FINAL TEST FOR GENERAL LINGUISTICS, WINTER 2023

Time allowance: 90 minutes

All reference materials, print or digital, can be used.
Be brief in your responses but make sure you provide sufficient information with strong
and specific supports!
Question 1 concerns the following picture (25 pts)

1.1. Identify the ONE seemingly problematic item in the washing machine dashboard in the
picture!
Giặt ra giường – ra is the problematic item.
1.2. In terms of spelling, why is the word written that way?
The original French word drap is borrowed into the Vietnamese language, but since the
Vietnamese language does not have initial consonant clusters, the people do not have the
habit or a number of people may not be able to pronounce such clusters. Also, the
Vietnamese speakers do not have the habit of pronouncing final consonants fully. This
results in the omission of both d and p, leaving only r. Hence the spelling ra.
1.3. Explain the violation of Vietnamese spelling rules in this case!
The letter ‘r’ represents the consonant [ʁ] which is a velar fricative consonant in French,
so when the Vietnamese fail to pronounce it correctly, they may substitute it with a
similar Vietnamese consonant, and the most similar Vietnamese is /ɤ/ which must be
represented by the letter ‘g’. So ‘drap’ must be written as ‘ga’, not ‘ra’, which violates
the Vietnamese spelling rules initiated by Alexander de Rhodes.

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1.4. Why does it seem problematic in terms of phonetics and semantics?
The phonetic problem has been explained above. In terms of semantics, ‘ra’ can be
mistaken for a directional verb, or a preposition showing direction, resulting in an
incomprehensible or weird reading: giặt (cái gì) ra giường? (what is being washed out to
the bed?)
1.5. What would be a better way to write the word? ga, as has been explained.
This word already occurred in one of the homework assignments you have done, don’t you
remember?
Question 2 (20 pts)

2.1. Analyse all possible syntactic structures of the ambiguous headline!

2.2. What is the semantic ambiguity in the headline?
2.3. What could be the thematic (semantic) role of each sentence constituent in each syntactic
structure identified in 2.1?

Reading 1
Syntax: Subject Verb Indirect Object Direct
Object
Semantic rolesAgent Predicator Recipient/Beneficiary Theme
Một bv ở TpHCM thưởng Tết cho hộ lý bằng giám đốc
“giám đốc” là “món thưởng” (tương tự như sách trong Mẹ thưởng cho Nam sách)

Reading 2
Syntax: Subject Verb Indirect Object Adverbial
Phrase
Semantic Agent Predicator Recipient/Beneficiary Quantity
Một bv ở TpHCM thưởng Tết cho hộ lý bằng GĐ
‘bằng giám đốc’ tức là mức thưởng cho hộ lý bằng với mức thưởng cho GĐ; từ ‘mức’
bị lược bỏ nên gây ra mập mờ về cấu trúc và ngữ nghĩa.
2.4. How should you improve the headline to clear the ambiguity?
Different options, e.g. Một bệnh viện ở TpHCM thưởng Tết cho hộ lý bằng mức với GĐ /
Mức thưởng cho hộ lý ở một bệnh viện ở TpHCM bằng mức cho/với GĐ.

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Question 3 (55 pts)

3.1. Both the woman’s and the dog’s utterances are declarative statements, but in terms of
speech acts, what are they doing? (5 pts)
The woman is blaming/ accusing the dog for his misbehaviour, and the dog is denying the
accusation.
3.2. Why does the woman use the Present Continuous ‘you are chasing’, even though the dog
is not performing the act right HERE and NOW? (5 pts)
The Present Continuous is used to indicate the dog’s repetitive actions these days (for a
period of time around the present, or lately), not exactly what he is doing right HERE and
NOW.
3.3. Similar to the headline in Question 2, the woman’s utterance contains syntactic and
semantic ambiguity. Explain the ambiguity! (10 pts)
The prepositional phrase (PP) ‘on a bicycle’ can be part of the longer NP ‘people on a
bicycle’, which is the correct reading the woman truly means. But it can also fall outside this
NP, and modify the position of the dog (you on a bicycle).
3.4. Explain the use of the definite NP “the neighbour” and the dog’s referencing pronoun
“he” in these utterances! (5 pts)
There is only one neighbour around, and that is a man they (the woman and the dog) both
know; hence the definite article ‘the’ and ‘he’.

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3.5. There are 2 words in the dog’s utterance that can be instances of homonymy. What are
the meanings of these words in this particular case, and what clues help you interpret them
accurately? (10 pts)
‘lying’ – lie1: position oneself horizontally on the ground or bed or sofa, etc.; and lie 2 – not
tell the truth. In this case, lie2 is being used.
‘even’ – an emphatic adverb, which is the case here; or an adjective (e.g. 2, 4, 6 are even
numbers).
Contextual clues: the dog’s speech act of denial of the blame by two arguments – the
neighbour is not telling the truth (he can’t be in a horizontal position), and ‘even’ serves the
purpose of emphasis here as an adverb.
3.6. What leads to the dog’s argument? (5 pts)
The second reading in 3.3., i.e. ‘you on a bicycle’, not ‘people on a bicycle’. So he denies – I
don’t even have a bicycle, so how can I chase them on one?
3.7. Explain the possible semantic change (if there is) that results from the movement of even
in the utterance compared to what is given in the picture (10 pts):
a. Even I don’t have a bicycle. => a person like me don’t have a bicycle, let alone
others. (Presuppositions: I may be rich, or can afford a bicycle, or in a position that allows me
to have one. I don’t have one, so others cannot.)
b. I don’t have even a bicycle. => similar to the dog’s utterance. No meaning change.
How do you render all the 3 options in Vietnamese! (5 pts)
I don’t even have a bicycle / I don’t have even a bicycle – thậm chí một cái xe đạp tôi cũng
còn chả có/ tôi chẳng có gì, ngay cả một chiếc xe đạp.
Even I don’t have a bicycle – người như tôi mà còn chẳng có lấy một chiếc xe đạp/ ngay cả
tôi mà còn chẳng có xe đạp (ý muốn nói ở đây là tôi giàu, hoặc tôi có vị trí như thế mà còn
chẳng có lấy nổi một chiếc xe đạp thì người khác sao có được).
5 bonus points – an easy question: What variety of English is being used in this test? What
clues lead you to that answer?
The word ‘neighbour’ => British English (American English neighbor).
THE END