北京外国语大学2005年语言学考研真题

北京外国语大学2005年语言学考研真题考试科目：语言学和应用语言学1.Examine the following two statements about language, and discuss the similarities anddifferences between them. Do you agree with the two statements? Explain your answer （25 points ）1)Sapir (1921:Language): “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method ofcommunicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols”(p.8).2)Bloch and Trager (1942:Outline of Linguistic Analysis): “A language is system of arbitraryvocal symbols by means of which a social group co-operates”(p.5)2.What are phonemes, phones and allophones? Explain their relationship with examples fromEnglish or Chinese .(15 points)3.Is it possible to separate semantics and pragmatics? Why or why not? What are theimplications of your answer for second language teaching?(30points)4.It has been noticed that Chinese learners of English tend to make mistakes in the marking ofpast tense , even at the advanced level of proficiency. What do you think are the possible causes of this problem? How call the language teachers help solve this problem and why?(30 points)5.Look at the following real newspaper headlines and explain why they are consideredunambiguously.(20points)(1)Complaints about NBA Referees Growing Ugly(2)Milk Drinkers Are Turning to Power(3)Two Sisters Reunited After 18 Years at Checkout Counter(4)Enraged Cow Injures Farmers with Ax(5)Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted6.In interpreting utterances such as （1）and (2) , the hearer generally treats the eventsdescribed in the two sentences in each group as causally related even though such relationship is not encoded in the meanings of the sentences. That is, the hearer tends to Think that Helen fell on the ground because of Tom‟s pushing and that the vase broke because it was dropped.Explain why. (30 points)(1)Tom pushed Helen. Helen fell on the ground.(2)Peter dropped the vase. It broke.参考答案1.Similarities:1)Both definitions stick to the fact that language is primarily a matter of speech because theprimary medium of language is sound. Sapir illustrates this idea by implying that the produced symbols are the auditory and Bloch Trager by explicitly using the word …vocal‟. 2)Both definitions allude to the fact that the association between the words and the things thatthey denoted is rarely inherent , Sapir by using the word …symbols‟ and Bloch and Trager by placing emphasis on …arbitrary‟ and …symbols‟.Differences:1）Sapir‟s definition emphasize that language relates to communication between human beings.It‟s very different from the communication systems of other creature，such as bird songs and bee dances. Bloch and Trager do not clearly indicate this property, only saying that it is possessed by a social group.2）Sapir also considers that language is …non-instinctive‟and …voluntarily produced‟. Thus for him language does not include such instinctive forms of communication as smiling and cries of pain，etc. However, Bloch and Trager‟s definition do not include this feature.3）The element …system‟ in Bloch and Trager‟s definition reflects the fact that language provides us with the framework for generating appropriate utterances rather than providing us with an infinite store of ready-made utterances. Still elements of lacunae are combined according to rules.4）The function of language is indicated differently in two definitions. Sapir sees language as for communicating ideas, emotions and definition proposes …communication‟as the principal function of language and specifies what is communicated; Bloch and Trager only vaguely points out that language can be used for co-operation.Each of the two definitions has its own special emphasis, and is not totally free from limitations. We think the two definitions grasp some defining properties of language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication, for example, …vocal‟, …arbitrary‟, …symbol‟, …purely human‟, …a system‟. But either has some limitation. As for Sapir‟s definition, whether one considers language to be instinctive or not is an issue. Language is instinctive in so far as we are all born with a predisposition to speak, we all acquire a language without tuition and when we speak we do not consciously convert our thoughts into speech. Language is, however, non-instinctive in that we can choose what to say or whether to say anything at all. Both the definition‟s description of language‟s function is not precise. Sapir‟s definition confines language only to communicating ideas, emotions and desires, and Bloch and Trager‟s definition does not point it out at all.2. A phoneme is a minimally distinctive set of sounds in a language that can signal a difference in meaning. It is an abstract phonological unit represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context. A phone is an individual phonetic unit or segment that occurs in speech. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. Each of the set of phones which correspond to a single phoneme of a language is called an allophone. Phonemes are placed between slant lines (//)and phones are placed between square brackets ([]). Allophones of the same phoneme generally occur in different contexts and never distinguish one word from another. For example, when we pronounce the two words peak and speak, we are aware that the sound [p] is pronounced differently, in the word peak, the sound [p] is pronounced with a strong puff of air stream; but the same step sounds is pronounced slightly differently in the word speak, the puff of air is withheld a little. The [p] sound in peak is called an aspirated [ph] and the [p] sound in speak is an exasperated [p=]. There is a slight difference in the way they are pronounced, but such a difference does not give rise to difference in meaning. So /p/is a phoneme in the English sound system, and it can be realized differently as aspirated or exasperated in different contexts. The phoneme/p/in English can be realized as aspirated [ph] and unaspirated [p=], which are allophones of the phoneme/p/.3. Though both semantics and pragmatics have something to do with the meaning of language,and link language to the world, we think it is possible to separate semantics and pragmatics in linguistic study. Semantics is the study of literal meaning of linguistic expression, particularly meaning of words, phrases and sentences. In using the term sense rather than reference, the focus of semantics is on the way people relate words to each other within the framework of their language. Pragmatics starts from the observation that people use language to accomplish many kinds of acts, broadly known as speech acts；thus it is the study of how to do things with words or of the meaning of language in context. This kind of meaning in pragmatics is usually referred to as speaker‟s meaning, utterance meaning, or contextual meaning. Its interpretation depends more on who the speaker of the sentence is, who the hearer is, when and where it is used. Thus the distinction between semantics and pragmatics is clear: the former is more closely related to the words used, the more constant, inherent side of meanings; the latter is more closely related to the context, the more indeterminate side, or something extra.The first implication for second language study involves the appropriate use of target language. The teaching of