ENGLISH SEMANTICS I.

Introduction

1.1 Definition

Semantics - the study of meaning in language

- context free

Pragmatics - The study of meaning in context (The study of the use of lan in communication, particularly the relationship between sentences and the contexts and situations in which they are used.) - Context dependent

Sentence Would you like a piece of cake? Im on a diet. The bag is so heavy. (a man and a girl are going upstairs. The girl is carrying the bag and she says:The bag is so heavy.) Its so hot. Why dont we go swimming? Would you like an icecream? Can you open the window? Im cold.

Semantic meaning Lose weight The bag is not light. Its heavy.

Pragmatic meaning No. refuse the offer Can you please help me carry the bag?

The weather is very hot.

Speaker wants SO to open the air condition.

I feel cold.

Doctor: How do you feel? Patient: Im cold. Im sick. or Speaker wants to borrow a coat. Or A girl wants her boy friend to sit nearer. She wants a hot, a heart.

Context That which occurs before and/or after a word, a phrase or even a longer utterance or a text.
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The broader social situation in which a linguistic item is used.

Contextual meaning: the meaning a linguistic item has in context. Sentence Do you know the meaning of war? Ill have to be at the office at 8.00 this morning. 1. 2. 1. Situation The language teacher said to his Ss. An injured soldier says to a politician who favors war, War produces death, injuries, and suffering. Conversation between mother and son Mother: What time will you have to be morning? Son: Ill have to be . morning. Conversation between husband and wife Wife: Can you take the children to the school now? Husband: Ill have to be at the office at 8.00 this morning. Conversation between T and Ss T asks Ss to read a sentence. Ss read Why dont you send it by post? Me: I have to give a letter to my family. John: Why dont you send it by post? Rescue My friend has a secret and she told me not to tell everyone. But later everyone knows about it. I said to her that I didnt tell it. She rescued me: You said it.

2.

Why dont you send it by post?

1.

2. You said it. 3. 1.

II. WORD MEANING

II.1 Semantic

feature [+]

Definition The smallest units of meaning in a word

Word father boy girl assassin teacher hen

Semantic feature human, male, mature, parental, paternal [+male], young/-adult, human human, female/-male, young animate, bird, fowl, fully grown, female
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Characteristics
1.

Some semantic features need not be specifically mentioned. [+human] is [+animate]

2. Different words may share the same semantic feature. Word Doctor, engineer, teacher, physicist, chemist, tailor, hairdresser, Mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister, grandparent, aunt, uncle, Semantic feature professional kinship

3. Words of different parts of speech may share the same semantic feature Part of speech Semantic feature Mother (n) female Breast-feed (v) Pregnant (a) School, teacher, textbook (n) educational Teach, educate, instruct (v) 4. The semantic properties of words determine what other words they can be combined with Grammatically correct and syntactically perfect but semantically anomalous My brother is an only child. The bachelor is pregnant. Colorless gree ideas sleep furiously. Exercise 1. For each group of words given below, state what semantic features are shared by the (a) words and the (b) words, and what SFs distinguish between the classes of (a) words and (b) words. A. Lobster, shrimp, crab, oyster, mussel B. Trout, sole, herring, salmon, mackerel The (a) and (b) words are [+edible water animal]. The (a) words are [+shelfish]. The (b) words are [+fish].

Widow, mother, sister, aunt, seamstress

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Book, letter, encyclopedia, novel, notebook, dictionary

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Widower, father, brother, uncle, tailor Bachelor, son, paperboy, pope, chief Bull, rooster, drake, ram, stallion Table, pencil, cup, house, ship, car Milk, tea, wine, beer, water, soft drink Book, temple, mountain, road, tractor Idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fear Rose, lily, tulip, daisy, sunflower, violet Ash, oak, sycamore, willow, beech Pine, cedar, jew, spruce, cypress

Typewriter, pencil, ballpoint, crayon, quill, charcoal, chalk Walk, run, skip, jump, hop, swim Fly, skate, ski, ride, cycle, canoe, hang-glide Ask, tell, say, talk, converse Shout, whisper, mutter, drawl, holler Alive, asleep, awake, dead, half-dead, pregnant Depressed, bored, excited, upset, amazed, surprised

