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GIÁO TRÌNH

NGỮ NGHĨA – NGỮ DỤNG HỌC

TIẾNG ANH

ENGLISH SEMANTICS & PRAGMATICS

COMPILED BY NGUYEN THUY NGA &

NGUYEN QUOC BAO

Ho Chi Minh City, 2008



http://www.ebook.edu.vn 2

CONTENTS

PART 1: SEMANTICS

I. DEFINITION 6

II. SENTENCES, UTTERANCES & PROPOSITIONS 6

III. SEMANTIC FEATURE / PROPERTY 9

IV. SEMANTIC / LEXICAL FIELD 11

V. REFERENCE, REFERENT, & SENSE 15

1. Definition 15

2. Types of reference 16

VI. REFERRING EXPRESSIONS 21

VII. TYPES OF MEANING 25

1. Word meaning 25

a/ Denotative meaning 25

b/ Connotative meaning 25

2. Sentence meaning 26

a/ Linguistic / literal meaning 26

• Semantic roles 27

b/ Semantic meaning & pragmatic meaning 32

c/ Non-literal meaning / Figures of speech 33

• Simile 33

• Metaphor 33




• Irony 35

• Sarcasm 35

• Synecdoche 35

• Metonymy 36

• Personification 37

• Hyperbole 37

• Euphemism 37

VIII. MEANING PROPERTIES / CHARACTERISTICS 40

1. Anomaly 402. Ambiguity 41

• Definition 41

• Types of ambiguity 42

• Some common forms of structural ambiguity 43

IX. MEANING RELATION 541. Word relation 54

• Synonym 54

• Antonym 55

• Homophone 56

• Homograph 57

• Homonym 57

• Polysemy 57

• Hyponymy 57

2. Sentence relation 60

• Entailment 60

• Contradiction 61




• Paraphrase 62

o Types of Paraphrase 62

o Ways to paraphrase a sentence 63

X. TYPES OF SENTENCE BASING ON TRUE / FALSE 70

1. Analytic sentence

2. Synthetic sentence

3. Contradictory sentence

PART 2. PRAGMATICS

I. DEFINITION 78

II. SPEECH ACT 78

1. Definition

2. Components

III. SPEECH EVENT / SITUATION 80

1.

Setting2. Participants / Characters

3. Relation

4. Message

5. Tone used

IV. TYPES OF SPEECH ACT 82

1. Declarative

2. Representative

3. Expressive

4. Directive

5. Commissive

V. THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE 89




VI. IMPLICATURE 91

1. Definition

2. Types of implicature

VII. PRESUPPOSITION 103

1. Definition

2. Types of presupposition

REFERENCES 144




PART 1: SEMANTICS

I. DEFINITION

Semantics is the study of meaning in language .(Hurford & Heasley,

1983: 1)

Semantics is the study of the relationships between li nguistic forms

and enti ties in the world ; that is, how words literally connect tothings. Semantic analysis also attempts to establish the relationship

between verbal descriptions and states of affairs in the world as

accurate (true) or not, regardless of who produces that description.

(Yule, 1996:4)

II. SENTENCES, UTTERANCES AND PROPOSITIONS

1. A sentence (caâu) is a string of words put together by the

grammatical rules of a language. (Hurford & Heasley, 1983: 16)

Ex:- A house was struck by lightening last night.

- Money doesn’t make happiness.

2. An utterance (phaùt ngoân) is a piece of language (a sequence

of sentences, a single phrase, or a single word) used by a

particular speaker on a particular occasion. (Hurford & Heasley,

1983: 15)

Ex:- “Hello”

- “Not much”




- “Utterances may consists of a single word, a single

phrase, or a single sentence. They may also consist of

a sequence of sentences.”

3. A proposition (meänh ñeà) is that part of the meaning of the

utterance of a declarative sentence which describes some state

of affairs. (Hurford & Heasley, 1983: 19)

Ex:- Paul turned on the TV.

- I met him at the cinema last night.

Rule: The notion of truth can be used to decide whether two

sentences express the same or different propositions. When one

sentence is true and the other is also true, they express the same

proposition. If one sentence is true while the other may be false,

they express different propositions.

True propositions correspond to reality; False propositions do

not correspond to reality.

Ex: (1) Harry took out the garbage.

Harry took the garbage out. (2 sentences; same proposition)

(2) John gave Mary a book.

Mary was given a book by John. (2 sentences; same proposition)

(3) Isobel loves Tony.

Tony loves Isobel. (2 sentences; 2 different propositions)

(It is not necessary that Tony loves Isobel)




(4) Dr Findlay caused Janet to die.

Dr Findlay killed Janet. (2 sentences; 2 different propositions)

(In the case Dr Findlay had caused Janet to die, but notintentionally)

Exercise 1. Answer the following sentences, choosing Yes or No.

1. Does it make sense to talk of the time and place of a sentence? Yes/No

2. Does it make sense to talk of the time and place of an utterance?

Yes/No

3. Can one talk of a loud sentence? Yes / No

4. Can one talk of a loud utterance? Yes / No

5. Does it make sense to ask what language a sentence belong to?

Yes/No

6. Does it make sense to ask what language an utterance belong to?

Yes / No

Exercise 2.

1. Fill in the chart with ‘+’ or ‘-‘ as appropriate.

Utterances Sentences Propositions

Can be loud or quiet

Can be grammatical or not

Can be true or false

In a particular regional accent

In a particular language




2. Can the same proposition be expressed by different sentences?

Yes / No

3. Can the same sentence be realized by different utterances?Yes / No

Exercise 3. Answer the following:

1. Are the followings a sentence or an utterance?

a. John sang wonderfully last night. S / U

b. “John sang wonderfully last night.” S / U

2. Can a sentence be true or false? Yes / No

3. Can an utterance be true or false? Yes / No

4. Is an utterance tied to a particular time and place? Yes / No

5. Is a sentence tied to a particular time and place? Yes / No

III. SEMANTIC PROPERTY/ FEATURE (nét ngh ĩ a / yếu tố ngh ĩ a)

DEFINITION

Semantic features / semantic properties / semantic components are

the smallest units of meaning in a word. (Richards, Platt & Weber,

1987: 254)




Example:

Father + human Each Assassin + human

+ male factor is + adult+ adult a Semantic + killer

+ married Property + kill a VIP

+ having children

Bachelor + human Teacher + human

+ male + adult

+ adult + earn living

+ unmarried by teaching

1. CHARACTERISTICS

a. Primitive elements: basic primitive concepts in linguistics. They

are left undefined.

Ex: human, male, animal, color etc.

b. The same semantic feature may be found in the meaning of

different words.

Ex: Father, mother, son, daughter, teacher baby … all share the

same semantic feature [+ human].

Mother, daughter, hen, bitch, swine … all share the same

semantic feature [+female].

c. The same semantic feature may be found in words of different

parts of speech.




Ex: [+female] is part of the noun mother, the adjective

pregnant, the verb breast-feed.

[+educational] is a semantic feature of the noun teacher, theadjective educated, the verb teach.

IV. LEXICAL/ SEMANTIC FIELD (tr ườ ng từ vựng)

A semantic field or a lexical field is the organization of related words

and expressions into a system which show their relationship to one

another. (Richards. Platt & Weber. 1987:53) In other words, it is agroup of words sharing the same Semantic property.

Ex 1:

Human (B) Hypernym

Bachelor Father Mother Baby Uncle Sister

(A) Hyponyms

Hyponym (hạ danh) is a word ‘whose referent is totally included in

the referent of another term. (hypo- means below) (Finegan.

1994:165).

Hypernym (thượ ng danh) is a word whose referent covers all the

referents of its hyponyms. (hyper- means above).

Hyponymy




Hyponymy is one-way relation between hyponyms and hypernym so that

A (hyponym) is a kind of B (hypernym). We can say:

A bachelor is a kind of human. Not: A human is a kind of bachelor.

A boy is a kind of human. Not: A human is a kind of boy.

Ex 2:

Male (Hypernym)

Boy Brother Uncle Ram Stallion Ox Bull

(Hyponyms)

Ways of organizing related words into different lexical / semantic fields.

1. I tems related by topics

a. Fruit: apples, oranges, grapes, bananas etc.

b. Clothing: shirts, pants, shorts, hats etc.

c. Color: green, red, blue, purple, pink etc.

2. I tems which are simi lar in meaning

a. Ways of cooking: stew, boil, fry, steam, roast etc.

b. Ways of walking: limp, tiptoe, stalk etc.

c. Ways of looking: stare, peer, glance, squint etc.

3. I tems grouped as an acti vity or a process




a. Do housework: clean the room, do washing, iron clothes

prepare the meal etc.

b. Do research: make hypotheses, collect data, analyze data, get

results, come to a conclusion.

EXERCISE 4

For each group of words given below, state what semantic property or

properties are shared by the words in group (i) and those in group (ii),

and what semantic property or properties distinguish between the

classes of (i) and (ii).

Ex: i/ widow, mother, sister, aunt, seamstress

ii/ widower, father, brother, uncle, tailor

the shared semantic property is human.

the different is: (i) => female; (ii) => male.

1. i. bachelor, man, son, paperboy, pope, uncle.

ii. bull, rooster, drake, ram, boar.

2. i. bitch, hen, doe, mare, ewe, vixen.

ii. actress, maiden, widow, woman, girl.

3. i. doctor, dean, professor, bachelor, parent.

ii. teenager, child, boy, baby, infant.

4. i. table, stone, pencil, cup, house, ship, car.

ii. milk, alcohol, rice, soup, mud.




5. i. book, temple, mountain, road, tractor.

ii. idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fear.

6. i. pine, elm, ash, wiping, willow, sycamore.

ii. rose, dandelion, carnation, tulip, daisy.

7. i. book, letter, encyclopedia, novel, notebook, dictionary.

ii. typewriter, pencil, ballpoint, crayon, quill, charcoal, chalk.

8. i. walk, run, skip, jump, hope, swim.

ii. fly, skate, ski, ride, cycle, canoe, hang-glide.

Exercise 5. Put the following words into different lexical fields.

Give each group a hypernym.

Cup – hammer – glass – nails – red – jug – wineglass – blue – purple

– boxing – scissors – football – knife – plastic cup – yellow –

badminton – pink – file – weightlifting – green – run – motor-racing –

crawl – walk – black – swim – vermilion – karate.

Exercise 6. Give a hypernym to the following strings of words. Cross out

the item(s) that does / do not belong to the same lexical field as the others.

1. acquire, buy, collect, win, sell, steal, rob.

2. whisper, talk, narrate, report, tell, instruct, brief.

3. road, path, way, street, method, freeway, avenue.

4. easy-going, sociable, well-mannered, friendly, sad, elegant,

courteous, strong.

5. smell, aroma, bouquet, perfume, fragrance, scent, odor, reek.




6. toast, boil, fry, fresh, grill, medium, bake, roast, steam.

7. cow, dog, cat, tiger, lion, ape, human, bird, whale, chicken.

8. sing, talk, dance, speak, shout, whisper, mutter, babble.

9. at, of, in, on, under, below, near.

10. square, circular, triangular, rectangular, spherical, hexagonal,

polygonal.

V. REFERENCE – REFERENT - SENSE

1. Definition

• Reference (sở chỉ) is the relationship between language and the

world. In other words, that is the relationship between words

and the things, actions, events, and qualities they stand for.

(Hurford & Heasley, 1983: 25)

Ex: My son: refers to a person; a dog: refers to an animal. (the

speaker stablishes a relation between an expression and an object).

• Referent (vật sở chỉ) is the thing the speaker is talking about,

the object referred to.

Ex: This page (the page I am reading itself, page 15)

The cassette player (the object on the table)

• Sense (ngh ĩ a) is the relationship between words in the language

to express the meaning.

Ex: The word ‘bachelor’ and ‘unmarried man’ have the same sense




To express the content / meaning of a word to a leaner, we may say

the word and show him an object to make him understand what the

word means. In this case we establish a relation between a word and

an object (between language and the world: reference). On the other

hand, we can also combine words together to express the meaning in

the form of a definition. We are establishing the relationship between

words in the language to express the sense.

Example: The word ‘desk’

R e f e r e n

c e

S e n s e an object of a surface and four legs used

for writing

2. Types of reference.

1) Variable Reference: same expression may refer to different

objects. For example:

“My mother” (referring to the mother of the speaker) may refer to

many different ladies depending on different speakers.

“Here” in the sentence “I am here” (referring to the place where thespeaker is standing) also can refer to different places depending on

different speakers.

Some clues of Variable Reference

Desk




• Possessive adjectives: my sister, your brother, the government’s

decision… Exception: John’s hat (not a referring expression

because it refers to the hat of John only regardless the speaker).

• Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns: this, that, these, those,

… (this page, that book that car is mine…)

• Personal pronouns: I, You, He, Me, Him…

• Adverbs of place/ time: here, there, then, today, yesterday, now,

at the station,

• Articles: the boy in the corner; I want to buy a car.

2) Same Reference: different expressions refer to the same object.

Examples:

• Uncle Ho – Ho Chi Minh – Nguyen Ai Quoc - Nguyen Sinh

Cung – Nguyen Tat Thanh: all refer to the same person.

