LEVEL: MA TEFL

SEMESTER: SPRING 2010

ASSIGNMENT No. 2
A PROJECT WORK

Semantics and Discourse Analysis

Subject code 5666

SUBMITTED TO: Sir Malik Moeen ud Din

SUBMITTED BY: NOOR-UD-DIN

ROLL NO. AH 505106

CELL NO. 03004294879

Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 1 - 12

 MA TEFL 5666
Semantics and Discourse Analysis

A Project work:

“Demonstrate with examples meanings expressed by speakers

and meanings expressed by words phrases and sentences.”

Contents

Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2

Different sources of meaning---------------------------------------------------- 3

Meanings expressed by words phrases and sentences.--------------- 5

Meanings expressed by speakers --------------------------------------------- 7

Intonation, pitch , body language and meanings-------------------------- 8

Integration of meanings both speaker and sentence units------------ 10

Bibliography --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12

Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 2 - 12

Introduction:

Linguistically, the term meaning refers to what is expressed by the writer or

speaker, and what is conveyed to the reader or listener. Meaning is inferred

from objects or concepts expressed by words, phrases or sentences in

semantics. Meaning is inferred from the current context as intended by the

writer or speaker in pragmatics. Ambiguity in meaning may cause confusion in

what is conveyed, and lead to different interpretations of the current context. So

for the appropriate comprehension meaning, linguistic and social context must be

well defined.

Different sources of meaing:

i. Inference

ii. Concepts

iii. Context

iv. Pragmatics

Inference is a good guess to observations. The conclusion drawn is also called

an inference. Human inference is traditionally studied within the field of cognitive

psychology; artificial intelligence.

Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 3 - 12

Context is a notion used in the language sciences in two different ways, namely

as:

• verbal context

• social context

Verbal context

Verbal context refers to surrounding text or talk of an expression (word,

sentence, conversational turn, speech act, etc.). The idea is that verbal context

influences the way we understand the expression. Hence the norm not to cite

people 'out of context'. Since much contemporary linguistics takes texts,

discourses or conversations as its object of analysis, the modern study of 'verbal

context' takes place in terms of the analysis of discourse structures and their

mutual relationships, for instance the coherence relation between sentences.

Social context

Traditionally, in sociolinguistics, social contexts were defined in terms of

objective social 'variables', such as those of class, gender or race. More recently,

social contexts tend to be defined in terms of the social identity being construed

and displayed in text and talk by language users.

Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 4 - 12
Concept

A concept (abstract term: conception) is a cognitive unit of meaning—an

abstract idea or a mental symbol sometimes defined as a "unit of knowledge,"

built from other units which act as a concept's characteristics. A concept is

typically associated with a corresponding representation in a language or

symbology such as a single meaning of a term.

Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context

contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory,

conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches to language

behavior in philosophy, sociology, and linguistics. It studies how the transmission

of meaning depends not only on the linguistic knowledge (e.g. grammar, lexicon

etc.) of the speaker and listener, but also on the context of the utterance,

knowledge about the status of those involved, the inferred intent of the speaker,

and so on.

Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning as conveyed through signs and language.

Semantics can refer to the literal or intended meaning of speakers and writers.

Semantics is studied in many branches of science and consequently how

meaning is studied may vary. Understanding how facial expressions, body

Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 5 - 12

language, and tone affects meaning, and how words, phrases, sentences, and

punctuation relate to meaning are two examples of what Semanticists study.

Meanings expressed by words phrases and sentences.

Meanings of the verb phrases

 Thematic roles of the noun phrases-type meaning and token meaning

 Role of context & meaning of the words

 Relationship between thematic roles of noun phrases and speaker’s

meaning

In order to convey meanings words play vital role in a sentence or an utterance.

Words like verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs play main role in forming meaning.

But, the verbal or linguistic context play major role in this concern

Languages allow information to be conveyed even when the specific words used

are not known by the reader or listener. People connect words with meaning and

use words to refer to concepts.

understanding the intent and assumptions of particular speakers and writers is

primary as in the idea that people mean and not words, sentences or proposition.

An underlying difference is that where causes are identified with relations or laws

then it is normal to objectify meaning, while if causes are identified with particular

agents, objects, or forces as if to cause means to influence as most historians

and practical people assume, then real or non-objectified meaning is primary.

Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 6 - 12

When dealing with verb phrases, one approach to discovering the way the

phrase means is by looking at the thematic roles the child noun phrases take on.

Verbs do not point to things, but rather to the relationship between one or more

nouns and some configuration or reconfiguration therein, so the meaning of a

verb phrase can be derived from the meaning of its child noun phrases and the

relationship between them and the verb.

