College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013

Introduction

Q\What are the reasons behind the variety of languages?
A\ 1) regional reason (geographical reason) / 2) Social reason.

Note: language is highly structured. (structure = rules + components [constituents] ).
Note: languages differ in rules but they have the same components. For example, all
languages contain nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc., but the positions of these
elements in a sentence vary from one language to another.
Phonetics: studies human sounds features. (meaningful)

Components + phonological rules = sound patterns
Notes: sound patterns differ from one language to another because there are different
phonological rules for each language.
Morphology: studies word structure. ( a morpheme + a morpheme..etc. = a word )

Comes = come + s
(A word) (Free morpheme) (Bound morpheme)
Meaningful) (meaningful) (meaningless) )

Syntactic rules: it studies the sentence structure (arranging words into sentences)

Note:
Phonological rules arrange phonemes (sounds) together to get sound patterns.
Morphological rules arrange morphemes together to get words.
Syntactic rules arrange words into well-formed sentences.


College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Chapter 10
Syntax

The word 'syntax' originally came from Greek and literally meant ' a setting out together' or
'arrangement.' Syntax studies the structure of and ordering of components within a sentence. It is
a branch or level of the study of language.
Note: Sentence is the highest level in language.
Note: Sentence consists of clause(s), clause of consists of words, words consists of morpheme(s).
Q\ In study of language, why do we have these divisions: syntax, semantics, pragmatics, etc. ?
A\ Because language is a very complex phenomenon that cannot be studied as a whole.

TGG (transformational generative grammar/ Chomsky's grammar): is a particular type of grammar
which would have a very explicit system of rules specifying what combinations of basic elements
would result in well-formed sentences.
Or: it attempts to define rules that generate the infinite number of grammatical (well-formed)
possible sentences in a language. It does not start from the behaviourist theory of minimal sounds,
but from a rational assumption that deep structure underlies a language.
Note: Chomsky claimed to have the ability to describe the competence throughout the theory of
T.G.G.
Competence: is an abstract linguistic knowledge which has been internalized in the mind of the
native speaker.
Note: Chomsky said that behaviourism is not suitable to study language.
Grammar: is the description or representation of the linguistic knowledge any native speaker
possesses or has.
Linguistic knowledge = components
Note: all types of grammar aim to describe the linguistic knowledge any native speaker possesses,
but they follow different approaches.
Note: Chomsky's aim is to produce an infinite number of well-formed sentences by using limited
(finite) number of rules.
Q\How do the structuralists study language?

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
A\Through observation: they observe the possible sounds to establish the phoneme, then they
move to sound patterns. Then they move to morphemes then words, after that to sentences.
Note: Chomsky said that the rules are finite (limited) in number, but they produce an infinite
number of actual sentences. [More rational].
Some (properties/features/criteria) of TGG/Chomsky's grammar
1) The grammar will generate all the well-formed syntactic structures (e.g. sentences) of the
language and fail to generate any ill-formed structures.
2) The grammar will have a finite (i.e. limited) number of rules, but will be capable of generating
an infinite number of well-formed structures. In this way, the productivity of language would be
captured within the grammar.
3) The rules of this grammar will also need the crucial property of recursion, that is, the capacity to
be applied more than once in generating a structure.
4) This grammar should also be capable of revealing the basis of two other phenomena: first, how
some superficially distinct sentences are closely related, and second, how some superficially
similar sentences are in fact distinct.

Surface structure: it responses to actual English sentences, it shows the proper phonological
information in order to express that thought.
Deep structure: is an abstract level of structural organization in which all semantic elements or
components determining structural interpretation are represented.
John is eager to please [John is doer of the action]
John is easy to please [John is the receiver of the action]
These two sentences have the same surface structure.
Ali broke the window.
The window is broken by Ali.
These two sentences have the same deep structure but different surface structure [the
organization of these two sentences is acceptable because the components comply to English
rules].
Note: deep structure underlies the meaning of the sentences, it shows the semantic components.
It generates the surface structure through certain rules (transformational rules).

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Note: deep structure generates the surface structure. [Deep structure is used to explain
ambiguous sentences.

Structural ambiguity: when one surface structure has two interpretations (two deep structures).
She beat a man with a hat [one surface structure but two different deep structures).
Either she beat a man using a hat (she used a hat to beat him)
Or, she beat a man who has or wears a hat.

S sentence PP prepositional phrase PN proper noun Art article
NP noun phrase N noun V verb Adv. adverb Adj. adjective VP verb phrase
( ) 'optional constituent' * 'ungrammatical sequence' Prep preposition P pronoun 'consist of

Tree diagram: is an upside down graphic diagram which is 'hierarchically' organized (show the
hierarchical structure of a sentence). It is used to show the same structure or sequence of a
sentence in a more explicit way.
e.g. NP: Art (The) N (monkey). NP
Art N
The monkey



e.g. S
NP VP
Art N V NP
Art N
The monkey ate the banana



College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
The main(syntactic)components of transformational generative grammar/Chomsky's grammar:
1. A set of phrase structure rules.
2. Lexicon rules.
3. Transformational rules.

PSRs (phrase structure rules/categories rules/ rewriting rules): are rules were used in early TGG to
describe given language syntax. This was accomplished (done) by breaking language into its
constituent parts (syntactic categories). These phrasal categories include N noun, V verb, A
adjective and some others.
By PSRs, Chomsky tries to represent much of the native speaker knowledge of internal structure of
the sentence. These rules are simple and explicit.

Note: PSRs have no neutral way to describe ambiguous sentences. They would provide only one
derivation although there are two derivations (two deep structures). [PSR's fail to show the other
deep structure].

