A sentence conveys a complete meaning through words arranged grammatically, can be written or spoken, and includes at least a subject and verb. An utterance is part of spoken language between pauses that can be a single word, group of words, or clause, and includes paralinguistic features. While both convey meaning, a sentence comprises clauses and an utterance may not. A proposition is an element of thought that can be inferred from a statement.

1. Sentence, Utterence and Proposition
Discourse Analysis
Level-7

2. Introduction
• Between the terms sentence and utterance, one can identify some
difference when studying linguistics. First let us gain a basic
understanding of what each term mean.
• A sentence is a group of words that convey a meaning.
• An utterance is also a group of words or a part of speech in between
pauses.
• A sentence can be in both written and spoken language. But an
utterance is usually confined to the spoken language.
• A proposition is an abstraction that can be grasped by the mind of an
individual person; in that sense, a proposition is an object of thought.

3. Sentence
• A sentence is a group of words that conveys a complete meaning or
thought which is grammatically complete string of words.
• A sentence at least contains a subject and verb that highlights that a
sentence conveys a complete meaning because it is a combination of
words which are syntactic in nature.
• For example, when we say ‘she left,’ even though it has just the
subject and verb it conveys a meaning. However, sentences are not
always simple in structure.
• There are a number of categories in sentences such as simple
sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and also
compound-complex sentences.

4. Utterence
• Utterance can be defined as a part of speech between pauses and
silence. This usually applies to spoken language and not for written
language. This feature can be considered as a difference that exists
between a sentence and an utterance.
• An utterance can be a single word, a group of words, a clause or
even a complete sentence.
• In oral/spoken language utterances have several features including
paralinguistic features which are aspects of speech such as facial
expression, gesture, and posture. Prosodic features include stress,
intonation, and tone of voice, as well as ellipsis, which are words that
the listener inserts in spoken language to fill gaps.

5. Difference between Sentence and
Utterance
• A sentence is a group of words that conveys a meaning.
• An utterance is also a group of words or a part of speech in between
pauses.
• Both a sentence and utterance convey a meaning to the reader or
listener.
• The difference between a sentence and utterance is that while a
sentence conveys a complete meaning through a combination of
clauses, an utterance conveys a meaning through a few words that
may not even compile a clause.
• A sentence is in both written and spoken language, but an utterance
is in spoken language only.

6. Proposition
 Proposition is an abstraction that can be grasped by the mind of an
individual person; in that sense, a proposition is an object of thought.
 It is an element of interpretation or we can say a unit of logical
analysis.
 Proposition primarily belongs to the semantics which involves
inference.
For example; John’s son James is an academician.
Propositions;
1- John is a married man.
2- john is the father of James.
3- James is an educated person.
4- James belongs to academic profession. Etc.