英语语言学导论课后答案

语言学教学提示Unit 1 Some Preliminaries about Language[Check your understanding]State whether each of the following statements is True or False.(1) There is universal agreement about the origin of language. F(2) Pet dogs can speak human languages. F(3) All human infants can speak some language. FNote: All normal human infants can learn to speak some language.(4) By creativity we mean the creative use of language as often practiced by poets. FNote: By creativity we mean that we can always create and understand new sentences never used before.(5) With different cultures there will be different languages. FNote: Some cultures can share the same language.(6) Not all uses of language are meant to convey new information. TNote: Example: language used for phatic communion is not meant to convey new information.■ In-Class Activities1. ASK:(1) What does “language” mean in each of the contexts?a. a natural language; language in particular.b. a human-specific tool for communication; language in general.c. individual style of language use.d. a metaphorical way of referring to bees’ system of communication.(2) Is there any other context in which the use of the word means something else?Yes. Example: language for the computer like C+2. ASK:(1) What if there were no language?Omit.(2) What if there were only one language the world over?Omit.(3) What can we learn from this Bible story?Language is powerful as a tool of human communication.3. ASK:(1) Do you think the two statements are equally probable, and if not, why not?(a) is more likely than (b), because the word as the basic unit of meaning that can occur independently in language is finite in number, whereas the sentence as composed of words, though almost infinite in number, is made possible by our knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. We can always produce and understand sentences that we never come across before. In that sense, no sentence is really new.(2) In what context do we make the second statement?When we focus our attention on the meaning of a sentence or when we are concerned with the form of a sentence as found in a language class.4. ASK:(1) Are there onomatopoeic words in Chinese? Yes. e.g. “哗啦”、“扑通”、“喀嚓”.(2) Does the existence of onomatopoeic words overthrow the claim that language is arbitrary?No. Onomatopoeic words account for a very limited percentage in the vocabulary of a language.5. ASK:(1) Can one really invent a language of one’s own?No. (2) If not, why?A language comes into being and use by convention or agreement among its speakers.6. ASK:(1) Is there any basic flaw in this experiment?The process is not strictly controlled. There may have been some coincidence. The sample size is too small for the experiment to be valid. (2) Do you think we really can answer the question about the beginning of lang

uage?No, at least in the present condition where/when we cannot perform experiments on the human brain, the key organ of speech.7. ASK:(1) Can you identify the most likely order (from least to most advanced) of these samples?C→B→A(2) What features in each child’s utterances can you use as evidence to support your ordering?Child A: good syntax except for improper question form.Child B: visible development of syntax; overgeneralizationChild C: Not much syntax; two-word utterances; telegraphic sentences (sentences that contain only content words but lack function words)8. ASK:(1) It is often assumed that children imitate adults in the course of language acquisition. Can imitation account for the above production on the part of the child?Not wholly. There is counter evidence against the assumption, like the overgeneralization “go-ed” for “went”.(2) What distinguishes the child’s production from that of the adult?Overgeneralization of “-ed” for the past tense as shown by “holded”. 9. ASK:(1) How do adults reinforce the process of children’s acquisition as exemplified here?They use explicit correction.(2) Do children know what they are doing wrongly?Not exactly. (3) Do the adults succeed in their reinforcement?Not always, at least.(4) How should we treat the “mistakes” that children make while acquiring their mother tongue?We may ignore them sometimes, although some amount of reinforcement may turn out to be helpful. 10. ASK:(1) Do children learn through structured or simplified input, as suggested?Not always. There is evidence for both sides. (2) Can you offer some examples illustrating, representing the way adults talk to infants?Omit.Note: Motherese is characterized by shorter sentences, higher pitch, exaggerated intonation, higher proportion of content words to function words, simple syntax, more interrogatives and imperatives, more repetitions. Yet it is not syntactically simpler. Rather, it may include syntactically complex sentences such as questions: Do you want your juice now? Embedded sentences: Mommy thinks you should sleep now. Imperatives: Pat the dog gently! Negatives with tag questions: We don’t want to hurt him, do we? Indeed, it is fortunate that motherese is not syntactically restricted. If it were, children might not have sufficient information to extract the rules of their language.11. ASK(1) What measures do you suggest for protecting dialects as well as languages?Omit.(2) Do you think that someday people all over the world will speak only one language, or someday no dialect will exist? Omit. 12. ASK:Are there any universals that you think all languages share but are not mentioned here?E.g. All languages have internal structures. All languages have numericals.■ ExercisesTask 3: Study Questions1. What do you think is essential to the emergence of language?

The existence of social activities; the need to express diverse ideas, emotions, etc.; the need to communicate ideas to distant places; etc.2. Can our pets learn human languages? Why or why not?No. They are genetically not endowed with the capacity.3. What role does body language play in language communication? Omit.4. Naturally occurring “experiments” with so-called “wolf-children”, “bear-children”, “Mowgli” or “monkey-children” and other such feral youngsters have been widely reported for hundreds of years. None of these children could speak or understand speech and, indeed, most efforts to teach them language ended in failure. How would you account for the failure?The language acquisition device has to be triggered before a certain age (that of puberty). Sufficient expose to a language environment at the right time is essential to language acquisition.5. The following are some instances of using English for communication. What specific function does each use of English serve in the following pictures? Informative (in the form of commanding) Directive (Advertising in the form of requesting)Directive (Persuading in the form of threatening) Directive (Recruiting)6．Iconicity of language is an aspect of language where form echoes meaning. Onomatopoeia, also known as “sound symbolism”, is one type of iconicity. Some researchers have found other evidence of iconicity. For example, words beginning with the sound combination sl- in English often have an unpleasant sense, as in slithering, slimy, slugs. Here are some questions:a. Is the “unpleasant” sense actually true of all, or even most, words beginning with sl- in English?No. e.g. slight.b. Are there any other sounds or sound combinations that you associate with particular meanings? Gliding: slide, slip, slippery; Rolling: tumble, crumble, stumblec. How about the vowel sounds in words that identify near-to-speaker concepts (this, near, here) versus far-from-speaker concepts (that, far, there)? What is the difference? Is it a general pattern distinguishing terms for things that are near versus far in English? What about the case in Chinese?Front vowels for near-speaker concepts; central or back vowels for far-from-speaker concepts. There seems to be a similar kind of pattern in Chinese. C.f. 近 jin /远 yuan；这 zhe /那 na7. In many of the world’s languages there are so-called nursery names for parents. In English, for example, corresponding to the word mother is the nursery name mama, and for father one finds dada and papa. There is remarkable similarity across different languages in the form of these nursery names for parents. For example, in Chinese and Navajo ma corresponds to English mama. Why do you think that this is the case?Bilabials are learned and produced first because they are the easiest.8. a. What are some of the changes which appear to have taken place in the child’s ability to use

English during that period?Like the basically proper use of interrogatives and the correct use of inflection. b. What do these changes suggest about the order of language acquisition?Complete sentences are acquired later than elliptical ones. Inflection is acquired at a late stage. Unit 2 The Sounds of English[Check your understanding]State whether each of the following statements is True or False.1. [i:] and [i] are allophones of the same phoneme. F2. Not all English phonemes have allophones. TNote: /?/ and /j/ occur in one single position and therefore do not have allophones.3. The same set of vowels is used in all languages. F4. All syllables must contain at least one vowel. FNote: Some syllables may contain no vowels. They may, instead, employ some syllabic consonant, as in people and muscle.5. The marking of word stress is arbitrary for the most part in English. F6. English is a tone language. FNote: Chinese is a tone language.■ In-Class Activities1. ASK: (1) What is the phonetic environment of [t] in [pit]? [i_#](2) Are the following pairs of words minimal pairs?(a) desk vs. task No.(b) leave vs. Leak Yes. ( li:v vs. li:k )2. ASK: (1) Characterize how the allophones of the phoneme /k/ are complementarily distributed.[kh ] in initial position; [k]after /s/; [k?] in final position. (2) Is there any other way of charactering the complementary distribution of clear [l] and dark [?]?[l] before vowels; [?] elsewhere. 3. ASK: (1) What distinctive feature makes /f/ and /v/ different?[voiced](2) Can you specify the distinctive features for the following phonemes?(a) /?/ [fricative] + [voiceless] + [palatal](b) /k/ [velar]+[voiceless]+[plosive](c) /n/ [nasal]+[voiced] +[alveolar]4. ASK:(1) Are [r] and [l] in complementary distribution? In what environment does each occur?Yes. [r] occurs before vowels; [l] occurs after vowels.(2) Do they occur in any minimal pairs?No. (3) Suppose [r] and [l] are allophones of one phoneme. State the rule that can derive the allophonic forms. [r] is lateralized when it occurs after vowels. 5. ASK: (1) Can you give more examples of assimilation? compatriot, sing(2) Can you find any exceptions? input, unbeatable, Canberra(3) What phonetic segments condition this change? The consonant immediately after the vowel.[Note] 2) [tai] should be [tay].6. ASK: (1) Can you give more examples of free variation?advertisement [?d?v?:tism?nt] [?d?v?:tizm?nt]association [??s?usi?ei??n] [??s?u?i?ei??n] (2) Why do you think such a phenomenon exists in a language like English?Individual variation is responsible for this phenomenon.7. ASK:(1) Which sound is deleted in “sign”, “design”, and “resign”?[g](2) Can you offer other examples of deletion?paradigm (atic), condemn(ation)(3) Can you give some words that involve tot

al deletion? plumb, plumber; climb, climbing(4) Are there any other types of deletion in English?debt, know8. ASK:(1) Can you think of a phonetic description of the regular pattern in these expressions?They all start with a front, high vowel and follow up with a mid or low vowel. (2) Can you think of any possible explanation for the observed pattern?[i] involves the least degree of mouth opening while the mid or low vowels necessitate bigger opening. There is an increase of mouth opening in pronouncing the whole word, which is symbolic in meaning. 9. ASK:(1) What are likely positive effects of using alliteration? Use one of the poetic examples to illustrate.Coherence, connectedness, smoothness, consistency. Take “I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance” for example. The double alliteration involved helps to create a picture of smooth and coherent dance.(2) Is there a similar use of alliteration in Chinese? Yes, though less often. 花好月圆 is a good example.10. ASK:(1) What is the stylistic effect of rhyming?echoing, agreement, correspondence, etc. (2) Can you find more proverbs that involve internal rhyming?First thrive and then wive.Fancy passes beauty.■ ExercisesTask 3: Study Questions1.a. Does the string of sounds mean anything to you?If we want to talk really good, we’ll have to invent vowels.b. What does the picture suggest to you about the role of consonants and vowels in English?Consonants are the backbones of syllables and words. 2. Some phonetic transcriptions below are English words, some are not existing words but are possible words or nonsense words, and others are definitely “foreign” or impossible because they violate English sequential constraints. Specify each of the a-e cases as illustrated.Word Possible Foreign ReasonExample:[pa:k] [tif] [lkib] a. [?a:f] ? [?] must occur after a vowel.b. [ski:] skic.[knait] ?d.[meij] ? [?] must occur initially before a vowel.e.[blaft] ?3. In English, the /i/ vowel becomes almost as long as /i:/ under certain conditions (written as /i:/ for convenience). Consider the examples listed below:a. List the phonemes that condition the change. voiced consonantsb. State the rule that seems involved.[i] is lengthened before a voiced] consonant.Note: Start with the fact that the /i/ is basic and that short /i/ becomes long /i:/. The change from short /i/ to long /i:/ is phonologically determined; that is, the lengthening takes place in the presence of certain phonemes. A good strategy is to first list the phonemes to the right of long /i:/, then list those to the left. As an answer to (a), then, one would propose that /i/ become /i:/ whenever the phonemes to the ri

