UEP N71 INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DARDO ROCHA

PROFESORADO DE INGLS

Subject: Lingistics and Discourse Analysis

Course: 4 ao
Professor: Lezcano Gerig, Carlos Fabricio
Student: Lorena Santa Cruz
Assignment 1
Language enables human beings to produce and understand new
words and phrases in sentences that sometimes include expressions
which are creative and innovative. Speakers of a language are able to
produce an unlimited number of utterances, including many that are
novel or unfamiliar. The discourse analysts job is to analyze these
interactions in order to provide a clear image of the purposes of the
language used in each.
a) Explain the meaning of these sentences.
1. They greyhounded to Toronto due to the bad weather condition.
2. We punk-rocked the night away.
3. She dog-teamed her way across the Arctic.
4. We MG'd to Oregon.
5. They Concorded to London.
6. He Gretzky'd his way to the net.
7. We'll have to Ajax the sink.
8. He Windexed the windows.
9. You should Clairol your hair.
10. Let's carton the eggs.
11. "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" Noam Chomsky
b) Underline the main verbs in the following sentences, and
then, explain their meaning in your own words.

1. A SHIP-SHIPPING SHIP SHIPS SHIPPING-SHIPS.

A ship-shipping (compound ing-participial adjective) ship (noun) ships
(verb) shipping-ships (compound participial noun).
2. BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO
BUFFALO.
Buffalo (the city) buffalo (the animal) [that] Buffalo (the city) buffalo
(the animal) buffalo (verb) buffalo (verb) Buffalo (the city) buffalo (the
animal).
buffalo is not only an animal and a city in New York, but also a verb
meaning to bully or intimidate. Buffalo buffalo (bison from Buffalo
NY) [that] Buffalo buffalo buffalo (that the bison from Buffalo NY bully)
buffalo Buffalo buffalo (are bullying bison from Buffalo NY).
3. POLICE POLICE POLICE POLICE POLICE POLICE POLICE POLICE.
Police is a city in Poland. Three different forms of the same word come
into play above: law enforcement (the noun), the city (an adjunct
noun/adjective), and the verb.
4. CAN-CAN CAN-CAN CAN CAN CAN CAN CAN-CAN.
Can-can, the dance; can, a verb meaning able; and can, a second
verb meaning to put in the trash, or euphemistically to outperform.
5. WILL, WILL WILL WILL WILL WILL'S WILL?
Will (a person), will (future tense helping verb) Will (a second person)
will (bequeath) [to] Will (a third person) Wills (the second person) will
(a document)?
6. IF IT IS IT, IT IS IT; IF IT IS IT IS IT, IT IS.
If an object is the object, it is the object. If it is the object, then it is
the object, it is!
c) Punctuate the following sentences correctly, and then,
explain its meaning in your own words.
1. JAMES, WHILE JOHN HAD HAD HAD, HAD HAD HAD HAD; HAD
HAD HAD HAD A BETTER EFFECT ON THE TEACHER.
James, [while John had written had,] had written had had; had
had had left a better effect on the teacher.
2. ROSE ROSE TO PUT ROSE ROES ON HER ROWS OF ROSES

Rose [a person] rose [stood] to put rose [pink-colored] roes [fish eggs
as fertilizer] on her rows of roses [flower].)
3. THAT THAT EXISTS EXISTS IN THAT THAT THAT THAT EXISTS EXISTS
IN
The fact that that exists occurs in a situation which this that
exists also occurs in.
4. A WOMAN WITHOUT HER MAN IS NOTHING. With diffident
punctuation, change the meaning.
A woman, without her, man is nothing.
The men wrote: "A woman, without her man, is nothing."
The women wrote: "A woman: without her, man is nothing."(It has a
feminist message)
5. I LOVE COOKING, MY FAMILY AND MY PETS. (Im making a list of the
things a love to do and the people I care about)
d) What term explains the following cases for the words in
bold?
These terms are called contronyms, depending on context they can have opposite or
contradictory meanings.

