ls1sg sounds, grammar & meaning · 2) prescriptive vs. descriptive vs. theoretical grammars...

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LS1SG

SOUNDS, GRAMMAR & MEANING

Spring Term 2018

Grammar & Meaning

B2

GRAMMAR & MEANING 1: INTRODUCTION

Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia of Language, Section 13; Crystal (2004); Yule (2005) Ch. 8.

1) The place of grammar in the structure of language

Language

Sounds Grammar Meaning

Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics

2) Prescriptive vs. Descriptive vs. Theoretical Grammars

Prescriptive grammars: 'Good'/'bad' grammar - how people should speak

- analogy with Classical languages e.g. 'Split infinitive' : to boldly go

- appeal to logic e.g. ‘Double negative’: he hasn’t never been there

Descriptive grammars: based on corpus data - how people actually do speak.

E.g. Quirk et al. 1985 A comprehensive grammar of the English language, Longman.

(Based on The Survey of English Usage, UCL, http://www.ucl.ac.uk/english-usage/index.htm)

Theoretical grammars: based on native speaker intuitions - what we know about our language.

3) Grammatical Analysis: Levels of Description

Sentence Clause Phrase Word

Sentence: One clause, or a series of connected, related clauses:

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to

do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or

conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice, ‘without pictures or

conversation?’

Clause: There are 7 major clause structures in English – a clause must contain a verb:

Suddenly, she saw a White Rabbit with pink eyes

Phrase: The constituents that make up a clause:

Suddenly … she … saw … a White Rabbit with pink eyes

a White Rabbit … with pink eyes

Word: The constituents that make up Phrases:

Suddenly … she … saw … a …White …Rabbit …with … pink … eyes

4) Review of Lexical (Content) Word Classes Open Classes

o Nouns Concrete entities, abstract qualities or states: girl, chair, water, thing, beauty, thought

o Verbs Actions and events: sing, walk, go, become, water, destroy, think, realise

Verbs are a necessary requirement for a clause.

o Adjectives Modify (describe or qualify) nouns: good, watery, calm, unlimited, friendly, able

o Adverbs Modify verbs, adjectives and adverbs: calmly, very, now, there, past, away, today

Open Classes: membership is indefinite or unlimited. New items are continually being added, and older

ones fall into disuse.

B3

Identify the Nouns, Verbs Adjectives and Adverbs in the following passage:

She ran across the field after it, and fortunately, saw it disappear down a large rabbit-hole

under the hedge. Alice followed it and soon she was falling down a deep well

very slowly. She looked at the sides of the well and saw rows of cupboards

and shelves, and here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs.

Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs

Now identify the Nouns, Verbs Adjectives and Adverbs look at the following passage:

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.


5) Review of Function (Grammatical) Word Classes Closed Classes

o Pronouns Used in place of Noun Phrases: Tom likes this apple / He likes it /

I, me, you, she, her, them, one, some, someone …

o Prepositions Function words that introduce Noun Phrases: across the field

of, in, on, at, before, under, past, from, to, by, for …

o Determiners Function words specifying the type of noun: the / my / this / no experience

a(n), that, those, these, your, his, her, their, some, any, all, many…

o Conjunctions Function words that connect clauses, phrases or words: bread and butter

or, but, if, when, because, that …

Closed Classes: membership is fixed or delimited. New items are not regularly added.

Identify the Pronouns, Prepositions Determiners and Conjunctions from the passage above:

Pronouns Prepositions Determiners Conjunctions

6) Further Study Complete the exercises on Blackboard before next week.

Check Crystal (2004) for definitions of Word Classes covered here.

B4

GRAMMAR & MEANING 2: CLAUSE STRUCTURE

Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia, Sect. 16; Yule (2005) Ch 8; Crystal (2004) Units 1-4, 8-12.

1) Clause Structure Functional Elements and their Forms

Function Level 1: Subject, Verb, Object, Complement, Adverbial.

Form Level 1: Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase, Adjective Phrase, Adverb Phrase, Prepositional Phrase.

There are 7 Clause Structures in English:

4 Simple Clause Structures: SV, SVO, SVC, SVA (today)

3 Complex Clause Structures: SVOO, SVOC, SVOA (Week 5)

SV Subject-Verb

Alice was dreaming

Function -1 Subject (S) Verb (V)

Form -1 Noun Phrase (NP) Verb Phrase (VP)

SVO Subject-Verb-Object

She saw a White Rabbit

Function -1 S V Object (O)

Form -1 NP VP NP

SVC Subject-Verb-Complement (Subject Complement) – always BE

Alice was curious

Function -1 S V Complement (C)

Form -1 NP VP Adjective Phrase (AdjP)

Alice was a bright child

Function -1 S V C

Form -1 NP VP NP

SVA Subject-Verb-Adverbial – verbs of movement and physical position

White Rabbit lives in the hole

Function -1 S V Adverbial (A)

Form -1 NP VP Prepositional Phrase (PP)

Identify the Function and Form elements of the following Clause Structures:

A glass box was on the table Dinah was Alice’s cat

Function -1

Form -1

The strange animal vanished Alice crouched under the table

Function -1

Form -1

The door was open She heard footsteps

Function -1

Form -1

The inquisitive girl searched the room The happy girl laughed

Function -1

Form -1

B5

2) Definition of Clause Elements:

Subject: Typically the main participant of the event described by the verb.

Agrees with the verb: She was curious - they were curious – *she were curious.

Can be identified by a question tag: Alice was curious, wasn’t she?/*he?/*they?

Usually expressed as a NP: Noun / Pronoun: Alice / she was curious.

Verb: Every clause MUST have a main verb.

Main verbs are lexical: dream, follow, disappear, jump,…

Auxiliary / Modal Verbs are functional: had jumped, was jumping, can/must jump.

Expressed as a VP containing the Main verb and Auxiliary / Modal Verbs.

Intransitive verbs do not take an Object: *she disappeared the rabbit (see below).

Transitive verbs can take 1 or 2 Objects: (see below for 1, and Week 5 for 2).

Object: Typically the participant affected by the event described by the verb.

Refers to a different entity from the Subject: She saw the rabbit.

