Difference

between sentence and utterance pdf

Sentence vs utterance examples. Sentence vs utterance. Difference between sentence and utterance.

Between the terms sentence and utterance, one can identify some difference when studying linguistics. First let us gain a basic understanding of what each term mean. A sentence is a group of words that convey a meaning.

An utterance is also a group of words or a part of speech in between pauses. A sentence can be in both written and spoken language.
But an utterance is usually confined to the spoken language. This is one of the differences that can be identified between the two terms. This article attempts to highlight the differences between these two terms while providing a comprehensive understanding of both terms. What is a Sentence? A sentence is a group of words that conveys a complete
meaning or thought. A sentence at least contains a subject and verb that highlights that a sentence conveys a complete meaning because it is a combination of words.
For example, when we say ‘she left,’ even though it has just the subject and verb it conveys a meaning. However, sentences are not always simple in structure. There are a number of categories in sentences such as simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and also compound-complex sentences. Here are some examples that will
highlight the nature of different types of sentences. • A cat drinks milk. (simple sentence) • I was late already but I decided to wait a bit longer for my friends. (compound sentence) • I had to work on Saturday last week because there was a lot of work. (complex sentence) • Although she asked me to come, I just could not go because Jim was sick and
I was expecting a visitor. (compound-complex sentence) In these categories, the sentence is made up of a variety of phrases. To understand the difference between a sentence and an utterance one must view the sentence as having at least a main clause while an utterance does not always have a main clause. Sometimes it can be just a few words such
as ‘not much’, ‘maybe’, which still conveys a meaning, but not a complete one. ‘A cat drinks milk. – A simple sentence’ What is an Utterance?
The word utterance can simply be understood as a unit of speech. Utterance can be defined as a part of speech between pauses and silence. This usually applies to spoken language and not for written language. This feature can be considered as a difference that exists between a sentence and an utterance. An utterance can be a single word, a group
of words, a clause or even a complete sentence.

Let us try to understand this a bit further. Unlike in written language, in spoken language, there are more pauses and silence. Imagine a speaker who is giving a speech in front of an audience. He sometimes stops and waits a bit before speaking again. In linguistics, the spoken words between two pauses, is referred to as an utterance. For example: A
person comes in front of an audience and begins a speech. He says, “Good morning, I wish to speak about the high suicide rate in the region……. Let me begin with some statistics.…As you can see” There are instances where the speaker pauses. The words spoken between two pauses are an utterance. (“Let me begin with some statistics”) However,
in written language one does not encounter such pauses.
This is because the sentences have been carefully formulated with pauses such as commas, full stops, etc. When looking at the spoken language, it is not quite easy to discern whether it is a sentence or not. This is why linguists consider a part of speech in spoken language as an utterance. ‘Good morning, I wish to speak about the high suicide rate in
the region……. Let me begin with some statistics.…As you can see’ What is the difference between Sentence and Utterance? • A sentence is a group of words that convey a meaning. • An utterance is also a group of words or a part of speech in between pauses. • Both a sentence and utterance convey a meaning to the reader or listener. • The
difference between a sentence and utterance is that while a sentence conveys a complete meaning through a combination of clauses, an utterance conveys a meaning through a few words that may not even compile a clause. • A sentence is in both written and spoken language, but an utterance is in spoken language only.

Images Courtesy: The main difference between sentence and utterance is that the sentence coveys a complete meaning, either spoken or written, whereas utterance usually does not necessarily convey a complete meaning. Communication is the only way two human beings can interact and share their thoughts and sentiments with each other. There
are two major means of communication as verbal and non-verbal communication. Sentences, therefore, belong to both verbal and non-verbal types of communication since they can either be spoken or written. Yet an utterance is typically a sound or incomplete spoken group of words that belong to the verbal type of communication. Key Areas Covered
1.