right (/d, m, l, b, z, j, ?/) occur immediately after that vowel. This hypothesis looks promising because, in fact, the short variant /i/ never occurs before these segments. The next question is, what is it about the phonemes on the right that unify them as a class? One may find that these phonemes are all voiced ([+voice]), and, in fact, the short /i/ never lengthens before voiceless segments. Thus the answer to (b) is that the vowel /i/ is lengthened before (the natural class of) voiced consonants.4. The use of plural –s in English has three different, but very regular, phonological alternatives. a. Can you work out the set of sounds which regularly precedes each of these alternatives?/s/ to words like ship, bat, book and cough; voiceless plosives [voiceless]/z/ to words like cab, lad, cave, rag and thing;after voiced consonants [voiced]/?z/ to words like bus, bush, judge, church and maze.after /s/, /?/, /d?/, /z/b. What features does each of these sets have in common?[palatal] or [alveolar]+[fricative]c. Is there any pattern regarding the different pronunciations of the past tense marker? [t] after voiceless consonants except [t]; [d] after voiced consonants except [d]; [id] after [t] or [d].d. Do you think that one of these phonological forms for –ed is more basic, with the others being derived from it in a regular way? Which, and how?[d] is more basic. [t] after devoicing. [id] after epenthesis (i.e. addition of a sound).5. Below are three columns of words with different patterns of stress:a. How is stress distributed in each column?penultimate for A; last syllable for B; on the last syllable.b. In Column B, what kinds of vowels appear in the last syllable? How does the syllabic structure of Column C differ from A and B?In Column B, long vowels or diphthongs appear in the last syllable.The last syllable of the words in C ends in consonant clusters.[Note] For “usurp”, “r” may be pronounced as in /ju(:)?z?(r)p/.6. The following is a list of words that are spelt in a similar way:fuddy-duddy hocus-pocus namby-pambyfuzzy-wuzzy hurly-burly razzle-dazzlehanky-panky lovey-dovey roly-poly helter-skelter mumbo-jumbo super-dupera. What similarity can you spot among the words listed?All pairs are the same except the initial consonants.b. What effects may such words have in common when they are put into use?Redundancy, repetitiveness, etc. 7. Write the phonetic transcription for each of the following words.Omit.8. Read the following words or phrases and point out the phonological processes that yield assimilation.(a) pat /p?t/ pan /p?n/ sat /s?t/ Sam /s?m/ Nasalization rule: [-nasal] ? [+nasal] /_____ [+nasal](b) since /sins/ sink /si?k/ hint /hint/ dink /di?k/ Velarization rule: [-velarl] ? [+velar] /_____ [+velar](c) five pits /faifpits/ love to /l?ft? / Devoicing rule: [+voiced ? [-voiceless

] /_____ [-voiceless]9. a. Comment on the use of rhyme, alliteration, and assonance (that is, use of syllables with a common vowel, as in “come” - “love”) in this poem. How are they used to stress the sense of superficiality and lack of meaning the poet is trying to convey here? (Note especially the role of rhyming pairs of monosyllables and their effect on meter.)assonance: [ri:t?] [skri:n] [spi:t?][?ud] [huk] [buk]The ryhmed words, all monosyllabic and stressed, are semantically unrelated and separated. Alliteration is only sporadically used. Assonance suggests apparent connection but actual disconnectedness.b. Comment more carefully on meter in the first two stanzas. How does it contribute to the meaning? How and where does it work against our expectations?Lack of regularity and thus unpredictability. 10. Collect some data to show that English advertisements, newspaper headlines, English songs, and presidential addressee sometimes make use of alliteration and rhyming.Omit. 11. What interesting things do speech errors tell us about language and its use? Collect a few cases of slips of tongue from daily conversations.Speech errors are often explainable, often semantically motivated.Unit 3 The Units of English[Check your understanding]State whether each of the following statements is True or False.1. All words in English have a hierarchical structure. FNote: Mon-morphemic words do not.2. Clipping is one of the three most important devices of word-formation in English. FNote: The three most important devices are affixation, compounding (or composition) and conversion (or functional shift). 3. Idioms in English are modifiable in some grammatical ways. T4. The presence of constructions is unique to English. F5. Every English sentence has a subject. FNote: Imperative sentences do not have any subject.■ In-Class Activities1．ASK:(1) What is the infix used in the above language data? “-um-“(2) What is the verb form in Bontoc for “to be poor”, given that pusi means “poor”?“pumusi”2. ASK:(1) What is the Samoan for: (a) “they travel” (b) “he sings” respectively?(a) savavali (b) pese(2) Formulate a morphological rule regarding how to form the plural verb form from the singular verb form in Samoan.Duplicate the penultimate syllable.3. ASK:(1) Which other affixes are there in English that function as markers of negation?dis-, non-, a-, in-, il-, im-, ir- (2) What pattern underlies the use of un- in the data above?Positive terms can have negative morphemes added to them, as in “happy-unhappy”, but semantically negative ones rarely do, because un- is deprecatory as well as negative.(3) Why are “ungood” and “unbig” not found in English, although George Orwell coined “ungood” in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four? Do you think they are accidental gaps in the lexicon of English?

There already exist words that correspond to “ungood” and “unbig”. It is not accidental. This is what is technically called lexical blocking.(4) Read the following extract from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass. How do you think Humpty Dumpty would explain the word “un-birthday” to Alice?“Un-birthday” means some day that is not one’s birthday. (5) The fact that un- can be both a verb prefix and an adjective prefix may explain the occurrence of the ambiguous word “unlockable”. Can you imagine two situations corresponding to the two senses of the word?? Can you give more examples like “unlockable”?Imagine you are inside a room and you want some privacy. You would be unhappy to find the door is unlockable – “not able to be locked.” Now imagine you are inside a locked room trying to get out. You would be very relieved to find that the door is unlockable – “able to be unlocked.” These two meanings correspond to two different structures, as follows:Adjective Adjectiveun- Adjective Verb -ableVerb -able un- Verblock lockIn the first structure the verb “lock” combines with the suffix –able to form the adjective lockable (“able to be locked”). Then the prefix un-, meaning “not,” combines with the derived adjective to form a new adjective unlockable (“not able to be locked”). In the second case, the prefix un- combines with the verb lock to form a derived verb, unlock. Then the derived verb combines with the suffix –able to form unlockable, “able to be unlocked.” Other examples are unbuttonalbe, unzippable, and unlatchable.4. ASK:(1) How are the verbs in Column A different from those in Column B? Verbs in Column A are transitive while those in Column B are generally intransitive. (2) Can we use “able to be X-ed” to paraphrase “perishable”?No. “Perish” is intransitive.(3) A further complication with -able is that in words like “unthinkable”, the suffix means more than “able to be X-ed”. Why? Can you think of more words of this type?unbreakable, presentable, readable, questionable, payable, washable. (4) Now, let’s look at another complication. None of the following words are permitted. What does this suggest about the use of the suffix “-able”?“-able” are not attached to nouns, adjectives, or prepositions.5. ASK:(1) Note the contrast between list A and List B. Can you think of any reason that can explain why the set of words on List B are impossible words in English?Verbs on List B are intransitive. (2) How are the re- words on List C and List D different from those on List A? Words on List C are made up of re- +adjectives. In the words on List D, “re-” m

eans “back” instead of “again”.(3) Some re- prefixed words may mean more than the simple addition of the meaning of re- and the meaning of its base. For example, “rewrite” means “write something again, especially in a different or improved form”. Can you give more examples like “rewrite”?rebuild, rethink, retry, retell, reorganize, reconsider, reform, etc.6. ASK:(1) Can you give some examples that you consider to be chunks?Omit.(2) Read the following spoken data of a Chinese student. Can you point out the chunks used in it? Can you classify them into some types?It is the most unforgettable birthday um … that I … and I can not forget it for forever. Um … it it was when I was a freshman. It is the first year um … I left my family and spend my birthday alone. Um … I remember clearly um … that day I strode gloomily at campus along for a long time um. And um … um … I I felt very … I I felt …I felt very gloomy because no one, um no one except my parents um remember my birthday and, and, wan and wanted to um … and wanted to stay with me for my birthday. Um … um … I did, I did not went back I did not go back to the dormitory um … until um … until seven o’clock in the evening. Um … the light, the light in the dormitory was off. Obviously, um there was no … there was nobody staying in the dormitory. Um …but now um … it may … it … it … seemed um … it seemed that it doesn’t matter. Um … And I open the door um … and I found except darkness there was nothing. Suddenly a song “Happy birthday to you” sound. I felt, I felt very astonished. Then, the light was turned on. Some familiar faces um … um full of full of sweet smiles towards me. Um they were my dorm they were my dorm mates … Yes, they still remembered um …my birthday, my birthday. And in fact they have … they indeed prepared for it two years ago. They bought er … a very beautiful cake for me, and that night um … we sang, we danced and … and had that delicious cake. I felt very happy, and and later I … I made a call to my parents that told them that I has spent a very unforgettable birthday with my roommates.verbal: went/go back; turn(ed) on; prepare for; make a call toadjectival: full ofprepositional: at campus (it should be “on campus”, though); for a long time; in the evening; in factclausal: it seemed that ….; it doesn’t matter7. The notion of subject may be classified into three types: grammatical subject (the major nominal part corresponding to the predicate), logical subject (the doer or executor of the action concerned), and psychological subject (the first major component of the sentence, like a nominal phrase, an adverbial phrase, or a prepositional phrase). For instance, a. John (grammatical subject, psychological subject, logical subject) robbed the City Bank last night. b. The City Bank (grammatical subject, psychological subject) was robbed by John (lo

cal subject) last night. c. Last night (psychological subject) John (grammatical subject, logical subject) robbed the City Bank. Analyze the following newspaper headlines from the Washington Post (July 21-24, 2006) in terms of the effect of subject type selection.(a) In Iraq, Military Forgot Lessons of Vietnam (psychological)(b) Evacuation Rules Separate N.Va. Friends (grammatical)(c) Woods Is Closely Followed At British (logical, grammatical)8. ASK: (1) Can you write the public signs in complete forms?You may push the button and wait for the signal of walk.You must use caution when the ground is wet.(2) What rules are there when we write elliptical English newspaper headlines?a. Omit auxiliary or linking verb BE;b. Omit determiners;c. Omit indefinite nouns of person.d. Omit There Be.Task 3: Study Questions1. Point out the word-formation process that applies to each of the following words:Affixation: worsen endearmentConversion: dust (v.) plane (v.)Compounding: laptop airsick daughter-in-lawBack-formation: edit televise peddle swindle (swindler) Shortening: tec (detective) prof (professor) bike (bicycle)Blending: brunch urinalysis (urine + analysis) fantabulous (fantasy + fabulous)Initialism: WTO (World Trade Organization)Acronym: laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association)Coinage (in the forms of invention and eponym—words derived from proper names): Xerox nylon jumbo (name of an elephant brought to the United States by P. T. Barnum)2. How are the open-class words and the closed-class words different from each other?Open-class words: (1) large in number;(2) easy to expand;(3) mainly nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.Closed-class words:(1) small in number;(2) stable;(3) basically pronouns, prepositions, function words, etc.3. What are the inflectional morphemes in the following phrases?(a) the government’s policies ’s; -s(b) the latest news -est(c) Isn’t it snowing! -ing(d) two frightened cows -ed; -s4. Suppose a speaker of English invents the following italicized English words as a joke: “they’re always causing a commotion. I tell them not to commote, but they insist on being big commoters.” What process of word creation does this example illustrate, and why? What do the new words mean?It is a process of back-formation. “Commote” means the act of causing disorder and “commoter” means someone who causes disorder.5. Count the function words in the following passage excerpted from Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage (p.1).The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors. It cast its eyes upon the roads,

