DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 5
Trương Văn Ánh
Saigon University, HCMC

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“Proposition, utterance and sentence”
A proposition is the meaning of the
utterance of a declarative sentence which
describes some state of affairs.
The following pair of sentences expresses
the same proposition:
- Harry took out the garbage.
- Harry took the garbage out.

2

The following pair of sentences expresses
different propositions:
- Mary loves Tom.
- Tom loves Mary.
The four following sentences express the
same proposition:
- Mary bought a pen for Jack.
- Jack was bought a pen by Mary.
- A pen was bought for Jack by Mary.
- Mary bought Jack a pen.
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Sentences belong to some particular language.
However, propositions do not belong to any.
- He is tall. (English)
- Anh ta cao. (Vietnamese)
- 他是高大的。 (Chinese)
- Il est grand. (French)
Utterance is the use by a particular speaker, on
a particular occasion, for a particular purpose, of
a piece of language, such as a sequence of
sentences, a sentence, a phrase or even a word.
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Jane: Coffee? < (Would you like some coffee?)
Jack: Sure! < (I am sure to love it)
Jane: White? < (Would you like black coffee or
white coffee?)
Jack: Black. < (I'd like black coffee, please.)
One-word utterances Well-formed sentences
Notes:
Proposition
Sentence
sentence
sentence
Utterance utterance utterance utterance
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Propositional analysis
A proposition is a single statement about
some entity or event. A sentence may contain
a single proposition or several propositions.
Ex: The cat ate the rat.
The proposition is represented as (ATE, CAT,
RAT). (wrong: ate, cat, rat)
Proposition analysis enables the researcher
to compare texts that would not otherwise be
comparable.
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Examine the two following sentences:
1. Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome,
took the women of the Sabine by force.
2. Cleopatra's downfall lay in her foolish trust in
the fickle political figures of the Roman world.
Propositional analysis of sentence 1
1. (TOOK, ROMULUS, WOMEN, BY FORCE)
2. (FOUND, ROMULUS, ROME)
3. (LEGENDARY, ROMULUS)
4. (SABINE, WOMEN)
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Propositional analysis of sentence 2
1. (BECAUSE, A, B)
2. (FELLDOWN, CLEOPATRA)= A
3. (TRUST, CLEOPATRA, FIGURES)= B
4. (FOOLISH, TRUST)
5. (FICKLE, FIGURES)
6. (POLITICAL, FIGURES)
7. (PART OF, FIGURES, WORLD)
8. (ROMAN, WORLD)
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While the sentences are approximately the
same length, sentence 2 contains twice as
many propositions.
Sentence 2 did indeed take significantly
longer for subjects to comprehend.

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RULES
1. V, S, O (Vt)
2. V, S, OI, OD
3. Time, A
4. PLACE/ORIGIN, A
5. AND, A, B (A/B = clause)
6. BUT, A, B
7. SO, A, B
8. OR, A, B
9. BECAUSE, A, B
10. IF, A, B

11. ALTHOUGH, A, B
12. WHEN, A, B
13. AS…AS, A, B
14. AS IF, A, B
15. WHERE/WHEREVER, A, B
16. SO THAT, A, B
17. SO…THAT, A, B
18. V, S, A (Vt)
19 . V, S, O/C, [A]
20. V, S, [A], O/C

Exercises:
1/ Jack likes music.
> LIKE, JACK, MUSIC
2/ Jack likes pop music.
> LIKE, JACK, MUSIC
> POP, MUSIC
3/ The door is stuck.
> STUCK, DOOR

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THE END

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