语言学主观题整理(部分)

Language is a system of vocal (and written) symbols with meaning attached that is used for human communication of thoughts and feelings. Design features of language：1）任意性：语言符号的形式一般与意思无关

2）二重性：基本层词素、词、句，第二层无意思的声音。基本层由第二层的元素组成

3）创造性：语言的丰富是因为它的二重性和递归性

4）移位性：语言能使使用者形象化对象、事件、概念，这些在交谈时都没有出现

Phoneme是一个抽象的概念，是最小的phonological unit，指在pronunciation 和complementary distribution方面相似的声音家族

1、Design features of language:

(1) Arbitrariness 任意性: The forms of linguistic signs generally bear no natural relationship to the meanings they carry (p.4).

e.g. shìjiè (世界) / world / monde /せかい(世界)

goǔ (狗) / dog / chien(e) / いぬ(犬)

(2) Duality 二重性: Human language has two levels of structures: the primary meaningful level of morphemes, words, phrases, sentences and the secondary meaningless level of sounds. The units of the primary level are composed of elements

of the secondary level, and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization. (Cf. p.5)

e.g. The word “sport” composed of the

meaningless sounds /s, p, ɔ:, t/;

The word “gold” composed of the

meaningless sounds /g, əu, l, d/

The Chinese word 运动 (yùndòng)

The Chinese word 金子 (jīnzǐ)

(3) Creativity 创造性: Language is resourceful because of its duality and recursiveness递归性. (p.7)

e.g. a boy student in a black coat with a black bag beside a girl in black at the back of the classroom …

b. We have got some new teachers who have come with their wives who follow their husbands who want to quickly make friends who …

(4) Displacement移位性: Human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present in time and space at the moment of

communication. (p.7)

e.g. a. —How did you spend your holidays?

—I went to Hong Kong and stayed there for three days. In spite of the scorching weather, I walked around Kowloon, Mongkok, Kwun Tong, and Central where …

b.—What do you think we can find on the other side of the moon?

—Well, I hear that there are many mysterious things there such as UFO bases, buildings, pyramids, …

2. Theory about the phoneme and allophones;

1) The phoneme and allophones:

The phoneme is an abstract concept and the smallest phonological unit that refers to a family of sounds which are similar in pronunciation and are in complementary distribution. The various members of the phoneme are called its allophones

e.g.

The English consonant phoneme / p / is realized with slightly different pronunciation in the following syllables:

port [phɔ:t] (rounded, strongly aspirated)

sport [spɔ:t] (rounded, unaspirated)

slope [sləʊph] (weaker aspiration)

peel [phi:l] (unrounded, strongly aspirated)

pool [phu:l] (rounded, strongly aspirated)

-- The five members in the four words are allophones of the same phoneme / p /.

2) Distinctive features of phonemes:

Phonetic features that can distinguish phonemes from one another, including features of voice and voicelessness, features of the manner of articulation咬合, and features of the place of articulation (Cf. p.45).

e.g.

The distinctive features of the English sounds (Cf. p.46):

/θ/: [+consonantal, -voiced, +continuant (持续音), +anterior, -approximant (无摩擦延续音), -sonorant, -strident (刺耳的), -nasal, -lateral]

/ ð /: [… +voiced, …]

-- Thus, the single feature of “±voiced” is sufficient to distinguish the two English consonants.

3. Theory about morphological structure of words;

2. Formation构成 of words:

1) Structure of words--morphemes:

e.g.前缀后缀都是bound

internationalization:

Meaningful components (morphemes):

inter-: between (bound morpheme)

nation: country (free morpheme)

-al: adjective suffix后缀 (bound morpheme)

-ize: verb suffix (bound morpheme)

-ation: noun suffix (bound morpheme)

Morpheme: The minimum meaningful grammatical unit of language which is not

further divisible without changing its meaning. (Cf. p.52)

e.g.

the down California non- -ee

Allomorph: Variations of a morpheme (there may be only one).

e.g.

{-er} (comparative degree):

taller (-er) more (additional word) worse (special form)

Free morpheme: A morpheme that can stand independently as a word.

e.g.

face book senior Zhuhai

Bound morpheme: A morpheme that cannot stand alone as a word and has to combine with another morpheme or other morphemes into a word.

e.g.

inter- con- -vey -ed -es

(word) Root: The part of a word that carries the central meaning of the word and cannot be further divided into smaller meaningful units.

e.g.

smiling:

Root—smile

internationalization:

Root—nation

laptop computer:

Root—compute

2) Word formation processes:

Derivation:派生

nation + -al → national

in- + put → input

Compounding:复合

new + comer → newcomer

space + ship → spaceship

Conversion:转换

hand n. → to hand v.

down adv. → to down v.

auxiliary adj. → auxiliary n.