Usually follows the verb directly: She saw the rabbit – *she saw suddenly the rabbit.

Occur only with Transitive Verbs: She saw the rabbit – *she disappeared the rabbit.

Usually expressed as a NP: Noun / Pronoun: She saw the rabbit – she saw it.

Complement: Characterises a preceding NP (the Subject Complement in today’s lecture).

Subject Complements refer to the same entity as the Subject:

Alice was sleepy, she is a fictitious character

Subject Complements follow Copula BE (equivalent to ‘equals’).

Usually expressed as a AdjP / NP: Alice was hungry / She was a brave girl.

Adverbials: Express ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘how’ or ‘why’ something happened the circumstances.

Adverbial generic name for 1-word adverbs and many-word adverbial expressions:

1-word Adverbs: here, there, now, then, today, yesterday, calmly, fast, quickly.

Adverbial expressions of ‘where’: at home, behind the curtain, across the road.

Adverbial expressions of ‘when’: last week, at the weekend, at 3 o’clock.

Adverbial expressions of ‘why’: because she was asleep, in order to escape.

Adverbials may have an obligatory or optional role in clause structure

Obligatory role of Adverbials: they are required by the Clause Structure; the clause is

ungrammatical if they are omitted:

White Rabbit lives in this hole (PP)/ here (AdvP) SVA

The rabbit hole is under the hedge (PP) SVA

The tea party was yesterday (AdvP)/ last week (NP) SVA

Optional role of Adverbials: they are NOT required by the Clause Structure for

grammaticality; they provide additional information relating to location, time, manner:

White Rabbit disappeared quickly (AdvP) SV(A)

Alice often / never followed the White Rabbit (AdvP) S(A)VO

She followed him yesterday (AdvP)/ last week (NP) SVO(A)

Alice was always attentive (AdvP) SV(A)C

Identify the Function and Form Elements of the following Clause Structures:

Alice saw a White Rabbit with pink eyes The Duchess was sitting on a wooden stool

Funct -1

Form -1

The animal was a white rabbit A large cat with long whiskers was grinning

Funct -1

Form -1


B6

GRAMMAR & MEANING 3: DETERMINERS & PRONOUNS

Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia, Sect. 16; Crystal (2004) Units 27-38, 43-47.

1) The Structure of Phrases

All types of Phrases (NP, VP, AdjP, AdvP, PP) are made up of several Word or Phrase constituents:

the blue book on the third shelf

The Phrase level constituents of which are: the blue book (NP) ….. on the third shelf (PP)

The Word level constituents of which are: the … blue … book on … the … third … shelf

2) Head of a Phrase the key component for grammaticality

Phrases contain a HEAD which is the only element necessary for grammaticality, e.g., the Head of a

Noun Phrase is a Noun; the Head of a Adjective Phrase is an Adjective.

In the following: a large cat with long whiskers (NP) the Head = cat (N)

… very confusing (AdjP) the Head = confusing (Adj)

… extremely quickly (AdvP) the Head = quickly (Adv)

… on the table (PP) the Head = on (P)

Identify the Head elements of the following: Phrase: a white rabbit with pink eyes a wooden table surprisingly easy under the hedge Alice

Head:

Having identified the element that functions as the Head, we can then add the word form it takes:

Alice was curious Alice hid behind the curtain

Function -1 S V C S V A

Form -1 NP VP AdjP NP VP PP

Function - 2 Head Head Head Head

Form - 2 N Adj N P

3) Determinatives the Function of the Determiner (Form) within the Noun Phrase:

Determiners may occupy one of three positions:

Function Determinatives

Form Pre-Determiners Central Determiners Post-Determiners

all

both

half

twice

double

Articles:

Demonstratives:

Possessives:

Interrogatives:

Quantity:

the, a(n)

this, these, that, those

my, your, his, her

what, which

no, each, every, some, any

many

other

several, few

two, three, four

first, second, last

Only ONE central determiner can appear in a single NP in English: *both the my books, *an each page

All the many rabbits both her other friends

Func -1 - -

Form -1 NP NP

Func - 2 Det’ve Det’ve Det’ve Head Det’ve Det’ve Det’ve Head

Form - 2 Pre-det Cen-det Post-det N Pre-det Cen-det Post-det N

Analyse the following NPs:

every day both keys that first glimpse

Func -1 - - -

Form -1 NP NP NP

Func - 2

Form - 2

B7

3) Pronouns

Pronouns are misnamed: they are really ‘Pro-NPs’ they stand ‘in place of’ NPs.

Pronouns permit phrasal contraction: The boy who lived next door > he went to live in France.

Pronouns may be exophoric where they refer to someone or something in the world – they relate

to shared knowledge about the world: Laura thinks the postman admires her (Sally)

where her, (Sally), has been the topic of a previous conversation, or:

Hand it over! where it is conveyed by a gesture.

Pronouns may be anaphoric where they refer to an antecedent expression in the discourse:

Laura thinks the postman admires her (Laura)

Types of Pronouns

Personal: Demonstrative: this, these, that, those

Subjective Objective Possessive: mine, yours, his, hers, theirs

Sing, Plur Sing, Plur Reflexive: myself, yourself, themselves

1 I, we me, us Quantifying Indefinites: some, any, each, either, neither,

2 you, you you, you all, none, many, much, both

masc he, they him, them Compound Indefinite: every-, some-, any-, nobody

3 fem she, they her, them every-, some-, any-, no-one

neut it, they it, them every-, some-, any-, nothing

Alice saw a Rabbit She saw it

Function -1 S V O S V O

Form -1 NP VP NP NP VP NP

Function -2 Head Det’ve Head Head Head

Form -2 N Cen-Det N Pron Pron

Analyse the following:

Eat me! She ate the cake Those are his gloves

Func-1

Form-1

Func-2

Form-2

4) Pronouns and Determiners – how to tell the difference:

Determiners Pronouns

Particularise / quantify the Noun being referred to Take the place of a NP:

A Determiner introduces a Noun in the NP: A Pronoun = NP

I want his book

This book is new

Which film is showing?

Those books are old

I want his

This is new

Which is yours?

