Tlemcen University

Faculty of Letters and Languages

Department of English
LMD2 Linguistics Course
Instructor: Zahira BELAIDOUNI
E-mail: contactprof157@gmail.com

LINGUISTIC LEVELS OF ANALYSIS:

From Sounds to Analyzing and

Interpreting Meaning

Adapted from the lectures designed by

Prof. Radia Benyelles and Dr. Fatima Zohra Adder
Levels of language refer to the way language itself is organised and henceanalysed
by linguists.

Phonetics and Phonology

- Phonetics is the descriptive study of the physical properties of speech sounds in terms of
production (Articulatory Phonetics), in terms of transmission (Acoustic Phonetics), and
perception (Auditory Phonetics).
- Phonology is the scientific study of how speech sounds are patterned and how they
function in a given language.
 MORPHOLOGY: Building Words

❖ Morphology is a branch of linguistics that deals with the structure and formation of
words in a language. It focuses on the rules and patterns that govern how words are
created, including the study of prefixes, suffixes, root words, and how they combine
to form words. Morphology also explores the different forms that words can take,
such as tense, number, and gender in many languages. It plays a crucial role in
understanding the building blocks of a language’s vocabulary and how words are
related to one another.

1. Morphemes:

Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of a language that cannot be broken
down into other meaningful units. For example, the word book /bʊk/ cannot be broken down
into other smaller meaningful units.

Yet, books is a word that can be divided into two morphemes, book and -s. Book refers to
an object we can read, and -s means “more than one.” So, book is one morpheme, and books
is two.
Book and -s are two distinct types of morphemes. Book can stand by itself as a meaningful
unit (as a noun), but -s cannot and it must be attached to a meaningful unit. Therefore, a
morpheme can be typically defined as a minimal unit of meaning (e.g. the morpheme
book) or of a grammatical function (such as –s after book) (Dawson, H. C. & Phelan,
M., 2016, p.261; Yule, 2006, p. 63).
❖ In morphology, roots, stems, and bases are all parts of a word. A root is the most
basic part of a word that carries its meaning. A stem is a part of a word that can be
modified to create different forms of the same word. A base is a form to which
affixes of any kind can be added.
For example, let’s consider the word “unhappiness.” The root of the word is
“happy,” while the stem is “unhappi-.” The stem can be modified by adding different
prefixes or suffixes to create different forms of the word, such as “unhappily” or
“unhappier” .
The difference between a stem and a base is that a base is any form to which affixes
of any kind can be added, while a stem is a form to which inflectional affixes can be
 added.

2. Types of Morphemes
We can recognize that English words such as plays, player, played and playing involve one
element play, and the other elements ( -s, -er, -ed, and –ing). These are all morphemes.
e.g. The police reopened the investigation.
The word reopened consists of three morphemes. One minimal unit of meaning is open,
another minimal unit of meaning is re- (meaning ‘again’), and a minimal unit of
grammatical function is -ed (indicating past tense).
The word tourists also consists of three morphemes. The unit of meaning tour, -ist
(marking ‘person who does something’), and a minimal unit of grammatical function -s
(indicating plural form) (Yule, 2006; p.63). From these two examples, free and bound
morphemes, as two types of morphemes, are differentiated.
a. Free and Bound Morphemes
i. Free morpheme: it is a type of morphemes that can stand alone as single
words, for example, open and tour.

There are lexical and functional free morphemes.

- Lexical morphemes are content words like nouns, verbs, adjectives that convey
meaning. Examples are “boy”, “happy”, “open”. This is an open class that new words
can be easily added to.

- Functional morphemes are grammar words like prepositions and pronouns that have
grammatical function, such as prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, and articles (in,
near, below, on, and, but, while, though, the, a, an, that, he, her, them). This is a closed
class that we cannot add new words to.

ii. Bound morphemes cannot stand alone and must be attached to another form,
like prefixes and suffixes.

That is, all affixes in English (prefixes and suffixes) are bound morphemes. Examples:
unemployed, homeless, inappropriateness

un- employ –ed, home -less, in- appropriate -ness

prefix- root- suffix root – suffix prefix – stem - suffix
bound- free - bound free - bound bound – free - bound
 Bound morphemes are divided into derivational and inflectional types:

❖ Derivational morphemes like “-ness”, “-less” derive new words from existing stems
and can change word categories. For instance, the addition of the derivational
morphemes -ful and -ness changes the verb care to the adjective careful and the
nouns carefulness respectively.
The nouns taste, interest and job can become the adjectives tasteless,
interesting or jobless by adding the derivational morphemes -less, -ing, and -less.
Other derivational morphemes are the suffixes -ish (childish, foolish ), -ly (hardly,
slowly), and -ment (employment, development). The list also entails prefixes such
as re-, pre-, ex-, mis-, co-, un- as in these examples:

reorganize, pre-plan, exchange, misunderstand, co-operate, unhappy.

- Inflectional morphemes like “-s”, “-ed” indicate features like tense of a verb (if it is
past tense or not), the form of a word (if it is plural or singular), and an adjective (if it
is comparative or superlative)…, but do not derive new words or change
categories. In fact, English has only eight (08) inflectional morphemes (or
‘inflections’), and all of them are suffixes:

- Noun + -’s, -s > possessive case, or plural

- Verb + -s, -ing, -ed, -en > 3rd person singular, present participle, past tense, past
participle

- Adjective + -est, -er > superlative, comparative

3. Morphs and Allomorphs

Morphs are the actual forms used to express morphemes. For example, the word
"books" has two morphs - "book" and "-s". Sometimes the same morpheme can be
expressed by different morphs. For example, the plural morpheme can be expressed as "-s"
or "-es". We call these different forms of the same morpheme "allomorphs". "-s" and "-es"
are allomorphs of the plural morpheme - they express the same meaning of plural, but use
different forms.

