Lesson - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Lesson

1

Language

is

a

type

of

behaviour

(

behavior

USA)

Language

is

a state of

mind

Language

is

communicationSlide2

Language

is

a

type

of

behaviour

Influence

of the

disciplines

of

anthropology

and

psychology

.

Inductive

scientific

approach

based

on

empirical

research

and

drawing

conclusions

from the data

obtained

. "The

only

useful

generalizations

about

language

are

inductive

generalizations

." Leonard

Bloomfield

, 1935: 20.

Linguists

inspired

by

behaviourism

are

interested

only

in

what

can be

directly

observed

, i.e.

actual

use of

spoken

or

written

language

.

T

hey

do

not

speculate on

what

is

in a

person's

mind

.Slide3

Mike and Angela are

walking

along

the

High

S

treet

. Angela

stops

outside

a

jeweller's

shop.

Her

eyes

light up.

She

stoops

to look

carefully

at

a

very

beautiful

necklace

.

She

makes

some

sounds

.

Mike

goes

into

the shop and

buys

the

bracelet

. He

gives

it

to Angela.

She

smiles

and

kisses

him

.

Behaviourist

linguists

do

not

just

study

the

language

produced

,

but

also

the

context

before

something

is

said

and the

result

of the

utterance

.

For

Bloomfield

it

is

possible

"to

explain

speech

in

terms

of

what

prompted

it

and

what

consequences

followed

from

it

."

Chapman

, 2006: 30.Slide4

Verbal

Behavior

(1957), by B.F.

Skinner

.

STIMULUS RESPONSE

REINFORCEMENT

Note

the training of

circus

animals

to

perform

tricks

. Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) and

his

work on

conditioned

reflexes

.

Emotions

should

not

be

considered

in

empirical

research

because

they

cannot

be

observed

.

Physical

symptoms

, on the

other

hand

,

should

be

observed

and

noted

.

Therefore

, a

red

face

is

a

legitimate

datum

but

speculation

about

someone's

mood (anger,

embarrassment

etc.)

is

not

.

In

our

story,

Angela's

eyes

light up. The

sounds

she

makes

produce a

favourable

response

.

This

will

reinforce

her

verbal

behaviour

, i.e.

will

encourage

her

to

make

similar

sounds

the

next

time

she

sees

something

she

would

like

to

have

.Slide5

"[...]

there

is

no

justification

for

collating

linguistic

meanings

,

unless

in

terms

of

men's

dispositions

to

respond

overtly

to

socially

observable

stimulations

." (W.V.O. Quine, 1960: ix

)

"The

only

way in

which

it

is

possible

to talk

about

the

meaning

of

any

word or

phrase

is

to

describe

the

types

of

stimuli

that

typically

prompt

speakers to produce

it

in

context

." (

Chapman

, 2006: 33)

The

meaning

of the

utterance

"I

would

love to

have

that

beautiful

necklace

"

should

not

be

considered

without

reference

to the

stimulus

of

Angela's

seeing

it

displayed

in the shop

window

.

Meaning

does

not

exist

independently

of

individual

instances

of

verbal

behaviour

(

Quine’s

semantic

scepticism

).Slide6

Implications

for

translation

:

Quine's

principle

of the

indeterminacy

of

translation

.

We

cannot

translate

meanings

because

independent

meanings

do

not

exist

.

Instead

we

have

to

translate

the

verbal

behaviours

of

two

language

communities

(i.e.

how

, in

specific

contexts

,

people

respond

to

stimuli

and

reinforce

the

responses

of

others

). Slide7

Implications

for

theories

of

language

acquisition

and

learning

.

"

[...]

when

learning

a

language

,

whether

a first

language

or a

second

or

subsequent

language

, a

speaker's

task

is

to

learn

to

behave

verbally

in the

same

way

as

the

other

speakers of

that

language

. The

speaker's

success in

learning

the

language

can be

judged

in

terms

of the

extent

to

which

he or

she

has

developed

the

dispositions

to

respond

to

stimuli

and to

reinforce

the

responses

of

others

in the

same

way

as

other

speakers of the

language

.

"

Chapman

2006: 34

Your

views

please

?Slide8

Today

certain

aspects

of "hard"

behaviourism

-

such

as

the

refusal

to

consider

non-

observable

mental

processes

-

have

been

discredited

.

However

,

its

influence

lives

on in the work of

integrationist

linguists

,

who

believe

that

language

cannot

be

considered

separately

from

other

aspects

of human

behaviour

.

"[the

integrationist

approach

]

sees

language

as

manifested

in a

complex

of human

abilities

and

activities

that

are

all

integrated

in social

interaction

,

often

intricately

so and in

such

a

manner

that

it

makes

little

sense

to segregate the

linguistic

from the non-

linguistic

components

."

Roy

Harris, 1998: 6Slide9

Language

is

a state of

mind

Chomskyan

linguistics

. Noam

Chomsky's

focus

is

on

what

is

in the

mind

(

anathema

to

behaviourists

because

the

mind

cannot

be

directly

observed

). For NC

language

use

is

free,

independent

of

stimuli

in the

environment

,

spontaneous

and

often

creative. Language

is

not

even

primarily

concerned

with

communication

. "For Chomsky

language

exists

first and

foremost

in the

mind

and

is

used

above

all

in

thought

and

expressing

our

ideas

to

ourselves

.

While

the

same

system

is

also

used

to express

ideas

to

other

people

and

communicate

with

them

,

this

is

not

its

primary

or

most

frequent

function

."

Chapman

, 2006: 41.

When

Robinson

Crusoe

was

alone on

his

desert

island

he

had

no

one

to

communicate

with or to

provide

stimuli

,

but

he

was

still

using

language

in

his

thoughts

.Slide10

Language must

provide

"finite

means

but

infinite

possibilities

of

expression

" Chomsky, 1966: 29.

We

have

a finite

number

of

words

and

structures

but

there

is

no

limit

to the ways

we

can combine

them

to produce

novel

utterances

.

Behaviourism

implies

a

collection

of

socially

appropriate

responses

to

certain

stimuli

,

therefore

a

lack

of

creativity

. For Chomsky

we

are

all

capable

of

producing

a

sentence

that

has

never

been

said

before

in the

history

of the human

species

.

Twenty-seven

dead

kangaroos

held

a meeting on an iceberg to

discuss

changes

to the

philosophy

and

female

rugby

programme

at

the

University

of Quartucciu

.

Is

this

sentence

grammatically

correct

?Slide11

Language

is

rule-based

.

Our

implicit

knowledge

of the

rules

of

our

native

language

allow

us

to

make

judgements

about

grammaticality

.

Held

changes

an

programme

female

to

philosophy

kangaroos

Quartucciu

discuss

on

meeting

Invisible

the and rugby of

female

to iceberg

dead

University

twenty-seven

a.

Behaviourism

stresses

imitation

.

Mentalism

(

Chomskyan

linguistics

)

stresses

creativity

.

Mentalist

researchers

take

their

data

only

from the

judgements

and

intuitions

of native speakers.

Implicit

knowledge

vs

explicit

knowledge

.Slide12

Universal

Grammar

(UG). For Chomsky the

essential

rules

are

universal

to

all

languages

.

All

languages

consist

of

nouns

,

verbs

and

adjectives

.

All

sound

systems

consist

of

consonants

and

vowels

.

Individual

languages

permit

different

ways of

combining

these

components

but

according

to the

theory

of UG the

variations

occur

within

certain

parameters

.

For

Chomsky

an

extra-

terrestrial

being

visiting

our

planet

would

conclude

that

all

earthlings

speak

essentially

the

same

language

.

Note

that

the

technical

terminology

of

grammatical

description

is

very

easy to

translate

from

one

language

to

another

.Slide13

The Innate

Hypothesis

(IH).

We

are

born

with the

rules

of UG;

they

are part of

our

genetic

endowment

.

This

would

explain

why

we

all

learn

our

native

language

perfectly

and

quickly

(

typically

in

about

four

years

).

So

why

doesn't

UG

allow

us

to

learn

a

second

language

just

as

easily

?

It

is

possible

that

it

disappears

after

it

has

done

its

job of

allowing

us

to

acquire

our

mother

tongue

, so

we

have

to

learn

a

second

language

in

other

ways and

generally

do

not

do so 100%

successfully

.

Babies

brought

up with

two

languages

acquire

both

with no

difficulty

.