• HCM City and Saigon: both refer to the same city.• My father is a teacher: both underlined groups of words refer to

the same person.

• We chose John leader. John and leader refer to the same

person.

• The Morning Star and The Evening Star. Both refer to the same

star.

3) Constant Reference: one expression always refers to the same

object, (regardless who is the speaker).

• Proper names, especially geographical names: John, Smith,

David, Vietnam, Laos …




• Unique things: the sun, the moon, the earth, the east, the west,

Halley’s Comet,

4) No reference: an expression which is meaningful but does notrefer to anything.

• Function words: and, but, if, almost, …

• Imaginary characters: Batman, Dragon, Superman, Snow

White, Taám Caùm, …

• The objects that do not exist now.

Ex: The king of France is bald (France does not have any king

nowadays)

The Queen of Vietnam nowadays is a Cambodian. (no VN

queen now)

Exercise 7. Answer the following questions.

1. Does the moon normally have constant reference? Yes / No

2. Does The People’s Republic of China normally have constant

reference? Yes / No

3. Does Angola normally have constant reference? Yes / No

4. Does Haley’s Comet normally constant reference? Yes / No

5. If we are talking about a situation in which John is standing alone

in the corner, can John have the same referent as the person in the

corner ? Yes / No




Exercise 8

What is intended by the word mean, meaning, meant … in the

following examples, reference (R) or sense (S)?

1. When Helen mentioned “the fruit cake”, she meant that rock-hard

object in the middle of the table. R / S

2. When Albert talks about “his former friend” he means me. R / S

3. Daddy, what does unique mean? R / S

4. Purchase has the same meaning as buy. R / S

5. Look up the meaning of apoplexy in your dictionary. R / S

6. If you look out of the window now, you’ll see who I mean. R / S

7. ‘’I’m sorry to have disturbed you – when I said ‘Will you move

your chair?’, I didn’t mean you, I meant Patrick here.” R / S

8. If you look up ochlocracy, you’ll find it means government by the

mob. R / S

Exercise 9

1. Give an example of an expression that could have variable reference.

2. Give an example of an expression that always has constant reference.

3. Give an example of different expressions that having one referent.

4. Give an example of an expression that has no reference.




Exercise 10. Which of the following is a correct description of

‘reference’?

(a) a relationship between expressions and other expressions whichhave the same meaning.

(b) the set of all objects which can potentially be referred to by an

expression.

(c) a relationship between a particular object in the world and an

expression used in an utterance to pick that object out.

Exercise 11. Which of the following is a correct statement about ‘sense’?

(a) All words in a language may be used to refer, but only some

words have sense.

(b) If two expressions have the same referent, they always have the

same sense.

(c) The sense of an expression is its relationship to semantically

equivalent or semantically related expression in the same language.

Exercise 12. Answer the following questions by choosing Yes or No

1. Imagine that you and I are in a room with a man and a woman,and, making no visual signal of any sort, I say to you, “The man stole

my wallet”. In this situation, can you identify the referent of the

expression the man ? Yes / No

2. Can the referent of the pronoun I be uniquely identified when this

pronoun is uttered? Yes / No




3. Can the referent of the pronoun you be uniquely identified when

this pronoun is uttered? Yes / No

VI. REFERRING EXPRESSIONS

1. Definition: A referring expression ‘is any expression used in an

utterance to refer to someone or something particular . (Hurford &

Heasley, 1983: 35) (on the part of the speaker)

Ex: + When a speaker says, ‘My father” he has a particular person in

mind => my father is a referring expression.

+ The name Fred in the utterance “Fred hit me”, where the

speaker has a particular person in mind, is a referring expression.

+ Fred in “There is no Fred at this address” is not a referring

expression because in this case the speaker would not have a

particular person in mind.

2. Some clues of referring expression

• Possessive: my friend, Paul’s hat, …

• Demonstrative: this book, that machine, …

• Proper name: Smith, David, Vietnam …

• Personal Pronouns (only when being uttered): I, You, He, …

• Constant Reference (unique thing): the sun, the moon, the earth,

the east, the west, Halley’s Comet, …

• Past tense: helps to recognize Referring Expression

Ex: I saw a boy yesterday

I want to go fishing on the lake




My sister is a singer

Yesterday, I met a singer

I’m looking for a car to buy

I bought a car in a showroom on Nguyen Hue Street.

3. Not a referring expression

• Something general: family, society, people, …

• Representative of social classes or species: the poor, the rich, the

elephant, dogs, cats, …

• Profession/ Job: singer, teacher, lawyer, …

Ex: The singer in “The singer I admire most is SilkBlack” is a RE

because it refers to a particular person.

A singer in “My sister is a singer” is not a RE because it is a

job in general.

Note: Whether an expression is a referring expression or not is

heavil y dependent linguistic context and on circumstances of

utterance.

Exercise 13

Could the following possibly be used as referring expressions?

1. John yes / no

2. my uncle yes / no

3. and yes / no




4. the girl sitting there yes / no

5. a man yes / no

6. my parents yes / no

7. send yes / no

8. under yes / no

Exercise 14. Underline the referring expressions in the following

sentences

1. A man was in here looking for you last night.

2. The first sign of the monsoon is a cloud on the horizon no bigger

than a man’s hand.

3. Forty buses have been withdrawn from service by the Liverpool

Corporation.

4. This engine has the power of forty buses.

5. Yesterday, Nancy married a Norwegian.

6. My sister also wants to marry a Norwegian.

7. John is looking for a car to buy.

8. Dick believes that a man with a limp killed Bo Peep.

9. The police officer said that a man with a limp killed Bo Peep.

10. Every evening at sunset, a swan flew over my house.

11. The man who shot Abraham Lincoln was an unemployed actor.




12. If anyone ever marry Nancy, he’s in for a bad time.

13. The poor are the ones who suffer most from the disasters all over

the world.

14. I saw a boy climb over the fence last night.

15. Don’t come near the frontier. You may be hurt by a bullet.

16. You can’t get married with such a boy!

17. My hobby is to go fishing with friends when the sun appears in the East.

18. It was thought for many centuries that the world was flat.

19. The book you gave me on Teacher’s Day was worth reading.

20. My parents expected me to send them some gift on their wedding

anniversary, but I didn’t because of my forgetfulness.

21. The parachute is a device to help people to land safely on the ground.

22. While the soldier was moving through the frontier, a bullet stroke

him on the head.

23. Nowadays, there are many TV programs very useful for children’s

education.

24. The teacher let his students come back home early because of the

coming storm.

25. Nutritionists recommended that children should eat foods from

each of the four basic groups.




VII. TYPES OF MEANING

A. WORD MEANING

1. Denotative / Descriptive / Referential meaning

The denotative meaning (nghóa sôû thò) of a word is the central

meaning of the word found in a dictionary. It is the meaning that may

be described in terms of a set of semantic features that serve to

identify the particular concept associated with the word.

It is also called descriptive because it describes an object, an event, a

state or an affair, and referential meaning as it refers us to something

in the world.

Ex: A pig: a domestic animal, 4 legs, hairy, usually raised for meat

A father: a male adult, married, having children …

2. Connotative / Social / Affective meaning

The connotative meaning (nghóa lieân töôûng) of a word is the

implied, additional meaning that the word has beyond its denotative

meaning. It shows people’s emotions and / or attitudes towards what

the word refers to. This meaning may vary from individual to

individual, and community to community. That’s why connotative

meaning is also called social or affective meaning.

Ex: + The word pig in “He is a pig” may means connotatively:




He is a pig => - Lazy

- Greedy

- Stupid

- Dirty

+ As connotative meaning, the word woman may means

positively devotion, patience, generosity …, and negatively frailty,

inconstancy, irrationality …

B. SENTENCE MEANING

1. Linguistic / literal meaning (nghóa ñen)

The linguistic meaning of a sentence depends on:

- The sum of meanings of constituent words

- The syntactic function (subject, object,...)

- The semantic role

Compare the following sentences:

(1) The lion bit the hunter.

(2) The hunter bit the lion.

(3) The hunter was bitten by the lion

To understand the meaning of the sentences, we must know the

meanings of the words ‘lion, bite, hunter’. However, we can use

exactly the same words to form different sentences with the same or

different meanings.

(1) The lion bit the hunter # (2) The hunter bit the lion S O S O




The two sentences (1) & (2) have different meanings because the

words have different syntactic functions.

(2) The hunter bit the lion # (3) The hunter was bitten by the lion. S O S O

The sentences (2) & (3) have different meanings although the words

have the same syntactic functions.

(1) The lion bit the hunter = (3) The hunter was bitten by the lion. S O S O

The sentences (1) & (3) have the same meaning although the words

have different syntactic functions. What makes the meaning of the

two sentences similar or different? It is what is called semantic roles,

the third factor making up the meaning of a sentence.

SEMANTIC ROLES

a. Definition

A semantic role is the role performed by a noun phrase in relation

to the verb.

b. Types

o Agent: the one that initiates an action (person/ animal + action verb)

Ex: Paul opened the door

o Patient: the one that is affected by the action

Ex: Paul opens the door

The door opened at the first blow of wind




Paul is boiling water

Water boils at 100O C

o Experiencer: the one that experiences a feeling/ sensation/

perception …

(person / animal + non-action verb)

Ex: Paul loves Mary

I recognize that I’m wrong

The boy wants a candy

The teacher remembers meeting me somewhere

o Stimulus: the one that causes a feeling / sensation

Ex: Paul loves Mary

I’m afraid of ghost

The book of the teacher makes me very happy

The film interests me a lot

o Recipient (the receiver): the one that receives a physical object

Ex: He gave me a book last night

o Benefactive (the benefactor): the one that benefits from an action

Ex: I do all this for you

I sent him a gift for his son




o Instrument: the one that is used to perform an action (implying

a user)

Ex: I open the door with a hammer

Paul used a key to open the door

o Cause: the one that causes an action to happen (not implying a user)

Ex: The door opened suddenly at the blow of the wind

Paul was hurt with a knife (implying someone used a knife to hurt him)I

Paul was hurt by a knife (not implying a user of the knife)C

o Locative: the place where an action happens

Ex: I was born in Dalat

HCM city is a good place to live

o Temporal: the time when an action happens

Ex: Yesterday, I saw you at the supermarket

Coming back to the 3 previous examples, we see:

(1) The lion bit the hunter # (2) The hunter bit the lion S/A O/P S/A O/P

(2) The hunter bit the lion # (3) The hunter was bitten by the lion. S/A O/P S/P O/A

The above sentences have different meanings because they have

different semantic roles although they may have the same syntactic

functions (2) & (3).




(1) The lion bit the hunter = (3) The hunter was bitten by the lion. S/A O/P S/P O/A

The two sentences have the same meaning because they have the same

semantic roles although the syntactic functions are different.

Exercise 15. Identify the semantic role of the noun phrases in the

following sentences

1. The student couldn’t finish the assignment because the library

was closed.

2. The couple raced the horses through the meadow yesterday

morning.

3. The teacher was angered by the rowdy students.

4. I recall hearing my brother say that.

5. Tom lent me enough money to pay the rent.

6. At the reunion he ran into his cousin Karl.

7. The farmer went to the field before dawn.8. The building was constructed in a commercial zone.

9. A big tree was rooted up by the storm last night.

10. I enjoy reading books in my free time.

11. The immigrants picked strawberries in the early June.

12. He never turned in his budget report on time.

13. The unlucky customer had the undercooked meat sent back tothe chef.

14. Traffic was backed up at the intersection because of the

accident.

15. I’m very glad to meet you here after so many years.

16. The book you gave me on Teacher’s Day was worth reading.

17. An unfair attitude toward the poor will contribute to the

problem of poverty.




18. After the yolk is separated from the white, it must be boiled

immediately.

19. Nutritionists recommended that foods from each of the four

basic groups be eaten regularly.

20. It was thought for many centuries that the world was flat.

21. His ingenuity never ceases to amaze me.

22. The hurricane destroyed half of the island.

23. Angela offered the job to her former rival.

24. In the morning we left San Francisco for Austin.

25. Zelda gets angry whenever Scott lies her.

26. The remains will be shipped to Cleveland on Wednesday.

27. The boy seems to be interested in the film shown at NH cinema

last night.

28. He hates being disturbed at table.

29. As the storm raged, the waves grew higher and higher.

30. He enjoys going fishing on the lake at sunset.31. The snow melts at the morning sunshine.

32. The chickens are ready for us to eat in 5 minutes.

33. Do you like the book I sent you?

34. Acid can dissolve a corpse in 5 minutes.

35. The man who loves her must be insane.

36. Alan was sent a special gift on her birthday.

37. Many TV programs today help students to improve their study a

lot.

38. The prisoner killed the guard then disappeared into the forest.

39. The beer made from rice drinks very well.

40. Putting one hand in the pocket, he walked around the front yard.

41. Joining the club is a good way of meeting new people.

42. She wants to know if anyone has an umbrella to lend her.




43. Harold doesn’t like making speeches in font of the class.

44. Trembling with fear, she opened the letter.

45. Delayed by the bad weather, the plane arrived in Hanoi one

hour late.