Just like there are allophones for phonemes, there can be allomorphs for
morphemes. The key idea is that allomorphs are different surface forms that express the
same underlying morpheme.

Inflectional Allomorphs Examples

Morpheme
-s Book + -s
-es Box + -es
‘Plural’
zero-morph Information + Ø
Sheep + Ø
a vowel change in the Women , men
word (æ → ε)
‘past tense’ ‘play + past tense’ Play + ed

‘go + past tense’ Went

4. Practice
5.1. Activities about morphology and types of morphemes
Activity 1: Say whether these statements are ‘True’ or ‘False’. Correct the wrong ones.
a. Morphology is concerned with the correctness and meaning of sentences.
………………………………………………………………………………
b. A word may comprise more than one morpheme.
………………………………………………………………………………
c. An inflectional morpheme can produce new words.
………………………………………………………………………………
d. An allomorph is one of the different realizations of a morpheme.
………………………………………………………………………………

Activity 2: Classify the morphemes according to their types

The director - prayer - walking - slowly – she signs - at school – arrangements - cleaning
and washing - the largest - disliked - misunderstands - racists – blackboards.
Free morpheme Bound morpheme
Lexical Functional Derivational Inflectional
direct The -or
Activity 3: Divide the following sentences into their constituent morphemes and label
each of them:
1. They waited impatiently.
………………………………………………………………………………
2. She dislikes doing the housework.
………………………………………………………………………………
3. It is the cheapest car.
………………………………………………………………………………
4. It rains heavily.
………………………………………………………………………………
5. He will stay at home.
………………………………………………………………………………
6. The girl’s wildness shocked the teachers.
………………………………………………………………………………
7. Chomsky published a book called Syntactic Structures.
………………………………………………………………………………

Activity 4: Free and Bound Morphemes

1. Place a plus sign (+) between morphemes in each word listed below.
2. Label each morpheme as bound (B) or free (F).
3. You may need to use a dictionary to figure out some divisions.
 Example: Reading = Read + ing F+B
a. telephone
b. infirm
c. farm
d. reformers
e. ranchers
f. actor
g. inaccessibility
h. ducklings
i. countess
j. boysenberry
Adopted from Rowe & Levine (2016, p. 89)

Activity 5: Derivational and Inflectional Morphemes

1. Place a plus sign (+) between each morpheme boundary and label each
morpheme as free (F) or bound (B).
2. Label each bound morpheme as derivational (D) or inflectional (I).
Example: Deepen deep + en F+D
a. banana ………………………. k. slowest……………………….
b. running………………………. l. quicker……………………….
c. player………………………. m. unhappy……………………….
d. action………………………. n. semicircle……………………….
e. roughest………………………. o. nobody ……………………….
f. friendly……………………….
p. Aaron’s (as in It is Aaron’s toy.) ………………….
g. comes (as in Here he comes.) …. …………………..
h. unfriendly…………………… q. broken……………………….
i. longer………………………. r. judgment……………………….
j. lovable………………………. s. happily……………………….
Adopted from Rowe & Levine (2016, p.89-90)

5. Morphological Processes
 Word formation is how new words are created. There are different ways words can
be formed, called morphological processes.

❖ Derivation (affixation) is one process where a new word is formed by adding a

prefix or suffix to an existing word.

For example, the word ‘plan’ serves as the root for ‘preplan’. The derivational affix pre- is
attached to the root plan to create this new word.

Several affixes in English can be used in this productive way. Some of the affixes can be
employed to produce new words in English: re-, dis-, in-, pre-, un-, anti-, sub-, -ly, ish, ism,
-ness, -er, -ity, - ation, -able, mis-, less, and –ful which appear in words like reopen, dismiss,
indebt, prejudge, unhappy, antioxidant, submarine, happily, boyish, terrorism, sadness,
teacher, chastity, admiration, enjoyable, misrepresent, careless, and joyful. (Adapted from
Yule, 2006, P. 57; Rowe and Levine, 2016, p. 97)

❖ Compounding
Joining two separate words to create one linguistic form is known as compounding.

In other words, compounding is when two words are joined together to form a new word.

There are different types of compounds:

- Noun compounds: These combine two nouns, like “bookcase” = the nouns “book”
+ “case”

- Adjective compounds: These combine two adjectives, like "good-looking" = the

adjectives “good” + “looking”

- Adjective-noun compounds: These combine an adjective and a noun. They can be

hyphenated, like "fast-food” = the adjective “fast” + noun “food” (with a hyphen), or open
with a space, like "real estate” = the adjective “real” + noun “estate” (with a space between).

So in compounding, we take existing words and fuse them together into a new
single word with a new meaning.

❖ Reduplication
Reduplication is when part or all of a word is repeated to form a new word.
 It is often used to indicate intensity or emphasis.

Some examples in English:

- "Like-like" someone > means to really like them, more than just as a friend.

- Wanting a shirt that is "green-green" > means a very bright, vivid green color.
Examples from Arabic: couscous (a traditional meal), taʔtaʔa (‫( )تأتأ‬He stummered), (‫)طأطأ‬
‘he lowered (his head), / lamlama/ (‫( )لملم‬he pulls himself together or picks up the pieces of
something).

❖ Blending
Blending is when you take parts of two or more words and combine them into a
new single word.

The process involves:

- Taking two existing words

- Clipping or cutting off parts of each word

- Combining the remaining parts into one new blended word

Some examples:

- “Brunch” is a blend of “breakfast” and “lunch”

- “Sitcom” is a blend of “situation” and “comedy”

- “Motel” is a blend of “motor” and “hotel”

Other blends:

- “Telethon” from “television” and “marathon”

- “Eurasia” from “Europe” and “Asia”

- “E-mail” from “electronic” and “mail”

So blending chops up existing words and fuses the pieces into a new single word
with its own combined meaning. This creates new vocabulary efficiently.