s, which were growing from long troughs of liquid mud to proper thoroughfares. A river, amber- tinted in the shadow of its banks, purled at the army's feet; and at night, when the stream had become of a sorrowful blackness, one could see across it the red, eyelike gleam of hostile campfires set in the low brows of distant hills. Note: Function words are those that have little semantic content of their own and chiefly indicate grammatical relationships. Common function words include prepositions, conjunctions, articles, etc. They are also called “form words” or “functors”.6. Which of the following contain verb phrase idioms? For each idiom, provide a paraphrase with one word instead of the idiom. (1) a. John went in for stamp collecting. [like]b. Jane went in for a check-up.(2) a. John came down with the guns.b. Jane came down with the flu. [contracted](3) a. John came up with the guns.b. Jane came up with a brilliant idea. [got](4) a. That music doesn’t exactly turn me on. [excited]b. Jane didn’t turn on the tap.(5) a. John passed over the house. b. The president passed over the peace proposal. [disregarded](6) a. John ran after dinner. b. John ran after Jane. [pursued]7. In English, some intransitive verbs can be converted into a special type of transitive verbs called causative verbs. Here are some examples. Can you give more examples? halt, alter, end8. The distinction between auxiliary verbs and main verbs is a basic one in English. Auxiliary verbs are fronted to form questions whereas main verbs cannot be fronted in this fashion. The following sentences illustrate three additional differences between main verbs and auxiliary verbs. What are these differences? placement of “not”; contraction possible; tag questions; etc.9. Count the number of clauses in the following paragraphs and categorize them into different types.The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities. Others lose heart at the first signs of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we react both chemically and physically. In fact we make choice between “flight and fight” and in more primitive days the choices made the difference between life and death. The crises we meet today are unlikely to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it involves the same response. It is when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes endangered. Such serious conditions as high blood pressure and heart diseases have established links with stress. Since we cannot remove stress from our lives (it would be unwise to do so even if we could), we need to find ways to deal with it.(1) a person can withstand(2) The amount of stress depends very much on the individual(3) Some people are not afraid of stress

(4) such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities(5) Others lose heart at the first signs of unusual difficulties(6) When exposed to stress(7) (When exposed to stress,) in whatever form(8) we react both chemically and physically(9) In fact we make choice between “flight and fight”(10) in more primitive days the choices made the difference between life and death(11) we meet today(12) The crises are unlikely to be so extreme(13) however little the stress(14) it involves the same response(15) when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress(16) It is …. that….(17) health becomes endangered(18) Such serious conditions as high blood pressure and heart diseases have established links with stress(19) Since we cannot remove stress from our lives(20) it would be unwise to do so(21) even if we could(22) we need to find ways to deal with it(6), (7), (13), (19), and (21) are adverbial clauses (of time, reason, concession, supposition, etc.); (1) and (11) are attributive clauses; (15) is a predicative clause. Others are either independent clauses like (3), (4), (5), (9), (10), and (18), or the main clauses in the complex sentences, like (2), (8), (12), (20), and (22).10. The following is an excerpt from James Joyce’s Ulysses. What has been deleted in many of its sentences? What effect does Joyce achieve by using this deletion?No, not like that. A barren land, bare waste. Vulcanic lake, the dead sea: no fish, weedless, sunk deep in the earth. No wind would lift those waves, grey metal, poisonous foggy waters. Brimstone they called it raining down: the cities of the plain: Sodom. Gomorrah. Edom. All dead names. A dead sea in a dead land, grey and old. Old now. It bore the oldest, the first race. A bent hag crossed from Cassidy’s clutching a naggin bottle by the neck. The oldest people. Wandered far away over all the earth, captivity to captivity, multiplying, dying, being born everywhere. It lay there now. now it could bear no more. Dead.The deletion gives people the impression that the thoughts of the character are not smooth, coherent, complete, etc.Unit 4 The Structures of English (I)[Check your understanding]1. Word order plays an important role in the organization of English sentences. T2. All ambiguous sentences result from our failure to use proper organization. FNote: We can consciously avoid ambiguity, though.3. With transformations, we can organize a sentence the way we like. FNote: Transformations are rule governed and constrained.4. Like English, modern Chinese is a SVO language. TNote: But Chinese also employs theme-theme organization a lot, e.g. 他的话我没听见。■ In-Class Activities1．ASK:(1) Can you think of other modes of recursion? Relative-clause recursion.(2) Give one example of VP recursion.Omit.2. ASK:(1) Paraphrase the two parts of the sentence before and after “b

ecause”.Under Jane’s influence, John became a good husband. She serves as a good wife for John. (2) Which sentence patterns do the two parts belong to?VOC; VOO(3) Can you find more verbs like “make” in English? leave, allow, etc.3. ASK:(1) Is the sign ambiguous? If so, use paraphrases to show the different readings.a. Do not let such situation happen that no one attends the valuables.b. Do not go away from the valuables that are not attended.(2) Is the ambiguity involved the same kind as that in The mother of the boy and the girl arrived?No. Ambiguity in the latter case arises from coordination as shown by the use of “and”.(3) Newspaper headlines and advertisements often deliberately employ ambiguity to attract customers or readers. How are the following ambiguous?(a) A New Model For Getting Rich Online“Online” may modify both “model” and “getting rich”.(b) Two Philippine ships collide--one dies.“One” may refer to both passengers and one of the ships. (c) Eye drops off shelf.a. An eye of somebody’s drops off shelf.b. Eye drops (as a kind of medicine) are off shelf (i.e., out of sale).(d) Wanted: A man to wash dishes and two young waitresses.a. Wasted: a man to wash both dishes and two young waitresses.b. Wanted: two young waitresses and a man whose job is to wash dishes. (4) Is the following public sign ambiguous?No. “Dog Free Park” means “a park where dogs are not allowed”. 4. ASK:(1) Are these sentence patterns found in English but not in Chinese?Yes. English employs some formal subject like “there” and “it”. Chinese may allow subjectless sentences.(2) Can you think of any other sentence patterns in English that are not shared by Chinese?Fancy meeting you here! No wonder you were so angry. 5. ASK:(1) What similarities do those sentences in the second category share?The object is pronominal. (2) What is the special condition that necessitates particle movement? When the verb phrase takes a pronoun as its object, particle movement is a must. Thus, we must say “look it up” instead of “look up it”.VP VP VP V Particle NP V NP Particle V NP ParticlePron6. ASK:(1) Is there any difference in meaning between the sentences in the first pair?(a) It is possible that only a small numbers of books were sold out.(b) It is likely that a large number of books were sold out, although John did not sell many. (2) How are the sentences in the second pair different from each other?(b) is more emphatic than (a) now that it deviates from the normal way of sentence organization, resulting in what we call foregrounding.7. ASK:(1) Can you write out four different phrases in English illustrating each of the VP types? a. re

ad b. read a novelc. take the book off the deskd. think that life is difficult(2) Can you use the abbreviatory convention above to integrate the following sets of rules into a single rule?a. A →( B) Cb. W → (X) Y( Z)8. ASK:(1) How many sentence types are covered by the data?(1) Mexico Vote Tally Gives Free-Trader A Narrow Victory [ SVOO](2) Israeli Tanks Meet Fierce Resistance [SVO ](3) Ruling Keeps DeLay on Ballot [ SVOC](4) Favoritism Trial Hurts Chicago Mayor [SVO ](5) Discovery Docks With Space Station [ SVO](6) Russia's Signal to Stations Is Clear: Cut U.S. Radio [ SVC](7) Mayor's Stadium Proposal Advances [SV ](8) Dumfries Regrets Raid on Homeless [SVO ](9) A Driven President Faces a World of Crises [SVO ](10) Consultant Breached FBI's Computers [ SVO](2) Which type occurs most frequently?SVOTask 3: Study Questions1. It is important that the rules of syntax specify all and only the grammatical sentences of the language. Why is it important to say “only”? That is, what would be wrong with a grammar that specified as grammatical sentences all of the truly grammatical ones plus a few that were not grammatical?The grammatical rules will become invalid because we will not know which sentences are grammatical. 2. Analyze how the following sentences are incorrect according to English grammar.a. Snowing outside.“It is/was” cannot be deleted.b. Jane loves John, she calls him every day.This is a run-on sentence. The sentence contains two independent sentences.c. There are two boys play football on the ground.The sentence contains two finite verbs.d. Jane is very kind to John, for example, she prepares dinner for him whenever she can.This is a run-on sentence. “For example” is not a conjunction and thus cannot link two clauses into a complex sentence.e. Diligent is very important to succeed.“Diligent” cannot function as the subject because it is an adjective. In English, the subject as well as the object must be nominal.f. John find the two book very interesting.There is a lack of grammatical concord in number between the subject and the predicate verb.g. John is a great leader, however, he is sometimes too strict.This is a run-on sentence. “However” is not a conjunction and thus cannot link two clauses into a complex sentence.h. Although Jane loves John, but she never says “I love you” to him.In English, “although” and “but” do not co-occur.i. The reason Jane loves John is because he is kind to her.In English, we say “the reason (….) is that ….j. – Have you seen John lately, Jane?-- Not seen.When answering a question, one repeats the auxiliary verb, rather than the main verb.k. Finish the job in two days is impossible.In English, the subject as well as the object must be nominal. “Finish the job” is verbal rather than nominal.l. Why Jane didn’t go to Beijing with John?There mu

be the movement (or addition) of the auxiliary when forming an interrogative sentence in English. The correct form is Why didn’t Jane go to Beijing with John? 3. Paraphrase each of the following sentences in two different ways to show that you understand the ambiguity involved: (1) Smoking grass can be nauseating. a. To smoke grass can be nauseating.b. Grass for smoking can be nauseating.(2) John finally decided on the boat. a. On the boat John finally made a decision.b. John finally decided to use (buy, etc.) the boat.(3) Jane’s appointment was shocking. a. Jane’s appointment of someone was shocking.b. Jane’s being appointed by someone was shocking.(4) Old men and women are hard to live with.a. Both old men and old women are hard to live with.b. Women and old men and are hard to live with.(5) The governor is a dirty street fighter. a. The governor is a fighter against dirty street.b. The governor is a street fighter who is mean and corrupt.(6) I cannot recommend him too highly. a. I cannot recommend him too highly because he is not so good. b. I can recommend him as highly as I can because he is so good.4. Questions typically come from a first-person speaker and are addressed to a second-person hearer. Can you relate this use of questions to the fact that you is deleted from abbreviated questions? Can any subject be deleted from abbreviated questions as long as use and context make the deletion recoverable?Like the book?Fancy meeting John Here?Want to have a cigarette?When questions are used to make an offer, seek information, etc., the understood “you” can be deleted.5. Give the passive version of the following sentences.(1) Phil watered the garden too much. The garden was too much watered by Phil.(2) Bill expected me to leave soon. I was expected to leave soon by Bill.(3) The doctor expected the technician to develop the X-rays fast. a. The technician was expected by the doctor to develop the X-rays fast.b. The doctor expected the X-rays to be developed fast by the technician.c. The X-rays were expected by the doctor to be developed fast by the technician.6. Study the following sentences and analyze them in terms of sentence patterns.a. John seems happy. [SVC]b. The girls sing quite often. [SV]c. They elected Bush president again. [SVOC]d. Chasing cats is fun for dogs. [SVC]e. Jane sent John a bunch of roses. [SVOO]f. John never keeps his room clean. [SVOC]g. The film lasted two hours. [SVA]h. John let Jane out. [SVOC]Unit 4 The Structures of English (I)[Check your understanding]1. Word order plays an important role in the organization of English sentences. T2. All ambiguous sentences result from our failure to use proper organization. FNote: We can consciously avoid ambiguity, though.3. With transformations, we can organize a sentence the way we like. FNote: Transformations are rule g

