Linguistics Finals PDF

# Lesson 3. Suprasegmentals ## Introduction Length, pitch and intonation, and stress are prosodic or suprasegmental features, which means that they exist over the segmental values of the speech sounds in a syllable. In English, the stressed syllables are louder, a bit longer and higher in pitch. P...

# Lesson 3. Suprasegmentals ## Introduction Length, pitch and intonation, and stress are prosodic or suprasegmental features, which means that they exist over the segmental values of the speech sounds in a syllable. In English, the stressed syllables are louder, a bit longer and higher in pitch. Pitch change in spoken language that is related to differences in word meaning (i.e. change in pitch can show differences in word meaning) is called *tone*. However, English is not a tone language. It is intonation language, where the change in pitch functions on the sentence level and its movement shows an emotional meaning (anger, joy, irony, etc.) or grammatical meaning (e.g. statements vs. questions). ## A. INTONATION Have you ever listen closely to good speakers of English? You may have notices their go up and down as they speak. How do they say, for instance, "Good Morning!", "Hi!" or "Really?" You probably observe that they use a particular tune for each greeting or question. Successful communicators spread in a variety of tunes. Their voices rise and fall on certain syllables. Native speakers of a contemporary language or dialect, pronouncing the same words under similar circumstances, would make their voices rise and fall approximately the same place. For instance, most native speakers of Standard American English would say "How are you?" with the same rise and fall of the voice at approximately the same syllable. This rise and fall of the voice is called *intonation*. Speaking, just like signing, has tunes too except that there are fewer times in speaking than in singing. There are four tunes used in speaking they are: low (1), normal (2), high (3) and extra high (4). The first three are the most commonly used tunes and the intonation patterns of Standard American English are a combination of these tunes. Extra high (4) which is used to express an extreme emotion like extreme fear, extreme anger, extreme surprise, an extreme excitement is seldom used in normal speaking. ## The Basic Intonation Patterns ### A. THE 2-3-1 OR RISING-FALLING INTONATION Begins on the normal (2) tune and ends by raising the voice to high (3) on the last stressed syllable of the sentence, then making it fall to low (1). This intonation pattern can be illustrated in the following linear representations: In English, the rising- falling intonation is used in short simple statements of fact, commands and requests, and information questions (questions that begin with question words like what, who, how) #### Examples: - **Simple Statements of Fact** 1. You're up early. 2. They want to listen to the latest recording. 3. Pablo was standing in front of the chair. - **Commands and Requests:** 1. Sit down at the table. 2. Make yourself at home. 3. Look at that boy. - **Information Questions:** 1. What would you like for breakfast? 2. Where did you learn it? 3. Who has been taking things from my disk? ### B. THE 2-3-3 OR RISING INTONATION In the rising intonation, the voice begins on the normal (2) tune and ends on a high (3) tune on the last stressed word of the sentence. The syllables which follow the rise are pronounced on the high note, too, with the last syllable slightly higher than the rest. In English, the rising intonation is normally used at the end of questions that are answered by “yes,” “no," or "perhaps” (Yes-No questions). Observe the lines in the following examples and let your voice rise as the lines do. - Did you sleep well? - Is he in school? #### Example of Yes- No Questions: - Are you sure you've got enough paper. - Would you rather have coffee? - Have you been to many places this year? ### C. THE 2-3-2 OR NON-FINAL INTONATION The non-final intonation is used in that part of the sentence which precedes the last stressed- word. It suggests incompleteness of thought and it signals that the speaker still has something to say. In the non-final intonation, the voice begins on normal (2) then rises to pitch level 3 on the stressed word, and returns to normal level or tune (2). This is done when the speaker wishes to suggests that what follows is connected with what he has just said. #### SENTENCES USING THE NON-FINAL INTONATION: 1. If you leave it like that, it will fall off. 2. He was just going to pack his luggage, when he remembered his passport, 3. You're book for next Monday, not this Monday. ## THE INTONATION PATTERNS FOR SPECIFIC STRUCTURES ### A. SERIES WITH AND / ALTERNATIVES WITH OR Intonation is used on all parts of the alternatives or series except the last which is given the rising- falling pattern (2-3-1). #### Example: 1. You can wait or go to another booth. 