Semantics and Pragmatics of Word-Order
Posted: 01 Nov 2021 00:16
I like to take an English clause and take one word in it and put it in each position.
Sometimes more of the resulting variants are grammatical than are ungrammatical.
I’m going to ask about the following examples:
1. Really I think it’s something I don’t need to do.
2. I really think it’s something I don’t need to do.
3. I think really it’s something I don’t need to do.
4. I think it’s really something I don’t need to do.
5. I think it’s something really I don’t need to do.
6. I think it’s something I really don’t need to do.
7. I think it’s something I don’t really need to do.
8. I think it’s something I don’t need really to do.
9. I think it’s something I don’t need to really do.
10. I think it’s something I don’t need to do really.
A. In your ‘lect of English which of these are grammatical, which ungrammatical, and which in-between?
In my ‘lect I think 5, 8, and 10 are ungrammatical or borderline ungrammatical, but the rest are grammatical or probably grammatical.
B. Which are meaningless, which are polysemous, and which are unambiguous?
In my ‘lect the ungrammatical ones are meaningless and as far as I can tell the rest are unambiguous — I guess!
However there could be pragmatic differences; depending on whether the salient thing is the thought, or the action, or the agent.
C. Which pairs are synonymous?
For my idiolect I think 1 and 2 and 3 share a meaning, 3 & 4 & 6 & 7 share a meaning, and 7 and 9 share a meaning.
I’m pretty sure I could be wrong.
It seems to me that any shades of meaning are pragmatic rather than semantic.
….
I could have left out the “really”, varied the position of “don’t” instead.
I think that would also be interesting. More of the variants would be ungrammatical.
…
If you are fluent in some other language, you might know of, or come up with, examples in that language.
I’d be interested!
Sometimes more of the resulting variants are grammatical than are ungrammatical.
I’m going to ask about the following examples:
1. Really I think it’s something I don’t need to do.
2. I really think it’s something I don’t need to do.
3. I think really it’s something I don’t need to do.
4. I think it’s really something I don’t need to do.
5. I think it’s something really I don’t need to do.
6. I think it’s something I really don’t need to do.
7. I think it’s something I don’t really need to do.
8. I think it’s something I don’t need really to do.
9. I think it’s something I don’t need to really do.
10. I think it’s something I don’t need to do really.
A. In your ‘lect of English which of these are grammatical, which ungrammatical, and which in-between?
In my ‘lect I think 5, 8, and 10 are ungrammatical or borderline ungrammatical, but the rest are grammatical or probably grammatical.
B. Which are meaningless, which are polysemous, and which are unambiguous?
In my ‘lect the ungrammatical ones are meaningless and as far as I can tell the rest are unambiguous — I guess!
However there could be pragmatic differences; depending on whether the salient thing is the thought, or the action, or the agent.
C. Which pairs are synonymous?
For my idiolect I think 1 and 2 and 3 share a meaning, 3 & 4 & 6 & 7 share a meaning, and 7 and 9 share a meaning.
I’m pretty sure I could be wrong.
It seems to me that any shades of meaning are pragmatic rather than semantic.
….
I could have left out the “really”, varied the position of “don’t” instead.
I think that would also be interesting. More of the variants would be ungrammatical.
…
If you are fluent in some other language, you might know of, or come up with, examples in that language.
I’d be interested!