语言学概论期末考试范围

语言学概论期末复习

1. diachronic linguistics

Linguistics 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. arbitrariness

Language 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. langue

According 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. competence

Chomsky 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. morpheme

The 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. Morphology

Morphology 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 formed

7. Semantic triangle

According 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 franca

Lingua franca is the general term for a language that serves as a means of communication between different groups of speakers.

9. componential analysis

Componential analysis is a way to analyze lexical meaning, and it defines the meaning of a lexical element in terms of semantic components.

10. Cooperative Principle

Cooperative 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 the

maxim of manner. It means in communication, both parties involved will normally seek to cooperate with each other to establish agreed meaning.

11. acquisition

The term “acquisition”is used to refer to picking up a language through exposure. It

refers to the subconscious or conscious processes. It is learned in a natural or a tutored settings.

12. interlanguage

It 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 China

if 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 an

utterance 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 hearer

gets 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 learning

Rod (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 or

The

form. on focus much without natural, often is It spoken. is language second