Those are mine


This book is hers That is mine

Func -1

Form -1

Func - 2

Form - 2

Analysis is complete once the Word Category has been assigned to the Head.


B8

GRAMMAR & MEANING 4: NOUN MODIFICATION

Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia, Sect. 16; Crystal (2004) Units 39-40, 48-50, 59

1) The Head of a Noun Phrase can be Pre-modified and / or Post-modified

A large cat with a wide grin

Function-1 S

Form-1 NP

Function-2 Det’ve Pre-modification Head Post-modification

2) Pre-modifier a modifying element preceding the Noun Head in the Noun Phase:

The Head N, cat, of the NP below is pre-modified

by the AdjP large.

The Head N grin is pre-modified by the AdjP

extremely wide. Then the Head Adj wide is in

turn pre-modified by the AdvP extremely.

a large cat its extremely wide grin

Function -1 - -

Form -1 NP NP

Function - 2 Det’ve Pre-mod Head Det’ve Pre-modification Head

Form - 2 Cen-det AdjP N Cen-det AdjP N

Function - 3 Head Pre-mod Head

Form - 3 Adj AdvP Adj

Function - 4 Head

Form - 4 Adv

Some Nouns can also function as Pre-modifiers:

The March hare A long country road

Function -1 - -

Form -1 NP NP

Function - 2 Det’ve Pre-mod Head Det’ve Pre-mod Pre-mod Head

Form - 2 Cen-det NP N Cen-det Adj NP N

Function - 3 Head Head Head

Form - 3 N Adj N

4 Tests for Adjectives (to distinguish whether the pre-modifier is a Noun or Adjective):

They can pre-modify a Noun (Attributive function): the large cat

They can function as a Subject Complement (Predicative function): the cat was large

They can be pre-modified by the intensifier very: the very large cat

They can take the comparative form: the larger/largest cat; the more/most expensive watch.


The sleepy Dormouse A mad tea party

Func -1 - -

Form -1 NP NP

Func - 2

Form - 2

Func - 3

Form - 3

Func - 4

Form - 4

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3) Prepositional Phrases:

The Prepositional Phrase is broken down into Preposition + Prepositional Complement

In the same way that a Complement is grammatically essential at Clause level (Subject Complement),

here the PP requires a Complement to complete its meaning Head + Complementation

on the table under a tree near the house

Func -1 - - -

Form -1 PP PP PP

Func - 2 Head Complementation Head Complementation Head Complementation

Form - 2 P NP P NP P NP

Func - 3 Det’ve Head Det’ve Head Det’ve Head

Form - 3 Cen-det N Cen-det N Cen-det N


A tiny glass box lay on the wooden table

Func-1

Form-1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Prepositional Phrases are very frequently used as Adverbials (above) and as Post-modifiers

4) Post-modifier a modifying element following the Noun Head in the Noun Phase:

A large cat with a wide grin

Function-1 S

Form-1 NP

Function-2 Det’ve Pre-modification Head Post-modification

Form-2 Cen-det AdjP N PP

Function-3 Head Head Complementation

Form-3 Adj P NP

Function-4 Det’ve Pre-mod Head

Form-4 C-det AdjP N

Function-5 Head

Form-5 Adj


A white rabbit with pink eyes lives in this hole Func-1

Form-1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5


B10

GRAMMAR & MEANING 5: THE VERB PHRASE

Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia, Sect. 16; Crystal (2004) Units 4, 15-18

1) Main Verbs and Auxiliary Verbs

The VP MUST contain a Main Verb, and MAY also contain Primary and/or Modal Auxiliary Verbs:

The Main Verb carries the lexical, semantic element of the VP: Alice has been dreaming, she was here

The Main Verb Function is broken down to the Form: Full Verb, even if it is a Copular Verb.

Alice lost the key she was curious

Function -1 S V O S V C

Form -1 NP VP NP NP VP AdjP

Function -2 Head Main Verb Det’ve Head Head Main Verb Head

Form -2 N Full Verb Cen-det N Pron Full Verb Adj

2) Primary Auxiliary Verbs

There are 3 Primary Auxiliary Verbs that ‘support’ the Main Verb: BE, HAVE and DO (‘do’ support)

BE + -ing (Present Participle): Alice is dreaming. The Dormouse is sleeping. Note the difference

with the Main Verb copula BE: She is at home.

HAVE + -en (Past Participle): Alice has opened the door, She has eaten the cake. Alice has been

extremely curious. Note the difference with the Main Verb possessive HAVE: She has the key.

DO + Bare Infinitive (no ‘to’): Alice does not like cheese, Does the Cheshire Cat smile? Note the

difference with the Main Verb DO: Alice did her sums. DO Aux marks the negative & interrogative

Alice is eating cake she has been here

S V O S V A

NP VP NP NP VP AdvP

Head Aux Verb Main Verb Head Head Aux Verb Main Verb Head

N Prim Verb Full Verb N Pron Prim Verb Full Verb Adv

3) Modal Auxiliary Verbs

There are many Modal Auxiliaries in English: can, may, must, will, could, might, should, would, etc.

They are followed by the Bare Infinitive: Alice can see the Duchess, she might have wanted some tea.

Alice can play chess she might have been here

S V O S V A

NP VP NP NP VP AdvP

Head Aux Verb Main Verb Head Head Aux Verb Aux V Main V Head

N Modal Verb Full Verb N Pron Modal Verb Prim V Full V Adv

4) Characteristics of Auxiliaries

They carry tense: is/was eating, can/could play chess

They carry negation isn't/wasn't eating, can’t/couldn’t play chess

They mark questions by inversion with the Subject is/was she eating it? can/could she play chess?

They are involved in tag formation she is/was eating it, isn't/wasn't she?

