This lecture's topic was "Applied Linguistics" and how to apply text theory e.g. by formatting a text.

Homework

1. What are text objects? Name two and give typical properties.
2. What are document objects? Name one and give typical properties.
3. What are paragraph styles? Name two types of paragraph. For each type, give their typical properties.

1. characters: properties of characters are font, size, colour; characters can also be underlined, made bold or be written in italics.
   tables: properties of tables include borders, number of rows/columns, spacing, head-row and also properties of the characters which fill out the cells
2. page: properties of a page are the size, the margin, header and footer
3. Paragraph styles in word processors format paragraphs by giving a clear structure to them. Paragraph properties are e.g. headings and subheadings (heading 1, heading 2,...), spacing, indentation. In word processors these properties are usually predefined in the "Default"-settings, but a user can alter these settings to make them more appropriate for his purpose.

The lecture on January, 18 dealt with lexical and sentence semantics, semantic components and semantic relations.

Tasks

1. Find examples of at least 3 appraisive expressions in German and English
2. What would be a prototypical
• car
• dog
3. Make your own definition for "casting show"
4. Describe the meaning of
• The Scissor Sisters sing
• Today the Scissor Sisters sing

1. English:
   • ... the greatest event...
   • absolutely boring
   • beautiful
   German:
   • super
   • total gut
   • langweilig
   
   
2. prototypical car: depends on the country from where you are or for people from which country you have to find this prototype; e.g. in Germany/for Germans you probably would name VW or Mercedes
   prototypical dog: e.g. a shepherd


3. A "casting show" is a show which searches for talented singers/actors/dancers/...


4. • The Scissor Sisters sing: general statement
   • Today the Scissor Sisters sing: a statement referring to a special date

Previous week's topic ("Structure") was continued. During the first part of this lecture we looked again on structural relations. After this revision followed the introduction of semiotic relations and of the sign hierarchy. Afterwards we looked at the text structure of several examples (e.g. a recipe, a website, an instruction).

Homework

1. Identify the syntagmatic relations in the following constructions:
• “department store detective”
• “three people saw a woman and her dog in the shop”
2. Identify the paradigmatic relations in the following sets (describe similarities and differences):
• {/p/, /t/, /k/}
• {“object”, “furniture”, “chair”, “table”}
• {“walk”, “drive”, “run”, “ride”}

1. In " department store detective" there is a syntagmatic relation between "department", "store" and "detective". This relation determines the word order: you cannot say e.g. "store department detective" or "store detective department", at least not without changing the meaning.
   The syntagmatic relations in "three people saw a woman and her dog in the shop” "glue" together the nouns and the verb as subject/object and predicate.
2. The items all belong to the same category: {/p/, /t/, /k/} are devoiced consonants. "Paradigmatical relations" mean relations of choice, which in turn means that you can "replace" e.g. /p/ with /t/ and the result would still make sense ("pool" vs. "tool"), however, the meaning can be different. The same is with the other sets: {"object”, “furniture”, “chair”, “table"} and {“walk”, “drive”, “run”, “ride”} belong to the same wordfield ("furniture"/ "verbs of movement") and are replaceable by each other with possible change in meaning.

The lecture introduced the topic of syntax with the subtopics "Structure" and "Structural relations", "Parts of speech" and "Phrasal categories".

The topic of this lecture was "Acoustic Phonetics", especially speech waveform and spectral transform (which can be done e.g. by using special software like Praat

Homework

Download the Praat software on to your computer:

• install it
• read an audio file
• experiment with the software

The audio file used for this is the phrase "A tiger and a mouse were walking in the field".

This is what the waveform of the whole sentence looks like:

You also can select parts and draw waveforms of them; this is what "walking" looks like:

This is the "walk-" part of the word:

Take a look at models of the ear: summarise the
functions of the outer ear, the middle ear, the inner ear

outer ear:

• collecting sound vibrations and carrying them to the eardrum
• wax glands: producing wax to prevent foreign objects from traveling down the ear canal

• vibrations of ossicles amplify and are transmitted into the inner ear (cochlea)
• eustachian tube: controlling air pressure and bringing in fresh oxygen

• structures for hearing and balance
• moving of hair cells in the cochlea produces electric impulses which are sent to the brain and interpreted there as sound information

The topic is still morphology (=words and their parts) and word formation.

