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一、Explain-the-fllowing-terms

1． 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.

2． Contextual meaning

【答案】 It is also called speaker‟s meaning, or utterance meaning, which is more closely related to the context. For example, when a person says “My bag is heavy”，what he actually means may be asking the hearer to help him carry the bag.

3． Ferdinand de Saussure

【答案】 Ferdinand de Saussure is a Swiss linguist who is often described as “father of modem linguistics”. T he great work , Course in General Linguistics , which was based on his lecture notes , marked the beginning of modem linguistics. Saussure^ idea on the arbitrary nature of sign , one the relational nature of linguistic units , on the distinction of langue and parole and of synchronic and diachronic linguistics, etc. pushed linguistics into a brand new stage.

4． Cross-cultural communication

【答案】 Cross-cultural communication is an exchange of ideas , information , etc , between persons from different cultural backgrounds. The cultural conventions of the participants may widely different , and misinterpretation and misunderstanding can easily arise , even leading to a total communication breakdown.

5． 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.

6． Corpus

【答案】 Corpus is a collection of linguistic data , either compiled as written texts or as a transcription of recorded speech. The main purpose of a corpus is to verify a hypothesis about language~~for example , to determine how the application of a particular sound , word , or syntactic construction varies.

7． 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.

8． inflectional morpheme

【答案】 Inflectional morpheme: It is also called inflectional affixes, which attaches to the end of words. Inflectional affixes only add a minute or delicate grammatical meaning to the stem. The plural suffix is a typical example of this kind.

二、Essay-question

9． Discuss the following advertisement extensively: “ 你不理财，财不理你”.

【答案】 This advertisement is an interesting one, for its witty use of pun words. There are two places of punning. First , “理财” could be interpreted in two different ways : one is “to manage one‟s money‟‟，the other is “not to ignore money”. Second, in the second part of the sentence, “财 ” is punned through homophony: it could be interpreted as “财 ”，therefore , the whole part “财不理你” could mean “fortune will ignore you‟‟，or rather，“fortune will pass you away”. This character could also interpreted as “才”，therefore , the whole part “财不理你” could mean “I will ignore you”，or rather, “I will show you my cold shoulder” （Here UF, refers to the company which put out this advertisement）.

Therefore , this utterance could be possibly interpreted in the following ways. 1） If you do not handle your money in a proper way, then money will pass you by. 2 ） If you do not handle your money properly , then I won‟t take care of any of your business. 3 ） If you ignore money, and do not pay any attention to it, then money will pass you by. 4） If you ignore money, then I will ignore you, too, and I won5t take care of any of your business. In these four interpretations, it is clear to see that in 1 and 4, the advertiser conveyed the messages to the readers as if he was having a face-to-face talk to a friend. This has in some way made the piece of ad interesting to read.

It is known the punning is by nature ambiguous. Therefore, according to Grice, the advertisement has violated the principle of avoiding ambiguity under Manner Maxim. By such a violation , the advertiser has possibly intended to make the potential consumers pay more attention to it, and spend more time on it, since it is known that ambiguity will increase the time for processing the sentence; and by interpreting it in additional ways, the readers are also expected to get another interesting message from this ad. All of these could eventually come to a higher memorability of the advertisement.

10．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.

11．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