Lesson 1

Discuss some of your experiences in dealing with grammar and semantics particularly on revealing
meaning, language organization and expressing of meanings.
I worked in a call center for only a month, but my experience working there feels like I’ve spent
half my life there. Talking to a native speaker of the English language is not as hard as I thought. As
I observe, some of them don’t actually care about the grammar. They say what they want, and
that’s what's important to them. But in our training, they taught us all the basics of using words.
They also taught us how to sound empathetic because Americans are sensitive.
Lesson 2
What are the significance of Natural and Conventional signs on how they work in representing
things and even concepts?
Natural and conventional signs are significant in ways that others cannot express themselves
verbally or are not born to speak. And one of the ways they communicate is through natural signs.
I'm an introvert, and these signs really help me out, especially when I'm not sure how to respond or
act in a particular scenario. There is one experience I will never forget: my first solo bus ride. At
the time, I was 18 years old. I got on the bus anxiously because I didn't know what to do, and I sat
in the back, staring out the window, until I saw my school. I don't know what to say; I just stood
there nervously looking around, then I made eye contact with this one guy, and he knew exactly
what to do—he told the bus driver the magic word “para”. So, in my opinion, it is very important
because it is also a means of communication.
Lesson 3
What is the importance of corpora in Semantic Research as well as in studying the language?
Because semantics is the study of meaning, corpora are important in semantic research because
they provide us with more information about what we are studying. Languages evolve over time;
corpora help us in understanding a language by providing precise and authentic information.
LOG OF TERMS
WORDS DEFINITION
Grammar Rules of language
Natural and Conventional sign Natural ways to communicate without actually
uttering a word.
Corpus It is a language that occurs naturally.
Communication The exchange of information
Pragmatics Using words in a practical way.
Computer It both stores and processes data electronically.

SUMMATIVE TEST
1. Explain the role of computer in obtaining description of language use? Provide justifications
of your answers from the module.
  The essential qualities of a corpus, according to Lesson 3, are machine-readability,
authenticity, and representativeness. Corpus linguistics is a method of studying
language that utilizes computer-aided techniques to analyze large, principled
databases of naturally occurring language (corpora). A computer program searches a
corpus for a specific word or phrase. And that is one of the roles of computer in
obtaining description of language use.

2. Give at least 5 reasons why semantics serves as a vital part of grammar and pragmatics on
the discussions of the module. Provide justifications of your answers from the module.

 Semantics is an important component of grammar because, first and foremost, this

branch of linguistics focuses on uncovering and revealing meaning. Second, grammar
can be defined as a means of expressing meaning that works in tandem with the
words' explicit semantic content. Another point is that, according to Chomsky,
semantics is a component of the deep structure, whereas grammar is at the surface
structure at the start of his research. Semantics is also useful in pragmatics, a branch
of linguistics. Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics that is concerned with meaning.
According to the module, pragmatics and semantics are different parts, or aspects, of
the same larger study. This means that pragmatics is concerned with the logical or
practical aspect of the sentence, whereas semantics is concerned with the actual
definition of the words in the sentence.

3. Give at least 5 differences between semantics and pragmatics. Provide justifications of your
answers from the module.

 According to the lesson we tackled, these are the differences between semantics and
pragmatics. In semantics, we study human expression through language, while
pragmatics studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Semantics
focuses only on meaning, while pragmatics focuses on how people use social language
in their daily interactions with others. In semantics, the content is independent of the
context; in pragmatics, the content depends on the context. Another difference
between the two is that semantic information is encoded in the sentence, while
pragmatic information is generated by the act of uttering the sentence. And lastly,
semantics is determined by the rules of the language, and pragmatics is determined
by principles.