Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
2017-2018
QUSTIONS
Q. 1. Below are incorrect statements. Provide the correct ones as you have studied
in the course of linguistics.
1. A connector is word such as that introducing a complement phrase.
(Complementizer )
2. The lexical relation in which two or more words have very closely related meanings is
hyponymy. (Synonymy).
3. Public self-image that the speaker attains is called pragmatics. (Face).
4. Ties or connections that exist within texts represent coherence. (Cohesion )
5. Ordinary nouns, adjectives and verbs that we think of as words carry the function that we use
them for. (Content )
6. A phrase such as with a dog, consisting of an adverb plus a noun phrase.( A preposition plus a
noun phrase) .
7. Words with opposite meanings along a scale (i.e. big-small) are ungradable antonyms
(Gradable antonyms).
8. In comparative reconstruction, the choice of older versus newer forms on the basis of
commonly observed types of sound change is majority principle (Natural development
principle)
9. The form of English in use since 1700 is Old English (Modern English)
10. Differences resulting from change over a period of time represent synchronic variation
(diachronic variation).
11. A diagram with branches showing the hierarchical organization of structures is deep
structure. (A tree diagram).
12. The meaning conveyed by the literal use of words is described as associative meaning
(Conceptual meaning).
13. What a speaker assumes to be true or known to the audience is negative face (positive).
14. Be clear, brief, and orderly represent relevance maxim (Manner maxim).
15. In comparative reconstruction, the choice of older versus newer forms on the basis of
commonly observed types of sound change is majority principle (natural).
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Q. 3. Answer either A or B.
A. What are the functional and lexical morphemes in the following sentence?
When he arrived in the morning, the old man had an umbrella and a large plastic
bag full of books.
ANSWERS:
1. Functional morphemes: When, he, ed, in, the, the, an, and, a, of.
2. Lexical morphemes: arrive, morning, old, man, had, umbrella, large, plastic,
bag, full, books.
ANSWERS: Q.4.
1. Metonymy
2. Polysemy
3. Metonymy
4. Metonymy
5. Polysemy
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ANSWERS: A.
B. What are the allomorphs of the morpheme “plural” in this set of English
words ,choose FIVE?
1. criteria
2. dogs
3. oxen
4. deer
5. judges
6. stimuli
ANSWERS: B.
1. criteria:ia
2. dogs: s
3. oxen: en
4. deer: zero
5. judges: es
6. stimuli: i
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ANSWER: Q. 7.
S = NP+VP
NP=N
VP= V+CP
CP=C+S
S=NP+VP
NP=N
VP= V+CP
CP= C+S
S=NP+VP
VP= V+NP
NP=
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ANSWER: A.
ANSWER : B. 1.
ANSWER : B. 2.
1. Grammatical Competence is the accurate use of words and
structures.
2. Sociolinguistic Competence is the ability to use appropriate
language.
3. Strategic Competence is the ability to organize a message
effectively
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2. Learning VS Acquisition:
a. Free morphemes are the morphemes that can stand alone with meaning.
b. Bound morphemes are the morphemes that cannot stand alone unless
attached to another morpheme.
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Q.10. Young children acquire the language through several stages. Summarize all
these stages.
ANSWER:
1. Cooing
Children start in the first weeks cooing and gurgling, playing with sounds.
Their abilities are constrained by physiological limitations. They start
producing sequences of vowel-like sounds- high vowels [i] and [u].
2. Babbling
This stages starts with acquiring different vowels and consonants ba-ba-ba
and ga-ga-ga, at the age 9-10 months- intonation patterns and combination
of ba-ba-ba-da-da, nasal sounds also appear ma-ma-ma and so on.
5. Telegraphic speech
This begins at two and a half years. The child produces „multiple-word‟
speech. The child has already developed sentence-building capacity & can
get the word order correct („cat drink milk‟, „daddy go bye-bye’) A number of
grammatical inflections begin to appear. Simple prepositions (in, on) are
also used ad vocabulary is expanding rapidly.
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Semantics is the study of meaning represented by the conceptual meaning inside the
language. This meaning could be analyzed through literal meaning of concept, through the
semantic roles of words, through features that stipulate the use of a given word or through the
lexical relations among words such as synonymy, metonymy and so on.
Unlike semantics, pragmatics investigates the meaning of language in context, meaning that
context of situation determines the precise meaning of the speaker’s intended message through
the pragmatic domains. These pragmatic domains are diexes which mean referring to time,
place and person through the use of language; presupposition which means taking some
meaning for granted in special contexts; speech acts are defined as the action which is
accomplished by the power of words and face notion which is the public self-image of the
speaker. All these domains can affect the intention of the speaker.