To account for such facts, Chomsky claims in addition to PSR's, the grammar requires a second
type of rules called transformational rules. The rules transform phrase markers into other phrase
marker by moving elements around, by deleting elements, by adding elements.
Note: By using transformational rules, we can show the similarity of active voice and passive voice.

I like her cooking. (I like the food she cooks).
I like he (short pause) cooking. (I like to see her when she is cooking).

NP VP
The man will read the book

S NP VP
NP (Art) N

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
VP V NP Syntactic linguistic information
V Aux. lexical V
NP Art N
Note: the linguistic information can be represented graphically by using tree diagram.

Q\ Why do we use the tree diagram?
A\ Because the same information can be seen in a more explicit way.


Tree diagram PSR's







S -----> NP VP (unpacking the phrase structure rules to find the internal structure rules).
NP---> (Article) + [N / proper noun / pronoun]

Transformational rules: set of instructions which are used to arrange the elements of a
sentence in a form which is acceptable to the native speaker of a particular language.
Or, it is a system of grammatical analysis which assumes the existence of deep structure and
surface structure using a set of transformational rules. We derive a surface structure from a
deep structure.

Q\ Why do we need to derive the surface structure from the deep structure?

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
A\ Because deep structure is abstract, so we need to actualize or embody it in surface
structure by a set of transformational rules.


Surface structure: NP VP
John broke the window
Deep structure: Someone did an action to something (semantic components)





S
NP VP
N V NP
N Adv.
George helped Mary yesterday
Note: PSRs generate fixed rules (not flexible).
George helped Mary yesterday.
Yesterday, George helped Mary.

S S
NP VP Adv. NP VP
N V NP N V NP
N Adv. N

Partial movement

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
John put off his coat.
John put his coat off.
These two sentences have the same deep structure, but they differ in their surface structure.


George will help Mary
Will George help Mary? [Additional meaning (question/interrogative) transformational rules.
We apply the transformational rules of conversion to get an acceptable sentence by native
speakers.
Doobie picked up the magazine.
Doobie picked the magazine up.
These two sentences have different surface structures, but they have the same deep structure.
Note: transformational rules change only the surface structure but not the deep structure.
Q\What are the components of deep the structure?
A\ In both cases, there is someone did an action to an object:
John broke the window
The window was broken (by John)
These two sentences are superficially distinct sentences, but they have the same underlined
meaning (deep structure).

Chapter 11
Semantics

Q\What is meant by semantics?
Q\What is meaning?
Q\What are the types of meaning?
Q\How do we study/characterize meaning?

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Semantics is a branch of linguistics which studies meaning in general.
Types of meaning: when linguists investigate the meaning of words in a language, they are
normally interested in characterizing the conceptual meaning and less concerned with the
associative or stylistic meaning of words.
Conceptual meaning covers those basic, essential components of meaning which are conveyed
by the literal use of a word. Some of the basic components of a word like needle in English might
include 'thin, sharp, steel, instrument.' These components would be part of the conceptual
meaning of needle.
Note: other types of meaning include thematic, reflective, affective, social, speaker and
contextual meaning.
We may have 'associations' , or 'connotations' attached to a word like needle which lead you to
think of 'painful' whenever you encounter the word. This 'association' is not treated as a part of
the conceptual meaning of needle.
Conceptual meaning: it refers to logical cognitive and denotative content of the word. It is part of
our linguistic knowledge. The conceptual meaning is stable and never changes.
Man human, male, adult.
The above italic words are characterization of the word 'man', and these italic words are called
the essential components (of the word 'man') because they are stable and never changes.
Man Woman
Human Human
Adult Adult
Male Female [ the distinguishing features ]

Associative meaning: it refers to what is communicated by virtue of what is referred to. It is the
meaning which is above the conceptual meaning, it may vary according to culture, social
background and time. It can be subjective and unstable. It depends on how a person perceives
the word.

Needle painful associative meaning.
Needle is associated with pain.
Note: associative meaning is subjunctive.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013

Q\How do we characterize/define meaning?
A\We follow different approaches:
1. Semantic features.
2. Lexical relations.
3. Semantic role.

1. Semantic features: is an approach to characterize meaning. It is a connotational method which
can be used to express the existence and non-existence of pre-established properties by using
plus and minus signs.
Semantic features might be helpful to account and explain the 'oddness' we experience when we
read English sentences such as:
My cat studied linguistics
The oddness of that sentence does not derive from its syntactic structure. It is a well-structured
sentence. This sentence is syntactically good, but semantically odd.
Note: Semantic features aim to explain the oddness of English sentences.
For example:
The hamburger ate the man
This is an odd sentence because the subject lacks one feature which is being animate. Here, the
source of the oddness of this sentence may relate to the components of the conceptual meaning
of the noun hamburger which differ significantly from those of the noun man, especially when
those nouns are used as subjects of the verb ate. The kinds of nouns which can be subjects of the
verb ate must denote entities which are capable of 'eating'. The noun hamburger does not have
this property (and man does).
Note: all abstract words have minus signs.

Note: the problem with this approach (semantic approach):
Verbs (ate, like, play, etc.) have no semantic features.
Also, prepositions have no semantic features.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Note: this approach works with concrete words and fails with abstract words and other parts of
speech such as verbs.
2. Lexical relations
The meaning of a word is characterized not in terms of its component features, but in terms of
its relationship to other words (words have relations among themselves).
It is possible to characterize meaning in terms of relationship that words keep with each other.
1)Synonymy: is a lexical relation which is used to describe meaning in which two or more forms
have very closely related meanings which are often, but not always, interchangeable in
sentences, e.g.: broad/wide, hide/conceal, cab/taxi.
Note: it should be noted that the idea of 'sameness of meaning' used in discussing synonyms is
not necessarily 'total sameness.' Sometimes on word is appropriate in a sentence, but its
synonym would be odd. For example, the word 'answer' fits in this sentence: Cathy had only one
answer correct on the test, whereas its near-synonymy, 'reply', would sound odd.
Synonymous forms may also differ in terms of formality. For example, the sentence My father
purchased a large automobile seems much more serious than the following casual version, with
four synonymous replacement: My dad bought a big car.

