributes to the state,
action or situation described by the sentence.
Example 1: the hunter hit the lion.
The lion was hit by the hunter.
in both 1 and 2, the way in which the lion is involved in the action is the same, and the way in which
the hunter is involved is the same, but the lion is the direct object of the verb in sentence 1 and the
grammatical subject of sentence 2.
SOME COMMON THEMATIC ROLES: agent, patient, experiencer, instrument, goal, source,
location, cause,….
- Semantic role is not an inherent property of a noun phrase, since a given noun phrase can have
different semantic roles in different sentences.
Ex2 :
4. Peter was injured by a stone
Patient cause
5. Peter was injured with a stone.
P agent (thực hiện by someone)
- 2 sentences have same properties, but they are not completely synonymous: (4) the stone was part
of natural rockfall. (5) someone threw a stone at Peter.
EX3: Peter was injured by a friend (agent- người tác động)
Peter was injured with a friend (patient- người bị tác động- also was injured like peter)
- Semantic role is a way of characterizing the meaning the relationship between a noun phrase and
the verb of sentence.
WHY IS SEMANTIC ROLE RELATE TO SENTENCE MEANING?
Semantic roles are essential in sentence meaning, providing information about the roles and
relationship between entities and actions within a sentence, provide information about the agent,
patient, location….
Semantic role is a way of characterizing the meaning the relationship between a noun phrase and the
verb of sentence. - Sematic role design the meaning of sentence.
They help to clarify the underlying meaning and structure of a sentence by indicating who or what is
performing the action, who or what is being acted upon and any other participants involve.
WHY IS NOUN PHRASE RELATED TO SEMANTIC ROLES?
The arguments are played by referring expressions, which are essentially noun phrases in form. We
could difine the argument of a predicator as a noun phrase or a clause by predicator tthich assigns a
themantic role.
21. NAME IMPORTANT SENSE PROPERTIES? EX
the sense properties are the properties of being analytic of being synthetic and of being
contradictory.
a. an analytic sentence is one that is necessarily true, as a result of the senses of the words in it. An
analytic sentence, refects a tacit agreement by speakers of the language about the senses of the
words in it.
Example: all dogs are animals
b. synthetic sentence is one which is not analytic but may be either true or false depending on the
way the word is.
Ex: John is Ann’s brother
c. a contradiction is a sentence that is necessarily false as a result of the senses of the words in it.
Thus a contracdition is in a way the opposite of an analytic sentence.
Ex: Dogs are vegetable
Generic sentence: is a sentence in which some statement is made about a whole unrestricted class
of individual.
Ex: men like beautiful women
22. WHAT IS PARAPHRASE? ENTAILMENT? DISTINGUISH ONE-WAY ENTAILMENT
FROM 2 WAY ENTAILMENT?
*paraphrase: a sentence which expresses the same proposition as another sentence is a paraphrase of
that sentence. Paraphrase is to sentences as synonymy is to predicates.
Ex: John is the father of Linda => Linda is the child of John
* entailment: is something that logically follows from what is asserted in the utterance. Sentences
not speakers have entailment. Entailment considered a purely logical concept, symbolized by ||-
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARAPHRASE AND ENTAILMENT: is called paralled to the
relationship between hyponumu and synonymy.
Ex: John is Bill’s son (X) entails Bill is John’s father (Y)
=> X entails Y
=> X is a paraphrase of Y
DISTINGUISH ONE-WAY ENTAILMENT FROM 2 WAY ENTAILMENT?
According to research, there are two other types of entailments, namely one-wayentailment and
two-way (or mutual) entailment:
ONE-WAY ENTAILMENT MỘT CHIỀU TWO ENTAILMENT
- One-way entailment is the entailment that -Two-way entailment is the entailment that has
works in only one direction. meaning relationship and the sentencesthat
- Therefore, in one-way entailment, a sentence contain mutual entailment are paraphrases of
does not paraphrase the other each other.
sentence. One of them is like the conclusion of - two-way entailment between sentences as
the other paraphrase. In contrast with one-way
- The first sentence entails the second but not entailment, two-way entailment has meaning
the other way round. relationship and the sentences that contain two-
way entailment paraphrase each other.
Example: Lily eats a peal entails Lily eats a
fruit. -The first sentence entails the second, and the
=> Peal is a fruit but fruit is not necessarily a second sentence entails the first
peal.
This means that the entailmentworks in only Example : Na is in front of Linh entails Linh is
one way behind Na

- Sometimes, two-way entailment is expressed

in the term of active-passive pairs.

Example: The dog bits David entails David is

bitten by the dog.