governed and constrained.4. Like English, modern Chinese is a SVO language. TNote: But Chinese also employs theme-theme organization a lot, e.g. 他的话我没听见。■ In-Class Activities1．ASK:(1) Can you think of other modes of recursion? Relative-clause recursion.(2) Give one example of VP recursion.Omit.2. ASK:(1) Paraphrase the two parts of the sentence before and after “because”.Under Jane’s influence, John became a good husband. She serves as a good wife for John. (2) Which sentence patterns do the two parts belong to?VOC; VOO(3) Can you find more verbs like “make” in English? leave, allow, etc.3. ASK:(1) Is the sign ambiguous? If so, use paraphrases to show the different readings.a. Do not let such situation happen that no one attends the valuables.b. Do not go away from the valuables that are not attended.(2) Is the ambiguity involved the same kind as that in The mother of the boy and the girl arrived?No. Ambiguity in the latter case arises from coordination as shown by the use of “and”.(3) Newspaper headlines and advertisements often deliberately employ ambiguity to attract customers or readers. How are the following ambiguous?(a) A New Model For Getting Rich Online“Online” may modify both “model” and “getting rich”.(b) Two Philippine ships collide--one dies.“One” may refer to both passengers and one of the ships. (c) Eye drops off shelf.a. An eye of somebody’s drops off shelf.b. Eye drops (as a kind of medicine) are off shelf (i.e., out of sale).(d) Wanted: A man to wash dishes and two young waitresses.a. Wasted: a man to wash both dishes and two young waitresses.b. Wanted: two young waitresses and a man whose job is to wash dishes. (4) Is the following public sign ambiguous?No. “Dog Free Park” means “a park where dogs are not allowed”. 4. ASK:(1) Are these sentence patterns found in English but not in Chinese?Yes. English employs some formal subject like “there” and “it”. Chinese may allow subjectless sentences.(2) Can you think of any other sentence patterns in English that are not shared by Chinese?Fancy meeting you here! No wonder you were so angry. 5. ASK:(1) What similarities do those sentences in the second category share?The object is pronominal. (2) What is the special condition that necessitates particle movement? When the verb phrase takes a pronoun as its object, particle movement is a must. Thus, we must say “look it up” instead of “look up it”.VP VP VP V Particle NP V NP Particle V NP ParticlePron6. ASK:(1) Is there any difference in meaning between the sentences in the first pair?(a) It is possible that only a small numbers of books were sold out.(b) It i

s likely that a large number of books were sold out, although John did not sell many. (2) How are the sentences in the second pair different from each other?(b) is more emphatic than (a) now that it deviates from the normal way of sentence organization, resulting in what we call foregrounding.7. ASK:(1) Can you write out four different phrases in English illustrating each of the VP types? a. read b. read a novelc. take the book off the deskd. think that life is difficult(2) Can you use the abbreviatory convention above to integrate the following sets of rules into a single rule?a. A →( B) Cb. W → (X) Y( Z)8. ASK:(1) How many sentence types are covered by the data?(1) Mexico Vote Tally Gives Free-Trader A Narrow Victory [ SVOO](2) Israeli Tanks Meet Fierce Resistance [SVO ](3) Ruling Keeps DeLay on Ballot [ SVOC](4) Favoritism Trial Hurts Chicago Mayor [SVO ](5) Discovery Docks With Space Station [ SVO](6) Russia's Signal to Stations Is Clear: Cut U.S. Radio [ SVC](7) Mayor's Stadium Proposal Advances [SV ](8) Dumfries Regrets Raid on Homeless [SVO ](9) A Driven President Faces a World of Crises [SVO ](10) Consultant Breached FBI's Computers [ SVO](2) Which type occurs most frequently?SVOTask 3: Study Questions1. It is important that the rules of syntax specify all and only the grammatical sentences of the language. Why is it important to say “only”? That is, what would be wrong with a grammar that specified as grammatical sentences all of the truly grammatical ones plus a few that were not grammatical?The grammatical rules will become invalid because we will not know which sentences are grammatical. 2. Analyze how the following sentences are incorrect according to English grammar.a. Snowing outside.“It is/was” cannot be deleted.b. Jane loves John, she calls him every day.This is a run-on sentence. The sentence contains two independent sentences.c. There are two boys play football on the ground.The sentence contains two finite verbs.d. Jane is very kind to John, for example, she prepares dinner for him whenever she can.This is a run-on sentence. “For example” is not a conjunction and thus cannot link two clauses into a complex sentence.e. Diligent is very important to succeed.“Diligent” cannot function as the subject because it is an adjective. In English, the subject as well as the object must be nominal.f. John find the two book very interesting.There is a lack of grammatical concord in number between the subject and the predicate verb.g. John is a great leader, however, he is sometimes too strict.This is a run-on sentence. “However” is not a conjunction and thus cannot link two clauses into a complex sentence.h. Although Jane loves John, but she never says “I love you” to him.In English, “although” and “but” do not co-occur.i. The reason Jane loves John is because he is kind to her.

In English, we say “the reason (….) is that ….j. – Have you seen John lately, Jane?-- Not seen.When answering a question, one repeats the auxiliary verb, rather than the main verb.k. Finish the job in two days is impossible.In English, the subject as well as the object must be nominal. “Finish the job” is verbal rather than nominal.l. Why Jane didn’t go to Beijing with John?There must be the movement (or addition) of the auxiliary when forming an interrogative sentence in English. The correct form is Why didn’t Jane go to Beijing with John? 3. Paraphrase each of the following sentences in two different ways to show that you understand the ambiguity involved: (1) Smoking grass can be nauseating. a. To smoke grass can be nauseating.b. Grass for smoking can be nauseating.(2) John finally decided on the boat. a. On the boat John finally made a decision.b. John finally decided to use (buy, etc.) the boat.(3) Jane’s appointment was shocking. a. Jane’s appointment of someone was shocking.b. Jane’s being appointed by someone was shocking.(4) Old men and women are hard to live with.a. Both old men and old women are hard to live with.b. Women and old men and are hard to live with.(5) The governor is a dirty street fighter. a. The governor is a fighter against dirty street.b. The governor is a street fighter who is mean and corrupt.(6) I cannot recommend him too highly. a. I cannot recommend him too highly because he is not so good. b. I can recommend him as highly as I can because he is so good.4. Questions typically come from a first-person speaker and are addressed to a second-person hearer. Can you relate this use of questions to the fact that you is deleted from abbreviated questions? Can any subject be deleted from abbreviated questions as long as use and context make the deletion recoverable?Like the book?Fancy meeting John Here?Want to have a cigarette?When questions are used to make an offer, seek information, etc., the understood “you” can be deleted.5. Give the passive version of the following sentences.(1) Phil watered the garden too much. The garden was too much watered by Phil.(2) Bill expected me to leave soon. I was expected to leave soon by Bill.(3) The doctor expected the technician to develop the X-rays fast. a. The technician was expected by the doctor to develop the X-rays fast.b. The doctor expected the X-rays to be developed fast by the technician.c. The X-rays were expected by the doctor to be developed fast by the technician.6. Study the following sentences and analyze them in terms of sentence patterns.a. John seems happy. [SVC]b. The girls sing quite often. [SV]c. They elected Bush president again. [SVOC]d. Chasing cats is fun for dogs. [SVC]e. Jane sent John a bunch of roses. [SVOO]f. John never keeps his room clean. [SVOC]g. The film lasted two hours. [SVA]h. John

let Jane out. [SVOC]Unit 5 The Structures of English (II)[Check your understanding]State whether each of the following statements is True or False.1. Every English paragraph contains a topic sentence, supporting details and a summary sentence. F2. One may tell a story when arguing for a thesis. T3. In order for two neighboring sentences to be cohesive, one must use some explicit device to conjoin them. F4. Since people take turns speaking, overlaps are unlikely in conversation. F■ In-Class Activities1. ASK:a. What does “it” refer to?MONEYb. What is omitted in the sentence?“WORK HARD” is omitted after “DOESN’T”.2. ASK:a. What components make up the public notice?A heading (“City Hall Park”), a preface, major contents, and time of notice. b. How is the public sign organized?By listing.c. How is it different from a similar sign in the Chinese context?There is usually the sealed name of the issuer of the notice in the Chinese context.3. ASK:a. Is the conversation composed of adjacency pairs? Not wholly.b. If not, how would you characterize the conversation?Two adjacency pairs are inserted within an otherwise adjacent pair. The inserted pairs are technically called insertion sequences. 4. ASK:a. How would you describe a conversational repair?The conversational repair here is composed of a trouble source from LI, the initiation of a repair from Li, the self repair from Zhang, and an optional follow-up from Li.b. Are there other types of repair in daily conversation?Apart from other initiation + self repair, we have other types: self-initiation + self-repair, other-initiation + other repair, and self-initiation + other-repair. Repair can be classified according to the content repaired, too.5. ASK:a. What is the pattern for opening a telephone conversation in English?First, we summaron by saying “hello” and (when hearing “hello” from the responder, we) identify ourselves by saying “This is xxx.” or “xxx speaking.” We come to business once we get the right receiver.b. How is the pattern different from that of a Chinese telephone conversation?In Chinese, we identify ourselves by saying “我是……。”c. Are there any differences between English and Chinese in terms of closing a telephone conversation?We Chinese often use concluding remarks like “就这样”and sometimes promise to recall again in the near future. These things are seldom found when telephone talks are closed in English.6. ASK:(1) Point out the cohesive devices used in the paragraph.referenceGrammatical ellipsissubstitution tenseconjunctions Logical conjunctsrepetitionLexical reiterationmyronym(2) Which type of cohesive device is used most often?grammatical devices (esp. substitution “it” and “its” an

