Universal Grammar, Truncated Registers,
and the IMO Standard Marine
Communication Phrases
Dr. Masa-aki FUJI
Professor of Linguistic Informatics
Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology
Today’s Agenda
1. Introduction:
I’m going to talk about why the IMO Standard Marine Communication
Phrases (SMCP) had to be developed and also about what linguistic
features of SMCP may present a problem for non-native speakers of
English.
2. Truncated Registers in English:
I will then discuss some more registers and analyze their examples I
have obtained.
3. Properties of the Truncated Register in SMCP
I will propose there are at least two regularities in the SMCP register
and point out they also appear in the headline register.
4. Conclusion
The Fire on Scandinavian Star
and SMCP
“The passenger ferry Scandinavian
Star had just entered service on
the route between Oslo and
Frederikshavn. During the night of
7 April 1990 at least two fires were
set aboard the vessel on its first
trip from Oslo to Frederikshavn.
The first fire was put out before
any damage was done. The
second fire, however, escalated
and resulted in a fully developed
fire which killed 158 of the 482
persons onboard.”
Kristiansen (2004: 56)
The Fire on Scandinavian Star
and SMCP
 It is widely believed that one of the many causes of this
accident had been the crew’s lack of adequate knowledge
of English language.
“In addition [to the aforementioned causes] the crew who were
mostly Portuguese, to a large extent did not understand
Scandinavian or English.” (Kristiansen 2004: 56)
 This accident was one of the reasons why the International
Maritime Organization (IMO) decided to create a new
English phrase book for maritime communication.
 This book is called the IMO Standard Marine
Communication Phrases (SMCP).
IMO SMCP
(Resolution A.918(22))
INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION
E
IMO
ASSEMBLY
22nd session
Agenda item 9
A 22/Res.918
25 January 2002
Original: ENGLISH
Resolution A.918(22)
Adopted on 29 November 2001
(Agenda item 9)
IMO STANDARD MARINE COMMUNICATION PHRASES
THE ASSEMBLY,
IMO SMCP
(CD-ROM version)
Linguistic Properties in SMCP
 Intentional Use of Simplified English
“The IMO SMCP builds on a basic knowledge of the English
language. It was drafted intentionally in a simplified
version of Maritime English to reduce grammatical, lexical
and idiomatic varieties to a tolerable minimum, using
standardized structures for the sake of its function aspects,
i.e. reducing misunderstanding in safety-related verbal
communications, thereby endeavoring to reflect present
maritime English language usage on board vessels and in
ship-to-shore/ship-to-ship communications. “
(P.12, Resolution A.918(22)) )
Linguistic Properties in SMCP
 Use of Block Language as Simplified English
“This means that in phrases offered for use in emergency
and other situations developing under considerable
pressure of time or psychological stress as well as in
navigational warnings, a block language is applied which
uses sparingly or omits the function words the, a/an, is/are
as done in seafaring practice. Users, however, may be
flexible in this respect.”
(P.12, in Resolution A.918(22)) )
What is Block Language?
 “Block language appears in such functions as labels,
titles, newspaper headlines, headings, notices, and
advertisements. “
 “Simple block language messages are most often
nonsentences, consisting of a noun or noun phrase or
nominal clause in isolation; no verb is needed,
because all else necessary to the understanding of
the message is furnished by the context.”
(Quirk et al. 1985: 845)
What is Block Language?
An Example from Newspaper Headline Register
ESPN Men’s Basketball (April 5, 2004)
Huskies dominant inside and out
SAN ANTONIO (AP) – The Connecticut Huskies really do have it all: the All-America
center, the flashy guards, the coach who gets everything right, and now a national
title won with ease. Led by 24 points from Emeka Okafor and 21 from Ben Gordon,
the Huskies outclassed Georgia Tech 82-73 on Monday night to win the
championship many predicted they’d get from the very start of the season.
(http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=244000063)
Question: There are two words missing from the headline.
Can you point out what words are missing from what
positions?
More definition
of Block Language
 Before answering this question, we need to know
more about what block language is.
 “Some forms of block language have recognizable
clause structures. Those forms deviate from regular
clause structures in omitting CLOSED-CLASS ITEMS of
low information value, such as the FINITE FORMS OF
THE VERB BE and the ARTICLES, and other words that
may be understood from the context.”(Quirk et al.
