英语语言学名词解释

Chapter 12 : Lan guage And Brain

1. n euroli nguistics: It is the study of relati on ship betwee n brain and Ian guage. It in eludes

research into how the structure of the brain in flue nces Ian guage lear ning, how and in which parts of the brain Ian guage is stored, and how damage to the brain affects the ability to

use Ian guage.

2. psycholinguistics: ____ t he study of Ian guage process in g. It is concerned with the processes of Ian guage acqisiti on, comprehe nsion and product ion.

3. brain lateralizati on: The localizatio n of cog nitive and perceptive fun cti ons in a

particular hemisphere of the brain.

4. dichotic listening: A technique in which stimuli either linguistic or non-linguistic are presented through headphones to the left and right ear to determine the lateralization of

cog nitive fun cti on.

5. right ear advantage: ___ The phe nomenon that the right ear shows an adva ntage for the

perception of linguistic signals id known as the right ear advantage.

6. split brain studies: The experiments that investigate the effects of surgically severing the corpus callosum on cog niti on are called as split brain studies.

7. aphasia: It refers to a number of acquired Ianguage disorders due to the cerebral lesions caused by a tumor, an accide nt and so on.

8. non- flue nt aphasia: Damageto parts of the brain in front of the cen tral sulcus is called

non-flue nt aphasia.

9. flue nt aphasia: Damage to parts of the left cortex beh ind the cen tral sulcus results in

a type of aphasia called flue nt aphasia.

10. Acquired dyslexia: Damage in and around the an gular gyrus of the parietal lobe ofte n

causes the impairment of reading and writing ability, which is referred to as acquired dyslexia.

11. phono logical dyslexia: ___ it is a type of acquired dyslexia in which the patie nt seems to

have lost the ability to use spelli ng-to-so und rules.

12. surface dyslexia: it is a type of acquired dyslexia in which the patie nt seems un able

to recog nize words as whole but must process all words through a set of spell in g-to-so und

rules.

13. spo on erism: a slip of ton gue in which the positi on of soun ds, syllables, or words is

reversed, for example, Let' s have chish and fips instend of Let' s have fish and chips.

14. prim ing: the process that before the participa nts make a decisi on whether the stri ng

of letters is a word or not, they are prese nted with an activated word.

15. freque ncy effect: Subjects take less time to make judgeme nt on freque ntly used words

tha n to judge less com monly used words . This phe nomenon is called freque ncy effect.

16. lexical decision: ___ an experime nt that let participa nts judge whether a stri ng of letter

is a word or not at a certa in time.

17. the priming experiment: An experiment that let subjects judge whether a string of letters

is a word or not after showed with a stimulus word, called prime.

18. prim ing effect: Since the men tal represe ntati on is activated through the prime, whe n

the target is prese nted, resp onse time is shorter that it otherwise would have bee n. This

is called the prim ing effect. (06F)

19. bottom-up process ing: an approach that makes use prin cipally of in formati on which is

already prese nt in the data.

20. top-dow n process ing: an approach that makes use of previous kno wledge and experie nee

of the readers in analyzing and processing information which is received.

21. garden path sentences: a sentence in which the comprehender assumes a particular meaning of a word or phrase but discovers later that the assumptio n was in correct, forcing the

comprehe nder to backtrack and rein terpret the sentence.

22. slip of the tongue: ____ mistakes in speech which provide psycholi nguistic evide nee for the

way we formulate words and phrases.

Chapter 11 : Second Lan guage Acquisiti on

1. second Ianguage acquisition: It refers to the systematic study of how one person acquires

a sec ond Ian guage subseque nt to his n ative Ian guage.

2. target Ian guage: The Ian guage to be acquired by the sec ond Ian guage lear ner.

3. second Ianguage: A second Ianguage is a Ianguage which is not a native Ianguage in a country but which is widely used as a medium of com mun icatio n and which is usually used alon gside

ano ther Ian guage or Ian guages.

4. foreign lang uage: A foreig n Ian guage is a Ian guage which is taught as a school subject

but which is not used as a medium of in struct ion in schools nor as a Ian guage of com muni cati on withi n a coun try.

5. in terla nguage: A type of Ian guage produced by sec ond and foreig n Ian guage lear ners, who

are in the process of learning a Ianguage, and this type of Ianguage usually contains wrong expressi ons.

6. fossilization: In second or foreign Ianguage learning, there is a process which sometimes occurs in which in correct lin guistic features become a perma nent part of the way a pers on

speaks or writes a Ian guage.

7. contrastive analysis: a method of analyzing Ianguages for instructional purposes whereby

a native Ianguage and target Ianguage are compared with a view to establishing points of

differe nee likely to cause difficulties for lear ners.