Among words and phrases, different parts of speech can be distinguished, such

as noun phrases and adjectival phrases. Each of these have different kinds of

meaning; nouns typically refer to entities, while adjectives typically refer to

properties. Proper names, which are names that stand for individuals, like

"Jameela", "Naziraan", "Kabiraan," and "Mars," are going to have another kind of

meaning.

In Meryton they parted; the two youngest repaired to the lodgings of one of the

offiers’ wives. Here repaired means went on

meanings expressed by speakers:

Constituents of speakers meanings:

 Situational Context

 Connotation and denotation

 Facial Expression

 Body language

 Tone
Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 7 - 12
Speakers’ meaning is mainly connected with the sense and reference. The

reference of a word is the thing it refers to: In the sentence:

"Give the guy sitting next to you",

the guy refers to a specific person, in this case the male one sitting next to you.

This person is the phrase's reference. The sense, on the other hand, is that part

of the expression that helps us to determine the thing it refers to. In the example

above, the sense is every piece of information that helps to determine that the

expression is referring to the male human sitting next to you and not any other

object. This includes any linguistic information as well as situational context,

environmental details, and so on. On the other hand, following J.S. Mill, sense is

often called connotation and reference denotation. Furthermore, in semantics

outside of both linguistics and philosophy, denotation normally means the

primary use of a word and connotation means the associations made with the

word, including value connotations which indicate whether the author is praising

or criticizing what is denoted or referred to.

Understanding how facial expressions, body language, and tone affects

meaning, and how words, phrases, sentences, and punctuation relate to

meaning are two examples of what Semanticists study.

 Linguistics meaning

 Situational meaning

Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 8 - 12

Situational context would to the extent possible refer to every non-linguistic factor

that affects the meaning of a phrase. Nearly anything can be included in the list,

from the time of day to the people involved to the location of the speaker or the

temperature of the room. An example of situational context at work is evident in

the phrase:

"it's cold in here",

which can either be a simple statement of fact or a request to turn up the heat,

depending on, among other things, whether or not it is believed to be in the

listener's power to affect the temperature.

Intonation, pitch , body language and meanings:

Like wise intonation pattern also affects the meaning on part of speaker. Ther are

three basic types of intonation patterns, or tunes. There are falling tunes, rising

tunes and mixed tunes. The mixed tunes are , of course, various combinationsof

the first tow categories. The term used for the height of voice is pitch. The

intonation tunes and pitch are integrated in the transmission of meaning.

Modification of Meaning - Examples:

Ali: Tariq lives in karachi.

Aslam: Where? (falling tune = Which part of Karachi?)

Ali: Tariq lives in karachi.

Aslam: Where? (Rising tune = Pardon. Please say that again)

Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 9 - 12

Ali: I’d like to see your son Bashir. (Falling tune =The boy’s name is Bashir)

Ali: I’d like to see your son, Bashir. (Rising tune accompanied with high pitch

The father’s name is Bashir)

Similarly, facial expressions and body loanguage also modify meaning on the

part of speaker.

Examples:

Would you like to play cricket?

No. (by making grimaces = disdain for playing)

No. (by frowning = perhaps got rather busy and doesn’t have time to play)

Yes. (without any response= mixed attitude)

Yes. ( making fist and waving it = enthusiasm and love for the game0

Integration between of speaker’s meaning and meanings expressed by

words phrases and sentences:

Broadly speaking meanings expressed by speakers and meanings expressed by

words phrases and sentences are strongly interconnected. Unless the linguistic

context, situational context, intonation pattern, mood of the speaker is not known,

meaning of the utterance may be interpreted differently.

EXAMPLES

Bashiraan Bibi went to the bank today.

Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 10 - 12

The meaning of this sentence is sentence meaning because it is attached to the

sentence at the level of words. Every sentence has a type meaning in virtue of

being a member of the group of possible sentences. I

That is, the information provided by the sentence meaning is often ambiguous.

Because the utterance is semantically ambiguous at the type level, we can

generate more than one possible interpretations if we do not know the

appropriate context or situation.

For example:

Bashiraan Bibi went to bank of Punjab today. Or

Bashiraan Bibi went to the bank of river Ravi with his family for enjoyment.

Contextual information is needed to distinguish among different possible

interpretations.

To derive the speaker meaning of an utterance one usually has to use even more

contextual information.

To sum up, word, phrases, and different units of a sentence convey exactly when

the listener knows the context or situation of the communicative acts. Broadly

speaking they are interconnected.

Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 11 - 12

Bibliography:

Semantics and Discourse Analysis by AIOU

Semantics and Discourse Analysis (Reader) by AIOU

Phonology by AIOU

Phonology (Reader) by AIOU

Linguistic terms and concepts by Geoffrey Finch

An Introduction to Linguistics by John Lion

Project work code 5666/ Asnmnt-2 Page 12 - 12