Lesson 1
Language is a type of behaviour (behavior USA)
Language is a state of mind
Language is communication
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. They do not speculate on what is in a person's mind.
Mike and Angela are walking along the High Street. 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.
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.
"[...] 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).
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).
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?
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: 6
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
"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
'competence'
'I-language'
(I = internalized)
use of language
'performance'
'E-language'
(E = externalized)
Mentalists focus their research on competence. For them,
performance is not language.
What are the factors that can affect performance?
Chomsky's 'transformational-generative grammar'.
'deep structure' and 'surface structure'
John is easy to please.
John is eager to please.
NP
John
John
VP
is
is
AdjP
easy to please
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.
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?
Criticism of the mentalists
1. Chomsky imagines an ideal speaker-listener in a
completely homogenous speech-community whose
judgements and intuitions are infallible. This is not the
real world.
2. 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.
3. It is wrong to give so little attention to language as
communication and to ignore performance.
In defence of Chomsky
1. 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.
2. Chomsky's work has led to important insights in how first
and second languages are acquired.
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 nonobservable (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.
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.
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 identity
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.
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'.
Hymes's SPEAKING model of studying language with reference to
social, interactive and interpersonal features of communication
(1974).
S
P
E
A
K
I
N
G
setting, situation, scene
participants
ends, purposes, intentions
acts, form and content of what is said
key, tone, spirit, manner
instrumentalities, spoken/written language, register
norms, socially and culturally determined
genres, type of speech event, type of discourse
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 together
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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?
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.
“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.)
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.”
“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.”
Naturalization
Naturalization is when a notion is repeated until it is accepted as
“common sense”, something that is taken for granted or seen as selfevidently true. Jeffries’ examples (2010: 9):
1. It is wrong to make children work in factories.
2. 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:
Schema Theory
Singular: schema
Plural: schemata or schemas
A schema is an individual’s background knowledge and taken-forgranted 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.
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.
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.
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
Noun Phrase (Noun Group) and Verb Phrase (Verb Group)
Noun Phases represent entities
Verb Phrases represent processes
The typical simple sentence
SUBJECT
The examiner
NP
entity
“actor”
PREDICATOR(VERB)
checked
VP
process
action
OBJECT
the students' tests.
NP
entity
“goal”
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?
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?
Choice of nouns
regional variations: brioche cornetto pasta
tuta sportiva canadese
connotations: prostitute
whore
escort
sex worker
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.
“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?
“[...] 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”?
“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?
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.
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])
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Ways to shift the information focus:
1. intonation
"It...")
2. fronting
3. cleft sentences (beginning with
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".
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?
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.
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.
[…] 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.
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?
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.
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)
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
to 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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
Verbs 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.
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.
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.
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.
Presuppositions also survive a negative-to-affirmative conversion.
Henry isn’t as rich as/is as rich as Luke.
Priebke didn’t regret/regretted the war-time atrocities he committed.
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.
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)
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?
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.
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.
The Community is an end in itself. It is an institutional device to be
constantly modified according to the dictates of some abstract
intellectual concept. It 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.
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.
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:
+
practical means
prosperity
security
effective action
an end in itself
dictates
abstract intellectual concept
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?
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.
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.”
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 gallows1
or of the pox2.”
John Montagu: “Sir, that depends on whether I embrace your
1 la forca 2 la sifilide
principles or your mistresses.”
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.)
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?
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?”
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).
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.
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 to
IS
Ken said (that) he would keep Anne’s secret.
Grammatical modifications – tense backshift and 3rd 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, 3rd 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.
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.
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.
Authors: Rosemary Davidson and Sarah Vine (2007)
"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.
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?
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.
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?
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, November 2013, page 18.
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 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.
“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.”
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?
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…
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.
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.
Types of modality 3
Boulomaic 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.
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)
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
4. 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
7. Modal nouns e.g. assumption, possibility, probability
8. 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?
“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?
Kate Moss – British model and celebrity
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 nitrite
'poppers'
Moss arrived at her St John’s Wood home clutching two bottles, with
a skull and crossbones warning on one of the lids visible.