46. My first job, cleaning the floor, made me exhausted.

47. The door ajar made the girl worried.

48. We watched the brown river swollen with rain.

49. A house surrounded by a large, deep ditch provides us with a

safe shelter.

50. This bed sleeps comfortably.

2. Semantic meaning & pragmatic meaning (ngh ĩ a ngữ ngh ĩ a &

ngh ĩ a ngữ dụng)

a. Semantic meaning: the meaning of a sentence out of context /

context-free. It is the linguistic meaning of a sentence.

b. Pragmatic meaning: the meaning of an utterance in a particular

situation. Pragmatic meaning is context-dependent.

Ex 1: A: Would you like to go out with me?

B: I have a lot of homework to do.

I have a lot of homework to do

=> semantic meaning: the teacher gave me a lot of assignments to do

at home.

=> pragmatic meaning: I’m sorry. I’m very busy. I’m afraid that I

have to refuse your invitation.

Ex 2: Oh! It’s too noisy




=> semantic meaning: there is a lot of noise here.

=> pragmatic meaning: Please, keep silent!

3. Figures of speech / non-literal meaning / figurative meaning

A figure of speech is ‘a word or phrase which is used for special

effect, and which doesn’t have its usual or literal meaning’. (Richards.

Platt & Weber. 1987: 105)

Types of figures of speech

Simile /’s1m1l1/ (tỉ dụ): direct / explicit comparison using

comparison words (like, as) or comparison form.

Ex: He eats like a tiger (he eats as much as a tiger does.)

He is as poor as a church mouse (he is very poor)

Metaphor /’met6f6/ (ẩn dụ): indirect / implied comparison (no

comparison words)

• Dead metaphor : a metaphor which has lost its metaphoric

characteristic and become a fixed expression or idiom. Ex:

the eye of a needle; the head quarter; the foot of the

mountain; the leg of the table; the mouth of the river; the

face of the table; the back of the chair; the childhood of

the earth etc.

A dead metaphor is used naturally and unconsciously by a

native speaker of a language. Ex: đầu giườ ng; chân ghề; mặt

trái xoan; mắt bồ câu ; tr ăng lưỡ i liềm; etc,




• Live metaphor : a metaphor used consciously, intentionally

by a speaker with various figurative meanings. Ex: ‘He is

a pig’ may be interpreted as he is fat; he is lazy; he is

stupid; he is dirty etc. depending on the situation in which

it is used.

Usually there is a metaphor when one:

• Puts 2 different species on the same rank.

Ex: He is an old fox (a person = an animal) (he is very wicked )

He is a rock in storm (a person = a thing) (he is a strong-

minded person)

• Applies a feature of one species for another.

Ex: + Have you digested the lesson yet? ‘digest’ is a

term usually used for food, now is used for study => the

speaker compares the process of eating and digesting

food with that of learning and understanding lessons.

(Have you carefully understood the lesson yet?)

+ He apes your betters. ‘ape’, a term used for animal

is here used for a person => the speaker compares a person whousually imitates others with an ape whose characteristic is to

imitate. (He imitates your betters.)

+ He bottled up his feelings. ‘bottle’ a term usually used

for the process of making different kinds of drink or wine

etc. is used here for feelings. (He hid / concealed his

feelings.)




Irony (mỉa mai nhẹ nhàng): Saying the opposite of one’s

thought for emphasis, for fun or mocking.

Ex: + He is so kind that he let all the housework for me to do.(he is not kind at all)

+ He is so intelligent that no examiner has agreed to pass

him so far. (he is rather stupid. )

Sarcasm /’sa:k%z6m / (châm biếm chua cay, bất mãn): bitter

irony; sneeringly ironical remarks to hurt somebody’s feelings.

Ex: + “The more I know about human beings, the more I want to

be an animal” (Jungle Boy) (Human beings are worse than

animal!)

+ “ Oh yes, we know how clever you are!” “Well, Mr. Know-

it-all, What’s the answer this tine?”

Synecdoche /s1’nekd6ki/ (caûi dung): substitution of the whole

for the part & vice versa

Ex:+ Vietnam won the football match (VN is used to refer to

VN football team; whole for part)

+ I don’t want you to come under my roof (= my house)

(part for whole)

+ This work requires an intelligent brain (= person)

+ The war has robbed 2,000 souls of the village (= people)




Metonymy (hoán dụ): substitution of related words

Ex: The kettle is boiling. (= the water)

The disease has cut off his breath. (= his life)

Ways to identify a metonymy:

• Container – Contained (vật chứa và vật đượ c chứa):

Ex: - Very thirsty, he gulped down the whole bottle (=

water in the bottle)

- As the teacher entered the room, the whole class stand

up (all the students in the class)

• Author – Works (tác giả và tác phẩm)

Ex: Have you read Khái H ư ng yet? (= the novels of Khái Hưng)

This is not a Picasso (= a painting by Picasso)

• Profession – Means (nghề nghiệ p & phươ ng tiện)

Ex: - I live on my pen (= by writing)

- My Tyson lives on his gloves (= by boxing)

• Symbol - Reality (biểu tượ ng & thực tại)

• Ex: - He tries his best to win her heart (= her love)

- He succeeded to the crown. (= the royal office, … thừa k ế

ngai vàng)

- He has the tongue of king. (= the talent of tasting food)




- She has an ear for music. (= the talent for learning,

appreciating… music)

• Material – Object made of it (vật chất và vật dụng)

- All our glass is kept in the cupboard. (= vessels and

objects made of glass)

- You can get our gold in the upper drawer. (= jewelry

made of gold)

Personification (nhaân caùch hoùa): Endowing an inanimate

object with human qualities.

Ex: - The leaves are dancing in the morning wind. (=

moving)

- The waves tore the ship into pieces. (= destroyed

completely)

Hyperbole /ha1’p3:b6l1/ (cöôøng ñieäu): overstatement or

exaggeration

Ex: - I’m so hungry that I can swallow a cow (= extremely

hungry)

- I’ve invited millions of people to my party (= a lot of)

- I haven’t seen you for ages. (= a long time)

Euphemism /’ju:f6m1z6m/ (uyeån ngöõ, noùi traùnh): the use

of pleasant, mild , comforting, or indirect expression for one

that is taboo, negative, offensive or too direct.




Ex: - Could you tell me where the restroom is? (= toilet)

- His father has just passed away (= died)

- Caught by a cold, he went to the fathers. (= died)

Exercise 16. Identify the type of figure of speech used in the

following sentences then give their literal meaning.

1. My hands are as cold as ice.

2. I’ll make him eat his word.

3. He is the best pen of the day.

4. She has a good head of business.

5. Their Majesty died a year ago.

6. She usually sheds floods of tears whenever she is upset.

7. We need a force of a thousand rifles.

8. You are a mist that appears for a little while and the vanishes.

9. He washed his hand out of the matter.

10. He looks as though he hasn’t had a square meal for months.

11. Who brought fire and sword into our country?

12. Why don’t you recognize the power of the purse?

13. I found the 52 pounds of books you let for me to carry. Your

kindness really moves me.

14. The man is a demon for work.

15. They organized a fleet of 50 sails.

16. She is a girl of 20 summers.

17. When you takes that course, plan to study 30 hours a day.

18. The wind howled angrily around the house all night.

19. Grey hairs should be respected.

20. Spare the rod, spoil the child.21. Don’t live in such a sea of doubt.




22. When the White House called, the ambassador came at once.

23. My dormitory room is like a cave.

24. Come to the dormitory and see what a cave I live in.

25. If you are not happy with the service, go and talk to the City Hall.

26. The princess captures the heats of the nation.

27. He has a kind heart.

28. The river ate the bank away.

29. The captain was in charge of 100 horses.

30. You can depend on Paul; he is a rock when trouble comes.

31. Life is a dream.

32. Research says that these methods are best.

33. Little Susie is a picture of loveliness in her new dress.

34. There was a storm in Parliament last night.

35. He worked and worked until he breathed his last.

36. We are tired to death of such movies.

37. His words can be trusted.38. The boss gave her a hot look.

39. He could not bridle his anger.

40. The organization is keeping the brake on pay rises.

41. Death is laying his icy hand on the Queen.

42. The pen is mightier than the sword.

43. A camel is a ship in a desert.

44. Your charm and good looks exceed your wit.

45. With friends like you, who needs enemies.

46. You have to pay the earth for such a masterpiece!

47. Luck almost always turns back to those who dare not face

difficulty.

48. A dead leaf fell in my lap. That was Jack Frost’s card.

49. The ship plowed the sea.




50. The captain exploded with rage when the soldiers disobeyed him.

VIII. MEANING PROPERTIES / CHARACTERISTICS

1. Anomaly / non-sense

Anomaly is ‘a violation of semantic rules to create nonsense.’

(Finegan, 1993: 148)

Ex: + The toothbrush is pregnant. Literally, this sentence is

semantically anomalous because it contains a contradiction.

(toothbrush includes +thing while pregnant includes +female, a

feature that a thing can not have)

+ My brother is an only child. (The same, this sentence is

semantically anomalous because the word brother requires that an

individual must have at least one sibling while the word only excludes

this meaning).

An anomalous sentence conforms to all the grammar rules of the

language. It is grammatically correct and syntactically perfect, but

semantically anomalous because it breaks the rules of semantics.

Literally it is nonsensical, but in some context, it is understandable, of

course figuratively. In contrast, a sentence in which the words are

joined randomly has no meaning / no sense / meaningless. For

example, Ceasar is and or. This type of sentence is ungrammatical.

Here are some more examples of anomaly:

+ Colorless green ideas are sleeping furiously.

+ The sorrow is chewing my bones.

+ John frightened a tree.




+ She sliced the ideas.

+ Honesty plays golf.

+ Christopher is killing phonemes.

+ The tiger remained alive for an hour after the hunter killed it.

+ My brother is a spinster (unmarried woman).

+ The boy swallowed the chocolate and then chew it.

+ Puppies are human.

+ Jack’s courage chewed the bones.

2. Ambiguity

a. Definition. A word, a phrase, or a sentence is ambiguous when it

has more than one meaning.

Ex: A ring (may mean a phone call or an object offered as a gift to a

lover: engaging ring..)

At the bank (of a river or a financial institution)

He greeted the girl with a smile. (the boy was smiling or the girl

was smiling)

b. Types of ambiguity

Lexical Ambiguity : containing an ambiguous word (có 1 từ

dị ngh ĩ a: cùng loại từ nhưng khác ngh ĩ a)




Ex: She gave me a ring last night

nhẫn = wedding ring

cú điện thoại = phone call

Don’t seat on those glasses

ly = glasses for drinking

maét kính = eye-glasses

Structural Ambiguity : caused by structure

• Grouping Ambiguity: the words in the sentence can be put

into different groups.

Ex: Old men and women left.

=> [old men] & [women] left

[old] [men & women] left

Ex: An old girl’s bicycle.

=> [old girl’s] [bicycle]

[old] [girl’s bicycle]

Ex: He greeted the girl with a smile.

=> He greeted the girl with a smile

Ex: I met John going to the cinema

=> I met John going to the cinema




• Function Ambiguity: a sentence containing 1 word with

different functions.

Ex: I love Laura more than you S: … more than you love her

O: … more than I love you

Ex: Visiting relatives can be boring S: the relatives who are visiting…

O: to visit relatives …

Ex: He gave her dog meat her: determiner /modifier of dog.

her: personal pro / indirect object.

3. Some common forms of structural ambiguity

a. Grouping Ambiguity

Adj N & N Ex: Old men and women.

=> Repeat the Adj (AN & AN): Old men & old women

=> Change their positions (N & A N): Women and old men.

Adj N N Ex: A small arms factory.

=> A N PP : A small factory of arms.

=> N PP ( Prep + A + N) : A factory of small arms.

Adj N’s N Ex: A large woman’s garment.

=> A N PP : A large garment for women.

=> N PP (Prep + A + N) : A garment for large woman.




V N PP Ex: I saw the boy with a telescope.

=> PP as nominal modifier : Replace PP by Adj. C. = I saw a

boy who had a telescope.

=> PP as verbal modifier : Move PP to the beginning = With a

telescope, I saw the boy.

V N -ing P Ex: I met John going to the cinema.

=> -ing P as nominal modifier : Replace –ing P by AC = I met

John who was going to the cinema.

=> -ing P as verbal modifier : Move –ing P to the beginning =

Going to the cinema, I met John.

V N N A C Ex: There’s a cafeù in TB district

which I like.

(the AC may modify the 1st N or the 2nd N => change the position

of AC)

In TB district, there’s a cafeù which I like (which I like

modifies cafeù)

In TB district, which I like, there’s a cafeù ( AC modifies

district)

V Adv V Ex: Those who sold quickly made a profit.

(quickly may modify sold or made => change the position of the

Adverb)

Those who quickly sold made a profit. (quickly modifies sold)




Those who sold made a profit quickly. (quickly modifies made)

N Adv V Ex: My brother especially likes going fishing.

( especially may modifies brother or likes going fishing => change

the position of Adv)

Especially my brother likes going fishing. (= many people like

it especially my brother)

My brother likes going fishing particularly. (= my brother likes

different things especially going fishing)

b. Function Ambiguity

-ing Phrase. Ex: Visiting relatives can be boring

Visiting is a gerund => relatives is its DO and visiting relatives

is a GP / S

+ Replace Gerund by an infinitive: To visit relatives can be

boring.

