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一、Explain-the-fllowing-terms

1． Distinctive features of speech sounds

【答案】 The distinctive feature is a property which distinguishes one phoneme from another. For example , “voicing” is a distinctive feature, since it plays an important role in distinguishing obstruents in English.

2． 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） .

3． bound root

Bound root refers to the base form of a word that cannot further be analyzed without total 【答案】

loss of identity, and this base form could not occur alone, such as “-ceive” in “receive”.

4． 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.

5． Syllable

【答案】 Syllable : It refers to a unit of spoken language that is bigger than a speech sound. It consists of one or more vowel sounds alone or of a syllabic consonant alone or of either with one or more consonant sounds preceding or following.

6． Language Acquisition Device （LAD ）

【答案】 Language Acquisition Device: LAD refers to an innate faculty of language in general with which children are bom. It is posited by Chomsky , who argues that LAD probably consists of three elements : a hypothesis-maker, linguistic universal, and an evaluation procedure.

7． The Innateness Hypothesis

【答案】 The innateness hypothesis was proposed by Chomsky. It says that the ability to acquire a human language is part of the biologically innate equipment of the human being, and that an infant is

bom with this knowledge of basic grammatical relations and categories, and this knowledge is universal.

8． Phatic function （ communion ）

【答案】 Phatic function: The phatic function of language refers to the use of the language which often consists of small , seemingly meaningless expression for setting up a certain atmosphere or maintaining social contacts rather than for exchanging information or ideas. For example , greetings , farewells , and comments on the weather in English could serve this function.

二、Essay-question

9． Krashen ’s Input Hypothesis and Language Learning.

【答案】 Input hypothesis claims that “Human acquire language in only one way~~by understanding messages or by receiving 'comprehensible input,, ?. According to Krashen, input that is useful for L2 acquisition must be neither too difficult nor too easy to understand and ought to be tuned just right to learner 9s current level , represented as i. In the course of acquiring the L2, learners progress from one level to another. The next level is called +Y\ For i +1 to occur, the input has to be slightly beyond the level at which learners are well proficient. The gap between i and / +1 is bridged by comprehensible input , which is the information drawn from the context and previous experience. Comprehensible input is considered both necessary and sufficient for L2 acquisition to occur and output plays little role. In other words, L2 learning takes place because the data to which learners are exposed contain comprehensible input.

According to Krashen's acquisition-learning hypothesis, there are two ways to approach language learning : acquisition and learning. Acquisition helps us produce natural , rapid , and fluent speech. Learning , which is a conscious study of form, helps us edit this speech. In other words, when we learn something it won't help us produce fluent communication , but it will help us monitor our communication and correct minor errors.

It can only occur if three conditions are fulfilled : The performer has to have enough time ; the performer has to be thinking about correctness and the performer has to know the rule. Learners will be most likely to use the Monitor in formal exam situations , where their attention has been drawn to linguistic form，and where they have enough time. If all these conditions are fulfilled, the Monitor may be used, but may be used inaccurately.

10．Discuss the following sentences in terms of violation of maxims in the cooperative principle.

a.I think he was married and had a lioness at home.

b.A : What do you intend to do?

B : I have a terrible headache.

c.A : Where‟ve you been?

B : Out.

【答案】 In sentence a, the speaker has violated the first Quality maxim, which says c'do not say what you believe to be false99. In the literal sense , no human being would marry a lioness , and therefore at this level, it is a false statement. However, the deliberate violation of the maxim will lead us to interpret it as a metaphor, meaning that his wife had a bad temper.

In sequence b, B has flouted the maxim of Relation, since he did not answer A5s question directly. However , assuming that B was co-operative, A was likely to derive the implicature that since B had a terrible headache, he would probably just lie in bed and do nothing.

In exchange c ，a violation of the first Quantity maxim was recognized, which says “make your

contribution as informative as is required for the current purposes of the exchange”. B was supposed to provide the specific information of the place he had been to; however，he didn‟t. By such a violation，B probably implied that “I do not want to tell you where I have been”.

11．It has been observed that women tend to approximate more closely to the standard language than men do. Why do you think this is so?

【答案】 Language is a social, value-loaded practice, which reflects an intricate network of social, political , cultural, and age relationships within a society.

Women‟s speech closely approaches the standard variety than the speech of men , this has been explained in terms of a greater consciousness of status on the part of women. Women are more usually more status-conscious than men in the English-speaking world , they are aware of their low status in society and, as a result, use more standard speech forms in their attempt to claim equality or achieve high social status. In a sense, they are up in arms against men's society. The status of men has been traditionally defined by their occupation and wealth , while women have had to find other ways of establishing their position and one of these has been their speech.

A second explanation relates to the ways in which society treats women. Women are expected to behave better than men, traditionally, just as society has been harsher on women with regard to such vices as promiscuity and drunkenness，a better standard of language may have been required.

A third explanation is that, by using standard or polite forms, a woman is trying to protect her face. In other words , a woman claims more status in society. Her greater use of standard forms may also imply that she does not attend solely to her own face needs but also to those of the people she is interacting with, thus avoiding disagreement and seeking agreement and rapport.

12．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.