tense) 7. ASK:(1) Does Chinese follow the topic-comment pattern? How can it be different from English in this respect?Yes. More so than English. English attaches greater importance to the grammatical subject.(2) Do we sometimes start a sentence with new information? Use an example to illustrate.Yes, though not so often. E.g.A: Do you know my cousin?B: Jack is his name.8. ASK:(1) What characteristics does each mode of thematic progression have with regard to narrative effects?Type 1: continuity, smooth flow. Type 2: clear focus; yet some monotony.Type 3: complexity and diversity.(2) Analyze the earlier excerpt from Life on the Mississippi in terms of thematic progression.Theme 1 Rheme 1Type 2 Theme 1 Rheme 2Theme 1 Rheme 39. ASK:(1) What is the theme the poet seems to convey?Lack of love between the couple.(2) How does the layout of the poem best reveal the theme?The whole poem (even some words) is divided into two halves with a vertical line in between.■ ExercisesTask 3: Study Questions1. What differences and similarities exist between conversation and written discourse (text)?Similarities: a. both are rule-governed and structured.b. both are communicative by nature.Differences:CONVERSATION DISCOURSE/TEXTa. often spontaneous and transient a. often involving much planningb. involving two or more people b. monologicc. often fraught with errors c. usu. error-freed. often informal or colloquial d. generally formal2. What is the typical global or macro structure of a data-driven MA thesis /a note of thanks / a resum??The main body of an M.A thesis; Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Discussion, Conclusion. A note of thanks includes terms of address, words of thanks, reason(s) for giving thanks, a promise of some reward, complimentary close, and signature. A resum? generally includes the heading, name, correspondence address, educational background, occupational background, personals (such as age/date of birth, sex, marital status, etc.).3. The following conversation is taken from Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party. What aspects of this fragment of conversational speech would you point to as characteristic features of this type of language-in-use?A great deal of ellipsis; informal.4. a. A story can be divided into orientation, evaluation, complicating action, and resolution. Analyze the texts in terms of these categories (not all of these will be present in all texts).Note: Orientation identifies the participant(s) in the narrative and provides the necessary background information; evaluation is used when one wants to make clear the significance being attributed to the event(s) and shows the narrator’s personal judgment or attitude; by means of complicating action, the narrator builds the dramatic structu

ture or plot and sets it in motion; the narrative ends with a resolution to signal the result or consequence of the complicating action.(a) One day some people moved in a house[0]. The army ant gobbled up the house[C]. So the people had to start all over again[R]. (b) Once there was a parrot and she laid an egg[0]. The egg didn’t hatch and the mother parrot, whose name was Sheila, started crying. One day Sheila heard a peck-peck and the baby bird walked out[C]. The mother bird was very happy[R].(c) Once upon a time there was a lady bug who was busy eating aphids. There are plants in the garden. The lady bug is always in the garden. Every day the lady bug eats aphids. The lady bug is always on plants. The lady bug is always catching aphids[O].(d) Once there was a shark and there was another shark[0] and they ate fishes and they got so fat that they exploded. The sea got so hot that it got on fire and all the fish died[C] and sharks and plants died and the sea was not there[R]. (e) One day I planted a seed [0] and I waited and waited and waited until I was an old man. Then it grew a little bit [C]and I died[R].b. Are there any examples here that are not narrative (i.e., that do not use temporally ordered narrative clauses)?c. There is no development of plot.c. Causal and/or chronological sequence in a text may not be explicitly specified. Give two examples where they are established by implication.One day Sheila heard a peck-peck and the baby bird walked out. The mother bird was very happy.5. Find two more examples of each from novels by such authors as James Joyce, Henry James, and William Faulkner. Omit.6. An ad is a short discourse. Study the following ad and analyze the way it is constructed. Discuss the perspective employed and its effect on communication.a. by parallelism;b. The ad takes the perspective of those who stress about the brochure, fret about the expense, are bored with some common color and/or business. c. The perspective is effective in that it appeals to people by addressing their concerns.Unit 6 The Meaning of English (I)[Check your understanding]State whether each of the following statements is True or False.1. A grammatical sentence is also meaningful. FNote: Not necessarily so.2. Some words are always superordinates while some others are always hyponyms. FNote: Words that are hyponyms to some superordinates can theoretically be the superordinates to some other words.3. Synonyms are those words that can be used interchangeably in all contexts. FNote: theoretically so 4. Antonyms have opposite meanings. FNote: Some antonyms are complementary in meaning.5. All English words have their referents. F■ In-Class ActivitiesASK: (1) Do you find the sentences sound queer?Yes. (2) If yes, give your explanation for their oddness.a. The hamburger cannot eat because it is inanimate.b. The television does not drink water because it

is inanimate. c. A dog does not write anything like poetry because it is not human. (3) Is the public sign in the picture below semantically problematic?Apparently so, because “left lane” filling the subject position cannot “turn left”, which fills the predicate position. Being inanimate, a lane cannot turn. However, this sign is understandable because we know it is a case of ellipsis. It is the vehicle on the left lane that must turn left. (4) In Chinese, we may say “晒太阳”, “救火”, “吃火锅”, and the like. How are they special? Can you think of more similar expressions? Are there similar expressions in English? How do you translate the Chinese expressions into English?We bask or get warmth under the sun rather than dry or solarize the sun. We save things out of a fire rather than save the fire itself. We eat a mixture of food out of a pot rather than eat the pot proper. 2．ASK: (1) How can the following words be analyzed into semantic features? What feature is common to them?lamb [-ADULT]+[+OVINE]calf [-ADULT]+[+BOVINE]piglet [-ADULT]+[+POREINE]puppy [-ADULT]+[+CANINE]kitten [-ADULT]+[+FELINE] [-ADULT] is common to all. (2) Complete the following data by (a) devising a category that distinguishes the word bus from the word car, and (b) giving the appropriate symbol for the words “bicycle” and “motorcycle”. [POWERED] [CARRY PEOPLE] [FOUR-WHEELED] [PUBLIC TRANSPORT]bus + + + +car + + + -van + - + -bicycle - + - -motorcycle + + - -3. ASK: (1) Can you give more examples for each type of the meronymy?(1) component-object: window-house screen-computer(2) member-collection: family-society province-county(3) portion-mass: quarter-hour day-year(4) place-area: Beijing-China Jiangsu-China(2) How are the various types of meronymy different from each other?For (1), an object has other kinds of component. For (2), a collection has a (big) number of similar or different members. For (3), a mass is divided into some portions. For (4), a place is found within or inside an area.(3) Do you think there are further types of meronymy?a. feature — activity (paying — shopping )b. stuff — object (aluminum — airplane, gold — ring)c. phase — process (adolescence — growing up)4．ASK: (1) Do you agree with the idea that the sentences above are redundant?Yes.(2) Given the fact that these sentences are used for communication, can you figure out the reason for such combinations?For the sake of emphasis.(3) Can you give more examples of a similar nature?the whole world the

vast sea5. ASK: (1) Can you determine the “unmarked” member in each of the following pairs?The words that are underlined are the “unmarked” members in the pairs.small-big cheap-expensive wide-narrow near-far many-few easy-difficultearly-late dangerous-safe full-empty(2) Can you think of any special situations where the “marked” member is more appropriately used? For instance, when we talk about a dwarf, people will often ask how short the dwarf is. This shows that one’s expectation and social convention play important roles in using the words.6. ASK: (1) Which words are being played on in the conversation?flour-flower and ground (p.p. grind)-ground (n.)(2) Are they cases of polysemy or homonymy?They are typical cases of homonymy.(3) How about the word “carry” in the following picture?It is a case of polysemy. The two senses of the “word” as found in the slogan are basically related.7. ASK: (1) What advantages are there in the analysis of English vocabulary into semantic fields?The kind of analysis helps to establish connection among words and thus facilitates memory and retrieval. (2) Can you name a semantic field and list at least five members of it?Profession: teacher, banker, lawyer, doctor, engineer, etc. 8. ASK: (1) Why is it common to use antonyms in proverbs?Life is dialectal. The opposite sides can shift under some circumstances.(2) Can you give two more proverbs involving the use of antonyms?Small sorrows speak, great ones are silent. Sometimes gain is to lose.9. ASK: (1) How does “make” differ from “do” in terms of collocation? Give some examples to illustrate.make a living/a meal/friends/a face/an effort/an attemptdo a job/one’s duty/the dishes/a favor(2) Which verbs collocate with “effect” and “role”?produce/cause/bring about/exercise/improve/heighten/weaken an effectplay/act/assume/fill/fulfill/perform a role(3) What implications does collocation have for our learning of English?Learn the collocation as a whole chunk.10. Ask:(1) Does your name have a meaning?Omit.(2) Do you agree that naming plays an important role in economic life? Use an example to illustrate. Yes. This explains why good brands must be good names, like“奔驰”，“联想”，etc.Task 3: Study Questions1. a. How would you describe the oddness of these sentences in terms of semantic features?(1) Lighting is non-human and thus cannot do anything willingly. (2) A cat is non-human and thus cannot study linguistics. (3) A table is inanimate and thus cannot listen.b. Semantic violations are frequent in poetry. For example, we may say “a week/hour/century ago”, but usually do not say “a table/dream/mother ago”. However, Dylan Thomas does write “a grief ago”. How would you account for the effect of such usage? The

usage adds a durational feature to grief for poetic effect.c. Can you find more similar use of language in English literature? The following are from e. e. cummings: “the six subjunctive crumbs twitch”, “a man … wearing a round jeer for a hat”.2. While “listen” and “hear” are semantically related, we usually say “we listen and we hear”. Why is this order reversed in the picture?Those disabled who may go deaf need to recover their hearing with the help of donators. If they can get the help needed they may recover their hearing and listen to others like normal people.3. Which of the following opposites are gradable, non-gradable, or reversive?gradable: high- low fair- unfairnon-gradable: absent- present fail- pass reversives/converse antonyms/relational opposites: up- down left- right4. Study the following pairs of words. What is the basic lexical relation between these pairs of words?(1) shallow deep antonymy (gradable)(2) mature ripe synonymy(3) suite sweet homonymy (homophones)(4) table furniture hyponymy(5) single married antonymy (non-gradable / complementary) (6) move run hyponymyFor “mature” and “ripe”, give an example where one can be used for collocation but not the other. For “suite” and “sweet”, give another pair with a similar semantic relation. For “move” and “run”, give more words that are in the same semantic relation to “move” as “run”.Mature/ripe: a mature player a ripe timeSuite/sweet: flour / flower past / passedMove/run: dash, hop, walk, jog, etc.5. The following are more pairs of antonyms:alive-dead male-female boy-girl present-absent true-false hit-missa. Which of the following are complementary opposites?alive-dead male-female boy-girl true-false hit-missb. How do you account for the following usages or misuses:half dead/alive *very dead/alivemore dead than alive *A is more dead than B“dead/alive” are complementary opposites and thus they do not take degree modifiers. “half dead/alive” is a vivid though unusual way of description. It deviates from the normal usage by treating “dead/alive” as gradable. This usage has been conventionalized. “more dead than alive” is also an idiomatic usage that is motivated in a similar way. 7. Componential analysis can also be applied to the study of English verbs. For example,darken, kill, uglify … [CAUSE]bring, fall, walk, run … [MOTION]hit, kiss, touch, …. [CONTACT]build, imagine, make …. [CREATION]see, hear, feel …. [SENSE]Now state a salient semantic property for each of the following verbs:steal taste teach understand want write like fear eat [GET] steal eat[CREATE] write[SENSE] taste [FEEL] like want fear[COGNIZE] understand[INFORM] teach8. The following sentences are redundant in a semantic sense. Specify how each is s

