Linguistics HW
Linguistics HW
Linguistics HW
1. Identify the thematic role(s) of each of the underlined expressions in the following
sentences. Note any dual roles.
Location: where it is
agent - theme
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agent - theme - location - goal
experiencer - theme
agent - theme
agent/theme - experiencer
agent - theme
agent - theme
agent - theme
2
agent - theme/location - theme
agent - theme
2. For the following words, list as many synonyms as you can think of and discuss the
connotations that these synonyms have.
(a) frugal
3. Fill in the columns below with the appropriate synonym. In each case, the word in
column A is of English origin and the word in column B is of French or Latin origin.
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Can you make a general statement about the connotations of the words in columns A
and B?
A B
feed nourish
hide conceal
folk people
begin commence
help aid/assist
work labor
sight vision
middle center
height altitude
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polysemy 'a physician'
(i) spell 'to name or write the order of the letters in a word'
(b) plate, saucer, cup, soup bowl, dish, serving bowl => dish
(d) glance, peep, stare, leer, look (at), view, watch => look at
gradable (có dùng được so sánh, có cấp độ, đùng được với very): big/small, happy/sad
(they aren't happy doesn't mean they are sad)
complementary/binary (phủ định cái này là khẳng định cái kia): dead/alive (they are dead
means they aren't alive)
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conversive/relational: buy/sell, employer/employee (pairs/role reversal in a relationship/ you
can't have one without the other)
(b) This class is better than last year's class. conversive (better><worse)
(e) This plant was sick, but now it's healthy. complementary
7. Name the structural relation expressed by each of the following pairs of words.
quan hệ về nghĩa phải có -my
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8. Among the terms in the following, name the basic level term(s) and the lower-level
terms in each case.
car, hearse, fire engine, jeep, station wagon, van, truck, pick-up truck, tow truck, delivery
van, humvee, semi-trailer truck, diesel bus, flatbed truck, bus, taxi(cab), cement mixer,
tanker truck, sports utility vehicle (SUV), hybrid, dump truck, garbage truck, sports car,
convertible, sedan, coupe, roadster, minivan, school bus, trolley bus, panel truck, camper
van, recreational vehicle (RV)
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Pragmatics Exercises
• Caller: My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart
Physical context: the conversation occurs via phone/ địa điểm xảy ra cuộc đối thoại
General knowledge/information:
Linguistic context: the caller is expressing anger using the word ‘idiot’.
Social context: the conversation between a husband whose wife is pregnant and a
dispatcher at the 911 centre
1. In spatial person deixis, the proximal forms are ‘I’ and ‘you’. The distal forms are ‘he,
she, it’. Each person in a conversation shifts from being ‘I’ to being ‘you’ occasionally
always/constantly.
Person deixis:
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2. “here” is distal form. “there” is promixal form. here and there switch places
Spatial/Place deixis:
+ proximal: here
+ distal: there
3. Location from speaker’s perspective sometimes refers to physical mental location. This
is called deictic projection. (tao đang trên đường đến - tao vẫn đang ngủ ở nhà)
Discourse Deixis:
in the last paragraph/in the next chapter/at this point/in this problem/that's the most
ridiculous excuse/...
4. “to begin with, first, next, in the following paragraph, last but not least” are temporal
discoursal/not temperal deixis.
moment of event - e
moment of utterance - u
Exercise 3: Decide whether the following statements are True (T) or False (F).
2. People only use “then” as a distal form in the past tense. F then can be a distal form in
the future tense
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4. People use temporal social/person deixis with the aim of politeness in communication.
F/T
5. The speaker and listener have to share the same context in order for deixis to be
interpreted correctly. T
4. It (the weather can not be counted as person deixis) is raining out (spatial) now, but I
hope when you read this (discoursal deixis) it will be sunny.
Exercise 6. Matching.
1. Personal Deixis C A. demonstrated by some proximal forms some verbs of motion and
some location from speaker’s perspective
3. Temporal Deixis B C. Demonstrated by the pronouns for first person ‘I’, second person
‘you’, and third person ‘he, she, it, they’
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Exercise 7: What does the speaker of the following utterances presuppose?