The 34-year-old supermodel was also carrying a bag from exclusive
perfume brand Diptyque, which offers vapours of a more innocent
kind.
Kate carried two small bottles as she returned home and they looked
suspiciously like the legal sex drug
Speculation has been mounting in recent weeks that Moss could be
pregnant, although health experts have warned against the use of
amyl nitrite during pregnancy.
Moss has also been spotted drinking alcohol in recent weeks.
Bea, beach bodies and the thorny problem of the Mummy gene ...
By AMANDA PLATELL
Last updated at 23:49 29 aprile 2008
Princess Beatrice, daughter of the Duke of York (Price Andrew) and
Sarah (“Fergie”), Duchess of York (“The Duchess of Pork”)
… like most teenage daughters with big mums, she might, without
being disloyal, have preferred not to inherit the well-upholstered
limbs and classic English pear shape of her mum…
Puberty can be a cruel thing, but there is a time when a young
woman must take responsibility for her own thighs and accept that
whatever genes you inherit, you can - and probably should - make
changes to your lifestyle and diet in an effort to do something about
it…
… Thighs you can do something about - as Beatrice may need to
find out for herself.
For starters, I'd get rid of the 24-hour police protection Andrew
insists on for his daughters.
It's sheer pomposity that these low-risk princesses should cost the
taxpayer £250,000 a year each to protect them. From what? A
dangerously rich diet?
But the constant First Class travel, with chauffeured limousines,
means that Beatrice spends too much time on her generous bottom.
If and when she sets about changing her body shape, Bea will
discover there is no substitute for sensible eating and tough exercise.
Beatrice does not have to carry the sins of the mother on her thighs.
She has a wonderful and privileged life ahead of her, but unless she
gets her body under control, she'll have a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and
pitiful self-esteem. Just ask Fergie.
Which does make you rather wonder where her mother is in all this.
Having written so movingly (and lucratively, thanks to a multimillion pound WeightWatchers contract) about her own eating
problems as a young woman - the obesity that drove her to despair
and wrecked her marriage, about the pain of being labelled the
Duchess of Pork - you'd have thought she'd have taken a more
interventionist role in her elder daughter's physical well-being.
But all is not lost. I'm sure Weight-Watchers would snap up a royal
mother and daughter deal. At least Beatrice has now got the "before"
pictures.
Lesson 8: Equating and Contrasting
Perfect synonyms with absolutely identical meanings do not exist:
small and little are not always interchangeable.
In Italian are viso and faccia always interchangeable?
Are complete and finished synonyms?
"A man in love is incomplete until he's married. Then he's
finished." (Zsa Zsa Gbor, American actress)
Antonyms are rarely perfect opposites:
Black and white are unambiguous antonyms. Why?
Old and young are not perfect antonyms. Why not?
Equating
Apposition: placing two noun phrases together so that one assumes
a quality of the other.
Their deaths were the result of carelessness, madness.
Parallel structures
High immigration is dangerous. High immigration is our children's
future. (Jeffries, 2010: 53)
Contrasting
Jeffries, 2010: 55
Example
Negated opposition
X not Y
Home not dry
Transitional opposition
Turn X into Y
Turn water into wine
Comparative opposition
More X than Y
More stupid than evil
Replaced opposition
X instead of Y
Gold instead of yellow
Concessive opposition
Despite X, Y
Despite her anger, she danced
Explicit oppositions
X by contrast with Y
Steel by contrast with water
Parallelism
He liked X. She liked Y
He liked beer. She liked wine
Contrastives
X, but Y
She was young, but ugly
Parallel structures
The management of one company was authoritarian and
intransigent, The managers of the other were all ‘dress down Friday’
and workers’ panels.
The denial of climate change by crackpots is stupid. Denial by
governments is hypocrisy at best and evil at worst.
Jeffries, 2010: 55, 56
Complementaries
Complementaries are mutually exclusive in logical terms. Examples:
male/female
dead/alive
married/single
Is there always a clear distinction?
