Language activites for improving the linguistic competence of first year students in thai nguyen university

LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING THE LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School Batangas Sta

Trang 1

LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING THE LINGUISTIC

COMPETENCE OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

IN THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School Batangas State University Batangas City, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree

Of Doctor of Philosophy Major in English

By:

NGO THI BICH NGOC

April 2015

Trang 2

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines

Trang 3

ABSTRACT

Competence of the First Year Students in Thai Nguyen University

to communicate with one another, form bonds and teamwork Without language a person would not be able to communicate verbally or written, not

be able to read, write or communicate with each other thoroughly orally, written and electronically At present, the importance of language is recognized by many institutions In learning the complexities of language, creation of a warm and comfortable environment for the learner is a must

The purpose of the study is to determine the linguistic competence of First Year Students of Thai Nguyen University The study used descriptive

Trang 4

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines

research The respondents of the study comprised of 382 freshman students and 66 college teachers The data gathering instruments utilized includesurvey questionnaires for the teacher respondents and the teacher made test for the student respondents Statistical tools used were frequency, percentage and rank, linear regression, coefficient of correlation, weighted mean, standard deviation, and t-test

The following were the findings of the study: students got an average level or above 50 percent performance in their linguistic competence along the areas of connotation, denotation, antonyms, synonyms, ambiguities and vocabulary as well as in word-formation in the areas of acronym, clipping, blending and compounding Relative to the items in the different clusters which students find most difficult, it was observed that for connotation, the most difficult item is item 8, for denotation is item 20

The most difficult item in the test area of antonyms is item 28; for synonyms, is item 34; in the case of ambiguities, it is item 44; and for the vocabulary test, it is item 55 In word formation, it can be observed that for acronym, the most difficult item is item 69, for clipping is item 74 while for blending, it is item 87 For compounding, the most difficult item is item 93

In the teachers‟ assessments of the linguistic and word- formation

Trang 5

competencies, six skills which included four skills in linguistic area and two skills in the word- formation area showed rank differences of 10 or less, indicating that these were the skills where the perception of the teachers were relatively congruent which revealed that they had unclear understanding of the abstract concepts of linguistic and word formation areas and their test application

In the relationship between the teachers‟ assessment and the level of students‟ linguistic and word formation competencies it was observed that

among the 11 mean combinations being compared, all showed significant values at 0.05 significant level This tend to the rejection of the null hypothesis

p-of no significant relationships

Language activities were designed based on the four indicated skill areas and belong to linguistic skills and none from word formation skills It was only in the four areas of linguistic skills that the students need language activities for them to cope with their skills requirement Recommendations of the study include providing students with exposures on varied learning activities to enhance further their linguistic competencies; presenting the developed language activities to language teachers for further suggestions; and conducting further study on other components of communicative competence maybe done

Trang 6

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The researcher would like to convey her deepest gratitude and sincerest

appreciation to the following persons whose valuable contributions have helped much to make this academic work a reality:

To Dr Matilda H Dimaano, dissertation adviser, who tirelessly worked on reading version after version of this manuscripts, and for providing valuable inputs and insightful comments that improved this study as well as for the encouragement and assistance that facilitated its completion;

Dr Nguyen The Hung, director of International Training and Consultancy Center for his encouragement;

To the panel members: Dr Ma Luisa Valdez, Dr Amada Banaag, Dr Felix Panopio, Dr Myrna G Sulit, Dr Remedios P Magnaye for their valuable insights which greatly improved this work;

The teachers and the student respondents of the study for their active involvement and cooperation;

To her friends for their encouragement and support; and

To her parents and siblings for their love, concern and understanding and for being an inspiration in pursuing this academic endeavor

Trang 7

DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to my loving and ever supportive husband,

Mr Le Huy and my loving son, Le Minh, to my family, and to my dear Thai Nguyen University community

