For my essay topic, I would like to discuss the ambiguity of words within two languages. These two languages would be English and Spanish. For example when we talk about the fruit’s melon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon. In the English language, we differentiate the different types of melons with another name while in Spanish a cantaloupe and honeydew are the same words for either or which makes them ambiguous. But for watermelon, in Spanish, we have the word sandia to refer to a watermelon. Another example of this is also for the animal turtle and tortoise (English) and for Spanish both a turtle and tortoise are Tortuga. For another example, would be the words butterfly and moth, in Spanish, they are both called mariposa.  I would like to go into depth about how English and Spanish differentiate the ambiguous words when talking about something in specific things like some fruit, or animal, etc.

Also, how we identify each one in Spanish. For example, for a lemon or lime, in Spanish, it’s limon for both, but we specify the type of lemon by referring to its color. The way I would go about it is by asking my classmates in my Spanish class or friends who are from other Spanish-speaking countries and asking them what the image is in Spanish and in English.  The challenges that will come up are the number of resources I will have and how to go about it in the essay. Another is the number of words that I can discuss that can be ambiguous in English and not in Spanish.

For my final paper I would like to explore the fact that some people use the term ‘girl’, others use the term ‘woman’, and some use the term ‘female’.  I was actually just having a conversation with one of my friends last week because I noticed that he uses the word ‘female’ to refer to a woman.  I personally found this intriguing because I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone casually say “this female in my class…” as opposed to using the word “girl” or “woman”.  When I asked why he says “female” instead of a more common term, he said that he feels as though using the term “female” seems to come off as more respectful towards women that are his age or older.  I think it is incredible how unique everyone’s individual use of language is and I feel that targeting this one paradigm of terms would be fascinating because I can gain a better understanding of how frequently each of these terms are used as well as why that is.  Seeing as how I would like to understand the ‘why’ behind this idea, I think that I’m first going to create a survey with indirect questions so that the respondents are not aware of what exactly it is that I’m looking for.  Then, in order to gain an understanding of their reasoning behind using a particular term, I can create a second survey in which I state what I was researching in the first one and then ask them for a response as to why they use the terminology that they do.

For my paper, I would like to explore the expressive meaning of words, specifically expressive terms. Expressive terms like “ouch” “oops” and “yum” are unique from other words. Unlike most words that are used to formulate sentences, expressive terms typically stand alone. Typically, people speak to communicate with one another. Expressive terms however, are unique because while terms like “ouch” or “oops” oftentimes are uttered out loud, they are usually uttered as an impulse reaction rather as a means of communication with others. I would like to further explore the origins of these words as well as the formality or lack of formality of these words. It isn’t common to see the words “ouch”, “oops” or “yum” written down, in a formal work or to hear them in a formal setting. This can be because it is not typical to write these terms or to say them in a sentence since they are considered exclamation words or because they overall are less formal words. I intend to use the Oxford English Dictionary, our textbook, as well a book by David Kaplan called “The Meaning of Ouch and Oops.” I also found an interesting article from Oregon State University, “On the origin of the word ‘oops’“ that I would like to refer to. I think it would be difficult to survey people about their use of these specific words so I most likely will not conduct or include any surveys in my research. I can lookup videos of people’s reactions when falling in order to make up for my lack surveys with regards to the specific term “oops”. I also anticipate that it will be challenging to determine the exact origin of these specific terms as well as a clear origin of use, so I intend to include multiple origins that I find in my research that I deem plausible.

