语言学重点概念

语言学重点概念

英语语言学概论》重、难点提示Questions&AnswersonKeyPointsofLinguistics《英语语言学概论》重、难点问与答1.1.Whatislanguage?“Languageissystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.Itisasystem,sincelinguisticelementsarearrangedsystematically,ratherthanrandomly.Arbitrary,inthesensethatthereisusuallynointrinsicconnectionbetweenawork(like“book”)andtheobjectitrefersto.Thisexplainsandisexplainedbythefactthatdifferentlanguageshavedifferent“books”:“book”inEnglish,“livre”inFrench,inJapanese,inChinese,“check”inKorean.Itissymbolic,becausewordsareassociatedwithobjects,actions,ideasetc.bynothingbutconvention.Namely,peopleusethesoundsorvocalformstosymbolizewhattheywishtoreferto.Itisvocal,becausesoundorspeechistheprimarymediumforallhumanlanguages,developedor“new”.Writingsystemscamemuchlaterthanthespokenforms.Thefactthatsmallchildrenlearnandcanonlylearntospeak(andlisten)beforetheywrite(andread)alsoindicatesthatlanguageisprimarilyvocal,ratherthanwritten.Theterm“human”inthedefinitionismeanttospecifythatlanguageishumanspecific.1.2.Whataredesignfeaturesoflanguage?“Designfeatures”hererefertothedefiningpropertiesofhumanlanguagethattellthedifferencebetweenhumanlanguageandanysystemofanimalcommunication.Theyarearbitrariness,duality,productivity,displacement,culturaltransmissionandinterchangeability1.3.Whatisarbitrariness?By“arbitrariness”,wemeanthereisnologicalconnectionbetweenmeaningsandsounds(seeI.1).Adogmightbeapigifonlythefirstpersonorgroupofpersonshaduseditforapig.Languageisthereforelargelyarbitrary.Butlanguageisnotabsolutelyseemtobesomesound-meaningassociation,ifwethinkofechowords,like“bang”,“crash”,“roar”,whicharemotivatedinacertainsense.Secondly,somecompounds(wordscompoundedtobeoneword)arenotentirelyarbitraryeither.“Type”and“write”areopaqueorunmotivatedwords,while“type-writer”islessso,ormoretransparentormotivatedthanthewordsthatmakeit.Sowecansay“arbitrariness”isamatterofdegree.1.4.Whatisduality?Linguistsrefer“duality”(ofstructure)tothefactthatinalllanguagessofarinvestigated,onefindstwolevelsofstructureorpatterning.Atthefirst,higherlevel,languageisanalyzedintermsofcombinationsofmeaningfulunits(suchasmorphemes,wordsetc.);atthesecond,lowerlevel,itisseenasasequenceofsegmentswhichlackanymeaninginthemselves,butwhichcombinetoformunitsofmeaning.AccordingtoHuZhanglinetal.(p.6),languageisasystemoftwosetsofstructures,oneofsoundsandtheotherofmeaning.Thisisimportantfortheworkingsoflanguage.Asmallnumberofsemanticunits(words),andtheseunitsofmeaningcanbearrangedandrearrangedintoaninfinitenumberofsentences(notethatwehavedictionariesofwords,butnodictionaryofsentences!).Dualitymakesitpossibleforapersontotalkaboutanythingwithinhisknowledge.Noanimalcommunicationsystemenjoysthisduality,orevenapproachesthishonor.\n1.5.Whatisproductivity?Productivityreferstotheabilitytotheabilitytoconstructandunderstandanindefinitelylargenumberofsentencesinone’snativelanguage,includingthosethathasneverheardbefore,butthatareappropriatetothespeakingsituation.Noonehaseversaidorheard“Ared-eyedelephantisdancingonthesmallhotelbedwithanAfricangibbon”,buthecansayitwhennecessary,andhecanunderstanditinrightregister.Differentfromartisticcreativity,though,productivitynevergoesoutsidethelanguage,thusalsocalled“rule-boundcreativity”(byN.Chomsky).1.6.Whatisdisplacement?“Displacement”,asoneofthedesignfeaturesofthehumanlanguage,referstothefactthatonecantalkaboutthingsthatarenotpresent,aseasilyashedoesthingspresent.Inotherwords,onecanrefertorealandunrealthings,thingsofthepast,ofthepresent,ofthefuture.Languageitselfcanbetalkedabouttoo.Whenaman,forexample,iscryingtoawoman,aboutsomething,itmightbesomethingthathadoccurred,orsomethingthatisoccurring,orsomethingthatistooccur.Whenadogisbarking,however,youcandecideitisbarkingforsomethingoratsomeonethatexistsnowandthere.Itcouldn’tbebowwowingsorrowfullyfordomelostloveorabonetobelost.Thebee’ssystem,nonetheless,hasasmallshareof“displacement”,butitisanunspeakabletinyshare.1.7.Whatisculturaltransmission?Thismeansthatlanguageisnotbiologicallytransmittedfromgenerationtogeneration,butthatthedetailsofthelinguisticsystemmustbelearnedanewbyeachspeaker.Itistruethatthecapacityforlanguageinhumanbeings(N.Chomskycalledit“languageacquisitiondevice”,orLAD)hasageneticbasis,buttheparticularlanguageapersonlearnstospeakisaculturaloneotherthanageneticonelikethedog’sbarkingsystem.Ifahumanbeingisbroughtupinisolationhecannotacquirelanguage.TheWolfChildrearedbythepackofwolvesturnedouttospeakthewolf’sroaring“tongue”whenhewassaved.Helearnedthereafter,withnosmalldifficulty,theABCofacertainhumanlanguage.1.8.Whatisinterchangeability?(1)Interchangeabilitymeansthatanyhumanbeingcanbebothaproducerandareceiverofmessages.Wecansay,andonotheroccasionscanreceiveandunderstand,forexample,“Pleasedosomethingtomakemehappy.”Thoughsomepeople(includingme)suggestthatthereissexdifferentiationintheactuallanguageuse,inotherwords,menandwomenmaysaydifferentthings,yetinprinciplethereisnosound,orwordorsentencethatamancanutterandawomancannot,orviceversa.Ontheotherhand,apersoncanbethespeakerwhiletheotherpersonisthelistenerandastheturnmovesontothelistener,hecanbethespeakerandthefirstspeakeristolisten.Itisturn-takingthatmakessocialcommunicationpossibleandacceptable.(2)Somemalebirds,however,uttersomecalls,whichfemalesdonot(orcannot?),andcertainkindsoffishhavesimilarhapsmentionable.Whenadogbarks,alltheneighboringdogsbark.Thenpeoplearoundcanhardlytellwhichdog(dogs)is(are0“speaking”andwhichlistening.1.9.Whydolinguistssaylanguageishumanspecific?\nFirstofall,humanlanguagehassix“designfeatures”whichanimalcommunicationsystemsdonothave,atleastnotinthetruesenseofthem(seeI.2-8).Let’sborrowC.F.Hocket’sChartthatcompareshumanlanguagewithsomeanimals’systems,fromWangGang(1998,p.8).Secondly,linguistshavedonealottryingtoteachanimalssuchaschimpanzeestospeakahumanlanguagebuthaveachievednothinginspiring.BeatniceandAlanGardnerbroughtupWashoe,afemalechimpanzee,likeahumanchild.Shewastaught“AmericansignLanguage”,andlearnedalittlethatmadetheteachershappybutdidmotmakethelinguisticscirclehappy,forfewbelievedinteachingchimpanzees.Thirdly,ahumanchildrearedamonganimalscannotspeakahumanlanguage,notevenwhenheistakenbackandtaughttolotoso(seethe“WolfChild”inI.7)1.10.Whatfunctionsdoeslanguagehave?Languagehasatleastsevenfunctions:phatic,directive,Informative,interrogative,expressive,evocativeandperformative.AccordingtoWangGang(1988,p.11),languagehasthreemainfunctions:atoolofcommunication,atoolwherebypeoplelearnabouttheworld,andatoolbywhichpeoplelearnabouttheworld,andatoolbywhichpeoplecreateart.M.A.K.Halliday,representativeoftheLondonschool,recognizesthree“Macro-Functions”:ideational,interpersonalandtextual(see!11-17;seeHUZhuanglinetal.,pp10-13,pp394-396).1.11Whatisthephaticfunction?The“phaticfunction”referstolanguagebeingusedforsettingupacertainatmosphereormaintainingsocialcontacts(ratherthanforexchanginginformationorideas).Greetings,farewells,andcommentsontheweatherinEnglishandonclothinginChineseallservethisfunction.Muchofthephaticlanguage(e.g.“Howareyou?”“Fine,thanks.”)Isinsincereiftakenliterally,butitisimportant.Ifyoudon'tsay“Hello”toafriendyoumeet,orifyoudon’tanswerhis“Hi”,youruinyourfriendship.1.12.Whatisthedirectivefunction?The“directivefunction”meansthatlanguagemaybeusedtogetthehearertodosomething.Mostimperativesentencesperformthisfunction,e.g.,“Tellmetheresultwhenyoufinish.”Othersyntacticstructuresorsentencesofothersortscan,accordingtoJ.AustinandJ.Searle’s“indirectspeechacttheory”(seeHuZhuanglinetal.,pp271-278)atleast,servethepurposeofdirectiontoo,e.g.,“IfIwereyou,Iwouldhaveblushedtothebottomofmyears!”1.13.Whatistheinformativefunction?Languageservesan“informationalfunction”whenusedtotellsomething,characterizedbytheuseofdeclarativesentences.Informativestatementsareoftenlabeledastrue(truth)orfalse(falsehood).AccordingtoP.Grice’s“CooperativePrinciple”(seeHuZhuanglinetal.,pp282-283),oneoughtnottoviolatethe“MaximofQuality”,whenheisinformingatall.1.14.Whatistheinterrogativefunction?Whenlanguageisusedtoobtaininformation,itservesan“interrogativefunction”.Thisincludesallquestionsthatexpectreplies,statements,imperativesetc.,accordingtothe“indirectspeechacttheory”,mayhavethisfunctionaswell,e.g.,“I’dliketoknowyoubetter.”Thismaybringfortha\nlotofpersonalinformation.Notethatrhetoricalquestionsmakeanexception,sincetheydemandnoanswer,atleastnotthereader’s/listener’sanswer.1.15.Whatistheexpressivefunction?The“expressivefunction”istheuseoflanguagetorevealsomethingaboutthefeelingsorattitudesofthespeaker.Subconsciousemotionalejaculationsaregoodexamples,like“Goodheavens!”“MyGod!”Sentenceslike“I’msorryaboutthedelay”canserveasgoodexamplestoo,thoughinasubtleway.Whilelanguageisusedfortheinformativefunctiontopassjudgmentonthetruthorfalsehoodofstatements,languageusedfortheexpressivefunctionevaluates,appraisesorassertsthespeaker’sownattitudes.1.16.Whatistheevocativefunction?The“evocativefunction”istheuseoflanguagetocreatecertainfeelingsinthehearer.Itsaimis,forexample,toamuse,startle,antagonize,soothe,worryorplease.Jokes(notpracticaljokes,though)aresupposedtoamuseorentertainthelistener;advertisingtourgecustomerstopurchasecertaincommodities;propagandatoinfluencepublicopinion.Obviously,theexpressiveandtheevocativefunctionsoftengotogether,i.e.,youmayexpress,forexample,yourpersonalfeelingsaboutapoliticalissuebutendupbyevokingthesamefeelingin,orimposingiton,yourlistener.That’salsothecasewiththeotherwayround.1.17.Whatistheperformativefunction?Thismeanspeoplespeakto“dothings”orperformactions.Oncertainoccasionstheutteranceitselfasanactionismoreimportantthanwhatwordsorsoundsconstitutetheutteredsentence.WhenaskedifathirdYangtzeBridgeoughttobebuiltinWuhan,themayormaysay,“OK”,whichmeansmorethanspeech,andmorethananaveragesocialindividualmaydofortheconstruction.Thejudge’simprisonmentsentence,thepresident’swarorindependencedeclaration,etc.,areperformativesaswell(seeJ.Austin’sspeechActTheory,HuZhuanglin,ecal.pp271-278).1.18.Whatislinguistics?“Linguistics”isthescientificstudyoflanguage.Itstudiesnotjustonelanguageofanyonesociety,butalsothelanguageofallhumanbeings.Alinguist,though,doesnothavetoknowandusealargenumberoflanguages,buttoinvestigatehoweachlanguageisconstructed.Heisalsoconcernedwithhowalanguagevariesfromdialecttodialect,fromclasstoclass,howitchangesfromcenturytocentury,howchildrenacquiretheirmothertongue,andperhapshowapersonlearnsorshouldlearnaforeignlanguage.Inshort,linguisticsstudiesthegeneralprincipleswhereuponallhumanlanguagesareconstructedandoperateassystemsofcommunicationintheirsocietiesorcommunities(seeHuZhuanglinetal.,pp20-22)1.19.Whatmakeslinguisticsascience?Sincelinguisticsisthescientificstudyoflanguage,itoughttobaseitselfuponthesystematic,investigationoflanguagedata,whichaimsatdiscoveringthetruenatureoflanguageanditsunderlyingsystem.Tomakesenseofthedata,alinguistusuallyhasconceivedsomehypothesesaboutthelanguagestructure,tobecheckedagainsttheobservedorobservablefacts.Inordertomakehisanalysisscientific,alinguistisusuallyguidedbyfourprinciples:exhaustiveness,\nconsistency,andobjectivity.Exhaustivenessmeansheshouldgatherallthematerialsrelevanttothestudyandgivethemanadequateexplanation,inspiteofthecomplicatedness.Heistoleavenolinguistic“stone”unturned.Consistencymeansthereshouldbenocontradictionbetweendifferentpartsofthetotalstatement.Economymeansalinguistshouldpursuebrevityintheanalysiswhenitispossible.Objectivityimpliesthatsincesomepeoplemaybesubjectiveinthestudy,alinguistshouldbe(orsoundatleast)objective,matter-of-face,faithfultoreality,sothathisworkconstitutespartofthelinguisticsresearch.1.20.Whatarethemajorbranchesoflinguistics?Thestudyoflanguageasawholeisoftencalledgenerallinguistics(e.g.HuZhuanglinetal.,1988;WangGang,1988).Butalinguistsometimesisabletodealwithonlyoneaspectoflanguageatatime,thustheariseofvariousbranches:phonetics,phonology,morphology,syntax,semantics,sociolinguistics,appliedlinguistics,pragmatics,psycholinguistics,lexicology,lexicography,etymology,etc.1.21.Whataresynchronicanddiachronicstudies?Thedescriptionofalanguageatsomepointoftime(asifitstoppeddeveloping)isasynchronystudy(synchrony).Thedescriptionofalanguageasitchangesthroughtimeisadiachronicstudy(diachronic).Anessayentitled“OntheUseofTHE”,forexample,maybesynchronic,iftheauthordoesnotrecallthepastofTHE,anditmayalsobediachronicifheclaimstocoveralargerangeorperiodoftimewhereinTHEhasundergonetremendousalteration(seeHuZhuanglinetal.,pp25-27).1.22.Whatisspeechandwhatiswriting?(1)Nooneneedstherepetitionofthegeneralprincipleoflinguisticanalysis,namely,theprimacyofspeechoverwriting.Speechisprimary;becauseitexistedlonglongbeforewritingsystemscameintobeing.Geneticallychildrenlearntospeakbeforelearningtowrite.Secondly,writtenformsjustrepresentinthiswayorthatthespeechsounds:individualsounds,asinEnglishandFrenchasinJapanese.(2)Incontrasttospeech,spokenformoflanguage,writingaswrittencodes,giveslanguagenewscopeandusethatspeechdoesnothave.Firstly,messagescanbecarriedthroughspacesothatpeoplecanwritetoeachother.Secondly,messagescanbecarriedthroughtimethereby,sothatpeopleofourtimecanbecarriedthroughtimethereby,sothatpeopleofourtimecanreadBeowulf,SamuelJohnson,andEdgarA.Poe.Thirdly,oralmessagesarereadilysubjecttodistortion,eitherintentionalorunintentional(causingmisunderstandingormalentendu),whilewrittenmessagesallowandencouragerepeatedunalterablereading.(3)Mostmodernlinguisticanalysisisfocusedonspeech,differentfromgrammariansofthelastcenturyandtheretofore.1.23.Whatarethedifferencesbetweenthedescriptiveandtheprescriptiveapproaches?Alinguisticstudyis“descriptive”ifitonlydescribesandanalysesthefactsoflanguage,and“prescriptive”ifittriestolaydownrulesfor“correct”languagebehavior.Linguisticstudiesbeforethiscenturywerelargelyprescriptivebecausemanyearlygrammarswerelargelyprescriptivebecausemanyearlygrammarswerebasedon“high”(literaryorreligious)written\nrecords.Modernlinguisticsismostlydescriptive,however.It(thelatter)believesthatwhateveroccursinnaturalspeech(hesitation,incompleteutterance,misunderstanding,etc.)shouldbedescribedintheanalysis,andnotbemarkedasincorrect,abnormal,corrupt,orlousy.These,withchangesinvocabularyandstructures,needtobeexplainedalso.1.24.Whatisthedifferencebetweenlangueandparole?F.DeSaussurerefers“langue”totheabstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyallthemembersofaspeechcommunityandrefers“parole”totheactualoractualizedlanguage,ortherealizationoflangue.Langueisabstract,parolespecifictothespeakingsituation;languenotactuallyspokenbyanindividual,parolealwaysanaturallyoccurringevent;languerelativelystableandsystematic,paroleisamassofconfusedfacts,thusnotsuitableforsystematicinvestigation.Whatalinguistoughttodo,accordingtoSaussure,istoabstractlanguefrominstancesofparole,I.e.todiscovertheregularitiesgoverningallinstancesofparoleandmakethanthesubjectoflinguistics.Thelangue-paroledistinctionisofgreatimportance,whichcastsgreatinfluenceonlaterlinguists.1.25.Whatisthedifferencebetweencompetenceandperformance?(1)AccordingtoN.Chomsky,“competence”istheideallanguageuser’sknowledgeoftherulesofhislanguage,and“performance”istheactualrealizationofthisknowledgeinutterances.Theformerenablesaspeakertoproduceandunderstandanindefinitenumberofsentencesandtorecognizegrammaticalmistakesandambiguities.Aspeaker’scompetenceisstablewhilehisperformanceisofteninfluencedbypsychologicalandsocialfactors.Soaspeaker’sperformancedoesnotalwaysmatchorequalhissupposedcompetence.(2)Chomskybelievesthatlinguistsoughttostudycompetence,ratherthanperformance.Inotherwords,theyshoulddiscoverwhatanidealspeakerknowsofhisnativelanguage.