1985: 845)
More definition
of Block Language
 CLOSED-CLASS ITEMS: Words of this type are also
called FUNCTION WORDS. Function words have no
descriptive content (unlike CONTENT WORDS such as
nouns and verbs) and are used for fulfilling some
grammatical functions. Function words include
ARTICLES (a, an, the), FINITE FORMS OF THE VERB BE
(is, are, was, were), auxiliary verbs (will, have, has),
prepositions (in, on, at), etc.
Answer Key
1. ___ Huskies ___ dominant inside and out
2. The Huskies were dominant inside and out

So in this case, the definite article the is omitted in
the subject noun phrase and the finite copula were is
omitted after the subject.
More Terminology
 For our purposes here, let’s assume the following
terms denote the same concept:
1. Block Language (cf. Quirk et al. 1988)
2. Telegraphic Register (cf. Zwicky and Zwicky 1981)
3. Truncated Register (cf. Horsey 1998)
 Following Horsey (1998), I will use “Truncated
Register” to refer to the type of grammar/language
exhibiting the omission of normally required function
words/closed-class elements.
any interfering stations by using the term
the latter have messages about the distr
Truncated
in SMCP
A1/1.1 Register
Distress communications
 Let me first show you
what the truncated
register in SMCP looks
like.
 Q1: Some compression
.1 to
techniques are applied
the quoted portion. Can
you tell me exactly how
many sentences are
there in this portion?
 Q2: Can you figure out
what words are missing
from which positions in
the sentences cited?
(N.B. The three dots in
the first line represents a
variable.)
Note: A distress traffic always has to comm
in distress as specified in “GENERAL 11 P
in the DSC distress alert.
Fire, explosion
.1
.2
.2.1
.3
I am/MV ... on fire (- after explosion).
Where is the fire?
Fire is
~ on deck.
~ in engine-room.
~ in hold(s).
~ in superstructure/accommo
(P.31, Resolution
A.918(22)) )
Are dangerous goods on fire?
Truncated Register in SMCP
Answer Key to Q1:
The compression
techniques used:
A/B: A or B
A (B): A or AB
So, there are
actually 7 sentences
in that portion.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
I am on fire.
I am on fire after explosion.
MV … on fire.
MV … on fire after explosion.
Where is the fire?
Fire is on deck.
Fire is in engine-room.
Truncated Register in SMCP
Answer Key to Q2:
At least, the copula is and the
definite article the are missing
in 3, 4, 6, and 7.
Questions may immediately
arise: “Why is it that the
copular am is not deleted in 1
and 2?”, “Why is it that the
definite article the is not
deleted in 5?.”
Is this just a result of random
deletion of function words or is
there any principled reason
behind this?
1.
2.
3.
4.
I am on fire.
I am on fire after explosion.
MV … is on fire.
MV … is on fire after
explosion.
5. Where is the fire?
6. The fire is on deck.
7. The fire is in engine-room.
.4
.7
ETA at distress position within ... hours / at ... hours
Disabled and
adrift
Truncated
Register
in SMCP
.1
I am / MV ...
~ not under command.
~ adrift.
~ drifting
at portion
... knotsoftoSMCP.
... (cardinal
Q3: Now, observe the
following
If you points/h
~ drifting
danger.
compare this with the
previousinto
portion,
do you notice any
.2
require
... words
requires
assistance.
difference
inI the
way /inMV
which
aretug
deleted?
Armed attack / piracy
.8
.1
.1.1
.2
.3
.3.1
I am / MV ... under attack by pirates.
I / MV ... was under attack by pirates.
I require / MV ... requires assistance.
(P.33, Resolution A.918(22)) )
What kind of assistance
is required?
I require / MV ... requires
Truncated Register in SMCP
Q3:
The contrast between
2 and 4 suggests that
when the copula is in
past tense form, then
the copula deletion is
not applicable.
Is it just a
coincidence, or is it
controlled by some
deeper principles?
1. I am under attack by
pirates.
2. MV … is under attack by
pirates.
3. I was under attack by
pirates.
4. MV … was under attack by
pirates.
The Big Picture
 If the omission or retention of closed-class items is due to
random sampling by the authors of SMCP, then non-native
officers or cadets have no choice but to memorize all of
those expressions as faithfully as possible.
