Abdullah Mohammad Saeed Linguistic Group B

Third year Second Semester

Linguistic

Both semantics and pragmatics study imagining but in different ways. Discuss?
What are the main different between semantics and pragmatics?
Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences, or is the study of
meaning in human language.
Pragmatics is the study of the speaker’s intended meaning, or the study of language in use
or context.
Why we can’t study morphemes in semantics?
We can’t study morphemes in semantics because not all morphemes have meaning by
themselves.
Why we can’t study clauses in semantics?
We can’t study clauses in semantics because every sentence consists of at least one clause
and we study sentence in semantics.
How many types of semantics are there?
There are two types of semantics can be distinguishes:
1- Word-level semantics or (lexical semantics)
2- Sentences level semantics or (sentential semantics)
What is text discourse?
Text discourse is any stretch of language with spoken or written, short or long we
choose for focus.
What is utterance?
Utterance is any spoken stretch of language whether short or long atter which there is a
pause.

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The different between semantics and pragmatics:

Semantics
1- Semantics is the study of the meaning of
words, phrases and sentences, or is the
study of meaning in human language.
2- it is not speaker or hearer- oriented
3- It deals with sentence meaning
4- It means meaning + truth condition
5- It studies visible (direct) meaning
6- It studies the surface meaning( structure)
7- It doesn’t study the speaker intention.
8- It doesn’t deal with such topics as speech
acts, implicature inference, the place and
time of the sentence, etc.
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is the study of the speaker’s
intended meaning, or the study of
language in use or context.
It is speaker and hearer orient.
It deals with utterance meaning.
It means meaning – truth condition.
It studies invisible meaning.
It studies the deep meaning (structure).
It studies the speaker intention.
It deals with such topics as speech acts,
implicature inference, the place and time
of the sentence, etc.

Lexical semantics( sense relation)

Sense and reference, sense means connotation and reference means denotation.
What does reference mean?
Reference means the relationship holding between linguistic elements and what they
refer to in the outside words.

Signifier Signified
reference

Reference means the relationship between signifier and signified

How many relations are there?
There are two kinds of relations:
1. Intra language (sense) that means sense and intra means (within language).
2. Intrer language (reference) that means refer to thing outside language and intrer
means (outside).
Exophoric reference occurs when a word or phrase refers to something outside the discourse.
Endophoric reference is a more general term that includes both anaphoric and cataphoric

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reference. So it refers to something inside the text, either earlier (anaphoric) or later
(cataphoric).
What does sense mean?
Sense means the relation holding between the linguistic elements themselves.
Different sense relations can be distinguished as: synonymy, antonymy, polysemy,
homonymy, hyponymy, metonymy, meronymy, etc.

Synonymy (n.)

Synonyms (n.) , Synonymous (adj.)

Why do we use synonymy?
We use synonymy:
1. To avoid repetition.
2. To improve our stylistic.
3. To show our ability of language knowledge.
4. To make a collection of words at reason.
What is synonymy?
Synonymy is a sense relation in which two or more lexemes have the
(1) same meaning in all contexts.
(2)Similar meaning in some contexts. Ex: synonym (big) is (large)
She committed a big mistake. (Here we can’t change big with large)
My big brother is a doctor. (Here we can’t change big with large)
I have a big house. (Here we can change big with large)
 Based on the second definition synonyms differ in five (some) way to use.( similar
meaning in some contexts)
1. Some synonyms belong to different dialects. Ex:
Brit USA
Autumn : Fall
Holiday : Vacation
Chairman : Head
2. Some synonyms different in their degree of formality (style). Ex
Father : Dad , Mother : Mom,

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3. Some synonyms have different connotative (emotional|) meaning though they have the
same denotative meaning. That is, some synonyms have positive meaning, whereas others
have negative meaning. Ex:
Government : regime, statement : politician, conceal : hide
4. Some synonyms are collectively restricted that is some synonyms differ only in the
collection they are used in. Ex:
A pride of lions, rotten meat, addled eggs, raced butter, a group of people.
5. Some synonyms overlap in their meanings
Some synonyms have overlapping meaning this type of synonyms is used (exploited) by
the dictionary makers. Ex:
Reply = answer = respond , arrive at = reach , decide = determine
Control = govern , adult = mature = ripe
NOT: number one, two, three and five in this differs are (near or semi or quasi)
synonyms but number four is real or absolute synonyms.

Antonymy (n.)

Antonyms (n.) , Antonymous (adj.)

What is antonymy?
Antonymy is a sense relation in which lexemes have opposite meanings.
are opposite in meaning.
What are antonyms?
Antonyms are two lexemes which have opposite meaning.
How types of antonyms are there?
There are three types of antonyms:
1. Gradable antonyms which take the comparative and superlative degree. They include only
one part of speech, i.e. adjectives. Ex:
Large X small, wide X narrow
Big
NOT: one of the characteristics of gradable antonyms is that the negation of one
part doesn’t mean the assertion of the other part,

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2. Non- gradable antonyms (complemetaries) they are those antonyms which don’t take the
comparative and superlative degree. They include some adjectives and some nouns. One of
the characteristics of this type is that the negation of one part means the assertion of the other
part. Ex:
Single X married, son X daughter, alive X dead, brother X sister
3.converses ( relation antonyms). They are those antonyms which are opposite in terms of
relation and direction. They include some of nouns, verbs, adverbs and prepositions. Ex:
friend X Enemy come X go here X there (Adverb)
north X south nouns send X receive verbs up X down prepositions
teacher X student give X take in X out
NOT: with gradable adjective we can make questions, ex: (How tall is he? √), but
with polar adjective we can’t make questions, ex: (How single is he? X).
Why do we call these antonyms relation antonyms?
We call these antonyms (relation antonyms) because they are related in terms of relation
and direction, or because oppositeness lies in their relation and direction.
What do markedness and unmarkedness mean?
Markedness means not familiar things or not ordinary, and unmarkedness means
familiar or ordinary things. Ex:
He gave me a present. ( unmarkedness sentence) because it is ordinary ( SVIODO)
A present he gave me. ( markedness tentence) because it is unordinary(DOSVIO)

Ambiguity

Ambiguity Vagueness
What is Ambiguity?
Ambiguity is a linguistic phenomenon in which one word or structure has two different
meanings.
What is Vagueness?
Vagueness is a linguistic phenomenon in which one word or structure has more than two
meanings.
 How many types of Ambiguity are there?
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 There are two types of Ambiguity in general.
1.Intentional Ambiguity.
2.Unintentional Ambiguity.
When can intentional Ambiguity and unintentional Ambiguity usually be used?
Intentional Ambiguity can be used in literature meanwhile unintentional Ambiguity is
used in general communication or common conversation.
How many types of unintentional or intentional Ambiguity are there?
There are three types of intentional and unintentional Ambiguity:

Ambiguity

Phonological Ambiguity Structural or Lexical Ambiguity

Grammatical or
Syntactic Ambiguity

Polysemy Homonymy

Ex:
 The sons raise meat. Phonological
 The sun’s ray’s meet.
 Old men and women. The adjective old refers to only men or both.
 He beat the man with a stick.

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It means:
He beat the man by a stick or he beat the man who was holding a stick. Structural
Flying planes can be dangerous.
It means:
Planes which are flying are dangerous or to fly plane is dangerous.
He went to the bank yesterday.
It means:
He went to the financial institution yesterday Homonymy word
Or he went to the edge of a river yesterday.
I visit my cousin.
It means: Polysomic word
I visit the son of my father’s brother
Or I visit son of my mother’s brother.
How many level can Lexical Ambiguity be divided?
Lexical Ambiguity can be divided in to two types: Polysemy and Homonymy.

Polysemy

Polysemous , Polysemic (adj.)