Modals are unusual: they do not mark 3rd

present singular agreement she *can-s play chess

5) Finite / Non-Finite Element of the Verb

The single part of the VP that carries tense and person agreement is the finite element:

Alice eats cake, she ate the cake, she is/was eating cake, she can play chess, she must be playing chess

There may be several non-finite elements of the VP: Present/Past Participle and Bare Infinitive

Alice is/was eating cake, she has eaten cake, she must be eating cake, she has been eating many cakes

Identify the following verbs as Main/Auxiliary and Finite/Non-finite:

Alice found the key She is opening the door She can see a garden She must have been dreaming

B11

6) Complex Clause Structure

There are 7 Clause Structures in English:

4 Simple Clause Structures: SV, SVO, SVC, SVA (Week 2)

3 Complex Clause Structures: SVOO, SVOC, SVOA (today)

SVOO Subject-Verb-Indirect Object-Direct Object

Alice told her sister the story

Function -1 S V Oi Od

Form -1 NP VP NP NP

In the double-object construction:

Direct Object (Od): The entity most closely related to the verb: the entity that is told, given, shown.

Indirect Object (Oi): The recipient of the action described by the verb.

SVOC Subject-Verb-Object-Complement (Object Complement)

Alice found the situation curious

Function -1 S V O C

Form -1 NP VP NP AdjP

Alice regarded the decision a mistake

Function -1 S V O C

Form -1 NP VP NP NP

Object Complements refer to the same entity as the Object:

Alice found the situation curious / Alice regarded the decision a mistake

Object Complements are usually expressed as AdjP / NP

Alice likes her coffee black / Alice considered the rabbit her friend

SVOA Subject-Verb-Object-Adverbial

Alice inserted the tiny key in the lock

Function -1 S V O A

Form -1 NP VP NP PP

Identify the clause structures in the following sentences:

Alice named her cat Dinah Alice placed the key on the table

Function -1

Form -1

The Duchess handed Alice the baby Alice found the rabbit friendly

Function -1

Form -1

Alice put the gloves in the drawer Cheshire Cat showed Alice the way

Function -1

Form -1

7) Obligatory / Optional Adverbials Revisited

When an Adverbial is not an intrinsic / Obligatory Clause element, it is Optional and expressed as (A):

Alice (carefully) shut the door She is here (today) The Hare (slowly) dipped his watch in his tea

S (A) V O S V A (A) S (A) V O A

Distinguish between the Obligatory and Optional Adverbials in the following

The cat lay quietly on the chair She lived in that house for 3 years The Dormouse snored loudly


B12

GRAMMAR & MEANING 7: PHRASAL VERBS & MORPHOLOGY

Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia, Sect. 16; Yule (2005), Ch 6, 7; Crystal (2004) Unit 20.

1) Phrasal Verbs:

Some verbs have an Adverbial particle, which looks like a Preposition, but isn’t, that is an intrinsic

part of the verb. This particle can be moved before or after the object of a Transitive Phrasal Verb:

Alice picked up the key Alice picked the key up

S V O S V… O …V

NP VP NP NP VP… NP …VP

Head Main Verb Dt’ve Head Head Main V… Det’ve Head …Main V

N Full V Adv Part C-det N N Full Verb C-det N Adv Part

Analyse the following clauses:

Alice pushed away the plate Alice pushed the plate away

Note that with Transitive Phrasal Verbs, we can only use the pronoun form of the Object immediately

after the verb: Alice picked it up, but *Alice picked up it

There are many Intransitive Phrasal Verbs in English; these also use Adverb Particles:

Alice gave in The leaf blew away Alice strode off

S V S V S V

NP VP NP VP NP VP

Head Main Verb Det’ve Head Main Verb Head Main Verb

N FV Adv Part C-det N Full V Adv Part N Full V Adv Part

Analyse the following clauses:

Alice stood up The Duchess sat down The noise died away

B13

2) Morphology: the study of the internal structure of words Two processes are involved in word formation: Inflectional and Derivational Morphology

a) Inflectional Morphology: morphemes (suffixes) which have a grammatical function

Inflectional morphemes signal grammatical categories such as plural, tense and possession, and do

not change the grammatical form class of the stem: we say that the same word has many different

forms, making up a paradigm. There are 8 inflectional morphemes in English:

Noun Forms: Plural: boy-s Possession: Alice-’s

Verbs Forms: plays, play-ing, play-ed (she played tennis), played (she has played tennis -en)

Adjective Forms: Comparative: old-er, Superlative: old-est

NB: Contractions vs inflections: he’s gone = he HAS gone; she’s dreaming = she IS dreaming;

he hasn’t found it = he has NOT found it; she’d find it = she WOULD find it.

b) Derivational Morphology: morphemes (prefixes and suffixes) which have a semantic function

Open class words may be derived from other open class words:

mush+-y mushy; un-+tidy untidy; slow+-ly slowly; kind+-ness kindness

Derivational processes result in new words being formed, which may be of a different form class

from the original: e.g. mush (N), mush-y (Adj); sad (Adj) sad-ness (N).

Identify whether the following are examples of Inflectional or Derivational Morphology:

playplayful cheesecheeses largelarger kindkindly legalillegal farmfarmer

c) Stems may be FREE or BOUND

Free stems: furi+ous convert+ible un+construct+ive

Bound stems: tremend+ous ed+ible un+recept+ive

d) Compounds

Words can also consist of other words: they are called compounds: ‘tow-path ‘overcoat

They have single a stress on the first element: compare: ‘blackbird with a black ‘bird, and ‘tightrope

with a tight ‘rope.

Compounding is highly productive, and not all the latest ones will be found in a dictionary.

e) Other word-formation devices in English

coinage: hoover, teflon, xerox, kodak, kleenex (trade-names)

borrowing: stimulus, index, phenomenon (learned plurals); abseil, futon, au-pair, pizza, wok

clipping: flu, advert, exam, gym, prefab, photo, mike, fan; (with affix): brickie, movie

acronym: NATO, radar, VAT (NB: pronounced as /vat/, or /vi: eiti:/).


B14

GRAMMAR & MEANING 8: LEXICAL MEANING

Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia, Sect. 17; Yule, Ch 10; Fromkin et al. (2003: 173-187)

1) Lexical meaning vs. sentence meaning

The dog bit the postman The postman bit the dog (SVO: Agent Patient)

2) Meaning: semantics and pragmatics

Semantics: lexical and sentence meaning, e.g.

this *spinster is married to a *bachelor

John was looking for his glasses

Pragmatics: utterance meaning, e.g.

that's very clever

it's getting rather warm in here, isn't it?