Exercise 2. Identify the semantic features in each of the following words. Child Aunt Hen Oak (tree) Flower Palm (hand) Palm (tree) Bachelor spinster Actress Plod Ewe Fly (v) Fly (insect) Stallion Police-officer Beauty Imagine Actress Plod Ewe Fly (v) Fly (insect) Stallion Police-officer Beauty Imagine Doe Drive Home Elm Chalk Rose Chick Pap Tiptoe Pine (tree) Owe Computer Honesty Maid

Exercise 3. How can you distinguish the words given in the following table from one another, considering their semantic features? Malay Sadara English Brother Sister Vietnamese Anh Em Ch
II.2 Semantic

Chinese Huynh Mui T

field/lexical field /lexical set

The organization of related words and expressions into a system which shows their relationship to one another Word Kinship Adjectives describing human emotional states Drinking vessels
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Semantic field Father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, Angry, sad, happy, exuberant, depressed, afraid, Cup, mug, tumbler, wine glass, beer glass,
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Ways of organizing semantically similar items into semantic fields Way Types of fruit Items related by topics Pieces of furniture Terms of color Ways of cooking Ways of looking Ways in which a liquid escapes from its container Apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, pears, plums, Seats, tables, beds, storage, Blue, red, yellow, green, black, white, Stew, boil, fry, steam, roast, grill, smoke, Gaze, glance, peer, squint, stare Drip, leak, ooze, run, seep

Items similar in meaning Terms describing people whose weight is below normal

Thin, bony, skinny, scrawny, underweight, emaciated, slender, slim

Items which form pairs of antonyms

Items which form pairs or trios of synoyms Items grouped as an activity or a process Items classified according to Do the house work Do research Sex

Age

Long-short Light-heavy Alive-dead Love-hate Approve-disapprove Begin-end Inside-outside Upstairs-downstairs Smart-bright-intelligent Conserve-preserve-safeguard Fix-repair-mend Kind-sort-type-variety Happy-glad Clean the rooms, do the washing, iron the clothes, get the food, prepare a meal, wash up Make hypotheses, collect data, analyze data, get results, come to conclusions Male-female: waiter-waitress, tiger- tigress, actor-actress, host-hostess, landlord-landlady, sir-madam Grown-ups, adults, elderly people, middleaged people, teenagers, children, infants, babies
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Age and sex

Horse: Stallion: [male, fully grown] Mare: [female, fully grown] Foal: [+-male, -fully grown] Dog: Dog: : [male, fully grown] Bitch: [female, fully grown] Puppy: [+-male, -fully grown]

Exercise 4. Organize the given words into three semantic fields. Shirts, end, forward, new, hats, lend, coats, shorts, beginning, trousers, amble, out, limp, tiptoe, plod, socks, trudge, borrow, stomp, in, stump, old, backward, tramp II.3 Lexical gap The absence of a word in a particular place in a lexical field of a language Word Horse Goat ? Dog Male Stallion Billy-goat Bull Dog Female Mare Nanny-goat Cow Bitch baby Foal Kid Calf puppy

Exercise 5. Try to fill in each of the two blanks with an appropriate word to prove that there is no lexical gap in the given semantic fields. Word Sheep Giraffe Male Ram Male giraffe Female Ewe ? baby ? Baby giraffe

2.3 Referent, reference, and sense Referent An object or an entity in the real world or in the world of your imagination that is talked about Reference Reference of a word or a linguistic expression is the relationship between that word/expression and the thing, the action, the event, the quality it refers to. In the English language Reference In the real world

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Peters house (English noun phrase)

<------------------> The house belonging to Peter

Sense The sense of a word or a linguistic expression shows the internal relationship between that word/expression and others in the vocabulary of language. Words Teacher Student +sense the one who gives a lesson who has the lesson given by teacher x x x x -sense +refere nce referen ce

A dog is chasing a cat A dog is human The King of Vietnam is x bald By the year 3000, our x descendants will have left the Earth. Word Bachelor

Referent

A man who hasnt ever been married Bach Tuyet

Reference The relationship between the word bachelor and a certain unmarried man

Sense Unmarried man

The relationship between the name Bach Tuyet and the lovely princess

Tuyet Trang

The lovely princess in a fairy tale Variable reference, constant reference, and co-reference Langua ge express ion 1 Refere nt >= 2 referenc e Variable Explain More example

Your left ear 6 billion people with left ear in the world.
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Please look at your book! Student A looks at his book. Student B looks at her book. Student N looks at his book. 1 1 Constant The sun: only one The moon, Halleys comet, the Peoples Republic of China, Angola, the United Nations, FIFA, UNESCO The leader of the The morning star and the Labor Party in evening star 1006 the planet Venus The Prime Minister John wearing red shirt of the UK in 2006 and singing a song Mr. Tony Blair The man who is my father. The man who married my mother.