Visiting is a present participle modifying relatives => visiting

relatives is a NP/S

+ Replace Present participle by an AC: The relatives who arevisiting can be boring.

Comparative form (than, as) Ex: I loves Mary more than you

Subject: add auxiliary verb => I love Mary more than you do.

Object: repeat verb => I love Mary more than love you.

Sentence Pattern: one sentence may be of two different patterns




Ex: He found Peter a helper.

Pattern 8: He found Peter a helper. => He found a helper for Peter.IO DO

Pattern 9: He found Peter a helper. => He considered Peter as his helper.DO OC

Adj. Pattern: Be – Adj – to Inf. Ex: The chicken is ready to eat.

S: The chicken is ready to eat food. (the chicken eats food)

O: The chicken is ready for us to eat. (we eat the chicken)

The chicken is ready to be eaten.

One word with different parts of speech

Ex: He gave her dog meat Det. modifies dog => He gave meat to her dog

Pronoun IO => He gave dog meat to her

Ex: The detective looked hard Adj (P4): hard / SC = … looked severe /strict.

Adv (P6) hard / M / Aval = lookedcarefully.

Exercise 17. Identify the type of ambiguity and give two possible

paraphrases to make the meaning clear.

1. This pen is empty.

2. Are the chicken ready to eat?

3. Do you want to try on that dress in the window?




4. This old car needs new brakes and anti-freezer.

5. Don’t sit on those glasses.

6. I understand money matters.

7. I know clever people like you.

8. The dog looked at the snake longer than the cat.

9. The police searched for the car with broken headlights.

10. I hate the hunter’s shooting.

11. Visiting relatives can be boring.

12. We need nutritious food and drink.




13. We feed the pigs in clean clothes.

14. I need the criminal lawyer.

15. I like ice-cream more than you.

16. I found a bat in the attic.

17. He gave her dog meat.

18. Leave the chairs on the veranda.

19. I met a man with a dog that had fleas.

20. Oh, that’s just a crazy lawyer’s idea.

21. The FCC intends to eliminate sex and race bias in TV

advertising.




22. You should eat more nutritious food.

23. He considered the applicant hard.

24. I found her a doll.

25. They watched the hunter with the binoculars.

26. She spied the dog on the corner.

27. Joan is easy to please.

28. Molly told Angela about herself.

29. She gave him a ring last night.

30. The car coasted into the garage with the lights on.




31. The dog bit several people in the crowd.

32. Tristan left directions for Isolde to follow.

33. She can’t bear children.

34. It takes a good ruler to make a straight line.

35. He saw that petrol can explode.

36. Is he really that kind?

37. They are cooking apples.

38. This is not a Raphael’s painting.

39. The policeman is talking about Mr. Thompson’s murder.




40. My grandfather is a small farmer.

41. He is a poor student.

42. The guard turned out a drunkard.

43. I am getting her socks.

44. The man gave the library books.

45. It was a little pasty.

46. He accepted Wednesday.

47. Thorn taught himself during his young manhood.

48. The doctor made them well.




49. She taught the group singing.

50. Our spaniel made a good friend.

51. The judges designated the girl winner.

52. Mary called her mother.

53. My father is a foreign language teacher.

54. My friend is an old car enthusiast.

55. The rabbit also enjoys our lettuce.

56. The members only are allowed to buy beer.

57. I gave her an old girl’s bicycle.




58. He promised to call me at 10 o’clock.

59. Paula is a girl hunter.

60. She is a baby sitter.

61. I found a book on HN station.

62. Everyday passengers enjoy a meal like this.

63. I considered those errors.

64. It was a plot to sell industrial secrets worth millions to the ABC

company.

65. He passed the hammer and saw through the window.




IX. MEANING RELATION

1. WORD RELATION: the relation between the meanings of two words.

Synonymy: Two words of the same or almost the same

denotative / referential meaning.

Test: A= B

Ex: broad = wide; movie = film; deep = profound;

buy = purchase

However, these words differ in their connotative / social / affective

meaning. For example, film is usually British, referring to classic

movies or art movies; meanwhile, movie is American.

Partial Synonym: a word that share one of the meanings with another.

Ex1: There are different ways / methods to do this.

But: To go to BH, there is only one way (not method)

Ex2: You have my deep / profound sympathy

But: This river is very deep.

Ex3: This cheese is ripe / mature enough for us to eat.

But: This fruit is ripe enough (not mature)

The boy is mature enough (not ripe)

Ex4: We can fill this container with soil / earth.

But: The rocket fell back to earth (not to soil)




Antonymy: Two words of opposite meaning.

Types of Antonym:

• Gradable Antonym

Two words are ‘gradable antonyms if they are at opposite

ends of a continuous scale of values (Hurford & Heasley.

1983:118). In other words, there are intermediate grades /

levels between the two extremes. For example,

Hot <= warm <= lukewarm <= cool <= cold

Love <= be fond of <= like <= be indifferent <= dislike <= hate

Test: very/ how? + Adj/ Adv much / very much / how

much+ Verb

Ex1: Old # Young => How old is he? – He is very old

Ex2: Love # Hate => How much do you love her? – Very much!

• Complementary / Non-gradable / Binary Antonym

Two words are complementary antonyms when they exclude each

other. In other words, ‘if one word is applicable, then the other cannot

be.’ (Hurford & Heasley. 1983:114)

Test: A = not B (and vice versa)

Ex1: alive # dead => alive = not dead

Ex2: open # close => close = not open

Ex3: fail # pass => fail = not pass




• Relational Antonym / Converses:

Two words are relational antonyms when they describe the same

relationship but they are mentioned in the opposite order. (Hurford &Heasley. 1983:116)

Test: if A is … of B; then B is … of A

Ex1: husband # wife => If A is husband of B; then B is wife of A.

Ex2: teacher # student => If A is the teacher of B; then B is a

student of A.

Ex3: buy # sell => If A sells a car to B; then B buys the car from A.

There are other words which are mutually opposite or incompatible,

but they cannot be put into one of the three types above. They form a

system called system of multiple incompatibility or oppositions. These

systems may have two or many members. For example:

Ex1: Season system: Spring – Summer – Autumn – Winter.

Ex2: Physical state system: Solid – Gas – Liquid.

Ex3: University student system: Freshman – Sophomore – Junior – Senior.

Ex4: Primary element system: Earth – Air – Water – Fire.

Homophone: words of the same sound, different spellings, and

different meanings

Ex: you – ewe meat – meet flour – flower

our – hour too – two meat – meet




Homograph: words of the same spelling, different sounds,

different meanings

Ex: a present /’preznt/ – to present /pr1’zent/

the lead /led/ – to lead /li:d/

the wind /w1nd/ – to wind /w@1nd/

Homonym: words of the same sound, same spelling, different

meanings.

Ex: bank (n): ngaân haøng – bank (n): bôø soâng

bear (n): con gaáu – bear (v): mang, chòu

fine (adj): toát ñeïp – fine (n) tieàn phaït

Note: There is no relation between the meanings of homonyms.

Polysemy: one word with different but related meanings.

(There is something common among the meanings)

Ex: fork for eating

for gardening

of a road all share the same form of a fork

of a river

Hyponymy: The one way relationship between hyponyms and

hypernym (see lexical field). For example:

Human (B) Hypernym




Bachelor Father Mother Baby Uncle Sister

(B) Hyponyms

Test: A (Hypo) is a kind of B (Hyper)

Ex: A bachelor is a kind of human

A baby is a kind of human

Exercise 18 Identify the relation between the words in the following pairs

1. Same – Different 2. Dead – Alive

3. Love – Hate 4. Married – Unmarried

5. Hot – Cold 6. Buy – Sell

7. Liquid – Gas 8. Male – Female

9. Conceal – Reveal 10. Boy – Girl

11. Movie – Film 12. Rose – Flower

13. Bank (of a river) – Bank (for money)14. Meet – Meat

15. Oak – Tree 16. A bear – To bear

17. Own – Belong to 18. Clever – Stupid

19. Close – Next to 20. Flourish – Thrive

Hyponymy




21. Flog – Whip 22. Casual – Informal

Exercise 19. Decide whether the following words with their different

meanings are homonymy or polysemy.

1. Grass: herbage for grazing animals; marijuana

2. Leech: a bloodsucking worm; a hanger-on who seeks advantage

3. Range: a cooking stove; a series of mountains

4. Key: an instrument to open a clock an answer sheet for a test

5. Reel: a spool for photographic film round device at the butt end

of a fishing rod to the line.

6. Race: the act of running competitively; People belonging to the

same genetic group

7. Bark: of a dog of a tree

8. Fork: in a road an instrument for eating

9. Tail: of a coat of an animal

10. Steer: a young bull to guide

11. Lip: of a jug of a person

12. Punch: a blow with a fist a kind of alcoholic drink

Exercise 20. Are the following pairs converses?

1. Buy – Sell yes / no 2. Borrow – Lend yes / no

3. Give – Take yes / no 4. Come – Go yes / no




5. Give – Receive yes / no 6. Own – Belong to yes / no

7. Teacher – Student yes / no 8. Father – Mother yes / no

9. Uncle – Aunt yes / no 10. Landlady – Tenant yes / no

Exercise 21. Decide whether the following pairs of antonyms are

complementary, gradable, or relational.

1. Good – bad 2. Expensive – Cheep

3. Parent – Offspring 4. Beautiful – Ugly

5. False – True 6. Pass – Fail

7. Hot – Cold 8. Legal – Illegal

9. Larger – Smaller 10. Poor – Rich

11. Fast - Slow 12. Asleep – Awake

13. Husband – Wife 14. Rude – Polite

15. Below – Above 16. Grandparent – Grandchild

2. SENTENCE RELATION: The relation between the meanings of

two sentences.

Entailment: A sentence A entails a sentence B if the truth of B

follows necessarily from the truth of A. (Hurford & Heasley.

1983:107)




Test: A is true B is true

A entails B

Ex: I bought some roses I bought some flowers

John ate my biscuits Someone ate something

Paul killed Bill Bill died

However,

He eats all my roses He eats all my flowers

He did not eat my roses He did not eat my flowers

I saw a mouse I saw an animal

I saw a big mouse I saw an animal

But, I saw a big mouse # I saw a big animal (not entailment of

any direction)

Contradiction: 2 sentences are contradictory if it is impossible

for them both to be true at the same time and of the same

circumstances. (Hurford & Heasley. 1983:119) In other words,

they contradict / exclude each other.

Ex: I am a bachelor & I am a father

This ant is alive & This ant is dead

John killed Bill & Bill is still alive

Mary is my sister & I am the only child in the family

one-way relation




Paraphrase: A paraphrase of a sentence is a sentence which

expresses the same proposition as another sentence. (Hurford &

Heasley. 1983:114)

A paraphrase of a sentence is another sentence that has virtually

the same meaning. (Peccei, 1999:3)

Sentences are paraphrases if they have the same meaning (except

possibly for minor differences in emphasis. (Fromkin & Rodman,

1993: 132)

Types of paraphrase

• Lexical: Paraphrases that contains synonyms (same

structure, different words but synonyms)

Ex: I’m very happy to see you

I’m very glad to see you

The house was concealed by the trees

The house was hidden by the trees

• Structural: Two sentences of different structure but same

meaning. The difference in structure is not enough to

change the meaning.

Ex: The lion bit the hunter

The hunter was bitten by the lion

Paul opened the door with a key




Paul used a key to open the door

SOME WAYS TO PARAPHRASE A SENTENCE

a) Voice: Active Passive

Ex: The mother bought her daughter a dress

The daughter was bought a dress by her mother.

A dress was bought for the daughter by her mother.

Notes :

• Only transitive verbs can be put into passive, but not any

transitive verb can.

• Give –type verbs (give, buy, offer, send, show, lend, hand,

throw, etc.) have two ways of transforming into passive.

Ex: She gave him a book He was given a book

A book was given to him

• Explain-type verbs (explain, deliver, introduce, describe,

read, write, sing ) have only one way of transforming into

passive.

Ex: The teacher explained the lesson to the students

The lesson was explained to the students

Not: The students were explained the lesson.

b) Modifier - Adjectival (Modifier of a noun -> Nominal

Modifier) Phrase Clause




The woman who is wearing a blue dress is my teacher.AdjC/M/Ajal

wearing a blue dressPres PP/M/Ajal

in a blue dressPP/M/Adjal

dressed in bluePastP/M/Ajal

c) Modifier - Adverbial (Modifies the other parts of speech

except Noun)

• Phrase Clause

Ex: I hate to be disturbed at tablePP/M/Aval

while I was eatingAdvC/M/Aval

I don’t like to be disturb while having mealPP/M/Aval

• Change the position of Aval:

Ex: I study English to get a good jobInfP/M/Aval

In order to get a good job, I study English

InfP/M/Aval

d) Simple Complex Compound basing on the

relationship between the two sentences.

