2nd homework of Linguistics approach to English

My dear students,

I was happy to see 5 of you in class yesterday, and to learn that 3 other students were participating at their temple in a kathina robe ceremony to end the rains retreat.

Your homework this week is to find and analyze with the tools of linguistics a word, phrase or sentence in English that you believe contains a mistake.  This will require you to look and listen very carefully as you go about your activities this week.  Examine signs you see in English, listen to English programs on the radio and television, watch movies in English with subtitles, read at least the headlines in English newspapers and magazines.  What you are looking for is something that is misspelled or mispronounced, or a phrase or sentence where the syntax (word order) is incorrect. There should be much to choose from, if you pay attention each day.

For example, at the river pier in Pinklao, the sign in English says "Phrapinklao Bride."  This contains an incorrect word: "bride" means the woman getting married.  The correct word should be bridge.  To analyze this error you may use the tool of morphology and also semantics.

Listen to the pronunciation of English words.  Does the speaker put the accent or stress incorrectly on the wrong syllable?  For example, President "ObaMA," instead of "OBAma."  Use the tool of phonetics to analyze mispronunciations.  

This exercise will hopefully help you to understand correct English by using the Linguistics tools of phonetics, morphology, syntax and semantics.

Your analysis should be very short, less than a page.  Give an example and tell why you think it contains a mistake.  Please send it to my email address as an attachment before Friday at 6 p.m. so I can have an opportunity to look at it before class the next day.

In addition to this homework assignment, please continue to read the first chapter in Meyer's Introducing English Linguistics.  We will discuss the section next week on "Studying Linguistic Structure."

And finally, look over the first three chapters of The Little Prince that I gave you yesterday.  Next Saturday I will introduce the book and talk about the author.

For your Check In next week, remember to describe your activities in English so that you can have something to talk about in class.

I am sorry that so many of the students from your class are transferring to the English MA program.  I do not know what classes they will be taking, but I can tell you that I will not be one of their teachers.  If you want to study English with me, you must remain in the Linguistics program.

With metta,

Dr. William

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Analysis by using the tools of linguistics a word, phrase or sentence in English

In the present, there are a lot of mistakes in English using on word, phrase and sentence so the tools of linguistics is very important to help it correctly and The tools of linguistics can explain that How is it wrong? or why does it wrong? Because of the tools linguistics is like a motor car mechanic when your car has a problem, you must have the tools to fix your car as the language when you use it incorrectly, you must bring the tools of linguistics to make it correctly and use it correctly.

            I have been watching English movie which their conversation in the movie will mistake about syntax. I can remember a sentence they use mistake in the movie as a sentence they said “ How fun?” This sentence will don’t have problem in spoken language because listener can understand the right meaning but it will be a big problem in written language and grammar mistake (Syntax). Actually, it would be “ How do you fun? Or  How does he fun? So in this case I may use the tool of syntax.

            I have another sample about morphology and semantic, I’ve read English newspaper of THE NATION ( Saturday, November 3,2012 / 1 B XP page) in small column THE NATION wrote 

“Miss Saigon” continues at the Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre at the Esplanade Ratchadaphisek until November 18. The show has been translated into Thai but there are English surtitles.

         

            I try to take a look at the word “ Surtitles ” this word is not correct word and no meaning word. In fact, it must be “Subtitles’’ This word is correct word and it means a translation of what people are saying a foreign language film or television programme, that appears at the bottom of the screen. So I may use the tools of morphology and also semantics because the word “Subtitle” can be divide into two morphemes are Sub- (of small lower size) and Title (the name of book, poem, film, play or other work of art) and The word Sub- is prefix and the word Title is base word which it will concern with morphology and also semantics.

Name Phra Thaweesak Chanpradit

MA Linguistics , MCU