 On the other hand, if the omission or retention of closedclass items is in fact due to unconscious regulations deeply
embedded in the authors’ mind/brain, then non-native
officers or cadets may have an alternative way to master
those expressions in SMCP, i.e., by understanding the
hidden rules and applying those rules to create the target
expressions by themselves.
The Big Picture
 I believe the second possibility is worth considering seriously,
but before proceeding to the discovery of the hidden
regularity behind the truncated register, we need to make
sure that our knowledge of language in general is extremely
complicated and also it is governed by unconscious
grammatical rules.
 So let’s go back to the basics, and let’s ask ourselves what we
actually know when we say we know our native language.
The Big Picture
 The point to make here is as follows:
However chaotic and complicated our knowledge of native
language may look at first sight, it could still be explicable in
principle by language-particular rules and if necessary more
abstract principles of Universal Grammar, the species-specific
mental/brain architecture underlying every human language.
 If we can find those regularities in the SMCP register, we can
teach them to our students and the students themselves can
create useful expressions.
Knowledge of Native Language
 Let me briefly show you how complicated our linguistic
knowledge is by drawing on my data on Exception
Constructions in English.
 English has at least two ways to say a generalization and its
exception:
(1a) Everyone laughed [EP except Mary].
(1b) Everyone laughed [EP except for Mary].
 Bracketed portions with EP: exception phrases (i.e., except-phrase,
except for-phrase)
 Underlined portions: correlates
Knowledge of Native Language
 Note that the two exception constructions have
virtually the same meaning.
 Suppose there were ten students in a room. Nine of
them laughed, but Mary didn’t. In that situation, both of
the constructions, repeated here as (2a) and (2b), can be
uttered truthfully:
(2a) Everyone laughed [EP except Mary].
(2b) Everyone laughed [EP except for Mary].
 However, there are some syntactic differences
between them.
Knowledge of Native Language
 There are at least two differences in their distributions within the
clause. We can posit the following constraint for one of them.
Ordering Constraint-part 1: An except for-phrase may
precede its correlate, whereas an except-phrase must follow
its correlate:
(3a) I have nothing to declare [except my luggage].
(3b) *[Except my luggage], I have nothing to declare.
(4a) I have nothing to declare [except for my luggage].
(4b) [Except for my luggage], I have nothing to declare.
 The star/asterisk * in front of a sentence indicate the sentence in
question is unacceptable for native speakers.
Knowledge of Native Language
 The second distributional difference can be seen form
the contrast in (5) and (6):
(5a) It’s the same everywhere [except [PP in Scotland]].
(5b) [Except [PP in Scotland]], it’s the same everywhere.
(6a) He goes to school every day [except [PP on Sunday]].
(6b) [Except [PP on Sunday]], he goes to school every day.
Ordering Constraint-part 2: When the except-phrase
contains a Prepositional Phrase (PP), it can precede its
correlate.
Knowledge of Native Language
 We can combine the two constrains into one:
Ordering Constraint (combined version): Both exceptand except for- phrases may generally precede its
correlate. Only when an except-phrase contains a Noun
Phrase (NP) must it follow its correlate.
cf. Everybody laughed [except [NP Mary]].
*[Except [NP Mary]], everybody laughed.
 NP: Mary, my luggage, etc.
 PP: in Scotland, on Sunday, etc.
Knowledge of Native Language
 Given Ordering Constraint, we must ask ourselves
how it is possible that every native speaker of English
obtains this complicated regularity. No teachers or
parents can teach it to kids because those adults
usually don’t even notice the constraint exits.
 It is likely then that there is some innate mechanism
that guides children into the final state of mind/brain
in which Ordering Constraint and millions of other
regularities have been emerged.
What is Universal Grammar?
 Universal Grammar
(UG) is the speciesspecific (i.e., innate)
mental/brain
architecture underlying
every human language.
What is Universal Grammar?
 UG is part of our
genetic endowment,
enabling us to acquire
our native language
without any specific
instruction or effort
within a very short-span
of time.
What is Universal Grammar?
 Noam Chomsky at MIT
first proposed a theory
incorporating the idea of
UG in 1950’s and since
then he has been the
leading figure in the field
of theoretical linguistics.
Why do we need to posit UG?
 We need to posit UG, because otherwise we could not
explain why humans can acquire their knowledge of native
language in the first place.