2) Antonymy: it is a lexical relation used to characterize meaning in which two forms have
opposite meanings. For example: quick/slow.
Antonyms are divided into two types:
a) Gradable antonyms: are antonyms that can be used in comparative constructions like bigger
than/smaller than. Also, the negative of one member of the gradable pair does not necessarily
imply the other. For example, if you say that dog is not old, you do not have to mean that dog is
young.
b) Non-gradable antonyms (complementary pairs): are antonyms with which comparative
constructions are nor normally used (the expressions dreader or more dread sound strange), and
the negative of one member does imply the other. For example, that person is not dead does
indeed mean that person is alive.

Reversives: are pairs of small number of non-gradable antonyms in which the opposite of a word
means to do the reverse of that word. For example, consider the opposites tie/untie. The word
unties does not mean 'not tie.' It actually means 'do the reverse of tie." Other examples are:
pack/unpack, enter/exist, shorten/lengthen, raise/lower.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013

3) Hyponymy: it is a lexical relation which is use to characterize meaning in which the meaning of
one form is included in the meaning of another. E.g.: daffodil/flower, dog/animal, banyan/tree,
poodle/dog.
'Daffodil' is a hyponymy of 'flower'.
The meaning of general is included in the meaning of more specific. 'Daffodil' should be flower, but
not any flower should be daffodil.
4) Homophony: is lexical relation which is used to characterize meaning in which two or more
different (written) forms have the same pronunciation. E.g.: meat/meet, sew/so.
Q\How do we characterize the meaning of 'meat' and 'meet?
A\'meat' is a word that has the same pronunciation of 'meet.'

5) Polysemy: is lexical relation which is used to characterize meaning in which one form (written or
spoken) having multiple meanings which are all related by extension. E.g.: the word head, used to
refer to the object on top of your body, on top of a company or department, on top of a mountain,
etc.

6) Homonyny: is lexical relation which is used to characterize meaning in which one form (written
or spoken) has two or more unrelated meanings:
Bank of the river the side of the river.
Bank (financial institution).
Bat (a flying creature), or (a piece of wood in certain sports).

Chapter 12
Pragmatics

Pragmatics is:
The study of the invisible meaning
The study of the speaker's meaning

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
The study of the intended meaning. It is the meaning of what is communicated even if it is not really
said
Is how more gets communicated than is said .The study of the expression of relative distance either
for politeness, respect or social distance.

An example from the textbook:
What ( Heated = warm)
Is ( Attendant = guard) contextual information
Said (parking = cars)

The background knowledge implies that the word "Heated" is used because the whether is cold
there or then. "Attendant" implies that there may be thieves around, and "parking" refers to a
garage (a place where cars but not, for example, trains or ships, are kept).
Note: what is said may have a meaning in a context, but may have another meaning in another
context (the context has a role in interpretation).
Note: we arrive at the meaning depending on (according to) what is said plus contextual factors plus
the background knowledge.
Note: we depend on the meaning of what is said, but sometimes it is not enough, so we need more
information (contextual meaning, intended meaning, background knowledge)
For example:
Speaker A : I have a fourteen-year old so
Speaker B : That's all right
Speaker A : Also I have a dog
Speaker B : I am sorry
(Speaker A wants to rent a house from speaker B, so he says that he has a fourteen-year old son and
this causes no problem to the owner, but the speaker A says that he also has a dog, speaker B
refuses and apologizes)
Speaker B : I am sorry = refusal + apology
" (refusing" is a part of what is communicated but not a part of what is said, i.e.," refusing" is an
invisible meaning)

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Types of context
1. Situational context (physical context).
2. Co-text context (linguistic context).
Note: the two types of context are used to arrive at an interpretation.
Place, time, speaker and audience are elements of the physical context and they have a role in
interpretation. When one these elements changes, the meaning will be affected by this change.
Good morning (at morning) = greeting
Good morning ( at night ) = blaming, etc.
Context: is the linguistic environment in which the speaker's intended meaning is understood
accordingly. There are two different types of contexts:
1. Linguistic context (co-text context): it is the linguistic environment in which the utterance occurs.
It means that words have a context.
Brazil wins the first round of negotiation. (Brazil as a government)
Brazil wins the world cup (football, basketball, etc.)
2. Physical context (situational context): it helps us to understand an utterance in everyday life. For
example, the word 'bank'.
We put our money in the bank. (Financial institution)
They anchored the boat near the bank. (Side of river)

Note: factors of context are time, place, addresser and addressee.

Deixis : is a Greek word means 'pointing' via language. It is a form of referring that cannot be
interpreted unless the physical context, especially the physical context of the speaker, is known. The
most basic distinction between deictic expressions is being near the speaker versus away from the
speaker. There are many linguistic expressions through which we refer to people, places and times
deictically:
Types of deixis or references:
1 ) Proximal references: references which are near the speaker. In other words, references to
people, places and times which are near or close to the deictic centre in coding time.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
2 ) Distal references: references which are away from the speaker. In other words, references to
people, place and times which are away from the deictic centre in coding time.