After

a

certain

age

,

learning

becomes

much

harder

. The case of the

feral

child

Genie.

BUT

: the

phenomenon

of

hyperpolyglots

- Donald

Kenrick

speaks

70

languages

.Slide14

"Language

is

not

defined

by the

circumstances

in

which

it

is

used

or the

communicative

purposes

to

which

it

is

put.

It

is

manifest

not

primarily

in

speech

or

writing

but

in

thought

."

Chapman

, 2006: 44.

language

use of

language

'

competence

' 'performance'

'I-

language

'

'

E-

language

'

(I =

internalized

)

(E =

externalized

)

Mentalists

focus

their

research

on

competence

. For

them

, performance

is

not

language

.

What

are the

factors

that

can

affect

performance?Slide15

Chomsky's

'

transformational

-generative

grammar

'.

'

deep

structure

' and '

surface

structure

'

John

is

easy to

please

.

John

is

eager

to

please

.

NP VP

AdjP

John

is

easy to

please

John

is

eager

to

please

Deep

structure

: in the first

sentence

John

is

the

unstated

object

of 'to

please

' (

It

is

easy to

please

John); in the

second

sentence

John

is

the

unstated

subject

of 'to

please

' (John

pleases

others

and he

does

so

eagerly

)

.

Our

knowledge

of

deep

structure

in

unconscious

and

is

part of a native

speaker’s

I-

language

/

competence

.Slide16

Further

evidence

of

deep

structure

is

provided

by

our

ability

to

recognize

ambiguity

.

Flying

planes

can be

dangerous

. (Chomsky, 1966)

What

disturbed

John

was

being

disregarded

by

everyone

. (Ibid.

)

Can

you

say

why

these

sentences

are

ambiguous

?Slide17

Criticism

of the

mentalists

Chomsky

imagines

an

ideal

speaker-

listener

in a

completely

homogenous

speech

-community

whose

judgements

and

intuitions

are

infallible

.

This

is

not

the

real

world.

His

work

is

not

the

result

of

empirical

research

based

on

observation

.

Speculations

upon

what

is

in the

mind

is

little

more

than

an

act

of

faith

.

It

is

wrong

to

give

so

little

attention

to

language

as

communication

and to

ignore

performance.Slide18

In

defence

of

Chomsky

There

is

no

proof

that

UG or the IH

exist

but

also

no

evidence

to

disprove

either

claim

.

There

have

been

no

recorded

cases

of

children

with

normal

brains and with

normal

exposure

to

language

failing

to

learn

their

mother

tongue

.

Chomsky's

work

has

led to

important

insights

in

how

first and

second

languages

are

acquired

.Slide19

Language

is

communication

Some

linguists

believe

it

is

futile to

distinguish

between

language

(

competence

) and use of

language

(performance).

Quite

simply

,

language

is

a

form

of

communication

.

Unlike

the

behaviourists

,

these

linguists

do

not

exclude

non-

observable

(i.e. cognitive)

behaviour

from

consideration

.

But

they

also

firmly

reject

the

Chomskyan

idea

that

the

main

function

of

language

is

to

allow

us

to

organise

our

thoughts

,

while

communication

with

others

is

a

secondary

and

less

important

function

.Slide20
Slide21

William

Labov

,

widely

considered

the

father

of

sociolinguistics

,

wrote

. "[...]

either

our

theories

are

about

the

language

that

ordinary

people

use on the

street

,

arguing

with friends, or

at

home

blaming

their

children

, or

they

are

about

very

little

indeed

."

Sociolinguists

reject

the

Chomskyan

idea

that

linguists

should

only

study

competence

and the

intuitions

of native speakers. On the

contrary

,

they

focus

entirely

on performance,

including

the

contextual

and cultural

conditions

that

influence

linguistic

production. For

example

,

sociolinguists

study

such

matters

as

politeness

and

pronunciation

,

both

related

to

factors

like

social

class

.

Emphasis

on

authentic

material

, e.g.

recordings

of

people

talking

in

real

communicative

events

.

Observation

,

not

intuition

.

n.b.

the

observer's

paradox

+ the

ethical

problem

of clandestine

recording

.

Service

encounters

.Slide22

More

things

that

sociolinguists

study

but

which

Chomsky

considers

unworthy

of

investigation

:

language

and gender

dialects

bilingualism

and diglossia

accommodation

and audience design

pidgins

and

creoles

language

and

identitySlide23

A hard

attack

on Chomsky

"[

Chomsky's

theory

]

is

entirely

based

on the

theoretical

model of the '

ideal

' speaker-

listener

in an (

imaginary

)

completely

homogenous

speech

community, of a

kind

which

we

all

know

exists

nowhere

,

but

which

is

conjured

up in

order

to

develop

rules

about

the

supposed

'

underlying

'

grammar

which

every

speaker

possesses

."

John

Honey

(1997: 45),

Language

is

Power

(

London

,

Faber

&

Faber

)

.

What

is

the

effect

of

using

inverted

commas

for '

ideal

' and '

underlying

'?

Why

is

the word

imaginary

in

brackets

?

Comment

on

conjured

up

(evocato/a).

Comment

on

which

we

all

know

exists

nowhere

.Slide24

A soft

attack

on Chomsky

"I share

Chomsky's

goals

for

linguistics

and

admire

him

for

setting

them

,

but

they

cannot

be

reached

on

his

terms

or by

linguistics

alone.

Rules

of

appropriateness

beyond

grammar

govern

speech

, and are

acquired

as

part of

conceptions

of self, and of

meanings

associated

both

with

particular

forms

of

speech

and with the

act

of

speaking

itself

."

Dell

Hymes

(1974: 94),

Foundations

in

Sociolinguistics

, (Philadelphia,

University

of Pennsylvania Press).

Hymes

accepts

the idea of

competence

but

believes

that

syntactic

competence

must be

supported

by '

communicative

competence

' and '

sociolinguistic

competence

'.Slide25

Hymes's

SPEAKING model of

studying

language

with

reference

to

social

,

interactive

and

interpersonal

features

of

communication

(1974).

S

setting

, situation, scene

P

participants

E

ends

,

purposes

,

intentions

A

acts

,

form

and

content

of

what

is

said

K

key

,

tone

,

spirit

,

manner

I

instrumentalities

,

spoken

/

written

language

,

register

N

norms

,

socially

and

culturally

determined

G

genres

,

type

of

speech

event

,

type

of

discourseSlide26

Two

views

of

grammar

Formal

grammar

: focus on

system

of

rules

,

patterns

and

regularities

Functional

grammar

(M.A.K.

Halliday

): focus on

grammatical

system

in

terms

of

functions

,

purposes

and

meaning

(i.e. use of

language

)

Halliday’s

three

'

metafunctions

' for

language

:

'

ideational

':

how

individuals

make

sense

of

their

environment

'

interpersonal

':

purposes

to

which

language

is

put

'

textual

':

how

passages

of

language

are put

togetherSlide27

Halliday's

study

of

texts

(

both

written

and

spoken

)

For Chomsky the

main

unit

of

linguistic

study

is

the

sentence

(a finite set of

rules

that

can generate an infinite

number

of

sentences

.

Halliday

works

on

longer

texts

and

considers

the

language

system

(

competence

) and use of

language

(performance, the text

produced

, the speaker/

writer's

communicative

purposes

)

together

.Slide28

Branches

of

linguistic

analysis

based

on

texts

:

Pragmatics

:

not

what

the

words

mean

but

what

people

mean

, i.e.

what

they

want

to

achieve

when

they

use

language

Discourse

Analysis

(DA):

analysis

of

how

the

language

user

(P1)

converts

an

intention

into

text and

how

the

listener

/speaker (P2)

converts

that

text

into

an

interpretation

of P1's

intended

message

.

Critical

Discourse

Analysis

(CDA): DA

related

to

power

. The

emphasis

is

on

understanding

how

P1's

linguistic

choices

reveal

things

about

his

/

her

ideological

position.Slide29

We

can

now

obtain

a

great

deal of information

about

how

language

(from

individual

words

to long

texts

)

is

used

in

authentic

communicative

situations

thanks

to CORPUS LINGUISTICS. Computer

technology

enables

us

to record and

analyse

an

enormous

number

of

texts

.

As

a

consequence

,

we

have

acquired

knowledge

of

how

words

and

expressions

are

most

frequently

used

that

may

contradict

our

intuitions

.

