OPEN FOUNDATION

EPHUMA311 Intensive Linguistics

Week 1, Lecture 2

Dr Jaime Hunt
Course Coordinator
jaime.hunt@newcastle.edu.au
1
Outline for today
Guest lecturer:
Annette Morante, note-making in lectures
Academic Language
Grammar:
Determiners and Nouns
Recap and expand:
What is language?


2
What is academic writing?
Academic writing refers to a particular style of
expression.
3
Using an informal
writing style in an essay
is like wearing shorts
footy boots to a
wedding

Informal writing is fine
for diary entries, blogs,
personal writing, letters
or emails to friends.
4
Academic language
Academic language
Formal
Concise and precise
No abbreviations, slang or textspeak
Specialised terminology
Objective

5
Formal vs informal tone
They promised to help me.
The academic staff offered to assist in
improving my writing skills.

It was, like, really good.
The movie was outstanding.
6
Concise and Precise
These sounds are acceptable in word initial
position.
In which language? English? Australian
English?

One example is chien and dog.
One example of what? Which languages?

7
Concise and precise: Delete
unnecessary words
Not good:
An example of this problem is the fact that
fever patients need increased rest and
increased fluid intake.

Better:
For example, fever patients need increased
rest and increased fluids.
Concise and precise: Delete
unnecessary words
in order to to
at the present time now
at this point in time now
the reason why the reason
for the reason that because
in the even that if
are of the opinion that believe
consensus of opinion consensus

Concise and precise: Delete
unnecessary words
Avoid adjectives and adverbs:
very
quite
rather
some
lots
extremely, etc.
e.g. Adjectives are an extremely exciting word
class.

Avoid abbreviations, contractions*
etc. = and so on
e.g. = for example, for instance, some of these
are
dont, cant = do not, cannot

If in doubt, write it out

* unless in examples/direct quotes
11
Avoid slang or SMS terms
guy man
hang out meet
yabber speak/talk
u you
2moz tomorrow
12
Specialised terminology
Some linguistic terms have a different meaning
to everyday usage.
semantics = meaning
syntax = sentence formation
lexicon = mental dictionary
universal properties
phatic communion

Note any new vocabulary and how it is used
Use glossary for correct linguistic definitions
13
Objective vs. subjective
Avoid I, we, in my opinion, I think, we believe,
etc.
I think that he is wrong.
The evidence suggests that his conclusions are
incorrect.
In my opinion, the changes in the vocabulary of
every language are very gradual.
The changes in the vocabulary of every
language appear gradual.

14
General hints
Pay close attention to what you read. Note not
just the content and ideas, but also the way
the ideas are expressed.
Note any repeated phrases, e.g. On one
hand On the other hand, structure of
paragraphs/whole texts, vocabulary

15
For more information see
Chapter 12 (pp. 191-214) of:

Belmont, W. & Sharkey, S. (2009), The easy
writer: Formal writing for academic purposes.
Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education, Ch. 12, pp.
191-214

This book contains information and exercises,
with answers at the back.
16
Grammar
Definition
Word Classes
Determiners
Nouns
17
What is grammar?
Combining sounds into words Phonology
Forming words Morphology
Combining words into phrases and phrases
into sentences Syntax
Assigning meaning Semantics

18
What is grammar?
Our linguistic competence = the internalised,
unconscious set of rules that is part of every
grammar of every language.

19
Something wrong here?
20
Your mental grammar instructs you that this is
incorrect in English.
Word Class Example
Adjective big, green, happy
Adverb happily, often, very
Coordinator and, but, or
Determiner article (the, a/an, some); demonstrative
(this, that, these, those), possessive
pronoun (my, your, his, her, its, our, their)
Noun David, house, bag, Sydney
Preposition along, by, on, for, of
Pronoun I, he, them, her, my, itself
Verb grow, sing, tell, eat
21
*Colour indicates major (open) classes.
Word classes in a sentence
22
Subsets of determiners
23
Determiners
Articles
the, a/an
Demonstrative
pronouns
this, that,
these, those
Some
possessive
pronouns
my, his, her,
our, your
Determiners
Before a noun
Add specificity and definiteness to nouns
Examples:
Articles - a banana, an apple, the watermelon
Demonstratives - this mandarin, that rockmelon,
these grapes, those plums
Possessive Pronouns- my cumquat, his mango,
your orange, our fruit, her pineapple
Can only have one det., e.g. *The a banana

24
Determiners not always used
Names of languages and nationalities, e.g.
Chinese, English, Spanish
Names of sports, e.g. volleyball, hockey,
baseball
Names of academic subjects e.g.
mathematics, biology, history

