UNIVERSIDAD GERARDO BARRIOS, SAN MIGUEL
FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS Y HUMANIDADES
LICENCIATURA EN IDIOMA INGLES
TEACHER IN CHARGE:
ISMAEL MERLOS
STUDENT NAME:
NORMA STEFANY RAMOS DIAZ
SUBJECT:
INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS
SEMESTER:
II 2021
The mighty Mississippi
For three or four months in the year, you can walk across long parts of the Mississippi; in
fact, you can walk along it too, or drive horses across it. Motionless in the winter's icy grip,
the surface of North America's most famous river lies hidden for weeks on end beneath a
cold white blanket of snow. But below the surface the water flows on in silence,
moving relentlessly through the frozen heartland of North America, towards warmer and
more colorful lands.
"Old Man River" is no more than a child in the state of Minnesota, where he is born among
the lakes and the forests not far from the Canadian border. If he had chosen to move north
or west, he would have finished up in the Atlantic Ocean, part of America's other great river,
the Saint Lawrence. But the child that is to turn into Old Man River moves south.
He makes his way towards the Gulf of Mexico. It's a distance of 1,500 miles as the crow
flies, but more like 2,500 miles along the meandering course that he chooses. It will be
several weeks before the waters that rise in Minnesota eventually flow out past the ocean-
going ships tied up at New Orleans, and mingle with the salt of the sea.
Of course, Old Man River has been making more or less the same southward journey for
thousands of years: long before anyone thought of calling him "Old Man River", he had no
name. It was the Algonquin Indians who gave him the name "Mississippi"; in their language,
the name meant Great River. The name has stuck.
Of course, Old Man River has been making more or less the same southward journey for
thousands of years: long before anyone thought of calling him "Old Man River", he had no
name. It was the Algonquin Indians who gave him the name "Mississippi"; in their language,
the name meant Great River. The name has stuck.
The first European to set eyes on the great river was a Spanish explorer, called De Soto, who
came across the mouth of the river in 1541; yet it was not until over a century later that the
Mississippi river began to take a significant place in the history of North America. In 1682 a
French explorer called La Salle set off from the Great Lakes region, followed the Ohio River,
and eventually reached the coast. Having established an alternate route from the Great
Lakes to the sea, La Salle claimed the whole of the Mississippi basin for the French king Louis
XIV, and called it Louisiana in his honor.
For almost a century, the Mississippi valley was French territory, sandwiched between the
British colonies to the east, and "New Spain" and the unexplored prairies to the west. Little
French colonies appeared along the banks of the river, but in most cases their names are
the only things about them that remain from their early days: St. Cloud, La Crosse, Prairie
du Chien, St. Louis, and many more. It is only at the mouth of the river, round New Orleans
and Baton Rouge, which the river's French past still lives on, to a limited degree. New
Orleans' "Mardi Gras" celebrations are among the most colorful in the United States,
a hybrid fusion of old French tradition and Afro-American celebration.
In 1783, the land to the east of the Mississippi became the western frontier of the newly
born United States of America. As for the much larger area of land to the west, it was sold
to the United States by Napoleon in 1803, for the sum of $11.5 million, in the historic
"Louisiana Purchase".
Nevertheless, even before the Louisiana Purchase, American settlers had begun pushing
across the river, searching for places to settle in the virgin territory beyond. And as the great
wide valley filled up with more and more farms, towns and markets, so the importance of
the river grew.
During the cotton boom of the early nineteenth century, the river and its tributaries allowed
plantation owners to get their produce easily down to New Orleans, where it could be
exported to markets all over the world, and particularly to the textile mills of Lancashire,
England.
ANALYSIS:
1- SYNONYMS: ALONG, ACROSS
Despite having different meaning these words can be used to say the same thing. Ex. you
house is along the river/across the river.
2- ANTONIMS: CHILD, OLD MAN, MORE, LESS
These words have the opposite meaning so that’s why they are antonyms, meanwhile child
refers to a younger people old man refers to a elderly one.
3- HYPONYMY: YEARS. MONTHS, WEEKS
In my opinion, years can be included in the meaning of another date and then it can be that
weeks and months are prototypes of year.
4- PROTOTYPES: MISSISIPI, OLD MAN RIVER, SAINT LAWRENCE
These words are prototypes of rives since we listen the name of Mississippi and we think
about and the same happens with old man river, and St. Lawrence
5- HOMOPHONES: TO, TOO
Despite having two different meanings, their pronunciation Is the same.
6- POLYSEMY: BORDER, MOUTH
In this case, we can use border as the space between two regions and also as the final of
anything. And mouth here acts as the beginning of the river but its polysemy because when
can also refer to a part of our body.
7- METONYMY: AMERICA/OHIO/MINESSOTA/NEW ORLEANDS
I consider exists metonymy with the relationship of these words because we can use any of
them to refers to another, for example, we can say I would like to travel to New Orleans so
we infer I want to travel to United States or in fact to America
8- COLLOCATION: ALGOQUIN INDIANS
If you ask for Algonquin Algonquin Indians people might think about a civilization of people
and yes, in fact people used Algonquin Indians instead of the pseudonymous Indian tribe.
