Graduation Examination In Linguistics - July 2009 at USSH

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Graduation Examination In Linguistics - July 2009 at USSH
Duration: 150 minutes

In my Father 's Arms © Tazzer27

Part 1. SEMANTICS (6 marks)

1.

2. Interpret the sentence & identify the figures of speech used. (1 mark)

a) Her father's illness cast a cloud over her wedding day.

→ Metaphor.
→ Her father's illness is compared to a cloud over her wedding day, which means her father's illness interfere with her wedding day or made her wedding day less happy.

b) Pearl Harbor was a sad event in america's history.

→Metonymy.
→Pearl Harbor stands for the battle of Pearl Harbor.

3. Identify the presupposition (s) in each of the following sentence. (1 mark)

a) Who discovered Pluto in 1930?

→Some one discovered Pluto in 1930.

b) We congratulated them on the successful completion of the project.

→The hearer knows who "they' refer to and what "project" they were.

→The project was completed successfully.

c) Isn't it unbelievable that they have permitted this trial to go ahead?

→They have permitted this trial to go ahead.

d) Disa doesn't want any more popcorn.

→The hearer knows who "Disa" refers to.

→Disa has already had some popcorn before that.

4. What does B's response implicature in each of the following conversation? (0.5 mark)

a) A: "Do you use your local swimming pool very much?"

    B: "The salt water hurts my eyes."    

→B doesn't use the local swimming pool very much

b) A: "Who was that man I saw you with yesterday?"

    B: "That was just someone."

→B didn't want to tell A who that man was.

5. Decide whether each of the following sentences is analytic, synthetic or contradictory. (0.5 mark)

a) All men are mortal. (Con người ai cũng chết.) 

→This is an analytic sentence.

b) A triangle is a three-sided figure. (Tam giác là hình có ba góc cạnh.)

→This is an analytic sentence.

c) A blue gas is colorless. (Ga xanh thì không màu.) 

→This is a contradictory sentence.

d) Witches are wicked. (Phù thủy thì ác độc.) 

→This is a synthetic sentence.

6. Make two situation for the following utterance, interpret its meanings and then classify it according to two different types of speech act.

"My daughter is getting married in April."