25
Nouns
Generally convey the gist of a
text. Remove a noun from a
sentence and the meaning is
difficult to follow
e.g. The _____ ate all the _____.
More than just naming words.
Better to discuss them in terms
of characteristics
26
Classes of nouns
27
Nouns
Proper Nouns
(Fred, London, Times)
Common Nouns
(book, information)
Count
(book, pen, desk)
Noncount (mass)
(sugar, advice)
Concrete
(computer, member)
Abstract
(idea, supposition)
Concrete
(butter, cake, beer)
Abstract
(kindness, idealism)
Nouns
May be after a determiner
May have a different plural form
Regular plural form: +s cakes, guinea pigs
Irregular plural form: children, syllabi
Some have no change in the plural
The sheep is woolly.
The sheep are woolly.
(The verb is/are tells whether singular or plural)

28
Nouns
Inflections (grammatical endings)
Number (singular or plural, see above)
Case
Common case (no ending)
Genitive case (s or s added to show
ownership)
The girls book (one girl, one book)
The girls book (more than one girl, one
book)
The girls books (more than one girl, more
than one book).


29
Nouns
Derivational endings, e.g.
-er/-or actor, painter, writer
-ism/-tism criticism, egotism, vandalism
-ment development, management
-tion organisation, foundation

30
Examples of nouns
a banana, an apple, the watermelon
this mandarin, that rockmelon, these
grapes, those plums
my cumquat, his mango, your orange, our
fruit, her pineapple

31
Identify the nouns and determiners
1. Grapes are sold by the bunch.
2. The brakes need to be inspected.
3. William wrote well.
4. The truck carried a lot of merchandise.
5. Take the red car to her office.
6. You are not suffering from an illness.
7. The bear caught a salmon in the stream.
8. John ate the lemon pie.

32
Identify the nouns and determiners
nouns determiners
1. Grapes are sold by the bunch.
2. The brakes need to be inspected.
3. William wrote well.
4. The truck carried a lot of merchandise.
5. Take the red car to her office.
6. You are not suffering from an illness.
7. The bear caught a salmon in the stream.
8. John ate the lemon pie.

33
For more information, see
Fromkin, V. et al. (2009). pp. 10-13
Crystal, D. (2004). Rediscover Grammar (3rd.
ed.). Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education.
Question 2 on page 27 of Fromkin, V. et al.
(2009). Dont worry about being right, just
ask yourself why.

34
What is Language? - Sociolinguistics
What we do with language
How we use language in communication

35
4 functions of Language
1. Informative
2. Phatic communion
3. Expressive
4. Directive

36
Informative function
Information may be true or false
Speaker or writer may be mistaken, lying or being
exact
Main point: an attempt is being made to provide
information
Turn right at the next set of lights and then it is on the
corner of the next crossroads.
I am five years old and in kindergarten at Cooks Hill
Public School.
I will have two glasses of chardonnay, please.

37
Phatic communion
No attempt at exchanging facts, give info.
Shows politeness and accepted attitude
Empty of content
Formalities, similar to smiling, waving, shaking
hands
Establishes/maintains social relationships
Opens & closes conversations
Formulaic, ritualised
38
Phatic communion
Examples:
How are you? Fine thanks.
It was nice seeing you again
Im pleased to meet you
Dear Sir/Madam
Yours truly/sincerely
Mandarin Chinese: Have you eaten yet?
Tongan - Where is your going directed to?


39
Expressive function
Reveals feelings /attitudes of the writer
/speaker, or of the subject
Evokes feelings in the reader (or listener).
the use of language that reveals feelings
May be true expression of feelings or mere
phatic communion, e.g. What a beautiful
day!

40
Directive function
Affects someone elses thoughts or behaviour
Person does not need to carry out the
directive
May not be a question or command
Has a scale of politeness

41
Directive function
Examples:
Pass the salt.
Would you please pass the salt?
Get the lights.
Turn off the lights.
Please turn off the lights.
Kindly extinguish the illumination.
42
Directive function
Indirect directives:
Its cold in here
Do you live in a tent?
Are you trying to warm the world?
What are you trying to achieve with these
utterances?
Knowing a language encoding and decoding
messages (grammatical competence)
Reading other peoples minds is also essential

43
Language
Knowing a language encoding and decoding
messages (grammatical competence)
Reading other peoples minds is also essential
44
Further reading
Finegan E., Blair, D. & Collins, P. (2002).
Language its Structure and Use. Marrickville,
N.S.W. : Harcourt, Brace & Co


45