Morphology, Denotation, and the Functions of Language - Assignment Example

Part A Task 2 The term morphology has a Greek etymology: morph means shape or form. Morphology means “the mental system involved in word formation” or it can refer to “the branch of linguistics that deals with words, their internal structure, and how they are formed” (Aronoff & Fudeman, 2005: 1). Morphologists examine words, their framework and their formation by means of identifying and studying morphemes. Morphemes are the “smallest linguistic pieces with a grammatical function” (Aronoff & Fudeman, 2005: 1). There are two kinds of morphemes: free morphemes and bound morphemes. The former ones can stand by themselves, for instance berry. The other types are the ones that cannot stand independently, for example, -ment in shipment. Examples of a free morpheme can be most and cut from the first sentence given. Both words can be used independent of another and still they would have a meaning. Similarly, in the second sentence there is passport and just. The third sentence has quick and quickly, while in the fourth sentence the free morphemes are every, day, and home. The fifth sentence contains free morphemes: Lord, heaven, earth and seas. A similarity in each of these words is that they all can be used without needing another word to show their meaning. Examples of bound morphemes can be un- in the word unkindest and unkind of the first sentence. This word cannot be used without another morpheme since a plain un does not make sense. Other example is -s in the word sees, likes, stops, friends and buys. For these two to have a sensible meaning they have to have another word attached to them. Part A Task 3 3.1 Denotation means the literal meaning of a word. For instance, in the given passage from Obama’s speech the word nation literally means state. There is no figurative sense to these kinds of words. They are used to refer to their surface meaning. Another word that clearly illustrates this concept is journey. This word literally means the drive made. Prosperity and freedom also are examples of such words, meaning affluence and liberty, respectively. Connotation is the opposite of denotation. It “describes the way in which the intertextual space is articulated in one text” (Coward & Ellis, 1977: 53). Such words have emotional overtones. In the given extract the word “greatness” is not referred to the magnitude but importance. “A collocation is an expression consisting of two or more words that correspond to some conventional way of saying things” (Manning & Schütze, 2002: 151). In the given extract the phrase settling for less sounds right. In case the word less is substituted with fewer, the expression would not be alright. Even though both the words have the same meaning settling for fewer appears to have a major error. Similarly, in lash of the whip the word lash cannot be substituted with strike. Again, both have the same meaning but one just does not seems right in the phrase. In the case of faint-hearted the word faint means timid, but it cannot be said timid-hearted. 3.2 The adjective common has several meanings and is used is different contexts. Thus, the given meanings of this word do not completely illustrate the idea. In the sentence “He is Cuban, she is Russian, but they have English as a common language”, the word means mutual, or shared. That is, both persons have a language that they share. Another meaning of this word is not exceptional or distinguished. This side of the word can be seen in the sentence “I don’t think she will get that job as a hotel receptionist; she has such a common accent”. Here it is meant that since the person referred to does not have an unusual accent, she may not get the job. This term is more referred to in a depreciatory sense. Common may also refer to standard. For instance in the sentence “He has no common decency; if he had he would have apologised for what he said to his colleagues”. That means, the person did not behave as would have been expected. The word may mean relating equally for example in: “I don’t think the talks about a merger will be successful because the two companies have no common ground”. Here the word illustrates the fact that the two companies do not have anything that they belong equally. A very frequently used word is common-sense. Here common refers to logical, and the whole word means having absolute practical judgement. Part B Language can be very widely divided into three kinds of functions and two of them have been employed in this case. The three functions are the informative language function, expressive language function and directive language function. Sentences corresponding to the informative language function have a truth value. They are used for communicating some information. Informative function does not contain any existence without there being a language. Directive language functions are usually for commands and requests, like in the given case. They direct the person about what is to be done. A third kind of functions are expressive language functions. This kind is used for the purpose of telling others about the feelings and emotions one has. This function is not intended at giving out factual knowledge or reasoning about something. Out of the several functions a child selects one of them for expressing a general idea. There is no reason behind selecting the chosen function (Halliday & Webster, 2006). In this situation the girl observes her mother calling them in by gesturing at them. She understands the gesture appropriately. This may be because the gesture was very clear, like her mother pointing to the children and then to the house. Another reason may be that they might have used such communication before, or that the girl is quick at understanding things. In the scenario given there is an involvement of informative language function and directive language function. However, it may also be said that the third function, expressive language function, is also used. The mother gestures the children to come inside. This is a directive language function; although there is no language actually being used. It is called directive because the mother is directing the children. This function is used when a command or request is to be made. This gesture is rightly interpreted by the girl who passes on the information to her brother. She does this verbally and this is the informative language function since she is informing her brother about their mother’s wishes. The sentence that the girl is in case said is of Standard English; it could be either American or British. The informative function does not necessarily consist of the facts, or the correct information. Wrong data also comes in this category. This kind of function is intrinsic. It is apparent that the girl has a good know-how about the principle of dialogue, because unless this is the case a child cannot have a mastery over the function. It means that the girl understands the main character of the exchange procedure. The employment of the third function can be said to be done in this case because the mother is gesturing at the children to come inside. She is expressing her wish by means of a sign. That is, she is making use of directive as well as expressive language function. Each function has one “semantically unmarked term” (Halliday & Webster, 2006: 85) which means the same as that function. For instance, “I want that” refers to the general meaning of language in the instrumental function. In this sentence the thing being referred to by the word “that” can be found out through the context in which it has been used. Language and gesture are not very different. They are used for the same purpose: to convey a meaning. Language may be more lucid than gestures because the idea is straight forwardly expressed. In gesturing it depends upon how the gesture has been made and how fast the opposite person can comprehend it. The brain processes the symbolic gestures and the person is able to make out the meaning of it. However, the accuracy of the meaning depends on the clarity of the gesture and the understanding of the person. In the current scenario it is clear that the mother made a very obvious gesture or that the girl was quick in recognising it. She could also put it in words accurately as can be deduced from what she said to her brother. It is seen here that the sentence spoken by the girl is a really simple and straight forward one. There is no involvement of any kind of grammar or vocabulary in it. In every function the child gets certain alternatives, and the meanings of those options can be obtained through the particular function. Through this manner the child gets to know about the language, and this language that he/she learns is a simple one. This scenario is seen to be present in the current case. The sentence spoken also does not have any bound morpheme. There is, however, one free morpheme – in from the word inside. References Aronoff, M., & Fudeman, K. A. (2005). What is morphology? Wiley-Blackwell. Coward, R., & Ellis, J. M. (1977). Language and materialism: developments in semiology and the theory of the subject. Routledge. Halliday, M. A. K., & Webster, J. (2006). The language of early childhood. Continuum International Publishing Group. Manning, C. D., & Schütze, H. (2002). Foundations of statistical natural language processing. MIT Press. Read More