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1. What are the categories of lexical meaning?

Lexical

meaning

includes:

a)

referential

meaning

(also

denotative

meaning).

b)

Associative

meanings.

Referential

meaning

is

the

central

meaning

and

it

is

more

stable

and

universal.

Associative

meanings

are

meanings are meanings that hinge on referential meaning, which are less

stable and more culture-specific.

Types

of

associative

meanings:

connotative

meaning,

social

meaning,

affective meaning, reflected meaning, collective meaning

2. What are the components of metaphor?

There

are

two

positions

on

the

function

of

metaphors:

a)

the

classical

view sees metaphor a rhetorical device; b) another view holds metaphor a

cognitive

device.

Metaphors

一

s

possible

precisely

because

there

are

metaphors in a person’s concep

tual systems.

All metaphors are composed of two domains: target domain (also tenor)

and source domain (vehicle).

3.

How

does

transformational

grammar

account

for

sentence-

relatedness?

1) According to Chomsky, a grammar as the tacit shared knowledge of all

speakers

is

a

system

of

finite

rules

by

which

an

infinite

number

of

sentences

can

be

generated.

He

attempts

to

account

for

this

aspect

of

syntax by postulating that deep structures and surface structures.

2) Deep structures are the basic structures generated by phrase structure

rules.

3)

Surface

structures

are

derived

structures,

the

structures

of

sentences

that

we

actually

speak.

Surface

structures

are

derived

from

deep

structures

through

transformational

rules

which

include

replacement,

insertion, deletion and coping, etc.

4. On what basis do linguists regard human language as species- specific

(unique to humans)?

Language

is

a

system

of

arbitrary

vocal

symbols

used

for

human

communication. Many philosophers and linguists believe that language is

unique

to

man.

Language

is

a

human

trait

that sets us

apart

from

other

living creatures. They spell out a number of features of language which

are

not

found

in

animal

communication

systems.

These

features:

creativity,

duality,

arbitrariness,

displacement,

cultural

transmission,

interchangeability and reflexivity. These are universal features possessed

by all human languages. Although some animal communication systems

possess, to a very limited degree, one or another of these features except

creativity and duality, none is found to have all the features. On this basis

linguists tend to conclude that human languages are qualitatively different

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form animal communication systems.

5.

What

part

of

syntax

can

phrase

structure

rules

account

for

and

what

they cannot?

Phrase structure rules are rules that specify the constituents of syntactic

categories. These rules are part of speakers’ syntactic knowledge, which

govern the construction of sentences.

There

are

a

lot

of

part

of

syntactic

knowledge,

including

structural

ambiguity (which strings of words have more than one meaning), words

order (different arrangements of the same words have different meanings),

grammatical

relations

(what

element

relates

to

what

other

element

directly

or

indirectly),

recursion

(the

repeated

use

of

the

same

rules

to

create

infinite

sentences),

sentence

relatedness

(sentences

may

be

structurally variant but semantically related), and syntactic categories (a

class of words or phrases that can substitute for one another without loss

of

grammaticality)

etc.

Phrase

structure

rules

can

account

for

structural

ambiguity,

word

order,

grammatical

relations,

recursion,

and

syntactic

categories; but they cannot account for sentence relatedness.

6. How do sociolinguists classify the varieties of English?

The term variety is the label given to the form of a language used by any

group of speakers or used in a particular field. A variety is characterized

by the basic lexicon, phonology, syntax shared by members of the group.

Varieties

of

a

language

are

of

four

types:

the

standard

variety,

regional

dialects, sociolects and registers.

A regional dialect is a variety of a language spoken by people living in an

area. The English language has many regional dialects. British English,

American

English,

Australian

English.

Indian

English,

South

African

English,

etc.

are

all

regional

varieties

of

the

language.

One

dialect

is

distinctive from another phonologically, lexically and grammatically.

7. What are the functions of supra-segmental features?

The

phonetic

features,

distinctive

or

non-distinctive,

that

we

have

discussed so far may be properties of single segments. In this section we

will look at features that are found over a segment or sequence of two or

more segments, which are called suprasegmental features. These features

are

also

distinctive

features.

They

are

found

in

such

units

of

syllables,

words,

phrases

and

sentences.

The

most

widely

found

suprasegmental

features are stress, intonation and tone.

Stress is defined as the perceived prominence (comparative loudness) of

one

or

more

syllable

elements

over

others

in

a

word.

This

definition

implies

that

stress

is

a

relative

notion.

Intonation:

when

we

speak,

we

change the pitch of our voice to express ideas. The same sentence uttered

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with different intonation may express different attitude of the speaker. In

English, there are three

basic intonation patterns:

fall,

rise

and

fall-rise.

Tone is the variation of pitch at the word level to distinguish words. The

same

sequence

of

segments

can

be

different

words

if

uttered

with

different tones. English is not a tone language. Chinese is a typical tone

language.