2. I think, I'll have eggs and bacon after all. 3. The clerk prepares invoices, bills and receipts ### B. DIRECT ADDRESS Refers to the name or word substituted for a name, such as dear or darling, addressed directly to the person to whom one is speaking. ### C. TAG QUESTIONS It is spoken in two types of intonation patterns. If the tag question is said as statement of fact and the speaker is definite that the listener will agree with him, the tag question is spoken with the rising-falling pattern. ## INTONATION PATTERNS FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES ### A. INCOMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT/UNCERTAINTY A rising intonation (2-3) communicates incompleteness of thought, uncertainty, or inconclusiveness. Thus, when you hesitate, doubt, or cannot make up your mind, your voice says so with a rising intonation. ### B. HUMOR/SARCASM A wave intonation (ог 1) communicates the double meanings of humor, sarcasm, and subtle thought. ### C. MOOD INTONATION Moods can be communicated by changes in the pitch range. Pitch range means the difference between one tune and the next tune. #### Example: - **For normal mood (normal pitch range is used):** And so through the night rode Paul Revere; And so through the night went his cry for alarm To every Middlesex village and farm,- A cry of defiance and not of fear, A voice in the darkness, a knock of the door, And a word that shall echo forevermore! -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - **For repressed mood (narrow pitch range is used):** Hush! My baby, or soon you will hear The Sleepy-eye, W'eeng-oosh, hovering near; Out of the timber he will come, A little round man as small as your thumb. - **For vigorous mood (wide pitch range is used):** Remember March, ideas of March remember: Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? What villain touch'd his body, that did stab, And not justice? What, shall one of us, That struck the foremost man of all the world But for supporting robbers, shall we now Contaminate our fingers with base bribes And sell the mighty space of our large honors For as much trash as may be grasped thus? I had rather be a dog, and bay at the moon, Than such a Roman. -William Shakespeare ## B. WORD STRESS Word stress is your magic key to understanding spoken English. Native speakers of English use word stress naturally. Word stress is so natural for them that they don't even know they use it. Non-native speakers who speak English to native speakers without using word stress, encounter two problems: they find it difficult to understand native speakers, especially those speaking fast, and the native speakers may find it difficult to understand them. To understand word stress, it helps to understand syllables. Every word is made from syllables and each word has one, two, three or more syllables. | Word | Number of Syllables | |---|---| | dog | 1 | | green | 1 | | quite | 1 | | quite | 2 | | orange | 2 | | table | 2 | | expensive | 3 | | interesting | 3, 4 | | unrealistic | 4 | | unexceptional | 5 | ## What is Word Stress? In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one word, we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the other syllables very quietly. Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each word. And it is not always the same syllable. So the "shape" of each word is different. Look at these words, do you see the stressed syllables in each words? - **3 syllables, stress on #1** PHO-to-graph - **4 syllables, stress on #2** pho-TO-graph-er - **4 syllables, stress on #3** pho-to-GRAPH-ic This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHER, JAPAN, CHINA, ABOVE, conversation, INTERESTING, IMPORTANT, DEMAND, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera The syllables that are not stressed are weak or small or quiet. Fluent speakers of English listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use word stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation and your comprehension. Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English - on the radio, or in films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognize it. After that, you can USE it! There are two very important rules about word stress: 1. One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.) 2. The stress is always on a vowel. ## Word Stress Rules There are two very simple rules about word stress: 1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stressés. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long words.) 2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants. Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language and to add the stress naturally. ## C. SENTENCE STRESS Sentence stress is a difficult area to work on for learners and teachers alike It is a common knowledge that pronunciation is important, but some people forget about sentence stress and intonation. They neglect this aspect which can lead to problems for learners in both speaking and perhaps more importantly listening. The cadence and rhythm of a language are important for fluency and clarity. Languages of the world vary greatly in word and sentence stress-many languages stress content words while others are tonal or have little to no word stress. Practicing sentence stress in English helps students speak more quickly and naturally. The English language is often referred to as stress-timed. This means that stress in a spoken sentence occurs at regular intervals and the length it takes to say something depends on the number of stressed syllables rather than the number of syllables itself. Unlike word-stress which tends to be fixed, prominence can vary quite frequently depending on the intention of the speaker. #### Examples: - I'LL go to the gym next Friday. (me, not John) - I'll go to the GYM next Friday. (not the theatre) - I'll go to the gym NEXT Friday. (not this Friday) - I'll go to the gym next FRIday. (not Thursday) Most sentences have two basic types of word: - **Content words** Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the important words that carry the meaning or sense---the real content. - **Function words** Function words are not very important words. They are small, simple words that make the sentence correct grammatically. They give the sentence its correct form-its structure. If function words are removed from a sentence, the sentence is still understandable. If content words are removed from a sentence, the sentence will have no sense or meaning. Hence, one cannot understand the sentence. ## Sentence Stress Rule The basic rules of sentence stress are: 1. Content words are stressed 2. Function words are unstressed 3. The time between stressed words is always the same ### Content words- stressed | Words carrying the meaning | Example | |---|---| | Main verbs | SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY | | Nouns | CAR, MUSIC, JAKE | | Adjectives | RED, BIG, INTERESTING | | Adverbs | QUICKLY, WHY, NEVER | | Negative auxiliaries | DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T | ### Function words-unstressed | Words for correct grammar | Example | |---|---| | Pronouns | he, we, they | | Prepositions | on, at, into | | Articles | a, an, the | | Conjunctions | and, but, because | | Auxiliary verbs | do, be, have, can, must | #### Exceptions: The rules above are for what is called "neutral" or normal stress. But sometimes we can stress a word that would normally be only a structure word, for example to correct information. Look at the following dialogue: "They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?" "No, THEY haven't, but WE have." Note also that when "be" is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed--even though as a main verb it is also a content word. ## D. JUNCTURE Juncture, in linguistics, is the manner of moving between two successive syllables in speech. An important type of juncture is the suprasegmental phonemic cue by means of which a listener can distinguish between two otherwise identical sequences of sounds that have different meanings. Meanwhile, in Phonetics, juncture is the set of features in speech that enable a hearer to detect a word or phrase boundary. ### Three Symbols of Juncture 1. **Single Bar Juncture:[/]** -Slight pause between the thought groups. Ex. My teacher said / the doctor is pregnant. 2. **Double Bar Juncture: [ // ]** -Indicates the need of a longer pause between two thoughts in a sentence. Ex. The first gentleman // Miguel Arroyo // is also known as Jose Pidal. 3. **Double Cross Juncture: [#]** -Characterizes a drop in pitch. The pausing time responds to a need for semi-colon, colon or period. Ex. A vision without action is a daydream;# an action without vision is a nightmare. ## KINDS OF JUNCTURE ### Plus juncture Also known as open juncture, this is subdivided into internal open juncture and external open juncture. It is the juncture that occurs at word boundaries. In phonetic transcription open juncture is transcribed, hence the name plus juncture. It is a manner of transition from one phoneme to the next in two utterances. It exists between words in a phrase or sentence Ex. He Lies; Heal Eyes ### Close juncture Also known as a normal transition, this is a transition between segments (sounds) within a word. It shows that sounds are close together by placing phoneme to phoneme. Ex: have a nice day: hæv nais ' dei/ ### Terminal juncture Also known as falling, clause terminal or terminal contour, this is the juncture at the end of a clause or utterance with falling pitch before a silence. Other less common typologies exist, such