What

is

the

key

meaning

of the word

season

?

Mentalists

reply

that

CORPORA can be

enormous

but

they

can

never

be complete. A

natural

language

is

infinite

but

a corpus

is

finite.

Only

the

underlying

competence

of a native speaker and

his

/

her

intuitions

can

distinguish

between

acceptable

and

unacceptable

combinations

of

words

in a

language

that

permits

infinite

possibilities

.Slide30

Again

, the

irreconcilable

conflict

:

Corpus

linguistics

is

concerned

with

empirical

research

based

on

what

can be

observed

directly

.

Chomskyan

linguistics

is

based

on

introspective

data (native speakers'

intuitions

)

that

cannot

be

verified

by

observation

.

Sociolinguists

and corpus

linguists

argue

say

you

cannot

study

language

as

something

abstract

and

divorced

from use of

language

.

Mentalists

say

corpora and

sociolinguistic

data

describe

performance

but

do

not

help

us

understand

competence

.

The

conflict

is

not

just

about

how

to

study

/

investigate

but

also

but

what

it

is

we

are

studying

.Slide31

Final

thoughts

Chomsky

is

a

giant

whether

you

agree

with

him

or

not

. People

who

take an

entirely

different

approach

to the

study

of

language

nevertheless

end up

expressing

their

views

with

reference

to Chomsky. In

chapter

2 of

Thinking

About

Language

Siobhan

Chapman

dedicates

pages

54 to 68 to the idea

that

language

is

communication

,

but

on

practically

every

one

of

those

pages

she

mentions

Chomsky,

who

believes

that

language

is

not

primarily

for

communication

.

Corpus

linguistics

has

told

us

a

lot

.

Consequently

,

modern

dictionaries

and

grammars

are

descriptive

,

not

prescriptive

.

But

in

conferences

all

over the world

thousands

of

worthless

papers

have

been

presented

by

people

who

have

mastered

the

technology

but

use

it

to produce

nothing

of

scientific

value

.Slide32

Lesson

2

Text

(

spoken

or

written

) =

product

The

language

that

a speaker/

writer

produces

Discourse

=

process

The

meaning

that

a first

person

(P1)

intends

to express in

producing

a text,

but

also

the

meaning

that

a

second

person

(P2)

interprets

from the text: (i) for P1 a

process

of

encoding

an

intended

message

into

language

; (ii) for P2 a

process

of

decoding

language

(i.e. a text)

into

an

understanding

of the

message

.Slide33

Discourse

Analysis

(DA):

analysis

of the

linguistic

choices

a speaker/

writer

makes

in

producing

a text and of the

effect

of

those

choices

on a

listener

/

reader

.

Critical

Discourse

Analysis

(CDA): a socio-

politically

motivated

approach

to the

study

of

language

use

that

focuses

on

how

linguistic

features

reveal

the

ideological

stance

of the speaker/

writer

.Slide34

Stylistics

“[…]

originally

a

straightforward

application

of

linguistic

description

to

literary

texts

, [

it

]

has

developed

into

a

fully

fledged

and

multifaceted

field

in

its

own

right, and

has

taken

on

board

progess

in

all

areas

of

linguistics

and

lityerary

studies

as

well

as

psychology

and

other

fields

, in

its

quest

to

describe

the

workings

of text,

both

literary

and non-

literary

.” Lesley Jeffries,

Critical

Stylistics

, 2010: 2)

Cognitive

Stylistics

: “

[

The

] opening up of

stylistics

to

consider

the

reader’s

(or

hearer’s

)

construction

of

meaning

[…]

”

(Ibid.)

Jeffries

entitles

her

book

Critical

Stylistics

because

her

approach

is

more

linguistically

oriented

than

the

socio-political

analysis

of Critical

Discourse

Analysis.Slide35

Was this newspaper report written by a man or a woman?

A

man who suffered head injuries when attacked by two men who broke into his home in

Beckenham

, Kent yesterday was pinned down on the bed by the intruders who took it in turns to rape his wife. (

Daily Telegraph

)Slide36

A man who suffered head injuries when attacked by two men who broke into his home in

Beckenham

, Kent yesterday was pinned down on the bed by the intruders who took it in turns to rape his wife.

This is a complex sentence containing a

main clause

and four

relative clauses

.

A man

(

1)who

suffered head injuries

(2)when

attacked by two men

(3)who

broke into his home in

Beckenham

, Kent yesterday

was pinned down on the bed by the intruders

(4)who

took it in turns to rape his wife

.

What is the first Noun Phrase in this sentence? What is the last NP? What/who do the relative pronouns 1, 2, 3 and 4 refer to?Slide37

A man

who

suffered

head injuries when

attacked

by two men who

broke into

his

home in

Beckenham

, Kent yesterday was

pinned down

on the bed by the

intruders

who took it in turns

to rape his wife

.

Prioritizing.

The man

is the first NP and there are four references to how he suffered. In the second line the possessive pronoun

his

is used. The man and his wife live together, so it would be more accurate to write “their house” but this anaphoric reference is not possible because the wife has not yet been mentioned. She makes her appearance in the very last NP preceded by the single reference to how she suffered. Why are the criminals defined as

intruders

rather than rapists? The implication is that their main criminal act is the violation of the man’s property, not the woman’s body. Slide38

“The contention of much discussion in CDA and related literature is that there are dominant groups whose ideologies are bound to be reproduced in the media and other texts, and in this way ideologies are continually reasserted to the point at which they become naturalized […] and become seen by the population at large as common sense, and thus in some sense intrinsically true.” (Jeffries, 2010: 7)

“[…] it is important to bear in mind that all text producers have the

potential

to produce hidden ideologies in an attempt to persuade and manipulate, and that the techniques of embedding of ideology […] are common across the whole range of communicative situations in which we find ourselves on a daily basis.” (Ibid.)Slide39

Rhetoric v. hidden or embedded ideology

Rhetoric is the explicit use of linguistic techniques in order to convince people. The techniques are obvious. “

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice

.” Martin Luther King

Ideology is subtle and often insidious. Many readers/listeners do not recognize the techniques employed but may be influenced by them at the unconscious level.

“Regrettably the strike has already caused considerable disruption and if an agreement with the unions cannot be reached there is a danger that it will continue into next week.” Slide40

“

Regrettably

the strike has already caused considerable disruption and if an agreement with the unions

cannot be reached

there is a

danger

that it will continue into next week.

”

“

Fortunately

the strike has already caused considerable disruption and if

the management fail to reach

an

agreement with the unions

there

is

the

hope

that it will continue into next week.”

Slide41

Naturalization

Naturalization is when a notion is repeated until it is accepted as “common sense”, something that is taken for granted or seen as self-evidently true. Jeffries’ examples (2010: 9):

It is wrong to make children work in factories.

It is a good thing for women to be slim.

Other examples:

3. Governments should not subsidize loss-making companies because it only encourages continued inefficiency.

4. It’s a bad thing if university students abandon their studies

.

Other examples:Slide42

Schema Theory

Singular: schema Plural: schemata or schemas

A schema is an individual’s background knowledge and taken-for-granted assumptions.

The aim of a text may be to confirm people’s schemata or to try to change their schemata.

Members’ Resources (MR)

: the resources (knowledge, beliefs, values, assumptions, experiences, prejudices etc.) that people already have when they either produce or interpret a text.Slide43

How to carry out CDA.

Fairclough’s

three ‘dimensions’ (1989: 26)

Description: the formal properties of the text

Interpretation: the relationship between the text (the product) and interaction (the processes of producing and interpreting)

Explanation: the relationship between interaction and socio-political context.

Jeffries (2010: 11, 12) believes that most CDA scholars focus on the third dimension and that we should pay more attention to the second (the interpretation of texts). Cognitive stylistics is now addressing this area.Slide44

Jeffries’ tools for conducting CDA (2010: 15)

Naming and Describing

Representing Actions/Events/States

Equating and Contrasting

Exemplifying and Enumerating

Prioritizing

Assuming and Implying

Negating

Hypothesizing

Presenting the Speech and Thoughts of other Participants

Representing Time, Space and Society.Slide45

Lesson 3: Naming and Describing

Choices we make when naming a person:

The Right Honourable David Cameron

Prime Minister David Cameron

Mr Cameron

David Cameron

David

Dave

Old-

Etonian

David Cameron Slide46

Noun Phrase (Noun Group) and Verb Phrase (Verb Group)

Noun Phases represent

entities

Verb Phrases represent

processes

The typical simple sentence

SUBJECT PREDICATOR(VERB)

OBJECT

The examiner checked the students' tests

.