Intonation and stress generally occur simultaneously in utterance. When

intonation

contour

falls

on

a

syllable,

the

nucleus

is

stressed

and

the

vowel is naturally lengthened a bit. In the meantime, there is a little pause

after the syllable. This simultaneous functioning of the features serves to

highlight

the

information

focus,

or

to

eliminate

ambiguity

(double

interpretations of the same phrase or sentence).

8. What are aspects of syntactic knowledge?

Syntactic

knowledge

is

the

knowing

of

which

strings

of

words

are

grammatical

and

which

are

not.

In

addition,

it

includes:

1)

structural

ambiguity 2) word order 3) grammatical relations 4) recursion 5) sentence

relatedness 6) syntactic categories.

9. The advantages and disadvantages of componential analysis?

1st,

it

is

a

breakthrough

in

the

formal

representation

of

meaning.

Once

formally

represented,

meaning

components

can

be

seen.

2nd,

it

reveals

the

impreciseness

of

the

terminology

in

the

traditional

approach

to

meaning analysis.

Looking

at the

semantic

formula

of

man

and

woman

again you can see that it is not true that the total meaning of one word

contrasts with that of the other. It is merely in one semantic feature that

the two words contrast. When we look at the semantic formulae of man

and father, we find that all the semantic features of man are included in

the semantic formula of father. Then we reach a different conclusion from

common sense in regard to the relation between man and father. Is this

contradictory?

The

answer

is

No.

The

obvious

fact

that

man

includes

father is derived from the perspective of reference. Componential analysis

examines

the

components of

sense.

The more

semantic

features

a

word

has, the narrower its reference it is.

The limitations of componential analysis are also apparent. It cannot be

applied

to

the

analysis

of

all

lexicon,

merely

to

words

within

the

same

semantic field. It is controversial whether semantic features are universal

primes

of

word

meanings

in

all

language.

Nevertheless,

CA

is

so

far

a

most influential approach in the structural analysis of lexical meaning.

10. How do sociolinguists classify the varieties of English?

A

variety

of

a

language

are

of

4

types,

the

standard

variety,

regional

(geographical)

dialects,

sociolects(social

dialects)

and

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registers(

functional

varieties).

The

standard

variety

is

the

form

of

a

language

used

by

the

government

and

communication

media,

taught

in

schools

and

universities

and

is

the

main

or

only

written

form.

The

standard variety is used most widely in a community. It is more fixed than

other varieties, allowing less variation in pronunciation, spelling/writing

and

grammar.

A

regional

dialect

is

a

variety

of

a

language

spoken

by

people

living

in

an

area.

This

kind

of

language

variation

is

most

noticeable.

When

we

travel

throughout

a wide

geographical

area

where

the

same

language

is

spoken,

we

are

sure

to

notice

difference

in

pronunciation,

in

the

choices

and

forms

of

words,

and

even

in

syntax.

Sociolects

are

forms

of

a

language

that

characterize

the

speech

of

different

social

classed.

This

correlation

between

language

and

socio-economic

status

is

often

referred

to

as

social

stratification

of

language. While some sociolinguists focus on socio-economic status as a

correlate, others look at gender as a factor for social variation of language.

Register

is

a

term

widely

used

in

sociolinguistics

to

refer

to

varieties

according to use, in contrast with regional dialects and sociolects, both of

which are varieties according to user. Register as a variety of language in

use,

is

analyzed

on

3

dimensions:

field,

mode

and

tenor.

Field

is

concerned with the purpose and subject- matter of communication. Mode

refers to the means by which communication takes place, through speech

or writing. Tenor depends on the relations between the participants.

11. Why is linguistics a vast field of study?

Linguistics is a broad field of study, because language is a complicated

entity

with

many

layers

and

facets.

There

are

a

number

of

divisions

of

linguistics,

which

can

be

put

into

two

categories.

1)

Intra-disciplinary

divisions:

the

study

of

language

in

general

is

often

termed

general

linguistics. It is based on the view that language as a system is composed

of

three

aspects:

sound,

structure

and

meaning.

2)

Inter-disciplinary

divisions

a)

Sociology

deals

with

language

and

culture.

b)

Psycholinguistics deals with the relation between language and

mind c)

applied linguistics is concerned with the application of linguistic theories

and descriptions in other fields. All above three belong to sociolinguistics.

12.

How is linguistics different from traditional grammar?

1)

Traditional

grammar

is

prescriptive

and

modern

linguistics

is

descriptive.

2)

Traditional

grammatical

categories

are

merely

based

on

European

language but linguistic studies all languages.

3)

Traditional

grammar

lacks

a

theoretical

framework,

while

modern

linguistics is theoretically rather than pedagogically oriented.

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