Understanding English

Understanding English: An introduction to the Associative Model of EnglishUsing language is the act of expressing meaning. It is also an experience: we experience language at the time of articulation. We use the language to communicate meanings of various kinds and through language achieve our many possible aims. Our meanings arise from the associations we make between words.The Associative Model of English is a way of understanding the process of how we use English at the time of articulation (when we speak-hear) or when we read. It is a linear dependency relation model of language. Key concepts include Start Here and Placement Associations, Noun and Verb Pathways and Preposition-fronted Phrases.Speakers use their Prospective Grammar to construct utterances, and their Retrospective Grammar to monitor the fitness of their articulated speech. Listeners use their Retrospective Grammar to construct an understanding of the Accumulated-Provisional Meaning of the utterance and their Prospective Grammar to anticipate and develop their understanding of the further text they will hear. The speaker will be making associations between words clear (or obscure) enough for their purposes. Listeners will be trying to understand the associations (or, if necessary) read between the lines. Nouns are defined and described in Noun Pathways until they are elaborated enough for the speaker's purpose. Verbs are selected using the heuristic: use the simplest form available in the Verb Pathway.Understanding English is a clear and easily applicable approach to exploring the meanings of English through a meaning-focused dependency relation model. By using the ideas in this short introduction to the Associative Model you will deepen your understanding of how English is used. You will also be able to effectively diagram sentences (and texts) to show the associations between words and how they 'work' as meaning units.