as the division (favoured by American Structuralist linguists in the middle twentieth century) into plus, single bar, double bar, and double cross junctures, denoted /*/, /I/, /II/, and /#/ respectively. These correspond to syllabification and differences in intonation, single bar being a level pitch before a break, double bar being an upturn in pitch and a break, and double cross being a downturn in pitch that usually comes at the end of an utterance. #### EXAMPLES: In English, a syllable break at the plus juncture sometimes distinguishes otherwise homophonic phrases. "a name" /ə.nelm/ and "an aim" / en.elm/ "that stuff" /æt.st/f/ and "that's tough" /dæts.tAf/ A word boundary preceded or followed by a syllable break is called an external open juncture. If there is no break, so that words on either side of the juncture are run together, the boundary is called an internal open juncture. The distinction between open and close juncture is the difference between "night rate", /nalt.relt/ with the open juncture between /t/ and /r/, and "nitrate', /nal.trelt/ with close juncture between /t/ and /r/ in some varieties of English, only the latter involves an affricate. ## VCV Open/VCCV Doublets When a syllable ends in a vowel, the vowel is usually long and the syllable is open in the pattern words like diner [di-ner]. When a syllable ends with a vowel and at least one consonant, the vowel sound is usually short and the syllable is closed in the VCCV pattern words like dinner [din-ner]. | **VCV OPEN** | **VCCV DOUBLET** | |---|---| | Clo/ver | Dip/per | | Fla/vor | Soc/cer | | Ba/con | Cof/fee | | Sollo | Ap/ple | | Tu/na | Gal/lon | # CHAPTER 3. MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX ## Lesson 1. Morphology ### Introduction Phonology is the study of the sound system of language. The minimal unit of phonology is the phoneme. A phoneme conveys no meaning in itself. However, phonemes can be strung together in specific rule-governed ways to produce the meaningful units of language. These units are called morphemes. The study of the rules governing the formation and combination of morphemes is called morphology. Morphology is the study of how words are constructed out of morphemes. It studies the rules governing the internal structure of words. Morphs are the meaningful units of a language. They may come in the form of affixes or root words, whatever form they take, the morphs signal meaning. Example of those would be *un-* to signal negation when it is affixed to a word. All of those affixes are allomorphs or variants of the same morpheme since they signal the same meaning. They differ because of the change in their environment or the word to which they are attached. The word *unhappily* has 3 morphemes: {un-}, {happy}, {-ly} while the word *spaghetti* is a single morpheme. Morphology is generally divided into: - **Free morphemes** are those that can stand on their own as independent words. These are words that can be used as single words. Example: book, run, nice, one - **Bound morphemes** are those that cannot stand on their own as independent words. They are always attached to a free morpheme or a free form. Example: {un-}. {-ly}, {dis-}, {-hood} Such morphemes are also called affixes. - **Inflectional morphemes** are those that never change the form class of the words or morphemes to which they are attached. They are always attached to complete words. They cap the word; they are a closed-ended set of morphemes. English has only eight inflectional morphemes: | Morpheme | Example | |---|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | -s | Bill dances at the coliseum. | | -ed | Bill danced at the coliseum. | | -ing | Bill is dancing at the coliseum. | | -en | Bill has fallen at the coliseum. | | -s | Bill read books. | | -'s | Bill's phone is android. | | -er | Bill's phone is cheaper than my phone. | | -est | Bill's phone is the cheapest. | - **Derivational morphemes** are those that are added to root morphemes or stems to derive new words. They usually change the form class of the words to which they are attached; they are open-ended, that is, there are potentially infinite number of them. Example: formal + {-ize} – formalize care + {-ful} - careful; {un-} + fortunate - unfortunate. ## Word Formation Processes Certain categories of words show greater openness than others. That is, the number of words in open classes of words (also called content words) grow, whereas, the number of words in closed classes of words (also called function words) do not usually grow. In English, new nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are always being formed. Yet new conjunctions, pronouns or prepositions are rare. Similarly, some morphemes are very productive and others are not. Bound morphemes like -ly, -able, -s, -ment, pre- and in- can be added to thousands of words, including new words. Here are other processes to form new words: - **Derivation.