• “in” maëc treân ngöôøi

• “with” mang, xaùch, ñoäi, ñeo, gaùnh, vaùc• “with” ñaëc ñieåm veà theå lyù• “of” tuoåi taùc, tính tình




Relationship among different linking units

Type Preposition Coordinate

Conj.

Subordinate

Conj.

Transition

WordsCause-

Effect

Because of;

due to

for (cause);

so (result)

because; since;

as …

Therefore,

Opposition/

Concession

In spite of;

despite

but; though;

although;

even though

however; yet

nevertheless

Condition with; without;

in case of

or if; even if

unless

otherwise

Note:

• A simple sentence usually needs a preposition and a noun /

pronoun / noun phrase

• A complex sentence requires a subordinate conjunction

and a subordinate clause

• A compound sentence needs a coordinate conjunction

preceded by a comma, or a semi-colon followed by a

transition word and a comma

Ex1: It rains heavily. I stay at home.

• Simple

Due to heavy rain, I stay at home.PP/M/Aval

• Complex




Since it rains heavily, I stay at home.AvC/M/Aval

• Compound

It rains heavily, so I stay at home.

It rains heavily; therefore, I stay at home.

Ex2: You are beautiful. Nobody can deny it (replacing the previous sentence)Pr/DO/Nal

• Simple

Nobody can deny your beauty NP/DO/NAl

Everybody admits your beauty NP/DO/Nal

• Complex

Nobody can deny that you are beautiful. NC/DO/Nal

Everybody admits that you are beautiful. NC/DO/Nal

It’s undeniable that you are beautiful. NC/S/NAl

You are so beautiful that no body can deny.AvC/M/Aval

• Compound

You are beautiful, and nobody denies it

e) Formal Subject Real Subject

Ex: To understand you is difficult It’s difficult to understand you.




f) Inf Gerund

Ex: To come late disturbs everybody Coming late disturbs everybody

Seeing is believing To see is to believe

Note: An infinitive is usually used for something general or particular

while a gerund is used for something general. To talk about

something particular, we should use a possessive word.

Ex: Your being late / John’s being late annoys everybody.

g) Adjective Patterns

• Be –Adj – to inf. (Pat. 1)

• Be – Adj – PP – to inf (Pat. 2)

• Be – Adj – that clause (Pat. 3)

Ex1: Pat. 1: I am very happy to see you.

Pat. 2: It is very happy for me to see you.

Pat. 3: I am very happy that I see you.

Ex: It is very cold outside. Nobody can go out.

Pat. 1: It is too cold outside to go out

Pat. 2: It is too cold outside for us (/anybody) to go out

Pat. 3: It is so cold outside that nobody can go out




h) Inversion

• Negative/ Semi-negative: not only, never, no sooner, in no

circumstances,…• Semi-negative words: hardly, rarely, seldom, …

I not only love you but also want to marry you

=> Not only do I love you but also want to marry you

He does not come home until he gets what he wants

=> Not until he gets what he wants does he come home

• Only, So, …

I only marry you when you graduate from University

=> Only when you graduate from University, do I marry you

You are so nice that nobody can help loving you

=> So nice are you that nobody can help loving you

• Adverb for emphasis: here, there ….

If the subject is a noun -> inversion ; If the subject is a pronoun -> no inversion

The wall came down with a crash

=> Down came the wall with a crash!

But: Down it came with a crash. (no inversion)




The bus comes there

=> There comes the bus

But: There he comes! (no inversion)

i) Opposition (although, though …)

However + Adj/Adv

Adj/Adv + A

Whatever + N

Although you try very hard, you can never win her heart.

=> However hard you may try, you can never win her heart

Although you earn a lot of money, you can never satisfy her

needs

=> Much as you may earn, you can never satisfy her needs

Although he is very poor, he lives happily

=> Poor as he is, he lives happily

j) Condition: should, were, had

If there should be something wrong (with the TV), call me

=> Should there be something wrong (with the TV), call me

If I were/ was (informal) you, …

=> Were I you, …




If I had been here yesterday,…

=> Had I been here yesterday, …

X. TYPES OF SENTENCES BASING ON TRUE / FALSE

• Analytic: always true because the sentence includes the answer

Ex: A cat is an animal

A rose is a kind of flowers

• Synthetic: may be true or false depending on the reality

Ex: Cats can live till 20 years

• Contradictory: always false (containing 2 words that

contradict each other)

Ex: My father is a bachelor

My aunt is a man

Exercise 22

Identify the following sentences as A (analytic); S (synthetic); or C

(contradictory)

1. Cats are animals A / S / C

2. Bachelors are unmarried A / S / C

3. Cats never live more than 20 years A / S / C

4. Bachelors cannot form lasting relationships A / S / C




5. Cats are vegetables A / S / C

6. Bachelors are female A / S / C

7. No cats like to bathe A / S / C

8. Bachelors are lonely A / S / C

Exercise 23

In the following sentences, write a C by the contradictory sentences

and an F by the sentences that are false due to the circumstance.

1. My aunt is a man

2. Witches are wicked

3. My brother is an only child

4. The evening star isn’t the morning star

5. The evening star isn’t the evening star

6. Babies are adults

7. Babies can lift one ton

8. Puppies are human

9. My bachelor friends are all married

10. My bachelor friends are all lonely




Exercise 24 Identify the relations of the following pairs of sentences

as P (paraphrase); E (entailment); or C (contradiction)

1. a/ John is the parent of James

b/ James is the child of John P / E / C

2. a/ John is the parent of James

b/ James is the parent of John P / E / C

3. a/ My father owns this car

b/ This car belongs to my father P / E / C

4. a/ Some countries have no coastline

b/ Not all countries have a coastline P / E / C

5. a/ No one has led a perfect life

b/ Some people have led a perfect life P / E / C

6. a/ I ran to the house

b/ I went to the house P / E / C

7. a/ The house was concealed by the trees

b/ The house was hidden by the trees P / E / C

8. a/ It is hard to lasso elephants

b/ Elephants are hard to lasso P / E / C

9. a/ John murdered Bill




b/ John did not kill Bill P / E / C

10. a/ John murdered Bill

b/ Bill was murdered by John P / E / C

11. a/ I saw Terry at the anniversary party

b/ It was Terry that I saw at the anniversary party P / E / C

12. a/ Jules is Mary’s husband

b/ Mary is married P / E / C

13. a/ Vera is an only child

b/ Olga is Vera’s sister P / E / C

14. a/ It is 50 miles to the nearest service station

b/ The nearest service station is 50 miles away P / E / C

15. a/ My cousin Brian teaches at the community college for a living

b/ My cousin Brian is a teacher P / E / C

Exercise 25. What is the relationship between the A sentences and the

B sentences below?

A B

Henry was not chewing a tulip

David did not steal a pound of beef

Henry was not chewing a flower

David did not take a pound of beef

Denis did not get savaged by a sheep David did not get savaged by an animal




A B

Henry chew up all my tulips

All Denis’s sheep have foot-rot

Henry chew up all my flowers

All Denis’s animals have foot-rot

Exercise 26. What are the relations between the following sentences?

A B

John saw a big mouse

A tall pygmy came in

We went in a small bus

John saw a big animal

a tall person came in

We went in a small vehicle

Exercise 27. Look at the following sentences and choose C (correct)

or I (incorrect)

1. John cooked an egg entails John boiled an egg C / I

2. John boiled an egg entails John cooked an egg C / I

3. I saw a boy entails I saw a person C / I

4. John stole a car entails John took a car C / I

5. His speech disturbed me entails his speech deeply disturbed me

C / I

Exercise 28. Paraphrase the following sentences

1. To stay objective in such a situation is really hard.

2. This exercise is a piece of cake for us.




3. He is blamed for not keeping his words.

4. This task is more demanding than the previous one.

5. I met John at the cinema last night.

6. My pencil no longer has an eraser.

7. I bought my sister a dress on her birthday.

8. They loaded hay onto the truck.

9. She is so nice that nobody can help loving her.

10. You are beautiful. Nobody can deny it.

11. To finish this work within an hour is not easy at all.




12. If only I studied more math…

13. She hurried out the door, already late for the meeting.

14. To find everything ready was really a pleasant change.

15. Justin spent a year in Spain and came back speaking Spanish

fluently.

16. At the snack-bar; that’s where you can get a good hamburger.

17. I couldn’t go to the game without a ticket.

18. There are few part-time jobs now available for students.

19. Cindy is a wonderful friend, so thoughtful and sincere.

20. Such an enormous crowd has rarely been at the airport.




21. You are not in any circumstances to reveal the source of

information.

22. They were so upset that they could hardly speak.

23. Most of the exam papers were easy enough for all the students to

answer.

24. He plays the violin so well that he could perform at a concert.

25. I would have visited you, but I didn’t know that you were at home.




PART 2: PRAGMATICS

I. DEFINITION

Semantics and Pragmatics

Semantics is the study of language meaning . In other words, we

study “the relationships between linguistic forms (language) and

entities in the world (Yule, 1996: 4). This meaning is the meaningexpressed by the words in the sentence which is out of context

(context-free) and is called semantic meaning or linguistic meaning /

literal meaning.

Pragmatics, on the contrary, is the study of language use. In other

words, it is “the study of the relationships between linguistics form

(language) and the users of those forms (Yule, 1996: 4). This

meaning is the meaning that a speaker wants to convey through an

utterance in a particular context (context-bound ) and is called

pragmatic meaning or speaker meaning.

Pragmatics is thus the study of speaker meaning or the study of

contextual meaning (Yule, 1996: 3).

II. SPEECH ACT haønh vi ngoân töø)

1. Definition

Speech acts are actions performed via utterances. In English, speech acts

are commonly given more specific labels, such as apology, complaint,

compliment, invitation, promise, or request… (Yule, 1996: 47).




People do not only produce utterances containing grammatical

structures and words, but they perform actions through those

utterances. For example, when a boss tells an unwanted guest, “The

door is right behind you!” he does not want to make a statement about

the location of the door, but he uses the utterance to perform the act of

putting the guest out of his room.

2. Components of a speech act

The action performed through an utterance (speech act) consists of 3

related acts:

a. Locutionary act: the act of making an utterance, of

producing a meaningful linguistic expression.

b. Illocutionary act: the intention / purpose of the speaker

when making an utterance (also known as the illocutionary

force of the utterance)

c. Perlocutionary act: the effect of the utterance on the hearer

(also known as the perlocutionary effect) (Yule, 1996: 48-

49).

Ex: (1) -“ Oh, it’s very cold in here!”

• Locutionary act: the act of making the utterance “Oh, it’s very

cold in here”

• Illocutionary act: the speaker wants someone to close the door

and windows.

• Perlocutionary act: someone goes to close the windows and

door.




Of these three acts, the most discussed is illocutionary act. The term

‘speech act’ is generally interpreted quite narrowly to mean only the

illocutionary force of the utterance. The illocutionary force of an

utterance is what it ‘counts as’. The same locutionary act, as shown

in (1) above, may count as a statement, a complaint, a request,… This

depends on the situation in which the utterance is made.

III. SPEECH EVENT / SITUATION

A speech event / situation is a particular circumstance surrounding

the utterance in which the speaker normally expects that his or her

communicative intention will be recognized by the hearer. In many

ways, it is the nature of the speech event that determines the

interpretation of an utterance as performing a particular speech act.

Components of a speech event / speech situation

1. Setting: time + place

2. Participants: people involved in a speech event ( Speaker, Hearer)

3. Role relationships: the relationship between speaker & hearer.

4. The message: what is conveyed.

5. The key: tone, manner, spirit (irony, humor, seriousness …)

It is the speech situation that helps to identify the illocutionary act of

the speaker (what the speaker wants).

Ex: “There’s a piece of fish on the table.”




Situation 1:

At noon, a girl comes home from school late. All the family have had

lunch. Entering the house, she addressed her mother,

“- Mom, I am very hungry. Is there something to eat?

- There’s a piece of fish on the table.”

The mother wants to reassure the daughter that her lunch has not

been forgotten and suggests her having fish for lunch.

Situation 2:

At 10:00, the mother comes home from the market. She puts her bag

on the table in the kitchen and tells her daughter, “Mary, there’s a

piece of fish on the table.”

The mother wants her daughter to prepare the lunch.

Situation 3:

A couple enter a restaurant. They come to a table in a corner to take a

seat, but on the table, there’s some fish left. They tell a waiter,

“There’s a piece of fish on the table!”

They complain to the waiter that the table has not been cleaned

properly and want him to clean it.

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH ACT

Direct speech act: When there is a direct relationship between a

structure and a function, we have a direct speech act. (the intent of the

speaker is expressed directly, overtly).




Indirect speech act: When there is an indirect relationship between

a structure and a function, we have an indirect speech act.