=> Other beat the dog and Bob was the least likely to have done so.
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Inference: Grace no longer plays the piano. (suy ra)
=> Sally already had a subcription, and it had run out/expire or was about to expire.
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1. Declararive Interrogative Imperative
You see, whenever there is a direct relationship between the function of a speech
act and its structural form, we have a direct speech act.
When there is no direct relationship between a structure and a form but rather an indirect one,
the speech act is considered indirect.
Declarative Interrogative
request 4. The dishes are not washed yet. - Can you wash the dishes?
5 . I would like you to wash the dishes - Would you mind washing the dishes?
Exercise 9: You want the door to be opened. Make Direct Commands and Indirect
Commands.
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Conversation for Analysis
Jane: (1) Leslie, may I borrow your cell phone to call my mother after we finish lunch?
Leslie: (2) Yes, of course, Jane. (3) And please, do not forget to ask your mother whether you
may go to the movies with us afterwards.
Mary: (6) And the pepper too, please. (7) Thank you.
Leslie: (9) Would both of you mind if I stopped by Marcus bookstore on our way to the movie?
(Do/Would you mind doing sth???) # Is it all right if I do? Would it be all right if I did sth? / May-
Can-Could I do sth?
Mary: (11) I would love to look at their New Book selection. So, I would like to stop there also.
Jane: (12) Would both of you like to go shopping after the movie?
Leslie: (13) Maybe some other time. I need to be home by 5:00 o’clock.
Jane: (15) That would be great./ (16) I need to pick up a gift for my brother. His birthday is on
Sunday next week. What would you recommend, Mary?
Mary: (17) Just a moment please. Let me think. Maybe a fishing pole since he loves fishing?
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Jane: (18) What a clever suggestion! My brother will thank me for the lovely gift. I hope there is
a fishing store in the mall.
Leslie: (19) I ordered too many French fries. Would anybody care for some?
Jane: (27) Mary, did you remember to bring my Harry Potter book?
Mary: (28) Oh, I am sorry. I completely forgot about it. (29) Could you call to remind me again
tonight?
Leslie: (31) If you do not mind, may I borrow the book after you are done with it?
Jane: (32) I promised to let John borrow it after I get it back from Mary. You are welcome to
have it once John is finished. John is a fast reader; he will finish it in no time.
Leslie: (33) I, on the other hand, am a pretty slow reader. How long do you think I may keep it?
Jane: (34) I already read it. So, you may keep it as long as you want. Give it back to me at your
earliest convenience.
Leslie: (35) Thank you, Jane. That will save me some money.
Mary: (36) Are we all done? We should leave now to catch the next show; otherwise, we will be
late.
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Discourse Analysis Exercises
Exercise 1: Identify the types of cohesive devices working in the text. Take examples in
the text to illustrate each type.
Many people often write to me asking how they (anaphoric reference đọc trước) can get out
(antonymy: get into vs get out) of a financial mess. Clearly, it’s better not to get into one
(substitution: one = financial mess) in the first place. A lot (ellipsis - of things) can be learnt
from other people’s mistakes. You may be able to keep our head above water (synonymy:
get out of financial mess) if you can follow these (cataphoric reference được xuôi mới
hiểu) rules.
Never buy a car (reiteration - repetition): Many young people celebrate a first job by rushing
out and buying a brand new (antonymy: slightly older) car. Unless you can negotiate a low
interest or, better still, a no-interest deal on a loan, you can end up paying double (ellipsis - a
loan). Not only will you have heavy monthly repayments but the car will also decrease in
value. It’s simply like tearing up $50 notes. Cars lose most of their values in the first two years,
so think about buying something slightly older so that some else is paying for most of the
depreciation.
Lexical cohesion - association: các cụm khác loại nhưng chỉ cùng một trường nghĩa
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Exercise 2: Analyze this text. Point out the mistakes with grammar and vocabulary which
destroy coherence in the text. Rewrite the text to make better cohesion and coherence
The kangaroo rats are interesting case studies in survival. They live in North American deserts.
They are a member of the rodent family. They are barely two inches high. They have enormous
feet. They can run on shifting sand easily. They have a tufted tail. It furnishes protection against
blowing sand. It is three times as long as they themselves.