NP VP NP

entity process entity

“actor” action “goal”Slide47

NP VP

NP

PrepP

pre-modifiers

head

post-modifier

The

impatient, bad-tempered

examiner

checked

the student's tests

in less than an hour

.

The examiner was impatient and bad-tempered. He checked the students’ tests. He spent less than an hour doing this.

Three sentences with simple NPs or one sentence with complex NPs. Is the difference only a question of brevity

?Slide48

NP

VP NP

PrepP

pre-modifiers

head

post-modifier

The

impatient, bad-tempered

examiner

checked

the student's tests

in less than an hour

.

The

examiner was impatient and bad-tempered. He checked the students’ tests. He spent less than an hour doing this.

“[…] the main ideological importance of noun phrases is that they are able to ‘package up’ ideas or information which are not fundamentally about entities but which are really a description of a process, event or action. In other words, the distinction between entities and processes is made less clear, and a process can be presented as being more like an entity.”

(

Jeffries, 2010: 19)

Can we question the existence of an entity?Slide49

Choice of nouns

regional variations: brioche cornetto pasta

tuta sportiva canadese

connotations: prostitute whore escort sex workerSlide50

the literal, the conventional metaphor, the novel metaphor

He's dominated by his wife.

He's under his wife's thumb.

In his relations with his wife he has a very high mouse-factor.

She always displays total servility towards her boss.

She's always brown-nosing her boss.

She always puts her pride on the floor and invites her boss to walk over it.

Goatly (2007, cited by Jeffries 2010: 21) notes that novel metaphors require longer cognitive processing time than literal expressions or conventional metaphors. We pay less attention to the literal or the conventional metaphor, so their ideological force may not be consciously noticed (but unconsciously absorbed).Slide51

Pre- and post-modification of nouns

"[...] the nominal component (noun phrase or noun group) does not form the

proposition

of the clause or sentence, but instead labels something that is thus assumed (technically,

presupposed

) to exist [...] The verb is [...] essential to the proposition because it tells the recipient how the nominal (nouns and noun phrases) relate to each other. [...] The way [the] truth about sentences in English can be exploited for ideological or other effects is by putting the processes/actions and so on into a nominal structure, and thus no longer asserting them but assuming them." (Jeffries, 2010: 21)

Modified noun phrases therefore contribute to the process of naturalization.Slide52

Proposition

Between March and June 1999

NATO forces

bombed

Belgrade

most nights.

The sentence asserts that NATO

forces

bombed

Belgrade in 1999. What are the obvious questions to ask?

Nominalization

NATO's nightly bombing of Belgrade in 1999

The information is now packaged into a NP. What was

asserted

in the proposition is now

assumed

in the NP. The sentence is now incomplete. We can finish it in several ways but the original assertion has

been

transformed

into the subject of the sentence - an entity - and cannot be easily challenged or questioned.Slide53

Propositions

S V SC

NATO's nightly bombing of Belgrade in 1999

was

illegal

.

NATO's nightly bombing of Belgrade in 1999

was

justified

.

Why was the bombing illegal? Why was the bombing justified?

NATO's illegal nightly bombing of Belgrade in 1999...

NATO's justified nightly bombing of Belgrade in 1999...

The subject complements have been transformed into components of the NPs that make up the

subjects

.

That the bombing was either illegal or justified is now assumed to be true

. Most readers would now focus on the verb and complement that complete the sentence.Slide54

NATO's illegal nightly bombing of Belgrade in 1999 caused civilian casualties.

NATO's justified nightly bombing of Belgrade in 1999 forced the Serbs to withdraw their troops from Kosovo.

We now focus either on the civilian casualties or on the situation in Kosovo. The NP that represents the subject is not really up for debate. That the bombing was either illegal or justified is now assumed.Slide55

“

It

is an undemocratic, utopian, political project advanced by lies and deceit - unwanted and unloved by the British and increasingly by most ordinary

Europeans

.”

It is a political project. This project is undemocratic. It is utopian. The project has been advanced by lies and by deceit. The British don't want and don't love this project. Increasingly, most ordinary Europeans don't want and don't love it.

How many finite verbs are there in the second version? How many in the quotation? How is ellipsis used to avoid repeating a verb? Think about the subject complements that follow the linking verb

is

in the quotation.Slide56

“He

also includes the price of trade distortion arising from the Common Agricultural Policy and general protectionism as well as  jobs that may have been lost to some 100,000 UK-born people thanks to mass migration from eastern Europe

.”

The Common

Agricultural

Policy

distorts

trade

.

General

protectionism

distorts

trade

.

East

Europeans

who

have

migrated

to Britain

may

have

taken

100,000

jobs

from UK-

born

people

.Slide57

“Waste

,

fraud

and

corruption

and “

unforeseen

commitments

”

such

as

the

cost

of

health

and benefits “

tourism

”

also

feature

.”

We

will

investigate the use of

inverted

commas

in

another

lesson

but

what

would

you

say

about

their

use in

this

sentence

?

Where

is

the

only

verb

?

What

is

the

subject

of

that

verb

?

How

many

nouns

are

there

in the

subject

?

The

nouns

health

and

benefits

are

used

as

pre-modifiers

.

What

noun

do

they

premodify

?Slide58

“[

...] the

biggest

single

cost

comes

from 120,000

pages

of EU law,

including

job-

reducing

employment

regulations

, green

energy

policies

and

financial

regulations

.”

The

compound word

job-

reducing

pre-modifies

three

noun

phrases

. How can

we

convert

the

noun

phrases

into

propositions

?

What

is

the

effect

?

Comments

on

“120,000

pages

of EU

law”?Slide59

“The

damage

done

over more

than

40

years

including

closed

businesses,

lost

jobs

and

excessive

energy

bills

would

take

at

least

a decade to

repair

.”


What

is

the

only

finite

verb

? Non-finite

verbs

are

used

in

NPs

which

can be

converted

into

propositions

expressed

in the passive voice. Can

you

make

those

conversions

?

What

is

the

unstated

agent in

those

propositions

?


If

you

change

the

propositions

to use the

active

voice,

what

is

the

effect

?Slide60

It

is

not

just a

financial

cost

,

it

is

a human

cost

, in

jobs

lost

and

not

created

, in

livelihoods

destroyed

,

of businesses

blocked

, of

hopes

decimated

.

Once

again

the

NPs

can be

converted

first

into

propositions

in the passive voice,

then

,

after

specifying

the agent,

into

propositions

in the

active

voice.Slide61

Reification

“[

The]

process

of

naming

something

and

thereby

almost

bringing

it

into

existence

by

that

very

naming

is

sometimes

called

reification

.”

(Jeffries, 2010: 32)

No

Government

would

be

stupid

enough

to introduce "job-

reducing

employment

regulations

" or "job-

reducing

green

energy

policies

"

but

the

act

of

naming

them

seems

to

make

them

come

into

existence

.

“In

the

beginning

was

the Word, and the Word

was

with

God

, and the Word

was

God

.”

(John 1.1, the King James Version of the

Bible

[1611]

)Slide62

Lesson

4:

Prioritizing

Jeffries’ tools for conducting CDA (2010: 15)

Naming and Describing

Representing Actions/Events/States

Equating and Contrasting

Exemplifying and Enumerating

Prioritizing

Assuming and Implying

Negating

Hypothesizing

Presenting the Speech and Thoughts of other Participants

Representing Time, Space and Society

.Slide63

A man

who

suffered

head injuries when

attacked

by two men who

broke into

his

home in

Beckenham

, Kent yesterday was

pinned down

on the bed by the

intruders

who took it in turns

to rape his wife

.

Prioritizing.

The man

is the first NP and there are four references to how he suffered. In the second line the possessive pronoun

his

is used. The man and his wife live together, so it would be more accurate to write “their house” but this anaphoric reference is not possible because the wife has not yet been mentioned. She makes her appearance in the very last NP preceded by the single reference to how she suffered. Why are the criminals defined as

intruders

rather than rapists? The implication is that their main criminal act is the violation of the man’s property, not the woman’s body. Slide64

In a

typical

clause

in English

already

known

information

is

given

first

while

new and

important

information

is

in

final

position:

S

V O

A (

Adverbial

)

Prof. Greene

has

changed

the date of the

written

exam

.