Ngo Thi Bich Ngoc

Trang 8

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE i

APPROVAL SHEET ii

ABSTRACT iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT vi

DEDICATION vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS……… viii

LIST OF TABLES ……… xi

LIST OF FIGURES xiii

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction 1

Statement of the Problem 7

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study 8

Significance of the Study 9

II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Conceptual Literature 11

Research Literature 52

Synthesis 59

Theoretical Framework 63

Trang 9

Conceptual Framework 65

Hypothesis 68

Definition of Terms 68

III RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE Research Environmen……… 71

Research Design 73

Subjects of the Study 74

Data Gathering Instrument 76

Data Gathering Procedure 78

Statistical Treatment of Data 80

IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 81

V SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Summary of Findings 139

Conclusions 155

Recommendations 157

BIBLIOGRAPHY 158

APPENDICES A Test for Students 167

Trang 10

B Questionnaire for Teachers 187

C Validation Letter 1 on the Test for Students & Teachers Questionnaire 193

D Validation Letter 2 on the Test for Students & Teachers Questionnaire 194

E Validation Letter 3 on the Test for Students & Teachers Questionnaire 195

F Letter of Request to the Heads of Institutions 196

G Response Letter of the Heads of Institutions 201

H Photographs of the Study Sites 202

I Photographs of Students Respondents 203

J Photographs of Teacher Respondents 206

K Photographs of Teacher-Made Test and Survey Questionnaire Validation 207

L Psychrometric Conversion Table……… 208

CURRICULUM VITAE

Trang 11

LIST OF TABLES

1 Distribution of Sample Respondents 75

2 Performance of Students‟ Linguistics Test 82

3 Performance of Students‟ Word- Formation Test 93

4a Most Difficult Items in Linguistic Test 100

4b Most Difficult Items in Linguistic Test 101

5 Most Difficult Items in Word- Formation Test 105

6a Students‟ Skills Perceived as Linguistic/ Word-Formation Competencies 110

6b Students‟ Skills Perceived as Linguistic/ Word- Formation Competencies 111

7 Students‟ Linguistic Skills According to the Frequency of Use 112

8 Students‟ Linguistic Skills According to the Degree Importance 114

9 Comparison of the Teachers‟ Perception and Students‟ Performance in Linguistics and Word- Formation 116

Trang 12

10 Areas in Linguistic Competencies as

Bases for the Design of Language

Activities 119

Trang 13

LIST OF FIGURES

1 Research Paradigm on the Linguistic

Competence of First Year Students in Thai Nguyen University 67

Trang 14

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction

In our world today, language is our means of communication and learning It is one‟s knowledge and a tool of expression of thoughts,

perceptions and sentiments Thoughts and ideas can never be expressed and can‟t be understood by one another without good language

Language is considered important because it is the vehicle for communication between countries, cultural groups, various companies, organization, communities and friends It also represents a fundamental expression of social identity As a mirror that allows a person to understand what one is thinking, language is considered complex and constantly evolving

It allows cultures with their shared set of values, customs and history to exist and as a part of speech language is important for one‟s survival for it forges

friendship, cultural ties and economic relationship

Thoughts and emotions are shaped by language and it also determines one‟s perceptions and reality It is considered the light of the mind and its

retention helps maintain feeling of cultural kinship Knowledge of the English language is one of most important aspect for the learners for it is considered

Trang 15

the key factor to competitiveness Because language enables people to communicate and express themselves, it becomes an important part of any society

As a currency used in exchanging ideas, language is considered the simple greatest skill an individual should possess and master It holds societies together and mankind evolves, grows and prospers through language It is the key that unlocks minds

In everyday lives, language is essential in interaction Language is use

to give information to people around us, expressing feelings, desires and questions as well as understanding the world In varied situations communication is done effectively through words, gestures and tone of voice Through the use of language, people are able to communicate with one another, form bonds and teamwork Without language a person would not be able to communicate verbally or written, not be able to read, write or communicate with each other thoroughly With language, one would have the ability to transmit and transport ideas orally, written and electronically

