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一、Explain-the-fllowing-terms

1． Gradable antonym

【答案】 Gradable antonym. Gradable antonyms are antonyms that are gradable because there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair. For example, cold and warm constitute a pair of gradable antonyms.

2． Transformational-Generative grammar

【答案】 Transformational-generative grammar is proposed by Noam Chomsky. He postulated a syntactic base of language （called deep structure ） , which consists of a series of phrase-structure rewrite rules, i.e., a series of （possibly universal） rules that generates the underlying phrase-structure of a sentence. The end result of a transformational-generative grammar is a surface structure that is identical to an actual sentence of a language , after the mediating of a series of rules （called transformations ） that act upon the deep structures.

3． grammatical word

【答案】 It refers to those which mainly work for constructing group , phrase , clause , clause complex , or even text , such as , conjunctions , prepositions , articles , and pronouns. Grammatical words serve to link together different content parts. So they are also known as Function Words.

4． Glottal Stop

【答案】 V ocal tract is composed of oral cavity, nasal cavity and pharynx. When the vocal folds are totally closed, no air can pass between them. The result of this gesture is the glottal stop.

5． Diglossia

【答案】 When two languages or language varieties exist together in a community and each one is used for different purposes, this is called diglossia. Usually, the more standard variety can be called the high variety or H-variety , which is used in government , the media , education , and for religious services. The other one is usually a non-prestige variety, the low variety or L-variety used in the family, with friends, when shopping, etc.

6． 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.

7． CAI and CAL

【答案】 Computer-assisted instruction （CAI ） means the use of a computer in a teaching program. This includes:

a. A teaching program which is presented by a computer in a sequence. The student responds on the computer , and the computer indicates whether the responses are correct or incorrect.

b. The use of computers to monitor student progress, to direct students into appropriate lessons, material , etc. This is also called computer-managed instruction.

Parallel to CAI , there is CAL （Computer-Assistant Learning ） . The former aims at seeing educational problems on the part of the teacher, whereas the latter emphasizes the use of a computer in both teaching and learning in order to help the learner achieve educational objectives. The first kind of CAL programs which were developed reflected principles similar to programmed instruction. The computer leads the student through learning task step-by-step, asking questions to check comprehension. Depending on the studenfs response, the computer gives the student further practice or progresses to new material （see branching ）. In more recent CAL courseware students are able to interact with the computer and perform higher-level tasks while exploring a subject or problem.

8． 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.

二、Essay-question

9． What do you think of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?

【答案】 Linguistic determinism , is one of the two points of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis , and has developed into the strong version of this hypothesis. It could be summarized as follows:

（1）One5s thinking is completely determined by his native language because one cannot but perceive the world in terms of the categories and distinctions encoded in the language.

（2）The categories and distinctions encoded in one language system are unique to that system and incommensurable with those of other systems. Therefore, the following statement could represent this hypothesis <4If Aristotle had spoken Chinese，his logic would have been different”.

10．Illustrate “Immediate Constituent Analysis”.

The relation between a sentence and its component elements is generally referred to as the 【答案】

relation between a construction and its constituents , in which a very important notion is immediate constituent analysis, IC Analysis for short.

The immediate constituent analysis may be defined as： the analysis of a sentence in terms of its immediate constituents—word groups （or phrases ） , which are in turn analyzed in to the immediate constituents of their own, and the process goes on until the ultimate constituents are reached.

The immediate constituent analysis of a sentence may be carried out with brackets or with a tree diagram. The criterion for the immediate constituent analysis is substitutability: whether a sequence of words can be substituted for a single word and the structure remains the same. Through IC analysis, the internal structure of a sentence may be demonstrated clearly, and ambiguities, if any, will be revealed.

For example: the IC structure for the sentence “The boy ate the apple.” is:

1）

Tree diagram

11．What are the seven functions of human language?

【答案】 According to Hu Zhuanglin , language has at least seven functions , and they are illustrated as follows:

（1）Informative function. It means that language is the instrument of thought and language serves an informational function when used to tell something. It is also called ideational function in the framework of functional grammar. The declarative sentences such as “This is a book”, are the typical illustration of this function.

（2）Interpersonal function. The interpersonal function means people can use language to establish and maintain their status in a society. It is the most important sociological use of language. In the framework of functional grammar, this function is concerned with interaction between the addresser and addressee in the discourse situation and the addresser's attitude toward what he speaks or writes about. For example, the ways in which people address others and refer to themselves （such as Dear Sir, Dear Professor , Johnny, yours, your obedient servant） indicate the various grades of interpersonal relations.

Performative function. The performative function of language is primarily to change the social （3）

status of persons, as in marriage ceremonies, the sentencing of criminals, the blessing of children, the naming of a ship at a launching ceremony, and the cursing of enemies. The kind of language employed in performative verbal acts is usually quite formal and even ritualized. The performative function can extend to the control of reality as on some magical or religious occasions. For example , in Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate, the host or the people present are likely to say sui sui ping an （every year be safe and happy） as a means of controlling the forces which the believers feel might affect their lives.

（4）Emotive function. The emotive function is one of the most powerful uses of language because it is so crucial in changing the emotional status of an audience for or against someone or something. It is a means of getting rid of the nervous energy when people are under stress, for example, swear words, obscenities , involuntary verbal reactions to beautiful art or scenety; conventional words/phrases，for example , God, My , Damn it, Wow , Ugh , Ow , etc.

（5）Phatic communion. The phatic communion refers to the social interaction of language. People always use some small , seemingly meaningless expressions such as Good morning , God bless you , Nice day, etc., to maintain a comfortable relationship between people without any factual content.

（6）Recreational function. The recreational function means people use language for the sheer joy of using it, such as a baby‟s babbling or a chanter‟s chanting.

（7）Metalingual function. The metalingual function refers to the fact that people can use language to talk about itself. For example, I can use the word “book” to talk about a book, and I can also use the expression “the word book” to talk about the sign “b-o-o-k” itself.