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一、Explain-the-fllowing-terms

1． Meaning shift

Meaning shift: In a narrow sense, meaning shift is used to refer to the change of meaning 【答案】

that has nothing to do with generalization or restriction such as broadening or narrowing of meaning.

2． Broad and narrow transcription

【答案】 Broad and narrow transcription: In broad transcription, one letter symbol is used for one sound. In narrow transcription , there are diacritics added to the one letter symbols to show the finer differences between sounds.

3． Performatives

【答案】 Performatives are sentences that do not state a fact or describe a state. They cannot be said to be true or false. The uttering of these sentences is, or is part of, the doing an action. The judge’s imprisonment sentence, the president’s war or independence declaration, etc., are performatives.

4． 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.

5． Duality

【答案】Duality refers to the fact that in all languages so far investigated there are two levels of structure or patterning. At the first , higher level , language is analyzed in terms of combinations of meaningful units ; at the second, lower level, it is seen as a sequence （such as morphemes, words etc.）

of segments which lack any meaning in themselves, but which combine to form units of meaning. For example , a syllable is the smallest unit that is normally spoken by itself, and scores of syllables become the carriers of hundreds of meaningful segments of words that are called morphemes.

二、Short-answer-questions

6． How are the vowels described usually?

【答案】 Usually , the description of the vowels needs to fulfill four basic requirements:

（1）The height of tongue raising （high , mid, low）;

（2）The position of the highest part of the tongue （front , central, back）;

（3）The length or tenseness of the vowel （tense vs. lax or long vs. short） , and

（4）lip-rounding （rounded vs. unrounded）.

7． What is the distinction between inflectional affixes and derivational affixes?

【答案】 The distinction between inflectional morphemes and derivational morphemes could be illustrated in the following four aspects.

Inflectional affixes very often only add a minute or delicate grammatical meaning to the stem, for instance , those inflectional affixes in words such as toys, walks, John's, etc. Therefore, they serve to produce different forms of a single word. In contrast , derivational affixes often change the lexical meaning , e.g. cite, citation; generate, generation.

Inflectional affixes do not change the word class of the word they attach to，such as flower, flowers ; whereas derivational affixes might or might not, such as the relation between small and smallness for the former, and that between brother and brotherhood for the latter.

Very often inflectional affixes are conditioned by non-semantic linguistic factors outside the word they attach to but within the phrase or sentence. Whereas, derivational affixes are more often based on simple meaning distinctions.

In English, inflectional affixes are mostly suffixes, which are always word final. But derivational affixes can be prefixes or suffixes.

8． What are the differences between voiced sounds and voiceless sounds in terms of articulation?

【答案】 When the vocal cords are spread apart , the air from the lungs passes between them unimpeded. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiceless, consonants [p, s, t] are produced in this way; but when the vocal cords are drawn together, the air from the lungs repeatedly pushes them apart as it passes through , creating a vibration effect. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiced [b, z, d] are voiced consonants.

9． How is language related to society?

【答案】 （1） While language is principally used to communicate meaning, it is also used to establish and maintain social relationships. This social function of language is embodied in the use of such utterances as “Good morning!”，“How is your family?' “Nice day today, isn’t it?”

（2）Users of the same language in a sense all speak differently. The kind of language each of them chooses to use is in part determined by his social background. And language , in its turn , reveals information about its speaker.

（3）Language , especially the structure of its lexicon , reflects both the physical and social environment of a society. For example, while there is only one word in English for usnow, 9, there are several in Eskimo. This is a reflection of the need for the Eskimos to make distinctions between various kinds of snow in their snowy living environment.

三、Essay-question

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．How many types of data analysis have been employed in language acquisition research? How are these types of data analysis significant in SLA research?

【答案】 Four types of data analysis have been employed. They are contrastive analysis ，error analysis , performance analysis, and discourse analysis.

Contrastive analysis （CA ） systematically compares native languages and target languages to find the interference of native language when acquiring target languages. It has a close relationship with behaviourism. Although contrastive analysis was faced with a downfall as behaviorism was challenged, as a methodological option it was not abandoned.

Error analysis （EA ） studies and analyzes the errors made by L2 learners and suggests that many learner errors are not due to the learner’s mother tongue interference but reflect universal learning strategies such as overgeneralization and simplification of rules. Error analysis also fell into disfavor for

（1） its narrowness——focusing on errors only and having difficulty in identifying the unitary source of an error, and （2） its failure to account for all the areas of the SL in which learners have difficulty. Nevertheless error analysis was not doomed to death rather incorporated into performance analysis.

Performance analysis （PA ） is an analysis of the learners5 interlanguage performance. It is superior to error analysis in that it is not limited to analyzing the errors learners commit. Also like its predecessors , however, performance analysis was found to be too limiting; it did not take the input to the learner into consideration. And this limitation led to the emergence of discourse analysis.

Discourse analysis （DA ） recognizes the need to examine not only the leamer?s performance but also the input to the learner. Another quality of discourse analysis applied to SLA is that researchers are concerned not only with how IL forms evolve , but how learners learn how to use the forms appropriately for a particular discourse function as well.