(1) Could you repeat that word again?“repeat” means “doing sth. again".(2) They had already heard he name before.“had done” means “had already done sth.”(3) And that was his final conclusion.“conclusion” is something final.(4) The church was in close proximity. “Proximity” means close distance.9. For each group of words given below, state what semantic property or properties are shared by the (a) words and the (b) words, and what semantic property or properties distinguish the classes of the (a) words from the (b) words.(1) a. bachelor, man, son, paperboy, pope, chiefb. bull, rooster, drake, ramBoth are “male”.(a) are “human”; (b)are “non-human”.(2) a. table, stone, pencil, cup, house, ship, carb. milk, alcohol, rice, soup, mudBoth are “objects”.(a) are “countable”; (b) are “non-countable”.(3) a. book, temple, mountain, road, tractorb. idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fearBoth are “objects”.(a) are “concrete”; (b) are “abstract”. (4) a. pine, elm, ash, weeping willowb. rose, dandelion, aster, tulip, daisyBoth are “plants”. (a) are “trees”; (b) are “flowers”.(5) a. ask, tell, say, talk, converse b. shout, whisper, mutterBoth are verbal acts.(a) are verbal acts at normal volume; (b) are verbal acts above or below normal volume.(6) a. alive, asleep, dead, married, pregnantb. tall, smart, interesting, bad, tiredBoth are adjectives.(a) are non-gradable adjectives. (b) are gradable adjectives.10. The noun “length” refers to the general dimension in which the adjectives “long” and “short” describe regions. Find such abstract nouns for the following pairs of adjectives.(a) tall: short height (2) thick: thin thickness(3) heavy: light weight (4) wide: narrow width(5) old: young age (6) fast: slow speed(7) far: near distance (8) clever: stupid cleverness(9) hot: cold heat11. There is substantial evidence that time and space should be considered realizations of the same semantic primitive (the criteria are purely linguistic, not philosophical or based on physics). On the basis of the list below, would you designate this primitive as (±SPACE) or (±TIME)? Give as many reasons as you can. Before answering this question, use The Oxford English Dictionary to check any preposition that seems surprising to you in either spatial or temporal use.The semantic primitive is (±SPACE). The listed words all convey the notion of space, while their temporal aspects of meaning are derived. In some words, like “inside”, “behind”, “between”, etc., the metaphoric color is still tangible.12. In English there are a number of ways to form antonyms. We can add the prefix un-, in- (ir-, il, im), non-, dis-, a-, etc. How are they different in actual usage?Un- and non- are

re highly productive while a- is almost not productive at all today. In-(ir-, il-, im-) and dis- lie in between. Unlike words containing un- and in-, words containing non-, dis- and a- are generally non-gradable.13. Use the following examples to discuss the difference between sense and reference.(a) The present president of America is humorous.“The present president of America” has an interpretable sense and its reference can be any president depending on the time the utterance is made.(b) By the year 3000, our descendants will have left the earth.“Our descendants” has an interpretable sense and its reference may be identified depending on who speaks. Such people may not exist if the speaker does not have descendants that can live up to the year 3000.(c) Whoever tries to kill the president is insane.“Whoever tries to kill the president” has an interpretable sense and its reference may exist or not at all.14. Slips of tongue not only occur in the articulation of sounds, as shown in Chapter 2, but also relate to the expression of meaning. Look at the following:Intended Utterance Actual Utterance (Error)bridge of the nose bridge of the neckwhen my gums bled when my tongues bledhe came too late he came too earlyMary was young Mary was olda horse of another color a horse of another raceDiscuss what types of semantic slips are represented in the data.Nose-neck association: “nose” and “neck” are both parts of a human body. In addition, they both begin with the /n/ sound.Gums-tongues association: both “gums” and “tongues” are parts of the mouth. In addition, both contain the /g/ sound.Late-early association and young-old association: the pairs of words are opposite in meaning.Color-race association: both “color” and “race” relate closely to the horse. They are just two different aspects of the horse’s features.Unit 7 The Meaning of English (II)[Check your understanding]State whether each of the following statements is True or False. 1. Different languages represent the world in completely different ways. F 2. Metaphoric reasoning explains much of the extension of word meanings. T3. Every sentence has its truth conditions. FNote: Interrogative sentences and imperative sentences may not have truth conditions.4. “Theme” as a semantic role refers to the topic the sentence is about. FNote: “Theme” as a semantic role refers to the one or thing that undergoes an action.■ In-Class Activities1. ASK:(1) What do you think gives rise to the semantic fuzziness of language?There may be no clear boundary between objects in the real or imaginary world that language represents. Another reason is that language is an economical, rough representation of the world. Last but not least, language users fail to understand the world properly. (2

) Can you cite more examples of fuzzy expressions? tall, big, quickly, greatly, much, many, etc.(3) What advantages and disadvantages may the fuzzy property of language have as a tool of communication?Advantages:1) It makes the use of language easy and flexible.2) It makes exaggeration and the like possible.3) Sometimes, fuzziness is precision.Disadvantages: Most of the time, precision is impossible. Vague communication often results.2. ASK:(1) What else do we compare “time” to? What related expressions do we have?We may compare “time” to something that moves. E.g.As time advances, we know world better and better.His time has come.We may also compare “time” to a kind of medicine. E.g.Time heals most troubles.(2) Do we use the same kind of metaphors in English and in Chinese? Give some examples that show their convergence and divergence.Yes. 节省/浪费时间，耗时, etc.(3) What metaphors do you know that relate to the following themes?language: 桥梁、工具、资源life: 舞台、行程、教科书friendship: 纽带、贵重物品books: 人类进步的阶梯、精神食粮motherland: 母亲、归属3. ASK:(1) In what ways is communicating ideas similar to food intake and digestion?In the course of communication, the hearer takes information from the speaker and processes it. All this is similar to food intake and digestion.(2) Can you give two more expressions involving similar metaphors?My lecture was pure nonsense, but they really ate it up. What she says is food for thought, but it gives us only a taste of what she means.(3) Ideas are sometimes also compared to products. Can you give a couple of examples in English to demonstrate the related metaphorical thinking?exchange ideas with sb. market one’s ideaswork out an idea4. ASK:(1) Can you give more examples of similar kinds?be down with the flue get over the illness under the influence of sb.(2) Are there corresponding metaphors in Chinese?Yes. e.g 心里低沉垂头丧气落了下风(3) How would you understand the use of “into” in the different contexts? What is the nature of X in “into X”? Use a couple of other examples to illustrate.In a, “into” means “to the inside or interior of sth.”; in b, “into” means “to the inside or interior of sth.”, but in a metaphorical way, because information is not an object that can be placed or found in the computer; in c, “into” means “to the activity or occupation of sth.”X is conceived as a container.Other examples: They are into vegetarianism.A car crashed into a tree.5．ASK:(1) Can you add more terms to the list? tumbler knife ashtray (2) Can you work out what the prototype item of tableware is? One research procedure would be to create a list of these terms down one side of a page, with

a scale beside each term. The scale would go from 5 (=excellent example of “tableware”) to 1 (=not really an example of “tableware”). Make copies of your list (plus scale) and ask people to indicate their choices on the scale. The highest score would presumably be the prototype. What do you think of this procedure?Omit.6. ASK: (1) What are the logical roles or meanings of the italicized other members subject or object?(1) The garden is swarming with bees. [location](2) They loaded hay onto the truck. [patient](3) They loaded the truck with hay. [instrument](4) John gave Jane the book. [goal](5) The dog died. [theme](6) Noon found us waiting at the railroad station. [time](2) What effects does the use of different kinds of subjects produce?New perspective; better cohesion if the subject is the topic; vividness as shown by personification in (6).7. ASK:(1) What are the metaphors used in the headlines?The metaphors are underlined as shown below:(1) 车站 “肥水”为何流入外人田——读者会诊 “问题”中央门 (《扬子晚报》2004-10-19)(2) In Mexico, Strains Along Democracy's Path (The Washington Post, July 25, 2006)(3) One Man's Long Battle To Get U.S. to Kick Oil (Washington Post, July 25, 2006)(4) A War Between Neighbors, Seen From Their Back Yard (Washington Post, July 24, 2006)(5) Gun Seller's Case Reveals Hurdles of Enforcement (Washington Post, July 23, 2006) (6) In Iraq, Military Forgot Lessons of Vietnam (Washington Post, July 23, 2006)(2) Is any metaphor used more “metaphorical” than the others?“War” and “lesson” seem to be most frequently used.(3) How does the Chinese headline strike you in terms of being metaphorical? Can you confirm your observation with more examples?It employs a mixture of metaphors (agricultural & medical).(4) Are the English metaphors directly transferable to Chinese?All except (5).(5) Metaphors are also extensively used in English poetry. Look at the following classic excerpt and discuss how the use of metaphors enhances the effect of the poetic communication.Here, the words “slings”[弹弓] and “arrows” help to make “outrageous fortune” sound concrete so that one can conjure up a picture in which someone full of hatred is using the slings and arrows to take his or her revenge. Similarly, the word “sea” helps readers to visualize how many troubles Hamlet is suffering.8. ASK:(1) What are the metonyms used in these headlines?The metonyms are underlined as shown below:(1) White House Softens Tone On Embryo Use (Washington Post, July 25, 2006)name of location for U.S. government(2) List of Top Pentagon Orders Reveals Strategy Shift (Washington Post, July 24, 2006)name of building for the U.S. Department of National Defense(3) Bush Pollution Curbs Are Rated Equal to Clinton's (Washington

Post, July 23, 2006)name of president for the administration(4) Microsoft Confirms It Will Offer Device To Battle the iPod (Washington Post, July 23, 2006)brand name for the company(2) Can you supply any example in Chinese?莫斯科，联想，广东宏远, etc.(3) Which word is a case of metonymy? Why is it preferred to the replaced word?The word “winter” is used for “years”. It is more effective in that while the latter is neutral, the former represents something negative and unpleasant.9. ASK:(1) What do the two tautological sentences mean in normal cases?“Boys will be boys.”—Boys are naughty.“NBA is NBA.” — NBA has a high standard of performance.(2) Can you come up with similar uses of Chinese?专家就是专家。上海毕竟是上海。10．ASK:(1) How would you define the set of semantic roles for the following verbs in terms of the pattern just shown?COOK [AGENT _______ THEME]BREAK [AGENT _______ THEME]DIE [THEME______ ]PUT [AGENT _______ THEME LOCATION]HAPPEN [THEME_______ ]OFFER [AGENT ________ THEME GOAL](2) What are the Chinese equivalents of these verbs? Do they all share the same semantic structures of the English verbs? If not, give one or two examples to illustrate the differences.Not all of them. Exceptions are “煮” and “死”. E.g.While “cook” can be both transitive and intransitive, “煮” is transitive only. While “die” is intransitive in English, “死” can be used with double arguments [论元], as in “张三死了父亲,” although it is still debatable whether “父亲” is an object or not.(3) Does it help, in this exercise, to make a distinction between obligatory roles (i.e. you must have these or the sentence will not be grammatical) and optional roles (these are often present, but their absence doesn’t make the sentences ungrammatical)?Goal in the semantic structure of “offer” is optional. Task 3: Study Questions1. Does Chinese and English dissect the spectrum of color in the same way?Not exactly. There are color names (like “orange”) in English that do not have single-word equivalents in Chinese.2. What item would you claim to be the prototype of each of the following?(a) sports (b) vegetable (c) vehicle (d) buildingOmit.3. Humans are often compared to different things. Look at the following picture. What is man compared to? Can you think of other things that man is compared to?Bird. Man is also compared to animal, machine, candle, etc.4. Saying that “time is money” is attempting a conceptual metaphor. Most metaphors, indeed, are conceptual. When we argue with others, we often do so as if we were fighting a war. Such conceptualization gives rise to many expression like “win an argument” and “indefensible arguments”. Do you know other similar expressions? Is the same kind of metaphorizing employed in Chinese?Yes. Similar expr