❖ Clipping
Clipping is a process where parts of words are cut off or deleted to make shortened forms
of the original word. In clipping, certain letters or syllables are removed from the start,
middle or end of words to make them more concise.

The clipped versions are still easily recognizable as relating to the original full words.

This process creates informal or slang versions of terms for convenience in communication
like texting. It trims words down while keeping their core meanings.

So in summary, clipping is a word formation method where parts of existing words are cut
off to generate shortened variants. These are examples of clipping (adapted from Rowe &
Levine (2016, p. 96):
Clipped form Complete word
gas Gasoline
Phone telephone
gym gymnasium
app (recent word) Application
stat Statistics
exam Examination
dorm Dormitory
blog Weblog

❖ Acronyms
Acronyms are new words formed by taking the first letter of each word in a phrase
and combining them.

There are two types:

- Initialism acronyms – These spell out the individual letters, like “CD” for
“compact disc” or “VCR” for “video cassette recorder”.

- Acronym words – These are pronounced as new words, not letter-by-letter,

like “NATO”, “NASA” or “UNESCO”.

Some examples:

▪ Laser (‘light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation’),

▪ Radar (‘radio detecting and ranging’),

▪ Scuba (‘self-contained underwater breathing apparatus’)

 ▪ ATM (‘automatic teller machine’)

❖ Back-formation
Back-formation is when a new word is created by seemingly removing a suffix from
an existing word. But in reality, the original word was formed by adding the suffix.

Some examples:

- Television was the original word. Then “televise” was back-formed by removing the
“-tion” suffix, making it seem like the root word.

- “Donation” was the word first. “Donate” was back-formed by removing the “-tion”
suffix.

- “Editor” existed first. “Edit” was formed by removing the “-or” suffix.

Others:

- “Emotion” but “emote” was back-formed

- “Enthusiasm” but “enthuse” was back-formed

- “Automation” but “automate” was back-formed

- “Babysitter” but “babysit” was back-formed

❖ Extension of Word Formation Rules

Word formation rules can sometimes be extended or stretched to treat parts of words as if
they are meaningful morphemes (units of meaning), even when they are not separate
morphemes.

Some examples:

- ‘Burger’ is treated as a meaningful unit in words like hamburger, cheeseburger, buffalo

burger, etc. But ‘burger’ on its own is not a real word.

- ‘Athon’ is treated as a unit indicating a race or long event, like in marathon,

danceathon, walkathon. But ‘athon’ itself has no independent meaning.

- ‘Holic’ is used to indicate addiction or obsession, as in alcoholic, workaholic. But

‘holic’ alone is not a true morpheme.
So in these cases, portions of existing words like ‘burger’, ‘athon’ and ‘holic’ take on
productive and replicable meanings, even though strictly speaking they are not separate
morphemes with their own definitions.

This type of extension allows new words to be formed following recognizable patterns, even
if the units involved are not fully autonomous morphemes.

❖ Functional Shift
Functional shift (conversion or category change) is a change in the part of speech
or grammatical category.
Examples:
V N a guess, a must, a spy, a printout, a walk, a run, a laugh, a touch

N V to position, to process, to contact, notice, party, fax,

❖ Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia [ˌɒnə(ʊ)matəˈpiːə ] denotes the creation of lexical units by the
imitation of sounds in nature (or recently in technology).
Examples:
A clock: tick-tock,
A camera: click,
A cat: meow [ˌmiːˈaʊ ]
Ring of a bell: ding-dong,
A cow: moo,

Flies: buzz,

A snake: hiss

❖ Coining (Coinage):
Coining is when a completely new word or morpheme is created that is unrelated to
any existing words. It involves inventing a new word from scratch rather than deriving it
from other words.

Some examples of coined words:

- "Googol" - The name given to the large number 10^100 by mathematician Edward
Kasner's nephew in the 1920s.

- "A-game" - Used to refer to one's highest level of performance.

- "Ambigue" - Used to describe an ambiguous statement.

 - "Patient zero" - The first person identified to be infected in a disease outbreak.

Coinage differs from other word formation processes like derivation or compounding
which build new words using existing word parts/morphemes. It purely invents words out of
necessity. Many new coined words enter common usage every year as our vocabulary needs
evolve over time.

❖ Borrowing
All languages need to continually expand their vocabulary over time. One way is
through lexical borrowing.

Lexical borrowing involves taking words directly from other languages and
adopting them into the vocabulary. English has incorporated many borrowed words from
other languages through its history. Some examples:

- "Croissant" from French

- "Dope" from Dutch

- "Piano" from Italian

- "Yogurt" from Turkish

- "Zebra" from Bantu

- "Robot" from Czech

- "Shampoo" from Hindi

These words have been fully integrated or assimilated into English pronunciation
and grammar rules over the years. We no longer think of them as foreign words, but they
originated from other languages through the lexical borrowing process.

❖ Eponyms
Eponyms are words formed from people's proper names. This helps memorialize
important figures by associating their name with things they contributed.

Some examples of eponyms include:

 - Animals/plants named after scientists - Like "Darwin's finches"

- Inventions named after inventors - Like “Algorithm – Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-
Khwārizmī

- Tactics/activities named after people - Like "boycott" from Captain Boycott

- Places named after important people - Like "Washington" for George Washington

Using people's names helps attach significance and gives credit where credit is due.
It strengthens the connection between the person and their contribution to science,
technology or society. So eponyms serve to honor individuals by associating their name
permanently with what they helped create or discover.

Practice

7.1. Activities about morphological processes

Activity 1: Indicate prefixes and suffixes in the given words:
1) implant (V) 9) controllable (Adj)

2) verbal (Adj) 10) preschooler (N)

3) thoughtful (Adj) 11) reschedule (V)

4) slowly (Adv) 12) thirsty (Adj)

5) co-star (N) 13) stuffing (N)

6) cookie(N) 14) disobey (V)

7) cooker (N) 15) underground (N)

8) cookery (N) 16) uncontrollable (Adj)

Adopted from Masaitiené, D. (2009, p. 20)

Activity 2: Say whether the words in the given sets are related to one
another by theprocess of inflection or derivation.