Why we take Polysemy and Homonymy together?
We take Polysemy and Homonymy together because they are in related with each other.
What is Polysemy?
Polysemy is a sense relation in which on lexeme (word) has several different but related
meaning. It is one of the two types of lexical ambiguity. It is also the main source of
metaphor. Ex:
Hand (part of body) main reference.
Means (Help) sense
Head (organ of body) main reference
Head of the department.
Being boss sense
Control

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Eye (part of body) main reference
Observation sense
Fox (an animal) main reference
Cheating sense
Cunning

Homonymy

What is Homonymy?
Homonymy is a sense relation in which two distinct lexemes (words) have the same
sound and form (writing, spelling) but different unrelated meaning. This definition is for
absolute homonymy. It is one of the two types of lexical ambiguity. Writers make use of
homonymy in planning with words. Ex:
Bank(1) financial institution.
Bank (2) the edge of river.
Port (1) harbor
Part (2) a kind of win
Jam (1) sweet material
Jam (2) crowed
(Time flies) ( N Time V flies) is different if ( V Time N flies)
Have you heard of the cross-eye teacher who could not control his pupils?
Pupils have two meaning: 1- students 2- part of eye.
How many types of Homonymy are there?
There are two types of Homonymy:
1.Absolute (total), full or complete: It is a sense relations in which two distinct lexemes
(words) have the same sound and form (writing, spelling) but different unrelated meaning.
This definition is for absolute homonymy. It is one of the two types of lexical ambiguity.
Writers make use of homonymy in planning with words.

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2.Partial Homonymy and it is two types:
1.Homophones are distinct words which have the same sound but different from and
unrelated meanings. Ex
You ewe / meat , meet / sea , see
2.Homographs are distinct words which have the same form but defferent sound and
unrelated meanings. Ex:
Lead (v.) /li:d/ to guide but Lead (n.) /led/ metal
Present (n.) /ˈprez(ə)nt/ gift but Present (v.) /prɪˈzent/

What are the conditions of absolute homonyms?

1. The two lexemes should have the same sound and form.
2. The two lexemes should belong to the same grammatical category.
3. The meaning of the two lexemes should be unrelated. Ex:
ear1 ear2
pupil1 pupil2 Absolute Homonyms
can1 (Model V.) can2 (lexical V.) can3 (N.)
Draw a distinction between Homonymy and Polysemy.
1.In case of Homonymy, two words are involved while in case of Polysemy one word is
involved.
2.In case of Homonymy the meanings are unrelated while in case of polysemy the meanings
are related.
3.Two entries are given to Homonymys in the dictionary while one entry is given to
Polysemic words.
4.Homonyms have different origins, whereas Polysemous words have one origin.

Fixed Expression

Fixed Expression

Formulaic Expression
Colloction Idioms Proverbs Clichés
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Why do we call it, the fixed?
We call it, the fixed because we cannot change them anyway.
1.Colloction: collection means that certain words have a strong tendency to co-occur with
some other words. E.g.:
Rancid butter addled eggs collection can be (N.) or ( V.)
Private teacher deep water
School thinking
College structure
Phone well
Is collection a matter of association of ideas?
No, there are collections a matter but there are not associations of ideas. E.g.:
Blonder hair white people
Yellow dress black people
2. Idioms: they are a group of words whose meaning cannot be predicted (known, guessed)
from the meaning of the individual words. Idioms usually have figurative meaning and not
literal meaning. E.g.:
To kick the bucket = to die.
To spill the beans = to tell a secret, or uncover a secret, or reveal a secret.
Once in a blue moon = rarely
Cats and dogs = heavily
NOT: phrasal verbs are a type of idioms. They consist of a verb + preposition. E.g.:
Look for = search take off = fly
Look after = take care of
How many types of idioms are there?
There are two types of idioms and they are 1- opaque, 2- transparent.
What are opaque idioms?
They are those idioms whose meaning absolutely cannot be predicted from their individual
words.
What are transparent idioms?
They are those idioms whose meaning partly can be predicted from their individual words.