Therefore, all of the three linguistic subfields are concerned with meaning of the language.
However, semantics studies the meaning of single words, phrase and sentences inside the
language and co-text. Pragmatics deals with meaning when the speaker wants to convey some
message through the context of situation at the level of single utterances. Discourse analysis
deals with both semantic and pragmatic domains of meaning but beyond the level of single
sentence or utterances.
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Q. 12. Discourse Analysis is defined as the analysis of meaning beyond the level
of the sentence in the written and spoken language. In a five paragraph essay,
explain in what way discourse analysis deals with written and spoken versions of
language.
Discourse analysis is usually defined as the analysis of language beyond the sentence which is
typically concerned with the study of language in text and conversation. Basic ideas in the written
language are represented by text analysis, i.e., the structure of discourse which includes: cohesion,
coherence and speech events. As for conversation analysis, the aspects are turn-taking, the
cooperative principle, hedges, implicature, background knowledge and schemas and scripts.
Cohesion is the grammatical and/or lexical relationships between the different elements of a
text. The text is to be connected by cohesive ties for example, referring to the noun father as he
whenever it comes after the first mention. The second aspect is coherence; it is the relationships
which link the meanings of utterances in a discourse or of the sentences in a text. There are
certainly no cohesive ties within this fragment of discourse. Cohesion helps to create coherence
but does not entail coherence. Nevertheless, coherence can be made with/out cohesive ties/
devises. Speech events include interactions such as a conversation at a party or ordering a meal.
Any speech event comprises several components: Speech genre, interlocutors, the social distance,
topic of a conversation and Setting.
The basic structure of a conversation is composed of turns which mean that the speaker and the
hearer take TURNs when talking. One person speaks at one time, and the other listens, and then
they switch roles. Interlocutors take the turn through the end of a phrase, clause, or sentence, a
falling in intonation or a perceivable pause. Interlocutors are cooperative in constructing a
conversation. This is conveyed by “Gricean Maxims”, which are: the Quantity maxim: Make your
contribution as informative as is required, but not more, or less, than is required, the Quality
maxim: do not say that which u believe to be false or for which u lack adequate evidence, the
relation maxim: Be relevant and the Manner maxim: Be clear, brief and orderly.
Hedges, implicature, background knowledge, schemas and scripts can affect the discourse.
Hedges be defined as words or phrases used to indicate that we are not really sure that what we
are saying is sufficiently correct or complete. Implicature is an additional meaning conveyed by a
speaker adhering to the cooperative principle. Background knowledge is information that is not in
a text, but is used from memory by a reader to understand the text. Schema is a conventional
knowledge which exists in memory. Script is essentially a dynamic schema in which conventional
actions take place.
All in all, discourse can analyze written texts with special devices that are related to written
text and can analyze conversational with special conversational devices. These two types of texts
sometimes overlap to the extent that devices from both types can be used to analyze the
overlapping discourse.
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Q.13. You have studied semantics as a linguistic subfield which deals with
meaning. In a five-paragraph essay, explain in what way semantics studies
meaning.
Semantics is the study of meaning represented by the conceptual meaning
inside the language. This meaning could be analyzed through literal meaning of
concept, through the semantic roles of words, through features that stipulate the
use of a given word or through the lexical relations among words such as
synonymy, metonymy and so on.
Conceptual meaning covers those basic, essential components of meaning
that are conveyed by the literal use of words. It is used by dictionaries and
indicates the oddity of words, phrases and sentences. Semantic Roles can be
defined as another way to analyze meaning: words can be thought of in terms of
the ‘roles’ they fulfill in the situation described in a sentence instead of
containers. Semantic roles are: agent, theme, instrument, experiencer, location,
source and goal.
Meaning can be dealt with form point of view of Semantic Features are
procedures for analyzing conceptual meaning of a word into its crucial elements
or features. The features are like animate, human, female, and adult and so many
others which take plus when the features exists and minus when the feature does
not exist. According to these features, the oddity of word meaning is tackled.
Not only can words be treated as “containers” of meaning, or as fulfilling
“roles” in events, they can also have “relationships” with each other.
Characterizing the meaning of each word, not in terms of its component
features, but in terms of its relationship to other words is called Lexical
Relations. Such relations as synonymy: two or more words with very closely
related meanings are called synonyms or antonyms which mean when two forms
have opposite meaning.
All in all, meaning of language is analyzed differently through the use of
different theories and models. It can be analyzed through the components
features of the meaning, the role that the words play in given sentences or the
lexical relation among words inside the language.