** This involves the addition of a derivational affix, changing the syntactic category of the item to which it is attached. Example: orient (V) - orientation (N) beauty (N) - beautiful (Adj) - **Category Extension.** This involves the extension of a morpheme from one syntactic category to another. Example: chair (N) - chair (V) fast (Adj) – fast (Adv) - **Compounding.** This involves creating a new word by combining two free morphemes. Example: putdown bittersweet - **Root Creation.** It is a brand new word based on no pre-existing morphemes Example: Kodak Frigidaire - **Clipped Form.** It is a shortened form of pre-existing forms. Example: bra - brassiere phone - telephone - **Blend.** It is a combination of parts of two pre-existing forms. Example: smog - smoke + fog motel - motor + hotel - **Acronym.** It is a word formed from the first letter(s) of each word in a phrase. Example: NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration COVID - Corona Virus Disease - **Abbreviation.** It is a word formed from the names of the first letters of the prominent syllables of a word. Example: TV - television FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation - **Proper Name.** This process forms a word from a proper name. Example: hamburger - Hamburg sandwich - Earl of Sandwich - **Folk Etymology.** This process forms a word by substituting a common native for an exotic (often foreign) form. Example: cockroach - Spanish cucuracha 'wood louse' - **Back Formation.** This process forms a word by removing what is mistaken for an affix. Example: burgle-burglar ## Lesson 2. Syntax ### Syntactic Construction **Introduction** Syntax is the branch of linguistics that studies sentence structure. In his theory of generative grammar, Noam Chomsky has pointed out to the astonishing fact that a speaker of any language can produce and understand an infinite number of sentences. The inventory of phonemes of a language is finite, the number of words may reach hundreds of thousands, and it would very difficult to try to count all the existing words of a language. However, to say how many sentences there are in a language is really an impossible task. A speaker can create new sentences by adding prepositional phrases, adjectives, clauses, etc. The traditional grammar, which has its roots in the description of the classical languages - Greek and Latin – provided the distinction and description of the parts of speech: - nouns (window, idea, Mary, milk) - verbs (give, play, believe, have, be) - adjectives (nice, new, open) - adverbs (very, quickly, really) - prepositions (on, of, without, despite) - pronouns (she, you, somebody) - articles (a, an, the) - conjunctions (and, when, though) - interjections (oh, whew) Modern linguists, though accepting this distinction, point out to some incompleteness of the definitions of parts of speech. Thus, for example, nouns may be defined as words referring to people, entities, qualities or abstract notions; adjectives are words that modify nouns, expressing quality, property or attribute of a person or entity, etc. In these definitions parts of speech are presented including their essential meaning properties but not all their functional properties are revealed. Yet the distinction of parts of speech (or lexical categories) is of crucial importance because it helps to classify the words of a language. Using the rules of syntax, we combine words into phrases and phrases into sentences. English has fixed Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word order. Therefore, the sentence "The children took all the apples." is correct (grammatical) but the sentence *Took all the apples the children."* is ungrammatical. Sentences are not just lineal strings of words - they may be analyzed hierarchically into phrases. For example, the following sentence contains three phrases, indicated by bracketing. [The diligent students] [have completed] [the last task). A phrase may consist of one word or a group of words. The substitution test may be used to show the identity of a phrase, i.e. a single word can often replace it. For example, the phrase the diligent students can be replaced by the pronoun *they*. Another way to test the reality of phrases is the movement test a whole phrase can be moved as a unit. Compare the two sentences: a) He put the cake on the kitchen table. b) On the kitchen table, he put the cake. The main types of phrases are: - the noun phrase - the verb phrase - the adjective phrase - the adverb phrase - the prepositional phrase Each type of phrase has the head – the lexical category around which the phrase is built. A phrase can contain only the head. Some examples of noun phrases: a book, the book, people, these people, the red carpet. Prepositional phrases consist