>= 2

co

Exercise. 6 What is identified by the word mean or meaning in the following examples, i.e. reference or sense?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

When Albert talks about his former friend, he means me. Daddy, what does logic mean? Purchase has the same meaning as buy. Look up the meaning of democracy in your dictionary. If you look out of the window now, youll see who I mean.

II.4 Denotation and connotation Denotation of a word is the core, central or referential meaning of the word found in a dictionary. Connotation: the additional meaning that the word has beyond its denotative meaning. It shows peoples emotions and/or attitudes towards what the word refers to. Wor d Denotation Connotation + Page 8

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wom an man Child Rose Drag on Owl snak e

[+human], female, adult [+human], male, adult Human, -mature, +male Plant, flower, colored Lots of tails, can fly

Long hair, beautiful, kind, devoted, patient Strong, handsome Affectionate, innocent Good smelling, simple of love, romantic, beautiful Simple of king (Eastern culture): powerful, prosperous, royal, Bad omen (Asian culture)

Jealous, talkative, wicked, Shellfish, violent, hearttempered Noisy, irritating Expensive, c gai??? Dangerous, destruction (Western culture) Wisdom (European culture) Evil, dangerous

Fox

Large round eyes, thump at night a reptile with a very long thin body and no legs. There are many types of snake, some of which are poisonous a wild animal of the dog family, with reddish-brown fur, a pointed face and a thick heavy tail Dec 25th The sixth of month of the year The twelfth month of the year, next after Nov

A person who is cunning, deceitful (a person who is clever and able to get what they want by influencing or tricking other people) Winter, cake, festival, funny, cheerful Summer, vacation, hot weather holiday season, Christmas, winter break,

Chris tmas June Dece mber

Bad weather(usually rainy or snowy), dark evening, grey sky, slippery streets, loneliness, separation from the beloved

Bach elor

Unmarried man

Still single after the usual age for marrying decided by himself to stay single enjoying freedom, friendship, life ready for his impending marriage

Spins ter

Unmarried woman

Still single after the usual age for marrying Not decided by herself to stay single Left in an unfavorable state A symbol for some failure in life

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A red rose with green stem A brown cross Representation of a cartoon heart

Symbol of passion and love Symbol of religion according to the media connotation. However, to be more specific, this is a symbol of Christianity. Symbol of love and affection, not in the way of a rose, but a symbol of true love and people making love together.

+ Mother, mom Father, dad plump Slender, slim Firm Thrifty, frugal Aggressive There are over 2,000 homeless in the city

Connotation Neutral Woman Man Overweight Thin Obstinate Tight There are over 2,000 people with no fixed address in the city.

Witch The old man fat Skinny Pigheaded Stingy pushy There are over 2,000 vagrants in the city

2.5 Figure of speech .. 2.6 Sense relations Synonymy A sense relation in which various words have different (written and sound) forms but have the same or nearly the same meaning Synonym Hide-conceal Kind-type-sort-variety Stubborn-obstinate Brigand-bandit Mercury-quicksilver Exercise/102. In the following sentences, do the capitalized pairs of words have the same sense? 1. The thief tried to CONCEAL/HIDE the evidence. 2. Im going to PURCHASE/BUY a new coat.
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Meaning Keep STO from being seen or known about A group of having similar characteristics

3. These tomatoes are LARGE/RIPE. 4. This is a very LOOSE/SHORT definition. 5. You have my PROFOUUND/DEEP sympathy. 6. It is a very WIDE/BROAD street. 7. How many KIDS/CHILDREN have you got? 8. He comes to see us every FALL/AUTUM. 9. Nothing is more precious to us than our FREEDOM/LIBERTY. 10. 11. 12. 13. The body was found in the BOOT/TRUNK of the car. Weve just bought a new HOUSE/APARTMENT. John got a bullet wound in his HEAD/GUTS. A BLOKE/CHAP I know has pickled onions for breakfast.