It

is

assumed

that

the

readers

/

listeners

already

know

who

Prof. Greene

is

and

what

he

does

. The

key

information

concernes

the

change

of

exam

dates

.Slide65

Active or Passive

The

government

has

reduced

funding

of

university

research

projects

.

Funding

of

university

research

projects

has

been

reduced

(by the

government

).

In the

active

sentence

the focus

is

on the

final

clause

element

: "

funding

of

university

research

projects

".

In the passive

sentence

the focus

is

on the VP "

has

been

reduced

".

This

structure

also

permits

the

Actor

, i.e. the

government

, to be

hidden

.Slide66

Subordination

Again

, the

key

information

tends

to come

at

the end of the

sentence

:

The

opposition

attracked

current

immigration

law

which

means

that

fishermen

who

save

the

lives

of

people

in

difficulty

risk

prosecution

for

favouring

illegal

immigration

.

What

is

the new or

most

important

information?Slide67

The

opposition

attacked

current

immigration

law

which

means

that

fishermen

who

save

the

lives

of

people

in

difficulty

risk

prosecution

for

favouring

illegal

immigration

.

Main

clause

The

opposition

attacked

current

immigration

law

subject

predicator

object

Relative

clauses

which

means

that

fishermen

who

save

the

lives

of

people

in

difficulty

risk

prosecution

for

favouring

illegal

immigration

.

The information

is

more

difficult

to

process

if

we

change

the

order

:

That

fishermen

who

save

the

lives

of

people

in

difficulty

risk

prosecution

for

favouring

illegal

immigration

under

current

immigration

law

was

attacked

by the

opposition

.Slide68

Information

structure

S

P

O

They

stole

my

smartphone

.

S

P

C (

subject

complement

)

Susan

is

intelligent

.

S

P

O A (

adverbial

)

He

buried

his

wife

in the garden

.

S

P

O C (

object

complement

)

The news made me

angry

.

n.b.

There

are

seven

basic

clause

structures

in English,

not

four

.

See

Jeffries 2010: 80, 81.Slide69

Additional

, optional

adverbials

do

not

change

the

main

information focus:

S

P

O A A

He

buried

his

wife

in the garden

during

the night.

S

P

O C A

The news made me

angry

once

again

.Slide70

Ways to

shift

the information focus:

1.

intonation

2.

fronting

3.

cleft

sentences

(

beginning

with "

It

...")

1.

Susan

is

intelligent

(

but

her

friend

is

thick

).

The

only

element

that

cannot

be

fronted

is

the predicator.

2. In the garden Tom

buried

his

wife

(

not

his

lover,

sister

, dog etc.).

3.

It

was

Tom

who

buried

his

wife

in the garden (

not

Jack or Bill)

Tom

becomes

the C of the

S

"

It

".Slide71

Given

/

Assumed

information v. new information

The boy

is

ugly

(predicative

adjective

)

The

ugly

boy (attributive

adjective

)

The boy

is

ugly

.

The focus

is

on "

ugly

".

This

is

a

subjective

assessment

. The

boy's

mother

doubtless

thinks

he's

good-looking

.

The

ugly

boy

was

rude to

us

.

The focus

is

on

his

behaviour

(

being

rude). His

ugliness

is

now

given

or

assumed

information

.

How

does

this

example

relate to last

week’s

lesson

?Slide72

Jeffries'

police

accountability

text (

pp

91, 173

)

What

this

also

relates

to

is

the

tradition

of the

police

being

allowed

to collaborate on

crafting

a story, a

commonly

agreed

version

of

events

,

whereas

members

of the public

would

be

questioned

separately

to

establish

facts

and

veracity

of

testimony

. So with the

police

proving

themselves

to

have

no

superior

morals

or

professional

standards

they

should

have

to

follow

the

same

rules

of

investigation

that

are

applied

to

everyone

else.

Does

the

writer

wish

to

defend

or

criticize

the

police

?

How

is

the

ideological

position

established

?

Think

about

the

focal

points

in the text plus the

choice

of

lexical

items

that

have

certain

connotations

.Slide73

What

this

also

relates

to

is

the

tradition

of the

police

being

allowed

to collaborate on

crafting

a story, a

commonly

agreed

version

of

events

,

whereas

members

of the public

would

be

questioned

separately

to

establish

facts

and

veracity

of

testimony

. So with the

police

proving

themselves

to

have

no

superior

morals

or

professional

standards

they

should

have

to

follow

the

same

rules

of

investigation

that

are

applied

to

everyone

else

.

For Jeffries the

underlined

parts

of the text are the

two

focal

points

.

For the first

underlined

part,

think

about

the

connotations

of the

words

chosen

.Slide74

[…] the

tradition

of the

police

being

allowed

to

collaborate

on

crafting

a story

, a

commonly

agreed

version

of

events

[…]

The

usual

translation

of

collaborare

is

cooperate

. The

verb

collaborate

, and

most

of

all

the

noun

collaborator

,

have

connotations

of

working

with

enemy

in

times

of war and

occupation

.

To

craft

means

to create or

fabricate

.

It

also

reminds

us

of the

pejorative

adjective

crafty

.

A

story

may

be a work of fiction.

If

there

is

one

version

, the

implication

is

that

there

is

at

least

one

other

version

and

possibly

several

.

In

contrast

, the

vocabulary

relating

to the public

is

technical

and

devopid

of negative

connotations

.Slide75

So with the

police

proving

themselves

to

have

no

superior

morals

or

professional

standards

they

should

have

to

follow

the

same

rules

of

investigation

that

are

applied

to

everyone

else

.

To

analyze

this

sentence

,

it

might

help to break

it

up

into

three

parts

.

Note

that

most

native speakers

would

probably

think

that

the

punctuation

of

this

sentence

would

be

improved

by the

insertion

of a comma

at

a

certain

point

.

Where

?Slide76

1. So

with the

police

proving

themselves

to

have

no

superior

morals

or

professional

standards

S

P

2.

they

should

have

to

follow

3. the

same

rules

of

investigation

that

are

applied

to

everyone

else

.

1.

This

is

a subordinate

clause

whose

position

before

the

main

clause

gives

it

low

priority

.

However

,

its

low

priority

also

means

that

it

is

less

likely

to be

challenged

than

the

proposition

that

follows

.

It

is

ideologically

assumed

that

the

police

are no

better

than

anyone

else.

3.

What

is

prioritized

is

the

principle

of the

same

rules

for

all

,

which

few

would

overtly

disagree

with.Slide77

Defending the NSA's actions, the US administration has insisted that it is necessary to intercept vast amounts of electronic data to effectively fight terrorism, but the White House has said it is examining countries' concerns as part of an

ongoing

review of how the US gathers intelligence

. (The Guardian online, 27.10.2013)Slide78

subordinate clause 1 S P

Defending

the NSA's actions, the US administration has insisted

subordinate clause 2

that

it is necessary to intercept vast amounts of electronic data

A

t

o effectively

fight

terrorism

Subordinate clause 1 with only a non-finite verb: low priority; the US administration doesn’t like having to defend itself.

The information focus is on subordinate clause 2 and the adverbial, which present the positive reasons for intercepting data. Key words are

necessary

and

effectively

. Presupposition: we all agree that the fight against terrorism takes precedence over all other considerations. Slide79

S P subordinate clause

but

the White House has said it is examining countries' concerns as

part

of an

ongoing

review of how the US gathers intelligence.

S = the White House. Not a person or a specific administrative entity but a vague reference that shares responsibility among everyone, from Obama to the cleaning staff.

The focus is on the subordinate clause that indicates the action the US government is taking. The progressive form suggests urgency and dynamism, as does the adjective

ongoing

.

The US “gathers intelligence”; Angela Merkel might say the US intercepts private telephone calls that are irrelevant to the fight against terrorism. Slide80

The

Community is not an end in itself. Nor is it an institutional device to be constantly modified according to the dictates of some abstract intellectual concept. Nor must it be ossified by endless regulation.

The European Community is the practical means by which Europe can ensure the future prosperity and security of its people in a world in which there are many other powerful nations and groups of nations.

We Europeans cannot afford to waste our energies on internal disputes or arcane institutional debates. They are no substitutes for effective action

.