1) girl, girls, girl’s, girls’

2) play, plays, played, playing
3) play, playful, player, playable
4) nice, nicer, nicest
 5) friend, friendly, friendless, friendship
Adopted from Masaitiené, D. (2009, p.22)

Activity 3: The words in Column B have been created from the

corresponding word in Column A. Say what type of word formation
(morphological process) has been usedin each case.
Column A Column B

Govern Government

international, police Interpol

Babysitter Babysit
foot, step Footstep

Laboratory Lab
Acquired Immune Deficiency AIDS
Syndrome
Influenza Flu
fruit, juice Fruice

Drama Dramatist

The National Health Service NHS

Adapted in Masaitiené, D. (2009, p. 21)

Activity 4: Find 10 known onomatopoeic words in Arabic, French, or

English.
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………

- Assignment:

Part 1: Word Analysis

1. Choose 4 words from your daily life and break down the words into their parts. Explain
what each part means.

Example:
- Word: "unhappy"
 - Analysis: "un-" means "not," "happy" means "feeling joy." So, "unhappy" means "not
feeling joy."

Part 2: Create New Words

2. Invent three new words by combining prefixes, root words, and suffixes. Explain the
process you used and provide the meaning of each new word.
Example:
- New Word 1: "Byelingual"
- Analysis: "bye-" means "farewell," "lingual" related to language." So, "Byelingual"
means “When you speak two languages, and begin forgetting vocabulary in both of them”
- The process used to create the word “Byelingual” is compounding. It is formed by
combining a noun and an adjective. In this case, “bye” (a noun, referring to farewell) and
“lingual” (an adjective, relating to language) are combined to create the word “Byelingual.”

3. Word Application : Use your new words in simple sentences to describe situations or
feelings.

Example:
- Sentence: "It’s been so long in quarantine that I think I am going byelingual.”

Submission Guidelines:

- Type or write your assignment neatly.

- You don't need any external sources.
- Email your assignment to contactprof157@gmail.com
 SYNTAX: A Grammar of Sentences

1. Definition of Syntax
Syntax is the rules for how words are arranged to form phrases, clauses, and sentences in a
language. It is like the framework that holds a sentence together according to rules for how
words, phrases and structures fit. It determines what makes a valid, well-formed sentence.
When we speak our native language, we intuitively know which combinations of words form
grammatically correct sentences and which do not. However, what factors determine the
permissibility of these combinations? How are languages similar or different in constructing
sentences? These are the questions that syntax analysts aim to answer.
2. Syntactic Properties:
- Word order: The order words need to be in to make a grammatical sentence. For example,
in English the typical word order is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO). "The dog barks" not "Barks
dog the".
- Phrases: Words can combine to form phrases like noun phrases (NP) and verb phrases
(VP). A sentence is made of at least a subject NP and a VP. "The sad boy laughed" has NP
"the sad boy" and VP "laughed".
- Parts of speech: A word's category like noun, verb, adjective affects how it fits into a
sentence. Nouns can be subjects, verbs require a subject, adjectives modify nouns.
- Agreement: Parts need to match or agree with each other. Verbs agree with subjects in
things like number (singular/plural). "He runs" but "They run".
- Co-occurrence restrictions: Co-occurrence in syntax means that when we use one word or
expression in a sentence, it requires or necessitates the use of other specific words or
expressions in that same sentence. Put simply, some words or phrases can or must go
together in a sentence. Verbs need a subject. Prepositions require a noun or pronoun to follow.
For example:
- The verb "told" requires both a subject (who told) and an indirect object (who was told) as
well as a direct object (what was told).
a. Sally told Mary she is leaving.
b. *Sally told. (Missing required arguments)

3. Generative Grammar Defined

Inspired by Noam Chomsky’s work Syntactic Structures (1957), linguists developed
generative grammar to determine a set of rules that can generate all possible well-formed
sentences in that language.
Generative grammar aims to describe the grammatical rules of a language in a
mathematically precise way.
We can think of it like an algorithm or formula in math. For example, the rule "x + y" can
generate an infinite number of sums like:

- x = 1, y = 2 => 1 + 2 = 3
- x = 5, y = 3 => 5 + 3 = 8

Similarly, the grammatical rules of a language like "noun + verb + noun" can generate
sentences:
- Noun = dog, Verb = chase, Noun = ball => The dog chased the ball
- Noun = cat, Verb = eat, Noun = fish => The cat ate the fish
Although the grammar has a finite number of rules, it is capable of generating an infinite
number of well-formed structures. This contributes to the productivity of language, allowing
us to create novel yet grammatically accurate sentences.
• Deep Structure Vs. Surface Structure
In generative grammar, sentences have two levels of representation - a deep structure and a
surface structure.
The deep structure refers to the basic semantic roles and relationships between elements in a
sentence, regardless of their surface form. It captures what is commonly meant or understood.
For example, in the active sentence "John broke the vase", the deep structure shows:
Agent (Subject) - John
Action (Verb) - broke
Patient (Object) - the vase
The passive sentence "The vase was broken by John" has the exact same deep structure - it
expresses the same event and roles, just arranged differently on the surface.

The surface structure is the actual phonological and syntactic form of the sentence as it
appears. So the active sentence has surface structure of Subject-Verb-Object order, and the
passive uses Object-Verb-Agent order.
Even though the two sentences seem different on the surface, their deep structures are
identical.
By distinguishing deep and surface levels, generative grammar can account for:
- Differences in voice (active vs passive)
- Question formations
- Paraphrases
- Synonyms

All of which may vary on the surface but share the same core meaning represented in their
deep structures.