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E.g.:
Take off = transitive verb He took off his coat. Transparent idioms.
Take off = intransitive verb The plane took off. Opaque idioms
To make an end of = finish.
To put an end to

Speech act theory

Speech Act Theory : A speech act is an act that is performed through language. This
theory is associated with the two scholars Austin and Searle. We perform speech acts in
everyday life by:
greeting, apologizing, requesting, complaining, ordering, promising, thanking and so on…
Pragmatics = the speaker’s intended meaning language in use.
Pragmatics originated from two main starts: 1- speech act from Austin and Searle.
2- Conversational implicature from Paul Grice

 Austin(1962) in his book “ How to Do things with Words” made three main
distinctions as far as speech acts are concerned.
According to Austin and Searle, there are two types of sentences and they are:
1.Constatives:  They are those utterances used to perform actions which cannot be true or
false but rather successful and unsuccessful or felicitous and infelicitous.
2.Performatives : They are those utterances used to convey information or to describe
somebody or something and which can be true or false.
Austin made three distinctions:
1. Constatives and performatives.
2. Locutionary act act means the words that are uttered or written.
Illocutionary act (Illocutionary force) means the speaker’s or writer’s intention E.g.:
I will see you later – we could find three different assumptions of its meaning – prediction,
promise and a warning

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Perlocutionary act means the effect of the speech act on the hearer. E.g.:
Would you mind closing the window?
Examples to illustrate the distinction
Between the Locution / Illocution and
Perlocution of a simple English sentence:
What happens when you hear the question?
Would you close the door?
Locution / Intention, Illocution / Meaning: Perlocution/ effect on the hearer:
The door is open. Close the door. It could be too noisy therefore I have to close the door.
If we take the surface meaning of these sentences, it will be locutionary act. But if we take
these sentences as a (informing, ordering, warning, undertaking) it will be illocutionary act.
But the reaction of hearer it will be perlocutionary act.
3. Direct and Indirect speech act:

Direct speech act means that there is a direct relationship between the structure and the
communicative function of the utterance. The following examples show that the form
correspondence with the function: for example, a declarative is used to make a statement:
“You wear a seat belt.”
Indirect speech acts means that there is no relation or correspondence between the
structure and communicative function of the utterance. For example, if a speaker asks, "Would
you like to meet me for coffee?" and the other replies, "I have class", the second speaker has
used an indirect speech act to reject the proposal.
Types (Classification) of sentences Types (Classification) of sentences according to
according to form (structure). function (use).

1. Declaratives Statements

2. Interrogatives Questions

3. Imperatives Order, (commands) and requests

4. Exalamatives Exclamations
What+ adj.+n.+subj.+v.+com.!
What a brilliant idea that is!
How + adj.+ subj.+ v.!

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 How lovely those flowers are!

Direct speech act is that act performed when there is a correspondence between the form
and function.
Indirect speech act is that act performed when there is no correspondence between the form
and function.

 What is cooperative principle?

Cooperative principle is a principle that describes how people achieve effective
conversational communication.
What does the cooperative principle involve?
It involves four maxims of conversation. They are as follows:
Maxim of quantity (content length and depth)
In simple terms, the maxim of quantity is to be informative.
Submaxims:
1. Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the
exchange).
2. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

Maxim of quality (truth)

In simple terms, the maxim of quality is to be truthful.
Supermaxim:
 Try to make your contribution one that is true.
Submaxims:
1. Do not say what you believe is false.
2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

Maxim of relation (relevance)

 Be relevant — i.e., one should ensure that all the information they provide is relevant to the
current exchange;
Maxim of manner (clarity)

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In simple terms, the maxim of manner is to be clear. Whereas the previous maxims are
primarily concerned with what is said, the maxims of manner are concerned with how what is
said is said.
Supermaxim:
 Be perspicuous.
Submaxims:
1. Avoid obscurity of expression — i.e., avoid language that is difficult to understand.
2. Avoid ambiguity — i.e., avoid language that can be interpreted in multiple ways.

3. Be brief — i.e., avoid unnecessary prolixity.

4. Be orderly — i.e., provide information in an order that makes sense, and makes it easy for
the recipient to process it.

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