英语语言学重点及问题总汇

Basic Notions in English LinguisticsChapter 1 Introduction41. What is language?Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols for human communication.2. What are design features of language? Arbitrariness, duality, displacement, interchangeability, creativity, cultural transmission3. What is arbitrariness?There is no logical connection between meanings and sounds.4. What is displacement?Language is free from barriers caused by separation of time and place.5. What is duality?Language is a system consisting of two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level (meanings) are composed of elements of the secondary level (sounds) and each level has its own principles of organization. 6. What is creativity?Language users can understand and produce an infinitely large number of sentences.7. What is cultural transmission?The details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.8. What are three general functions of language proposed by Halliday?Ideational, interpersonal, textual9. What is linguistics?Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.10. What are main branches of linguistics?Phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics11. What is macro-linguistics?The study of language in relation to other disciplines, e.g. sociolinguistics12. What is the distinction of prescriptive and descriptive?Prescribe what people should say, describe what people actually use 13. What is the distinction of competence and performance?The ideal users knowledge of language rules and the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication 14. What is the distinction of synchronic and diachronic?The study of language in time and through time15. What is the distinction of speech and writing?Natural/primary and invented/secondary media of human language16. What is traditional grammar?The general approach traditionally formed to the study of languageChapter 2 Speech Sounds17. What are speech sounds?Meaningful sounds in human linguistic communication18. What is phonetics?It studies the production, transmission and perception of speech sounds.19. What are three branches of phonetics?Articulatory, acoustic, auditory 20. What are the three cavities in speech production?Oral, nasal, pharyngeal21. What is IPA short for?International Phonetic Alphabet22. What is the main principle of IPA?There should be a separate letter for each distinctive sound in all languages.23. What are broad and narrow transcriptions?With letter-symbols (and diacritics)24. Where does the distinction lie between the production of vowels and consonants?The obstruction of airstream in the oral cavity25. Describe the consonant .Voiced place manner26. Describe the vowel .High front long rounded27. What is phonology?The study of sound system, pattern28. What is a phoneme?An abstract phonological unit of distinctive value29. What is allophony?The phenomenon of variation in the pronunciation of phonemes in different phonological contexts30. What is a minimal pair?A pair of sound sequences identical in every way except for one sound segment occurring in the same place in the strings 31. What is assimilation?A process by which one sound takes on some or all the characteristics of a neighboring sound32. What are major suprasegmental features?Syllable, stress, tone, intonation33. What are the four Chinese tones?Level, rise, fall-rise, fall34. How do intonations convey meanings?Falling indicates a straight-forward statement, rising makes a question, and fall-rise indicates an implied message.Chapter 3 Lexicon35. What is a word?A minimum free linguistic unit36. How are words classified?Variability, meaning, part of speech, membership limit37. What is morphology?The study of the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed38. What is a morpheme?The minimal unit of meaning39. What are types of morphemes?Free/bound (derivational/inflectional, prefix, infix, suffix, bound root)40. What are the two major ways of word formation?Derivation, compound41. New words are added to English vocabulary in many ways. What are they?Coinage/invention, blending, borrowing, back-formation, abbreviation, analogy42. How does language change in terms of meaning?Meaning shift, broadening, narrowingMeaning shift, broadening, narrowingChapter 4 Syntax43. What is syntax?The study of sentence structure and the rules by which sentences are formed44. What are the four representative approaches to Syntax?Traditional, structural, TG, functional45. What are the categories of noun?Number, case, gender46. What are the categories of verb?Tense, voice, mood 47. What is a sentence?The minimum part of L that expresses a complete thought, traditionally48. What are grammatical units at different levels?Morpheme, phrase, clause, sentence49. What are the grammatical elements of a sentence?Subject, predicate (predicator, object, comp.)50. What are the seven basic sentence patterns in English? SVO, SV, SVC, SVA, SVOC, SVOA, SVOOChapter 5 Semantics51. What is semantics?The study of the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular52. What is the nominalist view of meaning?Words are just names for things.53. What is the conceptualist view of meaning?Language and the real world are linked through the mediation of concepts54. What is the contextualist view of meaning? Meaning can be derived from observable contexts55. What is the behaviorist view of meaning?Meaning consists in the relation between speech and physical entities and events56. What are the two traditional types of meaning?Lexical and structural meaning57. What are the 7 kinds of meaning by Leech (1981)?Conceptual, Con, S, A, R, Col, Thematic58. How are sense and reference related to each other?Abstract property/concrete entity59. What are major sense relations between words?Synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, etc60. What are kinds of synonyms?Dialectal, collocational, stylistic, affective, semantic61. What are kinds of antonyms?Gradable, complementary, relational62. What is polysemy?One word with one+ meaning63. What is homonymy?Different words identical in spelling or/and sound64. What is hyponymy?Between a more general word and a more specific word65. What is the componential analysis?The dissection of word meaning into its semantic components/features66. What are the deciding factors of sentence meaning?Meaning of sentence components, word order, sentence structure, thematic organizationChapter 6 Pragmatics67. What is pragmatics?The study of meaning in context68. What is context?The environment of language use69. What are components of context?Linguistic, situational, socio-cultural70. What is an utterance? A unit of speech actually uttered in com.71. How is utterance meaning different from sentence meaning?Concrete, contextualized, variable /72. What are the three kinds of speech acts by Austin (1962)?Locutionary, illocutionary, perlocutionary73. What is a locutionary act?The act of conveying literal meaning74. What is an illocutionary act?The act of expressing intention75. What is a perlocutionary act?The effect of an utterance76. What is the general Cooperative Principle?Make your conversational contribution as required.77. What are the four maxims of the CP?Quality, quantity, relation, manner78. What is conversational implicature?A type of implied meaning, which is deduced on the basis of the conventional meaning of words together with the context, under the guidance of the CP and its maxims.79. What are characteristics of CI?Cal, Can, non-det, non-conventionality80. What is the Politeness Principle?Maximize the belief of polite expression81. What is Cognitive Principle of Relevance?Human cognition tends to achieve the greatest possible cog