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一、Explain-the-fllowing-terms

1． Displacement

Language can be used to refer to what is present, what is absent, what happens at present, 【答案】

what happened in the past, what will happen in the future or what happens in a far-away place. This property of language enables language users to overcome the barriers caused by time and place. For example , we can talk about Sapir, who is already dead; we can even talk about next week, which is in the future.

2． Contextual meaning

【答案】 It is also called speaker‟s meaning, or utterance meaning, which is more closely related to the context. For example, when a person says “My bag is heavy”，what he actually means may be asking the hearer to help him carry the bag.

3． IC analysis

【答案】 IC analysis: IC analysis （immediate constituent analysis） refers to the analysis of a sentence in terms of its immediate constituents---word groups （or phrases ） , which are in turn analyzed into the immediate constituents of their own , and the process goes on until the ultimate constituents are reached. In practice, for the sake of convenience, we usually stop at the level of word.

4． Phatic function （ communion ）

【答案】 Phatic function: The phatic function of language refers to the use of the language which often consists of small , seemingly meaningless expression for setting up a certain atmosphere or maintaining social contacts rather than for exchanging information or ideas. For example , greetings , farewells , and comments on the weather in English could serve this function.

5． Pidgins and Creoles

【答案】 A pidgin refers to a variety of a language that is not native language of anyone, but is learned on contact situations such as trading. When a pidgin develops beyond its role as a trade language and becomes the first language of a social community , it becomes a creole. The process by which a pidgin becomes a creole is called creolization.

6． Idiolect

【答案】 Just as every speech community has a dialect, every speaker has his own pet words and expressions and special way of expressing his ideas in language. This language variety of individual users is called “idiolect”

7． inflectional morpheme

【答案】 Inflectional morpheme: It is also called inflectional affixes, which attaches to the end of

words. Inflectional affixes only add a minute or delicate grammatical meaning to the stem. The plural suffix is a typical example of this kind.

8． Applied linguistics

【答案】 It is a branch of linguistics which studies the application of linguistics in reality. For example , there are studies on multilingualism, language acquisition, first and second language teaching and learning.

二、Essay-question

9． A discussion on Saussure as the father of modem linguistics.

【答案】 Saussure was the first to notice the complexities of language. He believed that language is a system of signs. To communicate ideas, signs must be part of a system of signs, called conventions. He held that the sign is the union of a form （signifier ） and an idea （signified ） , and it is the central fact of language.

By providing answers to questions concerning many aspects of language, Saussure made clear the object of study for linguistics as a science. Saussure exerted two kinds of influence on modem linguistics. First , he provided a general orientation , a sense of the task of linguistics which has seldom been questioned. Second, he influenced modem linguistics.

Many of the developments of modem linguistics can be described as his concepts, i. e. his ideas on the arbitrary nature of sign, on the relational nature of linguistic units, on the distinction of langue and parole and of synchronic and diachronic linguistics , etc. Saussure^ fundamental perception is of revolutionary significance, and it is he that pushed linguistics into a brand new stage and all linguistics in the twentieth century is Saussurean linguistics. That‟s why Saussure is considered being the father of modem linguistics.

10．Explain one of the teaching approaches that you’re familiar with and discuss its advantages and disadvantages.

【答案】 The functional language teaching, which emerged during the 70s, is a reaction against both the structurally and situationally based approaches to language teaching. Its main feature is that we should teach people what functions the various linguistic forms fulfill. We should teach people not only what the language is but what the language does. Linguistic forms should not be presented as abstract structures but should always be presented as fulfilling a particular language function. For example, if the simple present tense is to be taught, it should not just be a matter of learning to accurately repeat the structure , but also a matter of knowing what the structure is actually used for.

Organizing language teaching functionally emphasizes what we can do with language. The basic units of language are seen as short exchanges. Linguistic forms are presented and learned in close relation to their function. Such teaching encourages appropriateness of language in terms of the respective roles of speaker and hearer and also in terms of the topic of conversation. Fluency is stressed and developed.

The teaching of language functions also presents problems. For example , what is exactly a language function? How many functions are there? In what order should they be taught?

While functions are a very significant aspect of language use, too great an emphasis on them may ignore other aspects of language, not least its structure. There is also no rigid correspondence between function and form, so some people object that we lose too much control over grammatical complexity if the syllabus is entirely organized on the basis of functions. What?s more, some argue that fluency and appropriate use of language may be encouraged but this should not be achieved at the cost of formal accuracy.

11．What is the difference between pidgins and creoles?

【答案】 A pidgin is a special language variety that mixes or blends languages and it is used by people who speak different languages for restricted purposes such as trading. The term is believed to have originated from the pronunciation of the English word„„business‟‟in Chinese Pidgin English.

Pidgins arose from a blending of several languages such as Chinese dialects and English, African dialects and French, African dialects and Portuguese. Usually a European language serves as the basis of the pidgin in the sense that some of its grammar and vocabulary is derived from the European language used by traders and missionaries in order to communicate with peoples whose languages they did not know.

Pidgins typically have a limited vocabulary and a very reduced grammatical structure characterized by the loss of inflections，gender and case. The“simplified‟‟variety performs its functions as trading and employment.

When a pidgin has become the primary language of a speech community, and is acquired by the children of that speech community as their native language , it is said to have become a creole. The structure of the original pidgin is expanded to enable it to fulfill its new functions. The vocabulary is vastly enriched , and new syntactic-semantic concepts developed. Notable examples of Creole are the English-based Creole of Jamaica, and the French-based Creole of Haiti.

12．Saussure puts forward the concept of langue and parole , and Chomsky puts forward the concept of competence and performance. Please dwell upon the differences and similarities, if any, of the two pairs: langue and parole vs. competence and performance.

【答案】 According to F. de Saussure, langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of a speech community; while parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use.

For Chomsky, a fundamental distinction between linguistic competence and performance should be made. A language user‟s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called linguistic competence. And performance refers to the actual use of language in concrete situations. In light with this , competence enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker‟s competence is stable but his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors, and thus would involve imperfections such as slips of tongue , false starts , unnecessary pauses , and so on. Thus , the point is that a speaker‟s performance does not always match his competence.

Saussure‟s distinction is somewhat similar with Chomsky‟s in the sense that they both refer to the constant factor which underlies the utterances that constitute parole/ performance. However , their difference is quite obvious. Saussue‟s language is a social product , a set of conventions for a speech community. Chomsky regards competence as a property of the mind of each individual. Saussrue looks at language more from a sociological point of view while Chomsky looks at it more from a psychological point of view.

13．Examine the following two statements about language , and discuss the similarities and differences between them. Do you agree with the two statements? Explain your answer.

（1）Sapir （1921:Language ） : “Language is a purely human and non -instinctive method of communicating ideas，emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.” （ p.8 ）.

（2）Bloch and Trager （1942: Outline of Linguistic Analysis ） : “A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group co-operates.”（p.5）.

【答案】 Similarities :