ENG508 Midterm Subjective by VSC

Midterm Subjective File · ENG508 · CHAPTER 1

Q1. Difference between semantic and pragmatics?

Semantic

Pragmatics

Semantics is the part of linguistics that is concerned with the study of literal, DEcontextualized and grammatical meaning. Pragmatics is the study of meaning as communicated by the speaker and interpreted by the listener. it is the study of the relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent. This includes background knowledge context i.e. people know about each other and the world.

Q2. Difference between sentence and utterances?

Sentence

Utterances

Sentences are linguistic entities and there are semantic facts about any language concerning the meanings of its words and the ways in which they can combine together to give meaning. an utterance is an instance of the production of a sentence or a fragment of a sentence.

the sentence does not. Sentences are abstract linguistic structures; they do not have contexts and they are not produced by speakers or received by hearers. utterance will have spatio-temporal and physical properties

Q3. Explain implicit and explicit meaning?

Answer: explicit: The explicit meaning of a word, phrase, or statement is the straightforward and clear interpretation that can be easily understood without additional context or interpretation. It is the surface-level meaning that is directly conveyed by the words used.

Example: Sentence: " The cat is on the mat."

In this sentence, the explicit meaning is straightforward and clear. It indicates that a cat is located on a mat. There is no hidden or implied message, and the words directly convey the information without the need for interpretation.

Implicit:

Implicit meaning refers to the underlying or implied significance of a word, phrase, or expression that may not be explicitly stated. It involves the unspoken connotations, suggestions, or interpretations that are conveyed indirectly and are often dependent on context, cultural understanding, or shared knowledge. For example, the tone of voice, body language, or cultural references in a conversation can convey implicit meanings that add depth and layers of interpretation beyond the explicit words spoken.

Q4. What is meant by the term “logic” in language?

Answer: Logic is concerned with ways in which ideas relate to each other, can be combined together and can be used to derive other ideas with confidence. Logicians tend not to talk about ‗ideas‘ though; the basic unit of traditional logic is the ‗proposition‘; a significant term in the discussions of meanings in linguistics.

CHAPTER 2

Q1. Describe semantics according to Palmer and saeed?

Answer: Semantics is a technical term used to refer to the study of meanings. The meaning covers a variety of aspects of the language but unfortunately, there is no general consideration to describe it (Palmer, 1997). Modern linguistics includes various meditations regarding the knowledge of linguistics, i.e. how to pronounce the words, construct sentences and meanings (Saeed, 2004)

Q2. How Chomsky define semantic ?

Answer: Chomsky, in particular, has commented on the creativity of the sentence formation. It is one of the generative grammar‘s most important insights that relatively a small number of combination rules allow the speakers to use a finite set of words to create a very large and infinite number of sentences.

Q3. Define semiotic ?

Answer: Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and their interpretation, particularly how meaning is conveyed through various elements such as language, images, sounds, and gestures. It is a field that examines the processes of signification and communication in different forms, exploring how signs and symbols function in conveying meaning within a specific cultural or social context. In semiotics, a "sign" is a basic unit of meaning, and it can take various forms. There are typically three components to a sign:

1. Signifier: This is the physical form of the sign, such as a word, image, sound, or gesture.
2. Signified:This is the concept or idea represented by the signifier. It is the meaning associated with the sign.
3. Referent: In some cases, there might be a real-world object or phenomenon to which the sign refers. This is known as the referent.

Semiotics encompasses both verbal and non-verbal communication, and it is used to analyze how signs and symbols operate in different cultural, social, and linguistic contexts.

Q4. Write down the types of sign?

Answer: Distinction, highlighted by C. S. Peirce, between Icon, Index and Symbol.

• Iconic signs: Signs where the signifier resembles the signified.
• Similarity between a sign and what it represents. e.g., between a picture and its real- life subject.
• Indexical Signs: Signs where the signifier is caused by the signified.

Chapter 3

Q1. What is the difference b/w “reference” and “sense” ?

Reference

Sense

Reference has to do with the relationship which holds between an expression and what that expression stands for on particular occasions of its utterance Sense is a decontextualized meaning, abstracted from innumerable occurrences in texts

reference can be concluded as the meanings of a word in any language which exist in the real world. Sense relates to the complex system of relationships between the linguistic elements themselves.

Q2. Define proposition?

Answer: According to Haung (2014), proposition is a declarative sentence, when uttered to make a statement, that is, to say something true or false, about some state of affairs in the external world. The word proposition has come from philosophy and is the lowest level of language. Propositions are words that exist in the lexicon and have a meaning.

Q3. Describe the literal and non-literal meaning?

Answer: Literal meaning: According to Saeed (2003), Literal Meanings - told by a dictionary of that language are called conventional meanings. These meanings are a description of the word to which it refers to in the real world. These are Instances where the speaker speaks in a neutral, factually accurate way. E.g. ―I am hungry or I am starving.‖ The source of these meanings is a society which gives meaning to the words. These meanings are also called conceptual meaning.

Non-literal meaning:

Non-Literal Meanings are Instances where the speaker deliberately describes something in untrue or impossible terms in order to achieve special effects. For instance, ―I could eat a horse‖ or ―my stomach is screaming for food‖. Non-Literal Meanings are also traditionally called figurative and are described by a host of rhetorical terms including metaphor, irony, metonymy, etc.‖ (Saeed, 2003, p.17). These are associated meaning of the words - symbolic meaning.

Chapter 4

Q1. Write a brief note on meaning? Also point out its types?

Answer: Semantics deals with the study of meaning. The verb ‗mean‘ has multiple meanings/ senses in dictionary. There are several types of meaning, and they can be categorized in various ways based on linguistic, philosophical, or communicative perspectives. Here are some common types of meaning: