语言学名词解释和简答题的出题范围 (修复的).doc

一、Directions: Please define the following terms.1. minimal pair testwords that differ in only one soundThey differ in meaning, they differ only in one sound segment, the different sounds occur in the same environmentExample: beat, bit They form a minimal pairSo /ea/ and /i/ are different sounds in EnglishThey are different phonemes2. the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesislinguistic determinism (语言决定论) -Language determines thought. and linguistic relativity (语言相对论)-There is no limit to the structural diversity of languages. 3. BehaviorismBehaviorism in linguistics holds the view that Children learn language through a chain of stimulus-response-reinforcement (刺激反应强化), and adults use of language is also a process of stimulus-response.4. discovery proceduresA grammar is discovered through the performing of certain operations on a corpus of data5. Universal GrammarUG consists of a set of innate grammatical principles.Each principle is associated with a number of parameters.6. Systemic GrammarIt aims to explain the internal relations in language as a system network, or meaning potential.7. Ideational MetafunctionThe Ideational Function (Experiential and Logical) is to convey new information, to communicate a content that is unknown to the hearer. It is a meaning potential.It mainly consists of “transitivity” and “voice”. This function not only specifies the available options in meaning but also determines the nature of their structural realisations. For example, “John built a new house” can be analysed as a configuration of the functions (功能配置): Actor: John Process: Material: Creation: built Goal: Affected: a new house8. Interpersonal MetafunctionThe INTERPERSONAL FUNCTION embodies all uses of language to express social and personal relations. This includes the various ways the speaker enters a speech situation and performs a speech act.9. basic speech rolesThe most fundamental types of speech role are just two: (i) giving, and (ii) demanding.Cutting across this basic distinction between giving and demanding is another distinction that relates to the nature of the commodity being exchanged. This may be either (a) goods-&-services or (b) information.10. finite verbal operatorsFiniteness is thus expressed by means of a verbal operator which is either temporal or modal.11. Textual MetafunctionThe textual metafunction enables the realization of the relation between language and context, making the language user produce a text which matches the situation.It refers to the fact that language has mechanisms to make any stretch of spoken or written discourse into coherent and unified texts and make a living passage different from a random list of sentences.It is realized by thematic structure, information structure and cohesion.12. theme and rhemeThe Theme is the element which serves as the point of departure of the message.The remainder of the message, the part in which the Theme is developed, is called the Rheme.As a message structure, a clause consists of a Theme accompanied by a Rheme. The Theme is the first constituent of the clause. All the rest of the clause is simply labelled the Rheme13. experientialismExperientialism assumes that the external reality is constrained by our uniquely human experience.The parts of this external reality to which we have access are largely constrained by the ecological niche we have adapted to and the nature of our embodiment. In other words, language does not directly reect the world. Rather, it reects our unique human construal of the world: our world view as it appears to us through the lens of our embodiment.This view of reality has been termed experientialism or experiential realism by cognitive linguists George Lako and Mark Johnson. Experiential realism acknowledges that there is an external reality that is reected by concepts and by language. However, this reality is mediated by our uniquely human experience which constrains the nature of this reality for us.14. image schemataAn image schema is a recurring structure within our cognitive processes which establishes patterns of understanding and reasoning. Image schemas are formed from our bodily interactions, from linguistic experience, and from historical context.15. prototype theoryPrototype theory is a mode of graded categorization in cognitive science, where some members of a category are more central than others. For example, when asked to give an example of the concept furniture, chair is more frequently cited than, say, stool. Prototype theory has also been applied in linguistics, as part of the mapping from phonological structure to semantics.二、Directions: Please answer the following questions.1. Why is Saussure called “one of the founders of structural linguistics and “father of modern linguistics”?He helped to set the study of human behavior on a new footing (basis).He helped to promote semiology.He clarified the formal strategies of Modernist thoughts.He attached importance to the study of the intimate relation between language and human mind.2. What are the similarities and differences between Saussures langue and parole and Chomskys competence and performance?The similarities (1) language and competence mainly concerns the users underlying knowledge; parole and performance concerns the actual phenomena (2) language and competence are abstract; parole and performance are concrete.The differences (1) according to Saussure, language is a mere systematic inventory of items; according to Chomsky, competence should refer to the underlying competence as a system of generative processes (2)According to Saussure, language mainly base on sociology, in separating language from parole, we separate social from individual; according to Chomsky, competence was restricted to a knowledge of grammar.3. What is the conflict between descriptive