Types of deictic expressions:
1. Deictic expressions of time: we refer to time deictically using the following expressions : now,
then, tomorrow, next week, etc.
2. Deictic expression of place: we refer to places or locations deictically using the following
expressions: here, there, etc.
3. Deictic expression of person: pronouns are used to refer to people deictically.
I : speaker's references to himself at coding time.
You : speaker's references to his addressee at coding time.
He, she, they : deictic expression to people away from the speaker and his addressee at coding
time.

Note: with deictic references, the physical context (time, place, addresser and addressee) should be
known in order to be able to interpret these references or expressions. That is, sentences including
deictic expressions cannot be understood if we do not know who is speaking, about whom, where
and when. For example, You will have to bring that back tomorrow, because they are not here now.
Out of context, tis sentence is extremely vague. It contains a large number of deictic expressions
(you, that, tomorrow, they, here, now) which depend for their interpretation on the immediate
physical context in which they were uttered.

Note: it is possible to mark whether the movement is happening towards the speaker's location
(come) or away from the speaker's location (go). If someone is moving towards you, you tend to say
Here he/she comes! If, however, he/she is moving away from you, you tend to say There he/she
goes!
Note: all deictic expressions have to be interpreted in terms of what person, place or time the
speaker has in mind.
Note: proper names (John), exact times (11:30 p.m.), exact places (University of Mosul) are not
deictic expressions since we already know the exact person, time and place.
Note: people can actually use deixis to have some fun. The caf owner who puts up a big sign that
reads Free coffee Tomorrow (to get you to return to his caf) can always claim that you are one day
too early for the free coffee.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Q\ What is the interpretation of the following deictic expressions: now, then, here, there?
A\
Now: a deictic expression which refers to a point in time or period of time which coincides with the
coding time.
Then: a deictic expression which refers to a point in time or period of time in past or future which is
away from the coding time.
Here: a deictic expression which refers to the speaker's location at a coding time.
There: a deictic expression which refers to a place which is away from the speaker's location at
coding time.

Note: coding time means the time of reference.

Presupposition
It is what the speaker assumes to be the case trying to make another.
Or it is what is assumed by the speaker about the hearer's knowledge.
Or it is what a speaker assumes is true or is known by the hearer.
Note: speakers continually design their linguistic messages on the basis of assumptions about what
their hearers already know:
For example:
If someone tells you Your brother is awaiting outside for you, there is an obvious presupposition
that you have a brother. If you are asked Why did you arrive late?, there is a presupposition that
you did arrive late.
In the following example, there are at least two presuppositions involved: When did you stop
smoking cigars? Here, the speaker presupposes that you used to smoke cigars, and you that you no
longer do so.
Questions with built-in presuppositions are very useful devices for interrogators or trial lawyers. If
the defendant is asked by the prosecutor Okay, Mr. Smith, how fast were you going when you ran
the red light?, there is a presupposition that Mr. Smith did, in fact, run the red light. If he simply
answers the How fast part of the question, by giving a speed, he is behaving as if the presupposition
is correct.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Constancy under negation: one of the tests that is used to check whether particular
presuppositions underlying sentences remain true with negative versions of these sentences.
My car is a wreck
My car is not a wreck
Although these two sentences have opposite meanings, the underlying presupposition, I have a car,
remains true in both.
I used to regret marrying him, but I don't regret marrying him now
Here, the presupposition (I married him) remains constant even though the verb "regret" changes
from being affirmative to being negative.


Types of presupposition
1. Existential presupposition: expressed by definite articles, possessive pronouns, possessive ('s) or
of-construction.
The king of Jordan is here (we assume that Jordan has a king).
Mary's brother is coming/The brother of Mary is coming (we assume that Mary has a brother)
2. Lexical presupposition: the lexical part of the sentence shows us the presupposition.
John stopped smoking (John used to smoke).
Q\What was the case, or, what is the presupposition of the following sentence?
Are you late again?
A\ He used to be late.

3. Factual presupposition: with factual verbs since they express facts like: know, think, realize, etc.
I thought that he was ill (I presupposed that he was ill)
I regret John is dead (I presuppose John is dead)
I don't regret John is dead (I presuppose John is dead)
Q\What was the case before the utterance of the last two sentences above?
A\ John is dead before you (don't) regret.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013

4.Structural presupposition: the use of certain expressions (structures) to presuppose something.
When did you stop smoking? (We presuppose that he used to smoke and that he stopped doing so,
but we don't know the exact time when he stopped smoking).

Speech acts: doing things via words.
Speeches, sentences, utterances or acts are of two types:
1. Performative: performative utterances cannot be true and false but misfired.
e.g.: I invite you to a cup of tea.(invitation)/ I divorce you. [The word changes the state, for example,
from being married to being divorced, or from being uninvited to being invited].
Note: performative utterances have the ability to change certain conditions: for example, in Islamic
society, when a man tells his "I divorce you" three times, this utterance changes the condition from
being married to being divorced, but this performative utterance requires certain conditions: the
speaker should be a married Muslim man and this utterance, "I divorce you", should be directed
only to his wife.
Note: some performative utterances do not need conditions (ceremonies) or conventional
conditions in everyday situation: I invite you to a cup of tea.
Q\ How can performative utterances can be misfired?
A\Performative utterances are misfired when certain conditions do not meet. Utterances should
take place in certain places and times to fulfill the action. For example, the referee cannot exclude a
player unless this action takes place during the match when the player commits a serious foul.

. Constative: an action that can be true or false . 2
The room is clean (can be true or false).

