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一、Explain-the-fllowing-terms

1． Paradigmatic relations

【答案】 Paradigmatic relation , Saussure originally called associative , is a relation holding between elements replaceable with each other at a particular place in a structure , or between one element present and the others absent.

2． Speech community

【答案】 Speech community is a group of people who share a set of norms and expectations regarding the use of language. Speech communities can be members of a profession with a specialized jargon , distinct social groups like high school students or hip-pop fans. In addition, online and other mediated communities, such as many internet forums, often constitute speech communities. Members of speech communities will often develop slang or jargon to serve the group's special purposes and priorities.

3． Interlanguage

【答案】 It refers to the type of language constructed by second or foreign language learners who are still in the process of learning a language. It‟s a language system between the target language and the learner‟s native language, and imperfect compared with the target language, but not mere translation from the learner^ native language. For example, when the Chinese student is learning English, he may make errors like “to touch the society”.

4． Assimilation

【答案】 It is a process by which one sound takes on some or all the characteristics of a neighboring sound. It is often used synonymously with coarticulation. Nasalization, dentalization and，velarization are all instances of assimilation. There are two possibilities of assimilation: if a following sound is influencing a preceding sound, it is regressive assimilation;

the converse process, in which a preceding sound is influencing a following sound, is known as progressive assimilation. For example, in “mink”，“n”，which is originally pronounced aswill be velarized by the following “k”/k/，and therefore the word will be pronounced as

5． Diglossia

【答案】 When two languages or language varieties exist together in a community and each one is used for different purposes, this is called diglossia. Usually, the more standard variety can be called the high variety or H-variety , which is used in government , the media , education , and for religious services. The other one is usually a non-prestige variety, the low variety or L-variety used in the family, with friends, when shopping, etc.

6． division of pragmatic labor

【答案】 Horn observes that the Q-based and R-based principles often directly collide and suggests

the resolution comes from a division of pragmatic labor，which reads “The use of a marked （relatively complex and/or prolix） expression when a corresponding unmarked （simpler ，less “effortful”）alternate expression is available tends to be interpreted as conveying a marked message （one which the unmarked alternative would not or could not have conveyed） .

7． 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.

8． Design features

【答案】 Design features : It refer to the defining properties of human language that tell the difference between human language and any system of animal communication.

二、Essay-question

9． Shakespeare has Juliet say:

Whats in a name? That which we call a rose.

By any other name would smell as sweet.

What do the above lines say to you about the relationship between the form and meaning （sounds ）

（concept ） of a word in spoken language? Explain with positive evidence as well as exceptions from the English language.

The lines said above show that the relationship between the form （sounds ） and meaning 【答案】

（concept ） of a word in spoken language is arbitrary in nature. That means there is no logical connection between forms （sounds ） and meaning （concept ） . Different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different languages.

Sounds are just symbols; they are associated with objects, actions, ideas, etc. by convention. In this example, the rose can be called by many names in different languages but its smell never changes. Another example, different languages have different forms for referring to “dog” in English, such as Chinese “狗 ”，French “chien （n.m. ） 5”While language is arbitrary by nature, there are some （gou ）

exceptions as well. The best examples in English are the onomatopoetic words and compound words. For example, some onomatopoetic words “rumble”，“ crash”， “crackle” “ bang” are uttered like the sounds they describe, thus seem to have a natural basis. Besides, some compound words are also not entirely arbitrary. For example while “photo” and “copy” are both arbitrary , the compound word “photocopy” is not entirely arbitrary, thus seem to be motivated. Anyhow, non-arbitrary words make up only a small percentage of the vocabulary of a language.

10．There are two kinds of grammar based on different linguistic points of view. They are prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar. A grammar may describe how language is actually spoken and/ or written , and may not state or postulate how it ought to be spoken or written. But a grammar may also state the rules for what is considered the best or most correct usage. Which grammar is descriptive grammar , and which grammar is prescriptive grammar? Cite some examples to give your reasons.

【答案】 The first one is typical of descriptive grammar , while the second one is prescriptive grammar. The descriptive grammar aims to describe how people speak and detail the underlying knowledge. It is believed in descriptive grammar that whatever occurs in natural speech , such as hesitation , incomplete utterance, should be described in the analysis, and not be marked as incorrect, abnormal , or corrupt; modem linguistics is mostly descriptive. Whereas, the prescriptive approach aims to teach people how to speak, read, and write a particular language; in the 18th century, all the main European languages were studied prescriptively.

For example , the statement that “in standard English , a double negative is rarely used” is a description , showing how the language is used in standard English, regardless whether it is correct or not. <6You should never use a double-negative” is a typical grammar rule that prescribes what should be grammatically correct in the Standard English. As for the spelling , prescription says “judgment” is correct , but description accurately points out that “judgement” is considered by Edited English to be correct too, and a descriptive account for these two different spellings will show how the later one is used and who uses it.

11．Imagine you were at a bus stop and two people approached you one after the other.

The first said:

“哎，几点了？”

and the second said:

“不好意思，打搅一下，请问您戴表了吗？”

What assumptions would you make if you were addressed in these two ways and why would you make them?

【答案】 As to the first one, an immediate assumption coming to our mind would be the person is asking for the time. The assumption that the hearer gets arises out of the conventional meaning of the expression. The conventional meaning is related to the existing knowledge of the world , and is the meaning that is achieved by the conventions, and is generally accepted by the society. It can be accessed to when we turn to the knowledge towards the world that we have. The expression “几点了” is such a conventional meaning that when it is spoken out，everyone will unexceptionally accept it as a way of asking for the time.

As to the explanation of the second one, Levinson‟s M-principle could come into use. Considering the context， which is in the bus stop, what it expresses is no longer a conventional one, but rather a conversational implicature. According to M-principle , the speaker normally will not use a prolix , obscure sentence. It is the ability not only to apply the grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences but also to know when and where to use these sentences and to whom.

12．What is the main difference between literal language and figurative language?

【答案】 The first meaning for a word that a dictionary definition gives is usually its literal meaning , while figurative language is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense.

Appealing to the imagination, figurative language provides new ways of looking at the world. It always makes use of a comparison between different things. Figurative language compares two things