of a preposition and a noun phrase: on the table, with a spoon, in the crowded street, etc. According to Noam Chomsky's generative grammar, a finite set of formal rules project a finite set of sentences upon the potentially infinite number of sentences of a language. To put it more simply, there are a certain number of formal rules which explain the structure of the sentences in a language. One of the main rules states that a sentence consists of a noun phrase and a verb phrase. The hierarchical structure of a sentence can be represented by tree structures, i.e. diagrams showing the hierarchical organization of phrases. On the whole, the analysis of sentence structure proceeds along a number of different lines, depending on the linguistic school and model of analysis. Sentences are classified into different types. The majority of linguists make a distinction between functional and formal classifications. From the point of view of their function, sentences are divided into the most common sentence types: - declarative (statements) She closed the window. - Interrogative (questions) Did she close the window? - Imperative (commands) Close the window! - Exclamatory (exclamations) What a big window! One more categorization of sentences is into the types of syntactic structures: - **Simple sentence** has one subject - verb unit. The cat jumped on the couch. - **Compound sentence** consists of two or more main clauses. He is a busy man, but he promised to help me with this problem. - **Complex sentence** has one clause used as a main clause and one or more dependent clause. When I first saw the building, I was amazed by its size - **Compound-complex sentence** has two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. When the teacher assigned the reading for the exam, many students were stunned, but they agreed to study well as they could. ## Grammar Rules As with all levels of language-phonetic, phonological, morphological, and semantic-the syntactic level is rule-governed. The rules that govern each of these levels or systems are often subconsciously known. - **Subject-Verb Agreement** 1. Remember that the subject and the verb in a sentence must agree in person and number. Sn PV The elevator works very well. The elevators work very well. Pn PV 2. Subject separated from the verb. When analyzing person and number, check the subject and the verb. Very often if the subject and the verb are separated, they will be separated by prepositional phrase. The prepositional phrase has no effect on the verb. The boys in the room are studying. The study of language is very interesting. 3. The following expressions also have no effect on the verb. together with along with accompanied by as well as > Subject The actress, along with her manager and some friends, is going to a party. Mr. Año, accompanied by his wife and children, is arriving tonight. 4. Words that always take singular verbs and pronouns: The following words must be followed by singular verbs and pronouns in formal written English. any + singular noun some + singular noun every anybody nobody somebody everybody each either* anyone no one someone everyone neither* anything nothing something everything * either and neither are singular if they are not used with *or* and *nor*. Everybody who has not purchased a ticket should be in this line. If either of you takes a vacation now, we will not be able to finish the work. 4. None can take either a singular or plural depending on the noun which follows it. None of the counterfeit money has been found. None of the students have finished the exam yet. 5. No can take either a singular or plural verb depending on the noun which follows it. No example is relevant to this case. No examples are relevant to this case. 6. Either/neither: When either and neither are followed by *or* and *nor* the verb may be singular or plural depending on whether the noun following *or* and *nor* is singular or plural. If *or* or *nor* appears alone, the same rule applies. FA Neither Ely nor his friends are going to the beach today. Either Ely or his friends are going to the beach today. Neither Ely nor his friend is going to the beach today. 7. Gerund as subject: If the subject of the sentence is a gerund, the verb must be singular. Dieting is very popular today. Not studying has caused him problems. 8. Collective Nouns: Many words indicating a number of people or animals are singular. The following collective nouns are usually considered singular. They are considered plural if the sentence indicates that the individual members are acting separately. congress family group committee class organization team army club crowd government jury majority* minority public * Majority can be taken as singular. If it is alone, it is usually understood as singular. If it is followed by a plural noun, it is usually considered plural. The majority believes that we are in no danger. The majority of the students believe that he is innocent. Examples of collective nouns: The committee has met, and it has rejected the proposal. Our team is going to win the game. 9. The following nouns used to indicate groups of certain animals are considered singular. flock of birds, sheep herd of cattle pack of dogs school of fish pride of lions The flock of birds is circling overhead. A school of fish is being attacked by sharks. 