sions are “attack an argument”, “lose a debate”, etc.There are similar expressions in Chinese that suggest the same kind of metaphorizing.5. Words referring to spending and finance (such as cost, spend, invest, buy, sell) also have abstract metaphorical uses, as in: That mistake will cost you a lot, He invested a lot of time in the project, He paid dearly for his ways, You’re only buying trouble if you do that. List three additional examples of the metaphorical use of words from the realm of spending and finance and discuss how the metaphorical uses are related to the concrete (financial) meanings. Also, is the same kind of metaphorizing employed in Chinese?Yes. Examples: buy sb.’s ideas; do sth. at the cost of one’s life; it pays to do sth. Yes. The same kind of metaphorizing is employed in Chinese.6. What is the relation, if any, between the following uses of the word hot?The senses are meanings derived from the basic sense of “hot” (i.e. having or giving off heat capable of burning) by metaphorical extension. Some (like 8, 9 and 10) may require more imagination than others. (1) Being at a high temperature; being at or exhibiting a temperature that is higher than normal or desirable.(2) Causing a burning sensation, as in the mouth; spicy.(3) Marked by intensity of emotion; ardent or fiery.(4) Violent; raging.(5) Close to a successful solution or conclusion.(6) (in baseball) difficult to catch.(7) Charged or energized with electricity.(8) Arousing intense interest, excitement, or controversy.(9) Recently stolen.(10) Very good or impressive.7. Metonymy is characterized by the use of one word or phrase being substituted for another with which it is closely associated (which is sometimes termed a representational metaphor). e.g. “Washington” used for “the United States’ government”; “the sword” for “military power”; “olive branch” for “peace” (a headline goes like this: Arafat: a gun in one hand and an olive branch in the other); “Jack London” for his works. Can you supply more examples in both English and Chinese?投笔从戎；不爱红装爱武装；一帆风顺；贪杯;donkey/elephant; dove/eagle; heart-head/brain; the press-the bar; I met a couple of new faces yesterday.8. Which of the following examples are best described as polysemy or as metonymy?(a) Computer chips are an important new technology. [polysemy](b) The bookstore has some new titles in linguistics. [metonymy](c) I had to park on the shoulder of the road. [metaphor](d) The pen is mightier than the sword. [metonymy]9. The following excerpt is taken from Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona (IV. ii.). Analyze the italicized part in terms of semantic categorization. Personalification is used here. “Night” is compared to a “queen”.10. Identify the semantic roles of all the noun phrases in this sentence: his new golf club

b [Instrument]Fred [Agent]the bal [Theme]the woods [Source]the grassy area near the river [Goal]Unit 8 The Use of English (I)[Check your understanding]State whether each of the following statements is True or False.1. In pragmatics, context refers to the sentences preceding and following the current word or sentence. FNote: In pragmatics, “context” may refer to anything that bears on the production or comprehension of the current utterance.2. Not all sentences we produce are meant to do things. FNote: In a strict sense, all sentences we produce are meant to do something.3. A perlocutionary act is performed by the hearer. FNote: A perlocutionary act can also be done by the speaker, as in the case of a promise.4. “I”, “now”, “here”, and “yesterday” are all deictic expressions. T5. “John cooked Jane a cake” presupposes “John cooked something for Jane”. FNote: “John cooked Jane a cake” entails “John cooked something for Jane”■ In-Class Activities1. ASK:(1) What is the intended meaning in each case?One is to give information about where diapers can be changed for infants; the other is to call on people to vote against Bush.(2) Where do you expect to find them?One is often found in public toilets and the other was used before U.S. presidential election in which Bush was a candidate.(3) Do the non-linguistic illustrations help you understand the language used?Yes.2. ASK:(1) What aspects of context have to be considered in order to interpret such expressions? (a) Notice on office door: Back in one hour.To know when the owner of the office will be back, one has to know when he or she left the office.(b) Telephone answering machine: I’m not here now.“I” refers to the owner of the telephone. “here” refers to the office or home where the telephone is installed. “now” refers to any time when the call comes in.(c) Watching a horse race: Oh, no, I’m in last place.“I” refers to someone who places a bet on the horse that is now in the last place.(d) On a map/directory: YOU ARE HERE.(Some traveler reading a map/directory) “You” refers to someone who is reading the map/directory.(e) In a car that won’t start: Maybe I’m out of gas.(A car breaking down) “I” refers to the car in question. (2) Are there any problems with understanding the utterances?The deictic expressions are not used in their usual ways.(3) How are deictic expressions “strategically” used below?1) 本饮料自购买之日起三个月内可饮用。The day of purchase can be any day.2) 大甩卖最后三天。The manufacturer should have dated the time of production. “最后三天” is indeterminate without knowing the date from which one counts the last three days.3. ASK:(1) Can you give an example for each of the cases to demonstrate the vari

ed usages of “we”?a. We must finish our breakfast before 8 a.m. b. Can we stop chatting in class, your guys?c. Let’s give the speaker a warm applause. d. In this paper we are going to explore……(2) Does the Chinese“我们”share the deictic properties of “we”?Yes.(3) Discuss the use of “me” in the following pictures.“Me” refers to the card in the first picture and the car in the second. In both cases, it is used for the effect of personalification. 4. ASK:(1) What are the characteristics of “you” in each case?-- gestural: You, you, but not you, are dismissed. (pointing a finger at one after another)Need to use a pointing finger.-- symbolic: Do you have any questions? (said by a teacher in class)The teacher does not focus on any of the students.-- anaphoric: Jane, do you know John comes from Britain?Need an antecedent.-- substantial: You can never tell what sex they are nowadays.Conventionalized as in “You can never tell…”(2) Does Chinese “你” have similar usages?Yes. (3) Use examples to illustrate the varied usages of “this”, “that”, “left”, “there”, and “here”.There you go again. There we go. I did this and that. 5. ASK:(1) Do the following count as promises? If not, why?(a) I promise I’ll fail you in the exam.No, because failing someone is not to the benefit of the addressee.(b) I promise that next Friday will be his birthday.No, because next Friday will come regardless of the promise.(c) I promise that I saw him yesterday.No. It is not about some future action.(d) I promise that you’ll help me out of trouble.No. It is not the addressee who benefits. (e) John promises that he’ll help Jane.No. The one who promises is not the current speaker.(f) I promised that I would help him.No. The act of promising here is not a current one. (2) What are the specific felicity conditions for thanking and advising?Thanking: Propositional content condition: The thanker has said something that shows his or her gratitude. Preparatory condition: The addressee has done something to the thanker’s benefit. Sincerity condition: The thanker really intends to show his or her gratitude. Essential condition: The act of saying the words will count as a token of thanks to the effect that the addressee feels the gratitude shown to him or her.Advising:Propositional content condition: The adviser has said something that will do good to the addressee in relation to the latter’s current need;Preparatory condition: The addressee faces some trouble or difficulty that he or she cannot manage; the adviser has the capacity to give help;Sincerity condition: The adviser has the intention to help the addressee out;Essential condition: What the adviser says will lead the addressee to solve the trouble or difficulty in question.(3) Do the following count as thanking acts

in the strict sense?No. Because the expected acts have not been done.6. ASK:(1) How are the expressions different in realizing the request? (a) refers to the hearer’s ability; (b) implicitly refers to the hearer’s wants; (c) projects on a hypothetical perspective on the hearer’s action; (d) drops a broad hint.(2) Why are people indirect in communication? Meanwhile, take the following into consideration:Performing indirect speech acts can get rid of the negative aspects brought up by the literal interpretation. Indirect speech is a kind of politeness strategies speakers may adopt in communicating. It is quite essential to soothe the interaction. But indirectness is risky and costly.(3) Are the Chinese equally indirect when performing requests? How about you?Omit. 7. ASK:(1) For (a), we can also say “I thank you”. What would be the difference?“I thank you” is more formal and serious than “thank you”.(2) We can say “Sorry” in English as a way of apologizing but we don’t say “Apologize” for the same purpose. What might be your explanation for this difference?“Sorry” is an elliptical way of saying “I’m sorry.” We do not use a single verb like “apologize” as a complete utterance, unless it is conventionalized.(3) For (b), we can also say “I see your point now”. What would be the difference? Also consider the use of “now” in the following pictures.It’s more emphatic.(4) For (c), we can also say I’m telling you that he is dishonest” and for (d) we might have said “I’m asking you if you will go or not.” What would be the difference? Both cases involve emphasis. 8. ASK:(1) /(2) What is the presupposed information in each of the ads? What is the linguistic device that makes the presupposition inferable?Some supermarkets sell for much. (the comparative degree)The addressee has a wife. (definite description)Some people think layovers are bad. (negation)The addressee will take another vacation. (definite description)(3) / (4) What is the presupposed information in each of the headlines? What is the linguistic device that makes the presupposition inferable?a. There were battles over same-sex marriage. (renew: change-of-state verb)b. There used to be some kind of scrutiny for every speck on the Shuttle. [new: change-of-state adjective]c. Federer has won three Wimbledon titles. [fourth: ordinal term]d. There is a place called Baghdad. [Baghdad: definite description]e. Seoul and Tokyo used to be on close terms. [divide: change-of-state verb]f. There was a plane crash in Russia. [Russian plane crash: definite description](4) Can you think of some other presupposition triggers?Various clauses. E.g.The boys who wanted to play football were disappointed when it rained.This sentence contains two cases of presupposition: a. The boy wanted to play football.b. It rain

ed.(5) Presupposition may also be taken advantage of by judges at court. Here are some questions they might raise. What presupposition(s) might have been objected to in each case?(a) How did you know that the defendant had bought a knife?The defendant had bought a knife.(b) How long have you been selling cocaine?The addressee has been selling cocaine.(c) Did you see the murdered woman before she left the office?The murdered woman left the office.(d) How far was the car going when the driver ran the red light?The driver ran the red light. (a) Why did you leave the scene of the crime?The addressee left the scene of the crime.9. ASK:(1) Can you give two examples involving the presence of presupposition triggered by each type?Omit.(2) Can you find some types of adverbs in English that serve to trigger presuppositions?repetitive adverb: againreverse adverbs: back10. ASK:(1) In the last example, the presupposed information has been canceled for some non-linguistic reason. What is the reason?One cannot do anything once he is dead.(2) Can you give more examples in which presupposition may be suspended?Omit. Task 3: Study Questions1. Suppose someone said that a grammar must describe what a speaker means in uttering an expression from the language, and that it must do this for every meaningful expression. What problems are there with this proposal?a. We cannot exhaust all possible sentences in a language.b. There may be mismatches between what is said and what is meant. 2. What kind of context is required for the interpretation of each text above? a. In a casino or a lottery station b. In an airport.c. In Hollywood, Celebrities distinguish themselves by their hand prints. Ordinary people or visitors like to model themselves on these people. d. In an electronic appliances shop. “A great deal” is ambiguous. 3. How are the deictic expressions in the following utterances projected for special effects?(a) (Boss to clerk) We complimented ourselves too soon, John.Here “we” refers only to John.(b) (Doctor to patient) How are we feeling today? Here “we” refers only to the patient.(c)(Mum to Dad) We’re in a bad mood today.Here “we” refers only to the baby.Can you add more examples of a similar kind either from English or Chinese?Omit.4. What is the default deictic center of “come” and “go”? How can they, “come” in particular, be used for some special effects at the cost of the deictic center? Does Chinese “来”behave in a similar way to “come”? Are there other verbs in English that contain deictic information? The “default deictic center is the speaker.Take (3) for example. It treats the addressee as the deictic center. Generally, “go” is used in this case.Chinese “来”does not behave in an exactly similar way to “come”.In English, verbs like “bring” and “take” also enc