Hermaphrodites exist. The case of Eluana Englaro. Italian couples
who get married in church but not in the municipality.
Mis-use of complementaries for ideological reasons:
If you are not with us, you are against us.
Fessi e furbi.
I giudici sono antropologicamente diversi.
Gradable antonymy
rich/poor hot/cold difficult/easy
There are degrees of wealth and poverty.
“Note that the ‘truth’ of many real-world situations (e.g. in conflicts)
is probably more gradable than complementary, but the tendency to
use complementaries to make a ‘good story’ is often stronger than the
desire to demonstrate the middle ground.” (Jeffries, 2010: 57)
Amos Oz (Israeli writer) comments on the conflict between Israeli
and Palestinians: “[…] my definition of a tragedy is a clash between
right and right.”
Converses
“Converses are pairs of words which have a different perspective on
the same scenario, often either a transaction or a relationship.
Unlike complementaries, they are mutually dependent, rather than
mutually exclusive.” (Jeffries, 2010: 57) Examples:
sell/buy
borrow/lend
husband/wife
Directional or reverse opposition
arrive/leave (depart)
dress/undress
ascend/descend
Equating (Jeffries 2010: 59)
Examples
Intense relational
equivalence
X is Y; X seems Y; X became
Y
Nationalism is dangerous
Their policy seems irrational
The president became an
embarrassment
Appositional equivalence
X, Y, (Z) etc.
The reform has been a
failure, a bad joke
Metaphorical equivalence
X is Y; X is like Y, the X of Y
etc.
He’s a Martian
She’s like a spoilt child
He has the courage of a lion
Julius Caesar Act 3, scene 2
BRUTUS’S SPEECH
Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my
cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me
for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that
you may believe: censure me in your wisdom, and
awake your senses, that you may the better judge.
If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of
Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar
was no less than his. If then that friend demand
why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:
--Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and
die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live
all free men? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;
as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was
valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I
slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his
fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his
ambition. Who is here so base that would be a
bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended.
Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If
any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so
vile that will not love his country? If any, speak;
for him have I offended. I pause for a reply.
If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of
Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar
was no less than his. If then that friend demand
why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:
--Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
Rome more.
Had you rather Caesar were living and
die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live
all free men?
As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;
as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was
valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I
slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his
fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his
ambition.
EQUATING Brutus’s responses are appropriate given Caesar’s
three positive qualities and one great negative quality:
Caesar
Brutus
+ … loved me… … his love…
… I weep for him… … tears for his love…
+ … he was fortunate… … his fortune…
… I rejoice… … joy for his fortune…
+ … he was valiant… … his valour…
… I honour him… … honour for his valour…
- … he was ambitious… … his ambition…
… I slew him… … death for his ambition…
Who is here so base that would be a
bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended.
Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If
any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so
vile that will not love his country? If any, speak;
for him have I offended. I pause for a reply.
ANTONY
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men-Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
Lesson 9: a traitor to her sex?
I'm a FEMALE male chauvinist - and proud of it
By ANGELA EPSTEIN
(The Daily Mail, 2008)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-507148/Im-FEMALEmale-chauvinist--proud-it.html#ixzz1H2dhD31J
US Democratic presidential primaries 2008
Barack Obama
winner in 29 states
17,584,692 votes
47.31% of votes
Hillary Clinton
winner in 21 states
17,857,501 votes
48.04% of votes
French presidential elections 2007
Nicolas Sarkozy
18,983,138 votes
53.06% of vote
Ségolène Royal
16,790,440 votes
46.94% of vote
As the plane reached cruising speed, the captain's voice crackled
across the Tannoy to welcome us aboard and give us details about
the flight ahead. Almost immediately I began to shift nervously in
my seat. Not because we were being told of impending turbulence or
being given giddy-making statistics about our altitude and speed.
What unsettled me was the voice coming over the loud speaker. Our
captain was a woman.
