语言学-名词解释

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1. Language is a scientific system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

2. Minimal pairs are the word forms which differ from each other only by one sound. In other words, when two different forms re identical in every way except for one sound segment that occurs in the same place in the string; the two words are called minimal pairs. 3. A morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that carries grammatical and/or semantic meaning.

4. IPA: A phonetic transcription is an economical means for capturing sounds on paper, that is, a method of writing down speech sounds in a systematic and consistent way. The best-known system, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), has been developing since 1888.

5. SLA: second language acquisition to refer to the process of acquiring or learning an additional language after the learner has acquired his or her mother tongue.

6. Linguistics is the science of language for all human societies, and is defined as the systematic study of language.

7. Diachronic study: the description of the historical development of a language. Linguistic study in the 19th century was primarily concerned with the diachronic description.

8. Synchronic study: the description of a particular state of a language at a single point of time. The priority of synchronic description is a characteristic of most twentieth-century linguistic theories.

9. Syntagmatic relation: the relations between units which combine to form sequences 10. Paradigmatic relation: oppositions which produce distinct and alternative terms

11. Competence refers to the knowledge that native speakers have of their language as system of abstract formal relations. That is the ideal language user’s knowledge of the rules of his language.

12. Performance refers to what we do when we speak or listen, that is, the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances. 13. A corpus refers to a collection of linguistic data, either complicated as written texts or as a transcription of recorded speech.

14. A phonetic transcription is an economical means for capturing sounds on paper, that is, a method of writing down speech sounds in a systematic and consistent way.

15. Phoneme is the minimum phonemic unit that is not further analyzable into smaller units. It is the basic unit in phonological analysis.

16. Sound patterns refer to the set of sounds that occur in a given language, the permissible arrangements of these sounds in words, and the processes for adding, deleting, or changing sounds.

17. Stress is the pronunciation of a word or syllable with more force than the surrounding words or syllables. 18. Pitch is a suprasegmental quality which extends over individual segments and longer stretches of speech.

19. Inflection refers to the process of adding an affix to a word or changing it in some other way according to the rules of the grammar of a language.

20. Proverbs are normally in the form of a sentence. A proverb is often a short sentence that people often quote and use to give advice and state some general human life experience and problem.

21. Synonymy: words or expressions with the same or similar meaning are said to be synonymy.

22. Homonymy refers to cases where lexemes with the same phonological or morphological shape have different meanings. 23. a speech act：An action performed by the use of an utterance to communicate is called a speech act. 24. Dialect refers to any regional, social or ethnic variety of a language.

25. Register refers to the functional variety of language that is defined according to its use in context. Registers vary according to the three parameters of context: field, tenor and mode (Halliday, 1978).

26. Language planning refers to a deliberate attempt, usually at the level of the state or government administration, to affect language use in order to prevent or to solve some problems of communication.

27. Hyponymy is used to refer to a specific—general semantic relationship between lexical items.

1. What is the scope of linguistics? Answer: there are six branches of linguistics. 1)Phonetics is the study of human speech sounds.2)Phonology is the study of sound patterning.3)Morphology is the study of the internal structures of the form of words.4)Syntax is the study of sentence structure.5)Semantics is the study of meaning.6)Pragmatics studies how speakers use language in ways which can not be predicted from linguistic knowledge alone.

2. What are the differences between Langue and Parole? Please analysis the distinctions of Langue and Parole. Answer: This distinction is proposed by Saussure in his Course in General Linguistics.

Langue: the abstract system; a collective body of knowledge; a kind of common reference manual; acquired by all members of a community of speakers; relatively stable and systematic.

Parole: the particular actualities of individual utterance; the contingent executive side of things; the relatively superficial behavioral reflexes of knowledge; the use of language in utterances; subject to personal or situational constraints. 3. Please describe the three kinds of Origin of Language?

Answer:1) Creation (Devine Origin) Almost every religion has stories about how man received language from god. The divine origin theorists propose that in the beginning there was one language from one source, which later became corrupted into many languages.2) Evolution:Men evolved from lower forms of life; language, too, evolved. 3) Invention:The invention theory believes that there is a natural connection between the forms of language and the essence of things.

4.Please describe the semantic relations briefly.Answer: (1) synonymy and antonymy:

Words or expressions with the same or similar meaning are said to be synonymous. Antonymy is the relationship of oppositeness of meaning.

(2) meronymy and hyponymy: Meronymy is a term used to describe a part-whole relationship between lexical items. Hyponymy is used to refer to a specific—general semantic relationship between lexical items. (3) polysemy and homonymy: When a single lexeme has several meanings, it is called polysemic.Homonymy refers to cases where lexemes with the same phonological or morphological shape have different meanings.