• Structural Ambiguity

Structural ambiguity occurs when a sentence has more than one possible deep structure.
The sentence "I saw the man with a telescope " is ambiguous because we can assign two
different semantic roles:
Deep Structure 1:
Agent (I)
Action (saw)
Patient (the man)
Instrument (with a telescope)
➢ Meaning: I used the telescope to see the man.

Deep Structure 2:
Agent (I)
Action (saw)
Patient (a man with a telescope)
➢ Meaning: The man being seen had a telescope.
Both interpretations are valid yet have different assignment of roles.
Another example:
- Ross said that Annie finished her work yesterday.

Generative grammar aims to distinguish these multiple possible deep structures underlying a
single surface form. It reveals the sentence's latent semantic complexity.

The key ideas are that generative grammar:

1) Uses rules to define a language's grammar
2) Can generate an infinite number of sentences
3) Reveals relationships between surface forms and their underlying deep structures
Practice
- In what ways are these expressions structurally ambiguous?
1. The parents of the bride and groom were waiting outside.
……………………………………………………………………………………….………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………
2. We met an English history teacher.
……………………………………………………………………………………….………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………
3. Flying planes can be dangerous.
……………………………………………………………………………………….………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………
4. The students complained to everyone that they could not understand.
……………………………………………………………………………………….………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………….
Adapted from Yule (2006, p. 96)

• Recursion:
Recursion means rules can be applied repeatedly to generate longer and more complex
structures.
For example, the rule “Noun Phrase (NP) -> Prepositional Phrase (PP)” can be used
recursively to add multiple prepositional phrases:
 Sentence: The pen is on the desk.
NP: The pen
PP: on the desk
Sentence: The pen is on the desk near the window.
NP: The pen
PP: on the desk
PP: near the window
We can keep adding more PPs:
Sentence: The pen is on the desk near the window in the office.
This allows generating sentences of unlimited length.

Similarly, embedding rules allow sentences inside other sentences:

Sentence: John said “I lost my pen.”
Sentence: Mary heard that John said “I lost my pen.”

The rules for things like noun phrases, verb phrases can be recursively applied to generate
more complex structures.
This recursion property is important as it explains how humans can produce and understand
an infinite set of sentences from a finite set of rules.

• Transformational grammar rules:

Transformations allow us to derive new sentence structures from an underlying deep structure
while keeping the same meaning.
For example, the deep structure of “Cathy sold the house recently” has the elements:
Subject (NP): Cathy
Verb (V): sold
Object (NP): the house
Adverb (Adv): recently
A transformation rule can move the adverb to the front, giving us “Recently Cathy sold the
house”.
 Cathy sold the house recently. Recently Cathy sold the house.

This changes the surface structure but keeps the same meaning by preserving the deep roles.

Other transformations include question formation. The deep structure of “You will visit
Cathy” is:
Subject (NP): You
Auxiliary verb (Aux): will
Verb phrase (VP): visit Cathy
The question transformation moves the auxiliary to the front:
Aux NP VP → NP Aux VP
Giving us the question “Will you visit Cathy?” on the surface.

We can illustrate this change of sentence structure in terms of the tree on the right below
being derived from the tree on the left.

NP Aux VP Aux NP VP

V NP V NP

You will visit Cathy Will you visit Cathy?

This captures how the same underlying concepts can be rearranged into new sentence types
while maintaining meaning.

• Practice:
- Activity 1: Which of the following active sentences can be transformed into passive
sentences using this rule?

(active) NP1 V NP2 ⇒ NP2 be V-ed by NP1 (passive)

Say what prevents the rule from working in the other cases.
1. The dog chased the cat.
…………………………………………………………………………………
2. Snow White kissed Grumpy.
…………………………………………………………………………………
3. He loves them.
…………………………………………………………………………………
4. Betsy borrowed some money from Christopher.
…………………………………………………………………………………
5. The team played badly.
…………………………………………………………………………………
6. The bank manager laughed.
…………………………………………………………………………………
7. They have two children.
…………………………………………………………………………………
8. The duckling became a swan.
…………………………………………………………………………………
9. Someone mentioned that you played basketball.
…………………………………………………………………………………
10. The police will arrest violent demonstrators.
…………………………………………………………………………………
Adopted from Yule (2006, p.
99)

Activity 2: Say whether these statements are ‘True’ or ‘False’. Correct the wrong ones.
a. The number of sentences produced by each person is finite.
……………………………………………………………………………
b. Transformational rules are employed to derive new English structures.
……………………………………………………………………………

c. All sentences can be generated applying generative grammar rules.

……………………………………………………………………………
d. Transformational rules can be applied with all sentences in English.
……………………………………………………………………………
 Semantics and Pragmatics: Unveiling the Meaning of Language

Linguists assign the study of meaning to semantics and pragmatics.

I. Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. There
are two main areas of semantics:
1. Lexical semantics – This looks at the meanings of individual words. Semanticists
study what words conventionally mean and how their meanings are related. For
example, the meanings of ‘dog’ and ‘cat’ are related since they both refer to animals.

2. Compositional semantics – This examines how the meanings of words combine to

form the meanings of phrases and sentences. Even though we have a limited
vocabulary, we can understand and create an infinite number of sentences.
Compositional semantics investigates how this is possible.

Types of meaning: (Leech’s classification)

For example, the conceptual

Conceptual or Denotative This is the basic or dictionary
meaning of “dog” is a domestic
Meaning definition of a word.
animal with four legs.

This goes beyond the

For example, “dog” may connote
Connotative dictionary definition to
ideas of loyalty, man’s best
Meaning include associations and
friend, etc.
attributes.
This reveals information Dialect words such as ‘finna’ and
Social
about the social context or ‘ain’t’ suggest that the speaker is
Meaning
background of the speaker. likely Black American.