8. contrastive analysis hypothesis: A hypothesis in second Ianguage acquisition. It predicts that where there are similarities between the first and second Ianguages, the learner will

acquire sec ond Ian guage structure with ease, where there are differe nces, the lear ner will have difficulty.

9. positive tran sfer: It refers to the tran sfer that occur whe n both the n ative Ian guage

and the target Ianguage have the same form, thus making learning easier. (06F)

10. negative transfer: ___ the mistaken transfer of features of one ' s native Ianguage into a

sec ond Ian guage.

11. error analysis: ___ the study and an alysis of errors made by sec ond and foreig n Ian guage

learners in order to identify causes of errors or commondifficulties in Ianguage learning.

12. i nterli ngual error: errors, which mai nly result from cross-li nguistic in terfere nee at

differe nt levels such as phono logical, lexical, grammatical etc.

13. in trali ngual error: ____ Errors, which mai nly result from faulty or partial lear ning of the

target Ian guage, in depe ndent of the n ative Ian guage. The typical examples are

overge neralizati on and cross-associati on.

14. overgeneralization: ___ The use of previously available strategies in new situati ons, in

which they are un acceptable.

15. cross-association: ____ some words are similar in meaning as well as spelli ng and

pronunciation. This internal interference is called cross-association.

16. error: the product ion of in correct forms in speech or writi ng by a non-n ative speaker

of a sec ond Ian guage, due to his in complete kno wledge of the rules of that target Ian guage.

17. mistake: mistakes, defi ned as either inten ti on ally or uninten ti on ally devia nt forms and self-corrigible, suggest failure in performa nce.

18. in put: Ian guage which a lear ner hears or receives and from which he or she can lear n.

19. in take: the in put which is actually helpful for the lear ner.

20. In put Hypothesis: A hypothesis proposed by Krashe n , which states that in sec ond Ian guage learnin g, it ' s n ecessary for the lear ner to un dersta nd in put Ian guage which contains

linguistic items that are slightly beyond the learner ' s present linguistic competence.

Eventually the ability to produce Ianguage is said to emerge naturally without being taught directly.

21. acquisiti on: Acquisiti on is a process similar to the way childre n acquire their first

Ianguage. It is a subconscious process without minute learning of grammatical rules. Learners are hardly aware of their lear ning but they are using Ian guage to com muni cate. It is also called implicit learning, informal learning or natural learning.

22. learning: learning is a conscious learning of second Ianguage knowledge by learning the

rules and talk ing about the rules.

23. comprehe nsible in put: In put Ian guage which contains lin guistic items that are slightly

bey ond the lear ner ' s prese nt lin guistic compete nee. (06F)

24. Ianguage aptitude: the natural ability to learn a Ianguage, not including intelligenee, motivati on, in terest, etc.

25. motivation: motivation is defined as the learner ' s attitudes and affective state or

learning drive.

26. in strume ntal motivation: ____ t he motivati on that people lear n a foreig n Ian guage for

in strume ntal goals such as pass ing exams, or furtheri ng a career etc. (06C)

27. in tegrative motivation: _____ t he drive that people lear n a foreig n Ian guage because of the

wish to ide ntify with the target culture. (06C/ 05)

28. resultative motivati on: the drive that lear ners lear n a sec ond Ian guage for exter nal purposes. (06F)

29. intrin sic motivation: ____ the drive that lear ners lear n the sec ond Ian guage for enjoyme nt

or pleasure from lear ning.

30. learning strategies: _____ learning strategies are learners ' conscious goal -oriented and problem-solvi ng based efforts to achieve lear ning efficie ncy.

31. cog nitive strategies: ____ strategies in volved in an alyz ing, syn thesis, and intern aliz ing

what has bee n learned. (07C/ 06F)

32. metacognitive strategies: the techniques in planning, monitoring and evaluating one' s learning.

33. affect/ social strategies: ______ the strategies deali ng with the ways lear ners in teract or

com muni cate with other speakers, n ative or non-n ative.

Chapter 10: Lan guage Acquisiti on

1. language acquisition: ____ It refers to the child ' s acquisition of his mother tongue, . how the child comes to un dersta nd and speak the Ian guage of his com mun ity.

2. Ian guage acquisiti on device (LAD): _____ A hypothetical inn ate mecha nism every no rmal huma n

child is believed to be born with, which allow them to acquire Ian guage. (03)

3. Uni versal Grammar: A theory which claims to acco unt for the grammatical compete nee of

every adult no matter what la nguage he or she speaks.

