ELT101 ACTIVITY

Submitted by:
Mary Jane T. Tamparong
BSED - 1 English
Submitted to:
Mrs. Lorelei Marie Enar
Instructor
 1. Discuss the difference between semantics and pragmatics.

Answer:

The difference between semantics and pragmatics is that semantics studies

the relationships between the units of language ( phonemes, morphemes,
lexemes, Syntax, and context ) and their meaning while pragmatics is
concerned with how language is used in communication. In a simplest
explanation, semantics refers to meaning, whereas pragmatics refers to the
deeper understanding of a meaning. Semantics studied the meaning that
words and certain combinations of words hold for both the speaker and
listener. Pragmatics deals with how the topic in which words are used can
dictate their true meaning at that particular time. The aim of semantics is to
discover why meaning is more blended than simply the words formed in a
sentence. For example, if someone asks you, “Are you okay?”your response
may be, “yes, I’m fine.” even if the truth is you're not really fine. Semantics
looks at literal and implied meanings. The implication words may carry, and
how these meanings can change across different contexts. It studies the
relationship between words and phrases. It’s more like interpreting irony, when
someone says one thing but means another, or it often conveys criticism or
sarcasm. When someone says, “What a peaceful day!” while huddling together
with the passengers in a bus . This would be ironic because it implies
disappointment with the current situation despite saying otherwise through
their words. Pragmatics on the other hand, is a branch of linguistics that deals
with the study of language whose focus is on conversational implicature or
indirect speech act where it means by when the speaker sometimes spoke
indirectly. An example of this is “I am leaving”. You are informing someone
that you’ll be leaving and it’s time to say goodbye. Pragmatics is social
communication, it is important in building relationships socially with other
people.

2. Does Language change apply to all languages in the world?

Answer:
 The way people think of the world is influenced directly by the language that
people used to talk about it. Every language has its history, changes are
constantly taking place in the course of the learned transmission of a
language from one generation to another. Language as of today is continually
changing. Though it is unlikely that we’ll see a world that speaks one language
any time soon. Sometimes language changes for several reasons, it changes
because the needs of its speakers also changes. Several factors that affect the
language or the changes of language are new technologies, new products,
and new experiences.

3. Discuss the following

a. Stress
b. Intonation
c. Morphology
d. Syntax
e. Enunciation
f. Pronunciation

Answer:

a. Stress is a natural human response that raises an issue for us to address the
challenges and threats in our lives. Everyone experiences stress at different
levels and situations. It is often triggered when we experience something
new or under pressure by society's standards, sometimes stress occurs the
moment we feel we don’t have control over something. We all deal with
stress differently.

b. Intonation according to David Crystal, an author of “A Little Book of Language.”

Intonation refers to the way our voice rises and falls as we speak. It refers to
changing of the tone in a person’s voice when sounding out particular words.
c. Morphology in linguistics is the study of words, how they are formed, and
their relationship with other words in the same language. The term
morphology is Greek and is made up of “morph-" meaning “shape, form” and
-ology which means “the study of something”. Morphology studied how
words are created from smaller elements and changes made to those smaller
elements in the process of building lexemes and word forms. In linguistic
view, many experts define it as the study of the internal structure of the
words.

d. Syntax can be defined as a set of rules, principles, and processes that guides
over the structuring of sentences in any given language. It defines rules that
need to be followed when forming sentences from words, clauses,
punctuation, and phrases. It involves right choice of words, correct tenses,
matching number, proper arrangement of words and phrases.

e. Enunciation is an act of pronouncing words or parts of words clearly. An act

of saying a word concisely and clearly, so the correct sounds and the whole
word can be understood. Good enunciation makes our speech easy to
understand for others and helps us to communicate our message clearly. For
instance, saying “going to” instead of “gonna is an example of good versus
poor articulation. Also correct enunciation is the complete utterance of all the
sounds of a syllable or a word.

f. Pronunciation is an act of producing the sounds of speech, including

articulation, stress, and intonation, often with reference to some standard of
correctness or acceptability. Pronunciation refers to the way in which we
make the sound of words. To pronounce words, we push air from our lungs up
through our throat and vocal chords, through our mouth, past our tongue
and out between our teeth and lips.