Other ways of forming new words (p.65)

4. Theory about grammatical categories;

2. Grammatical categories of number, gender and case:

1) Number (数) (p.85):

A grammatical category used for the analysis of word classes displaying such contrasts as singular (单数), dual (双数), plural (复数), etc. It may be observed as regards nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives.

e.g.

Nouns:

English: a rumor vs. two rumors;

French: une rumeur vs. deux rumeurs

Cf. Chinese: 一个谣言 vs. 两个谣言

Pronouns:

English: I vs. we;

French: je vs. nous;

Cf. Chinese:我 vs. 我们

Verbs:

English: She does the work. vs. They do the work.

French: Elle fait le travail. vs. Elles font le travail.

Cf. Chinese: 她做这项工作。vs. 她们做这项工作。

Adjectives:

French: un homme intéressant vs. quatre hommes intéressants

Cf. English : an interesting man vs. four interesting men

Chinese: 一位有趣的男士 vs. 四位有趣的男士

2) Gender (性) (p.86):

A grammatical category that displays such contrasts as “masculine (阳性), feminine (阴性), neuter”(中性), or “animate (有生命的) vs. inanimate (无生命的)”, etc., for the analysis of word classes. It usually matches the natural sex when referring to human beings and animals, but seems arbitrary when referring to inanimate things.

e.g.

Nouns:

English: tiger vs. tigress; dog vs. bitch;

French: tigre vs. tigresse; chien vs. chienne

Cf. Chinese: 公老虎 vs. 母老虎

Pronouns:

English: he vs. she; him vs. her;

French: il vs. elle; son père vs. sa mère

Cf. Chinese: 他 vs. 她 ; 他爸 vs. 他妈

Adjectives:

French: un long sommeil; une longue discussion

Cf.

English : a long sleep ; a long discussion

Chinese: 睡得很久; 长时间的讨论

3) Case (格) (p.86):

A grammatical category used in the analysis of word classes to identify syntactic relationship between words in a sentence. It includes “nominative (主格), accusative (宾格), dative (与格), possessive (所有格), etc.” cases. It may be realized by inflection or position of words, or in other ways.

e.g.

English: He admires her. vs. She admires him. (nominative and accusative)

French: Il l’admire. vs. Elle l’admire. (nominative and accusative)

Cf. Chinese: 他钦佩她。vs. 她钦佩他。

English: She gives him a book. (dative)

French: Elle lui donne un livre. (dative)

Cf. Chinese: 她给了他一本书。

5. Phrase structure grammar (tree diagram);

2) Phrase structure grammar (p.77):

(1) Categories resembling nodes of the tree diagram:

Word level: N, A, V, P, AUX, M, Det, Pro, Adv, PropN, Conj, etc.;

Phrase level: NP, AP, VP, PP, S, etc.

(2) Phrase structure rules:

S → NP + VP;

NP → Det + N

N → (AP + ) N (+ PP)

e.g.

The angry man shouted loudly.

S (The angry man shouted loudly) → NP (the angry man) + VP (shouted loudly)

NP (the angry man) → Det (the) + NP (angry man)

NP (angry man) → A (angry) + N (man)

VP (shouted loudly) → V (shouted) + Adv (loudly)

(3) Tree diagram:

e.g.

a. The boy shot a bird.

b. The mistake can cause a severe problem.

6. Conceptual metaphor (概念隐喻):

(1) Concept:

Conceptual metaphors are fundamental to how we view the World. Conceptual metaphors involve mapping one concrete thing in one domain (source domain 本域)

onto another abstract domain (target domain 目标域).

(2) Categories of conceptual metaphors:

A. Ontological metaphors (本体 / 实体隐喻):

Events, activities, emotions, substances (本域).

e.g.

CONFIDENCE IS AN ENTITY

a. I kept my confidence.

b. My confidence increased.

c. My confidence weakened/

reduced.

d. I lost my confidence.

e. I regained my confidence.

B. Structural metaphors:

ideas, etc.(目标域) are viewed as entities and

One thing which is harder to understand (目标域) is put in the structure of another easier one (本域)..

e.g.

A CHILD IS A TREE

a. The child needs more sunshine.

b. The child needs careful watering.

c. The child is too young and needs support (支撑).

d. The child will grow to be a pillar of the country.

C. Orientational metaphors (方位隐喻):

An orientational metaphor is a metaphor in which concepts are spatially空间地 related to each other, as in the following ways:

Up or down

In or out

Front or back

On or off

Deep or shallow

Central or peripheral

e.g.

CONSCIOUS IS UP; UNCONSCIOUS IS DOWN

a. Get up.

b. Wake up.

c. He rises early in the morning.

d. He sank into coma.

e. He fell asleep.