When you say something, you are doing three acts:
1. Locutionary act: the act of saying something (producing a meaningful linguistic expression): I met
him. But not: *I he met. If you are tongue tied, you will be unable to produce locutionary act.
2. Illocutionary act: is the speech act itself. The act is performed in doing something. It is the force
of your utterance.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
3. Perlocutionary: is the act performed by saying something. It is the consequence of your
utterance.
e.g.: I invite you. (Meaningful expression, I put myself into obligation. It changes the condition from
being uninvited to being invited).

The room is dirty (not only telling, but maybe blaming).
The room is dirty (to the employee [an indirect request to clean the room]).

The linguistic forms of utterances
Forms (syntactic analysis of language) / Functions(what people use language for)
1) Declarative stating I live in Mosul (direct speech act of stating)
2) Interrogative questioning
3) Imperative ordering, command, request

Note: when the linguistic forms of utterances coincide with the functions of these utterances, then
it is a direct speech act.
e.g.: Did you eat the food? [Here, if the speaker really does not know whether the hearer ate the
food or not and asks the hearer to provide him with the information, he (the speaker) will produce a
direct speech act] (The speaker uses the form of interrogation as a question).
But when the linguistic forms do not coincide with the functions, then it is an indirect speech act.
e.g.: You left the door open. [If you say this sentence to someone who has just come into your
room, and it is pretty cold outside, you would probably be understood to have made not a
statement, but a request. You are requesting indirectly that the person close the door. To make a
direct speech act, you simply say: close the door, please!]
Sometimes, people fail to recognize other's indirect speech act. For example, a visitor to a city,
carrying his luggage, looking lost, stops a passer-by:
Visitor: Excuse me, do you know where thee Ambassador Hotel is?
Passer-by: Oh sure, I know where it is. (And walks away).

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Here, the visitor uses a form which is normally associated with a question (Do you know?) and the
passer-by answers that question literally (I know). Instead of responding the request, the passer-
by replies to the question, treating an indirect speech act as if it is direct.
The use of these two types of speech acts (direct and indirect) is based on the fact that indirect
commands or requests are simply considered more gentle or more polite in our society than direct
ones.

Chapter 13
Discourse Analysis

Discourse: it is any continuous stretch of language which is larger than a sentence constituting the
coherent units such as sermon, joke, and formal speeches.
Discourse analysis: it is the study of how language users make sense of each other.
Or: it is the study of rules or patterns characterizing units of connected speech or writing larger than
a sentence.
Or: it is the study of rules which govern appropriate language use in a communicative situation.

Characteristics or criteria of discourse: some criteria which have to be fulfilled to clarify either a
written or spoken discourse or text have been suggested:
1. Cohesion: a grammatical relationship between parts of sentences or between sentences
Or it is a tie or connection which exists within texts.
Cohesive devices are used to understand a text and make sense of it. Some of the cohesive devices
are pronouns which are used to make connection and avoid repetition: My father is here. He looks
happy.
Cohesive devices
1. Pronouns: are used to maintain references (via anaphora) to the same people and things
previously mentioned.
My father is here. He looks happy.
2. Lexical connections: referring to one thing but using different referring expressions. My car, that
car, this car.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
3. Common element of meaning: terms shares a common element of meaning. E.g.: (money)
bought, saving, penny, worth a fortune, sold, pay. (time) once, nowadays, sometimes.
4. Transitional expressions: their general function is to make a smooth transition from one sentence
to another.
5. Tenses.

Note: by itself, cohesion would not be sufficient to enable us to make sense of what we read.

2. Coherence: one of the devices (factors) which leads us to distinguish connected text which make
sense from those which do not. It is a matter of creating meaningful connections which are not
actually expressed by words and sentences.
Coherence seems to be involved in our interpretation of all discourse. It is certainly present in the
interpretation of casual conversation.
e.g.:
Her: That's the telephone (an indirect request to answer the phone)
Him: I'm in the bath (what is said "I'm in the bath, but what is communicated: non-comply [refusal])
Her: o.k. (I will answer the phone)
[ Our background knowledge will make it easier for us to understand such situations ]
In this example, there are no cohesive ties within this fragment of discourse. This type of exchange
is best understood in terms of the conventional actions performed by the speakers in such in
interactions.
. 3. Informativeness
4. Intentionality.
To understand a text or speech, we rely on:
. The linguistic form of the text or the speech . 1
The structure. . 2
Background knowledge. . 3

Speech events: it is any speech or conversation determined by situations or events.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
There is enormous variation in what people say and do in different circumstances. The sources of
this variation are:
1. The roles of the speaker and the hearer or hearers.
2. The relationships between the speaker and the hearer(s) whether they were friends, strangers,
young, old, of equal or unequal status.
3. The topic of the conversation.
4. The setting or context in which the speech takes place.

Conversational interaction: any activity where, for the most cases, two or more people take turns
at speaking.
Turn-taking system: it is a system or mechanism which enables the speakers to organize or
exchange their turns in speech.
Participants in conversation wait until one speaker indicates that he\she has finished, usually by
signing a completion point. There are many ways in which speakers can mark their turns as
complete.
A) By asking a question.
B) By pausing at the end of a completed syntactic structure like a phrase or a sentence.
Other participants can indicate that they want to take the speaking turn in a number of ways:
A) They can start to make short sounds, usually repeated, while the speaker is talking.
B) Using body shifts or facial expressions to signal that they have something to say.
If the speaker wants to hold the floor or keep the turn, he can follow various ways.
Do not pause at the end of sentences. . 1
Make the sentences run on by using connectors like and, and then, so, but, etc. . 2
3. Place the pauses at points where the message is clearly incomplete.
4 ) Fill the pauses with hesitation markers such as er, em, uh, ah. Place these markers before and
after verbs rather than at the end of sentences.