What is a Sentence – Definition, Structure, Types 2. What is an Utterance – Definition, Characteristics 3. Difference Between Sentence and Utterance – Comparison of Key Differences Key Terms Communication, Words, Language, Sentence, Utterance What is a Sentence A sentence is a complete thought or statement which conveys a
complete meaning. This can either be in the spoken or written form. Thus, a sentence at least primarily consists of a subject, a verb, and an object. Addition to this fundamental parts in a sentence, there may be phrases and clauses as well. However, what should be kept in mind is that a sentence is a group of words that give a complete meaning. In
linguistics, sentence structures with regard to varied languages are learned. In the English language, the structure of a sentence is as follows: Subject + Verb + Object Accordingly, a sentence should consist at least these three fundamental components in order to categorize it as a sentence, or it must at least have a main clause to stand
independently. He went to school. We study English. My dog loves cats. Figure 1: Constituents in a Sentence However, there are also several sentence categories that convey a complete meaning, especially with the use of intransitive verbs; for example, “She left”. Therefore, in a sentence, the main clause is a necessity. Sentence Structures There are
four sentence structures as Simple Sentence – a sentence with just one independent clause Complex sentence – a sentence with an independent clause and at least one dependent clause Compound sentence – a sentence with at least two independent clauses Compound-Complex Sentence – a sentence with at least two independent clauses and at least
one dependent clause Sentence Types Moreover, there are four types of sentences as Declarative sentence – states a fact and ends with a period / full stop Imperative Sentence – states a command or a polite request Interrogative Sentence – asks a question and ends with a question mark Exclamatory Sentence – expresses excitement or emotion What
is an Utterance An utterance is considered the smallest unit of speech. It can be defined as “a natural unit of speech bounded by breaths or pauses.” Thus, it necessarily doesn’t covey a complete meaning. An utterance can, therefore, be a clause, a single word, pause, and even a meaningful statement. However, unlike a sentence that can exist in both
oral and written form, utterance exists only in the oral form. However, they can be represented and delineated in the written form using many ways. An utterance, since it happens primarily in the oral speech, has several related features such as facial expressions, gestures, and posture. These include stress, intonation, and tone of voice, as well
as ellipsis, which are words that the listener inserts in spoken language to fill gaps. In addition to these, an utterance may also include voiced/un-voiced pauses like “umm”, tag questions, false starts, fillers like “and stuff”, deictic expressions such as “over there” with other simple conjunctions like “and,” “but,” etc. Figure 2: Utterances Moreover, to
quote Ronald Carter and Michael McCarthy from Cambridge Grammar of English (2006 ) “”We use the term ‘utterance‘ to refer to complete communicative units, which may consist of single words, phrases, clauses and clause combinations spoken in context, in contrast to the term ‘sentence’ which we reserve for units consisting of at least one main
clause and any accompanying subordinate clauses, and marked by punctuation (capital letters and full stops) in writing.” Hence some examples for utterances can be: “Umm, what I …. No, don’t mind.” “Well.. you know…. Errr” Both a sentence and utterance convey a meaning to the reader or listener, either complete or incomplete. A sentence is a
group of words that convey a complete meaning. On the contrary, an utterance is a natural unit of speech bounded by breaths or pauses, thus usually not conveying a complete meaning. Form While a sentence exists in both spoken and written form, an utterance exists only in the spoken form. Linguistic Category Sentences are the basic structures in
semantics whereas utterances are the smallest unit of speech. Semantic Structure The semantic structure of a sentence varies according to the language. However, a sentence basically has a subject, a verb, and an object. In contrast, an utterance does not have a specific semantic structure since even a burp, or a pause is categorized as an utterance.
Conclusion Both sentence and utterance bear significance in linguistics and in communication among humans. Though they appear similar, they have distinct differences between them. The main difference between sentence and utterance is that sentence coveys a complete meaning expressed either in the spoken or written form whereas utterance
usually does not convey a complete meaning and it is primarily expressed in the spoken form. Reference: 1. “Utterance.” SIL Glossary of Linguistic Terms, 24 Apr. 2017, Available here.2. “Utterance.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Aug. 2018, Available here.3. Shrives, Craig. “What Is a Sentence? (with Examples of the Different Types of
Sentence).” Ellipsis | What Is Ellipsis? Available here. Image Courtesy: 1. “Constituent structure analysis English sentence” By Chiswick Chap – Corrected from File: Basic constituent structure analysis English sentence.svg by AnonMoos.
– Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia 2. “He loves me pg 2” by gokuspasm (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Deviant Art A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content. You're Reading a Free Preview Page 2 is not shown in this preview.
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