At present, the importance of language is recognized by many institutions Second language teaching is being offered by some schools as early as middle school and they are requiring specific language requirements for those who would like to study in the schools

Trang 16

In learning the complexities of language, creation of a warm and comfortable environment for the learner is a must It is of vital importance that learner must develop his communication skill since this will serve as the foundation of his future communication abilities Having effective communication skills serve as an asset for lifetime quality communication

Learning other language besides the national language is also of vital importance since it helps to have additional knowledge of other people and cultures One‟s knowledge of mother tongue is also considered important to

preserve identity as language is said to be logical code apart from social and cultural actions It is also fundamental to have knowledge on the concept of language to understand the teaching practice of foreign language It is impossible for teachers to develop any kind of effective and successful communication among learners as well as any kind of sharing of ideas without language

As a system of linguistic knowledge which is possessed by all and any speakers of a language, linguistic competence is a universal property, common to all human beings, regardless of race, economic class or physical characteristics, independent of his/her intellectual and personality attributes The speaker is allowed by this system to go from a finite number of rules specific of any language to the production of an infinite number of new

Trang 17

sentences

Distinguishing grammatical sentences from ungrammatical ones is covered in linguistic competence It is wrong to say that language is taught and misleading to say that it is being learned albeit language is not learned but it grows in the mind of a person For creativity of language that is the speaker‟s

ability to produce new and different sentences which constitute dialogue to take place, grammatical sentences should be immediately understood by the hearer every time conversation which is the most notable aspect of competence is established Knowledge of language in an abstract way is also important in linguistic competence This plays a major role when linguistic, social and cultural knowledge are mixed

It is stated that 70 percent of English Language happened among native speakers and that language teachers must have the knowledge that English language is not exclusive to English native speakers only So it is not the best solution for teachers to teach English focusing on native speaker‟s

non-interaction since learners interact with other people from different linguistic and cultural communities

In learning English as a foreign language, students most common difficulties encountered are attributed to the interference of their mother tongue like Vietnamese language particularly in pronunciation, syntax, and usage;

Trang 18

their lack of opportunity also to use the English language in some communication or situations in their daily lives; the kind of English lessons taught by their teachers, their being passive listeners, shyness to use English language in conversation in class or their lack of confidence in the language; and their irresponsibility in their own learning Their poor performance in English is also attributed to students‟ wrong perceptions of learning as they

tend to be more focus on other activities such as taking examinations and out class activities whereby learning is affected as they no longer equate learning with broadening knowledge which rendered learning or studying the language not interesting or worthy to students causing negative effects on their learning experiences

These causes can also be related to other issue like that of their problem

or lack of understanding of words or vocabulary In the field of literacy, relationship between students‟ vocabulary knowledge and their reading

comprehension is considered one of the best It is believed that students who were taught many vocabulary words tend to become better readers and writers Relationship between words and concepts is developed through effective vocabulary instruction Considered the basic units of thoughts and beliefs are concepts and these are labelled as words So that, if there is

Trang 19

familiarity in concept, then the corresponding word to this underlying knowledge is clearly understood, recalled and utilized

Students‟ experiences help in the development of concepts Reading

and writing are contributory factors in the growth of concepts which in turn make students understand and use more words It is believed that students‟

vocabulary increase when they elaborate their conceptual knowledge based

on known words; relate new words to known concepts or existing words since deep understanding of words richly expound and connect with other concepts

On the other hand, students need to have good intuitive command of morphology They have knowledge in specific morphemic elements and its combinations They can explore on the use of prefixes and suffixes and based words and on Greek and Latin prefixes for them to be provided with valuable prior knowledge in their learning of new terminologies

Students with better understanding on word formation such as prefixes, suffixes and roots have the tendency to acquire larger vocabularies and better comprehension in compared to those who do not have such background, knowledge and skills Having full knowledge and understanding of vocabulary improve students‟ outcomes