e deictic information.5. Suppose it is 26 July, Monday, today. When we want to mention July 27, Tuesday, we normally will say “tomorrow” instead of “on July 27” or “on Tuesday”. This is what we call the pre-emtive usage of deictic expressions. How do you explain it? Is this also true in Chinese?Calendric time is absolute time, whereas deictic time is relative time.It seems true in Chinese, at least.6. All of the following expressions have deictic elements in them. What aspects of context have to be considered in order to interpret such expressions? Perhaps there are others of a similar type that you could add to this list.a. NBA slogan: I love this game!Although “this game” is deictic, it refers only to NBA. Although “I” can be anybody, it refers only to some NBA fan.b. McDonald’s slogan: I’m loving it.“I” refers to anyone who patronizes Mc Donald. The present progressive aspect is also deictic is that it points to any point of time in progress.c. Advertisement for Nike sports shoes: Just do it.The simple tense is deictic, signaling the present time for “doing it”. “It” is not deictic but anaphoric, although its antecedent is absent. d. Answering a telephone: Oh, it’s you.Here, “you” can be anyone who calls in.e. Pointing to an empty chair: Where is she today?“today” can be any day when the utterance is made. “She” is not deictic but anaphoric, although its antecedent is absent. 7. Writers do not assume their readers have blank minds. Rather, they depend on the readers’ background knowledge to develop their ideas and interact with them. One way of doing so is the use of presupposition. The following excerpt is the opening of Emily Bront?’s Wuthering Heights. Read it carefully and detect the presupposed information as much as you can.a. I visited my landlord. b. I have a landlord. c. I live in England. d. I have fixed on a situation completely removed from the stir of society. e. There is desolation between Mr. Heathcliff and me.f. My heart warmed towards him.g. I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows.h. I rode up.i. His fingers sheltered themselves.j. I announced my name. k. Mr. Heathcliff made a nod. Some information is conveyed as background information by means of presupposition trigger.8. Discuss the following utterances in terms of locutionary act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary act.a. Locutionary: representative (stating that the sea food is fresh)Illocutionary: directive (inviting patronage)b. Locutionary: representative (stating that the “intel” processor can work all the time)Illocutionary: directive (urging customers to buy the product)c. Locutionary: representative (informing that only ticket passengers can take the coach)Illocutionary: directive (commanding the passengers to show their tickets)d. Locutionary: representative (informing that the wall is for

or rent)Illocutionary: directive (inviting ads)The perlocutionary act for all of the above has to be decided by reference to the actual effect produced by the utterances.9. Compare the following utterances. How are they different, pragmatically speaking?(a) If I were you, I'd leave the room. (polite advice)(b) If you know what's good for you, you'll leave the room. (less polite advice)(c) I'd better not see you in this room the next time I turn around. (impolite advice)Unit 9 The Use of English (II)[Check your understanding]State whether each of the following statements is True or False. 1. Maxim of quantity requires one to provide as much information as possible. F2. In order to be polite, one needs to cooperate in all possible ways. F3. Every normal speaker needs to mind his own and others’ face. T4. Politeness is a matter of degree. T5. Cultures vary as far as politeness issues are concerned. T■ In-Class Activities1. ASK:(1) How would you interpret “and” in each of the cases?In a, “and” is a pure conjunction that coordinates two parts. In b, “and” signals cause-effect relation. In c, “and” indicates the sequence of events, meaning “and then”. (2) Do you vote for the argument that “and” is polysemous, or the argument that “and” has just one basic meaning and the other “meanings” are implicatures derived from the context? “and” has one basic meaning. Other interpretations are derived from this basic meaning plus contextual information by way of implicature.(3) It seems that “or” has two conflicting meanings. What are they? Do you think one meaning is basic and the other is derivable in context by virtue of implicature?They are exclusive “or” and inclusive “or”. The inclusive “or” is more basic. The exclusive “or” is realized by way of implicature.2. ASK:(1) What does John want to say in actuality?The stepmother is no good.(2) Why does John answer that way, you suppose?He does not want to say directly that his stepmother is bad.(3) What does John imply in the second part of his reply?He did not mean to be late.(4) Why does John give that additional information?He wants to explain why he was late so that Jane would pardon him, if she minded.(5) What is the extra information in each of the cases?In the first picture, the additional information is that “there is ice falling”. In the second picture, the additional information is “Heart disease is the #1 killer of African Americans”. In the third picture, the additional information is “水是生命的源泉。”(6) What is the effect, if any, of providing the additional information?It makes directives more persuasive.3. ASK:(1) What implicature does Jane want to communicate to John?She is not coming with John tomorrow. (2) What steps does one need to take before arriving at the implicature?Step1: T

o understand that John has made an invitation. Step2: To understand that Jane has said something apparently irrelevant to invitation.Step3: To assume that Jane is being co-operative when saying that. Step4: To assume that one dear to someone needs his or her care when one is sick. Looking after a sick person prevents one from doing other things that take place at the same time.Step5: To understand that Jane’s reply can serve as an explanation for rejecting the invitation. Step6: To understand that Jane is actually rejecting John’s invitation.(3) Are there any steps one has to take for granted?Yes. Like Steps 3 and 4.4. ASK:(1) What implicature(s) can Jane communicate to John?Boys are generally naughty and therefore John might as well forgive Tom.(2) Can you find other contexts in which “Boys will be boys” may be heard but used for different meanings?John: tom said his father kissed his mother.Jane: Boys will be boys.(3) How would you make sense of the announcements?For the first picture the intended meaning is that one has to buy tickets for entry. For the second picture, the intended meaning is to invite patronage. 5. ASK:(1) Which of the two cases above involves the calculation of a particularized implicature? Why?The second case does, because Jane’s response concerns special contextual information.(2) When someone says “Jane likes some of the pictures,” an implicature can be derived: “Jane does not like all of the pictures.” Is such implicature, often termed as scalar implicature, generalized or particularized implicature? Why?It is generalized implicature, because no special context has to be evoked.6. ASK:(1) Did John cut his own finger or that of somebody else? Why?He cut his own. Otherwise the speaker would say whose finger he cut. (2) Did Jane go into her own house or that of somebody else? Why?Jane went into somebody else’s house. Otherwise the speaker would say she went into her house. But things would be different if the speaker did not know whom the house belonged to.(3) Was the woman John dined with his wife?Same as b.(4) Do you find the use of “but” in the last example interesting?Yes, because it implies that all Chinese are expected to play table tennis.7. ASK:(1) What factor gives rise to the difference in the way the requests above are performed?Social distance between the speaker and the clearer.(2) What other factors might influence how one performs a request? Use examples to illustrate. The size of imposition (request someone to lend a car or a pen), power relations (a superior to a subordinate vs. the opposite), etc.8. ASK:(1) How is the way of informing shown in the picture different from the usual way?It implies a kind of interaction with potential patrons.(2) Why is “yes” used now that one might also use “WE’RE OPEN”? How does this bear on the inter

active nature of public signs or advertising language?The advertiser tries to engage customers by seemingly talking to them. This suggests that public signs and advertising language achieve their effects well by designing interaction with their targets.9. ASK:(1) What maxim is being alluded to in each case?a. maxim of relationb. maxim of mannerc. maxim of relationd. maxim of quantitye. maxim of qualityf. maxim of manner(2) Does the hedging effort suggest the plausibility of the Cooperative Principle?Yes. It indicates that language users are sometimes conscious of the related requirements for communication. 10. ASK:(1) Which aspect of pragmatic competence is being called into question here?Politeness.(2) Do parents often give explicit pragmatic instruction to their children while the latter are growing up? Do you think such instruction is helpful or not? Effective or not?Yes, but sometimes the effect is slow.(3) Are there any other aspects of pragmatic competence likely to be reinforced by adults? Consider the following fragment of conversation:a. Presupposition of common ground as in the basis of using definite referring expressions. b. Understanding of indirect speech acts.11. ASK:(1) What pragmatic information is specific to English language and culture?The use of “the devil” for emphasis after interrogative pronouns; the use of the subjunctive mood like “might” for politeness; the use of “thank you” among close friends; the use of the subjunctive mood to convey some information implicitly, etc.(2) How would you render the bits of pragmatic information into Chinese?Omit.12. ASK:(1) What communicative consequences do shifts in terms of address bring forth?Such shifts have important consequences. For instance, they generally redefine what topics may be raised for conversation between the two people, or what personal information they are prepared to share.(2) Are there any basic differences between Chinese and English with regard to the use of terms of address?Yes. In Chinese, the terms of address are a major means of showing politeness.Task 3: Study Questions1. Do you agree with what Jerry Seinfeld says? How is such remark related to the doing of FTAs?Omit.2. Lexical pragmatics deals partly with how a lexical item gets interpreted, by semantic narrowing, widening, and the like, in accordance with some pragmatic principles. The default picture is that secretaries are generally female. “Having a drink” is not worth mentioning unless the drink is alcoholic since not all people drink alcohol.When we wish somebody luck, we wish them good luck. When we ask somebody to be a man, we encourage them to be a great man. 3. The following fragments of conversation are cited from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. What maxim(s) may have been deliberately flouted by the characters in each fragmen

t?(1) Maxim of relation.(2) Maxim of manner. (because of repetition used)(3) Maxim of relation; maxim of quantity.(4) Maxim of quantity.(5) Maxim of relation.(6) Maxim of quantity.4. Part of one’s pragmatic competence lies in the ability to perform face-threatening acts like requesting and refusing rhetorically, by performing either face-enhancing acts or face-saving acts. List at least five strategies for each of them. Omit.5. In the sentence “John unpacked the picnic. The beer was warm.” we understand “the beer” as part of “the picnic”. Are we justified in doing such bridging? Why? Yes, because the beer is often associated with a picnic.6. In the sentence “John and Jane bought a piano”, we understand that John and Jane bought a piano together, not one each, following a so-called mirror maxim. Why is that so? Can you explain it in terms of the Cooperative Principle? How about the sentence “John and Jane bought an air ticket and left Beijing”? Do they buy it together? Why not?If John and Jane each had bought a piano, the speaker would have made it clear. According to maxim of manner, one needs to be brief when possible.Not necessarily so. In addition, each of them bought one ticket, since one ticket is good for only one person as far as traveling by air is concerned.7. In the sentence “John came in. Then he sat down” “he” has the preferred co-reference with “John”. Can you explain it in terms of the Cooperative Principle? Can you think of a context in which “he” refers to somebody else?According to maxim of manner, one needs to be economical. The use of “he” is more economic of effort than repeating “John”. We need a broader context involving another male, who has been the focus of attention.8. It is customary for native speakers of English to rely on their own pragmatic conventions even when they are engaged in a conversation with a non-native speaker. Look at the following episode: The first one is more indirect than the second one.Yes. Requests in English are generally more indirect than in Chinese.9. Suppose you were Li Min in the following dialogue. You brought your wife, Gao Yun along to attend a family party hosted by your American friend, Jack. No. In Chinese, we are not supposed to compliment on the appearances of others’ wife. Also, we do not use “I like your….” Instead, we will say “Your necktie is so nice.” When responding in English we may simply say “Thank you” or “I’m glad to hear that.”10. Analyze the following extract from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest in terms of the Politeness Principle. Which maxim is at issue?Maxim of agreement.11. Read the following excerpt from Chapter XIX of Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice. How is politeness or impoliteness reflected by the way the characters talk? You may just focus on the parts in bold face.“May I hope, Madam, fo

英语语言学导论课后答案

相关内容

热门内容