London bound:
Bound by chains:

Bound: Heading to a destination, or restrained from movement

Buckle your shoes

Buckled under the weight

Buckle: To connect, or to break or collapse

Clip on your tie

Clip your nails

Clip: To fasten, or detach

Theres only one left

Hes only just left

Left: Remained, or departed

e) What is so peculiar about the following sentences?

These sentences are called palindromes. A palindrome is a word or
sentence that reads the same forward as it does backwards.

WAS IT A CAR OR A CAT I SAW

I FOUND JOHN IN AN UNENVIABLE POSITION.

f) Is the following sentence illogical? Justify your answer.

These sentences are called garden path sentences because they
are easily misunderstood. A garden path sentence is a
grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that a
reader's most likely interpretation will be incorrect. People tend to
process language one word at a time. "Garden path" refers to the
saying "to be led down the garden path", meaning "to be misled".

Read rhymes with lead, and read rhymes with lead, but read
and lead dont rhyme, and neither do read and lead. (different
pronunciation) Reed rhymes with leed, and red rhymes with
led, but reed and led dont rhyme, and neither do red and leed.
Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.

Ambiguity in sentences can be a source of humor. For example, "flies"

can be a noun or a verb and "like" can be a verb or a preposition.
Time flies (verb) like (preposition) an arrow. Fruit flies (noun) like
(verb) a banana.

g) Is the following a sentence or a phrase?

Both are sentences

The complex houses married and single soldiers and their

families. (Single and married soldiers and their families live in
the complex). Complex is a noun, is a housing complex and
House is a verb
The old man the boats. Man is functioning as a verb. (The boat is
manned by the old)

h) Retell the following story in your own words

Cockney Rhyming Slang:
I'll tell you about what happened last night Well first of all, l had a bit of a bull and a cow with the trouble and
strife. It was all over the dustbin lids!

I went down the frog and toad into the rub-a-dub and l met my old
china plate. He looked a bit Uncle Dick so I get him a Jack the Dandy
and l had a Vera Lynn. One thing led to another and we were both
Brahms and Liszt.
So l staggered back home, took off my Dickie dirt and my daisy roots
and passed out like a light on the apples and pears
I'll tell you about what happened last night Well first of all, l had an argument with my wife. It was all over the
kids!
I went down the road into the rub-a-dub and l met my old friend
(mate). He looked a bit sick (unwell) l so I get him a Brandy and l had
a Gin. One thing led to another and we were both pissed (drunk).
So l staggered back home, took off my shirt and my boots and passed
out like a light on the stairs.
i) Indicate what is being described in the following sentences.
Hardboiled Slang:
This is the language from a movie "Life of the Party" staring Roscoe
"Fatty" Arbuckle. This is how Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Mike Hammer
and the Continental Op talked. Writer Dashiell Hammett was a Pinkerton

detective that worked on the infamous Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle rape

and murder trial investigation and later he started writing crime
novels and was known for his salty, hardboiled language with colorful
slang.
He created Sam Spade (a fictional private detective) and one famous
Sam Spade line was "I jammed the roscoe in his button and said,
'Close your yap, bo, or I squirt metal.'"
1. I jammed the roscoe in his button and said, Close your yap, bro,
or I squirt metal.
In the first sentence someone is threatened another one with a gun: I
jammed the gun and said, Close your mouth, bro, or I shoot you.

Roscoe: gun
Yap: mouth
Squirt metal: shoot bullets

2. The flim-flammer jumped in the flivver and faded.

The second sentence describes a swindler getting in his car and then
running away.
The swindler jumped in the car and disappeared

flim-flammer: a swindler
Flivver: A Ford automobile

3. You dumb mug, get your mitts off the marbles before I stuff that
mud-pipe down your mushand tell your moll to hand over the
mazuma.
The first sentence describes someone threatened another one to let
go the jewelry and hand over the money
You dumb (idiot), get your hands off the pearls before I stuff that
opium-pipe down your faceand tell your girlfriend to hand over the
money

Mugs: Men (esp. dumb ones)

Mitt: Hand

Marbles: Pearls

Mud-pipe: Opium pipe

Mush: Face

Moll: Girlfriend

Mazuma: Money

4. The sucker with the schnozzle poured a slug but before he could
scram out two shamuses showed him the shiv and said they could
send him over.