As a College teacher of Thai Nguyen University teaching Basic English, the researcher is interested to investigate the level of linguistic competence of

Trang 20

students in English in terms of connotation, denotation, antonyms, synonyms, and ambiguities as well as the level of students‟ understanding on word

formation relative to acronym, clipping, blending, and compounding with the end view of proposing language activities to enhance their linguistic performance This prompted the researcher to conduct the study

Statement of the Problem

This study attempts to determine the level of Linguistic Competence of the First Year Students at Thai Nguyen University

Specifically, it sought answer the following questions:

1 What are the levels of linguistic competence using the following as revealed

in the results of the Teacher Made Linguistic Test:

Trang 21

5 Are there significant relationships between teachers‟ assessments

and the levels of students‟ linguistic and word-formation competencies?

6 What English language activities may be suggested to improve

students‟ understanding of English words and concepts?

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study

The study covered the level of linguistic competency of Thai Nguyen

University first year students specifically on connotation, denotation, antonyms,

synonyms, and ambiguities, as well as their level of understanding on word-

formation in terms of acronyms, clipping, blending, and compounding The

output of the study is the proposed language activities to enhance the linguistic

competency of first year students of Thai Nguyen University

The respondents included in the study were the 500 First year College

Trang 22

students taking up Basic English course in Thai Nguyen University system

inthe Academic Year 2013-2014 Students who were in their Second year to

Fourth year level were not included in the study Results of this research study

were limited only on the data gathered from the respondents in the Academic

Year 2013-2014 in Thai Nguyen University system

Significance of the Study

This study is significant to the Administrators of Thai Nguyen University,

First Year Students, Basic English teachers, Parents of First Year Students,

the current researcher and future researchers

Administrators Findings of this study will provide relevant input for

them to be able to design an effective curriculum for the students

Administrators can utilize the results of the study by providing Faculty

Development Training program for the teachers to improve their classroom

language teaching

First Year Students of TNU This study will serve as input for them to

be aware of their linguistic performance They will be informed on their

weaknesses so that they can devise ways to improve their linguistic

performance

Faculty Teaching Basic English Results of this study will provide

Trang 23

relevant information to the faculty teaching Basic English course for them to

design their own instructional material to enhance the linguistic proficiency of

students

Parents of First Year Students of TNU Findings of this study will

provide them useful information on the present performance of their children in

Linguistic Through this study, parents as they become aware of the

weaknesses of their children may provide proper guidance and motivation for their children‟s improvement

Current Researcher This study will provide the current researcher the

opportunity to apply her knowledge and skills gained in providing answers to

linguistics problems confronting the students of Thai Nguyen University and

develop tools that could be used by teachers and administrators to address

these linguistic problems

Future Researchers This will be of use to other researchers who might

wish to conduct a similar study Future researchers may use this study to

broaden their knowledge in the field of linguistics

Trang 24

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter presents the review of conceptual and research literatures which have bearing to the present study Further, synthesis, theoretical and conceptual frameworks as well as the hypothesis, operational and conceptual definitions of terms are also included

Conceptual Literature

The following concepts provide a conceptual frame of reference to this study These include language component, linguistic competence, vocabulary development, and language activities

Language Component A human system of communication that uses

arbitrary signals such as voice sound, gestures or written symbols is termed as language As a system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables a person to express his feelings, thoughts, ideas and experiences (Goldstein, 2008) a language consists of symbols that can be used to generate

an infinite variety of messages (Weiten, 2007) It is something which arises out from work, needs, ties, joy, affection, tastes of human beings Language

is not merely a human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols (Sapir, 1921), but it is also a behavior that involves body parts like the vocal apparatus and

Trang 25

the auditory system for the oral language; the areas of the head and the neck and the visual system for sign language where such body parts are controlled

by none other than the brain for their functions (Peng, 2006) Chomsky (1957)

on the other hand pointed out that language is a set of finite or infinite sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements while Trager (1942) defined language as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols

by means of which a social group cooperates

Language encompasses fully developed primary system such as English including both phonology and syntax Chomsky (1982) emphasized that language is an entity in and of itself and that the systematicity observed

in language is due to language principles and further explained that language is not an instantiation of motor abilities or a subset of cognition and it does not follow from any mental or behavioral source