Antonymy A sense relation in which two words have different (written and sound) forms and are opposite in meaning Pass-failure Hot-cold Classification Characteris tic Exclusive Gradable (intermediat e terms) used in comparison and how question (degree) if then
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Antonym Thinner-fatter True-false

Big-small Buy-sell

Antonymy Binary/complem entary X Not alive = dead Not dead = alive Gradable Relational

Can not

X Hot < warm tepid/lukewarm cool-chilly- > cold can

X If Mr. A is Jacks employer, then jack is Mr. As

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Alive-dead Married-single Present-absent Awake-sleep

Wide-narrow difficult-easy

Short<-quite tall->tall Old-young Happy-sad

Example

employee. Verb: Buy-sell Give-receive Lend-borrow Import-export Own-belong to Noun: Employer-employee Grandparent-grandchild Father/motherson/daughter Fianc-fiance Parent-child/offspring Professor-student Teacher-pupil Doctor-patient Debtor-creditor Landlord/landlady-tenant Husband-wife Uncle/aunt-nephew/niece Comparative adj: Thinner-fatter Cheaper-more expensive Greater than-less than Comparative adv: More efficiently-less efficiently Faster-more slowly Prep: Above-below In front of-behind Over-under Before-after North of-south of West of-east of

Antonymy and (unmarkedness) 1-2 ( -) (occur in How?) High (1)-low (2) Tall-short 1

Remark

I worry about my son. He is 18 years old, but hes very short. We can ask: How short is he? Hes 1.5ms.

Heavy-light Far-near
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Expensive-cheap Hot-cold Long-short Wide-narrow Deep-shallow Difficult-easy Married-single Well-badly Old-young

1 1 1 1

Her mother is 45 years old, but she looks very young. We can ask :How young is she? She looks like just about 40 years old.

Exercise 13. Are the following pairs of words binary antonyms? Chalk-cheese Same-different Copper-tin Dead-alive Married-unmarried Cheap-expensive

Exercise 14. Are the following pairs of words relational antonyms? Below-above Love-hate Conceal-reveal Grandparent-grandchild Greater than-less than Own-belong to

Exercise 15. Identify the continuous scale of values between the two given words. Love-hate Hot-cold Big-small Rich-poor None-all Possibly-certainly Never-always

Exercise 16. State whether the following pairs of antonyms are binary, gradable or relational. Good-bad Pass-fail Deciduousevergreen Expensive-cheap Polysemy Parent-offspring Import-export Beautiful-ugly Better than-worse than False-true Easy-difficult Lessor-lessee Hot-cold Legal-illegal Asleep-awake Rude-polite Husband-wife

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A sense relation in which a single word has two or more slightly different but closely related meanings Polysem Seman ous tic word feature Meaning Example A chip of glass Can I try one of your chips? This computer has got a faster chip than the old one. He broke that cup. My watch is broken.

Chip

A small piece of some hard substance broken off from sth larger A small cut piece of potato fried for [+small eating piece] A small but vital piece of a computer Separate into two or more parts as a result of force or strain (but not cutting) Become unusable by being damaged; make sth unusable by damaging A top part of a body A head of a company A part of human body A gate of a river which water goes through before out to the sea A part of animal Top inner surface of a room Upper limit The planet where we are living The soil To force SO to go somewhere To provide power to make operate Tool with sharp points for lifting food Gardening tool with metal point A part of animal A part of a coat

Break

[+can no longer be used]

Head Mouth Ceiling Earth Drive Fork Tail

Hyponymy

A sense relation in which the referent of a word is totally included n the referent of another word. In other words, hyponymy is the relationship between each of the hyponyms and its superordinate/hypernyms. Hepernym/superodin ate Animal Pig Virtue Emotion
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Hyponyms Cat, dog, cow, horse Boar, sow, piglet Carefulness, prudence, patience, generosity, kindness Happiness, anger, anxiety, sadness
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Color Blue Weapon Cook Fry Plant Incompatibility

Yellow, grey, blue, green, red Turquoise, aquamarine, royal blue Airplane, rocket, tank, grenade, submarine, torpedo, missile, helicopter Grill, toast, boil, fry, roast, bake, smoke Stir-fry, saut, deep-fry Tree, bush (shrub), flowering plant, moss, grass

Animal (hypernym) Cat Dog Horse cow Cat-dog-horse-cow: co-hyponyms Sense relation between co-hyponyms that have the same hypernym (animal) is incompatibility Homonymy, Homophony, Homography Homonymy is a relation in which various words have the same (written and sound) form but have different meanings. Word (homonym) Bank Bear (n) Bear (v) Book (n) Book (v) Nail Pronounced // Meaning A financial institution The shore of a river A large heavy animal with thick fur Give birth to tolerate A book To book a ticket A part of a finger A thing

Homophony is a relation in which various words have the same sound form but have different meanings and written forms.