Co-operative principle
The principle of co-operation: in order to be co-operative, you should follow the following maxims:

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
. 1. Quantity: make your contribution as informative as is required, but not more, or less, than is
required
e.g.: Where do you live?
a) I live in Mosul. [Co-operative as required]
b) I live in Mosul, but my friend in Basra. [More informative (not co-operative]
c) I live in a city. [Less informative (not co-operative]

Note: when you feel that you are more informative, you can use cautious (hedges) expressions.
e.g.: Are they married? I don't want to bother you with details, yes they are married and they have
a child named John.
. Quantity: do not say that which you believe to be false or for which you lack evidence . 2
When you are not sure about your information and you want to be co-operative at the same time,
you can use some expressions like: As far as I know, Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but, and I'm
not absolutely sure but I think
. Relation: Be relevant . 3
. 4. Manner: Be clear, brief and orderly
In order to be co-operative, stick to the maxims, use the cautious expressions and flouting.
Flouting the maxims (do not stick to the maxims)

e.g.:
Carol: Are you coming to the party tonight?
Lara: I've got an exam tomorrow. (An indirect refusal)

Here, Lara's statement is not an answer to Carol's question. Lara doesn't say "Yes" or "No." Yet Carol
will immediately interpret the statement as meaning "No" or "Probably not." Lara's statement
contains implicature (an additional conveyed meaning) concerning tonight's activities. To have "an
exam tomorrow" conventionally involves 'study tonight', and 'study tonight' precludes 'partying
tonight.' So, Lara's answer is not a statement of tomorrow's activities, but rather is the assumption
that Lara is being 'relevant' and 'informative'.


College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Another example:
Speaker A: Did you bring bread and cheese?
Speaker B: I brought cheese.
Here, speaker B means that he didn't bring bread. This case is called implication. He implicates that
he didn't bring bread by flouting the maxim of quantity.

Are they married?
Yes, they are. (Sticking to the maxims)
I saw rings in their fingers. (Flouting the maxims)
Are they married?
The sky is blue. (Not co-operative)
[Or you keep silent] (Not co-operative)

Background knowledge: any piece of information kept in mind which comes after experience in life.
Or any stored knowledge in mind which allows to make assumptions about what we read and hear.

Note: Speakers need knowledge to organize what they want to say. Hearers and readers need
knowledge to understand and interpret what they hear and read.
e.g.: John was on his way to school last Friday.

We build and rebuild our interpretation depending on what we hear and read and on our
background knowledge.

Schema (schemata): is a general term for a conventional knowledge structure which exists in
memory. We have many schematas which are used in the interpretation of what we experience and
what we hear and read about.

Script : a type of schema. It is a dynamic schema, in which a series of conventional actions take
place. The example is on page 147 of the textbook.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Chapter 19
Language history and change

Language history (historical linguistics): is the study of linguistic change over time in languages or a
particular language.
The main objectives (aims) of historical linguistics are:
1. To describe and account for observed changes in particular.
2. To reconstruct the prehistory of languages and determine their relatedness grouping them into
languages families (comparative reconstruction).
3. To develop general theories about how and why languages change.

At first, historical linguistics was comparative linguistics and mainly concerned with establishing
language families and the reconstruction of prehistoric proto language.

Q\ How can someone be fluent in English?
A\ In order to be fluent in English, one should be accurate, appropriate and flexible.
Q\ How can someone be appropriate?
A\ One can be appropriate when he uses language in the correct context of situation.

Applied linguistics
It is a branch of linguistics in which we apply what we say about language (theories) into certain
areas of linguistics. The main area is the second language teaching, language translation, etc.
The second language teaching and language translation are the scope of language application
Philology: is the historical study of languages which was the major preoccupation of linguists during
the nineteenth century.
Sir William Jones suggested that a number of languages from very different geographical areas
must have some common ancestor. This common ancestor could not be described from any existing
records, but had to be hypothesized on the basis of similar features existing in records of languages
which were believed to be descendants.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Family tree: is a linguistic term came into use during the nineteenth century to describe the
common ancestor of languages.
Note: there are considered to be about thirty such language families which have produced the more
than 4,000 languages in the world.
Proto-Indian-European: it is the original form (proto) of a language which was the source of modern
languages in the Indian sub-continent (Indo), and in Europe (European).
Q\How it can be determined that the languages indicated in the family tree are 'related' ?
A\ Two languages such as Italian and Hindi would seem to have nothing in common. One way to see
the relationships more clearly is by looking at records of an older generation, like Latin and Sanskrit,
from which the modern languages developed.

Cognates: a cognate of a word in one language (e.g. English) is a word in another language (e.g.
German) which has a similar form and is, or was, used with a similar meaning. Thus, the English
forms mother, father and friend are cognates of the German forms Mutter, Vater and Freund.
Note: on the basis of these cognate sets, we would propose that such sets in modern English and
modern German probably have a common ancestor in what has been labeled the Germanic branch
of Indo-European.

Comparative reconstruction: it is a procedure to reconstruct what must have been the original, or
'proto' form in the common ancestral language. It is like trying to work out what the grandmother
must have been like on the basis of common features possessed by the set of granddaughters.
Q\ why do we need the comparative reconstruction?
A\ Because we do not have written documents of the common ancestral language

Q\ What are the major principles of language history?
A\
1. The majority principle is a very straightforward. If, in a cognate set, three forms begin with a [p]
sound and one form begins with a [b] sound, then our best guess is that the majority have retained
the original sound (i.e. [p]), and the minority has changed a little through time.
2. The most natural development principle is based on the fact that certain types of sound-change
are very common, whereas others are extremely unlikely.
The following are some well-documented types of sound changes:

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
1. Final vowels often disappear.
2. Voiceless sounds become voiced between vowels.
3. Stops become fricatives (under certain conditions).
4. Consonants become voiceless at the end of words.