English language consists of five components These include phonology,

morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics A good language learner must

be aware of these in language learning Phonology as a distinct component of

language is concerned with sounds and gestures and abstract units such as

distinctive features, phonemes, mora, syllables and others and their

conditioned variation via allophonic rules, constraints for derivational rules

(Kingston, 2007) It relates to phonetics via the set of distinctive features

Trang 26

which map the abstract representations of speech units to articulatory,

gestures, acoustic signals and or perceptual representations (Halle, 1983)

Further, phonology is concerned with the abstract grammatical

characterization of systems of sounds or signs It concerns itself with the

system of phonemes, abstract cognitive units of speech sound or signs and

study how sounds and gestures pattern in and across languages relating such

concerns with other levels and aspects of language According to Crystal

(2005), phonology is the study of how one finds order within the apparent

chaos of speech sound It deals with how sounds interact as a system in a

particular language, how these sounds are combined, changed in combination

and which sounds produce differences in meaning through contrast

As a study of how sounds are organized and used in natural language,

phonology has something to do with the sound system of a language Every

language has its own system and English language has played a major role in

the development of phonology (Carr, 2000) The number of phonemes which

are used in a language and how they are organized are included in the Sound

system of English

Anderson et al (1981) stated that certain patterns of sound system,

patterns of sound production and sequences of sound acquisition result purely

Trang 27

from linguistic reason The inventory of sounds and their features as well as

the rules which specify how sounds interact with each other are included in

phonological system

Phonology is not only about phonemes and allophone but it also

concerns with the principles governing the phoneme system that is with what

sounds languages like to have, which sets of sounds are most common and

which are rare (Natan, 2008) There is a kind of proto type explanation as

regard to the query on the sounds produced of the phoneme system of the

languages of the world

The sound system of a language is the phonology of English

Included in the phonological system of a language is the inventory of

sounds and their features as well as rules that illustrate the interaction with

each other The aim in the study of phonological system on the other hand

is to identify the contrastive elements of phonological oppositions of a

language According to Sommerstein (1977) phonological oppositions refer

to the feature or set of features that uniquely distinguishes one phoneme

from another in a language

Chomsky and Halle (1968) explained that phonological knowledge refers

to the idiosyncratic and unpredictable aspects of language that are learned

Trang 28

and stored in mental lexicon, along with the predicable rules that associate

sound to meaning Based on phonetic context, the occurrence of other sounds

and features in a particular language is not predictable In English, voicing

instruments and the contrast between fricatives and stops as well as the

difference between central and lateral in liquids are not predictable These

features are referred to as distinctive or contrastive phonetic features

Phonemic features on the other hand are phonetic features whose

presence or absence can alter meaning According to phonetic contexts, the

presence of phonemic feature is not predictable There is a change of

meaning as well as a change in pronunciation as a result of adding or

subtracting a phonemic feature

Phonology as one among the several aspects of language is related to

other aspects such as phonetics, morphology, syntax and pragmatics The

sound pattern of a particular language is analyzed by determining which

phonetic sounds are significant and explain how these sounds are interrupted

by the native speakers

Phonology focuses on the system of sounds and patterns of sounds that

can be stated in terms of precise rules ( Hayes, A learning & learnability in

phonology, www linguistics.uka edu/ people) Speech sounds called phones

Trang 29

comprised the English language In the system of phonology, these different

sounds do not all have the same status The occurrence of certain phonetic

features is essentially predictable Redundant phonetic features are those

whose features are present based on phonetic environment In signaling

change in meaning, contrasts involving a redundant feature cannot be used

Mispronunciation is the result for adding or removing redundant predictable

features Redundant features cannot be ignored in phonetic transcriptions and

the most important in distinguishing listed meaning are the elements of

pronunciation

Phonology has several models which contribute to the knowledge of

phonological representations and processes In classical phonemics,

