1. Define the following terms.
1）structure
It consists of the way in which the words are organized into phras and the phras are organized into larger phras.
2）grammar
It is the process of describing the structure of phras and ntences in such a way that we account for all the grammatical quences in a language and rule out all the ungrammatical quences; or can be defined as the study of phras and ntences structure.
3）structural ambiguity
It happens when two distinct underlying interpretations are reprented differently in deep structure. There are two different underlying structures with the same surface structure.
4）deep structure
It is an abstract level of structural organization in which all the elements determining structural interpretation are reprented.
5）Syntax
It deals with how ntences are constructed with words.
2. Draw the phra structure tree for the ntence "Bill ran to the park slowly."
Bill ran to the park slowly.
3. Draw two different phra structure trees to illustrate the ambiguity involved in the ntence " I once shot an elephant in my pajamas.” Under each tree write the way to understand the ntence embodied by the tree.
I once shot an elephant in my pajamas.
I once shot an elephant, and the elephant was in my pajamas.
I once shot an elephant in my pajamas.
I once shot an elephant when I was wearing my pajamas.
4. Draw two different phra structure trees to illustrate the ambiguity involved in "tall boys and girls." Under each tree write the way to understand the phra embodied by the tree.
tall boys and girls.
Both boys and girls are tall.
tall boys and girls.
Only the boys are tall.
5. Define the following terms.
1) mantics
Semantics is the study of meaning in human language.
2) lexical gap
Lexical gap is the abnce of a word in a particular place in a mantic field of a language.
3) mantic roles
Semantic role is a way of categorizing the relation between a ntence’s parts and the event that it describes. to categorize the relation between a ntence’s parts and the event that it describes.
6. Define the approaches to meaning and state their problems.
1) meaning as naming:
the meaning of an expression is what it refers to.
Problem: it is not always immediately clear what is being named. What do conjunctions like but and and refer to? What do prepositions like for and to stand for? What do we say
about names for imaginary objects or actions? The concert word tree can stand for a particular tree or any tree or all trees in the world.
2) meaning as concept:
expressions mean the concept or idea associated with them. Any particular sound image is psychologically associated with a particular concept.
Prob: To state that meaning is a concept does not overcome all the problems that the naming theory has. We can still ask what are the concepts that and or but stand for?
3) meaning as behaviour:
a STIMULUS (S) produced a linguistic respon (r), which works as a stimulus (s), and results in a non-linguistic respon (R). The meaning of a linguistic form is defined as obrvable behaviours.
Prob: Since the practical stimulus S is not always obvious, so how do we identify it?
4) meaning as context:
meaning is found in the context within which a particular expression is uttered. It suggests that we can derive meaning from, or reduce it to, the obrvable context.
Prob: What are we actually obrving in a context?
5) meaning as truth conditions:
the n of a declarative ntence permits you to know under what circumstances a ntence is true. Tho circumstances are called “truth conditions” of the ntence. The truth conditions of a declarative ntence are the same as the n of the ntence. Knowing the meaning of a ntence is the same as knowing the conditions under which the ntence is true or fal.
Prob: This approach limits mantics to being concerned principally about meaning in relation to truth and falhood. How can we discuss the meaning of interrogatives and imperatives?
7. Define the ven types of meaning with one example for each.
1) Conceptual meaning:
what words denote or refer to.
It can be studied in terms of contrastive features or binary feature format.