5. In 1967, linguist Grice proposed the term of the cooperative principle and its maxims. Then please describe the cooperative principle and its maxims.Answer: According to cooperative principle, the participants in a conversation normally communicate in a maximally efficient, rational and cooperative way. They should speak sincerely, relevantly and clearly, while providing sufficient information.

Four maxims:(1)The maxim of qualityTry to make your contribution one that is true, especially: (i) do not say what you believe to be false and (ii) do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.(2)The maxim of quantity.Make your contribution as informative as is required for the current purposes of the exchange and (ii) do not make your contribution more informative than is required.(3)The maxim of relevance.Make your contribution relevant.(4)The maxim of manner.Be perspicuous, and specifically: (i) Avoid obscurity of expression; (ii) Avoid ambiguity; (iii) Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity) and (iv) Be orderly.

6. What are the major differences between acquisition and language learning?

Acquisition is called as the spontaneous internalization of rules and formulas. First language acquisition is also called mother tongue acquisition. Acquisition takes place in the speech community where one’s first language or second language is spoken. It is often natural, without much focus on form. The learning of English by speakers of other languages in the United States is an example of second language acquisition.

Foreign language learning is usually takes place in the speech community where one’s first language is spoken. It is a conscious process through formal school-like settings and requires time for processing, for example, the learning of English in China.


7. Is the language arbitrary? Please analyze the concept of arbitrariness.

Answer: Language is Arbitrary Saussure regards the linguistic sign as a two-sided psychological entity. Concept and sound-image are replaced by signified所指 and signifier能指 respectively. Arbitrariness is the result of the need to express and code a wide range of meanings. The speaker of a language, based upon the convention established in the speech community, associates linguistic signs with things and concepts. For example, there is no connection between the word tree and the plant it signifies. It can equally be called shù in Chinese and arbre in French. 8. What is register? And please describe its three parameters.

Answer: Register refers to the functional variety of language that is defined according to its use in context. Registers vary according to the three parameters of context: field, tenor and mode.

(1) Field refers to the social action. It involves what is happening, the nature of the social action that is taking place and what the participants are engaged in. Field is the linguistic reflection of the role of the language use with a definite purpose in the situation in which a text has occurred. (2) Tenor refers the role structure. It involves: who is taking part, the nature of the participants, their status and roles, and the type of role relationship between the participants.

(3) Mode refers to the linguistic channel and the rhetorical mode. Mode reflects the relationship of the language use to the medium of transmission. (Halliday, 1978)

9. What are the Politeness Principle and its maxims?

Answer: Leech (1983:132) develops the face theory further and formulates the politeness principle. a) Tact maxim：Minimize cost to other; Maximize cost of self

b) Generosity maxim：Minimize benefit to self; Maximize praise of other

c) Approbation maxim：Minimize dispraise of other; Maximize dispraise of self

d) Modesty maxim：Minimize disagreement between self and other; Maximize sympathy between self and other e) Agreement maxim：Minimize disagreement between self and other; Maximize agreement between self and other f) Sympathy maxim: Minimize antipathy between self and other; Maximize sympathy between self and other. 10. Please analyze the distinctions between Free and bound morphemes.

Answer: If a morpheme can constitute a word (free form) by itself, it is called a free morpheme, like room, bottle, stand, large. If a morpheme has meaning only when connected with at least another morpheme, it is bound, like un- in unlucky, and the plural –s in bags.

A bound morpheme is also called an affix in the sense that it is always added to another morpheme. Affixes can be further divided into prefixes, suffixes and infixes. e.g. dis- in disorder; mini- in minibus; en- in ensure;-ful, in useful; -less in careless; -e- in men and women; -i- in mice and lice; -ee- in feet and teeth.

11. Specifically, what do the inflectional morphemes include in modern English, and what do these inflectional morphemes indicate?

Answer: Inflectional morphemes include in modern English indicate case and number of nouns, tense and aspect of verbs, and degree of adjectives and adverbs. Specially, modern English inflectional morphemes include: -’s, indicating the possessive case of nouns; -(e)s, indicating the plural form of noun;

-(e)s, indicating the simple present tense of verbs sgreeing with a third person sigular subject; -ed, indicationg the past tense of verbs; -ing, indicating the progressive aspect of verbs;

-er, indicating the comparative degree of adjectives and adverbs; -est, indicating the superlative degree of adjectives and adverbs. 12. Please explain the Nature of Language as clearly as you can. Answer: The nature of language has 6 characteristics:

1) Language is Systematic; 2) Language is Symbolic; 3) Language is Arbitrary;4) Language is primarily vocal; 5) Language is Human Specific;6) Language is Used for Communication. 13. What are the major differences between Speech and Writing?

Answer: Linguists regard the spoken languages as primary, not the written.