considered central are phonemes and their possible contribution In standard

generative phonology considered central are the distinctive features while

portrayed as linear sequence of discreet sound segment is a stream of

speech Occurring features simultaneously composed each segment As

regard to nonlinear model, multidimensional not linear sequence of sound

system represents the stream of speech Out of generative phonology these

nonlinear models grew

As regard to morphology, it pertains to the scientific study of forms and

Trang 30

structure of words in language as well as to the mental system involved in

word formation or to the branch of linguistics that deals with words, their

internal structure and how they are formed (Aronoff et al http/www.Blackwell

Publishing.com) Morphology is also the study of how words are put together,

and as a subfield of linguistics it refers to the rules devised to explain the

structure of words (http.www.quizlet.com) In addition, Fromkin et al (1974)

stated that morphology is the study of morphemic structure of words It tells

when lexemes may or must carry a certain inflectional property It also

pertains to the combination of words or morphemes in sentences

Morphology as a sub discipline of linguistic refers to the study of the

form of words Booji (2007) pointed out that it is one of the major components

of grammar that studies word structure especially in terms of morphemes as

well as the study of the internal structure of words and of the systematic

form-meaning correspondences between words Moreover, identification, analysis

and description of the structure of a given languages, morphemes and other

linguistic units such as root words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation and

stresses or implied text are covered in morphology (www britannica com/

EBchecked /topic/ morphology 01/26/14)

Widdowson (1996) on the other hand stated that morphology is the

Trang 31

study of two aspects of words: their derivational formation and their inflectional

function wherein the first aspect leads to the inquiry into the way words mean,

into lexical semantics and the second leads to the way words function in

syntax As an essential subfield in linguistics, morphology has several aims

These include: to describe the structures of words and patterns of word

formation in language; to pin down the principles for relating the form and

meaning of morphological expression; to explain how the morphological units

are integrated and the resulting formation interpreted; and to show how

morphological units are organized in the lexicon in terms of affinity and

contrast The lexical resources of language are uncovered by the study of

morphology that help speakers to acquire the skills and use them creatively

and consequently to express with eloquence their thoughts and feelings

In morphology, there are three main types of languages Two of these

are polysynthetic, which means that the words are made up of connected

morphemes and the other type is agglutinative language in which the

morphemes are connected and more or less unchanged and the analytic or

isolating languages in which a great majority of morphemes remain an

independent words (www.wisegeek.org/what morphology.htm 12/25/14)

Two domains or branches in morphology are identified by Crystal

Trang 32

(2003) These include lexical or derivational morphology which studies the

way in which new items of vocabulary can be built up out of combination of

elements and inflectional morphology which studies the ways words vary in

their forms in order to express a grammatical content or contrast and deals

with inflectional forms of various lexemes According to Huddleston, et al

(1984) inflectional morphology has something of the character of an appendix

to the syntax, the major component of grammar and it tells what form it takes

when it carries an inflectional property and describe lexical word formation as

the process by which new lexical bases are composed of more than one

morphological element Word formation is the traditional term for lexical word

formation There are two kinds of morphological word formation namely:

derivation which involves affixing bound forms to existing lexemes whereby the

addition of the affix derives a new lexeme and compounding which is a

process of word formation that involves combining complete word forms into a

single form

In morphology, words are the smallest independent units of language

Fasaed et al (2006) pointed out that words are independent in that they do

not depend on other words which means they can be separated from other

units and can change position Words are the only units of language, the

Trang 33

smallest units of language, which are independent and can be separated

from one another and can move around in a sentence

Words have internal structure being the smallest independent units of

language and built by simple words which comprise of one piece that do not

have internal structure Complex words on the other hand have internal structure and consist of two or more pieces O „Grady (1997) stated that these