4. motherese: A special speech to children used by adults, which is characterized with slow

rate of speed, high pitch, rich inton ati on, shorter and simpler sentence structures 又叫child directed speech , caretaker talk.(05)

5. Critical Period Hypothesis: _____ The hypothesis that the time spa n betwee n early childhood

and puberty is the critical period for Ianguage acquisition, during which children can acquire Ian guage without formal in structi on successfully and effortlessly. (07C/ 06F/ 04)

6. un der-exte nsion: Use a word with less tha n its usual range of deno tati on.

7. over-exte nsion: Exte nsion of the meaning of a word bey ond its usual doma in of

applicatio n by young childre n.

8. telegraphic speech: Children ' s early multiword speech that contains content words and

lacks function words and in flect ional morphemes.

9. content word: Words referri ng to thin gs, quality, state or acti on, which have lexical

meaning used alone.

10. fun ctio n word: Words with little meaning on their own but show grammatical relati on ships in and betwee n senten ces.

11. taboo: Words known to speakers but avoided in some con texts of speech for reas ons of

religi on, polite ness etc. (07C)

12. atypical developme nt: Some acquisiti on of Ian guage may be delayed but follow the same

rules of Ian guage developme nt due to trauma or injury.

Chapter 9: Lan guage And Culture

1. culture : The total way of life of a pers on, in clud ing the patter ns of belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques, and Ianguage that characterizes the life of human

com munity.

2. discourse commu nity : It refers to the com mon ways that members of some social group

use Ian guage to meet their n eeds.

3. acculturation : A process in which changes on the Ianguage, culture and system of values

of a group happen through interaction with another group with a different Ianguage, culture and a system of values.

4. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis : The interdependence of Ianguage and thought is now known as

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis.

5. linguistic relativity : A belief that the way people view the world is determined wholly

or partly by the structure of their native Ianguage——又叫Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. (06C)

6. lin guistic determinism: ____ It refers to the idea that the Ian guage we use, to some exte nt,

determines the way in which we view and think about the world around us. (06C)

7. deno tative meaning: It refers to the literal meaning, which can be found in a dict ion ary.

8. conno tative meaning: The associati on of a word, apart from its primary meaning.

9. iconic meaning: The image of a word in voked to people.

10. metaphors: A figure of speech, in which no function words like like, as are used. Something is described by stating another thing with which it can be compared.

11. euphemism: a word or phrase that replace a taboo word or is used to avoid reference to

certa in acts or subjects, . powder room for toilet.

12. cultural overlap: ____ The situati on betwee n two societies due to some similarities in the

n atural en viro nment and psychology of huma n being

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13. cultural diffusion: _____ Through com muni cati on, some eleme nts of culture A en ter culture B

and become part of culture B, thus bringing about cultural diffusi on. (05/03)

14. cultural imperialism: ____ The situati on of in creas ing cultural diffusi on all over the

world.(06C)

15. linguistics imperialism: it is a kind of kind of linguicism which can be defined as the promulgati on of global ideologies through the world-wide expa nsion of one Ian guage. (06C)

16. linguistic nationalism: In order to protect the purity of their Ianguage, some countries

have adopted special language policy. It is called linguistic nationalism.

17. in tercultural communication: _____ It is com muni catio n betwee n people whose cultural

percepti ons and symbols are dist inct eno ugh to alter the com muni cati on event.

18. language planning: planning, usually by a government, concerning choice of national or official Ianguage(s), ways of spreading the use of a Ianguage, spelling reforms, the addition

of new words to the Ian guage, and other Ian guage problems.

Chapter 8: Lan guage And Society

1. sociolinguistics: ____ T he subfield of linguistics that study Ianguage variation and Ianguage use in social con texts.

2. speech com mun ity: A group of people who form a com munity and share at least one speech

variety as well as similar lin guistic no rms. (05)

3. speech varieties: It refers to any disti nguishable form of speech used by a speaker or

a group of speakers.

4. regi onal dialect: ____ A variety of Ian guage used by people livi ng in the same geographical

regi on.

5. sociolect: A variety of Ianguage used by people, who belong to a particular social class.

6. registers : The type of Ianguage which is selected as appropriate to the type of

situatio n.

7. idiolect : A pers on ' s dial ect of an in dividual speaker that comb ines eleme nts, regard ing region al, social, gen der and age variati ons. (04)

8. ling uistic reportoire : The totality of lin guistic varieties possessed by an in dividual

con stitutes his lin guistic repertoire.

9. register theory : A theory proposed by American linguist Halliday, who believed that

three social variables determine the register, namely, field of discourse, tenor of discourse

and mode of discourse.

10. field of discourse : the purpose and subject matter of the com muni cative behavior..

11. tenor of discourse: It refers to the role of relati on ship in the situatio n in questio n: who the participa nts in the com muni cati on groups are and in what relati on ship they sta nd to each other.