Language
题本1. Fill in the blanks with the proper words.
（1）Performative function means language can be ud to “do” things.
（2）Emotive/expressive function means the u of language to reveal something about the feelings and attitudes of the speaker.
（3）Most imperative ntences are associated with conative/directive function.
（4）The ntence “What’s it like?” shows interrogative function.
（5）Greetings shows phatic function.
（6）“We are most grateful for this.” shows expressive function.
（7）Propaganda shows 流浪汉英文evocative/recreational function.
（8）杨柴Displacement refers to contexts removed from the immediate of the speaker.
（9）Halliday’s metafunctions include Ideational, Interpersonal and Textual functions拔山超海.
（10）Linguistics should include at least five parameters:_phonological, morphological, syntactic, mantic and pragmatic.
2. True or fal questions (If it is fal correct it)
（1） Language distinguishes us from animals becau it is far more sophisticated than any animal communication system.T
（2） There is not a certain degree of correspondence between the quence of claus and the actual happenings. F The order of claus are always matching the actual quence of happenings.
（3） The theories discusd in the textbook about the origins of language are not at most a speculation猜测.F
段子手（4） The definition, “Language is a tool for human communication.” has no problem. (F)
The definition just focus on the function of language, which does not include the nature and features of language.
（5） The definition, “language is a t of rules”, tells nothing about its functions.T法式指甲
Linguistics
1. Explain the following definition of linguistics: Linguistics is the scientific study of language.
The word “language” preceded by the zero article in English implies that linguistics studies not any particular language, but languages in general. The word ‘study’ does not mean ‘learning’, but ‘investigation’ or ‘examination’. The word ‘scientific’ refers to the way in which language is studied. A scientific study is one bad on the systematic investigation of data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. The process of linguistic study can be summarized as follows:
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First, certain linguistic facts are obrved, which are found to display some similarities, and generalizations are made about them; next, bad on the generalizations, hypothes are formulated to account for the facts; then, the hypothes are tested by further obrvations; finally a linguistic theory is constructed about what language is and how it works.
2. What are the major branches of linguistics? What does each of them study? What makes modern linguistics different from traditional grammar? Point out three aspects.
The major branches of linguistics and their study on PP. 17-20.
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It is generally believed that the beginning of modern linguistics was marked by the publication of F. de Saussure’s Cour in General Linguistics in 1919. Before that language had been studied for centuries, called “traditional grammar”. Modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar in veral basic ways:
Firstly, modern linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive. (PP.23-24)
Second, modern linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. Traditional grammar tended to emphasize the importance of the written word. Before the invention of sound recording, it was difficult for people to deal with utterances which existed only for conds.
Thirdly, modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force languages into a Latin-bad framework. In the past, it was assumed that Latin provides a universal framework into all languages fit. As a result, other languages were forced to fit into the Latin patterns and categories. Modern linguistics try to t up a universal grammar bad on the features shared by most of the languages ud by human beings.
3. Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic? Why?
After Saussure’s distinction between synchronic and diachronic study, a synchronic approach ems to enjoy priority over a diachronic study. Saussure postulated the priority of synchrony: no knowledge of the historical development of a language is necessary to examine its prent system. He arrived at this radical viewpoint due to his conviction that
linguistic rearch must concentrate on the structure of language.