1) Speech is prior to writing historically.2) Genetically, children always learn to speak before they learn to write. This is not to deny the importance of writing:

1) With writing, messages can be carried through space.2) With writing, messages can be carried through time. 3) Oral messages are subject to misunderstanding distortion.

Everything considered, speech is believed to be more representative of human language than writing. Written language has a life of its own. Speech has the restriction of both time and space.

14. What are the major differences between Competence and Performance? Answer: This distinction was proposed by American linguist Chomsky in the 1950s.

Competence refers to the knowledge that native speakers have of their language as system of abstract formal relations. That is the ideal language user’s knowledge of the rules of his language.

Performance refers to what we do when we speak or listen, that is, the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances. A speaker’s competence is stable but his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. 16. What may language varieties include? Describe them clearly.

Answer: Language varieties may include lingua franca, pidgin, and creole.

(1) Lingua franca通用语------ the general term that serves as a means of communication between different groups of speakers. It can be internationally used language like English, or the mother tongue of one of the groups.

(2) Pidgin洋泾浜------ a contact language that arises in situations where speakers of different languages can not understand each other’s first language or native language and, thus, need to develop a common means of communication. Linguistically, pidgins are characterized by a limited vocabulary, a greater use of paraphrase and metaphor, a simplified phonological system, and a reduced morphology and syntax.

(3) Creole 克里奥尔语------ creoles are former pidgins whose functional and grammatical limitations and simplification have been eliminated and which now function as full-fledged, standardized native languages.


17. What is dialect and its subdivisions of a language?

Answer: Dialect refers to any regional, social or ethnic variety of a language. All languages spoken by more than one small homogeneous community are found to consist of two or more dialects. Dialects are subdivisions of a language.

1) Regional Dialects --- the language variety used in a geographical region. When people are separated from each other geographically, dialectal diversity develops.

2) Social Dialects --- is used to describe differences in speech associated with various social groups or classes. Whereas regional dialects are geographically based, social dialects originate among social groups and are related to a variety of factors. Social dialect could be further distinguished by gender, age, ethnic group, religion, and class.

3) Standard Dialect--- refers to a special variety of language that has no connection with a particular region or social class. 18. What are register and the three parameters?

Answer: Register refers to the functional variety of language that is defined according to its use in context. Registers vary according to the three parameters of context: field, tenor and mode (Halliday, 1978).

(1) Field refers to the social action. It involves what is happening, the nature of the social action that is taking place and what the participants are engaged in. Field is the linguistic reflection of the role of the language use with a definite purpose in the situation in which a text has occurred. (2) Tenor refers the role structure. It involves: who is taking part, the nature of the participants, their status and roles, and the type of role relationship between the participants.

(3) Mode refers to the linguistic channel and the rhetorical mode. Mode reflects the relationship of the language use to the medium of transmission.

15. What are the Leech’s Seven Types of Meaning? Describe them clearly.

Answer: According to Leech (1981), there exist seven types of meaning, five of which are included in the associative meaning.

(1) Conceptual meaning: 概念意义it is called “denotative” or “cognitive” meaning. This refers to the definition given in the dictionary. For example, man can be defined by the contrastive features [+Human], [+Male], [+Adult], as distinct from girl, which can be defined as [+Human], [-Male], [-Adult].

(2) Associative meaning:联想意义 it refers to the meaning associated with the conceptual meaning, which can be further divided into following five types.

(i) Connotative meaning. 内涵意义This is the communicative value attributed to an expression over and above is purely conceptual meaning. For example, woman with unappreciable properties such as frail, prone to tears, cowardly, irrational, inconstant, as well as virtues like gentle, compassionate, hardworking, sensitive.

(ii) Social meaning: it is refers o what is communicated of the social circumstances of language use, including variations like dialect, time, topic, and style.

(iii) Affective meaning:情感意义 it is what is communicated of the feelings and attitudes of the speaker/ writer towards the listener/reader/and /or what he or she is talking about. E.g. idiot conveys one’s despise or describes sth. as “marvelous” to express one’s positive evaluation.

(iv) Reflected meaning: it is the meaning when we associate one sense of an expression with another. For example, the word dear in certain context is used in the sense ―expensive‖ but also alludes to the sense of ―beloved‖.

(v) Collocative meaning搭配意义: This refers to what is communicated though association with words which tends to occur in the environment of another words. Both pretty and handsome can be used to mean “good-looking” but differ in the range of nouns with which they can co-occur or collocate. For example, pretty can go with girl, woman, flower, garden, color, village, etc. while handsome can collocate with boy, man, car, car, vessel, overcoat, airliner, typewriter, etc.

(3) Thematic meaning 主题意义This is what is communicated by the way in which the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis.

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