ET121 Desc Eng Lang

language varieties

• USER variation - dialect

• USE variation - register

Register types

• Domain - what is the activity involved?

• Tenor - RS between speaker/writer and audience?

• Mode - how is message conveyed?

Content vs Function words

• content - open class, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs

• function - pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions

spoken discourse - conversation analysis

Sacks’ ethnomethodological approach

• focus on way people make sense of world

• individuals pp in convo constantly deciphering it

Adjacency pairs

• turn-taking

• greeting/call

• question and answer

Embedded AP

• pairs expanded to take turns

• speaker self selects

• then selects next speaker

TCU and TRP

TCU - turn constructional unit

• segment of speech acting as block for speaker’s turn via syntactic prosody/pragmatic cues

TRP - transition-relevant place

• pp able to project completion of TCU

Saussure’s theory of Semoitics

• signified - building for human habitation, cannot predict form (what it means)

• signifier - sounds, name, cannot predict meaning (how we indicate meaning)

Modes of meaning

3 levels

• interpersonal - enact social relations (exchanges between speaker/listener)

• ideational - construe what’s experienced

• Textual - connect utterances to linguistic context

Open class symbols

• Noun = N

• Verb = V

• Adjective = Aj

• Adverb = Av

Closed class symbols

• Determiner = d

• Preposition = pn

• Pronoun = p

• Conjunction = cj

• operator verb = v

• interjection = ij

• enumerator = e

Adjectives

• ‘er’ for comparative

• ‘est’ for superlative

• physical, psychological, evaluative and time relating qualities

• gradable vs non-gradable

G = tall, happy, good

NG = female, french, married (no middle ground or continuum)

Adverbs

Types:

• manner (badly, nicely)

• place (everywhere, here)

• direction (home, forward)

• time-when (today, soon)

• Duration (always, never)

• frequency (never, often)

• degree (much, quite)

Types of adverbs

• circumstance - time/place/manner/how/where

• Degree - modify adj for gradability (how much, how tall, how bad)

• Sentence - apply to whole clause, attitude to connection

Phrase structure

unlimited pre-modifiers + head + unlimited post-modifiers

• eg - Government’s PATCHWORK (head) of poor ideas

modification

• adjectives pre-modify noun

• post-modifier = relates to adj of head

• pre + post = eg deep concerns

What is in a main phrase?

• sentences = 1+ clause

• clause = 1+ phrase

• phrase = 1+ word

Subordinate clause

• part of another phrase

• PP (prepositional) and GP (genial phrase) tend to be SC

Brackets for clause types

• Main clause = [square]

• Sub = (rounded)

Form vs Function of phrases

• form - how phrase is made up of smaller parts

• how words work in clause

Noun Phrases can be subject (S), object (O), or complement (C)

Structure of Noun Phrases

head can be:

• noun

• pronoun

• adjective

• enumerator (about three)

• genitive (john’s)

Pre-modifiers of NPs

• determiners (THOSE people)

• Enumerators (THREE pencils)

• Adjectives (YELLOW top)

• Nouns (a BRICK wall)

• Genitive phrase (the DENTIST’S chair)

• Adverbs (QUITE a commotion)

Post-modifiers of NPs

• prepositional phrases

• relative clauses

Pronoun function as head

• personal

• possessive

• demonstrative (this, that)

Quantifier

• general - all, some

• compound - everybody, anybody

• Gradable - many, much, more

determiner function as Modifiers

• articles - a/an

• Possessive

• demonstrative

• quantifier

• wh’s

prepositional phrases as adverbials

• function in clause - act as adverbials

[A PP (on thursday) (he) (stopped) A PP (at her house)]

• can also modify (post) adj or adv

phrasal verbs

cannot guess meaning

• make up (reconcile)

• take off (leave airport)

• put up (accomodate)

• put down (demean or euthanise)

elements of a clause (SPOCA)

• S = subject - in front of P

• P = predicator - verb phrase

• O = object - connected to P in meaning)

• C = complement - describes S/O

• A = adverbial - extra info to clause

SPOCA conventional order

Many students love pizza

• S, P, O

(S) Some lecturers are making (P) their modules (O) difficult (C) unnecessarily (A)

Sentences

• simple vs complex

Coordination - <angle brackets>

• two items of equal status that are linked (bread and butter, sink or swim)

Subordination - one part more important

Verbs - tensed vs tenseless

Tensed - shows time and subject

• operator or main verb

tenseless - in forms (V-i, V-ing, V-en) ie to eat, eating, eaten

• all verbs can be TL except modal

• many VP don’t have tensed element

Main clause types

• declarative - making statements (tensed)

• Interrogative - questions

• Imperative - commands (tenseless)

Active - basic, unmarked form (harry Potter has caught the train)

Passive - subject corresponds in meaning to object of AC

• train has been caught by Harry Potter

Types of object

direct - shows item directly affected by verb

• jessie made some scones for her family

Indirect - object shows who benefits from action indirectly

• jessie made her family some scones

Types of complement

• subject - describes subject, follows P

• Object - describes object, follows O

SPOCA + Oi/Od

• subject

• predicator

• object

• complement

• adverbial

Oi = indirect object

Od = direct object

Clause patterns

• when all adverbials and non-essentials taken away = basic pattern

• usually SPC

extending clauses

• all basic clauses can be extended with elements

types of tenseless clause

• infinitive clause - Vi > Cli

• -Ing clause - Ving > Cling

• -En clause - Ven > Clen

Tensed subordinate clauses

• Noun - NCl

• Adverbial - ACl

• Relative - RCl (who)

• Comparative CCl

• Prepositional PCl

Comparative clauses CCl

• postmodifying function like RCl

• Postmodify adjectives, adverbs and nouns

• introduced with conjunction ‘than

Constituent structure grammar

• constituents part of sentence

• Cons of sentence may be phrase which we could label as noun phrase and subject

Marked vs Unmarked

• the SPOCA order is unmarked and neutral

• OCASP is marked order

• marked forms less frequent

Analysing register

• domain is subject

• tenor is relationship between pp

• mode is communication channel (spoken, written etc)

• STYLE - content of sentences

Function of domain

• convey info

• express feelings

• persuasion

• metalinguistic

• maintain contact with someone