Ex: a. Keep silent! (imperative structure; ordering / requestingfunction: Direct)

b. It is getting noisy! (statement structure; requesting function:

Indirect)

c. Do you drink tea? (interrogative structure; questioning

function: Direct)

d. Would you like some tea? (interrogative structure; offering

function: Indirect)

IV. TYPES OF SPEECH ACT

1. Declaratives: the speech acts that change the world via their

utterance (blessing, announcing, arresting, naming, marrying, firing,

dismissing,…)

Ex: a. Priest: “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

(announcement)

b. Referee: “You’re out!” (announcement)

c. Jury Foreman: “We find the defendant guilty.” (announcement)

2. Representatives: the speech acts that state what the speaker

believes to be the case or not (statement, assertion, conclusion,

description, claim, report, hypothesis,…)

Ex: a. The earth is flat.

b. Chomsky didn’t write about peanuts. (statement)




c. It was a warm sunny day. (statement)

d. We will have a 3-day holiday. (the leader of the class: report)

e. The robber might have escaped by the window. (hypothesis)

3. Expressives: the speech acts that state what the speaker feels

(statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, sorrow, greetings,

apologies, congratulations, condolences, thanks, wish, complaint,

compliment, leave taking, saying goodbye, admiration, irony,

mocking, …)

Ex: a. I’m really sorry.

b. Congratulations! (congratulation)

c. Oh, yes, great, mmmm ! (joyful approval)

4. Directives: the speech acts that speakers use to get someone else

to do something (orders, commands, requests, suggestions, asking,advice, giving permission, giving way, warning, offer, complaint,

threat, urge, challenge, invitation,…)

Ex: a. Give me a cup of coffee. Make it black.

b. Would you like a cup of coffee? (offer)

c. I can’t stand the fans! (indirect request)

5. Commissives: the speech acts that speakers use to commit

themselves to some future action (promises, vow, threats, refusals,

acceptation, offers, …)

Ex: a. I’ll be back. (promise)




b. I won’t do it again. (promise)

c. I want to, but I have to finish this report right now. (refusal)

Exercise 29. Identify the illocutionary act (speaker’s intent) of the

following utterances and decide whether it is a direct or indirect

speech act.

1. May I talk to Mary? =>

2. Clean up this mess. =>

3. I’m very thirsty. =>

4. There’s a good film on at NH cinema. =>

5. Would you mind opening the window? =>

6. Do you have to stand in front of the TV? =>

7. Do you have a minute?

What’s up?

I can’t start the machine. =>




8. Turn on the fans, please. =>

Exercise 30. Give a possible situation for the following utterances,

then identify the illocutionary acts and classified them into different

types of speech act.

1. Clean up this mess.

2. I’m very thirsty.

3. There’s a good film on at NH cinema.

4. Would you mind opening the window?

5. Do you have to stand in front of the TV?

6. I love you so much.

7. Do you have a minute? – Yes? - I can’t start the machine.




8. Out!

9. What a nice girl!

10. I’ll see you later.

11. Oh, it’s too hot in here.

12. I wish I were you!

13. This bag is too heavy. I can’t carry it.

14. The gun is loaded.

15. There’s a piece of fish on the table.

16. Would you like a cup of tea?




17. After you, Madam.

18. I’m awfully sorry. I wasn’t at the meeting this morning.

19. You can play outside for half an hour.

20. You cannot bring the food into the classroom.

21. Have a good day.

22. Hi, John. Nice to meet you.

23. Mr. John, you are arrested.

24. The robber might have escaped by a helicopter.

25. If you’ll wait for a minute, I’ll see if the boss could see you.

26. Why don’t you ask her for help?




27. If you come late one more time, you’ll be sacked!

28. I’ve never really got on with my noisy neighbor.

29. I’m sorry. I really don’t understand what you mean.

30. I have to finish this report right now.

31. I don’t know why she behaved so strangely.

32. If you smoke in here, you’ll be fined.

33. This is a non-smoking room Sir.

34. May you be happy for ever.

35. The light went out. We can do nothing at home now.




36. We are going to have a 3-month vacation!

37. Tony, don’t you know what time it is now?

38. You are so beautiful in that purple dress!

39. I’d love to give you an open-book exam, but we have to follow

the regulations of the school.

40. I love you, but I haven’t graduated from the university yet.

V. THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE

Conversation to be effective needs the cooperation of the speaker and

the hearer. In other words, successful conversation proceeds

according to principles called Cooperative Principles. According to

this principle, we interpret language on the assumption that the

speaker is obeying 4 maxims (sub-principles) as shown in the

following:

The maxims

Quantity (informativeness)




• Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the

current purposes of the exchange)

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

Quality Try to make your contribution one that is true.

• Do not say what you believe to be false.

• Do not say what for which you lack adequate evidence.

Relation Be relevant. (Relavance)

Manner Be perspicuous.

• Avoid obscurity of expression.

• Avoid ambiguity.

• Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).

• Be orderly. (Yule, 1996: 37 following Grice 1975)

Exercise 31. Are the following conversations cooperative? Which

maxim is violated?

1. - Policeman at the front door: “Is your father or mother at home?”

- Small boy (who knows that his father is at home): “Either my

mother’s gone out shopping or she hasn’t.”

2. - Traffic garden to motorist parked on double yellow line: “ is this

your car?”

- Motorist (looking at the black clouds): “ I think it’s going to rain.”




3. - Customer in stationery shop: “Could you tell me where I could

buy some felt-tip pens?”

- Shop girl( who knows she has felt-tip pens in stock): “ Yes, youcould get some at Woolworths, down the street.”

4. - Mother: “Now tell me the truth. Who put the ferret in the

bathtub?”

- Son (who knows who did it): “Someone put it there.”

VI. IMPLICATURE (hàm ngôn)

1. Definition

Implicature is used by Grice (1975) to account for what a speaker

can imply, suggest, or mean, as from what the speaker literally

says. Implicature is an additional conveyed meaning.

Ex: - Students: “Sir, how are our final exams?”

- Teacher: “Few of you passed.”

Implicature: Not many / most of you passed. (many of you failed)

2. Types of Implicature

a. Conversational implicature

An implicature based on the assumption that the participants respect

the cooperative principles.

Ex 1: A: “I hope you brought the bread and the cheese.”

B: “ I brought the cheese.”




Implicature: B did not bring the bread (quantity / informativeness maxim)

Ex 2: A: “ Is the boss in?”

B: “ The light in his office is still on.”

Implicature: The boss is still in the office (relation / relevance maxim)

b. Scalar implicature

An implicature based on scales: when any form in a scale is

asserted, the negative of all forms higher on the scale is implicated.

• Quantity scale: No one – Few – A few – Some – Many – Most

– All

• Frequency scale: Never – Rarely – Seldom – Sometimes –

Often – Usually – Always.

• Possibility scale: Possible – probable – Almost certain –

Certain.

Ex 1: “Some students visited me yesterday”

Implicature: Not many / Not all … visited me yesterday

Ex 2: “ I seldom go swimming at KyDong swimming pool.”

Implicature: I do not often / always go swimming at KD swimming pool.

3. Conventional implicature

An implicature based on the convention associated with specific words.

Ex 1: “I tried my best to get the ticket.”

Implicature: I didn’t get the ticket (tried conventionally implicates failure)




Ex 2: “ The teacher hasn’t come yet.”

Implicature: The teacher is expected to come later. ( yet implicates to

be true later)

Ex 3: “Even the President came to the party.”

Implicature: That the President came to the party is out of expectation.

(even implicates contrary to expectation.

Exercise 32

Give a possible implicature of B’s utterance in each of the following situations.

1. A: “Did you buy salt?”

B: “I tried to.”

Implicature:

2. A: “Do any of John’s daughter speak a foreign language?”

B: “Mary speaks French.”

Implicature:

3. A: “Did many students visit you last weekend?”

B: “Some of the students came.”

Implicature:

4. A: “You and Jim must come to my house some evening.”

B: “Yes, we’d like to.”




A: “ Of course, you two don’t drink, do you?”

B: “Well, we don’t not drink.”

Implicature:

5. A: “Do you love me?”

B: “I’m quite fond of you.”

Implicature:

6. A: “Was there a fiddler at the bar last night?”

B: “ There was a man scraping a bow across a violin.”

Implicature:

7. A: “Do you like my new carpet?”

B: “The wallpaper’s much better.”

Implicature:

8. A: “Do you go to swimming pool everyday?”

B: “ Rarely.”

Implicature:

9. A: “How are Mr. John’s daughters?”

B: “ The youngest is OK.”

Implicature:




10. A: “My car’s broken down.”

B: “There is a garage round the corner.”

Implicature:

11. A: “What subjects is Jack taking?”

B: “He’s not taking Linguistics.”

Implicature:

12. A: “Have you brushed your teeth and tidied your room?”

B: “I’ve brushed my teeth.”

Implicature:

13. A: “Who was that man you were talking to?”

B: “That was my mother’s husband.”

Implicature:

14. A: “Has Betty gone to bed?”

B: “Her desk lamp is still on.”

Implicature:

15. A: “Let’s try the new Arab restaurant round the corner.”

B: “I’m a vegetarian.”

Implicature:




16. A: “Meet me at Piccadilly Circus at midnight”

B: “I’ll bring a bodyguard in that case.”

Implicature:

17. A: “Do you use your local swimming pool very much?”

B: “The salt water hurts my eyes.”

Implicature:

18. A: “How much do I owe you now?”

B: “I’ll have to get my calculator.”

Implicature:

Exercise 33. Choose the one that is the best implicature for the

following situations.

1. - Did you hear that Jeff has passed his oral exam?

- Finally.

a. Jeff agreed to take the oral exam again.

b. Jeff passed the oral exam and went on a vacation.

c. It took Jeff a long time to pass his oral exam.

d. Jeff didn’t take the oral exam.

2. - How do you like the new librarian at the information desk?

- You mean Ron? He’s been here as long as I have!




a. He has been waiting for Ron for a long time.

b. Ron is not a new librarian .

c. Ron did a lot of work for the man.

d. He needs to collect some information from Ron.

3. - Mary is going to give me a ride to the party.

- How could she? She doesn’t have her license yet.

a. Mary is going to the airport.

b. Mary is not going to the party.

c. Mary is not very kind.

d. Mary should not be driving.

4. -Would you like me to call a night escort?

- If possible.

a. She doesn’t need an escort.

b. She will call a night escort by herself.

c. She would like the man to get a night escort for her.

d. She’s afraid the man won’t help her.

5. -Do you accept credit card?

- Only if the charge is more than $15.




a. The fee for charging is more than $15.

b. He cannot use a credit card if he spends less than $15.

c. The store does not accept credit cards.

d. She cannot accept cash.

6. - I hope I can still register for the speech class.

- I heard there was a long waiting list.

a. The woman has to wait in line to register.

b. It may be too late for the woman to get into the speech class.

c. The woman needs to take another class before registering for

this class.

d. The woman should go by herself to sign up for the class.

7. - Dr. John, is it possible for the exam to be an open book exam?

- Well it would be OK with me, but we have to follow the

department regulations.

a. Students can bring their books to the exam.

b. Dr. John will be the next department chair.

c. Dr. John will probably not give an open book exam

d. It’s up to the students

8. - Could you take my phone calls for me while I am away?




- Sure, when will you be back?

a. He does not know how to take care of the phone.

b. He’s going to leave too.

c. He will answer the telephone for the woman.

d. He is coming back soon.

9. - Shall we sit here and talk?

- There is no better place than here.

a. It ‘s not a good place or time to talk.

b. I’m thinking about making this place better.

c. This is a good place for a conversation.

d. You’d better leave this place now.

10. - Maria, why did you get up so early today?

- I thought someone was coming over.

a. She was expecting someone to visit.

b. She didn’t like to get up early.

c. She got up early and went out.

d. Someone called her early in the morning.




11. - Usually Jim washes his car himself.

- Yeah, but this time he took his car to the carwash.

a. Jim washed his friend’s car.

b. Jim’s was not very well cleaned.

c. Jim didn’t wash his car this time.

d. Jim once had a job washing cars.

12. - I was hoping to take this class last fall.

- Me too, but we’re lucky to get in now.

a. The school offers more classes now.

b. This is a small section.

c. It’s difficult to get into this class.

d. Last fall the class was better.

13. - Bob, you’d better get down to the museum tomorrow if you want

to see the exhibit.

- Yeah, I don’t want to miss it again.

a. I will sit down and rest.

b. I will pay the money.

c. I will take the boat tour.

d. I will visit the exhibit.




14. - Do you usually drink so much water?

- Only after this much exercise.

a. He drinks a lot of water during the day.

b. He doesn’t usually drink so mush water.

c. He has never been so thirsty.

d. He likes soft drinks more than water.

15. - Hi, how’s it going?

- OK, but I can’t stand all the homework.

a. He is tired of standing up all day.

b. He is finishing his homework.

c. He has a lot of school work.

d. He has been working at home.

16. - Do you carry containers for a microwave oven?

- Umm … check the grocery store next to the gas station to see if

they have any.

a. This grocery store does not accept checks.

b. Check your shopping list while you are shopping.

c. This store doesn’t have what he wants.

d. Check to see if the grocery store is next to the gas station.




17. - Mr. Blake misread the bus schedule.

- So he was not able to get there in time.

a. He used the wrong bus schedule.

b. He’s going to get a bus schedule.

c. He likes to ride a bus.

d. He missed the bus.

18. - John has his hair cut every two weeks.

- But Peter has his hair cut every month.

a. John has his hair cut every month.

b. John has his hair cut twice as often as Peter does.

c. John had a hair cut two weeks ago.

d. This month Peter hasn’t had his hair cut.