Affective or For instance, ‘home’ may evoke

This conveys the feelings and
Associative Emotive special emotions for a sailor or
attitude of the speaker.
Meaning Meaning expatriate, and ‘freedom’ may
hold significance for a prisoner...

E.g., “poet could not but be gay

When a word has multiple In such jocund company”
Reflected meanings, one meaning can
Daffodils
Meaning influence the other and form
our response to it The word ‘gay’ was frequently
used in the time of William
Wordsworth to mean joyful or
 cheerful, but now it is used for
‘homosexuality’.

Words acquire meaning from

Collocative “Pretty” collocates with
other words they commonly
Meaning girls/flowers, not boys.
appear near

These types of meanings (social, affective, reflective, collocative) are more

open to interpretation compared to the core or conceptual meaning of a word.
They involve hard to measure factors like attitudes, context, and subjective
perspectives. Therefore, their meanings cannot be defined in absolute, binary
terms like “is” or “is not” this meaning.

What is communicated by the

way in which a speaker or
Thematic Meaning writer organizes the massage, “John gave the prize” vs “The
in term of ordering, focus, prize was given by John”
and emphasis. emphasize different details.

❖ In semantics, more attention is paid to a word’s conceptual meaning agreed upon by

language users. But associative meaning stemming from individual interpretations is
also acknowledged. The distinction helps analyze what meaning is universally
conveyed versus what additional connotations different people may mentally connect
to a word.

• Semantic features :
At first glance, sentences may seem grammatically correct but strange in meaning.
For example:
1. The hamburger ate the boy.
This sentence is grammatically correct as it follows the structure subject (NP) + verb (V) +
object (NP).

However, it is semantically odd because hamburgers cannot eat boys. The words "hamburger"
and "boy" have different semantic features.
□ Semantic features refer to basic properties that define the meaning of a word.
We attribute specific characteristics to key elements (noun/pronoun) in a sentence or phrase
and then compare them. The presence of a feature is indicated by a + (plus) sign, while its
absence is denoted by a - (minus) sign. For instance:
- Animacy: +animate (capable of independent action) vs -animate (incapable of independent
action)
- Humanness: +human vs -human
For instance, "Hamburger" is considered -animate since it is an inanimate object incapable of
eating, while "Boy" is +animate because it is a human capable of eating. Other semantic
features include gender (+female, -female), size (big, small), and more, serving to distinguish
one word from another.
• Semantic roles :
In addition to having meanings defined by semantic features, words also take on roles in the
situation or event described by a sentence.
Semantic roles describe what function or part each word plays in the situation or event
depicted by the sentence. This provides more details about word meaning beyond just
semantic features.
For example, in the sentence "The boy painted the wall":
- The verb "painted" describes the action.
- The noun phrases "boy" and "wall" indicate the entities involved in the action.
But they play different roles:
- "boy" is the one performing the action of painting. This is called the Agent role.
- "wall" is the one undergoing the painting. This is called the Patient role.

Other common semantic roles include :

- Experiencer (the one experiencing something)
- Recipient/Goal (receiving something)
- Instrument/Means (using something to do the action).
- Location (where the action happens)
- Source (where movement starts)
A set of semantic roles like Agent, Patient, Experiencer help define the function of each noun
phrase in relation to the verb's meaning.
Practice
1.1. Activities about Semantic Features
Identify the semantic features of these words:
1. (a) widow, mother, sister, aunt, maid
…………………………………………………………………………………
(b) widower, father, brother, uncle, valet
 …………………………………………………………………………………
2. (a) bachelor, paperboy, pope, chief
…………………………………………………………………………………
(b) bull, rooster, drake, ram
…………………………………………………………………………………

1.2. Activities about Semantic Roles

Identify the semantic roles of the following underlined words:
Mary saw a fly on the wall.
……………………………………………………………………………

She borrowed a magazine from George

……………………………………………………………………………
She squashed the bug with the magazine.
……………………………………………………………………………
She handed the magazine back to George.
…………………………………………………………………………………
Adopted from Yule (2006, p. 103)

• Lexical Relations

1. Synonyms: Words that have similar or nearly the same meaning, like answer and
reply. You can usually substitute one for the other without changing the meaning. But
sometimes context matters - reply may not work in "Mary had only one true answer."

2. Antonyms: Words with opposite meanings, like big/small or hot/cold. Antonyms can
be divided into two types: gradable and non-gradable.
Gradable antonyms can be compared, like older/younger. Non-gradable can't be, like
alive/dead.

3. Hyponyms: A type of word included under a broader category, like tomato is a type of
vegetable. Specific hyponyms of more general words.
4. Homophones: Words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings,
like bear/bare, meet/meat, week/weak.

5. Homonyms: Words that are spelled/sound the same but have unrelated meanings, like
the word ‘bank’ can mean either the side of a river or a financial institution.
Other examples:
 Pupil (at school) – pupil (dark circle in the eye)
Race (contest of speed) – race (ethnic group)

6. Polysemy: Words with multiple related meanings.

7. Metonymy: Using a related word to represent something, like saying "the White
House" to refer to the US President or Administration.

8. Collocation: Words that commonly occur together like hammer and nail, or pepper
and salt. Our knowledge of words includes what they collocate with.

2. Practice: Activities about Lexical Relations

I. In what way is each of the following pairs of words related? In cases of
antonymy, tell what kind of antonymy it is.
a. shallow deep ………………………………………………………………
b. apple banana……………………………………………………………
c. suite sweet………………………………………………………………
d. table furniture……………………………………………………………
e. unmarried married………………………………………………………...
f. study studying……………………………………………………………
g. sofa couch………………………………………………………………
h. green blue……………………………………………………………….
i. punch touch……………………………………………………………….