Homework

A derivation creates a new word by adding an affix to the stem. An inflection only relates the word to its context (e.g. by turning it from singular to plural).

What is the difference between derivation and
compounding?

derivation
• stem + affix (+ affix + affix + affix...)
compounding
• stem + stem (+ stem + stem + stem...)

Collect 5 longish words and

• divide them into morphemes
• show construction of a word from their stems as tree diagrammes

out|stand|ing|ly|

green|house| effect

ex|press|ion

con|text|ual

This lecture's topic were the components of words (especially morphemes) and word formation, particularly compounding.

Homework

Find compounds in English with a head that is a

a noun
• timetable
• doorway
• sky diver

a verb
• to breakdance
• to overwrite
• to overlook

an adjective
• grassgreen
• headstrong
• snow-white

Find compounds in English with a modifier that is a

noun
• screenplay
• sketch book
• football

verb
• giveaway
• password
• driveway

adjective
• greenhouse
• blueberry
• blueprint

preposition
• to underline
• to overcome
• overview

"Beowulf" is the oldest surviving epic in British literature which describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the 6th century.

Com þa to recede rinc siðian,
dreamum bedæled. Duru sona onarn,
fyrbendum fæst, syþðan he hire folmum
æthran;

Came to the building warrior traveling,
dram deprived. Door soon pushed back,
forged bar fast, since his hand touched it;

==>
• Com = came
• þa = then
• dreamum = dream (--> Latin ending)
• duru = door
• sona = soon

Homework:

Development of English

• The "start" of English language by the Celts; Latin
• 5th-11th century: Old English period; Viking influence on the language
• 11th-15th century: Middle English period; influence by Norman French, Latin, Greek, French
• Modern English; in the 17th century division into many branches like American English, Canadian English, etc. due to expansions; language influenced by Spanish, American Indian etc.

What is the significance of Celtic/Latin?

Celtic and Latin had a lot of influence on English, several words and toponyms from these two languages has been taken over (--> examples of borrowing from Latin see here) and enriched the language.

English today:

• Northern English (e.g. Geordie -> Northumberland, Cumbrian)
• East Midlands English ( e.g. in Derbyshire)
• West Midlands English (e.g. Brummie -> Birmingham)
• East Anglian English (e.g. Norfolk/Suffolk dialect)
• South East England (e.g. Cockney/London)
• West Country dialects (e.g. in Cornwall)
• Scottish English + Glaswegian
• Welsh English + Pembrokshire dialect

• Australia, New Zealand
• Canada
• USA
• UK
• some of the African countries
• some Caribbean countries

Quiz 1

• Why are Portuguese and Spanish the official national languages
  of South American states?
• Why are varieties of Dutch among the official national
  languages of Indonesia and South Africa?
• Why is English the official national language of the USA,
  Australia, New Zealand?

---> colonal expansion

In which African countries are the following Indo-European
languages among the official national languages?

• English
• French
• Portuguese

See the following table: IE_languages_Africa (html, 1 KB)

Quiz 2

Where did the Celts originate?

hypothesis:

• Pontic-Caspian steppes
• Basque people
• Urnfield culture (preeminent in Central Europe during late Bronze Age)

Name 3 Celtic town names in the area of modern
Germany and give their meanings:

• Remagen ( meaning "king's field"/"king's area")
• Dormagen
• Andernach

Where do the Celts live now?

• Brittany
• Cornwall
• Ireland
• Isle of Man
• Scotland
• Wales

What is their significance for English studies?

• influence of English (e.g. many town names have a Celtic origin)
• Celts --> Gaelic language (now spoken in Ireland and in North-West Scotland), Welsh