10. Collective nouns indicating time, money, and measurements used as a whole are considered singular. Fifty minutes isn't enough time to finish this test. Two hundred pesos is too much to pay for the fan. 11. A number of/the number of: "A number of" followed by a plural noun requires a plural verb. "The number of" followed by a plural noun requires a singular verb. A number of students are attending the orientation. The number of patients has recovered from the coronavirus. 12. Nouns that are always plural: The following nouns are always considered plural. O change them into the singular form, use a qualifying phrase like " a pair of.” scissors trousers shorts glasses pants pliers jeans tweezers tongs These scissors are dull. This pair of scissors is dull. ## Pronoun Antecedent Agreement 1. A pronoun and its antecedent must agree. They should both be singular or both be plural. The doctor treated his patient. The doctors treated their patients. 2. Even though some indefinite pronouns have plural meanings, treat them as grammatically singular. Everyone in my English class does his/her homework. All of the students in my English class do their homework. 3. Treat generic nouns as singular even though they might have a plural meaning. An education student must study hard if he or she wants to succeed. Education students must study hard if they want to succeed. 4. Treat collective nouns as singular unless the meaning is clearly plural. The committee granted its permission. The committee put their signatures on the documents. 5. Treat most compound antecedents connected by *and* as plural. Vincente and Lilia moved to the barrio where they built a nipa hut. She and her friends celebrated their fast recovery. 6. When a compound antecedent is connected by *or*, *nor* (or by *either...or* or *neither...nor*), make the pronoun agree with the nearer antecedent. Neither the dog nor the cats could find their way through the maze. Either Pia or Eris will get the title for their amazing performance. # CHAPTER 4. SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS ## Lesson 1. Semantics ### Introduction Semantics is the branch of linguistics that studies meaning in language. It is generally accepted that words, phrases, and sentences have meaning. Often semantics is narrowly defined as the meaning of expressions divorced from the context in which these utterances are produced, and from various characteristics of the sender or receiver of the message. The study of meaning derived from context and features of the communicators is called pragmatics. ### The Meaning of Words: Lexical Semantics There are two general types of semantics: Lexical semantics studies the meanings of words and sense relations (such as synonymy, antonymy and hyponymy). Structural semantics (or sentential semantics) is concerned with the meaning of sentences. The meaning of words is part of human linguistic knowledge. The meaning of the majority of words is conventional, i.e. all speakers of a language intuitively agree on their meanings. If they did not, it would not be possible for people to communicate with each other. ### Semantic Properties of Words It is possible to analyze meanings of words decomposing them into more basic semantic properties. These properties are the elements of meaning that make up the mental image of the word in the mind of the speaker. The words *man* and *boy* can be the referent of the pronoun *he* because all of those words have semantic properties" in common. Those semantic properties are *maleness* and *humanness*. - Man - male, human, adult - Boy-male, human, child By analyzing the semantic properties, it becomes clear that the difference between the meanings of the two words is the individual's age or stage of life. Linguists acknowledge that it is difficult both to define and to analyze the meaning of a word. One of the reasons is that word meaning is not homogeneous. A distinction is drawn between *denotation*, which is understood as the relationship between words and the entities in the world to which they refer, and *connotation*, which is understood as the additional (often emotional or evaluative) associations suggested by words. Denotation_is_reflected in the dictionary-definitions_of words. Thus the denotation of the word *wolf* is a wild animal that looks like a large dog and lives and hunts in groups" (Long