The entailment is expressed in active-passive

pairs. The second sentence is the passive
form of the first sentence, and the first sentence
is the active form

23. GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF THE ROLES OF CONTEXT WITH EXAMPLES FOR

ILLUSTRATION?
I/ the way to determine utterance meaning:
Utterance meaning is what speaker means when he uses a piece of language.
- First, it usually can make clear what sentence is uttered.
- Second, it can tell us what proposition has been actually expressed
- Finally, we can know what kind of illocutionary force has been assigned by the speaker to the
proposition.
ii/ the roles of context:
1/ Disambiguation:
Role: Context helps disambiguate the meaning of an utterance when a sentence has multiple possible interpretations.
E.g.: "I'm looking for my smartphone."
->Without context, this could mean searching for a lost smartphone or searching for a picture of a smartphone in a
magazine. The surrounding context (the situation, the speaker's intentions) clarifies the specific meaning.
A: “What are you doing, B?”
B: “I’ve lost my phone on the floor, so I'm looking for my smartphone. “

By the context, this person is searching for a lost smartphone.

2/ Understanding Illocutionary Force:
Role: Illocutionary force refers to the intended speech act, such as making a request, giving a
command, making a promise, etc.
Context helps determine the illocutionary force behind an utterance.
E.g.: "Can you pass the salt?"
-> In a friendly dinner conversation, this is likely a request.
In a formal setting, it could be interpreted as a polite command
3/ cotext and surrounding sentence
Role: Co-text, or the sentences surrounding an utterance, helps interpret the meaning and intentions
of the utterance. In other words, cotext are the words surrounding a particular word or passage
within a text that provide context and help to determine meaning.
24. DISTINGUISH PERFORMATIVES AND CONSTATIVES.
PERFORMATIVES CONSTATIVES.
DEFINATION: A performative utterance DEFINATION: A constative utterance is a
actually performs some acts and simutaneously statement and makes an assertion.
does that act. E.g: ‘The window is open.’ > is constative
E.g: ‘I promise to finish my homework Because it makes an assertion about a particular
tomorrow.’ -> is performative state of affairs, ‘The window is open.’
Because in saying it, the speaker actually does FUNCTION:
what the utterance describes. That is, the  Describe or report something.
utterance both describes and is a promise.  Are true or false.
FUNCTION: E.g. The Water park closes at 9 pm every day.
 Do not describe or report something. CHARACTERISTIC
 Are not true or false.  "Be in any person.
E.g. I wish you A Happy Birthday.  Use verbs that describe states, actions, or
 CHARACTERISTIC: facts.(run, open, close,etc.)
 Be typically in the first person. E.g. The sun rises in the East. > True"
 Use verbs like “promise”, “declare”,”
apologize”, “order”,etc.
E.g. I apologize for my mistake.

Utterance meaning
Performative utterance Constative utterance

Explicit performtive primary performtive

EXAMPLE:

Primary utterance: ‘I shall be there.’

Explicit performative: ‘I promise that I shall be there.’

The first example does not use a performative verb, whereas the second does. However, both
examples have similar implications, i.e. they both are promises, but only in the second example, the
promise is made explicit.
25. DISTIGUISH LOCUTION FROM ILLOCUTION; A LOCUTIONARY ACT FROM
EITHER AN ILLOCUTIONARY ACT OR A PERLOCUTIONARY ACT.
Locution Illocution Perlocution

- A word or phrase, especially- Illocution means the action - An act of speaking or