(3)Chomsky’scompetence-performancedistinctionisnotexactlythesameas,thoughsimilarto,F.deSaussure’slangue-paroledistinction.Langueisasocialproduct,andasetofconventionsforacommunity,whilecompetenceisdeemedasapropertyofthemindofeachindividual.SussurelooksatlanguagemorefromasociologicalorsociolinguisticpointofviewthanN.Chomskysincethelatterdealswithhisissuespsychologicallyorpsycholinguistically.1.26.Whatislinguisticpotential?Whatisactuallinguisticbehavior?M.A.K.Hallidaymadethesetwoterms,orthepotential-behaviordistinction,inthe1960s,fromafunctionalpointofview.Thereisawiderangeofthingsaspeakercandoinhisculture,andsimilarlytherearemanythingshecansay,forexample,tomanypeople,onmanytopics.Whatheactuallysays(i.e.his“actuallinguisticbehavior”)onacertainoccasiontoacertainpersoniswhathehaschosenfrommanypossibleinjusticeitems,eachofwhichhecouldhavesaid(linguisticpotential).1.27.Inwhatwaydolanguage,competenceandlinguisticpotentialagree?Inwhatwaydotheydiffer?Andtheircounterparts?Langue,competenceandlinguisticpotentialhavesomesimilarfeatures,buttheyareinnatelydifferent(see1.25).Langueisasocialproduct,andasetofspeakingconventions;competenceisapropertyorattributeofeachidealspeaker’smind;linguisticpotentialisallthelinguisticcorpusorrepertoireavailablefromwhichthespeakerchoosesitemsfortheactualutterancesituation.In\notherwords,langueisinvisiblebutreliableabstractsystem.Competencemeans“knowing”,andlinguisticpotentialasetofpossibilitiesfor“doing”or“performingactions”.TheyaresimilarinthattheyallrefertotheconstantunderlyingtheutterancesthatconstitutewhatSaussure,ChomskyandHallidayrespectivelycalledparole,performanceandactuallinguisticbehavior.Paole,performanceandactuallinguisticbehaviorenjoymoresimilaritiesthandifferences.1.28.Whatisphonetics?“Phonetics”isthesciencewhichstudiesthecharacteristicsofhumansound-making,especiallythosesoundsusedinspeech,andprovidesmethodsfortheirdescription,classificationandtranscription(seeHuZhuanglinetal.,pp39-40),speechsoundsmaybestudiedindifferentways,thusbythreedifferentbranchesofphonetics.(1)Articulatoryphonetics;thebranchofphoneticsthatexaminesthewayinwhichaspeechsoundisproducedtodiscoverwhichvocalorgansareinvolvedandhowtheycoordinateintheprocess.(2)Auditoryphonetics,thebranchofphoneticresearchfromthehearer’spointofview,lookingintotheimpressionwhichaspeechsoundmakesonthehearerasmediatedbytheear,theauditorynerveandthebrain.(3)Acousticphonetics:thestudyofthephysicalpropertiesofspeechsounds,astransmittedbetweenmouthandear.Mostphoneticians,however,areinterestedinarticulatorphonetics.1.29.Howarethevocalorgansformed?Thevocalorgans(seeFigure1,HuZhuanglinetal.,p41),orspeechorgans,areorgansofthehumanbodywhosesecondaryuseisintheproductionofspeechsounds.Thevocalorganscanbeconsideredasconsistingofthreeparts;theinitiatoroftheair-stream,theproducerofvoiceandtheresonatingcavities.1.30.Whatisplaceofarticulation?Itreferstotheplaceinthemouthwhere,forexample,theobstructionoccurs,resultingintheutteranceofaconsonant.Whateversoundispronounced,atleastsomevocalorganswillgetinvolved.g.Lips,hardpalateetc.,soaconsonantmaybeoneofthefollowing(1)bilabial:[p,b,m];(2)labiodental:[f,v];(3)dental:[,];(4)alveolar:[t,d,l,n.s,z];(5)retroflex;(6)palato-alveolar:[,];(7)palatal:[j];(8)velar[k,g,];(9)uvular;(10)glottal:[h].Somesoundsinvolvethesimultaneoususeoftwoplacesofarticulation.Forexample,theEnglish[w]hasbothanapproximationofthetwolipsandthosetwolipsandthatofthetongueandthesoftpalate,andmaybetermed“labial-velar”.1.31.Whatisthemannerofarticulation?The“mannerofarticulation”literallymeansthewayasoundisarticulated.Atagivenplaceofarticulation,theairstreamsmaybeobstructedinvariousways,resultinginvariousmannersofarticulation,arethefollowing:(1)plosive:[p,b,t,d,k,g];(2)nasal:[m,n,];(3)trill;(4)taporflap;(5)lateral:[l];(6)fricative:[f,v,s,z];(7)approximant:[w,j];(8)affricate:[].1.32.Howdophoneticiansclassifyvowels?Phoneticians,inspiteofthedifficulty,groupvowelsin5types:(1)longandshortvowels,e.g.,[i:,];(4)roundedandunroundvowels,e.g.