TOPIC 24: EXPRESSION OF ASSERTION, EMPHASIS AND OBJECTION

1. INTRODUCTION
2. ASSERTION
3. EMPHASIS
4. OBJECTION
5. CONCLUSION
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. INTRODUCTION
The three notions included in this topic assertion, emphasis and objection are related to personal attitude of the
speaker and the way in which information is conveyed in the message. Like any notion, these can also be expressed
by a large variety of forms. Their analysis starts, therefore, with a semantic definition of the notion and it follows
with explanations about possible formal exponents which allow the transmission of the desired meaning from the
speaker to the listener. These formal exponents are usually present in the level of syntax, although emphasis often
finds its expression on the level of intonation, as well.
2. ASSERTION
The term assertive in linguistics is related to the way in which information is structured in a message. The speaker
needs to take into account whatever relevant knowledge his or her audience already posses, either because of their
general knowledge or because of the context of the utterance.
In English, old information (assumed to be old to all participants in communication), tends to precede new
information and it forms the topic of the utterance. The topic occupies the initial position in a sentence: My brother
is a very good cook.
The remaining part of the sentence is called the comment and it contains new information and whatever pieces are
necessary of the old information. The topic is just referred to and the comment is asserted.
However, the speaker may not always be able to assert information about the topic(= assert the truth of the
proposition), especially when he or she lacks the necessary information. For this reason, there are syntactic
structures which typically serve to assert information and structures which cannot perform this function:
- Affirmative sentences are assertive: We own a flat at the seaside.
- Interrogative sentences are non- assertive: Do you often play tennni?
- Negatives sentences are non- assertive (the same applies for sentences with words which have negative meaning,
like “never”, “hardly”, etc..
He isn’t playing tennis.
I hardly ever see them these days.
Apart from the type of sentence used, one can show oneself less assertive by using other constructions( even in an
affirmative sentence), like:
• Conditional clauses: I would buy some sugar if I had money
 • Putative should (to express a possible action or state): It’s strange that you should feel any pain.
• Comparative: He is as clever as any of his brothers.
• Relative defining clauses with conditional meaning: Students who have any complaints should raise their
hands.
The non-assertive character of the above mentioned constructions, together with interrogative and negative
sentences, is confirmed by the presence of some non- assertive lexical and grammatical items, which have their
assertive counterparts, like determiners and pronouns “any”( non- assertive) and “some” (assertive):
Is there any sugar?
Yes, there is some in the packet.
The following are some of the most important assertive and non- assertive items:
➢ Some – any, in their pronominal or attributive functions, like in the previous examples; also in compound
pronouns (somebody, something, somewhere, etc...): There is somebody in the car. Is there somebody in the car?
➢ Already – yet: We have already finished Have you finished yet?
➢ Still- any more, any longer, yet: She is still playing in her room. She isn’t playing in her room any
more. She hasn’t finished yet.
➢ As well, too – either: She swims well, too. She cannot swim either.
➢ Sometime – ever : I would like to go there sometime. Only f I could ever go there!
➢ Either: The police did not arrest either.
Finally, the appearance of non-assertive items depends on the scope of non- assertion in the clause, that is,
whether the whole clause is affected or a part only. For instance, negation, does not always include the whole clause
within its scope. One can distinguish two types of negation:

1. Clausal negation, which applies to the whole clause. It is the case when the verb of the clause is negated ,
but also in many other cases, where the domanin of the negative element can extend over the whole clause.

2. Subclausal negation, applicable to a part of the clause only.

Non- assertive items like any, ever, either, at all or yet, produce clauses which can be considered grammatically
correct only if they fall within the scope of negation, e.g. (an example from Huddleston, p.145):
He at no time consulted his colleagues on the matter (did he?)
HE in no time completely revitalised the company (didn’t he?)
Example a. Is a negative clause with non-verb negation but clause b. Is positive, a. Being an instance of clausal
negation and b. Subclausal negation.
3. EMPHASIS
As a semantic notion, emphasis is a special importance given to a part of an utterance. In English, it can be realised
by highlighting parts of utterances either by adequate structuring of information in the sentence or by means of
intonation and sentence stress.
As it has been said above, information structurein an English clause is fixed bby presenting the topic with old
information next. Whenever there is a necessity to emphasize a piece of information, it should be placed in the
comment: John broke the vase.
It was John who broke the vase.(John emphasized)
The vase was broken by John (John emphasized)
Additionally, one can also use a range of lexical and grammatical items which serve the same purpose of
emphasizing parts of the proposition. The following are some of the techniques used to emphasized a given word or
phrase:
- Fronting the content of the comment and giving prominence to what would otherwise be the topic: Swimming is
what I really like.
- Inversion: two types:
1. Subject-verb in informal speech to give end-focus to the subject: He is the milkman.
In formal speech or more literary style is more useful in giving end-weight to a long a long subject: Away
went the car like a whirlwind.
2. Subject-operator inversion when a negative element has been fronted for emphasis: Little does he know how
much suffering he has caused.
- Amplificatory tags: They are all corrupt, these politicians.
- Intensifying adverbs and modifiers (often repeated): It is very, very big.
- Emphatic “so”,”such”and “at all”: It is such a nice puppy! /Not nice at all.
- Emphatic pronouns and determiners: He pitied himself .
- Using the dummy operator ‘do’ in the affirmative: I do like oranges.
- Exclamatory and rhetorical questions: What a beautiful park! /Didn’t I tell you!
- Interjections: ouch, oops, yeepie, etc.
- Passive voice, to put emphasis on the action or the agent: My car has been washed. My car has been
washed by him.
- Cleft sentences, which involve fronting the introduction of a new clause: It is swimming that I really like.

