Applied Linguistics

Teacher: MSc. Israel Bravo

Name: Brittany de Lourdes Matamoros Guevara Date: 8/1/2023

Course: PIN-S-MA-5 (3)

Classwork 3: Linguistics Principles

Answer the following questions. Respond accordingly. Look for more information from other
sources if necessary

1. If a researcher decided to analyze the English language of the period when Shakespeare
wrote his most famous tragedies, would it be a synchronic or diachronic linguistic analysis?
Explain why?

It would be synchronic because he would be studiying a single point in the english lenguage
development.

2. Explain how you understand prescriptiveness in linguistics. In your opinion, is it a positive or a

negative approach?

Prescriptiveness, as i understood it, is when linguists define how should be used the lenguage
"correctly" insteed of the lenguage evolving by its own natural use. It is a very negative
aproach in my personal opinion.

3. Write some expressions, both in English and Spanish, which would be examples of the phatic
function of language.

"You hear me well?" “¿Me escuchas bien?”

“Good morning!” “¡Buenos días!”

4. Can you think of examples of utterances where the expressive function would be much more
prominent than the communicative one?

I think that an example in which the expressive function would be more prominent would be
when it comes to expressing our emotions. For example, I tell a friend that I feel bad, the act
itself is communicative but the message predominates, the feelings in it.

5. How do you understand innateness of language?

Language is a tool that transforms the human being and his relatives, opening borders,
creating societies, uniting us as more than individuals with messages and consciousness.
 Applied Linguistics
Teacher: MSc. Israel Bravo

6. Explain the terms paradigmatic and syntagmatic in your own words. Provide other examples
to clarify the idea.

a) A paradigm relationship is another semantic relationship between words that can be

replaced by another word in the same category.
b) A syntactic relationship is a semantic relationship between words that appear in the same
sentence or text.

7. Think about your usual academic (classes) day. Do you speak more or do you write more?
In this connection, would you give priority to spoken or written language?

I think I am one of the people who writes the most, it seems important to me to improve my
English writing, especially when it comes to social networks. How am I going to write an email
if I don't know how to write a sentence? But don't get me wrong, I think speech is even more
important, it is the tool that communicates face to face with an individual and creates
connection and self-confidence, as well as opening career pathways.

Submit your answers on a PDF document.