[,i];(5)pureandglidingvowels,e.g.[I,].\n1.33.WhatisIPA?Whendiditcomeintobeing?TheIPA,abbreviationof“InternationalPhoneticAlphabet”,isacompromisesystemmakinguseofsymbolsofallsources,includingdiacriticsindicatinglength,stressandintonation,indicatingphoneticvariation.Eversinceitwasdevelopedin1888,IPAhasundergoneanumberofrevisions.1.34.Whatisnarrowtranscriptionandwhatisbroadtranscription?Inhandbookofphonetics,HenrySweetmadeadistinctionbetween“narrow”and“broad”transcriptions,whichhecalled“NarrowRomic”.Theformerwasmeanttosymbolizeallthepossiblespeechsounds,includingeventhemostminuteshadesofpronunciationwhileBroadRomicortranscriptionwasintendedtoindicateonlythosesoundscapableofdistinguishingonewordfromanotherinagivenlanguage.1.35.Whatisphonology?Whatisdifferencebetweenphoneticsandphonology?(1)“Phonology”isthestudyofsoundsystems-theinventionofdistinctivespeechsoundsthatoccurinalanguageandthepatternswhereintheyfall.Minimalpair,phonemes,allophones,freevariation,complementarydistribution,etc.,arealltobeinvestigatedbyaphonologist.(2)Phonetics,asdiscussedinI.28,isthebranchoflinguisticsstudyingthecharacteristicsofspeechsoundsandprovidesmethodsfortheirdescription,classificationandtranscription.Aphonetistismainlyinterestedinthephysicalpropertiesofthespeechsounds,whereasaphonologiststudieswhathebelievesaremeaningfulsoundsrelatedwiththeirsemanticfeatures,morphologicalfeatures,andthewaytheyareconceivedandprintedinthedepthofthemindphonologicalknowledgepermitsaspeakertoproducesoundswhichfrommeaningfulutterances,torecognizeaforeign“accent”,tomakeupnewwords,toaddtheappropriatephoneticsegmentstofrompluralsandpasttenses,toknowwhatisandwhatisnotasoundinone’slanguage.1.36.Whatisaphone?Whatisaphoneme?Whatisanallophone?(1)A“phone”isaphoneticunitorsegment.Thespeechsoundswehearandproduceduringlinguisticcommunicationareallphones.Whenwehearthefollowingwordspronounced:[pit],[tip],[spit],etc.,thesimilarphoneswehaveheardare[p]foronething,andthreedifferent[p]’s,readilymakingpossiblethe“narrowtranscriptionordiacritics”.Phonesmayandmaynotdistinguishmeaning.A“phoneme”isaphonologicalunit;itisaunitthatisofdistinctivevalue.Asanabstractunit,aphonemeisnotanyparticularsound,butratheritisrepresentedorrealizedbyacertainphoneinacertainphoneticcontext.Forexample,thephoneme[p]isrepresenteddifferentlyin[pit],[tip]and[spit].(2)Thephonesrepresentingaphonemearecalledits“allophones”,i.e.,thedifferent(i.e.,phones)butdonotmakeonewordsophoneticallydifferentastocreateanewwordoranewmeaningthereof.Sothedifferent[p]’sintheabovewordsaretheallophonesofthesamephoneme[p].Howaphonemeisrepresentedbyaphone,orwhichallophoneistobeused,isdeterminedbythephoneticcontextinwhichitoccurs.Butthechoiceofanallophoneisnotrandom.Inmostcasesitisrule-governed;theserulesaretobefoundoutbyaphonologist.1.37.Whatareminimalpairs?Whentwodifferentphoneticformsareidenticalineverywayexceptforonesoundsegment\nwhichoccursinthesameplaceinthestring,thetwoforms(i.e.,word)aresupposedtoforma“minimalpair”,e.g.,“pill”and“bill”,“pill”and“till”,“till”and“dill”,“till”and“kill”,etc.Allthesewordstogetherconstituteaminimalset.Theyareidenticalinformexceptfortheinitialconsonants.TherearemanyminimalpairsinEnglish,whichmakesitrelativelyeasytoknowwhatareEnglishphonemes.Itisofgreatimportancetofindtheminimalpairswhenaphonologistisdealingwiththesoundsystemofanunknownlanguage(seeHuZhuanglinetal.,pp65-66).1.38.Whatisfreevariation?Iftwosoundsoccurringinthesameenvironmentdonotcontrast;namely,ifthesubstitutionofonefortheotherdoesnotgenerateanewwordformbutmerelyadifferentpronunciationofthesameword,thetwosoundsthenaresaidtobein“freevariation”.Theplosives,forexample,maynotbeexplodedwhentheyoccurbeforeanotherplosiveoranasal(e.g.,act,apt,goodmorning).Theminutedistinctionsmay,ifnecessary,betranscribedindiacritics.Theseunexplodedandexplodedplosivesareinfreevariation.Soundsinfreevariationshouldbeassignedtothesamephoneme.1.39.Whatiscomplementarydistribution?Whentwosoundsneveroccurinthesameenvironment,theyarein“complementarydistribution”.Forexample,theaspiratedEnglishplosivesneveroccurafter[s],andtheunsaturatedonesneveroccurinitially.Soundsincomplementarydistributionmaybeassignedtothesamephoneme.Theallophonesof[l],forexample,arealsoincomplementarydistribution.Theclear[l]occursonlybeforeavowel,thevoicelessequivalentof[l]occursonlyafteravoicelessconsonant,suchasinthewords“please”,“butler”,“clear”,etc.,andthedark[l]occursonlyafteravowelorasasyllabicsoundafteraconsonant,suchasinthewords“feel”,“help”,“middle”,etc.1.40.Whatistheassimilationrule?Whatisthedeletionrule?(1)The“assimilationrule”assimilatesonesegmenttoanotherby“copying”afeatureofasequentialphoneme,thusmakingthetwophonesmoresimilar.Thisruleaccountsfortheraringpronunciationofthenasal[n]thatoccurswithinaword.Theruleisthatwithinawordthenasalconsonant[n]assumesthesameplaceofarticulationasthefollowingconsonant.Thenegativeprefix“in-“servesasagoodexample.Itmaybepronouncedas[in],or[im]whenoccurringindifferentphoneticcontexts:e.g.,indiscrete-[](alveolar)inconceivable-[](velar)input-[‘imput](bilabial)The“deletionrule”tellsuswhenasoundistobedeletedalthoughisorthographicallyrepresented.Whiletheletter“g”ismutein“sign”,“design”and“paradigm”,itispronouncedintheircorrespondingderivatives:“signature”,“designation”and“paradigmatic”.Therulethencanbestatedas:deletea[g]whenitoccursbeforeafinalnasalconsonant.ThisaccountsforsomeoftheseemingirregularitiesoftheEnglishspelling(seeDaiWeidong,pp22-23).1.41.Whatissuprasegmentalphonology?Whataresuprasegmentalfeatures?“Suprasegmentalphonology”referstothestudyofphonologicalpropertiesoflinguisticunitslargerthanthesegmentcalledphoneme,suchassyllable,wordandsentence.HuZhuanglinetal.,(p,73)includesstress,lengthandpitchaswhattheysupposetobe“principal\nsuprasegmentalfeatures”,callingtheconcurrentpatterningofthree“intonation”.DaiWeidong(pp23-25)liststhreealso,buttheyarestress,toneandintonation.1.42.Whatismorphology?“Morphology”isthebranchofgrammarthatstudiestheinternalstructureofwords,andtherulesbywhichwordsareformed.Itisgenerallydividedintotwofields:inflectionalmorphologyandlexical/derivationalmorphology.1.43.Whatisinflection/inflexion?“Inflection”isthemanifestationofgrammaticalrelationshipsthroughtheadditionofinflectionalaffixes,suchasnumber,person,finiteness,aspect,andcase,whichdoesnotchangethegrammaticalclassoftheitemstowhichtheyareattached.1.44.Whatisamorpheme?Whatisanallomorph?(1)The“morpheme”isthesmallestunitintermsofrelationshipbetweenexpressionandcontent,aunitwhichcannotbedividedwithoutdestroyingordrasticallyalteringthemeaning,whetheritislexicalorgrammatical.Theword“boxes”,forexample,hastwomorphemes:“box”and“-es”,neitherofwhichpermitsfurtherdivisionoranalysisifwedon’twishtosacrificemeaning.Thereforeamorphemeisconsideredtheminimalunitofmeaning.(2)Allomorphs,likeallophonesvs.phones,arethealternateshapes(andthusphoneticforms)ofthesamemorphemes.Somemorphemes,though,havenomorethanoneinvariableforminallcontexts,suchas“dog”,“cat”,etc.Thevariantsoftheplurality“-s”maketheallomorphsthereofinthefollowingexamples:map-maps,mouse-mice,sheep-sheepetc.1.45.Whatisafreemorpheme?Whatisaboundmorpheme?A“freemorpheme”isamorphemethatconstitutesawordbyitself,suchas‘bed”,“tree”,etc.A“boundmorpheme”isonethatappearswithatleastanothermorpheme,suchas“-s”in“beds”,“-al”in“national”andsoon.Allmonomorphemicwordsarefreemorphemes.Thosepolymorphemicwordsareeithercompounds(combinationoftwoormorefreemorphemes)orderivatives(wordderivedfromfreemorphemes).1.46.Whatisaroot?Whatisastem?Whatisanaffix?A“root”isthebaseformofawordthatcannotbefurtheranalyzedwithouttotallossofidentity.Inotherwords,a“root”isthatpartofthewordleftwhenalltheaffixesareremoved.