3) Reference and Sense

Naming theory: the meaning of a word is a list of the physical attributes of the thing it names/refers

to: e.g. red = particular part of the colour spectrum, salt = NaCl.

Field theory: the meaning of a word is a function of the other words in the same meaning set:

e.g. red vs. yellow vs. green, or red vs. green (traffic lights), or red vs. white vs. rosé (of wine).

Basic colour terms (Berlin & Kay 1969): a 'weak universals' hypothesis:

purple

white green pink

< red < < blue < brown < orange

black yellow grey

Collocations: the meaning of a word is found in the words of its context:

blond/hair; dog/bark; flock/sheep

Idioms/lexicalisation: kick the bucket; donner un coup de pied

4) Lexical semantics - Sense Relations

a) Hyponymy living

animal plant tree is a hyponym of plant

bird fish insect animal vegetable flower tree

human animal co-hyponyms Incompatibility: this is a bird ≠ this is a fish Entailment: this is a bird > this is an animal

b) Meronymy words that convey a Part/Whole relationship (a leaf is a meronym of a plant):

door - house: the house door, the door of the house

handle - door: the door handle, the handle of the door

but not handle - house: *the house handle, the handle of the house

B15

Arrange the following terms according

to their Meronymic relationships:

instep shin leg calf

ankle toenail heel knee-cap

toe foot knee thigh

c) Synonymy words with 'the same meaning' symmetric hyponymy?

Usually partial only: cut vs. sever, politician vs. statesman

In context: deep vs. profound and shallow vs. superficial

water sympathy argument

deep

profound

shallow

superficial

d) Antonymy words having 'oppositeness of meaning' Gradable: wide/narrow old/young big/small

- Comparative: more / -er

- Relative: a small elephant is a large animal

- Intermediate terms: hot … warm … tepid … cool … cold

- Marked vs. unmarked: how wide/narrow is the gap? He's 6 feet tall/*short

Identify the unmarked adjective from the following dimensions:

length height age depth cost quality

Non-gradable (complementary pairs): male/female alive/dead married/single

Incompatibility: this is wide = this is not narrow this is male = this is not female

Entailment: this is not wide > this is/is not narrow this is not male > this is female (as

long as it is co-hyponymous)

Directional opposites: up / down; come / go; arrive / depart

Relational opposites: buy / sell; husband / wife; above / below; parent / child

e) Polysemy and Homonymy 'same form, different meanings'

Polysemy: flight = passing through the air; power of flying; air journey; unit of the Air Force;

volley; digression; series of steps

Homonymy: mail = armour bank = financial institution

mail = post bank = area of ground

Identify whether the following are examples of Polysemy or Homonymy:

head:

fit:


B16

GRAMMAR & MEANING 9: SENTENCE MEANING

Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia, Sect. 17; Fromkin et al (2003: 187-207).

1) Constructional Meaning

The meaning of a linguistic construction, such as a phrase or a sentence, is a function of:

(a) the meanings of its lexical constituents, and

(b) the constituent organisation of the construction, its 'constructional meaning'

Where the construction is a sentence, the result (lexical meanings plus sentence meaning) is often

referred to as a 'proposition'.

a) Constructional meaning in the absence of lexical meanings:

pirots karulise elatically

b) Constructional meaning and lexical meanings failing to combine:

colourless green ideas sleep furiously

c) Constructional meaning providing more than one way to combine lexical meanings:

he chopped up the carrot on the table Structural

he chopped up the carrot on the table Ambiguity

d) Constructional meaning providing more than one way to interpret lexical meanings:

I asked them to meet me at the bank Lexical

John likes wearing light coats Ambiguity

Identify whether the following are examples of Lexical or Structural Ambiguity:

i) I understood what Peter said yesterday

ii) A bat lay on the ground

iii) Would the person who took the step ladder kindly bring it back or further

steps will be taken

iv) We will not sell petrol to anyone in a glass container

2) Truth conditions

a) Analytic propositions can be determined as true/false on the basis of their internal semantics - their

truth value does not depend on facts about the world:

a lion is an animal no bachelor is married

b) Contradiction is analytic:

this bachelor is married

c) Synthetic propositions have a truth value that has to be determined by examination of the non-

linguistic evidence:

this room has four windows

But words and phrases (four, this room, four windows) are neither true nor false.

Identify whether the following are examples of Analytic or Synthetic Propositions:

i) It’s snowing outside

ii) Spinsters are female

B17

3) Reference and Sense a) The Referent is the entity designated by an expression:

The Queen of England came here yesterday The referent is the Queen of England

b) The Sense in which a word is used (its meaning and context) determines its referent:

The Queen of England came here yesterday The sense of Queen of England and yesterday

allow us to interpret the Referent as Elizabeth II.

The truth value of the above example is true because England currently has a Queen.

But, a proposition may have no truth value, if it is neither true nor false:

The King of France is bald

The NP The King of France does not refer to an entity, but is meaningful: it has sense but no

reference.

c) Intension vs. Extension:

Another way of expressing Sense is Intension (note spelling), or the non-referential aspects of an

entity. Similarly, another way of expressing Reference is Extension.

Thus, the following expressions have different Senses, but the same Reference:

the evening star / the morning star (the planet Venus)

John wants to marry a girl with green eyes from his home town (Mary)

Identify whether the following examples have Sense and/or Reference: (add Y or N in spaces below)

i) The British Prime Minister / The Leader of the Conservative Party Sense: / Reference: /

ii) John Smith / Joe Bloggs / My mother’s brother Sense: / / Reference: / /

4) Entailment

Semantic knowledge of a language involves knowing other propositions that are entailed (represented

by the symbol ‘>’) by a proposition, i.e. if A is true, then B is necessarily true:

Smith’s murderer is insane (Jones murdered Smith >) Jones is insane

Jones murdered Smith > Smith is dead

Entailments arise from word meaning:

Jones drowned Smith > Smith died, but, Jones shot Smith > Smith died (> = does not entail)

Gunshots killed Lincoln > gunshots are human; Kim is a nurse > Kim is female

5) Presupposition The proposition: The King of France is bald presupposes the existence of a King of France.