Word (homophone) Hour Our Place Plaice

Pronounced // /pleIs/

Meaning A twenty-fourth part of a day and night Belonging to us A particular area off position in space A type of fish

Homography is a relation in which various words have the same written form but have different meanings and sound forms.
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Word (homograph) Lead (v) Lead (n) Read (v)

Pronounced /li:d/ /led/ /ri:/ /red/

Meaning Does this road lead to town? Lead is a heavy metal. V1 V3

Lexical ambiguity Structural ambiguity: a sentence is considered as structurally ambiguous when its structure permits more than one interpretation. Lexical ambiguity: any ambiguity resulting from the ambiguity of word. Both polysemy and homonymy contribute to lexical ambiguity. She cannot bear children. He waited at the bank. Is he really that kind? The long drill was boring. It takes a good ruler to make a straight line. That robot is bright. He gave me a ring last night. He greeted the girl with a smile. Dont seat on those glasses. 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 2. Tolerate Give birth to Financial institution Shore of a river. That kind of peron so kind The long tool for drilling Long exercise (a way of learning sth by means of repeated exercises) Instrument Governor/person who has power Shining intelligent a phone call gift to a lover The boy was smiling The girl was smiling Eye-glasses Glasses for drinking

Exercise 20. Explain the lexical ambiguity in each of the following sentences by providing two sentences that paraphrase its two different meanings. He waited by the bank. Meaning 1: He waited by the financial institution. Meaning 2: He waited by the shore of a river. 1. When he got the clear title to the land, it was a good deed. 2. The proprietor of the fish store was the sole owner. 3. We like the ball. 4. They passed the port at night.
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5. The captain corrected the list. 6. He was knocked over by the punch. 7. The camel swallowed the chocolate and then ate it. Exercise 21. Does polysemy or homonymy contribute to the lexical ambiguity in each of the two given sentences? 1. She cannot bear children. 2. The cat sat on the mat. Exer 22. In what way are homonyms related to lexical ambiguity? Exer 23. In what way is a polysemous word related to lexical ambiguity?

III.
3.1

SENTENCE MEANING Paraphrase - Paraphrase is the relationship between a word and a combination of other words with the same meaning. - A paraphrase is provided by another sentence that has virtually the same meaning. - A sentence which expresses the same proposition as another sentence is a paraphrase of that sentence. - Sentences are paraphrases if they have the same meaning (except possibly for minor differences in emphases). Ways to paraphrase Original sent. 1. Change individual Cats drink cream. words, using synonyms Ill be happy to come. using relational antonyms I lent that book to Jim 2. Change sentence Cats drink cream. structure 3. Change both individual words and sentence structure Paraphrase Domestic felines consume the liquid fat of milk. Ill be glad to come. Jim borrowed that book from me. Cream is drunk by cats. The liquid fat of milk is consumed by domestic felines.

Exer 31. The following pairs are paraphrases of each other. Identify the way employed to paraphrase them. The house was concealed by the
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I saw Ted at the party.

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tree. The house was hidden by the tree. The needle is too short. The needle is not long enough. Some countries have no coastline. Not all countries have a coastline. Watching TV is not a waste of time. Watching TV is a good way to spend ones time. My friend loathes string beans. My pal hates pole beans. Ill look for that book right now. Ill seek for that book at once/immediately. Steve hugged Jane. Steve gave Jane a hug. John is the parent of James. James is the child of John. My father owns this car. This car belongs to my father. John sol the book to David. David bought the book from John. Steve hugged Jane. Jane was hugged by Steve. We had hardly begun our work when it rained. Hardly had we begun our work when it rained. Sitting in one place for so long is very uncomfortable. It is very uncomfortable to sit in one place for so long. Although Grants Pass, Oregon, is a fairly small town, it offers much to amuse summer visitors. If you want to give your family a
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It was Ted that I saw at the party. The nearest service station is 50 miles away. It is 50 miles to the nearest service station. Jenny and Kevin are twins. Kevin and Jenny are twins. They had a wonderful holiday even though the weather was bad. Despite/in spite of the bad weather, they had a wonderful holiday. They had a wonderful despite/in spite of the bad weather. Bachelors prefer red-haired girls. Girls with red hair are preferred by unmarried men. Sam sliced the salami with a knife. Sam used a knife to slice the salami. Considering your condition, we wont press charges. Under the circumstances, we wont press charges. The laser has a wide variety of applications. As we have seen, the use of the laser is numerous. In order to make a good impression at a job interview, you should prepare well for the interview. As you can see, it is necessary to be well prepared for the job interview. Synonyms, word that have the same basic meaning, do not always have the same emotional meaning. Many so-called synonyms are not really synonyms at all. The composition proficiency requirements as now stated should not apply.
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nice, wholesome vacation, try visiting GP, Oregon.