Sucker: Someone ripe for a grifters scam

Schnozzle: Nose

Slug
o As a noun, bullet
o As a verb, to knock unconscious

Scram out: Leave

Shamus: (Private) detective

Shiv: Knife

5. Dust, pal, or I pump lead!

Leave, pal, or I shoot you.

Dust

Nothing, as in Tinhorns are dust to me

Leave, depart, as in Lets dust

A look, as in Lets give it the dust

Pump: Heart

Lead: To be shot

j) The following dialogues are full of orders that waitresses

use as a clever variation on standard menu terms. Your task is
to try and find out what is being ordered in every dialogue
(specify the time of the day).
DIALOGUE 1
Customer 1: hi! I want a spot with a twist and a stack of
Vermont.
Customer 2: Ill have a blonde with sand and an eve with a lid.
Customer 3: Im in hurry really but em... gimme a white cow,
put a hat on it but let it walk.
DIALOGUE 2:
Customer 1: paint a bow-wow red for me and a side of frog sticks.
Customer 2: Burn one, take it to the garden and pin a rose on it
for me.
Customer 3: put out the lights and cry for me and dont forget
Mike and Ike, and also fry two but let the sun shine with that.
DIALOGUE 3:

Customer 1: An M.D but hold the hail.

Customer 2: hug one for me.
Customer 3: Just city juice for me, thank you.
Customer 1: I would also like cow past.
Customer 2: I want a nervous pudding.
Customer 1: A houseboat would be all right. Please, throw it in the
mud.
Customer 3: Just draw one in it the dark for me.

In dialogue N 1
According to what the customers are ordering, the time of day is
probably at dinner, (mid-day) at a diner or restaurant
Customer 1 is ordering a spot with a twist and a stack of Vermont that
means tea with lemon and pancakes with syrup.
Spot with a twist: tea with lemon
Stack of Vermont: pancake with syrup
Customer 2 is ordering a blonde with sand and an eve with a lid
that means Coffee with cream and sugar and apple pie (referring
to the biblical Eve's tempting of Adam with an apple, the "lid" is the
pie crust)
Blonde with sand: coffee with sugar
Eve with a lid: apple pie (referring to the biblical Eve's
tempting of Adam with an apple; the "lid" is the pie crust)
Customer 3 is ordering a white cow, put a hat on it but let it walk that
means
a white cow: Vanilla milkshake
put a hat on it: Add ice cream
but let it walk: Make it a take-out order

In dialogue N2
Customer 1 is ordering paint a bow-wow red and frog sticks.
paint a bow-wow red: a hot dog with ketchup
frog sticks: French fries

Customer 2: Burn one, take it to the garden and pin a rose on it

for me.
Burn one, take it to the garden and pin a rose on it:
Hamburger with lettuce, tomato, and onion.
Customer 3: put out the lights and cry for me and dont forget
Mike and Ike, and also fry two but let the sun shine with that.
put out the lights and cry: Liver and onions.
Mike and Ike: Salt and pepper shakers
fry two but let the sun shine: Two fried eggs with unbroken
yolks.

In dialogue N 3
Customer 1 is ordering an M.D but hold the hail that means a soda
Dr. Pepper without ice.
M.D: Dr. Pepper
hold the hail: No ice
Customer 2 is ordering a glass of orange juice (hug one for me).
hug one: Glass of orange juice
Customer 3 is ordering water (just city juice for me, thank you)
city juice: Water.
Customer 1: I would also like cow paste.
cow paste: Butter.
Customer 2: I want a nervous pudding.
nervous pudding: Bowl of Jell-O

Customer 1: A houseboat would be all right. Please, throw it in the

mud.
Houseboat: Banana split.
throw it in the mud : Add chocolate syrup.
Customer 3: Just draw one in it the dark for me.

 draw one in it the dark: Cup of black coffee.