Reference no: EM133059194 , Length: word count:800

QXL 4411 Foundations Of Linguistics - Bangor University

Semantics and Pragmatics

Choose two of the topics and write an 800 word essay +/- 10% on each. Any questions should be addressed to Christopher Shank.

1. [SEMANTICS] Compare and contrast the Classical Theory of categories/concepts with the more recent Prototype Theory. Each theory works well for some examples and less well with others. You should discuss these in your answer. Please use plenty of your own examples.

2. [SEMANTICS] On the level of meaning, words relate to each other in multiple ways showing similarity (such as synonyms), hierarchy (such as hyponyms), and difference (such as various kinds of antonyms). And sentences can contradict or entail each other logically. Discuss such meaning relations on word and sentence level using appropriate terminology and suitable examples.

3. [PRAGMATICS] In your own words, and using your own examples, discuss the notion of ‘indirect speech acts' in relation to politeness. Feel free to take a cross-cultural approach to this question.

4. [PRAGMATICS] Language is notoriously underspecified - there are gaps in meanings everywhere, and we fill these in by background knowledge and inferences. According to Sperber& Wilson (1986), relevance explains these processes sufficiently. Discuss and critically explore this idea using lots of examples. Note: You don't need in-depth knowledge of Relevance Theory; it suffices for this assignment if you have grasped the main ideas as discussed in the lecture, with some background reading.

5. [SEMANTICS and PRAGMATICS] There is no clear boundary between the fields of semantics and pragmatics. Discuss phenomena (such as different types of ‘implied meaning') where the two fields are close together and merge into each other or overlap, based on plenty of examples.