语言学-简答题、分析题回答技巧

1.Whatarethreecategoriesofantonyms?Complementaryantonyms互补性反义(male—female;alive--dead);Gradableantonyms可分等级的反义词(rich—poor;old--young);Relationalantonyms关系反义词(husband—wife;father--son)2.WhatarethemainfeaturesoftheEnglishcompounds?Orthographicallyacompoundcanbewrittenasoneword,twoseparatewordswithorwithoutahypheninbetween.Syntactically,thepartofspeechofacompoundisdeterminedbythelastelement.Semantically,themeaningofacompoundisidiomatic,notcalculablefromthemeaningsofallitscomponents.Phonetically,thewordstressofacompoundusuallyfallsonthefirstelement.3.Whatisthecooperativeprincipleanditsfourmaxims?Cooperativeprinciple:Makeyourconversationalcontributionsuchasrequiredatthestageatwhichitoccursbytheacceptedpurposeordirectionofthetalkexchangeinwhichyouareengaged.Itsfourmaximsarethemaximofquality,themaximofquantity,themaximofrelevanceandthemaximofmanner.4.Whatarethecausesoflanguagechange?Giveexamplesforillustration.1.Developmentofscienceandtechnology(hovercraft;CD-ROM)2.Socialandpoliticalchangesandneeds(hotline;junglewar)3.Morewomentakingupmen’sjobs(former:fireman;chairmannew:firefighter;chairperson)4.Thewaychildrenacquirealanguage(It’sI.It’sme.)5.Theresultofeconomyofmemory(dog—dogs;cow--cows)6.Regularizationofexceptionalplurals(dwarfs—dwarfs(moreoftenthandwarves))7.Theresultof“theoryofleasteffort”(Cathygotitcheap.Cathygotitcheaply.)8.Others5.AfterWorldWarII,neologisms(newwordsornewmeaningsforestablishedwords)sweptinatanyratemuchfasterthanthatofthepre-warperiod.Pleaseillustratethemainreasonsforthefrequentappearanceofneologisms.Themainreasonsforthefrequentappearanceofneologismsarethree:1.Markedprogressofscienceandtechnology(e.g.overkill;fall-out);2.Socio-economic,politicalandculturalchanges(e.g.gay;spokeswoman);3.Theinfluenceofotherculturesandlanguages(e.g.karaoke)6.Whydoyouthinkspeechismorebasicthanwriting?Modernlinguisticsregardsthespokenlanguageasthenaturalortheprimarymediumofhumanlanguageforsomeobviousreasons.Speechplaysagreaterrolethanwritingintheamountofinformationconveyed.Speechisalwaysthewayinwhicheverynativespeakeracquireshismothertongue.7.Whydowesaylanguageisarbitrary?Languageisarbitraryinthesensethatthereisnointrinsicconnectionbetweenthesoundsthatpeopleuseandtheobjectstowhichthesesoundsrefer.Thefactthatdifferentlanguagehasdifferentwordsforthesameobjectisagoodillustrationofthearbitrarynatureoflanguage.(e.g.type-writer,shoe-maker)8.Whatishyponym?Hyponymyisthesenserelationbetweenamoregeneral,moreinclusivewordandamorespecificword.Itisusedtorefertospecific-generalsemanticrelationshipbetweenlexicalitems.(Animal—dog,cat,etc.)9.Whydopeopletakedualityasoneoftheimportantdesignfeaturesofhumanlanguage?Canyoutelluswhatlanguagewillbeifithasnosuchdesignfeature?Dualitymakesourlanguageproductive.Alargenumberofdifferentunitscanbeformedoutofasmallnumberofelements—forinstance,tensofthousandsofwordsoutofasmallsetofsounds,around48inthecaseoftheEnglishlanguage.Andoutofthehugenumberofwords,therecanbeastronomicalnumberofpossiblesentencesandphrases,whichinturncancombinetoformunlimitednumberoftexts.Mostanimalcommunicationsystemsdonothavethisdesignfeatureofhumanlanguage.Iflanguagehasnosuchdesignfeature,thenitwillbelikeanimalcommunicationalsystemwhichwillbehighlylimited.Itcannotproduceaverylargenumberofsoundcombinations(e.g.works),whicharedistinctinmeaning.10.Whyisitdifficulttodefinelanguage?Itisdifficulttodefinelanguage,asitissuchageneraltermthatcoverstoomanythings.Thus,definitionsforitallhavetheirownspecialemphasis,andarenottotallyfreefromimitations.11.IsAmericanEnglishsuperiortoAfricanEnglish?Whyorwhynot?AmericanEnglishisnotsuperiortoAfricanEnglish.AsdifferentbranchesofEnglish,AfricanEnglishandAmericanEnglishareequal.Similarastheyareinfluencedbytheirrespectiveculturalcontextandthusformrespectivesystems,forpronunciation,wordsandevengrammar.12.Whatissenseandwhatisreference?Howaretheyrelated?Sense:thewaypeoplerelatewordstoeachotherwithintheframeworkoftheirlanguage.Reference:howlanguagereferstothisexternalworldRelationship:1.sensebutnotreference:functionwords,suchasand,or,never.Thesemakeconnectionsbetweenmeaningsofdifferentunitsoflanguage.2.samereferencebutdifferentsense.Forexample,Venus,13.Howaresentencemeaningandutterancemeaningrelated,andhowdotheydiffer?Themeaningifasentenceisabstract,anddecontextualized.Themeaningofanuttenranceisconcrete,andcontext-dependent.Themeaningofanutteranceisbasedonsentencemeaning;itistherealizationoftheabstractmeaningofasentenceinarealsituationofcommunication,orsimplyincontext.Forexample,mybagisheavy.14.AccordingtoAustin,whatarethethreeactsapersonispossiblyperformingwhilemakinganutterance?Giveanexample.Thethreeactsare(1)locutionaryact(言内行为).Itistheactofutteringwords,phrases,clauses.Itistheactofconveyingliteralmeaningbymeansofsyntax,lexiconandphonology.(2)illocutionaryact(言外行为).Itistheactofexpressingthespeaker’sintension,itistheactperformedinsayingsomething.(3)perlocutionaryact(言后行为).Itistheactperformedbyorresultingfromsayingsomething,itistheconsequenceof,orthechangebroughtaboutbytheutterance.15.Howisthenotion