Language change
The historical development of English is usually divided into three major periods, the Old English
(from the seventh century to the end of the eleventh century), the Middle English period (1100-
1500) and the Modern English from 1500 to the present.
1. Old English
The primary sources for what developed as the English language were the Germanic languages
spoken by a group of tribes from northern Europe who invaded the British Isles in the fifth century
AD.
a. We the most basic terms in our language: mann ('man'), wif ('woman'), cild ('child'), hus ('house'),
mete ('food'), etan ('eat'), drincan ('drink') and feohtan ('fight').
b. From the sixth to the eighth century, there was an extended period in which these Anglo-Saxons
were converted to Christianity and a number of terms from the language of religion, Latin, came
into English at that time. The origins of modern words angels, bishop, candle, church, martyr, priest
and school all date from this period.
c. from the eighth century through the ninth and tenth centuries, the Vikings settled in parts of the
coastal regions of Britain. They were the Vikings and it is from their language, Old Norse, that we
derived the forms which gave use a number of common modern terms such as give, law, leg, skin,
sky, take and they.

2. Middle English
The event which marks the end of the Old English period, and the beginning of the Middle English
period, is the arrival of Norman French in England. The se French-speaking invaders proceeded to
take over the whole of England. They became the ruling class, so that the language of nobility, the
government, the law and civilized behaviour in England for the next two hundred years was French.
It is the source of modern terms as army, court, defense, faith, prison and tax.
Yet the language of the peasants remained English. For example, the peasants used the words
sheep, cows and swine (words from Old English), while the French-speaking upper classes used the

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
words mutton, beef and pork (words of French origin). Throughout this period, French (or, more
accurately, an English version of French) was the prestige language.

Q\ How do languages change?
A\
1. Sound changes
The most obvious difference between Modern English and the English spoken in earlier periods is in
the quality of the vowel sounds, for example:
Old English Modern English
( hu:s haws (house
wi:f wayf ('wife')
spo:n spu:n ('spoon')

Also, there is the disappearance of some sounds from the general pronunciation. For example, the
voiceless velar fricative /x/ was used in the Old English pronunciation of nicht, as [nixt] (close to the
modern German pronunciation), but is absent in the present-day form night, as [nayt]. ]
The change known as metathesis involves a reversal in position of two adjoining sounds. Examples
are (from the Old English period):
Frist first / hros horse / bridd bird / waep wasp
Another change involves the addition of a sound to the middle of a word, which is known as
epenthesis. Examples are:
Aemtig empty / spinel spindle / timr timber
Moreover, we have another change which involves the addition of a sound to the beginning of a
word and is called prosthesis. It is very common in the change of pronunciation of some forms Latin
to Spanish, as in these examples:

Schola escuela ('school')
spiritus espiritu ('spirit')


College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
2. Syntactic changes
Some noticeable differences between the structure of sentences in Old and Modern English involve
word order. In Old English, we find the subject-verb-object ordering most common in Modern
English, but we can also find a number of different orders which are no longer possible, for example:

a. the subject can follow the verb, as in ferde he ('he travelled')
b. the object can be placed before the verb, as he hine geseah ('he saw him'), or at the beginning of
the sentence, as him man sealde ('no man gave [any] to him'). In the last example, the use of the
negative also differs from Modern English, since the sequence *not gave is no longer grammatical. A
'double-negative' construction was also possible in Old English be not Modern English. Also, we
have the absence of auxiliaries in Old English.

Another change in the form of English sentences was the loss of a large number of inflectional
affixes from many parts of speech. For example, the forms sealde ('he gave') and sealdest ('you
gave') are differentiated by inflectional suffixes which are no longer found in Modern English.

3. Lexical changes
Modern English differs lexically from Old English in:
a. The number of borrowed words, particularly words of Latin and Greek origin, which have come
into the language since the Old English period.
b. Many words have ceased to be used. For example, the word foin, meaning 'the thrust of a
sword', is no longer everyday usage.
c. The process of broadening of meaning: for example, the change from holy day as a religious feast
to very general break from work called a holiday. Another example is the modern use of the word
dog. We use it very generally, to refer to all breeds, but in its older form (Old English docga), it was
only used for one particular breed.

d. The process of narrowing of meaning: it is the process of narrowing the range of meaning of
words. For example, the word mete, which has the modern form meat, once used for any kind food,
but now it is restricted to only some specific types. The Old English version of the word wife could
be used of any woman, but has narrowed in its application to only married woman.


College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
The process of change
Q\ Why do languages change?
A\
1. Social changes caused by wars, invasions and other upheavals.
2. The continual process of cultural transmission.
3. The occasional desire to be different.

In this chapter, we have concentrated on variation in language viewed diachronically, that is, from
the historical perspective of change through time. The type of variation which can be viewed
synchronically, that is, in terms of differences within one language in different places and among
different groups at the same time, is the subject of the final two chapters.

Chapter 20
Language varieties

Standard English: it is the variety which forms the basis of printed English in newspapers and books,
which is used in the mass media and which is taught in schools. It is the variety we normally try to
teach those who want to learn English as a second language.
Accent: it is a technical linguistic term which is restricted to the description of aspects of
pronunciation which identify where an individual speaker is from, regionally or socially.
Dialect: it is a technical linguistic term which describes features of grammar and vocabulary, as well
as aspects of pronunciation.
Note: the differences in vocabulary are often easily recognized, dialect variations in the meaning of
grammatical constructions are less frequently documented. Here is an example of an exchange
between two British English speakers(B and C), and a speaker from Ireland (A):
A: How long are youse here?
B: Till after Easter.
( Speaker A looks puzzled )
C: We came on Sunday.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
A: Ah, Youse're here a while then.