a foreign language in a classroom involves two types of instruction: one is informational and analytical and can be diagrammed on the axis of general semantic information about the language. But language learning also has a crucially important skill component, which involves the development of the ability to use the language, actively through speaking and writing and passively through listening and reading. This is the pragmatic turn in second language teaching. The language use should be analyzed in relation to the context of communication, and that language teaching and learning should focus on the appropriate use of the target language, oral and written, according to situational and wider social context.The second implication is concerned with vocabulary learning and translation. The learning of second language‟s vocabularies involves the understanding and memory of their meanings. Because of the differences between the first and second language‟s culture, there may be no corresponding meaning underlying the same sayings. Teachers should explain the different usage or implication of the target language‟s items. This is of much importance for cross-cultural translation practices.4．Tenses are one of the most different aspects for Chinese to master because of the non-inflection nature of the Chinese language in English, the different forms of the verb can tell us whether something is happening in the present or in the past. This information is technically termed as tense. The tense is shown by adding related morphemes at the end of the verb. So the learners can judge the tense easily by looking at the different verb forms. However, the Chinese verb does not have a well defined past, present or future tense. In writing or in speaking, the Chinese verb in the sentence does not necessarily inform the reader or listener as to whether they are referring to the past, present or future. Therefore, Chinese often places prepositional, phrases, as well as conjunctive adverbs (e.g. Mandarin Chinese le, guo) that indicate time at the front of the sentence so as to inform the speaker or the reader of the appropriate tense. The different ways of expressing the tense cause Chinese learners of English tend to make mistakes in the marking of tense. When translating into English, Chinese writers sometimes forget that English has a well-defined past /present /future verb tense. Therefore, the unconscious tendency of placing several prepositional or other phrase that indicate time at the front of the sentence is often redundant or they might neglect using different tense form of verb. Another factor which contributes to the difficulties is the difference in the concept of time of Chinese as compared to native speakers of English. Different concepts of time of non-native speakers with those of native speakers contribute to theirdifficulties in learning the English tenses.As the learning of tense, Chinese learners faced with a totally new set of classification of time situation that have no counterpart in their own native language. So in teaching English tenses teachers have to explain English time attributes thoroughly rather than assuming L2 learners will understand them as long as they have acquired the rules. For example, past tense is used for situations which are less probable, or more remote. A lot of Chinese do not have this concept and teachers should spend time in clarifying this to them. Teachers can also allow learners to understand the meanings of the two broad types of English and Chinese tense and their differences in teaching Chinese learners. Through the comparison of different ways of expressing tense, the teacher can provide the students a clear framework and then students will take special notice in using verb associated with tense.5.（1）There are two kinds of comprehension of this headline: the first is “Complaints about NBA Referees are Growing Ugly.” this with nominal group as the subject and present tense verb is modifying …complaints‟: the second is “Complaints about NBA Referees Who Are Growing Ugly”, thus the whole headline is a nominal group and the present tense verb modify …NBA Referees‟. We think the first interpretation is the intended meaning, thus the original headline is revised to “Complaints about NBA Referees Are Growing Ugly”.(2)The word …powder‟is ambiguous in meaning here, because it can imply the drug or medicine in the form of powder. Thus in order to be clear in meaning, the original headline can be revised into “Mike Drinkers Are Turing to Milk Powder”.(3)There are two kinds of interpretation of this headline: the first is “two sister reunited at checkout counter after 18 years of separation.”The second interpretation is that “two sisters reunited after they have been in checkout counter for 18 years.”The more reasonable meaning could probably be the first one. Therefore, the original headline can be revised into “Two Sister Reunited At Checkout Counter After 18 Years.”(4)There are two kinds of interpretations of this headline: the first is “ Enrages Cow Injures Farmer Who Is With Ax” thus the prepositional group is modifying the compliment …farmer‟; the second is “Enraged Cow Which Is With Ax Injures Farmer”thus the prepositional group is modifying the subject …enraged cow‟. However, according to the common sense, the second interpretation doesn‟t occur naturally, and we think the first interpretation is the intended meaning. The original headline can be revised to “Enraged Cow Injures Farmer who is with Ax”.(5) The word …belt‟is ambiguous in meaning because it can mean the act of hitting or blowing hard. Thus the original headline can be revised into “Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers‟ Safety Belt Should Put on Safety Belt.‟6.The phenomenon described can be illustrated by the theory of cohesion and coherence in discourse analysis, especially the conjunctive kind of cohesive relation. Text processing requires inferences for establishing coherence between successive sentences. The achievement of coherence partly through grammatical device and partly through lexical cohesion.Conjunction is one of the grammatically cohesive relations. It is based on the assumption that there are forms of systematic relationships between sentences in the linguistic system. Conjunction can be realized by some conjunctive words and some adverbs, such as so, but, furthermore, and so on. But in fact, the conjunctive relation between the discourse need not be realized by conjunctive words, as can be seen in these two examples.Yet it is not enough for the text to have connections between elements, there is also thecoherence which distinguishes connected texts which make sense from those which do not. It enables people to make sense of what they read and hear, and then try to arrive at an interpretation which is inline with their experience of the way the world is. In fact, our ability to make sense of what we read is probably only a small part of that general ability we have to make sense of what we experience or perceive in the world.Therefore, by the coherence which helps us to connect the discourse with the world we experience, we the hearers will tend to make the discourse fit in some situation which could accommodate all the details, and just as in the two examples ,the causal conjunctive relations are established.。