Where there is no such referent, there is presupposition failure and a truth-value gap:

a) Factive predicates: Presupposition

I regret / It is significant that she spoke she spoke

b) Non-Factive predicates:

I believe / it is likely that she spoke (no presupposition that she spoke)

c) Referring Expressions:

John married Fred’s sister Fred has a sister

Presuppositions can be identified using constancy under negation:

I don't regret / It isn't significant that she spoke she spoke

Entailment is not constant under negation when the proposition is negated:

This is not a penguin > This is a bird

Identify whether the following examples are Factive or Non-Factive:

i) They realised that she had been very generous

ii) I suppose you told Bill everything


B18

GRAMMAR & MEANING 10: PRAGMATICS

Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia, Sect. 20, 21; Fromkin et al. (2003:207-219); Yule (2005) Ch 11, 12.

1) Deixis ('pointing') a) How can a sentence like I was there yesterday be fully analysed semantically?

Person deixis: I / we / you; my / your; mine / yours

Spatial deixis: this / that; here / there; up / down

Temporal deixis: now / then; today / tomorrow / yesterday

Motion deixis: come / go; but not: arrive / depart

b) Deictic expressions:

The Reference of Deictic words or expressions (he, tomorrow, here, that door) relies entirely on the

context and orientation of the speaker; the reference for pronouns relies on potential antecedents:

the boy looked at his / her image in the mirror

2) Speech Acts and Performative Verbs

A Speech Act is any act performed through the production of speech.

Truth-bearing statements such as: I live in Berkshire, are Constative utterances.

There are some utterances that do not report anything and are therefore not true or false, rather the

uttering of them is part of their meaning – these verbs are Action-executing or Performative verbs:

I name this ship The Prince Harry

I pronounce you man and wife

5 categories of Performatives: Directives (ask, command), Commissives (promise, refuse),

Expressives (apologise, thank), Declarations (resign, declare war), Representatives (claim, report).

Tests for Performative verbs include: the subject I or we, affirmative and present tense verb forms.

a) Locutionary vs. Illocutionary vs. Perlocutionary force of Speech Acts

The Locutionary force refers to the act of making a meaningful utterance:

don't go into that field as opposed to: *you no go that into field

The Illocutionary force refers to the communicative function, (type of Performative):

I (hereby) order you to keep away from that field (Directive)

The Perlocutionary force refers to the effect on the beliefs, attitudes etc. of the listener:

there's a fierce bull in that field

b) Felicity conditions: must apply for speech acts to be valid: e.g.

will you drive? (Felicity Condition: addressee must be capable of driving)

A marriage ceremony requires: a priest, and a sincere commitment on the part of the couple

Identify whether the following examples are Illocutionary or Perlocutionary Acts:

i) “I apologise for being so late”, arriving late at a lecture

ii) “This gun is loaded”, during an armed robbery

B19

c) Direct vs. Indirect Speech Acts

The message of an utterance can be conveyed explicitly or implicitly, as demonstrated above, or it

can be communicated directly or indirectly:

Direct Speech Acts involve a match between syntactic and pragmatic form.

Indirect Speech Acts involve a mismatch between them:

Sentence type Example Speech Act

Declarative I go there sometimes Statement (Direct)

You haven’t finished yet Command (Indirect)

Interrogative Do you go there sometimes? Question (Direct)

Can you show me the way? Command (Indirect)

3) Implicatures and the Cooperative Principle

Presuppositions are based on information assumed by the speaker (and also by the hearer).

Implicatures, by contrast, imply further information that the hearer does not know.

For successful communication to take place, communicators need to make certain assumptions about

their communicative intentions: the Cooperative Principle.

Grice’s (1975) 4 Maxims relating to the Cooperative Principle:

a) Quantity:

(i) make your contribution as informative as possible (for the current purpose of the exchange)

(ii) do not make your contribution more informative than is required

b) Quality Try to make your contribution one that is true

(i) do not say what you believe to be false

(ii) do not say that for which you lack evidence

c) Relation: Be relevant

d) Manner: Be perspicuous

(i) avoid obscurity of expression

(ii) avoid ambiguity

(iii) be brief

(iv) be orderly

Speakers assume that other speakers do not violate the Cooperative Principle. But this assumption can

be violated.

Identify which Maxims have been violated in following examples:

i) A: What’s the weather like?

B: It’s 3 o’clock.

ii) A: Does the coffee machine take 50p pieces?

B: It takes 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20 and 50p pieces.

iii) When I told him the news, the corners of his mouth turned slightly upwards.

iv) Chomsky is a famous sociolinguist.


B20

GRAMMAR & MEANING 11: REVIEW

Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia; Yule (2005); Fromkin at al. (2003); Crystal (2004)

Objectives of this lecture:

a) To cover any lecture material which may not have been completed at the designated time.

b) To revisit those areas which you have identified as requiring further clarification.

To achieve these goals, please make a note of areas you would like to revisit in the box below; it would

be very helpful if you could let me know in advance of these issues by email:

Lecture 1:

Lecture 2:

Lecture 3:

Lecture 4:

Lecture 5:

Lecture 7:

Lecture 8:

Lecture 9:

Lecture 10:

B21

LS1SG

SOUNDS, GRAMMAR & MEANING

Spring Term 2018

Grammar & Meaning

Seminars

B22

GRAMMAR & MEANING - SEMINAR 1: PARSING SENTENCES I

Prepare the following tasks in advance of your seminar. These tasks are designed to help you consolidate

the information provided during lectures, and to give you an opportunity to ask for clarification from

your Seminar Leader. In addition to going through these tasks during your seminar, please also use this

opportunity to ask any questions you have about the Blackboard exercises that were made available each

week.

There are 2 tasks to prepare for Seminar 1: Task 1 requires you to allocate words to their appropriate

Grammatical Word Class; Task 2 involves parsing simple Phrase and Clause Structures.

