|
Sentence coveys a complete meaning, either spoken or written, whereas utterance usually does not necessarily convey a complete meaning
|
| Sana | 13.05.2023 | | Hajmi | 17.22 Kb. | | #59403 |
Bog'liq Abdug\'afforv Diyorbek she\'r tahlili, SALAYEVAMUXLISA
20
Difference Between Sentence and Utterance
August 26, 2018
by Upen
5 min read
The main difference between sentence and utterance is that the sentence coveys a complete meaning, either spoken or written, whereas utterance usually does not necessarily convey a complete meaning.
Communication is the only way two human beings can interact and share their thoughts and sentiments with each other. There are two major means of communication as verbal and non-verbal communication. Sentences, therefore, belong to both verbal and non-verbal types of communication since they can either be spoken or written. Yet an utterance is typically a sound or incomplete spoken group of words that belong to the verbal type of communication.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is a Sentence
– Definition, Structure, Types
2. What is an Utterance
– Definition, Characteristics
3. Difference Between Sentence and Utterance
– Comparison of Key Differences
Key Terms
Communication, Words, Language, Sentence, Utterance
What is a Sentence
A sentence is a complete thought or statement which conveys a complete meaning. This can either be in the spoken or written form. Thus, a sentence at least primarily consists of a subject, a verb, and an object. Addition to this fundamental parts in a sentence, there may be phrases and clauses as well. However, what should be kept in mind is that a sentence is a group of words that give a complete meaning.
In linguistics, sentence structures with regard to varied languages are learned. In the English language, the structure of a sentence is as follows:
Subject + Verb + Object
Accordingly, a sentence should consist at least these three fundamental components in order to categorize it as a sentence, or it must at least have a main clause to stand independently.
He went to school.
We study English.
My dog loves cats.
Figure 1: Constituents in a Sentence
However, there are also several sentence categories that convey a complete meaning, especially with the use of intransitive verbs; for example, “She left”. Therefore, in a sentence, the main clause is a necessity.
Sentence Structures
There are four sentence structures as
Simple Sentence – a sentence with just one independent clause
Complex sentence – a sentence with an independent clause and at least one dependent clause
Compound sentence – a sentence with at least two independent clauses
Compound-Complex Sentence – a sentence with at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause
Sentence Types
Moreover, there are four types of sentences as
Declarative sentence – states a fact and ends with a period / full stop
Imperative Sentence – states a command or a polite request
Interrogative Sentence – asks a question and ends with a question mark
Exclamatory Sentence – expresses excitement or emotion
What is an Utterance
An utterance is considered the smallest unit of speech. It can be defined as “a natural unit of speech bounded by breaths or pauses.” Thus, it necessarily doesn’t covey a complete meaning. An utterance can, therefore, be a clause, a single word, pause, and even a meaningful statement.
However, unlike a sentence that can exist in both oral and written form, utterance exists only in the oral form. However, they can be represented and delineated in the written form using many ways.
An utterance, since it happens primarily in the oral speech, has several related features such as facial expressions, gestures, and posture. These include stress, intonation, and tone of voice, as well as ellipsis, which are words that the listener inserts in spoken language to fill gaps. In addition to these, an utterance may also include voiced/un-voiced pauses like “umm”, tag questions, false starts, fillers like “and stuff”, deictic expressions such as “over there” with other simple conjunctions like “and,” “but,” etc.
Figure 2: Utterances
Moreover, to quote Ronald Carter and Michael McCarthy from Cambridge Grammar of English (2006 ) “”We use the term ‘utterance‘ to refer to complete communicative units, which may consist of single words, phrases, clauses and clause combinations spoken in context, in contrast to the term ‘sentence’ which we reserve for units consisting of at least one main clause and any accompanying subordinate clauses, and marked by punctuation (capital letters and full stops) in writing.”
Hence some examples for utterances can be:
“Umm, what I …. No, don’t mind.”
“Well.. you know…. Errr”
|
|
Bosh sahifa
Aloqalar
Bosh sahifa
Sentence coveys a complete meaning, either spoken or written, whereas utterance usually does not necessarily convey a complete meaning
|