adequacy and explanatory adequacy? And what is Chomskys solution to this conflict?a theory of grammar: descriptively adequate should adequately describe the grammatical dada of a language.should not just focus on a fragment of a language.a theory of grammar: explanatorily adequateshould explain the general form of language.should choose among alternative descriptively-adequate grammars.should essentially be about how a child acquires a grammar.A theory of grammar should be both descriptively and explanatorily adequate.But there is a conflict:To achieve DA, the grammar must be very detailed.To achieve EA, the grammar must be very simple. (think why?)because the child can learn a language very easily on very little language exposure.Chomskys solution:construct a simple UGlet individual grammars be derivable from UG4. What are Chomskys contributions to the linguistic revolution?Chomskys contribution to the linguistic revolution is that he showed the world a totally new way of looking at language and at human nature, particularly the human mind. Chomsky challenged behaviorism and empiricism because he believes that language is innate.Rationalism (vs. empiricism in philosophy)Empiricist evidence is often unreliable.Innateness (vs. behaviorism in psychology)Children can acquire a complicated language on the basis of very limited exposure to speech.This indicates that UG is innate faculty.5. How to compare and contrast Generative Linguistics and Systemic-Functional Linguistics from perspectives of epistemology, theoretical basis, research tasks and methodology?Epistemology认识论Theoretical baseResearch tasksMethodologySFGViews language as a part of social system & studies language from anthropologic & sociological perspective1. Malinowskis theory of anthropology2. Firths theory of System & Structure3. Hjelmslevs theory of language level & language system4.Prague schools function sentence perspective 1. To reveal how people make choices through meaning potential in the system of language to fulfill various functions2. Focus on why language possesses such structure1. From a functional point of view2. Language semiotic system of three levelsTGGLanguage is related to physiologic & psychological featuresRationalism & mentalism1. To study language structure in form2. Focus on how language is structured1. Symbols & formulas in maths & logic2. Deductive methodology3.Introspection 6. How many process types are there in the transitivity system? Please illustrate each type by a proper example.Six. Material Processes, Mental Processes, Relational Processes, Behavioural Processes, Verbal Processes, Existential ProcessesThe typical types of outer experience are actions, goings-on and events: actions happen, people act on other people or things, or make things happen. This type of process is called Material Processes. The inner experience is that in our consciousness or imagination. You may react on it, think about it, or perceive it. This type of process is called Mental Processes. Then there is a third type of process: we learn to generalize, to relate one fragment of experience to another. It does this by classifying or identifying. This kind of process is called Relational Processes.These three processes are called major processes. Related to them are three minor processes: each one lies at the boundary between two processes of the three. Not so clearly set apart, they share some features of each, and finally acquire the character of their own. On the borderline between material and mental are the Behavioural Processes: those that represent outer manifestations of inner workings, the acting out of processes of consciousness and physiological states.On the borderline of mental and relational is the category of Verbal Processes: symbolic relationships constructed in human consciousness and enacted in the form of language. Then on the borderline between the relational process and the material process are Existential Processes, by which phenomena of all kinds are recognized to be or to exist.7. What is a multiple Theme to be contrasted with a simple Theme? What is a marked Theme to be contrasted with an unmarked Theme? Please illustrate them with proper examples. Conjunctions in ThemeConjunctive and modal Adjuncts in ThemeTextual, interpersonal and experiential elements in ThemeInterrogatives as multiple Themesunmarked theme (无标记主位): The subject and theme are the same one.IdeationalMaterial processAction/passiveThis housewasbuiltby John SmithGoal: AffectedProcess: Material: ActionActor: Agent AnimateInterpersonal DeclarativeMoodResidueSubjectFinitePredicatorAdjunctTextualUnmarked ThemeThemeRhemeGivenNewmarked theme (标记主位): The subject and theme are not the same.Ideational Mental Process(Cognitive)Such a tale you will neverbelieve.PhenomenonSenserProcess: Mental, CognitiveInterpersonalDeclarativeNegativeResidueMoodResidueComplementSubjectFinitePredicatorTextualMarked ThemeThemeRhemeNew GivenNew8. What are the similarities and differences between conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy?Metaphor and metonymy are viewed as phenomena fundamental to the structure of the conceptual system rather than superficial linguistic devices. Conceptual metaphor (概念隐喻) maps structure from one conceptual domain onto another, while metonomy highlights an entity by referring to another entity within the same domain.隐喻就是把一个领域的概念投射到另一个领域，或者说从一个认知域（来源域）投射到另一个认知域（目标域）。转喻是发生在同一认知域中的映射，如整体和部分等。The basic premise of Conceptual Metaphor Theory is that metaphor is not simply a stylistic feature of language, but that thought itself is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.According to this view, conceptual structure is organised according to cross domain mappings or correspondences between conceptual domains. Some of these mappings are due to pre-conceptual embodied experiences while