(Margaret Thatcher, 1988)

La

Comunità

non

è

fine a

sé

stessa

. Non

è

neppure

uno

strumento

istituzionale

da

modificare

costantemente

secondo

i

dettami

di

qualche

concetto

intellettuale

astratto

. E non

deve

venire

fossilizata

da

una

regolamentazione

infinita

.

La

Comunità

Europea

è

il

mezzo

pratico

con

il

quale

l’Europa

può

assicurare

la

prosperità

e la

sicurezza

del

suo

popolo

in un

mondo

ove

ci

sono

molte

altre

nazioni

e

molti

altri

gruppi

di

nazioni

potenti

.

Noi

europei

non ci

possiamo

permettere

di

sperperare

le

nostre

energie

in dispute interne o in

dibattiti

istituzionali

arcani

. Non

sono

alternative ad

una

azione

efficace

. Slide81

Lesson 5: implying and assuming

Pragmatics: “the study of language used in contextualized communication and the usage principles associated with it” (Grundy, 2000: 275) Not what words mean but what people mean.

Presupposition: “a meaning taken as given which does not therefore need to be asserted” (Ibid.)

Implicature

: “an inferred meaning, typically with a different logical form from the original utterance” (Ibid.)Slide82

The unimaginative education policy of the last government has not been significantly improved since the new administration came to office.

Presupposition: the last government’s education policy was unimaginative. That point is not up for debate.

We must halt the current trend that sees our best young graduates seeking work abroad.

Presupposition: our best young graduates seek work abroad.

I wish my daughter was more assertive with her boyfriend.

Implicature

: she is dominated by her bossy boyfriend.Slide83

Factive

verbs and logical presuppositions

Factive

verbs presuppose the truth of their object complements. Examples are: know, learn, discover, realize, remember and regret.

"

British Intelligence

has learned

that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa

.” (George W. Bush, 2003)

She

knows

her husband is having an affair with his secretary.

The minister of finance

realizes

that his fiscal policies have failed.

He

regrets

calling his boss an idiot.Slide84

V

erbs that indicate a change of state and presuppositions

Mike

has stopped

using heroin.

Presupposition: in the past he used heroin.

Dora

has started

going to the gym on a regular basis.

Presupposition. In the past she didn’t go to the gym regularly.

He

resigned

his post as personnel manager.

Presupposition: he used to be personnel manager.

He

finished

painting his house.

Presupposition: in the past he was engaged in the activity of painting his house.Slide85

Cleft sentences and presuppositions

It was Giovanni

Sartori

who coined the word

porcellum

for the electoral law

.

Presupposition: the electoral law is known as the

porcellum

.

It is years of low investment

that has resulted in the current state of economic stagnation

.

Presupposition: the economy is currently in a state of stagnation.

What politicians fail to understand

is that when people feel they have nothing to lose there is a real risk of violence

.

Presupposition: people feel they have nothing to lose, so there is a real risk of violence.Slide86

Cleft sentences and presuppositions

It was Giovanni

Sartori

who coined the word

porcellum

for the electoral law

.

Presupposition: the electoral law is known as the

porcellum

.

It is years of low investment

that has resulted in the current state of economic stagnation

.

Presupposition: the economy is currently in a state of stagnation.

What politicians fail to understand

is that when people feel they have nothing to lose there is a real risk of violence

.

Presupposition: people feel they have nothing to lose, so there is a real risk of violence.Slide87

PRESUPPOSITIONS SURVIVE NEGATION

She

knows

her husband is having an affair with his

secretary.

She

doesn’t know

her

husband is having an affair with his

secretary.

In both cases the supposition is that he is having an affair.

He

regrets/doesn’t regret

calling his boss an idiot

.

Mike

has

stopped/hasn’t stopped

using

heroin.

It

was/wasn’t

Giovanni

Sartori

who coined the word

porcellum

for the electoral law

.

You

are/are not

as stubborn as your father.

What politicians

fail/don’t fail

to understand is that when people feel they have nothing to lose there is a real risk of violence

.Slide88

Presuppositions also survive a negative-to-affirmative conversion.

Henry is

n’t as rich

as/is as rich as

Luke

.

Priebke

didn’t regret/regretted

the war-time atrocities he committed.Slide89

The Co-operative Principle (Paul Grice 1975, 1978)

Grice proposed four maxims:

Maxim of Quality (concerned with truth)

Say what is true or what you believe to be true.

Maxim of Quantity (concerned with information)

Give enough but not too much information.

Maxim of Relation (concerned with relevance)

Make your contribution pertinent.

Maxim of Manner (concerned with clarity)

Be clear. Avoid obscurity or ambiguity.Slide90

When we flout (violate) a maxim, we often create an IMPLICATURE.

Maxim of Quality (concerned with truth)

Jenny’s boyfriend is a real pig.

Implicature

: he treats Jenny badly or he behaves badly.

Maxim of Quantity (concerned with information

)

Mother: “Where are you going?”

Daughter: “Out.”

Implicature

: where I’m going is none of your business.

Maxim of Relation (concerned with relevance

)

“Is the course expensive?” “Is the Pope a Catholic?”

Maxim of Manner (concerned with clarity

)

“The man who screwed an entire nation” (

The Economist

, 11 June 2006)Slide91

Implicatures

are DEFEASIBLE, i.e. they can be cancelled or invalidated.

Jenny’s boyfriend is a real pig

. (There is a clear

implicature

)

Jenny’s boyfriend

isn’t

a

pig. (The

implicature

is lost)

Elizabeth I was a virgin and a queen. As a queen she was a great success.

Implicature

?

Elizabeth I was a virgin and a queen. As a queen she

wasn’t

a great

success.

The original

implicature

has been lost. Has another one been created?Slide92

The Community is not an end in itself. Nor is it an institutional device to be constantly modified according to the dictates of some abstract intellectual concept. Nor must it be ossified by endless regulation.

The European Community is the practical means by which Europe can ensure the future prosperity and security of its people in a world in which there are many other powerful nations and groups of nations.

We Europeans cannot afford to waste our energies on internal disputes or arcane institutional debates. They are no substitutes for effective action

.

(Margaret Thatcher, 1988)

La

Comunità

non

è

fine a

sé

stessa

. Non

è

neppure

uno

strumento

istituzionale

da

modificare

costantemente

secondo

i

dettami

di

qualche

concetto

intellettuale

astratto

. E non

deve

venire

fossilizata

da

una

regolamentazione

infinita

.

La

Comunità

Europea

è

il

mezzo

pratico

con

il

quale

l’Europa

può

assicurare

la

prosperità

e la

sicurezza

del

suo

popolo

in un

mondo

ove

ci

sono

molte

altre

nazioni

e

molti

altri

gruppi

di

nazioni

potenti

.

Noi

europei

non ci

possiamo

permettere

di

sperperare

le

nostre

energie

in dispute interne o in

dibattiti

istituzionali

arcani

. Non

sono

alternative ad

una

azione

efficace

. Slide93

The Community is not an end in itself. Nor is it an institutional device to be constantly modified according to the dictates of some abstract intellectual concept. Nor must it be ossified by endless regulation.

The

European Community is the practical means by which Europe can ensure the future prosperity and security of its people in a world in which there are many other powerful nations and groups of nations.

We

Europeans cannot afford to waste our energies on internal disputes or arcane institutional debates. They are no substitutes for effective action.Slide94

The Community is

an

end in itself. I

t is an

institutional device to be constantly modified according to the dictates of some abstract intellectual concept. I

t must be

ossified by endless regulation

.

If we convert these three sentences from negative to affirmative, the presuppositions remain, so the simple reversal of the three propositions is not a counter argument. In effect, we must first of all agree with Mrs Thatcher before we can present a different point of view: “Naturally, the Community is not an end in itself but…”

Presupposition is a commonly used technique to create naturalization.Slide95

Now look at the complete quotation and identify expressions that have positive or negative denotations and connotations.

The

Community is not

an end in itself

. Nor is it an institutional device to be constantly modified according to the

dictates

of some abstract intellectual concept. Nor must it be

ossified

by

endless regulation

.

The

European Community is the

practical means

by which Europe can ensure the future

prosperity

and

security

of its people in a world in which there are many other powerful nations and groups of nations.