- Converse antonyms: they involve a conversion of the syntactic order of the sentence, allowing the speaker to
decide which item should occupy the endsentence position(in the comment): The plane is above the clouds. The
clouds are below the plane.

Another way of expressing emphasis is that of intonation and stress sentence. Emphatic use of intonation is usually
related to emotional colouring of utterances . It is often superimposed on the emphatic structures mentioned above.
Features which constitute emphasis by means of intonation are:

• A shift of nuclear tone from the last stressed word in a sentence to some other word:

I `don’t want to `go. (without emphasis)

But I don’t ``WANT to go (emphasis on WANT)
 • The scale of pitch is greater in emphatic tones, the nuclear tone beginning higher and the unstressed syllables
being pronounced below the ordinary low pitch.

• Changes in sentence stress.

• Increased force of stress on the relevant word or introducing stress where it wouldn’t normally appear (e.g.
function words) I `don’t want to `go. (without emphasis). But I don’t ``WANT to go. (emphasis on WANT)

• Weakening or omission of the stress on irrelevant words (‘go’ in the previous example).

4. OBJECTION

One expresses objection when one doesn’t agree with something. For the purpose of analysis, one can distinguish
different types of meaning within this notion: disapproval, disagreement, opposition, hostility, antagonism. Their
expression can differ according to such criteria as:

• Register, formal forms against colloquial forms, e.g I must say I rather disagree with idea. It’s rubbish.

• Field, e.g. politics with such lexical items as opponent, the opponent, the opposition, non-confidence vote.

• Social group, e.g. youth slang can include expressions not common in other groups of society.

The following classification of different means to express objection can serve as guide to its numerous meanings:

• Intonation. By means of one of the standard tones, the falling- rising one, one can express criticism or mild
rebuke: `John would never have done `that.

Intonation can also be used in any of the emphatic ways described above to strengthen the tone of objection.

• Syntax . Some syntactic structures are used to express disapproval, e.g:

Present progressive tense with the adverb ‘always’: You’re always losing your keys!

Exclamatives: How dreadful!

The so called catenative (Quirk) ‘ Keep on’: My neighbour keeps on making noise at night .

• Lexical choices. By choosing specific verbs, nounsm adjectives or adverbs which express objection, one is
more direct in one’s criticism: I can’t bear this mess. I disapprove of his abominable methods.

5. CONCLUSION
Like any notion, the three notions included in this topic are not easy to teach to learners of English as a foreign
language. Assertion includes many syntactic items whose use requires at least intermediate skills. However, all of
them are introduced gradually and in a cyclic way, so that learners can become familiar with the concept of
assertive at a manageable pace. On the other hand, emphasis and objection often present linguistic form as which
are culture specific, especially if we take into account pragmatic aspects of both and their extralinguistics
competence of any speaker of English.
Finally, it is necessary to present a balanced view of notions as uniting form and meaning. Communicative language
teaching seems to provide an opportunity to practise both in a meaningful way, which also provides opportunities to
include the pragmatic aspects mentioned above.
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

COUNCIL OF EUROPE. 2001. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching,
Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

CRYSTAL, D. 1997. The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

GRAVER, B. D. 1979.Advanced English Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

MEYER, C. 2006. Introducing English Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

QUIRK, RANDOLPH, SIDNEY GREENBAUM, GEOFFREY LEECH, AND JAN SVARTIK. 1985. A
Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman.

SWAN, Michael. 1995. Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
INTERNET LINKS www.britannica.com
Articles on grammar: www.ingentaconnect.com and www.brighthub .com
Internet Grammar of English (University College London): www.ucl.ac.uk (all last retrieved on 28/02/2018)