Pragmatics Assignment

            Pragmatics Assignment

Question 1: Answer

The following is the list of falsifiable phrases obtained from the grouping provided

1. Women are more concerned with discussing relationships than men are
2. Women spend more time discussing relationships than men do
3. Pauses consistently signal a change in sentence topic
4. The word please is only used in the context of a request
5. Men interrupt more than women do

The following is a list of unfalsifiable phrases obtained from the grouping provided

1. The word but signals a contrast between the meanings of the conjuncts
2. The word and serves at least three distinctive functions in discourse
3. Speakers use the word please to be polite
4. Men and women use language differently.
5. On average, a group of women will spend more time discussing relationships than a group of men will

Falsifiable and unfalsifiable are grouped according to their ability to be contradicted, questioned, or doubted. Falsifiable claims usually contain statements that cannot be issued typically. These claims are generally correct and uncontradictable. Unfalsifiable claims, on the other hand, are claims that can be questioned, contradicted, and doubted. These statements can be made falsifiable by adding repositions or phrases to them to be questionable and doubtable.

Question 2: Answer

In linguistic studies, homonyms are referred to words that possess the same sound and similar spelling but do not share the same meaning. These words often look identical and sound similar. A homophone is a term used to refer to words that sound the same but contain different structures in terms of spellings. These words also do not have the same meaning. Hyponyms are phrases that tend to have a definite purpose compared to their subordinate counterparts. They are joining words and are used to bind two terms of the same nature together. For the problem presented in this question, it is safe to conclude that homonyms can be said to be hyponyms of homophones.

Question 3: Answer

Complementary antonyms

1. Brother/sister
2. Single/married
3. Uncle/aunt
4. True/false
5. Male/female

Gradable antonyms

1. Top/bottom
2. Rich/poor
3. Comfortable/uncomfortable

Synonyms

1. Magazine/journal
2. Hide/conceal

None of the above

1. Sister/sibling
2. Book/magazine

Gradable antonyms are known to possess two extreme ends: at one point, there is an extremely low likelihood. In contrast, on the opposite side, there is the likelihood of an extremely high likelihood (Birner 2012). The extreme ends can be measured and an explanation made towards the same. Complementary antonyms, on the other hand, are simply the direct opposite of items. They are in general form, and to make them gradable units must be added to them.

Question 4: Answer

Homonymy is a scenario that occurs in syntax studies whereby homophones and homonyms exist in a given phrase or sentence. Homophones can be used with homonyms in a sentence to refer to the same thing in different contexts. However, one requires linguistic knowledge to incorporate the two in a sentence and create meaning correctly. Polysemy is whereby a word possesses two or more meanings in a sentence. These words have the same pronunciation and spelling but refer to different contexts. Syntactic structuring is the combination of linguistic units following the required principles to come up with a phrase or sentence. Groucho uses polysemy in the word “flies” to indicate two meanings. Flies the action or as a verb and flies the noun. He also uses homonymy and syntactic structuring to come up with his sentence.

Question 5: Answer

Lexical ambiguity is usually termed as a writing error whereby a given word possesses more than one meaning. The error is either created deliberately by the composer or unknowingly. Structural ambiguity, on the other hand, is a situation whereby the given word possesses the possibility to have two meanings due to the nature of its structure. Structural ambiguity is not regarded as a writer’s mistake but more associated with the nature of its formation. In our case, unbuttonable is an example of structural ambiguity since the structure of the word makes it able to have more than one meaning.

Question 6: Answer

Natural

1. The stern teachers look means trouble- it is natural for one to have a stern look when angry thus indicating trouble
2. A red light means stop- it is natural for red lights to indicate stop
3. Smoke means fire- Normally, smoke is an indication of fire

Unnatural

1. In German, Tisch means table- Tisch means a desk in German, not a table
2. When I yawn, it usually means I’m bored- one yawn because either they are hungry or sleepy
3. When I yawn, it means I want you to finish your drink so we can leave- it is unnatural for one to yawn due to other reasons except indicating hunger or tiredness
4. That broken vase means trouble- a broken vase does not necessarily indicate trouble
5. That light on the computer means its battery is charging- some laptop do not have lights while charging hence the statement is not natural

Natural and unnatural phrases or situation identification can be said to be an easy task. However, some of the sentences proved hard to group, such as ‘that computer light on the computer means its battery is charging’ and ‘when I yawn, it usually means in bored.’

Question 7: Answer

1. It was more than she could bear

The angry bear attacked the man

2. Please bring me the food
3. The haunted house had ghosts
4. You can’t box the boxed

Question 8: Answer

1. Yesterday I saw a spider; I chased a spider with the baseball bat (?)
2. Spider I saw with bat baseball (#)
3. Sarah sped slowly down the stairs (*)
4. I saw a gorgeous jacket yesterday; in a store was the jacket (#)
5. My brother is the tallest woman I know (*)
6. I got 100 percent on the last test; nonetheless, it was a passing grade (?)

No significant challenges were incurred except for the fact that differentiating anomalous and grammatically incorrect sentences seemed challenging.

Reference

Birner, B. J. (2012). Introduction to pragmatics (Vol. 38). John Wiley & Sons.