pieces are called morphemes and are the smallest bearing units of language

Morphology which refers to the rules of combining morphemes has three

approaches These include morpheme-based morphology which makes use

of an item, and arrangement approach; lexeme-based morphology which

makes use of item and process approach; and word-based-morphology which

makes use of a word and paradigm approach

In morpheme based morphology, analysis of word forms as arrangement

of morpheme is done Morpheme is the minimal unit of a language There are

three basic axioms in morpheme-based-morphology These are single

morpheme hypothesis; sign base morpheme hypothesis and lexical morpheme

hypothesis In single morpheme hypothesis, roots and affixes have the same

status as morpheme while in sign based morpheme, the morphemes are

dualistic signs because they have both forms and meanings As for lexical

Trang 34

morpheme, hypothesis, the morpheme, affixes and roots alike are stored in the

lexicon

In the case of lexeme-based morphology, it is an item and a process

approach A word form is said to be the result of the rules applied that

changes a word form or stem to produce a new one instead of analyzing the

said form as a set of morphemes arranged in sequence A stem is taken by an

inflectional rule and as a requirement of the rule changes it and a word form is

outputted As for derivational rule, a stem is taken and based on its own

requirement, it changes In compounding rule, it takes a word form and a

compound stem is similarly outputted

Word-based-morphology on the other hand is also a word and paradigm

approach A paradigm which serves as the central concept is considered in

this theory Word-based morphology states generalizations that hold between

the forms of inflectional paradigm instead of stating the rules to combine

morphemes into word forms or to generate word forms from stems

With regards to syntax as language component, it refers to the way

words are structured and used to form what are commonly called sentences

Chomsky (1971) defines syntax as the study of the principles and processes

by which sentences are constructed in particular language It is study of rules

Trang 35

that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and

sentences Syntactic investigation of a given language has its goal, the

construction of grammar that can be viewed as a device or some sort for

producing the sentences of the language under analysis Linguist began to

study syntax when they found out that morphological rules alone could not

account for certain patterns of morpheme use Syntax governs how

morphemes and words are correctly combined

Syntax as one of the major components of grammar is the study of the

rules that governs the ways in which words are combined to form phrases

clauses and sentence (Baker, 1995) It is stated that English speakers are

successful language learners since they follow rules unconsciously which are

described from their early language development, and that the small

differences in the sentence that they utter are best understood as coming from

small differences in these rules

As a branch of linguistic that is concerned with the study of the structure

of a sentence and ordering of its elements, syntax is the rules by which signs

are combined to make statements, asks questions and produce other

utterances Syntax incorporates the grammar of phrases, clauses and

sentences An important part of how a person makes sense of the word is

Trang 36

through producing uttering sentences

Those principles and rules which teach us how to put words together so

as to form sentences are also referred to as syntax It also means sentence

making A change in the form and order of words and is sometimes describe

as an elusive process as compared to sound change is called syntactic

change (Aitchison, 2001) Variety is considered the puzzling nature of syntactic

change and its modification can be done with word endings

Spoken languages comprise syntax which is different to the formal

writing syntax Miller et al (2000) stated that the difference exists because any

written language results from centuries of development and elaboration by a

small number of users In spite of the huge prestige enjoyed by written

language in any literate society, spoken language is primary in several major

aspects

The taxonomy of the range of different types of syntactic structures form in

the language described the syntax of a language within traditional grammar

Phrases and sentences are built up of a series of constituents known as syntactic