We

Europeans cannot afford to

waste

our energies on

internal disputes

or

arcane institutional debates

. They are no substitutes for

effective action

.Slide96

In the first paragraph the expression “abstract intellectual concept” is contaminated by the negativity of the surrounding lexis and assumes a negative connotation itself. In reality, without abstract intellectual concepts we would have no philosophy and our cognitive processing would be severely limited. Mrs Thatcher establishes a dichotomy:

+

-

p

ractical means an end in itself

p

rosperity dictates

s

ecurity abstract intellectual concept

e

ffective action endless regulation

waste

internal disputes

arcane institutional debates

What is the main criterion for dividing the lexis between “good” and “bad” things? Are all the negative expressions really negative? Slide97

We Europeans cannot afford to waste our energies on internal disputes or arcane institutional debates. They are no substitutes for effective action

.

Comment on “We Europeans”.

Comment on the last sentence.Slide98

What are the

implicatures

? What maxims are flouted?

“Is Julie coming to the party?”

“Both her kids are ill.”

“Are you watching this programme?”

“Simon and Debbie are going to emigrate to New Zealand.”

“I’ll miss Debbie.”

“The singer produced a series of connected noises that had some slight resemblance to a song.”

“If Barack Obama calls, tell him I’m out.”Slide99

Implicatures

and ideological content – some authentic examples

The Reverend Edward Everett Hale, chaplain to the US Senate, was asked if he prayed for the senators. He replied, “When I look at the senators, I pray for the country.”

Bessie Braddock (socialist politician): “Winston, you are drunk.”

Winston Churchill: “Yes, Bessie, I am drunk and you are ugly. In the morning I shall be sober.”

“When she speaks without thinking, she says what she thinks.” MP Norman St. John

Stevas

talking about Margaret Thatcher.

John Wilkes: “Sir, I don’t know whether you will die on the gallows

1

or of the pox

2

.”

John Montagu: “Sir, that depends on whether I embrace your principles or your mistresses.”

1

la

forca

2

la

sifilideSlide100

Representing others’ speech and thoughts (Jeffries 130-145, 181-184)

“I

miei

figli

dicono

di

sentirsi

come

dovevano

sentirsi

le

famiglie

ebree

in Germania

durante

il

regime di Hitler.

Abbiamo

davvero

tutti

addosso

,

” dice Silvio Berlusconi

nell’ennesima

anticipazione

del

libro

di Bruno Vespa. (

Il

Fatto

, 6

novembre

2013)

“

Una

polemica

smaccatamente

strumentale

su

una

frase

estrapolata

da un

ampio

contesto

.” Silvio Berlusconi (

Ibid

.)

“In

fase

di

preparazione

del

libro

,

alcuni

politici

non

vogliono

rivedere

quanto

mi

hanno

detto

. Berlusconi

invece

sì

. E la parte

anticipata

oggi

, mi

è

stata

mandata

per

iscritto

da

lui

stesso

.” Bruno

Vespa (

Ibid

.

)Slide101

When quoting someone, there is always the risk of misrepresenting his/her message with no malicious intent.

In the transfer of someone’s spoken words to a written quotation, what is lost?Slide102

The Pope decides to make an official visit to the Netherlands. At Schiphol Airport a reporter asks him: “Your Holiness, while you are in Amsterdam are you going to visit the city’s red light district?”

The Pope replies, “I didn’t even know there was a red light district in Amsterdam. Where is it?”

Front page headline the next day: The Pope arrives in Amsterdam and asks, “Where’s the red light district?”Slide103

Mick Short’s Model of Speech Representation (

Exploring the Language of Poetry, Plays and Prose

,1996, which is in our library)

DS Direct Speech: “I’ll keep your secret, Anne,” Ken said.

IS Indirect Speech: Ken said (that) he would keep Anne’s secret.

NRS Narrator’s report of speech: Ken spoke to Anne about…

NRSA Narrator’s report of Speech Act: Ken promised Anne that…

FIS Free indirect speech: He would keep Anne’s secret.

Your task: put these five versions in order of faithfulness to the original utterance, from number 1 (the least faithful) to number 5 (the most faithful).Slide104

For Short, the order is:

NRS NRSA IS FIS DS

NRS Ken

spoke to

Anne.

The topic of their conversation is omitted

.

Ken spoke to Anne about something she considered important.

The narrator interprets what the topic was

.

Ken chatted/whispered/muttered to Anne about…

The narrator’s choice of verb may influence our interpretation

.

NRS is the mode that gives the narrator most freedom to omit or select, and therefore influence the reader’s interpretation. Slide105

NRSA

Ken promised

Anne something.

Ken promised Anne

that he would keep her secret.

Performative

verbs: promise, announce, declare, apologize, threaten, beg, implore, proclaim etc.

With NRSA, the narrator’s interprets the nature of the Speech Act though choice of

performative

verb:

Ken

promised Anne

that he would keep her secret

.

reassured

confirmed to

confided toSlide106

IS

Ken said (that) he would keep Anne’s secret

.

Grammatical modifications – tense backshift and 3

rd

person pronouns – create distance between message and receiver but the narrator cannot radically change the lexis.

FIS

He would keep Anne’s secret.

There are elements of IS (tense, 3

rd

person, absence of inverted commas) and elements of DS (absence of reporting clause).

DS

“I’ll keep your secret, Anne,” Ken said

.

Speaker’s precise words in inverted commas.Slide107

The same for presentation of thought

DT

Direct

thought: He thought, “It was the worst year of my life.”

IT

Indirect

thought: He thought it was the worst year of his life.

NRT

Narrator’s report of

thought: He thought about the prison.

NRTA

Narrator’s report of

Thought

Act:

He reflected upon that

terrible year he had spent in prison.

FIT

Free indirect

thought: It was the worst year of his life.

Nowadays authors seldom use DT. If used, only in the first person.

After FIT it is normal to provide justification for presuming to know what someone else is thinking:

The prime minister thinks there will be elections in the spring

. Yesterday he instructed his closest aides to start drafting the party’s manifesto. Slide108

The order of faithfulness is the same:

NRT NRTA IT FIT DT

NRT and NRTA allow the narrator to impose an interpretation.

For speech DS is the norm.

For thought IT is the norm.

Contextual evidence is necessary to understand FIS:

He said he expected to win.

He was simply the best competitor in the competition

. First sentence establishes that the second is FIS.

We all expected him to win.

He was simply the best competitor in the

competition

. The author’s narration, not FIS.Slide109

Authors: Rosemary Davidson and Sarah Vine (2007) Slide110

"

Patronising

pap

"

which

should

be "

thrown

on a

bonfire

",

declares

Emily Hill

at

the website

Spiked

Online.

Horrifying

"gender

stereotyping

",

says

the

Guardian

.

"

We've

had

40

years

of

feminism

to

get

over

this

nonsense

about

girls

being

fluffy

and boys

being

dangerous

,"

squawks

some

feminist

spokesperson

on the

Today

programme

.

So

there

are

three

good

reasons

already

why

I

had

to rush out

instantly

and

buy

a copy for

my

six-year-old

daughter

,

Poppy

.

Comment

on the use of

quotations

.

Note the

verb

squawks

.Slide111

It's

not

the

healthy

,

politically

acceptable

tomboy

stuff

about

tobogganing

or climbing

trees

.

Rather

it's

in

all

those

offensive bits

which

have

the

temerity

to

suggest

that

girls

are - or

ought

to be -

especially

interested

in the

following

subjects

: ponies,

skincare

,

plaiting

their

hair

,

skipping

,

flowerpressing

,

dollies

,

ballet

and

knitting

.

"

But

girls

generally

do love

those

things

.

They

do!

They

do!"

any

sane,

disinterested

observer

of the human

species

might

well

protest

.

Is

the

penultimate

line

really

a quote?

Who

says

these

words

?

What

does

sane

mean

?

What

is

the opposite of

disinterested

?

The word

any

is

used

in

its

inclusive

sense

;

it

is

like

saying

all

sane

disinterested

observers

. So

if

we

want

to

disagree

with

Delingpole

,

what

do

we

say

about

ourselves

?Slide112

The

problem

is

that

where

the

feminist

debate

about

men and

women

is

concerned

,

rationality

went

out of the

window

many

moons

ago.

"

Never

mind

how

women

actually

are," the

feminist

thought

process

seems

to go.

"

What

matters

-

if

ever

we're

to

remedy

the social

injustice

created

by the

patriarchal

,

phallocentric

hegemony

-

is

to concentrate on

how

women

ought

to be."