19. - Pat, are your parents still supporting you?

- I’m on my own now.

a. She is financially independent now.

b. She needs a financial advisor.

c. She applied for a job last year.

d. She’s happy with her financial plan.




20. - How often do the buses run?

- Every half hour on weekdays, but I’m not sure about weekend.

a. The woman should check the bus schedule.

b. The buses stop running on Fridays.

c. The bus doesn’t stop at the corner.

d. The schedule on the corner is out-of-date.

VII. PRESUPPOSITION

1. Definition

A presupposition is:

-‘what a speaker or writer assumes that the receiver of the message

already knows’ (Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 228)

-‘anything the speaker assumes to be true before making the

utterance.’ (Pecci, 1999: 19)


a. Existential presupposition: assumes the existence of the

entities named.

Ex:

• Mary’s dog is cute >> (presupposes) Mary has a dog (the

dog exists)

• Your car is nice >> You have a car.




b. Factive presupposition: assumes some thing to be a fact (usually

with the verbs as know, realize, regret, be aware of, be glad …)

Ex:

• We regret telling him the news >> We told him the news

• She didn’t realized he was ill >> He was ill.

• I wasn’t aware that she was married >> She was married.

• It is odd that he left early >> He left early.

• I’m glad that it’s over >> It’s over.

c. Lexical presupposition: the use of some words conventionally

assumes the understood meaning.

Ex:

• He stopped smoking >> He used to smoke.

• They started complaining >> They weren’t complaining before.

• You’re late again >> You were late before.

d. Structural presupposition: the use of some structures assume

something to be true.

Ex:

• When did he leave? >> He left.

• Where did you buy the bike? >> You bought the bike.

• When did she get married? >> She got married.

e. Non-factive presupposition: one that is assumed not to be true(the verbs like: dream, imagine, pretend,…)




Ex:

• I dreamed that I was rich >> I was not rich.

• We imagined we were in Hawaii >> We were not inHawaii.

• He pretends to be ill >> He is not ill.

f. Counter-factual presupposition: what is presupposed is not

only not true, but is the opposite of what is true (contrary to facts)

Ex: If you were my friend, you would have helped me >> Youare not my friend.

Exercise 34: Give a possible presupposition for the following utterances.

1. I wish I were rich.

2. How was your wedding?

3. I remember posting your letter.

4. I won’t do it again.

5. Where did you see that film?




6. Try to give up smoking.

7. What subjects are you taking?

8. John’s cat is missing.

9. The garage on the corner is still open.

10. He pretends to be ill.

11. He tried to catch the train.

12. Had I been here yesterday.

13. Have some more tea.

14. The film was terrible.




15. You shouldn’t have seen that film.

16. My former sweat heart has just left for America.

17. I regret saying ‘no’ to your request.

18. Who broke the vase?

19. I’m going to apply for a job.

20. My sister is coming back to VN next week.

21. They are happy with the results of the final exam.

22. How fast was the car going when it ran the red light?

23. I imagined that you were ill.




24. Where is the car you took from John’s house?

25. Then you can give Monica a lift.

26. My neighbor is a widow.

27. Imagine you are a teacher.

28. When I get married, I will invite all of you.

29. Suppose you were a teacher.

30. They act as if they were my parents.

31. I regret sending that letter to you.

32. She keeps complaining like an old woman.




33. It’s a shame that you lie again.

34. It is going to be hot for some more weeks.

35. Have you seen John’s new car?




PART II

PRAGMATICS

I. DEFINITION

Syntax, semantics and pragmatics

Syntax is the study of the relationship between linguistic forms,

how they are arranged in sequence, and which sequences are

well-formed.

Semantics is the study of the relationship between linguistic

forms and entities in the world; that is how words literally

connect to things. This meaning is the meaning expressed by the

words in the sentence which is out of context (context-free) and is

called semantic meaning or linguistic meaning / literal meaning.

Pragmatics is the study of language use. In other words, it is “the

study of the relationships between linguistics form (language) and the

users of those forms (Yule, 1998). This meaning is the meaning that a

speaker wants to convey through an utterance in a particular context

(context-bound ) and is called pragmatic meaning or speaker meaning.

Pragmatics is thus the study of speaker meaning or the study of

contextual meaning (Yule, 1998)

There are the four areas that pragmatics is concerned with.

Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning.

Pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning.

Pragmatics is the study of how more gets




communicated than is said

Pragmatics is the study of the expression of relative

distance.

II. SPEECH ACT — SPEAKER MEANING

1. Definition

Speech acts are actions performed via utterances. In English speech

acts are commonly given more specific labels, such as apology,

complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, or request. Thesedescriptive terms for different kinds of speech acts apply to the

speaker's communicative intention in producing an utterance.

2. Components of a speech act

On any occasion, the action performed by producing an utterance will

consist of these related acts listed below.

The locutionary act, which corresponds to the utterance of a

sentence with a particular meaning.

The illocutionary act, which reflects the intent of the

speaker in uttering that sentence (to praise, criticize, warn,

ask, assert, demand, order, apologize, or threaten). The

purpose of the speaker, or illocutionary intent, is meaningful

and will ordinarily be recognized by hearers (or readers),

whether it is directly expressed or indirectly expressed.

And the perlocutionary act, which: involves the effect that the

speaker has on his or her addressees in uttering the sentence.




Utterances

I'll keep you inafter class

It’s hot here Would you like acup of coffee?

locutionary act Literal

meaning

I make

you stay

in school

later than

usual

Warm

temperatur

e of the

classroom

illocutionary

act

The social

function o

the utterance

a

warni

ng

A request to

turn down

the heat

A

complaint

An offer

perlocutionary

act

The result or

effect

silencing the

students

action of

turning down

the themostat

A request is

ignored

Causing the

hearer to think

that the speaker

is more generous

than he thought

3. Speech event

Speech events are circumstances surrounding the utterance in which

the speaker normally expects that his or her communicative intention

will be recognized by the hearer. In many ways, it is the nature of the




speech event that determines the interpretation of an utterance as

performing a particular speech act.

Components of a speech event / speech situation

1. Setting: time + place

2. Participants: people involved in a speech event ( Speaker, Hearer)

3. Role relationships: the relationship between speaker & hearer.

4. The message: what is conveyed.

5. The key: tone, manner, spirit (irony, humor, seriousness …)

It is the speech situation that helps to identify the illocutionary act of

the speaker (what the speaker wants).

Ex: “There’s a piece of fish on the table.”

Situation 1:

At noon, a girl comes home from school late. All the family have had

lunch. Entering the house, she addressed her mother,

“- Mom, I am very hungry. Is there something to eat?

- There’s a piece of fish on the table.”

The mother wants to reassure the daughter that her lunch has not

been forgotten and suggests her having fish for lunch.




Situation 2:

At 10:00, the mother comes home from the market. She puts her bag

on the table in the kitchen and tells her daughter, “Mary, there’s a piece of fish on the table.”

The mother wants her daughter to prepare the lunch.

Situation 3:

A couple enter a restaurant. They come to a table in a corner to take a

seat, but on the table, there’s some fish left. They tell a waiter,

“There’s a piece of fish on the table!”

They complain to the waiter that the table has not been cleaned

properly and want him to clean it.

4. Direct and Indirect Speech Act

Direct speech act: When there is a direct relationship between a

structure and a function, we have a direct speech act. (the intent of the

speaker is expressed directly, overtly).

Indirect speech act: When there is an indirect relationship between

a structure and a function, we have an indirect speech act.

Ex: a. Keep silent! (imperative structure; ordering / requesting

function: Direct)

e. It is getting noisy! (statement structure; requesting function:

Indirect)

f. Do you drink tea? (interrogative structure; questioning

function: Direct)




g. Would you like some tea? (interrogative structure; offering

function: Indirect)

5. Speech Act Classification

One general classification system lists five types of general

functions performed by speech acts: declarations, representatives,

expressives, directives, and commissives

1. Declaratives: the speech acts that change the world via their

utterance (blessing, announcing, arresting, naming, marrying,firing, dismissing,…)

Ex:

a. Priest: “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

(announcement)

b.

Referee: “You’re out!” (announcement)c. Jury Foreman: “We find the defendant guilty.”

(announcement)

2. Representatives: the speech acts that state what the speaker

believes to be the case or not (statement, assertion, conclusion,

description, claim, report, hypothesis,…)

Ex:

a. The earth is flat.

b. Chomsky didn’t write about peanuts. (statement)

c. It was a warm sunny day. (statement)

d. We will have a 3-day holiday. (the leader of the class: report)




e. The robber might have escaped by the window.

(hypothesis)

3. Expressives: the speech acts that state what the speaker feels(statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, sorrow,

greetings, apologies, congratulations, condolences, thanks,

wish, complaint, compliment, leave taking, saying goodbye,

admiration, irony, mocking, …)

Ex:

a. I’m really sorry.

b. Congratulations! (congratulation)

c. Oh, yes, great, mmmm ! (joyful approval)

4. Directives: the speech acts that speakers use to get someone

else to do something (orders, commands, requests, suggestions,

asking, advice, giving permission, giving way, warning, offer,

complaint, threat, urge, challenge, invitation,…)

Ex:

a. Give me a cup of coffee. Make it black.

b. Would you like a cup of coffee? (offer)

c. I can’t stand the fans! (indirect request)

5. Commissives: the speech acts that speakers use to commit

themselves to some future action (promises, vow, threats,

refusals, acceptation, offers, …)

Ex:

a. I’ll be back. (promise)




b. I won’t do it again. (promise)

c. I want to, but I have to finish this report right

now. (refusal)

Exercise 29. Identify the illocutionary act (speaker’s intent) of the

following utterances and decide whether it is a direct or indirect

speech act.

1. May I talk to Mary? =>

2. Clean up this mess. =>

3. I’m very thirsty. =>

4. There’s a good film on at NH cinema. =>

5. Would you mind opening the window? =>

6. Do you have to stand in front of the TV? =>

7. Do you have a minute?

What’s up?

I can’t start the machine. =>




8. Turn on the fans, please. =>

Exercise 30. Give a possible situation for the following utterances,

then identify the illocutionary acts and classified them into different

types of speech act.

1. Clean up this mess.

2. I’m very thirsty.

3. There’s a good film on at NH cinema.

4. Would you mind opening the window?

5. Do you have to stand in front of the TV?

6. I love you so much.

7. Do you have a minute? – Yes? - I can’t start the machine.




8. Out!

9. What a nice girl!

10. I’ll see you later.

11. Oh, it’s too hot in here.

12. I wish I were you!

13. This bag is too heavy. I can’t carry it.

14. The gun is loaded.

15. There’s a piece of fish on the table.

16. Would you like a cup of tea?




17. After you, Madam.

18. I’m awfully sorry. I wasn’t at the meeting this morning.

19. You can play outside for half an hour.

20. You cannot bring the food into the classroom.

21. Have a good day.

22. Hi, John. Nice to meet you.

23. Mr. John, you are arrested.

24. The robber might have escaped by a helicopter.

25. If you’ll wait for a minute, I’ll see if the boss could see you.




26. Why don’t you ask her for help?

27. If you come late one more time, you’ll be sacked!

28. I’ve never really got on with my noisy neighbor.

29. I’m sorry. I really don’t understand what you mean.

30. I have to finish this report right now.

31. I don’t know why she behaved so strangely.

32. If you smoke in here, you’ll be fined.

33. This is a non-smoking room Sir.

34. May you be happy for ever.




The maxims

Quantity (informativeness)

• Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the

current purposes of the exchange)

• Do not make your contribution more informative than is

required.

Quality Try to make your contribution one that is true.

• Do not say what you believe to be false.

• Do not say what for which you lack adequate evidence.

Relation Be relevant. (Relavance)

Manner Be perspicuous.

• Avoid obscurity of expression.

• Avoid ambiguity.

• Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).

• Be orderly. (Yule, 1996: 37 following Grice 1975)

Exercise 31. Are the following conversations cooperative? Which

maxim is violated?

1. - Policeman at the front door: “Is your father or mother at home?”

- Small boy (who knows that his father is at home): “Either my

mother’s gone out shopping or she hasn’t.”




2. - Traffic garden to motorist parked on double yellow line: “ is this

your car?”

- Motorist (looking at the black clouds): “ I think it’s going to rain.”

3. - Customer in stationery shop: “Could you tell me where I could

buy some felt-tip pens?”

- Shop girl( who knows she has felt-tip pens in stock): “ Yes, you

could get some at Woolworths, down the street.”

4. - Mother: “Now tell me the truth. Who put the ferret in the bathtub?”

- Son (who knows who did it): “Someone put it there.”

IV. IMPLICATURE

1. Definition

Implicature is used by Grice (1975) to account for what a speaker

can imply, suggest, or mean, as from what the speaker literally

says. Implicature is an additional conveyed meaning.

Ex: - Students: “Sir, how are our final exams?”

- Teacher: “Few of you passed.”

Implicature: Not many / most of you passed. (many of you failed)

2. Types of Implicature

a. Conversational implicature

An implicature based on the assumption that the participants

respect the cooperative principles.




Ex 1: A: “I hope you brought the bread and the cheese.”