It seems that the construction How long are youse here?, in speaker A's dialect, is used with a
meaning close to the structure How long have you been here?, rather than with the future
interpretation (How long are you going to be here? ) made by speaker B.
Q\ Why do not language users use language in a uniform way ?
A\ This is due to the geographical differences (regional varieties) that determine the dialect one
uses. As we do not live in the one place, one can conclude that people who live in the same place
would use the same language in a uniform way. Anyway, this is not satisfactory since there will be
differences due t social factors that influence the way we use language (educated / illiterate, man /
woman, etc.).

Q\ What is the main job (concern) of those (linguists) who involved in the study of language varieties ?
A\
1. Identify the consistent features of speech found in one geographical area rather than another.
2. Select the informants that are non-mobile, old, rural and male speakers = (Norms). Such speakers
were selected because it was believed that they were less likely to have influences from outside the
region in their speech.
3. Recording the informants speech whether in artificial situations or in natural ones.
4. Collect and analyze the data taken from the Norms.
5. Then, the sociolinguist is going to draw linguistic boundaries to show that people of area X speak
differently from those in area Y concerning pronunciation, vocabulary or grammar.
Mutual intelligibility: is a general impression among many speakers of different dialects, or
varieties of English.
Note: from a linguistic point of view, no one variety is 'better' than another. They are simply
different. From a social point of view, however, some varieties do become more prestigious. In fact,
the variety which develops as the standard language has usually been socially prestigious dialect,
originally connected with a political or cultural centre (e.g. London for British English, and Paris for
France).

Isoglosses: they are linguistic boundaries or lines separating the areas with regard to that one
particular linguistic item.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Vocabulary Pronunciation
Area X /gri:s/ paper bag
Area Y /gri:z/ paper sack

Dialect boundary: it is a more solid linguistic line formed when a number of isoglosses come
together separating areas according to linguistic items.
Note: at most dialect boundary areas, one variety merges into another. We can view regional
variation as existing along a continuum, and not as having sharp breaks from one region to the next.
A very similar type of continuum can occur with related languages existing on either side of a
political border. As you travel form Holland into Germany, you will find concentrations of Dutch
speakers giving way to areas near the border where the Dutch dialects and the German dialects are
less clearly differentiated; then, as you travel into Germany, greater concentrations of distinctly
German speakers occur.
Bidialectal Speakers: are those speakers who are capable of using different varieties with some
ease, i.e., speaking two dialects.
Bilingual speakers: are those speakers who are capable of using two distinct languages.
Bilingual society: is the society whose members can speaker two distinct languages as the case of
Canada where English is spoken as well as French and both are considered as official languages
there.
Note: individual bilingualism, however, does not have to be the result of political dominance by a
group using different languages. It can simply be the result of having two parents who speak
different languages.

Language planning
Q\ What is meant by language planning?
Q\ Why should we make language planning?
Q\ What are the stages of language planning?
Note: language planning is not needed in a monolingual society, but whenever we have two
languages, language planning is needed.
Note: in fact, we do not have a monolingual society, yet we may have a dominant language, that is
the official one.

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
Note: thus, if we have a monolingual society, i.e., a society with one dominant language and other
minor one or ones, we will have no problem as in the case of America where the English language is
the dominant, whereas Spanish is a minor language there.
Note: if we have a society like Canada, where English is spoken as well as French, we may face a
problem, so we should make language planning to select one language to be the official one of that
country.
The stages of language planning
1. The process of selection: which means to select the official language on the basis of majority as in
America, or political reasons like Hindi, or even on the basis of religion as the case of Israel.
2. The process of codification: in which basic grammars, dictionaries and written models are used
to establish the standard variety.
3. The process of elaboration: introducing the language to the society by writing novels, newspapers,
and magazines to be read and learnt by all people.
4. The process of implementation: is largely a matter of government attempts to encourage use of
the Standard.
5. The process of acceptance: is the final stage when a substantial majority of the population gave
come to use the Standard and think of it as the national language, playing a part in not only social,
but also national, identity.

Pidgins: it is a variety of a language (e.g. English) which developed for some practical purpose, such
as trading, among groups of people who had a lot of contact, but who did not know each other's
languages.
Note: the origin of the term 'Pidgin' is thought to be from a Chinese Pidgin version of the English
word 'business'.
Characteristics of Pidgins
1. They have no native speakers.
2. The absence of any complex grammatical morphology and a limited vocabulary. Inflectional
suffixes such as -s (plural) and -'s (possessive) on nouns in Standard English are rare in Pidgins, while
structures like tu buk ('two books') are common.
3. Functional morphemes often take the place of inflectional morphemes found in the source
language.
4. The origin of many words in Pidgins can be phrases from other languages, such as one word used
for 'ruin, destroy' which is bagarimap (derived from the English phrase "bugger him up").

College of Education \ English department \ Ahmed Younis Al-Suleivani \ Fourth Year \ 2012-2013
5. The syntax of Pidgins can be quite unlike the languages from which terms were borrowed and
modified.

Creoles: when a Pidgin develops beyond its role as trade language and becomes the first language of
a social community.
Features of Creoles
1. They have large numbers of native speakers and are not restricted at all in their uses.
2. They often occur in areas that were occupied by outsiders such as a French-based Creole is spoken
by the majority of the population in Haiti and English-based Creoles are used in Jamaica and Sierra
Leone.










Ahmed Younus Suleiman
English department
Fourth Year / Section .A.