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一、Explain-the-fllowing-terms

1． grammatical word

【答案】 It refers to those which mainly work for constructing group , phrase , clause , clause complex , or even text , such as , conjunctions , prepositions , articles , and pronouns. Grammatical words serve to link together different content parts. So they are also known as Function Words.

2． 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”

3． Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

【答案】 Sapir-Whorf hypothesis consists of two parts : linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity. Linguistic determinism refers to the notion that a language determines certain nonlinguistic cognitive processes. Different languages offer people different ways of expressing around, they think and speak differently. Linguistic relativity refers to the claim that the cognitive processes that are determined are different for different languages. Thus, speakers of different languages are said to think in different ways. The hypothesis is now interpreted mainly in two different ways: a strong version and a weak one. The strong version believes that the language patterns determine peopled thinking and behavior ; the weak one holds that the former influence the later. So far , many researches and experiments conducted provide support to the weak version.

4． CALL

【答案】 It is the abbreviation of computer-assisted language learning, which refers to the use of a computer in the teaching or learning of a second or foreign language. In this kind of CALL programs, the computer leads the student through a learning task step-by-step , asking question to check comprehension. Depending on the student^ response, the computer gives the student further practice or progresses to new material.

5． Lexical word

【答案】 Lexical word, lexical words are also called content words, referring to those which have lexical meanings , that is, those which refer to substance, action and quality, such as nouns, verbs , adjectives , and adverbs.

6． Lexical relations

【答案】 There are several types of lexical relations concerning the sense of the words. Those are synonymy , antonymy, hyponymy, polysemy, homonymy, and so on. （a ） Synonymy refers to the sameness relation ; “autum”, and “full ” are synonyms , for example , （b ） Antonymy refers to the

oppositeness relation ; for example , “buy” and “sell ” are an tonyms , （c ） Hyponymy refers to the inclusiveness relation; for example, “apple” is a hyponym of “fruit”, （d ） Polysemy means one word that has more than one related meaning ，and “bank”，as an example, is a polysemous word. （e ） Homonymy refers to the relation of two different words which are identical either in sound, or spelling, or both, such as “bow” （bau ） and “bow” （b əu ）.

7． 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.

8． Presupposition

【答案】 A presupposition is a proposition （expressed in a sentence） that is assumed to be true in order to judge the truth or falsity of another sentence. For example , John didn't pass chemistry presupposes that John took chemistry.

二、Essay-question

9． What do you think are the similarities and dissimilarities between learning a first and a second language?

【答案】 Similarities between first and second language acquisition:

（1） Both LI and L2 are constructed from prior conceptual knowledge. Language emerges as a procedural acquisition to deal with events that the child already understands conceptually and to achieve communicative objectives that the child can realize by the other means.

（2）Second language learners seem to use similar strategies to those learning their first language.

（3）Overgeneralization and transfer are used by both LI and L2 learner as the result of a necessity to reduce language to the simplest possible system, as an effort to lessen the cognitive burden involved in trying to master something as complex as language.

（4）The L2 learner, like the first, attempts to “regularize, analogize, and simplify” in an effort to communicate.

（5）Speech addressed to children （motherese ） and speech addressed to foreigners （foreign talk） present similarities : shorter sentences , high-frequency vocabulary , “here and now” times , indirect correction , frequent gesture， lack of overt attention to form.

（6） A reasonable hypothesis is that the brain and nervous system are biologically programmed to acquire language （LI and L2） in a particular sequence and in a particular mode （silent period）.

（7）Both groups are probably using the same learning process. For example, the L2 sequence for English grammatical morphemes was similar , though not identical , to that found in LI acquisition. Other similar sequences of syntactic acquisition have been found in LI and L2 learning. L2 learners such as L2 learners, like LI children, at first put negative elements at the beginning of the sentence “No the sun shining, ” and then progress to negation within the sentence “That‟s no ready.”

Differences between LI and L2 acquisition:

（1）L2 learners are usually older when learning their L2. Therefore , they are more developed cognitively. They have a greater knowledge of the world in general; they have more control over the

input they receive ; they are able to learn and apply rules that may aid in facilitating the acquisition process ; they have one or more cultures that give them advanced information about expectations , discourse in general, and how to get things done with language.

（2）Older learners may have increased inhibition and anxiety and may find themselves afraid to make errors （poor attitudes and lack of motivation ） ; there might be interference form the LI , particularly for items that are

similar , either structurally or semantically.

（3）LI acquisition is completely successful , but L2 learning is not. The evidence for this deficiency is held to be the lack of completeness of L2 grammars or the fossilization in L2 learning where the learner cannot progress beyond some particular stages, both familiar 'facts in some sense.

（4）The variation in situation and other factors also produces many differences between LI acquisition and L2 learning. LI children mostly acquire language in different settings with different exposure to language than L2 learners and they are at different stages of mental and social maturity.

In all, the differences exist in levels of cognitive development and affect and the similarities exist in the process of acquisition itself.

10．When a teacher says “It ’s so hot in here.” during a class, what does she probably mean? Refer to the theory of pragmatics when you analyze the situation.

【答案】 This utterance would be semantically ambiguous if it was seen isolated without any context of situation. Its interpretation has to rely on the context in which it was uttered.

There could be generally two types of situation in which this utterance could happen. One may be that it is summer; the teacher just came into the class and was sweating heavily. The other may be that in class the students are quite active towards the questions or problems the teacher has posed, for example, discussing in group, or debating in a large scale.

According to the cooperative principle, in our conversation, in order to be cooperative, that is, to make his intentions to be known by the hearer , the speaker will try to make his conversational contribution such as is require, at the stage at which it occurs.

Therefore , according to the third maxim of cooperative principle , RELATION , which says “be relevant”，the utterance could be interpreted differently as follows:

In the first situation, when the students hear the teacher saying “it‟s so hot in here”，they would probably assume that the teacher is obeying the Cooperative Principle, and what he says is relevant to the context, which is that the teacher is sweating, and maybe accompanied by fanning himself with his hand. Therefore, what the teacher means is probably that the temperature is high. What5s more, if the windows in the classroom are closed, this utterance will go further to be an implication of an request for opening the windows.

In the second situation , the students would assume that the teacher should have observed the maxim of relation, since it is under normal circumstances. Given the context in which the students are discussing or debating about certain questions furiously, the hearer would tend to interpret the teacher‟s utterance as: “You are discussing （or debating） so actively.‟‟，which implies a praise for the active participation of the students in class activity.

11．What kind of linguistic phenomenon can you identify in the following dialogue? Define, analize and explain the phenomenon.

甲：上车请买票。

乙：三张天安门。