Task 1

This task involves identifying the Open Word Class and Semantic Category of the following 49 words.

admire, occasionally, harmless, understand, job, man, backwards, environmental, thoughtlessly,

resemble, already, future, door, long, exceedingly, French, interpretation, tap, speak, almost, English,

anyway, light, there, depend, jealousy, carefully, feel, industrial, despise, white, anxiety, reportedly,

lovely, war, therefore, original, bridge, heavy, surprisingly, dog, click, blue, know, length, top,

consideration, taste, walk

Carry out the following steps:

i) Allocate each of the above words to the appropriate Word Class column in the table below, and

enter it under the most suitable Semantic Category heading within that Word Class. Example

entries have already been provided to help you decide.

ii) Some of the words may belong to more that one Word Class, so try to allocate the words to as

many columns as possible.

Remember that these Semantic Categories are NOT exhaustive in that they do not include all possible

meaning categories since they are only intended to provide a general semantic framework for this task.


Concrete:

Animate:

child, horse

Inanimate:

tree, galaxy

Abstract:

thought, time

State/Property:

pleasure, hunger

Cognitive:

decision, speculation

Activity:

game, creation

Perception:

see, hear

Affective:

enjoy, hate

Relational:

own, belong

Cognitive:

remember, think

Activity Durative:

build, play

Activity Punctual:

snap, flash

Colour:

green, red

Size/Quantity:

large, deep

Evaluative:

bad, beautiful

Relational:

chief, different

Affiliative Group:

American, Chinese

Domain: medical, commercial

Place/Direction:

here, down

Time:

soon, always

Manner:

slowly, automatically

Degree:

very, slightly

Stance:

maybe, fortunately

Linking:

thus, however

B23

Task 2

Prepare for your seminar by completing exercises a), b), and c) below.

This is an example of how we have analysed clauses to the first level of Function and Form:

Example White Rabbit lives in the hole

Function -1 S V A

Form -1 NP VP PP

a) Analyse the following 8 Clause Structures in a similar way:

1 The soldiers built a massive bridge 2 The old man sat in the chair

Func -1

Form -1

3 Those 2 elderly men are senators 4 The strange green liquid evaporated

Func -1

Form -1

5 The grey clouds have disappeared 6 That shy student will help you

Func -1

Form -1

7 I will stay at the new hotel 8 My favourite aunt was very ill

Func -1

Form -1

b) Analyse the following: (the shaded areas indicate that we have not yet covered these structures)

1 Half the first group 2 all her many other books

Func -1 S/O S/O

Form -1

Func - 2

Form - 2

3 That is Alice 4 She is happy 5 She likes everyone

Func -1

Form -1

Func - 2

Form - 2

c) Underline the Optional Adverbials in the following Sentences:

i) Alice anxiously searched the room

ii) She will definitely find the gloves tomorrow

iii) Her sister was quietly reading a book in the shade of a tree

iv) Cheshire Cat was grinning mischievously from ear to ear

v) Alice often felt confused

vi) The Dormouse was asleep by the fire

vii) The Mad Hatter went to a tea-party yesterday, at 3 o’clock.

B24

GRAMMAR & MEANING - SEMINAR 2: PARSING SENTENCES II

Prepare the analysis of the following sentences in advance of your seminar.

1 The soldiers from the Northern camp built a massive bridge here

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

2 The old man is sitting in his favourite armchair

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

3 Those two elderly men are senators of high esteem

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

4 The strange green liquid evaporated without a trace

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

B25

5 Those grey clouds to the East have disappeared now

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

6 That shy student in the corner will help you tomorrow

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

7 I will stay at the new hotel on the corner

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

8 My favourite aunt was extremely ill last year

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

B26

9 Fido brings me the newspaper every day

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

10 We took the children to the circus yesterday

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

11 I am finding grammar very tricky these days

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

12 I prefer my coffee black

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

B27

13 My friends have given me a brilliant birthday present

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

14 The guards accompanied the intruder to the city gates

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

15 A valuable heirloom from my grandmother has disappeared

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

16 All the students have finished their essays on time

Func-1

Form -1

Func-2

Form-2

Func-3

Form-3

Func-4

Form-4

Func-5

Form-5

B28

GRAMMAR & MEANING - SEMINAR 3: MORPHOLOGY & LEXICAL

SEMANTICS Task 1 - Morphology

Prepare the morphological analysis of the following text in advance of your seminar. Look at the

examples in Yule (2005: 67-69) to give you an idea of what is involved.

a) Examine the following verb forms in Italian and identify the individual morphemes and their

meanings. Then answer the questions below:

I speak parlo I spoke parlavo to speak = parlare

you speak parli you spoke parlavi

he speaks parla he spoke parlava

we speak parliamo we spoke parlavamo

you(pl) speak parlate you(pl) spoke parlavate

they speak parlano they spoke parlavano

Translate the following expressions from the verb infinite forms given:

i) I carry / carried (portare)

ii) You buy /you bought (comprare)

iii) He uses / used (usare)

iv) We listen / listened (ascoltare)

v) You(pl) send / sent (mandare)

vi) They find / found (trovare)

b) Examine the following two verbal forms in Swahili and identify the individual morphemes and their

meanings. Then answer the questions below:

I read (present) ninasoma he likes anapenda

he reads anasoma he liked alipenda

we read (present) tunasoma he will like atapenda

they read wanasoma he liked me alinipenda

I will read nitasoma he liked us alitupenda

he will read atasoma he liked them aliwapenda

we will read tutasoma

they will read watasoma

Translate the following expressions using the verb root forms given:

i) He cured us (panya)

ii) He arrived (fika)

iii) He agrees (kubali)

iv) He looks at me (tazama)

v) He will hear them (sikia)

vi) They will return (rudi)

c) Observe the following pairs of Turkish verbs and their English equivalents, and determine the

meaning of the /-t-/ morpheme.