II. Propose a hyponym for each of the following words:

a. appliance…………………………………………………………………….
b. musical instrument…………………………………………………………
c. furniture……………………………………………………………………...
d. fish……………………………………………………………………...
 Adapted in Dawson & Phelan (2016, p.427-428)

III. Are these underlined words best described as examples of polysemy or

metonymy?
a) The pen is mightier than the sword.
………………………………………………………………………………….
b) I had to park on the shoulder of the road.
………………………………………………………………………………….
c) Yes, I love those. I ate a whole box on Sunday!
………………………………………………………………………………….
d) The bookstore has some new titles in linguistics.
………………………………………………………………………………….
e) Computer chips created an important new
technology.
………………………………………………………………………………….
Adapted in Yule (2006, p. 109)

IV. Identify the type of metonymy in the following phrases and give their
equivalents in Arabic or French if any.
1. Downing Street protested.
…………………………………………………………………………………
2. Asking someone a hand.
…………………………………………………………………………………
3. Asking for her hand.
…………………………………………………………………………………
4. Boiling a kettle.
…………………………………………………………………………………
5. Answering the door/the phone.
…………………………………………………………………………………
6. Needing some wheels.
…………………………………………………………………………………
7. The house fell down.
…………………………………………………………………………………

II. Pragmatics is the study of meaning beyond just words.

 a. It looks at what people really mean when they communicate, not just the
literal definition of the words.

For example, if someone says “It is cold in here” they may really mean “Please close
the window” or “It is so boring in here” even though they did not say that directly.
Pragmatics helps us understand implied meanings.

b. Pragmatics considers the context of communication. Things like who is

speaking, where they are, their relationship, the situation all provide context
that affects meaning.

For example, if a teacher says to a student “See me after class” it has a very different
meaning than if a friend says it. The context gives it implied meaning.

c. Pragmatics recognizes that we communicate much more than just what is said
verbally. Things like tone of voice, body language, cultural assumptions all
convey additional meaning.
 For example, in a conversation between two friends, one may just say “Really?” but
their tone and facial expression could imply they do not believe what was said without
stating it directly.

d. Pragmatics understands that how much we need to explain depends on our

closeness to the listener. With close friends/family less needs to be said as
shared history fills in gaps.

For example, close friends may only need to say “Want to come over?” but with
distant acquaintances more details would be needed like “Want to come over to watch
the game?”

• Pragmatics Vs. Semantics

The study of meaning

Semantics Pragmatics

▪ Context-detached ▪ Context-dependent aspects

(decontextualized) of meaning

Semantics only looks at the dictionary/surface level definition of words. Pragmatics analyzes
how context shapes intended meaning. In this sense, pragmatics goes beyond literal meaning
and considers how meaning is constructed, implied by the speaker and inferred by the hearer.
To sum up, semantics is concerned with:
✓ The meaning of the words, phrases, and sentences divorced from the context.
✓ It also refers to the multiple meanings of words as well and the semantic
relations existing between words.

Pragmatics is concerned with four areas:

i) Pragmatics is the study of the speaker’s meaning.

ii) Pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning.

iii) Pragmatics is the study of how more gets communicated than is said.

vi) Pragmatics is the study of the expression of relative distance.

With idioms like “break a leg”, semantics alone does not make sense, but pragmatics
helps us understand it as wishing someone “good luck” in a performance even though
the actual words are about breaking bones! Context is significant.
 • Pragmatic Competence
Pragmatic competence is defined as the ability to use language effectively in order to achieve
a specific purpose and to understand language in context.
It is the speaker’s ability to understand and implement unwritten social and contextual rules
of communication,

Some components that make the speaker’s pragmatic competence are depicted in the
following diagram:

Figure 1: Components of Pragmatic Competence

Pragmatic competence has two parts:

1. Pragmalinguistic competence – Knowing common phrases used for things

like greetings, requests, complaints, etc. In a language. For example, knowing
to say “Can you please pass the salt?” instead of just “Pass salt.”
2. Sociopragmatic competence – Understanding what is socially and culturally
appropriate when communicating. It includes knowing the unwritten rules and
expectations of how language should be used in different social contexts.
Even if you know grammar rules, you may not have pragmatic competence. There are two
types of pragmatic failures:

I. Pragmalinguistic failure – Happens when the structure of your first language (L1)
is different than the target language (L2). This type of failure affects communication
and the intended meaning. For example, a second language learner might
unintentionally come across as impolite because they use a direct response instead of
the expected polite expressions.
Example 1:
A: I’ve got some sandwiches ready for you here. I hope it’ll be enough. (native speaker)
B: Yes, it will be enough. (second language learner)

In this example, B’s response may seem impolite to A. In this situation, B should have used
expressions like “thank you, how sweet” or “thank you, how thoughtful” to show gratitude.

Example 2:
A: Is it a good restaurant? (native speaker of English)
B: Of course. (Russian speaker of English)

Learners of English as a second or foreign language often use “of course” to mean “yes, it
is.” However, in this context, it may sound impolite or insulting to a native English speaker as
it implies “what a stupid question.”

Example 3:
A: Thanks a lot. That’s a great help.
B: Never mind.
While “never mind” is an appropriate response when someone says “sorry” to you, it is not
appropriate when someone says “thank you.” The correct response in this context would be
“you’re welcome.”

Example 4:
Teacher: Can you answer my question, Tom?
Student: Yes.
In this example, the teacher clearly expects Tom to answer the question. However, Tom
mistakenly interprets it as a question rather than a request.

II. Sociopragmatic failure – Happens when the social norms of your L1 differ from
the L2. This type of failure involves breaking social norms and can lead to
inappropriate language use.
For example, not following conventional greetings or responses in social interactions can be
seen as impolite or unconventional.
Example:
When meeting someone for the first time, it is customary to introduce oneself and then ask
how the other person is doing. The expected response is usually something like “I am fine,
thanks!” It would be considered impolite and unconventional if the person being asked
complains or argues instead.
 AN INTRODUCTION TO DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

1. Introduction:
Discourse analysis is a research method used in various fields like linguistics, sociology,
anthropology, psychology, and cultural studies. It helps us understand how language is used
in real-life situations.

