当前位置：问答库＞考研试题

一、Explain-the-fllowing-terms

1． Phonetics

Phonetics is the study of how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived. It 【答案】

can be divided into three main areas of study articulatory phonetics , acoustic phonetics and perceptual/auditory phonetics.

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． 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.

4． Language acquisition

【答案】 It refers to the gradual development of ability in a language by using it naturally in communicative situations.

5． Open-class words

【答案】 Open-class words refer to words whose membership is in principle infinite or unlimited and with the emergence of new ideas , inventions , and so on ; new expressions are continually and constantly being added to the lexicon. For example , nouns , verbs , and adjectives all belong to this class.

6． 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.

7． Construal and construal operations

【答案】Construal is the competence to conceive and portray the same situation in alternate ways through specificity, different mental scanning, directionality, vantage point, figure-ground segregation etc. Construal operations are conceptualizing processes applied in language process by human beings. That is, construal operations are the underlying psychological processes and resources employed in the interpretation of linguistic expressions.

8． Textual function

【答案】 Textual function : The textual function is one of the three meta-functions language is composed of. It refers to the fact that language has mechanisms to make any stretch of spoken or written discourse into a coherent and unified text and make a living message different from a random list of sentences.

二、Essay-question

9． Explain this statement and give at least two examples of it: “In studying other cultures，we do so from the perspective of our own culture.”

【答案】 Culture is a semiotic meaning system in which symbols function to communicate meaning from one mind to another. It is related to language in such a way that language is a part of culture and a part of human behavior, and also the primary medium for transmitting much of culture. Therefore , without language, culture would not be possible. Consequently, when studying a culture, we often rely on the language. Therefore, we may use our own language to describe the target culture, which may be the one interpretation of the statement 6tIn studying other cultures, we do so from the perspective of our own culture”.

What s more , when studying other cultures , we will definitely come across the differences between the target culture and our own culture. We will subconsciously compare the two different cultures. Seeing from the perspective of our own culture, we find how the target culture is different from our own culture, and this makes the target culture more distinctive from our own.

10．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.

11．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.

12．How are affixes classified?

【答案】 Considering the free and bound morpheme, affix is the collective term for the type of formative that can be used only when added to another morpheme, so it is naturally bound.

Depending on their position with reference to the root or stem of the word, affixes are generally classified into three subtypes , namely , prefix , suffix , and infix. For examples , “para-” as prefix , “-tion” as suffix, and “-bloomingly-” in word “abso-bloomingly-luty” as infix.