B: “ I brought the cheese.”

Implicature: B did not bring the bread (quantity / informativeness maxim)

Ex 2: A: “ Is the boss in?”

B: “ The light in his office is still on.”

Implicature: The boss is still in the office (relation / relevance maxim)

b. Scalar implicature

An implicature based on scales: when any form in a scale is asserted,

the negative of all forms higher on the scale is implicated.

• Quantity scale: No one – Few – A few – Some – Many – Most

– All

• Frequency scale: Never – Rarely – Seldom – Sometimes –

Often – Usually – Always.

• Possibility scale: Possible – probable – Almost certain –

Certain.

Ex 1: “Some students visited me yesterday”

Implicature: Not many / Not all … visited me yesterday

Ex 2: “ I seldom go swimming at KyDong swimming pool.”

Implicature: I do not often / always go swimming at KD swimming pool.




3. Conventional implicature

An implicature based on the convention associated with specific words.

Ex 1: “I tried my best to get the ticket.”

Implicature: I didn’t get the ticket (tried conventionally implicates failure)

Ex 2: “ The teacher hasn’t come yet.”

Implicature: The teacher is expected to come later. ( yet implicates to

be true later)

Ex 3: “Even the President came to the party.”

Implicature: That the President came to the party is out of expectation.

(even implicates contrary to expectation).

Exercise 32

Give a possible implicature of B’s utterance in each of the following

situations.

1. A: “Did you buy salt?”

B: “I tried to.”

Implicature:

2. A: “Do any of John’s daughter speak a foreign language?”

B: “Mary speaks French.”

Implicature:

3. A: “Did many students visit you last weekend?”




B: “Some of the students came.”

Implicature:

4. A: “You and Jim must come to my house some evening.”

B: “Yes, we’d like to.”

A: “ Of course, you two don’t drink, do you?”

B: “Well, we don’t not drink.”

Implicature:

5. A: “Do you love me?”

B: “I’m quite fond of you.”

Implicature:

6. A: “Was there a fiddler at the bar last night?”

B: “ There was a man scraping a bow across a violin.”

Implicature:

7. A: “Do you like my new carpet?”

B: “The wallpaper’s much better.”

Implicature:

8. A: “Do you go to swimming pool everyday?”

B: “ Rarely.”




Implicature:

9. A: “How are Mr. John’s daughters?”

B: “ The youngest is OK.”

Implicature:

10. A: “My car’s broken down.”

B: “There is a garage round the corner.”

Implicature:

11. A: “What subjects is Jack taking?”

B: “He’s not taking Linguistics.”

Implicature:

12. A: “Have you brushed your teeth and tidied your room?”

B: “I’ve brushed my teeth.”

Implicature:

13. A: “Who was that man you were talking to?”

B: “That was my mother’s husband.”

Implicature:

14. A: “Has Betty gone to bed?”

B: “Her desk lamp is still on.”




Implicature:

15. A: “Let’s try the new Arab restaurant round the corner.”

B: “I’m a vegetarian.”

Implicature:

16. A: “Meet me at Piccadilly Circus at midnight”

B: “I’ll bring a bodyguard in that case.”

Implicature:

17. A: “Do you use your local swimming pool very much?”

B: “The salt water hurts my eyes.”

Implicature:

18. A: “How much do I owe you now?”

B: “I’ll have to get my calculator.”

Implicature:

Exercise 33. Choose the one that is the best implicature for the

following situations.

1. - Did you hear that Jeff has passed his oral exam?

- Finally.

a. Jeff agreed to take the oral exam again.

b. Jeff passed the oral exam and went on a vacation.




c. It took Jeff a long time to pass his oral exam.

d. Jeff didn’t take the oral exam.

2. - How do you like the new librarian at the information desk?

- You mean Ron? He’s been here as long as I have!

a. He has been waiting for Ron for a long time.

b. Ron is not a new librarian .

c. Ron did a lot of work for the man.

d. He needs to collect some information from Ron.

3. - Mary is going to give me a ride to the party.

- How could she? She doesn’t have her license yet.

a. Mary is going to the airport.

b. Mary is not going to the party.

c. Mary is not very kind.

d. Mary should not be driving.

4. -Would you like me to call a night escort?

- If possible.

a. She doesn’t need an escort.

b. She will call a night escort by herself.




c. She would like the man to get a night escort for her.

d. She’s afraid the man won’t help her.

5. -Do you accept credit card?

- Only if the charge is more than $15.

a. The fee for charging is more than $15.

b. He cannot use a credit card if he spends less than $15.

c. The store does not accept credit cards.

d. She cannot accept cash.

6. - I hope I can still register for the speech class.

- I heard there was a long waiting list.

a. The woman has to wait in line to register.

b. It may be too late for the woman to get into the speech class.

c. The woman needs to take another class before registering for

this class.

d. The woman should go by herself to sign up for the class.

7. - Dr. John, is it possible for the exam to be an open book exam?

- Well it would be OK with me, but we have to follow the

department regulations.

a. Students can bring their books to the exam.




b. Dr. John will be the next department chair.

c. Dr. John will probably not give an open book exam

d. It’s up to the students

8. - Could you take my phone calls for me while I am away?

- Sure, when will you be back?

a. He does not know how to take care of the phone.

b. He’s going to leave too.

c. He will answer the telephone for the woman.

d. He is coming back soon.

9. - Shall we sit here and talk?

- There is no better place than here.

a. It ‘s not a good place or time to talk.

b. I’m thinking about making this place better.

c. This is a good place for a conversation.

d. You’d better leave this place now.

10. - Maria, why did you get up so early today?

- I thought someone was coming over.

a. She was expecting someone to visit.




b. She didn’t like to get up early.

c. She got up early and went out.

d. Someone called her early in the morning.

11. - Usually Jim washes his car himself.

- Yeah, but this time he took his car to the carwash.

a. Jim washed his friend’s car.

b. Jim’s was not very well cleaned.

c. Jim didn’t wash his car this time.

d. Jim once had a job washing cars.

12. - I was hoping to take this class last fall.

- Me too, but we’re lucky to get in now.

a. The school offers more classes now.

b. This is a small section.

c. It’s difficult to get into this class.

d. Last fall the class was better.

13. - Bob, you’d better get down to the museum tomorrow if you want

to see the exhibit.

- Yeah, I don’t want to miss it again.

a. I will sit down and rest.




b. I will pay the money.

c. I will take the boat tour.

d. I will visit the exhibit.

14. - Do you usually drink so much water?

- Only after this much exercise.

a. He drinks a lot of water during the day.

b. He doesn’t usually drink so mush water.

c. He has never been so thirsty.

d. He likes soft drinks more than water.

15. - Hi, how’s it going?

- OK, but I can’t stand all the homework.

a. He is tired of standing up all day.

b. He is finishing his homework.

c. He has a lot of school work.

d. He has been working at home.

16. - Do you carry containers for a microwave oven?

- Umm … check the grocery store next to the gas station to see if

they have any.

a. This grocery store does not accept checks.




b. Check your shopping list while you are shopping.

c. This store doesn’t have what he wants.

d. Check to see if the grocery store is next to the gas station.

17. - Mr. Blake misread the bus schedule.

- So he was not able to get there in time.

a. He used the wrong bus schedule.

b. He’s going to get a bus schedule.

c. He likes to ride a bus.

d. He missed the bus.

18. - John has his hair cut every two weeks.

- But Peter has his hair cut every month.

a. John has his hair cut every month.

b. John has his hair cut twice as often as Peter does.

c. John had a hair cut two weeks ago.

d. This month Peter hasn’t had his hair cut.

19. - Pat, are your parents still supporting you?

- I’m on my own now.

a. She is financially independent now.




b. She needs a financial advisor.

c. She applied for a job last year.

d. She’s happy with her financial plan.

20. - How often do the buses run?

- Every half hour on weekdays, but I’m not sure about weekend.

a. The woman should check the bus schedule.

b. The buses stop running on Fridays.

c. The bus doesn’t stop at the corner.

d. The schedule on the corner is out-of-date.

V. PRESUPPOSITION

1. Definition

The speaker always communicates more than is said (Yule, 1996).

Presupposition is what the speaker assumes to be the case prior to

making an utterance.

Ex: Graciela’s brother bought two apartments.

This sentence presupposes that Graciela exists and that she has a

brother. The speaker may also hold the more specific presupposition

that she has only a brother and her brother has a lot of money. All

these presuppositions are held by the speaker’s and all of them can be

wrong, in fact.

A presupposition is:




-‘what a speaker or writer assumes that the receiver of the message

already knows’ (Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 228)

-‘anything the speaker assumes to be true before making theutterance.’ (Pecci, 1999: 19)


In the analysis of how speakers’ assumptions are typically expressed,

presupposition has been associated with the use of a large number of

words, phrases and structures (Yule, Idem: 27). These linguistic formsare considered here as indicators of potential presupposition, which

can only become actual presupposition in contexts with speakers. The

types of presupposition are:

a. Existential presupposition: assumes the existence of the entities

named.

Ex:

• Mary’s dog is cute >> (presupposes) Mary has a dog (the

dog exists)

• Your car is nice >> You have a car.

b. Factive presupposition: assumes some thing to be a fact (usuallywith the verbs as know, realize, regret, be aware of, be glad …)

Ex:

• We regret telling him the news >> We told him the news

• She didn’t realized he was ill >> He was ill.

• I wasn’t aware that she was married >> She was married.




• It is odd that he left early >> He left early.

• I’m glad that it’s over >> It’s over.

c. Lexical presupposition: the use of some words conventionallyassumes the understood meaning.

Ex:

• He stopped smoking >> He used to smoke.

• They started complaining >> They weren’t complaining before.

• You’re late again >> You were late before.

d. Structural presupposition: the use of some structures assume

something to be true.

Ex:

• When did he leave? >> He left.

• Where did you buy the bike? >> You bought the bike.

• When did she get married? >> She got married.

The listener perceives that the information presented is

necessarily true rather than just the presupposition of the person

asking the question.

e. Non-factive presupposition: one that is assumed not to be true (the

verbs like: dream, imagine, pretend,…)

Ex:

• I dreamed that I was rich >> I was not rich.

• We imagined we were in Hawaii >> We were not inHawaii.




• He pretends to be ill >> He is not ill.

f. Counter-factual presupposition: what is presupposed is not only

not true, but is the opposite of what is true (contrary to facts)

Ex:

• If you were my friend, you would have helped me >>

You are not my friend.

• If you were my daughter, I would not allow you to do this.

>> you are not my daughter

Exercise 34: Give a possible presupposition for the following utterances.

36. I wish I were rich.

37. How was your wedding?

38. I remember posting your letter.

39. I won’t do it again.

40. Where did you see that film?

41. Try to give up smoking.




42. What subjects are you taking?

43. John’s cat is missing.

44. The garage on the corner is still open.

45. He pretends to be ill.

46. He tried to catch the train.

47. Had I been here yesterday.

48. Have some more tea.

49. The film was terrible.

50. You shouldn’t have seen that film.




51. My former sweat heart has just left for America.

52. I regret saying ‘no’ to your request.

53. Who broke the vase?

54. I’m going to apply for a job.

55. My sister is coming back to VN next week.

56. They are happy with the results of the final exam.

57. How fast was the car going when it ran the red light?

58. I imagined that you were ill.

59. Where is the car you took from John’s house?




60. Then you can give Monica a lift.

61. My neighbor is a widow.

62. Imagine you are a teacher.

63. When I get married, I will invite all of you.

64. Suppose you were a teacher.

65. They act as if they were my parents.

66. I regret sending that letter to you.

67. She keeps complaining like an old woman.

68. It’s a shame that you lie again.




69. It is going to be hot for some more weeks.

70. Have you seen John’s new car?




REFERENCES

Blake N.F. and Moorhead J. 1993. Introduction to English language.

HongKong: The Macmillan Press LTD.

Fromkin, Victoria et al. 1990. An Introduction to Language. Sedney:

Harcourt.

Hurford, J.R. and B. Heasley. 1983. Semantics, A Course Book.

Cambridge University Press.

Hudson, G. 2000. Essential Introductory Linguistics. Blackwell

Publishers Ltd.

Kieu Kim Lan. 2001. Semantics and Pragmatics. Đai Hoc Mo TP HCM.

Lyons, J. 1971. Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge

University Press.

Pecci, J.S. 1999. Pragmatics. Routledge.

Richards, J., Platt, J. and Weber, H. 1987. Longman Dictionary of

Applied Linguistics. Longman Group Limited.

Stageberg, N.C. 1983. An Introductory English Grammar. Holt,

Rinehart and Winston.

Swan, Michael. 1995. Practical English Usage. Oxford University Press.

To Minh Thanh. 2004. Ngu Nghia Hoc Tieng Anh. NXB Tong Hop

TP Ho Chi Minh.

Yule, G. 1996. Pragmatics. Oxford University Press



Key words:

1. Semantics

2. Sentences,3. Utterances

4. Propositions

5. Referring expressions

6. Pragmatics

7. meaning

8.

the cooperative principle9. implicature

10. presupposition

giáo trình ngữ nghĩa – ngữ dụng học tiếng anh (english semantics & pragmatics)...

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