With a female pilot at the helm, my husband immediately made
some comment about women drivers before returning to his
crossword. I, on the other hand, felt uncomfortable and found it
hard to relax for the rest of the flight. All I could think about was
this young woman - well, she sounded young - cradling 200 lives in
the palm of her hand. The sisterhood may blanch at my reaction but
the fact is that, despite being a woman, I am at heart a "male
chauvinist".
Though I applaud female ambition and advancement, when it
comes to real power, I feel so much happier if a man holds the
reins. Although my husband and I had different reasons for our
reactions to the lady captain, our responses were diametrically
sexist. We both queried - albeit in his case through macho good
humour and without real recourse to anxiety - the validity of a
woman being in command of a massive passenger jet.
You might expect this from men, but coming from a fellow female
it's a radical and, to some, appalling view. But it is one that is
sincerely felt and which has become increasingly apparent to me as
more women advance into professions that were once the sole
preserve of men. So am I being treacherously disloyal to my own
sex? Well, before the braburners start hurling the embers of their
lingerie at me, you need only to take a long look at the world at
large to realise my latent male chauvinism isn't operating in
isolation.
Why, for example, aren't the women of America bulldozing all
opposition and sending Hillary Clinton to the White House as the
first credible female candidate in history? She may have squeaked
home in New Hampshire this week, but she had been humiliated in
Iowa. Could it be that Mrs Clinton's mannish trouser suits and
selfaggrandising, policy-driven speeches smack of the masculine
touch - and what heterosexual woman wants fake machismo in
power?
And there's a double turn-off since this ambitious senator was
betrayed by her own biology when she was reduced to tears this
week on the stump. Like many women, she understandably gave
into the hormonal urge to blub when faced with a setback. But
with this acknowledgement of our sex's innate weakness, would
you really want her manicured hand on the nuclear button?
By the same token it was no surprise when glamorous Segolene
Royal was beaten by Nicolas Sarkozy for the French presidency
last year. Sarkozy's tough take on social reform (along with his
ability to bag a former supermodel) reeks of the kind of
testosterone-fuelled power that makes a female electorate
swoon.
“testosterone-fuelled power that makes a female electorate swoon”
The difference between Sarkozy and
Obama
Power means convincing those you protect that everything's
under control. For this reason, I have always had a male
obstetrician oversee my four pregnancies. And though female
midwives help you through labour, when your blood pressure
goes into overdrive how wonderful it feels when the male doctor
dashes in to sort things out. I wanted the key decisions about my
unborn children to be in male hands.
Do I think female doctors are less able? No, but I know who I'd
rather have looking after me. It's not that I take issue with
female success. After all, women have made great strides in
every aspect of professional life. And having attended an allgirls' school which numbers a suffragette among its former
pupils, I was educated in an atmosphere of limitless
possibilities. Believe me, you won't find my male chauvinism
rooted in jealousy, spite or bitchiness either. I salute the female
executives who power their way through the so-called glass
ceiling.
Yet when power is absolute - say, keeping 200 passengers
suspended in mid-air at 500 miles an hour or carrying out lifechanging surgery - I want a man to be in charge. Even Mrs
Thatcher - the patron saint of achieving women - never called
herself a trailblazer for other women and gave all the plum
cabinet jobs to men.
My chauvinistic feelings may be sourced in the fact that every
girl inherits the princess gene which dictates her desire for a
strong male role model to cosset and comfort her. I see it in my
three-year-old daughter who runs to her older brothers or her
daddy when a dog barks at her in the park. She trusts them
more than me to protect her.
There's also a dash of the old "damsel in distress" dynamic at
play, too. Face it, ladies, if you were trapped in a burning
building would you rather be rescued by a strapping bloke or a
woman who looked like a librarian?
When you have a flat tyre and need help, do you stop a male or
female passer-by?
The fact is that when we women are tired, weak, compromised,
in need of sympathy and vulnerable, nothing beats the strong
arm of male capability and its implied protection. There always
should be and will be female soldiers, surgeons, airline pilots,
world leaders. To these highly skilled and talented women, I
salute your success. But perhaps I'm even more grateful to those
who don't get right to the top.