So for my essay I was thinking of doing the topic of sandwich that we discussed in class. So what classifies a sandwich as a sandwich? I would personally survey the people in class and possibly my work because that seems the most possible and time wise would be helpful. Some difficulties is that i think i need to limit the word and I do not know how to do that. Because sandwich can be very broad and i feel like in need to find the common factor to limit myself. The word “sandwich’ is also very vague so i would have to include that. Theres also what a company might define as a sandwich and what the people decide as a sandwich. Because i think it goes back to the people and what they classify to be a sandwich. Some sources I have thought about was using the text book obviously and also some google searches if anyone had done research on the topic already. It seems like a topic one would have already done a type of research on it. But also if not i will use my own research which might be limited to the area of new york city but it is more than what i would have had. I truly think I am going to end up confusing myself because it would seem that i should have an opinion already on this and stick by it throughout my essay but i might just end up convincing myself other wise if i think to much of the topic. So i feel like if i would need help it would be where i draw the line to this topic like where is my line because i can go though many culture or countries and other things but maybe i can just choose what i am willing to discuss and do that. Even though there can be A LOT discussed i clearly cant do it all so it would have to be set to a limit. Also will use the csi library site because in class it seemed really useful.

The topic that I am interested in exploring is the elements of meaning; word meaning, sentence meaning, and utterance meaning. I find this topic to be extremely interesting because you can connect your perception to those of others and see the boundary of differences in what one may consider a sarcastic or sincere response versus what someone else may believe. Not only this but I think this topic is open for a wide range of discussion with the variables in consideration.

I will make a clear distinction between sentence versus utterance meaning. Sentences convey meaning through clauses while utterances convey meaning through few words that may not even be a complete clause. Although sentence meaning overall is the same, utterance meaning os completely different (for example “good for you’ said either sincerely or sarcastically).

I think I want to conduct both my own research as well as use research from various internet sources. What I would want to do in my research is ask people some words/phrases that they find can be said both sincerely and sarcastically. I would ask them to mark instances that these could be used in as well as why they may think people can use the words in either context. I think I may break it up into people who have taken linguistics versus those who haven’t to see how responses differ. 

I think this topic could be extremely reflective on the way language influences the way we think. It conveys the difference between sentence and utterance meanings and how our interpretations are distorted in a way. Im not entirely sure about how I will break up paragraphs but I will make sure all the information I want to convey is there. As for another big point of discussion for this topic I’m not entirely sure of what to dive into, but for now this is just my rough outline of what I want to discuss!

For the final paper, my topic is going to be on ‘sense and denotation’. I am planning to use my own research for one of the main sources for this paper. I want to create a survey/form to determine what people use more in their everyday vocabulary for specific words that have many words but mean the same thing. For example, mom and mother mean the same thing, but depending on who you ask, one person might say mom, and another person may say mother, depending on the context. In this survey, I would ask questions like “who do you live with?” or “who raised you growing up?”. I also want to ask questions about the person’s background (not super extensive) and try to relate this to sociolinguistics as well. When looking at semantics and pragmatics, a big part of it is the language you speak and how you speak it. For instance, if someone lives in New York, and someone lives in California, their dialect is going to be different and not just because of their region but could be based on their background, social class, and other socioeconomic factors. I want to tie together these two topics because I feel like they can definitely relate in some sort of way. For the format of the paper, I’m hoping it’ll look something like this.

• Intro
• Definition of Sense/ Denotation and the differences
• Research analysis( with graphs)
• Sociolinguistics and how it could relate
• Conclusion

The outline is definitely just a rough draft and what it could be if it all works out, I don’t have a Plan B but hopefully, everything works out smoothly and flows because I think this paper and research could be super interesting!

P.S. Once I create the form I’m hoping everyone will participate! (It will be anonymous)

Simple antonyms: married and single

1. Bob is married
2. Bob is single

Simple antonyms are contradictory. If one is true the other cannot also be true. There is no middle ground between the words married and single

Gradable antonyms: interesting and boring

1. This movie is interesting
2. this movie is boring

Gradable antonyms are intermediate terms. The movie could’ve been interesting, boring, or in neither and it could’ve been just ok to watch.

Reverses: open and close

1. She will open the box
2. She will close the box

These are reverse terms because they are denoting motion and are opposite in directions of each other.

Converses: older and younger

1. Kim is older than me
2. I am younger than Kim

These are a converse pair because there is an asymettric relation between older and younger.

Taxonomic Sisters: Sprite and Ginger ale

1. I like sprite
2. I like Ginger ale

Sprite and ginger ale are taxonomic because they have a hyponymous relationship and are both classified as sodas.