2. Definition of Discourse:
Discourse can be understood in three ways:

a. It refers to language beyond individual sentences or clauses. It is a continuous stretch of

spoken or written language that forms a coherent unit.

b. It is language in use, where a stretch of language is considered meaningful, unified, and

purposeful.

c. Discourse is seen as a social practice influenced by social structures.

3. Discourse Analysis Defined:

Discourse analysis is a subfield of linguistics that examines how sentences and utterances
come together to form texts and interactions, and how these texts and interactions fit into our
social world. It involves looking at language based on four main assumptions:

1. Language is ambiguous, and understanding meaning requires interpretation.

2. Language is context-dependent, and its meaning is influenced by where and when it is used
and its purpose.

3. Language use is connected to our social identity and group affiliations.

4. Language is not used in isolation but is combined with nonverbal cues (tone of voice,
facial expressions, gestures) in spoken language and visual elements (fonts, layout, graphics)
in written texts.

For example, a discourse analyst might study:

- A political speech, to see how the politician uses language to influence the audience.
 - A doctor-patient conversation, to understand how doctors explain medical issues to
patients.
- Advertisements, to examine how language and images are used to sell products.
4. Advantages of Discourse Analysis:

Discourse analysis:

- Helps us interpret ambiguous language by looking at context.

- Shows how language and society influence each other.

- Provides insight into human relationships and interactions.

- Reveals how power is negotiated through discourse.

- Can improve communication skills by increasing language awareness.

4. Types of discourses:

• Written Discourse
- Text is anything written that conveys meaning, like a sentence, paragraph, or full work.

- Texture is what makes a group of words a coherent text rather than just a random
collection. It’s the relationships between choices of words and structures.

- Two key features make a text meaningful:

1. Intrinsic language features like grammar and word choice.

For example, using the past tense conveys a different meaning than present tense.

2. Relationships between the language choices.

For example, switching from past to present tense signifies a change in time frame.

➢ Components of a text:
- Cohesion refers to connections between words and sentences that make a unified text.

For example, using transition words like "however" and "therefore" to link ideas.

Coherence refers to the overall organization and understandability of a text.

For example, logical flow of information aids coherence.

- Intertextuality: References a text makes to other texts the reader may know, like allusions
or borrowing ideas.

➢ Social functions of texts:

- Genre is a type of text, like an email, memo, or novel. Each has a social purpose understood
by its community.

- Genre analysis examines how language works in different text types.

For example, analyzing persuasive strategies in a political speech.

- Genres have conventions like format that authors follow but also allow creativity within
limits.

For example, lab reports have a standard format.

So in summary, written discourse refers to meaningful texts, which rely on cohesion,

coherence, and intertextuality to serve social functions. Genre analysis studies patterns in
different text types.

• Spoken discourse
It includes:

- Conversations like phone calls

- Broadcast media like TV and movies

- Chat platforms like instant messages

➢ Differences from written discourse:

Speech is more interactive:

- It allows for back-and-forth conversation between speakers in real time.

Speech is more transient/spontaneous:

- It’s created on the spot without much planning or chance for editing.

- Unlike written texts that can be referenced later, speech exists in the moment.

Speech genres are less planned:

- Most casual conversations are improvised rather than following set formats.

- Formal speeches or lectures are exceptions that are prepared in advance.

Speech is less explicit:

- It relies more on shared context/understanding between speakers that isn’t spelled out.

- Writing has to make everything clear for any potential reader.

Speech has a physical context:

- It happens in the real world surroundings where speakers interact face-to-face.

- This shared environment contributes to meaning in a way writing lacks.

4. Discourse and Ideology:

Ideology: A set of beliefs, assumptions and values about what is normal, good, bad, right and
wrong in a society.

How texts promote ideology:

1. Words used to create a certain version of reality

2. Relationships constructed between author and readers

3. How other people's words are represented

4. Reinforcing larger belief systems in that society

➢ Functions of speaker’s language: (Halliday, 1994)

1. Ideational - Representing the world

2. Interpersonal - Creating relationships

3. Textual - Organizing ideas coherently

According to Halliday, these language functions shape the ideology conveyed.

5. Conversational strategies:
They are the methods we use to engage in the former negotiations (debating, commiserating,
counseling, etc). There are two main types:

Face strategies - Showing social relationships through closeness/distance:

- Involvement strategies use first names, informal language to be close

- Independence strategies use titles, formal language to maintain distance

Framing strategies – These have more to do with showing what we are doing in the
conversation, whether we are, for example, arguing, teasing, or gossiping.

Discourse Analysis and Pragmatics:

The main differences between pragmatics and discourse analysis are:

Pragmatics Discourse Analysis

- Focuses on how context contributes to - Looks at larger chunks of language

meaning in language. above the sentence level.
 - Examines how listeners infer meaning - Examines extended texts and
from ambiguities, implications, etc. conversations rather than isolated
utterances.

- Studies how extra-linguistic factors - Explores the relationships between

like social distance or power affect language and social/cultural
speech. contexts.

- Analyzes the use of things like - Considers how identity and power
metaphor, irony, and politeness relations are constructed through
strategies. discourse.

- Looks at patterns of language

- Deals with language at the level of across texts and interactions.
utterances or short exchanges.
- Can incorporate pragmatics, but has
a wider scope.

In summary:

- Pragmatics provides micro-level tools to study meaning in context.

- Discourse analysis uses these tools but focuses on macro-level patterns in texts and
talk.
- Pragmatics may analyze a greeting; discourse analysis would study dialogue.
- Pragmatics examines one utterance; discourse analysis looks at sequences of
utterances.

So discourse analysis encompasses pragmatics but also includes the broader study of
discourse in societal contexts.