语言学概论期末考试范围

语言学概论期末复习1. diachronic linguisticsLinguistics that studies language over a period of time, also known as historical linguistics, study of the Chinese language since the end of the Qing dynasty up to the present.2. arbitrarinessLanguage is arbitrary for the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural resemblance to their meaning. The link between the linguistic signs and their meanings is a matter of convention, and conventions differ radically across languages.3. langueAccording to Saussure, langue refers to the abstract linguistic systems shared by all the members of a speech community. It can be thought of as the generalized rules of the language that members of a speech community seem to abide by.4. competenceChomsky defines competence as the abstract ideal user's knowledge of the rules of his language. According to him, anyone who knows a language has internalized a set of rules about the sequences permitted in his language. This internalized set of rules is termed as a person's competence.5. morphemeThe most basic element of meaning is traditionally called morpheme. The “morpheme' is the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expression and content, a unit which can not be divided without destroying or drastically altering the meaning.6. MorphologyMorphology studies morphemes and their different forms and the way they combine in word formation. So it refers to the study of the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed7. Semantic triangleAccording to Ogden and Richard's semantic triangle, there is no direct link between language and the world, or between the symbol ( the linguistic elements, the word, the sentence) and referent ( the object in the world of experience). The link is via thought or reference, the concepts of our minds.8. Lingua francaLingua franca is the general term for a language that serves as a means of communication between different groups of speakers.9. componential analysisComponential analysis is a way to analyze lexical meaning, and it defines the meaning of a lexical element in terms of semantic components.10. Cooperative PrincipleCooperative Principle (CP) was proposed by Paul Grice, under which there are four maxims: the maxim of quantity, the maxim of quality, the maxim of relation and themaxim of manner. It means in communication, both parties involved will normally seek to cooperate with each other to establish agreed meaning.11. acquisitionThe term “acquisition”is used to refer to picking up a language through exposure. Itrefers to the subconscious or conscious processes. It is learned in a natural or a tutored settings.12. interlanguageIt refers to the learner's independent system of the second language which is neither the native language nor the second language, but a continuum or approximation from native language to the target language.I.Students should be able to answer the following questions:1) Explain the three kinds of intersentential sematic relations: entailment, presupposition and implicature.Entailment is a relation of inclusion , If X entails Y, then the meaning of X is included in Y.. X: I have been to Shanghai. Y: I have been to Chinaif x is true, then y is also true, If Y is false, then X is also X entails Y.X presupposes Y. ( Y is a pre-requisite of X).X: John's brother has got married. Y: John has a brother.Implicature: The speaker may use implied meaning but not the literal meaning.2)According to Austin, what are the three acts a person is possibly performing while making an utterance Give an example.According to Austin, a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously when speaking. They are locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. For example: You have left the door wide open.The locutionary act performed by the speaker is his utterance of all the words. “you”, “have”, “door”, “open”, etc. thus expressing what the words literally mean.The illocutionary act performed by the speaker is that by ,asking such anutterance he has expressed his intention of speaking, that is , asking someone to close the door, or making a complaint, depending on the context.The perlocutionary act refers to the effect of the utterance . If the then hearergets the speaker's message and sees that the speaker means to tell him to close the door, then the speaker goes to close the door for the speaker.3) What are the major differences between acquisition and language learningRod (1985) and Krashen (1981) regard acquisition as the spontaneous internalization of rules and formulas. The term acquisition is often used to refer to first language acquisition and second language acquisition. First language acquisition is also called mother tongue acquisition.Acquisition takes place in the speech community where one's first language orTheform. on focus much without natural, often is It spoken. is language secondlearning of English by speakers of other languages in the United States is an example of second language acquisition.Foreign language learning usually takes place in the speech community whereone's first language is spoken. It is a conscious process through formal school-like settings and requires time for processing, with focus on linguistic form in addition to knowledge of the rules of language use. For example, the learning of English in China.4) What are the similarities and differences between Semantics and Pragmatics Semantics focuses on the meaning that comes from linguistic knowledge without considering the context. Pragmatics studies the meaning in a certain context taking our knowledge about the physical and social world into account. Semantic analysis look for rules which are black and white, . you are either right or wrong. Pragmatic analysis look for principles. You can obey them to some extent and violate them to some extent.5) Why do we say Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication Explain it in details.a. Language is systematic. Language must be a system since elements in the language are arranged according to certain rules. Each human language is organized into two basic systems: a system of sounds and a system of meanings.b. Language is symbolic. People use signs to communicate, which means that language involves signs.c. Language is arbitrary. Language is arbitrary for the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural resemblance to their meaning.d. Language is primarily vocal. Language is vocal because the primary medium is sound for all languages, no matter how well developed their writing systems.e. Language is human specific. There are certain characteristics of human language that are not found in the communication systems of any other species.f. Language is used for communication.6) What is the Sapir –Whorf hypothesisThe hypothesis assumes that people's habitual thought patterns and ways of perceiving the world are conditioned to a certain extent by the categories and distinctions that are available to them in their native language. Speakers of different languages may therefore have rather different world-views, depending on how different the languages are from one another semantically and grammatically.Sapir-Whorf hypothesis can be broken down into two basic principles: Linguistic Determinism and Linguistic Relativity.II.Students should be able to draw the tree diagrams for common simple sentences and complex sentences.III.Students should be able to analyze the formation of words.IV.Students should be able to identify errors in given sentences and be able to explain the causes for errors.1. He speaked to Tom yesterday.This intralingual error is due to the overgeneralization of the rule about the English verb's past tense form.2. There were some people came to watch the football match.The relative pronoun at the beginning of the attributive clause is missing. The learner has made an inter-lingual error because of the influence of his mother tongue, that is the Chinese grammatical pattern.3. They are loving basketball very much.This sentence should be corrected as: They love basketball very much. The learner has made an intra-lingual error caused by the over-generation of the target language grammatical rule. The learner failed to realize that in English some verbs never appear in the continuous tense including the verb: love.。