 Put in another way, we assume that our knowledge of
language is so complicated that it is even “unlearnable”
without specific guidance from UG.
 As we have already seen from the discussion of exception
constructions, we can say that our knowledge of language
is complicated enough for us to posit some innate
mechanism or UG.
More Examples
of Truncated Registers
 Before analyzing regularities in SMCP register, let’s
take a look at some more examples of truncated
registers .
More Examples
of Truncated Registers
 Examples of Truncated Resisters:
1) Product labels
“SHAKE ___ WELL. ___ SERVED CHILLED OR OVER ICE.”
(from a label of Atkins Day Break Creamy Chocolate Shake)
cf. “SHAKE THE PRODUCT WELL. IT IS TO BE SERVED CHILLED
OR OVER ICE.”
2)Newspaper headlines
“AFGHANISTAN ___ SEEN ___ TOUGHER CHALLENGE THAN
IRAQ”
(2/8/2009, Yahoo! News)
cf. “AFGHANISTAN IS SEEN TO BE A TOUGHER CHALLENGE THAN
IRAQ”
More Examples
of Truncated Registers
 Examples of Truncated Resisters:
3) Recipe sentences
“Cut the butter into small pieces, place ___ in a bowl and leave ___
at room temperature for 30 minutes.”
(Haegeman and Gueron 1999: 161)
cf. “Cut the butter into small pieces, place them into a bowl and
leave them at room temperature for 30 minutes.”
4)Diary entries
“___ Went to Wigmore Hall but found the concert was at the
Grotian – ___ walked there – feeling light and airy. (from Necessary
Secrets, Diary of Elizabeth Smart; London, 1992, vol. 1, 15)
(Haegeman and Gueron 1999: 614)
cf. “I went to Wigmore Hall but found the concert was at the
Grotian – I walked there – feeling light and airy.”
More Examples
of Product Label Register
 I will give you more examples of product label
register.
More Examples
of Product Label Register
 The language of product labels
(Example-1)
Johnson’s Honey Apple Baby
Wash
More Examples
of Product Label Register
More Examples
of Product Label Register
 The language of product
labels
(Example-2)
Laxative
More Examples
of Product Label Register
More Examples
of Product Label Register
 The language of product
labels (Example-3)
Moist Towelette
Regularities in the SMCP Register
 Now, let’s take a closer look into the regularities
found in SMCP. I will introduce one of my student’s
research on this topic, and then talk about my own
further research.
Regularities in the SMCP Register
 Ohi (2009), which is a graduation thesis I supervised
closely, studies elliptical phenomena in SMCP, and
concludes that the copula be deletion in SMCP
follows the following two conditions.
(1) The subject of the copula be must not be a pronoun.
(2) The tense of the copula be must be in the present form.
 Let’s call the first condition Pronoun Condition and
the second condition Tense Condition.
Regularities in the SMCP Register
 In order to verify his two conditions, i.e., Pronoun Condition
and Tense Condition, Ohi (2009) takes the following steps:
 As we have already seen, the original SMCP phrase book
adopts the compression techniques for reducing the space
(i.e., A/B means A or B, A(B) means A or AB.) So what Ohi
(2009) did first is to entangle the compressed portions,
painstakingly enumerate every single phrase and record all
of them electronically as an EXCEL file. He then extend this
database by incorporating information on what words if any
are missing from each sentence.
Regularities in the SMCP Register
Regularities in the SMCP Register
 Ohi (2009) then counts the number of phrases in which the
copular omission occurs with the pronominal subject. He
made a detailed table to summarize his findings. Here I will
show you my reinterpretation of his results:
Ohi’s (2009) Generalizations
Be-deletion (+) : the number of sentences in which Be-deletion applies.
Be-deletion (-) :the number of sentences in which the copula Be is retained.
Pronominal Subject (+) :the number of sentences in which the subject is a pronoun.
Pronominal Subject (-) : the number of sentences in which the subject is not a pronoun.
Regularities in the SMCP Register
 The table shows that in the SMCP phrase book, you cannot
find any phrase in which the copula be is omitted while its
subject is a pronoun.
 So Ohi’s (2009) Pronoun Condition is not falsified by the
data from SMCP.
 The next question to ask is whether or not this result is due
to an accidental gap. To answer this question, I have
conducted additional experiments with two native
consultants, who were born and raised in the United States.