I would propose that the standard used to judge international student papers be relaxed or done away with.

3.2

Entailment .

IV. IV.1 IV.2

UTTERANCE MEANING Deixis Conversational implicature The co-operative principle make your contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. Four basic maxims: The maxim of Quality Quantity Relevance Manner What we say must be True Brief Relevant Clear

Sorry love. I saw you were home. Theres a cat stuck under the gate.

Context Did you buy salt? I tried to. Have you brushed your teeth and tidied the room? Ive brushed my teeth. Is Betsy in? Her light is on. Do you love me? Im quite fond of you. Was there a fiddler at the bar last night?
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Implicature B wanted to say No, I didnt buy salt. B hasnt tidied his room. The light is a signal for us to know that whether she is in the room or not. B doesnt love A. The man wasnt a good fiddler.

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There was a man scrapping a bow across a violin. Do you like my new carpet? The wallpapers not bad. Do you like the hamburger you are eating? A ham is a ham. I hope you brought the bread and the cheese. Ah, I brought the bread. Coffee? It would keep me awake all night. Have you finished the students evaluation form and reading list? Ive done the reading list. Are you going to Marks barbecue? Well, Marks got those dogs now. 4.3 Speech acts

B doesnt like the carpet.

B didnt bring the cheese. B would rather not drink coffee. B has not done the evaluation form. Shes not going to Marks barbecue.

Speech acts is an utterance as a functional unit in communication. Characteristic Locutionary/propositiona l meaning Definition A: Im thirsty. B: Ill bring you a glass of water. Can you shut the window? Certainly. Classification Speech act type Declarations Change the world by bringing about or altering the state of affairs it names: Dismissing,
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Its basic literal meaning conveyed by its particular words and structures Im thirsty is I am suffering from my thirst. I wonder whether you are able to shut the window.

Illocutionary meaning/illocutionary force The effect the utterance might have on the hearer A indirectly requests B to give him sth to drink A indirectly requests B to shut the window.

Example I now pronounce you man and wife.

I resign. Youll be free from tomorrow. (I dismiss

Explain The vicar is directly announcing the legal and permanent union between a man and a woman as husband and wife, simultaneously changing their marital status A directly declares to give
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sentencing, naming, announcing marriage Representati Describe a ves state of affairs in the world: Stating, claiming, describing, predicting, reporting

you from your current up his current position. position.) B declares to dismiss A from his current position. Where are you from? Im from Canada. B directly gives a piece of information concerning where he was born and grew up. T directly informs Ss of what the weather is like in the south.

T: There are only two seasons in the south: the dry season and the rainy season. S1: Then, each season is exactly six month long? S: Is there any transitional period between them? I beg your pardon. Ill be right back. No problem. This beer is disgusting. Why dont you learn to take the bad with the good?

Expressive

Directive

Commissive

Indicates the speakers psychologica l state of deeling/attit ude about sth: Greeting, apologizing, thanking Intends to get the listener to carry out an action: Commandin g, requesting, begging, warning Commits the speaker to a course of action: Promising, vowing, threatening, offering

The desk clerk directly apologizes to the client for his absence for a while. A directly shows that he extremely dislikes the beer.

The garage is a mess. B directly orders A to Clean it up. make the garage tidy How about a dinner out? My essay is due tomorrow morning. (Leave me alone to write my essay.) If you dont stop fighting, Ill call the police. Call them at once to turn your brother in. When will I receive my reimbursement? Authors always pay B indirectly asks A to leave her alone, writing her essay

A directly threatens to call the police if B and her brother dont stop fighting.

B indirectly promises to
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their debts. (Ill pay you back later.) Locution, illocution, and perlocution act

pay A back later

A locutionary act is the saying of sth which is meaning ful and can be understood. Ill see you later. What kinds of function can we perform? 1. A promise 2. A kind of warning

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