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2017年南京理工大学外国语学院专业综合(语言学)复试之语言学教程考研复试核心题库

  摘要

一、Explain-the-fllowing-terms

1. The London School of Linguistics

【答案】 The London School generally refers to the kind of linguistic scholarship in England. The man who turned linguistics proper into a recognized distinct academic subject in Britain was J.R. Firth.

2. Hyponymy

Hyponymy. It refers to the sense relationship between a more general, more inclusive and 【答案】

a more specific word. The word which is more general in meaning is called the superordiante, and the more specific words are called its hyponyms. For example , the hyponymy relationship could be established between “animal” and “rabbit”.

3. functional morpheme

【答案】 This is a subtype of free morphemes, which one consists largely of the functional words in language such as conjunctions, prepositions, articles and pronouns, for example, “and, about when on , near, the” an so on.

4. Prefix

【答案】 In linguistics, a prefix is a type of affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach. Prefixes are bound morphemes (they cannot occur as independent words ) . While most languages employ both prefixes and suffixes, prefixes are less common. Some languages employ mostly suffixes and almost no prefixes at all. The use of prefixes has been found to correlate statistically with other linguistic features, such as a verb-object word order and the use of prepositions.

5. Embedding

【答案】 It refers to the inclusion of a clause within a phrase or another clause, or of a phrase into another phrase. An example of embedded clauses is: What I do is none of your business. (Nominal clause embedded as subject of another clause)

6. Stem

A stem is a morpheme or combination of morphemes to which an inflectional affix can be 【答案】

added. For example, “friend-” in friends, and “friendship-” in friendships are both stems. The former shows that a stem can be equivalent to a root, whereas the latter shows that a stem may contain a root and a derivational affix.

7. Subordinate construction

【答案】 Subordinate constructions are one of the two subtypes of endocentric constructions.

Those in which there is only one head , with the head being dominant and the other constituents dependent , are subordinate constructions.

8. constituent

【答案】 Constituent is a term used in structural sentence analysis for every linguistic unit, which is a part of a larger linguistic unit. Several constituents together form a construction: for example, in the sentence The boy ate the apple, S , the boy , ate the apple , each part is a constituent. (A )(B )(C )

Constituents can be joined together with other constituents to form larger units. If two constituents, in the case of the example above , B (the boy ) and C ( ate the apple ) , are joined to form a hierarchically higher constituent A (“S”,here a sentence) , then B and C are said to be immediate constituents of A.

二、Essay-question

9. What is communicative competence?

【答案】 Communicative competence includes:

(1)Knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the language;

(2)knowledge of rules of speaking (e.g. knowing how to begin and end conversations, knowing what topics may be talked about in different types of speech events , knowing which address forms should be used with different persons one speaks to and in different situations );

(3)knowing how to use and respond to different types of speech acts, such as requests, apologies, thanks , and invitations;

(4)knowing how to use language appropriately.

When someone wishes to communicate with others, they must recognize the social setting, their relationship to the other person (s ) , and the types of language that can be used for a particular occasion. They must also be able to interpret written or spoken sentences within the total context in which they are used, or marked expression without reason; on the hearer‟s side, if the speaker used a prolix or marked expression, he did not mean the same as he would have had he used the unmarked expression. That is to say, in the normal situation, in a bus stop as the example above has shown, the intention of that the speaker asks others whether they wear the watch or not is not merely to care about the recipient has a watch or not, but has some other reason, because it would be bizarre to ask a stranger in the bus stop about such a personal staff.

Therefore , the hearer has to assume that the expression is related to the situation , and this expression is not what it literally means. Following this, the hearer reaches a connection between the bus stop and the watch, which is the time. As a consequence, he knows what the speaker intends is the inquiring of the time.

10.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 :

(1)Both definitions stick to the fact that language is primarily a matter of speech because the primary medium of language is sound. Sapir illustrates this idea by implying that the produced symbols are auditory and Bloch and Trager by explicitly using the word “vocal”.

(2)Both definitions allude to the fact that the association between the words and the things that they denoted is rarely inherent, Sapir by using the word “symbols” and Bloch and Trager by placing emphasis on “arbitrary” and “symbols”.

Differences :

(1)Sapir‟s definition emphasizes that language relates to communication between human beings. It is very different from the communication systems of other creatures , such as bird songs and bee dances. Bloch and Trager do not clearly indicate this property , only saying that it is possessed by a social group.

(2)Sapir also considers that language is “non-instinctive” and “voluntarily produced”. Thus for him language does not include such instinctive forms of communication as smiling and cries of pain, etc. However , Bloch and Trager‟s definition do not include this feature.

(3)The element “system” in Bloch and Trager‟s definition reflects the fact that language provides us with the framework for generating appropriate utterances rather than providing us with an infinite store of ready-made utterances. Still elements of lacunae are combined according to rules.

(4)The function of language is indicated differently in two definitions. Sapir sees language as for communicating ideas, emotions and desires, while Bloch and Trager considers it for a social group5s co-operation. Sapir‟s definition proposes “communication” as the principal function of language and specifies what is communicated; Bloch and Trager only vaguely point out that language can be used for co-operation.

Each of the two definitions has its own special emphasis, and it is not totally free from limitations. We think the two definitions grasp some defining properties of language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication, for example,“vocal”,“arbitrary”,“symbol”,“purely human”,“a system”. But either has some limitation. As for Sapir‟s definition, whether one considers language to be instinctive or not is an issue. Language is instinctive in so far as we are all bom with a predisposition to speak , we all acquire a language without tuition and when we speak we do not consciously convert our thoughts into speech. Language is , however , non-instinctive in that we can choose what to say or whether to say anything at all. Both the definition‟s description of language‟s function is not precise. Sapir‟s definition confines language only to communicating ideas, emotions and desires, and Bloch and Trager‟s definition does not point it out at all.

11.Can you make a brief introduction to Systemic-Functional Grammar?

【答案】 Stemming from Firth‟s theories in the London School, Halliday‟s Systemic-Functional (SF ) Grammar is a socially oriented functional linguistic approach and one of the most influential linguistic theories in the 20th century , exerting a strong impact on various disciplines related to language , such as language teaching , sociolinguistics , discourse analysis , stylistics , and machine translation.

It actually has two components : Systemic Grammar and Functional Grammar. They are two inseparable parts for an integral framework in Halliday^ linguistic inquiry. Systemic Grammar aims to explain the internal relations in language as a system network, or meaning potential. And this network consists of subsystems from which language users make choices. Functional Grammar aims to reveal