To

those

of

us

simple

souls

who

base

our

view

of the

universe

on

observed

reality,

this

attitude

can be

rather

baffling

.

There

are

two

sentences

in

inverted

commas

. Are

they

quotes

?

The last

sentence

creates

an

implicature

.

What

is

it

? Compare

this

sentence

with the first and

also

with the

previous

slide.Slide113

She

knows

there

are

many

,

many

things

in the world

that

she

is

not

only

better

at

doing

than

any

man,

but

which

she

also

secretly

enjoys

doing

more

than

any

man:

homemaking

,

housework

,

childcare

, shopping.

Yet

because

she

has

been

so

brainwashed

by the

sisterhood

into

thinking

"Men and

women

are

exactly

the

same

and

should

divide

all

tasks

50/50",

she'll

rarely

admit

as

much

.

And

anyway

,

bemoaning

your

lot

and

torturing

your

husband

/boyfriend by

making

him

do

chores

to

which

he

is

comically

unsuited

are

both

tremendous

fun

.

The

problem

is

that

by

adopting

this

attitude

,

women

are

really

only

cheating

themselves

.

Left to

his

own

devices

, a man

is

never

going

to

change

the

sheets

, Hoover the

floor

,

clean

the

loo

,

sew

name

tags

on the

kids

'

school

clothes

, scout out

nice

cushions

to go on the

sofa

or

bake

a cake for tea.

Not

well

,

at

any

rate.

The

words

in

inverted

commas

fall

into

which

of

Short’s

categories

?Slide114

A

literary

critic

writes

Having

waded

through

all

468

pages

of

Where

the

Ash

Falls

, I

am

forced

to conclude

that

this

book

is

simply

impossible

to

read

.

Quite

frankly

, the

author

should

be

humanely

put down

at

the first

opportunity

.

Where

the

Ash

Falls

is

a

towering

failure

on

every

level

. And

its

only

achievement

is

an

admirably

consistent

lack

of

merit

throughout

.

It

reads

like

a

dreary

guided

tour of the

worst

writing

clichés, the

deadest

metaphors

and the

most

painfully

forced

lyricism

ever

to

defile

the

printed

page.

Destined

to be a regular

contribution

to

Oxfam

bookshops

everywhere

, the

only

redeeming

feature

of

this

book

is

its

width

,

which

was

just wide

enough

to stop

my

kitchen

table

from

wobbling

.

As

a

novel

,

however

,

it

is

a

classic

example

of

artistic

hubris

.

Stephen Collins,

Prospect

,

N

ovember

2013, page 18.Slide115

A literary critic

writes

Blurb on back cover

Having

waded

through

all

468

pages

of

Where

the

Ash

Falls

, I

am

forced

to conclude

that

this

book

is

simply

impossible

to

read

.

Quite

frankly

, the

author

should

be

humanely

put down

at

the first

opportunity

.

Where

the

Ash

Falls

is

a

towering

failure

on

every

level

. And

its

only

achievement

is

an

admirably

consistent

lack

of

merit

throughout

.

It

reads

like

a

dreary

guided

tour

of the

worst

writing

clichés, the

de

adest

metaphors

and the

most

painfully

force

d

lyricism

ever

to

defile

the

printed

page.

Destined

to be a

regular

contribution

to

Oxfam

bookshops

everywhere

, the

only

redeeming

feature

of

this

book

is

its

width

,

which

was

just wide

enough

to stop

my

kitchen

table

from

wobbling

.

As

a

novel

,

however

,

it

is

a

classic

example

of

artistic

hubris

.

“

Where the Ash Falls

is simply impossible… to put down.”

“

Where the Ash Falls

is a towering achievement… a tour de force.”

“Destined to be a… classic.”Slide116

Lesson

7:

Modality

and

hypothesizing

Modality is the

grammaticalized

expression of the subjective attitudes and opinions of the speaker including possibility, probability, necessity, obligation, permissibility, ability, desire, and contingency.

http

://www.linguisticsgirl.com/linguistic-definition-of-modality/#kbuHubxtz7yk9MJK.

99

Modality is most commonly expressed by modal verbs. What modal verbs do you know?

In what other ways can modality be conveyed?Slide117

Modal

verbs:will

,

would

,

shall

,

may

,

might

, can,

could

, must.

Semi-

modals

:

have

(

got

) to,

ought

, dare,

need

,

used

to.

Modality

can

also

be

expressed

using

:

Lexical

verbs

:

think

, suppose,

wish

,

hope

etc.

Modal

adverbs

:

maybe

,

probably

,

certainly

,

definitely

etc.

Modal

adjectives

:

possible

,

probable

,

sure

,

allowed

,

forbidden

etc.

Conditional

structures

:

If

…,

then

…Slide118

Types

of

modality

1

Epistemic

modality

is

concerned

with (un)

likelihood

or (

im

)

probability

.

We

might

go to

Croatia

for

our

summer

holidays

.

Maybe

we’ll

go

to

Croatia

for

our

summer

holidays

.

It’s

possible

that

we’ll

go to

Croatia

for

our

summer

holidays

.Slide119

Types

of

modality

2

Deontic

modality

is

concerned

with

obligation

,

prohibition

and

permission

.

I

really

must

go on a

diet

.

You

mustn’t

/

can’t

park

here

.

Are

we

allowed

to

smoke

in

this

room?

I

think

/suppose

it’s

all

right

to park

here

.

If

you

drink and drive,

your

licence

will

be

suspended

.

You

shouldn’t

drink and drive

because

you

might

spill

your

drink.Slide120

Types

of

modality

3

B

oulomaic

modality

is

concerned

with (un)

desirability

(

hopes

,

wishes

,

fears

,

regrets

). An alternative

term

is

volitive

modality

.

He

wishes

he

could

turn back the clock.

I

hope

it

doesn’t

rain

.

She

’d

like

to be a bit

taller

.

A long weekend

would

be

most

desirable

.Slide121

Most

modal

verbs

can be

used

for more

than

one

type

of

modality

:

Frank and Delia

may

get

married

. (

They

haven’t

made a definite

decision

yet

–

epistemic

modality

)

Frank and Delia

may

get

married

. (

Frank’s

divorce

from Sandra

has

been

completed

, so

now

he

is

permitted

to

marry

Delia –

deontic

)

I

failed

the

exam

, so I must

repeat

it

in

September

. (

obligation

–

deontic

modality

)

Terry’s late. He must be

stuck

in the rush-hour

traffic

. (

probability

–

epistemic

modality

)Slide122

Hedging. To hedge means to avoid language that makes you appear dogmatic or assertive.

1

. Introductory verbs: e.g. seem, tend, look like, appear to be, think, believe, doubt, be sure, indicate, suggest

2. Certain lexical verbs e.g. believe, assume, suggest

3. Certain modal verbs: e.g. will, must, would, may, might, could

Adverbs

of frequency e.g. often, sometimes, usually

5

.

Modal adverbs

e.g

. certainly, definitely, clearly, probably, possibly

, conceivably

6. Modal

adjectives e.g. certain, definite, clear, probable,

possible

Modal

nouns e.g. assumption, possibility, probability

That

clauses e.g. It could be the case that .

e.g

. It might be suggested

that

9. To

-clause + adjective e.g. It

is useful to consider,

It is important to

develop

Why do we use hedging?Slide123

“Modality is one conceptual tool of analysis that we can access linguistically and is the one which alerts us to to the speaker/writer’s own personal viewpoint.” (Jeffries 2010: 116)

But some people try to disguise their personal viewpoint as somebody else’s opinion:

It is sometimes said

that warnings about climate change have been exaggerated.

Who sometimes says that?

The minister of finance

is believed

to favour the re-introduction of property tax.

Who believes that?Slide124

Kate Moss – British model and celebrity Slide125

What's

that

party girl Kate Moss

has

popped

out for?

By

Daily

Mail Reporter

Last

updated

at

1:21 PM on 11th

December

2008

Kate Moss

popped

out for a spot of shopping last night — and

returned

home with

two

bottles

of

what

could

have

been

amyl

nitrite.

The

substance

,

also

known

as

'

poppers

',

is

not

illegal

but

is

popular

among

clubbers

who

sniff

its

vapours

to

achieve

a head rush.

It

is

also

often

combined

with

other

drugs

.

A

glamorous

looking

Kate Moss

returned

home last night with a

bag

of

candles

and

what

could

have

been

two

bottles

of

amyl