units each of which belongs to a specific grammatical category and function as a

specific grammatical function and serve as the central assumption underpinning

syntactic analysis in traditional grammar

Trang 37

Semantics on the other hand is the study of meaning It refers to the

set of rules by which meaning is derived from morphemes, words and

sentences in a given language (Laverda,www.oup.com/US /companion) As a

wide subject within the general study of language, understanding of

semantics is essential to the study of language acquisition, including how

language users acquire a sense of meaning as speakers and writers,

listeners and readers as well as of language change and how meanings alter

over time (www.teachit.com.uk/armoore /lang/semantics.htm) Understanding

language in social contexts as well as understanding different English and the

effects of style is also important as these are likely to affect meaning Thus,

semantics is one of the most fundamental linguistic concepts The study of

meaning constructed, interpreted, classified, obscured, illustrated, simplified,

negotiated, contradicted and paraphrased are covered in the study of

semantics

In linguistics, semantics is devoted to the study of meaning at the level

of words, phrases, sentences and larger unit of discourse It is linked to the

subject of representation, reference and denotation It is oriented to the

examination of the meaning of signs and the study of the relations between

different linguistic units and compounds, homonymy, synonymy, antonymy,

Trang 38

meronymy, and holonymy Morris (1955) explained that semantics is the study

of the interpretation of signs and symbols used in agents or communities within

a particular circumstances and context Within this view, sounds, facial

expressions, body language and proxemics have semantic or meaningful

content and comprise several branches of study Written language also bears

semantic content, paragraph structure and punctuations

Cruse (2006) pointed out that the formal study of semantics intersects

with many other fields of inquiry like lexicology, syntax, pragmatics, etymology

and others Independently, semantics is a well-defined field with synthetic

properties It includes the study of sense and denotative reference, truth

conditions, argument structure, thematic roles, discourse analysis, argument

structure, thematic roles, discourse analysis as well as the linkage to syntax

In addition, semantics as a study of the meaning of expression tries to

understand meaning as an element of language constructed, interpreted,

(https/sites.google.com/a/Sheffield ac uk/semantics/what-is-semantics) In

the study of semantics, the language can be a natural language such as

English which is mainly studied by linguistic Linguist who study meaning,

divide the meaning of a word into semantic concepts based on real concepts

Trang 39

Words are broken down into smaller units called componential analysis

(Pandora cii www meaning edu/ badjaling 2011)

Semantics as one of the main branches of contemporary linguistics is

related to the connotative and denotative of words The direct meaning of word

is called denotation and the word with implied meaning is called connotative

meaning An individual experience were made basis for understanding

connotation In addition, knowledge and comprehension of words is also being

referred to as semantics According to Garnham (1992) its skills maybe

measured by various receptive vocabulary tests and it has been noted that

people use different concepts of semantic information during inferences

Crystal (2006) emphasized further that the knowledge and

comprehension of words are also covered in semantics Various receptive

vocabulary measured semantic skills The properties of meaning which is

systematic and objective with reference to a wide range of utterances and

languages are being studied by linguistic approach The delineation of its

subject matter is considered the perennial problem of semantic The word

meaning can be used in varied ways and only some match to the usual

understanding of the scope of linguistic or computational semantics Pulman

(1983) pointed out that the scope of semantics must be restricted to the literal

Trang 40

interpretations of sentence in a context, ignoring phenomena like irony,

metaphor or conversational implications

Saeed (2013) stated that since semantics is the most diverse field within

linguistics, semanticists must have at least a nodding acquaintance with other

disciplines like philosophy and psychology which also investigate the creation

and transmission of meaning Some of the questions raised in the neighboring

discipline have important effects on the way linguists do semantics Potentially

contrastive part of meaning of a lexical unit is covered by semantic component

The kinds of semantic component include: contrastive or diagnostic,

distinctive and essential which distinguishes one lexical unit from the other and

shared or common which occurs in each member of a group of lexical units

Semantics also covers the study of how linguistic elements carry

meaning The linguistic system which convey meaning and the conceptual

system which interprets it are linked inextricably in the intersection between

language and cognition Three things must be done to acquire the semantics

of a language namely: identify the relevant linguistic items, identify the

meanings these link to and learn how the forms connect to the meanings

Through words, language meaning is conveyed Thousands of words or

vocabulary items contain every language that refers to the concepts ranging

Định dạng
Số trang	230
Dung lượng	5,71 MB