dinlemek to listen dinletmek to attract attention

anlamak to understand anlatmak to explain

darilmak to feel offended dariltmak to offend

Provide English equivalents of the missing member of the following pairs:

i) hatirlamak to remember hatirlatmak _________

ii) kücülmek to become small kücültmek _________

iii) oturmak to sit oturtmak _________

B29

d) Identify the Inflectional and Derivational affixes, and Contractions in the following:

i) That violinist is playing the hardest of pieces I: D: C:

ii) His ungratefulness never ceases to amaze me I: D: C:

iii) Mary’s cats have entangled the ball of wool I: D: C:

iv) Mary’s hoping to find a tamer pet I: D: C:

v) I’ve needlessly tipped the bus-driver I: D: C:

e) Identify the functions of the suffixes in the following nouns by classing the function as: occupational,

diminutive, feminine, or member of a group:

i) teacher v) usherette

ii) waitress vi) teenager

iii) Londoner vii) kitchenette

iv) auntie viii) engineer

f) In the following compound nouns, identify the compounding elements in terms of grammatical

relations by making a clause from the elements, e.g:

sunrise is when the sun rises = SV; handwriting is what you get when you write by hand = AV

i) brainwashing vi) headache

ii) earthquake vii) scarecrow

iii) sun-bathing viii) chairperson

iv) pickpocket ix) sleepwalking

v) flashlight x) dressmaking

Task 2 – Lexical Semantics

a) Describe the relationships between each of the following pairs of words using the expressions:

The first word is a ... of the second OR The two words are ... If they are antonyms, also state

what kind of antonymy they represent:

i) salmon / trout

ii) backwards / forwards

iii) gun / weapon

iv) sleeve / coat

v) murderer / victim

vi) rich / poor

vii) on / off

viii) nail / finger

ix) dollar / pound

x) cheap / expensive

xi) spring / season

xii) appear / disappear

b) Decide if the underlined words are homonymous or examples of polysemy. You may want to

check in a dictionary to see whether the uses of these words have separate entries.

i) He was shy of rising early. Children are often shy in the company of strangers.

ii) The farmer’s boy led the nag to the water trough. I don’t want to be a nag, but….

iii) His shock of red hair was clearly visible in the crowd. She never recovered from the shock.

iv) His face reminded her of someone. The face of the mountain was covered in snow.

v) The small craft floated out to sea. This involves a special kind of artisan’s craft.

B30

GRAMMAR & MEANING SEMINAR - 4: SENTENCE SEMANTICS &

PRAGMATICS

Task 1 – Sentence Semantics

a) Identify which of the following sentences contain Lexical or Structural Ambiguity:

i) Lord and Lady Bracknell found hospitals in Berkshire

ii) Drinking water can be extremely healthy

iii) Fashionable women’s shoes are sold here

iv) The scientist spotted the monkey with the telescope

b) Indicate which of the following are examples of analytic or synthetic propositions:

i) Michael is often hungry

ii) A chair is a piece of furniture

iii) A tulip is not a flower

iv) Sally lost 2 stone during her illness

v) Wine contains alcohol

c) Entailment, Presupposition and Contradiction

In the following pairs of sentences, identify the cases where:

x. entails y.

x. presupposes y. OR

x. contradicts y.

You will need to give careful consideration to the meanings of underlined words.

1 x. Mary realised that the car was unlocked y. The car wasn’t locked

2 x. John planted a sycamore in the garden y. John planted a tree in the garden

3 x. Muriel eats bacon y. Muriel doesn't eat meat

4 x. Sherlock discovered that Mary was innocent y. Mary was innocent

5 x. Leslie reminded Kim that it was Mary's birthday y. It wasn't Mary's birthday

6 x. Jeff was whispering y. Jeff was speaking

7 x. Sir Cuthbert revealed that the police were involved y. The police were involved

8 x. The butler poisoned the duke y. The duke died

B31

Task 2 - Pragmatics

a) Indicate whether the underlined verbs in the following are Constative or Performative; if the latter,

indicate the Illocutionary Type being represented: Directives (ask, command), Commissives (promise,

refuse), Expressives (apologise, thank), Declarations (resign, declare war), Representatives (claim,

report), and whether a Performative verb has been used or not. Finally state whether the Illocution is

Direct or Indirect. See Crystal (1997:121) for examples. The first sentence has been analysed for you:

Utterance Utterance

Type

Illocutionary

Type

Perf.

Verb?

Direct /

Indirect

i I promise I will wait for you Performative Commissive Yes Direct

ii I’d like you to set the table now

iii I drive a green car

iv I order you to stop the car at once

v Shut the door!

vi I find Pragmatics interesting

vii I apologise for this misjudgement

viii I declare this bridge open

ix I am trying to open this with a screwdriver

x Can I give you a hand?

xi I deny any involvement in this business

b) In the following question-answer pairs, what Implicature should A infer from B's answer? What

Maxims of the Co-operative Principle has been violated in each case?

i) A: Who invented the WWW?

B: Bill Gates. Implicature: Maxim:

ii) A: I need to return a book that John lent me ages ago. You saw him the other day – where’s he

living these days?

B: Somewhere near Windsor. Implicature: Maxim:

iii) A: Bill’s really mean with money, have you noticed?

B: What a lovely day! Implicature: Maxim:

iv) A: Do you like my new flat?

B: It’s in a nice part of town. Implicature: Maxim:

v) A: What are you planning to do later this afternoon?

B: I’m taking the d-o-g for a w-a-l-k. (spelling out these words rather than saying them)

Implicature: Maxim:

c) Analyse the following exchange in terms of the Co-operative Principle:

Businessman enters hotel foyer after midnight.

Businessman (to receptionist): Is there anywhere near here where I can buy some flowers?

Receptionist: There’s a filling station just around the corner.

There are 6 possible scenarios relating to this exchange; these are set out in the table overleaf. The first

two scenarios are:

1) Receptionist knows the petrol station is open after midnight, and that it sells flowers.

2) Receptionist knows the petrol station is open after midnight, but doesn’t know if it sells flowers.

Example analyses have been provided for these first two scenarios. Using the same approach, now add

the analyses for the remaining four scenarios in the table.

B32

R knows the petrol

station is open

R doesn’t know if the

petrol station is open

R knows the petrol

station is closed

R knows it sells

flowers

1) No maxims violated. 3)

5)

R doesn’t know

if it sells flowers

2) Quantity Maxim

violated because

insufficient

information is given

about whether flowers

can be bought there.

4) 6)

ls1sg sounds, grammar & meaning · 2) prescriptive vs. descriptive vs. theoretical grammars...

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