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一、Explain-the-fllowing-terms

1． cohort model

【答案】 The cohort model is a supposed doctrine dealing with the spoken word recognition postulated by Marslen-Wilson and Welsh in 1990. It is suggested that the first few phonemes of a spoken word activate a set or cohort of word candidates that are consistent with the input. These candidates compete with one another for activation. As more acoustic input is analyzed , candidates that are no longer consistent with the input drop out of the set. This process continues until only one word candidate matches the input- the best fitting word may be chosen if no single candidate is a clear winner.

2． CMC

【答案】 It is computer-mediated communication , distinguished by its focus on language and language use in computer networked environments, and by its use of methods of discourse analysis to address that focus.

3． IPA

【答案】 IPA is the abbreviation of International Phonetic Alphabet , which is devised by the International Phonetic Association in 1888. IPA is a set of symbols which can be used to represent the phones and phonemes of natural languages.

4． 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”.

5． Metonymy

【答案】 Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by 也e name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. For instance , “Washington ”，as the capital of the United States, can be used as a metonym （an instance of metonymy） for the United States government.

6． 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.

7． Achievement test

【答案】 Achievement test is a test which measures how much of a language someone has learned with reference to a particular course of study or program of instruction.

8． 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） .

二、Essay-question

9． Read the following sentence and illustrate the ideas behind this statement: "'Register is the term used in linguistics to describe the relationship between a particular style of language and its context of use.99

【答案】 The register is what you are speaking at the time, depending on what you are doing and the nature of the activity in which the language is functioning. A register can be defined as a configuration of meanings that are typically associated with a particular situational configuration of field, mode , and tenor. Therefore, a register must also include the expressions, the lexico-grammatical and phonological features , which typically accompany or realize these meanings. Text can be seen as an instance of a register.

Register is seen as the linguistic consequence of interacting aspects of context , which Halliday calls “field, tenor, and mode.” Field refers to the topics and actions which language is used to express. Tenor denotes the language users, their relationships to each other, and their purposes. Mode refers to the channel through which communication is carried out. These three contextual variables are intended to help the linguist tie linguistic analysis to the relevant contextual variables. By understanding the semiotic properties of a situation （i.e. , the values for field, tenor, and mode） , language users can predict the meanings that are likely to be exchanged and the language likely to be used. And while people are communicating they make predictions by using the values of field , tenor and mode to understand register and that their assessment facilitates their own participation.

10．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.

11．How does Halliday relate the functions performed by language to its structures?

【答案】 According to Halliday, structure is the outward form of the system, which lies behind the former. Structure , therefore , is less abstract , and closer to the “surface”. B y studying the constituency structure of grammar , it is assumed that the semantic system above it could become plausible. In the constituency structure , elements are recognized with reference to their functions in relation to the whole. Therefore, in 4

This step is followed by labeling, which is to reveal the specific function of that element in relation to the whole. For example, by labeling “the huge tiger” a functional label: “Subject”，we get to know the interpersonal function that element plays. It is through these two steps the structures are related to the functions performed by language.

12．In the history of modem linguistic study of language, various schools have been founded.What are they?

【答案】 （1） The traditional grammar school attempt to lay down universally valid rules to show how a language ought to be used. It is prescriptive rather than descriptive.

（1）An important outgrowth of descriptive linguistics was a theory known as structuralism developed by American Structuralist School. The influential figure in this school is American linguist Leonard Bloomfield （1887 〜 1949 ） , who was strongly influenced by behaviourism.

（2）The Transformational-Generative School is developed by Noam Chomsky in the middle of 1950s with the publication of his book Syntactic Structures. Chomsky was strongly against Bloomfield‟s behaviourist psychology and empiricism and adopted cognitive psychology and rationalism.

（3）The Prague School is well-known, for its contribution to phonology and its functional analysis to language. The approach that Prague School linguists use is based on a combined theory between structuralism and functionalism. The most influential scholar is Trubetzkoy , who distinguished the concepts between the phonetic and phonological analysis of sounds , the analysis of phonemes into distinctive features.

（4）The London School was founded by John Firth （1890 〜1960） . Central to his work is his contextual theory of meaning.

（5）Influenced by Firth‟s ideas, M.A.K. Halliday distinguished linguistic behavior potential from actual linguistic behavior. Halliday developed Systemic Linguistics or Functional Grammar which is concerned with language as an instrument of social interaction rather than as a system that is viewed in isolation.