英语语言学考研问答题及参考答案

Whatarethemajordifferencesbetweenphonologyandphonetics?Theydifferintheirapproachandfocus.Phoneticsisofageneralnature;itisinterestedinallthespeechsoundsusedinallhumanlanguages:howtheyareproduced,howtheydifferfromeachother,whatphoneticfeaturestheypossess,howtheycanbeclassified.Phonology,ontheotherhand,isinterestedinthesystemofsoundsofaparticularlanguage;itaimstodiscoverhowspeechsoundsinalanguageformpatternsandhowthesesoundsareusedtoconveymeaninginlinguisticcommunication.WhatarethemainfeaturesoftheEnglishcompounds?Orthographicallyacompoundcanbewrittenasoneword,twoseparatewordswithorwithoutahypheninbetween.Syntactically,thepartofspeechofacompoundisdeterminedbythelastelement.Semantically,themeaningofacompoundisidiomatic,notcalculablefromthemeaningsofallitscomponents.Phonetically,thewordstressofacompoundusuallyfallsonthefirstelement.Discussthetypesofmorphemeswithexamples.Freemorphemes:Theyaretheindependentunitsofmeaningandcanbeusedfreelyallbythemselves,forexample,“book-”intheword“bookish”.Boundmorphemes:Theyarethosethatcannotbeusedindependentlybuthavetobecombinedwithothermorphemes,eitherfreeorbound,toformawordsuchas“-ish”in“bookish”.Boundmorphemescanbesubdividedintorootsandaffixes.Arootisseenaspartofaword;itcanneverstandbyitselfalthoughithasaclearanddefinitemeaning,suchas“gene-”intheword“generate”.Affixesareoftwotypes:inflectionalandderivational.Inflectionalmorphemesmanifestvariousgrammaticalrelationsorgrammaticalcategoriessuchas“-s”intheword“books”toindicatepluralityofnouns.Derivationalaffixesareaddedtoanexistingformtocreateawordsuchas“mis-”intheword“misinform”.Derivationalaffixescanalsobedividedintoprefixesandsuffixes.Prefixesoccuratthebeginningofawordsuchas“dis-”intheword“dislike”,whilesuffixesoccurattheendofawordsuchas“-less”intheword“friendless”.Whatarethemajortypesofsentences?Illustratethemwithexamples.Traditionally,therearethreemajortypesofsentences.Theyaresimplesentence,coordinate(compound)sentence,andcomplexsentence.Asimplesentenceconsistsofasingleclausewhichcontainsasubjectandapredicateandstandsaloneasitsownsentence,forexample:Johnreadsextensively.Acoordinatesentencecontainstwoclausesjoinedbyalinkingwordthatiscalledcoordinatingconjunction,suchas"and","but","or".Forexample:Johnisreadingalinguisticbook,andMaryispreparingforherhistoryexam.Acomplexsentencecontainstwo,ormore,clauses,oneofwhichisincorporatedintotheother.Thetwoclausesinacomplexsentencedonothaveequalstatus,oneissubordinatetotheother.Forexample:BeforeJohngaveheralecture,Maryshowednointerestinlinguistics.Aretheelementsinasentencelinearlystructured?Why?No.Languageisbothlinearlyandhierarchicallystructured.Whenasentenceisutteredorwrittendown,thewordsofthesentenceareproducedoneafteranotherinasequence.Acloserexaminationofasentenceshowsthatasentenceisnotcomposedofsequenceofwordsarrangedinasimplelinearorderwithoneaddingontoanotherfollowingasimplearithmeticlogic.Infact,sentencesarealsohierarchicallystructured.Theyareorganizedbygroupingtogetherwordsofthesamesyntacticcategory,suchasnounphrase(NP)orverbphrase(VP).Howdoyoudistinguishbetweenentailmentandpresuppositionintermsoftruthvalues?Entailmentisarelationofinclusion.SupposetherearetwosentencesXandY:X:HehasbeentoFrance.Y:HehasbeentoEurope.Intermsoftruthvalues,ifXistrue,Yisnecessarilytrue,e.g.IfhehasbeentoFrance,hemusthavebeentoEurope.IfXisfalse,Ymaybetrueorfalse,e.g.IfhehasnotbeentoFrance,hemaystillhavebeentoEuropeorhehasnotbeentoEurope.IfYistrue,Xmaybetrueorfalse,e.g.IfhehasbeentoEurope,hemayormaynothavebeentoFrance.IfYisfalse,Xisfalse,e.g.IfhehasnotbeentoEurope,hecannothavebeentoFrance.ThereforeweconcludethatXentailsYorYisanentailmentofX.Thetruthconditionsthatweusetojudgepresuppositionisasfollows:SupposetherearetwosentencesXandYX:John'sbikeneedsrepairing.Y:Johnhasabike.IfXistrue,Ymustbetrue,e.g.IfJohn'sbikeneedsrepairing,Johnmusthaveabike.IfXisfalse,Yisstilltrue,e.g.IfJohn'sbikedoesnotneedrepairing,Johnstillhasabike.IfYistrue,Xiseithertrueorfalse,e.g.IfJohnhasabike,itmayormaynotneedrepairing.IfYisfalse,notruthvaluecanbesaidaboutX,e.g.IfJohndoesnothaveabike,nothingcanbesaidaboutwhetherhisbikeneedsrepairingornot.Therefore,XpresupposesY,orYisapresuppositionofX.Howaresemanticsandpragmaticsdifferentfromeachother?Traditionalsemanticsstudiedmeaning,butthemeaningoflanguagewasconsideredassomethingintrinsic,andinherent,i.e.apropertyattachedtolanguageitself.Therefore,meaningsofwords,meaningsofsentenceswereallstudiedinanisolatedmanner,detachedfromthecontextinwhichtheywereused.Pragmaticsstudiesmeaningnotinisolation,butincontext.Theessentialdistinctionbetweensemanticsandpragmaticsiswhetherthecontextofuseisconsideredinthestudyofmeaning.Ifitisnotconsidered,thestudyisrestrictedtotheareaoftraditionalsemantics;ifitisconsidered,thestudyisbeingcarriedoutintheareaofpragmatics.Howdoesasentencedifferfromanutterance?Asentenceisagrammaticalconcept.Itusuallyconsistsofasubjectandpredicate.Anutteranceistheunitofcommunication.Itisthesmallestlinguisticunitthathasacommunicativevalue.Ifweregardasentenceaswhatpeopleactuallyutterinthecourseofcommunication,itbecomesanutterance.Whether“Maryisbeautiful.”isasentenceoranutterancedependsonhowwelookatit.Ifweregarditasagrammaticalunitoraself-containedunitinisolation,thenitisasentence.Ifwelookatitassomethingutteredinacertainsituationwithacertainpurpose,thenitisanutterance.Mostutterancestaketheformofcompletesentences,butsomeutterancesarenot,andsomecannotevenberestoredtocompletesentences.Howdoesasentencemeaningdifferfromanutterancemeaning?Asentencemeaningisoftenconsideredastheintrinsicpropertyofthesentenceitselfintermsofapredication.Itisabstractandindependentofcontext.Themeaningofanutteranceisconcrete,andcontext-dependent.Theutterancemeaningisbasedonsentencemeaning;itisrealizationoftheabstractmeaningofasentenceinarealsituationofcommunication,orsimplyinacontext.Forexample,“Thereisadogatthedoor”.Thespeakercouldutteritasamatter-of-factstatement,tellingthehearerthatthedogisatthedoor.Thespeakercoulduseitasawarning,askingthehearernottoapproachthedoor.Thereareotherpossibilities,too.So,theunderstandingoftheutterancemeaningof“Thereisadogatthedoor”dependsonthecontextinwhichitisutteredandthepurposeforwhichthespeakeruttersit.Aslanguagechangesovertime,themeaningofawordmaydeviatefromitsoriginaldenotation.Discussthemajortypesofsemanticchanges.Majortypesofsemanticchangesaresemanticbroadening,semanticnarrowingandsemanticshift.Semanticbroadeningreferstotheprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordbecomesmoregeneralorinclusivethanitshistoricallyearlierdenotation.Taketheword"holiday"forexample, Theoldermeaningwasa"holyday."Todayeveryoneenjoysaholiday,whetherheorsheisreligiousornot.Semanticnarrowingisaprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordbecomeslessgeneralorinclusivethanitshistoricallyearliermeaning.Forexample,"wife,"usedtomean"anywoman,"butnowitmeans“marriedfemales”only.Semanticshiftisaprocessofsemanticchangeinwhichawordlosesitsformermeaningandacquiresanew,sometimesrelated,meaning.Forexample,thewordsillymeant“happy”inOldEnglish,andnaiveinMiddleEnglish,but"foolish"inModernEnglish.Whatarethecausesoflanguagechange?Discussthemindetail.Languagechangesareduetothefollowingcauses:1) Soundassimilation:Soundassimilationreferstothephysiologicaleffectofonesoundonanother.Inanassimilativeprocess,successivesoundsaremadeidentical,ormoresimilar,tooneanotherintermsofplaceormannerofarticulation,orofhaplology,thelossofoneoftwophoneticallysimilarsyllablesinsequence.Forexample,theOldEnglishword"Engla-land"("thelandoftheAngles")cametobepronounced“England”throughtheassimilationof"la-lasounds.2) Rulesimplificationandregularization:Somechangesaretheresultofsimplificationandregularization.Thepluralformsofborrowedwordsareusuallyirregular,thuscomplex.Forexample,thepluralformsof "agendum","datum","curriculum"and"memorandum"are"agenda","data","curricula"and"memoranda".Theirregularpluralsofthesenounshavebeenreplacedbyregularpluralsof"agendas","curriculums",and"memorandums"amongmanyspeakers,thusmakingthemsimplifiedandregularized.3) Internalborrowing:Inordertoreducethenumberofexceptionalorirregularmorphemes,speakersofaparticularlanguagemayborrowarulefromonepartofthegrammarandapplyitgenerally.Forexample,byanalogytothepluralformationof"foe-s"and"dog-s",speakersstartedsaying"cows"asthepluralof"cow"insteadoftheearlierpluralkine.4) Elaboration:Ruleelaborationoccurswhenthereisaneedtoreduceambiguityandincreasecommunicativeclarityorexpressiveness.Ifaparticulargrammaticalfeatureislostasaresultofachangeinthephonologicalsystem,someotherfeaturemaybeaddedinanothercomponentofthegrammar.5) Socialtriggers:Socio-politicalchangessuchaswars,invasions,occupation,colonization,andlanguageplanningandstandardizationpoliciesleadtolanguagechanges.Forexample,inthehistoryofEnglish,theNormanConquestmarkedthebeginningoftheMiddleEnglishperiod.AndBritishcolonialsettlement,andthecountry'spolitical,culturalandeconomicadvancesindistantlandssuchasNorthAmerica,Oceania,SouthAfrica,andIndialeadtothechangeofEnglishintoBritish,American,Australian,SouthAfricanandIndianvarieties.6) Culturaltransmission:Althoughanewgenerationhastofindawayofusingthelanguageofthepreviousgeneration,ithastofindexpressionsthatcanbestcommunicatetheviewsandconceptsofthetimeandthechangedandever-changingsociallife,andre-createthelanguageofthecommunity.Forexample,whileoldpeopletendtocallarefrigerator"icebox,"theyoungergenerationismoreoftenheardspeakingofa"fridge."Thistenuoustransmissionprocessaddsuptotheinevitableandongoinglanguagechangeandvariation.7) Children'sapproximationtowardtheadultgrammar:Thewaychildrenacquirethelanguageisanotherbasiccauseforlanguagechange.Childrenusuallyconstructtheirpersonalgrammarsbythemselvesandgeneralizerulesfromthelinguisticinformationtheyhear.Children'sgrammarnevermodelsexactlyafterthatoftheadultspeechcommunity,becausechildrenareexposedtodiverselinguisticinformation.Alltheabovefactorscontributetolanguagechanges.Whatarethebiologicalfoundationsoflanguage?Ofallorganisms,humanbeingsaretheonlyspontaneouscreatorsandusersofhighlysophisticatedlanguagesthatpermitthecommunicationofawiderangeofknowledgeandideas.Evidently,ourlinguisticabilitydoesnotdependprimarilyonthestructureofourvocalcords,forothermammalsalsohavevocalcords.Humanlinguisticabilitylargelydepends,instead,onthestructureanddynamicsofthehumanbrain.Asfarasiscurrentlyknown,humanbeingsaretheonlyorganismsinwhichoneparticularpartofthelefthalfofthebrainislargerthanthecorrespondingpartoftherighthalf.Thishasledtothebeliefthathumanlanguageisbiologically,ormoreexactly,neurologically,based.Howarelanguageandthoughtrelatedtoeachother?Languageandthoughtmaybeviewedastwoindependentcirclesoverlappinginsomeparts,wherelanguageandthoughtareconsistentwitheachotherandoneneveroccurswithouttheother.Whenlanguageandthoughtareidenticalorcloselyparalleltoeachother,wemayregardthoughtas"subvocalspeech”,andspeechas"overtthought.Insuchacase,speakingandthinkingtakeplacesimultaneously.What'sthedifferencebetweenacquisitionandlearning,accordingtoKrashen?AccordingtoKrashen,acquisitionreferstothegradualandsubconsciousdevelopmentofabilityinthefirstlanguagebyusingitnaturallyindailycommunicativesituations.Learning,however,isdefinedasaconsciousprocessofaccumulatingknowledgeofasecondlanguageusuallyobtainedinschoolsettings.Asecondlanguage,Krashenargues,ismorecommonlylearnedbuttosomedegreemayalsobeacquired,dependingontheenvironmentalsettingandtheinputreceivedbytheL2learner.Arulecanbelearnedbeforeitisinternalized(i.e.,acquired),buthavinglearnedaruledoesnotnecessarilypreventhavingtoacquireitlater.Forexample,anEnglishlanguagelearnermayhavelearnedarulelikethethirdpersonsingular"-s",butisunabletoarticulatethecorrectformincasualandspontaneousconversationbecausetherulehasnotyetbeenacquired.Thisshowsthatconsciousknowledgeofrulesdoesnotensureanimmediateguidanceforactualperformance.Howdothelearnerfactorspotentiallyinfluencethewayinwhichasecondlanguageisacquired?1)Theoptimumageforsecondlanguageacquisition:Firstlanguageacquisitionismostsuccessfulwhenitoccursduringtheearlyyearsofone'slifebeforepuberty,buttheoptimumageforSLAdoesnotalwaysaccordwiththemaximof"theyoungerthebetter".TheoptimumageforSLAisearlyteenage.Thisclaimisjustifiablebecausethisistheagewhenthelearner'sflexibilityofthelanguageacquisitionfacultyhasnotbeencompletelylostwhileone'scognitiveskillshavedevelopedconsiderably.2)   Motivation:Motivationinlanguagelearningcanbedefinedintermsofthelearner’soverallgoalororientation.Instrumentalmotivationoccurswhenthelearner'sgoalisfunctional,andintegrativemotivationoccurswhenthelearner'sgoalissocial.Ifthetargetlanguagefunctionsasaforeignlanguage(usedinalimitedenvironmentsuchasinschool),thelearnerislikelytobenefitfromanintegrativemotivation;butifthetargetlanguagefunctionsasasecondlanguage(usedasaprimarymeansofcommunicationinthecommunityofthelearner),aninstrumentalmotivationismoreeffective.3)   Acculturation:TheacculturationhypothesisfocusesonthesocialandpsychologicalconditionsunderwhichL2processingismostlikelytotakeplacesuccessfully.Itstatessimplythatthemoreapersonaspirestoacculturatetothecommunityofthetargetlanguage,thefurtherheorshewillprogressalongthedevelopmentalcontinuum.4)   Personality:Intuitively,anoutgoingpersonalitymaycontributetolanguageacquisition.Researchresults,however,onlypartiallysupportthishypothesis.Nosignificantrelationshiphasbeenfoundbetweentalkativenessontheonehandandoverallproficiencyinasecondlanguageontheother.Butitisrecognizedthatasaresultofbeingfrequentlyexposedtoandinteractingwiththetargetlanguage,learnerswithanextrovertedpersonalityarelikelytoachievebetteroralfluencythanotherwise.Insum,Agoodsecondlanguagelearneris,amongotherthings,anadolescentwhohasastrongandwell-definedmotivationtolearn.Heisabletorespondandadaptabletodifferentlearningsituations.Heseeksoutallopportunitiesandmakesmaximumuseofthemtointeractwiththeinput.Heemploysappropriatelearningstrategies.Andheiswillingtoidentifyhimselforherselfwiththecultureofthetargetlanguagecommunity.WhatistheroleofinputforSLA?ItisevidentthatSLAtakesplaceonlywhenthelearnerhasaccesstoL2inputandtheopportunitytointeractwiththeinput.ItappearsthatwhatlearnersneedisnotmereexposuretoL2data,butthekindofinputdatathatarespeciallysuitedtotheircurrentstageofdevelopment.Thereis,however,noagreementastopreciselywhatconstitutesoptimuminput.Somescholarsadvisethataccesstocomprehensibleinputisanecessaryconditionforacquisitiontotakeplace.Itissuggestedthatinputcanbemadecomprehensiblebytheuseoflearnedstructuresandvocabulary,thelinguisticandextralinguisticcontextsoftheinputdata,andthelearner'sgeneralknowledgetointerpretnewlanguageitems.Itisalsosuggestedthatinteraction(i.e.,takingpartincommunicativeactivities)andintake(i.e.,theinputthatisassimilatedandfedintotheinterlanguagesystem)aremoreimportantforSLAthaninput.Discussthecontrastiveanalysisindetail.ContrastiveAnalysiswasdevelopedinordertoidentifyandpredicttheareasoflearningdifficulty.Giventhisapproach,itwashypothesizedthatL2errorswerepredominantlytheresultofnegativetransfer,ormothertongueinterferenceandsecondlanguagelearningwasbelievedtobeamatterofovercomingthedifferencesbetweenLIandL2systems.Accordingtothisview,themajortaskofsecondlanguageteachingshouldpredominantlybe:first,contrastthenativeandthetargetlanguagesystemsandmakepredictionsaboutthelanguageitemsthatwouldcausedifficultyandtheerrorsthatlearnerswerelikelytomake;thenusethesepredictionsindecidingonthetypeoflanguageitemsthatneededspecialtreatmentinteachingandinmaterialdevelopmentandthetypeofintensivetechniquesthatwouldbeemployedtoovercomelearningdifficultiescreatedbytheinterference.Inpractice,theContrastiveAnalysisisnoteffectivebecausealargeproportionofgrammaticalerrorscouldnotbeexplainedbymothertongueinterference. Errorspredictedbycontrastiveanalysishaveoftennotoccurred,whereasmanyactualerrors,suchas"goed"and"foots",comefromovergeneralizationinsteadofnegativetransfer.Errors,accordingtothecontrastiveanalysisapproach,arenegativeandhadtobeovercomeorgivenup.Infact,errorsproducedinalearner'ssecondlanguageutterancemayverywellbedevelopmentalerrorsandtherefore,shouldnotbelookeduponsimplyasafailuretolearnthecorrectform,butasanindicationoftheactualacquisitionprocessinaction.Developmentalerrorsoftenresultfromtheeffortonthepartofthelearnertoconstructandtestgeneralrulesofcommunicationinthetargetlanguage.Whydowesaylanguageacquisitionisprimarilytheacquisitionofthegrammaticalsystemoflanguage?Inprinciple,nohumanbraincanstoreallthewordsandexpressionsofalanguage.Whathappensisthatwhenprocessingthelanguagetheyhear,childrenconstructthegrammarandmakesenseoftheexpressionsaccordingtothegrammar.Whenproducingutterances,theyfollowtheinternalizedgrammaticalrules.Withouttheknowledgeoftheproductiverules,itwouldbeimpossibleforlanguageuserstoproduceandunderstandanunlimitednumberofsentenceswhichtheyhaveneverheardbefore.Discussthebiologicalbasisoflanguageacquisition.Languageacquisitionisageneticallydeterminedcapacitythatallhumanspossess.Althoughthedevelopmentofacommunicativesystemisnotuniquetohumanbeings,thenaturalacquisitionoflanguageasasystemofhighlyabstractrulesandregulationsforcreativecommunicationdistinguisheshumansfromallotheranimalspecies.Inthissense,humanscanbesaidtobepredisposed,thatis,biologicallyprogrammed,toacquireatleastonelanguage.Languagedevelopmentcanthusberegardedasanalogoustootherbiologicaldevelopmentsinhumangrowthandmaturation,suchasthegrowthandmaturationofone’slimbsandorgans.Humansareequippedwiththeneuralprerequisitesforlanguageandlanguageuse,justasbirdsarebiologically“prewired”tolearnthesongsoftheirspecies.Whatistheroleofimitationinfirstlanguageacquisition?Atonetime,itwaswidelybelievedthatchildrenlearnedlanguagebysimplyimitatingthespeechofthosearoundthem.Wenowknowthatthiscannotbetrue,sincemanyutterancetypesproducedbychildrendonotcloselyresemblestructuresfoundinadultspeech..Ifchildrenlearntheirnativetonguebyimitatingtheirparents,howcanweaccountfortheutterancesthataretypicalofchildren'slanguage,suchasthepluralform"myfoots,"thepasttenseformsof"Ieated,"andthenegativeconstructionof“Nothesunshining”? Itisimpossiblethatchildrenimitatethesestructuresfromadultsbecausetheyareneverheardinadultconversations.Inaddition,Childrenwithspeechimpairmentforneurologicalorphysiologicalreasonslearnthelanguagespokentothemandunderstandwhatissaid.Amorereasonableexplanationisthatchildrenareattemptingtoconstructandgeneralizetheirowngrammaticalrules.Someyounglanguagelearnersdoseemtomakeselectiveuseofimitation,buttheydonotblindlymimicadultspeechinaparrotfashion,butratherexploititinveryrestrictedwaystoimprovetheirlinguisticskills.Thepointisthatimitationplaysatbestaveryminorroleinthechild'smasteryoflanguage.Whatistheroleofcorrectioninfirstlanguageacquisition?