Classifying Meaning at sentence level

Question 1

How to classify situations to create meaning

Answer 1

There are certain aspects of meaning that belong to the sentence level

These aspects allow speakers to construct different views about situations and classify them.

The aspects are 
Situation type
Tense
Aspect
Modality 

SITUATION TYPE
2types
Static situ-: a situation that is described without revealing its internal stricture
Ex: Robert loves pizza

Dynamic situ: a situation that is described reveling the progression of the action
Ex: Robert grew up quickly (several phases have passed by R)

The distinction is made- choice of words

Adj - static situ: the pears are ripe
Verbs - dynamic situ : the pears are ripen
Not an exact coloration

There are stative verbs like be, love,like,know,remain

Therefore as Saeed,2003
Stative verbs and Adj are inherently static

TENSE
Saeed,2003
Located the time of situation relative to the time of speaking

Describes the time of a situation relative to the time of speaking

Marked on the verb by adding endings to the verb or auxiliaries.
Or using temporal adjectives.

ASPECT
Saeed,2003 describes the temporal distribution of an event

Describes how the situation of a sentence is distributed over the time
Ex: Ralph was constructing a wall last week
Ralph contrasted a wall last week.

MODALITY
Saeed,2003
Cover term for the devices used by speakers to show the varying degrees if commitment and belief in proposition.

Modality is marked lexically or grammatically in sentences. 
Main verbs : necessary, believe
Nouns: possibility, necessity 
Adjectives: possible
Adverbs : kindly

Question 2

How to classify participants

Answer 2

Another aspect that belongs to
sentence level that allows speakers to make different view and meaning
Is the
Portrayal of participant roles

Participant roles can be classified as follows

AGENT : initiator of the action
PATIENT: the entity affected by the action
THEME: the entity moved by the action
EXPERIENCER: the entity aware of the action but not controlled by it
INSTRUMENT: the means through the action is performed
LOCATION: the place where the entity is situated
BENEFICIARY : the entity for whose benefit the action is performed
GOAL: the destination toward which an increase entity moves.

Typically grammatical roles map on to thematic roles.
Ex AGENT : subject
PATIENT :object

Not always straight forward
 1) omission of thematic roles
 2) speaker alter the usual relation between thematic and grammatical roles 
Ursala broke the ice with a pickaxe
The ice broke
Pickaxe broke the ice

Question 3

Context

How to classify context

Answer 3

When creating meaning an important factor is context
Speakers rely not only what”s being communicated but also the context.

Speaker’s take into account
The discourse
The
Background knowledge

Diexis 
Contextually bound devices that set up a frame around speakers to create meaning
Spatial diexis
Personal diexis
Social diexis