Regularities in the SMCP Register
 I want to claim that the SMCP register is constrained
by at least the following two constrains:
 Pronoun Condition (PC): cf. Ohi (2009)
The copula be can be omitted unless its subject is a
pronoun.
 Double Deletion Condition (DDC):
The copula be can be omitted only if the article on its
subject is also omitted.
Experiments on Native Consultants
 Pronoun Condition (PC):
1.
2.
3.
4.

Mayday, mayday, MV Ocean Pearl is on fire!
Mayday, mayday, MV Ocean Pearl ___ on fire!
Mayday, mayday, I am on fire!
*Mayday, mayday, I ___ on fire!
But compare the following results:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What kind of assistance is required?
What kind of assistance ___ required?
What is the result of search?
*What ___ the result of search?
Experiments on Native Consultants
 Double Deletion Condition (DDC):
- What is condition of person?
1.The condition of the person is good.
2.___ Condition of person ___ good.
3.*The condition of the person ___ good.
4.___ Person ___ injured.
5.*The person ___ injured.
6.___ Person is injured.
DDC in the Headline Register
 Paesani (2006) reports the following contrasts:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
___ HUSKIES ___ DOMINANT INSIDE OUT
??___ HUSKIES WERE DOMINANT INSIDE OUT
*THE HUSKIES ___ DOMINANT INSIDE OUT
___ PROOF ___ IN THE PUDDING
??___ PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING
*THE PROOF ___ IN THE PUDDING
 We can say that at least DDC is applicable in the
headline register too.
Conclusion
 We have seen that at least DDC governs both the
SMCP and the headline registers.
 If this condition is actually in every native speaker’s
mind/brain, how is it that it has been successfully
acquired by everyone?
 It is likely that we need to posit some innate
mechanism to explain this fact.
 As for the pedagogical side of this research, we can
teach these two conditions to non-native speakers of
English and let them produce useful expressions
themselves.
Bibliography
 Avrutin, Sergey. 1999. Development of the Syntax-Discourse Interface. Kluwer
Academic Publishers.
 Barton, Ellen. 1998. “The grammar of telegraphic structures: sentential and
nonsentential derivation,” Journal of English Linguistics 26.1, 37-67.
 Barton, Ellen and Ljiljana Progovac. 2005. “Nonsententials in minimalism,” in
Ellipsis and Nonsentential Speech, R. Elugardo and R. J. Stainton (eds.), 71-93.
 Becker, Misha. 2001. “The syntactic structure of predicatives: clues from the
omission of the copula in child English,” ZAS Papers in Linguistics 22, 25-42.
 Brown, Roger. 1973. A First Language. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press.
 Haegeman, Liliane and Jacqueline Gueron. 1999. English Grammar: A
Generative Perspective. Blackwell Publishing.
 Horsey, Richard. 1998. Null Arguments in English Registers – A Minimalist
Account. a B.A. thesis, presented to La Trobe University.
Bibliography
 Limber, John. 1973. “The genesis of complex sentences,” in T.
Moore ed., Cognitive Development and the Acquisition of Language,
169-186. New York: Academic Press.
 Massam, Diane, and Yves Roberge. 1989. Recipe context null objects
in English. Linguistic Inquiry 20, 134–139.
 Potts, Christopher and Tom Roeper. 2006. “The narrowing
acquisition path: from expressive small clauses to declaratives,” in
Progovac, et. al. (eds.) (2006), 33-71.
 Paesani, Kate. 2006. “Extending the nonsentential analysis: the case
of special registers,” in Progovac, et. al. (eds.) (2006), 147-182.
 Quirk, Randolf, et al. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the
English Language. London: Longman.
 Sadock, Jerrold M. 1974. “Read at your own risk: syntactic and
semantic horrors you can find in your medicine chest,” Papers from
the tenth Regional Meeting, Chicago Linguistic Society, 599-607.
Bibliography
 Sankoff, D. and H. J. Cedergren. (eds.) 1981. Variation Omnibus.
Edmonton: Linguistic Research Incorporated.
 Weir, Andrew. 2008. Subject Pronoun Drop in Informal English. M.A.
thesis, University of Edinburgh.
 Zwicky, Arnold M. and Ann D. Zwicky. 1981. “Telegraphic registers in
written English, “ in Sankoff and Cedergren (1981), pp. 535-544.