with regard to style or idiom.performed by saying something, writing that has an
that particular people use in rather than the actual meaning of action as its aim but that
particular situations.- The the words. in itself does not effect
actual words uttered. - an act of speaking or writing or constitute the action,
- It can be in the forms of which in itself effects or for example persuading
declarative, imperative or constitutes the intended action, or convincing. (nói với
interrogative sentences. e.g. ordering, warning, or mục đích thuyết phục,
promising. không mang mục đích
Example: - The interaction behind the bảo người khác làm
- Declarative: I order you to words uttered VIỆC gì đó)
leave immediately
- Imperative: Go away! Example: The influence of the
- Declarative: Out! 1. When he said he was tired, his words on listener.
- Interrogative: Won’t you illocution was to let us know that
stay here? he wanted to go home. Example: Listener
apologies/ explains.
For example: "I always heard
my grandmother use the same
locution when she was
offering advice.".
A LOCUTIONARY ACT FROM EITHER AN ILLOCUTIONARY ACT OR A
PERLOCUTIONARY ACT.
A LOCUTIONARY ACT AN ILLOCUTIONARY PERLOCUTIONARY ACT.
ACT
The act of saying to proceduce Illocutionary act is By using a sentence, a speaker
an utterance with a particular performing the act in saying can cause a certain effect on
form and a more or less something. the hearer and others..causing
determinate meaning according illocutionary act can also be the emotions and actions of
to the rules of a given language. called as an implied level. It yours, include such effects as:
It is important to keep in mind is an act of doing something. persuading, embrassing,
that two people uttering the same And it is an intended intimidating, boring, irritating,
sentence may not say the same meaning of a speaker. and inspiring the nearer.
thing without necessaryily - An utterance which has - An utterance that gives an
uttering the same utterance. social function in mind. effect to do something.
- An utterance that produces Referential meaning, What is Understood meaning, What is
literal meaning. Intended said. heard.
meaning, what is meant Example: “I’ll see you later” Example: "A teacher says to
Ex: “It’s clever thing to do” We could find three different the students please study hard
Depending on the context, this assumptions of its meaning. or you'll fail on final
sentence may mean exactly what (I predict that) I'll see you examination". The
it says: as a statement, it will later => a prediction illocutionary act might be
characteristically describing a (I promise you that) I’ll see advising or suggesting but the
sate of affairs or my imply some you later => a promise perlocutionary act may be
irony using certain certain type (I warn you that) I’ll see intimidating for students.
of intonation countour. you later => a warning.

Direct illocution: is the

locution most directly
indicated by a literal reading
of the grammartical form
and vocabulary of sentence
uttered.
Indirect illocution of
utterance is any further
illocution the utterance may
have
Ex. Can you pass the salt?
Direct: an enquiry about the
hearer’s ability to pass the
salt.
Indirect: request that the
hearer pass the salt
For example: “It's hot here”
- Locutionary act: The speaker feels hot in his place.
- Illocutionary act: The utterance has two possible meanings inside
An indirect request for someone to open the window.
An indirect refusal to close the window because someone is cold
- Perlocutionary act: The hearer will open/close the window
26. SPEECH ACT CLASSIFICATION:
- Are acts which get people to do something.
- The function of it may be relized by a wide range of forms like imperative
sentence, questions or even statement (have illocutioncary of a directive.)
Directives (asking, denning, inviting, requesting, advising, begging..)
Ex: “Could you lend me a book, please!”
“Give me a cup of coffe, please.”

- Are statements that function as promises or refusals for action.

- It may very in strength, they may be very strong or highly hedged in either
positive or negative directions.
Commisisives
- Kind: promising, planning, vowing, betting, opposing.
Ex: “I’m going to get it next time.”
- “We will do it tomorrow.”
(assertive) speech act can be judged for truth value.
Ex: “I went home yesterday”
- representative may vary in terms of how hedged or aggravated the assertion
Representative
might be. These variations are often expressed by the use of modal words.
- verbs: remind, tell, deny, predict, agree, claim…
- Kind: suggesting, swearing, boasting, concluding..
Ex: The Earth is flat.
Bring about a new state of something, annouce something is change. When the
chairman says “I declare the meeting open” a change really takes places,
people start to make speeches or address the meeting and so on.
Declaratives
Ex: priest: I now pronouce you husband and wife.
Boss: you are fired!
- kind: excommunicating, declaring war, christening, firing…
- Are expressions of joys, disappoinmet, likes, disliked of speaker such as
“what a great day!” , “Your shoes are nice!”
Expressives - The forms of expressives may be diverse even within one language.
- Kind: thanking, apologizing, welcoming, deploring, congralating, loving,
disliking…

27. DISTINGUISH DIRECT SPEECH ACTS FROM INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS.

DIRECT SPEECH ACT INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS
- Direct Speech Act: Whenever there is a direct - Indirect Speech Act: if the relationship
relationship between structures and a function. between structures and function is indirect. -
- When we speak we do mean exactly the same When we intend something which is quite
as the literal meaning of what we say, we make different from the literal meaning of what we
a direct speech act. say, we make an indirect speech act.
Structures -> the structures are not follow the order of its
+ declaretive -> asserting function.
+ interogrative-> asking e.g. a declarative used to make a request.
+ imperative-> ordering, asking to do + Interogrative to asserting.
something. we may ask for something to be done indirectly.
Ex: Can you open the door? – ask to open the ‘Can you pass the salt?’ is not really a question,
door but a directive; and answer of ‘yes’, without an
Words: attempt to pass it would be totally inappropriate
Ex: It’s rainning outside! -> show the weather. and would violate the maximum of relevance.
Ex “It's raining outside” can be interpreted as
a request to close the door, or remind to wear
the rain coat. (indirect speech act)
ex: I’ll be there on time
In this sentence, indirect that is a promise