Living in the NA deserts, the kangaroo rats, a member of the rodent family, are interesting case
studies in survival. Barely 2 inches height, they have ... feet, which can help them to run on
shifting sand easily. Their tufted tail, which three times ..., furnishing protection against blowing
sand.
They eat only seeds and grasses. It is hard to find seeds and grasses in the areas they inhabit.
They are one of the main foods of other desert carnivores. Desert carnivores include snakes,
owls, coyotes and badgers. The kangaroo rats are always chased and eaten by these animals.
The kangaroo rats are in many respects like them. They have speed. They have craftiness.
Speed and craftiness, at times, enable them to outwit their pursuers.
They eat only seeds and grasses which are scarce in their habitat. They are one of the main
foods of other desert carnivores including snakes, owls, coyotes and badgers. Although the
kangaroo rats are always chased and eaten by these animals, the kangaroo rats are in many
respects like them. Their speed and craftiness, at times, enable them to outwit their pursuers.
Exercise 3: Identify the types and find examples of cohesive devices in the following
report.
Health experts are calling for action to expand cancer care and control in the developing world.
A paper published by the medical journal Lancet says cancer was once thought of mostly as a
problem in the developed world. But it says cancer is now a top cause of death and disability in
poor countries.
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Experts from Harvard University and other organizations urge the international community to
fight cancer aggressively. They say it should be fought the way HIV/AIDS has been fought in
Africa.
Cancer kills more than seven and a half million people a year worldwide. The experts say
almost two-thirds are in low-income and middle-income countries. They say cancer kills more
people in developing countries than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. But they say the
world spends only five percent of its cancer resources in those countries.
Felicia Knaul from the Harvard Medical School was one of the authors of the paper. She was in
Mexico when she was found to have breast cancer. She received treatment there. She says the
experience showed her the sharp divide between the rich and the poor in treating breast cancer.
FELICIA KNAUL: "And we are seeing more and more how this is attacking young women. It's
the number two cause of death in Mexico for women thirty to fifty-four. All over the developing
world, except the poorest-poorest, it’s the number one cancer-related death among young
women. And, I think we have to again say that there is much more we could do about it than we
are doing about it."
Professor Knaul met community health workers during her work in developing countries. She
says they were an important part of efforts to reduce deaths from cervical cancer. They were
able to persuade women to get tested and to get vaccinated against a virus that can cause it.
The experts say cancer care does not have to be costly. For example, patients can be treated
with lower-cost drugs that are off-patent. This means the drugs are no longer legally protected
against being copied.
In another new report, the American Cancer Society says cancer has the highest economic cost
of any cause of death. It caused an estimated nine hundred billion dollars in economic losses
worldwide in two thousand eight. That was one and a half percent of the world economy, and
just losses from early death and disability. The study did not estimate direct medical costs. But it
says the productivity losses are almost twenty percent higher than for the second leading cause
of economic loss, heart disease.
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Conversation for Analysis
1. Describe the context of the conversation.
2. Find examples of deitic expressions in the conversation
3. Find all the adjacency pairs and insertion sequences.
4. Find all the direct and indirect speech acts.
5. Classify the second pair parts as preferred or dispreferred responses.
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Jane and Leslie exists, Lesie has a cell phone, Jane has a mother, they are
having a lunch.
- (3)
+ Direct speech act
+ Presupposition:
Some movies are on.
- (4) and (5)
+ Spatial deixis: here
+ Indirect speech act
+ Presupposition
There is some salt on the table.
- (7) and (8)
+ Direct speech act
+ Preferred response
- (9) and (10)
+ Indirect speech act
Direct: Let’s stop
+ Preferred response (“No” for “would you mind”)
+ Presupposition
Marcus bookstore exists.
- (11)
+ Direct speech act
+ Presupposition: There is a New Book selection at the Marcus bookstore.
+ Discourse deixis: “there” (linguistic context)
- (12) and (13)
+ Indirect speech act
Direct: let’s
+ Dispreferred response
- (14) and (15)
+ Direct speech act
+ Preferred response
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- (16) and (17)
+ Direct speech act
+ Preferred response
+ Presupposition:
Jane has a brother. He has a birthday.
+ Temporal deixis: “next week”
+ Linguistic context: “he”
- (17) and (18) can also be an adjacency pair.
+ Preferred response
- (18)
+ Direct speech act
- (19) and (20)
+ Indirect speech act
Direct: “Have some!”
+ Ellipsis: “some”
+ Temporal deixis: “ordered”
- (21) and (22)
+ Direct speech act
+ Dispreferred response
- (23) and (24)
+ Indirect speech act
Direct: “Have some of my fried rice.”
+ Preferred response
+ Presupposition: Jane has ordered some fried rice.
- (25) and (26)
+ Spatial deixis: “here”
+ Preferred response
- (27) and (28)
+ Direct speech act
+ Dispreferred response
+ Spatial deixis: “bring”
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+ Temporal deixis: “forgot”, “tonight”
+ “it” – linguistic context
- (29) and (30)
+ Indirect speech act
Direct: “Call to remind me.”
+ Preffered response
- (31) and (32)
+ Indirect speech act
Direct: “Please lend me the book.”
+ “the book”, “it”, “he”: linguistic context
+ Dispreferred response
- (33) and (34)
+ Direct speech act
+ Preferred response
+ “it”: linguistic context
+ Direct speech act: “Give it back to me at your earliest convenience.”
- (36) and (37)
+ Direct speech act
+ Preferred response
- (36) and (38)
+ Indirect speech act
Direct: “Let’s go!”
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5. Preferred or dispreferred responses
Jane: (1) Leslie, may I borrow your cell phone to call my mother after we finish lunch?
Leslie: (2) Yes, of course, Jane. (3) And please, do not forget to ask your mother
whether you may go to the movies with us afterwards.
Mary: (4) Jane, could you pass the salt, please?
Jane: (5) Sure, here you are.
Mary: (6) And the pepper too, please. (7) Thank you.
Jane: (8) You are welcome.
Leslie: (9) Would both of you mind if I stopped by Marcus bookstore on our way to the
movie? (Do/Would you mind doing sth???) # Is it all right if I do? Would it be all right if I
did sth? / May-Can-Could I do sth?
Jane: (10) No, not at all.
Mary: (11) I would love to look at their New Book selection. So, I would like to stop
there also.
Jane: (12) Would both of you like to go shopping after the movie?
Leslie: (13) Maybe some other time. I need to be home by 5:00 o’clock.
Mary: (14) I can go with you if you want.
Jane: (15) That would be great./ (16) I need to pick up a gift for my brother. His birthday
is on Sunday next week. What would you recommend, Mary?
Mary: (17) Just a moment please. Let me think. Maybe a fishing pole since he loves
fishing?
Jane: (18) What a clever suggestion! My brother will thank me for the lovely gift. I hope
there is a fishing store in the mall.
Leslie: (19) I ordered too many French fries. Would anybody care for some?
Jane: (20) Yes, I would like some.
Leslie: (21) How about you, Mary?
Mary: (22) No, thank you. I have enough food already.
Jane: (23) Leslie, would you like some of my fried rice?
Leslie: (24) Yes, please. Just a little bit.
Jane: (25) Here you go.
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Leslie: (26) Oh, that is enough! No more, please.
Jane: (27) Mary, did you remember to bring my Harry Potter book?
Mary: (28) Oh, I am sorry. I completely forgot about it. (29) Could you call to remind me
again tonight?
Jane: (30) Certainly.
Leslie: (31) If you do not mind, may I borrow the book after you are done with it?
Jane: (32) I promised to let John borrow it after I get it back from Mary. You are
welcome to have it once John is finished. John is a fast reader; he will finish it in no
time.
Leslie: (33) I, on the other hand, am a pretty slow reader. How long do you think I may
keep it?
Jane: (34) I already read it. So, you may keep it as long as you want. Give it back to me
at your earliest convenience.
Leslie: (35) Thank you, Jane. That will save me some money.
Mary: (36) Are we all done? We should leave now to catch the next show; otherwise,
we will be late.
Leslie: (37) I am ready anytime you are.
Jane: (38) So am I. Shall we go?
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