“Internationalism”isafour-morphemederivativewhichkeepsitsfreemorpheme“nation”asitsrootwhen“inter-”,“-al”and“-ism”aretakenaway.A“stem”isanymorphemeorcombinationofmorphemestowhichanaffixcanbeadded.Itmaybethesameas,andinothercases,differentfrom,aroot.Forexample,intheword“friends”,“friend”isboththerootandthestem,butintheword“friendships”,“friendships”isitsstem,“friend”isitsroot.Somewords(i.e.,compounds)havemorethanoneroot,e.g.,“mailman”,“girlfriend”,ect.An“affix”isthecollectivetermforthetypeofformativethatcanbeused,onlywhenaddedtoanothermorpheme(therootorstem).Affixesarelimitedinnumberinalanguage,andaregenerallyclassifiedintothreesubtypes:prefix,suffixandinfix,e.g.,“mini-”,“un-”,ect.(prefix);\n“-ise”,“-tion”,ect.(suffix).1.47.Whatareopenclasses?Whatareclosedclasses?InEnglish,nouns,verbs,adjectives,andadverbsmakeupthelargestpartofthevocabulary.Theyare“open–classwords”,sincewecanregularlyaddnewlexicalentriestotheseclasses.Theothersyntacticcategoriesare,forthemostpart,closedclasses,orclosed-classwords.Thenumberofthemishardlyalterable,iftheyarechangeableatall.1.48.Whatislexicon?Whatisword?Whatislexeme?Whatisvocabulary?Lexicon?Word?Lexeme?Vocabulary?“Lexicon”,initsmostgeneralsense,issynonymouswithvocabulary.Initstechnicalsense,however,lexicondealswiththeanalysisandcreationofwords,idiomsandcollocations.“Word”isaunitofexpressionwhichhasuniversalintuitiverecognitionbynative-speakers,whetheritisexpressedinspokenorwrittenform.Thisdefinitionisperhapsalittlevagueastherearedifferentcriteriawithregardtoitsidentificationanddefinition.Itseemsthatitishard,evenimpossible,todefine“word”linguistically.Nonethelessitisuniversallyagreedthatthefollowingthreesensesareinvolvedinthedefinitionof“word”,noneofwhich,though,isexpectedtocopewithallthesituations:(1)aphysicallydefinableunit,e.g.,[itiz‘w](phonological),“Itiswonder”(orthographic);(2)thecommonfactorunderlyingasetofforms(seewhatisthecommonfactorof“checks”,“checked”,“checking”,etc.);(3)agrammaticalunit(lookat(1)again;everywordplaysagrammaticalpartinthesentence).AccordingtoLeonardBloomfield,awordisaminimumfreeform(compare:asentenceisamaximumfreeform,accordingtoBloomfield).Thereareotherfactorsthatmayhelpusidentifywords:(1)stability(nogreatchangeoforthographicfeatures);(2)relativeuninterruptibility(wecanhardlyinsertanythingbetweentwopartsofawordorbetweentheletters).Tomakethecategoryclearerwecansubclassifywordsintoafewtypes:(1)variableandinvariablewords(e.g.,-mats,seldom-?);(2)grammaticalandlexicalwords(e.g.to,in,etc.,andtable,chair,ect.By“lexicalwords”wemeanthewordsthatcarryasemanticcontent,e.g.,nouns,verbs,adjectivesandmanyadverbs;(3)closed-classandopen-classwords(seeI.47).Inordertoreducetheambiguityoftheterm“word”,theterm“lexeme”ispostulatedastheabtractunitwhichreferstothesmallestunitinthemeaningsystemofalanguagethatcanbedistinguishedfromothersmallerunits.Alexemecanoccurinmanydifferentformsinactualspokenorwrittentexts.Forexample,“write”isthelexemeofthefollowingwords:“write”,“write”,“wrote”,“writing”,and“written.”“Vocabulary”usuallyreferstoallwordsorlexicalitemsapersonhasacquiredabouttechnicalor/anduntechnicalthings.Soweencourageourstudentstoenlargetheirvocabulary.“vocabulary”isalsousedtomeanwordlistorglossary.1.49.Whatiscollocation?“Collocation”isatermusedinlexicologybysomelinguiststorefertothehabitualco-occurrencesofindividuallexicalitems.Forexample,wecan“read”a“book”;“correct”cannarrowlyoccurwith“book”whichissupposedtohavefaults,butnoonecan“read”a“mistake”becausewithregardtoco-occurrencethesetwowordsarenotcollocates.\n1.50.Whatissyntax?“Syntax”isthestudyoftherulesgoverningthewaysinwhichwords,wordgroupsandphrasesarecombinedtoformsentencesinalanguage,orthestudyoftheinterrelationshipsbetweensententialelements.1.51.Whatisasentence?L.Bloomfielddefines“sentence”asanindependentlinguisticformnotincludedbysomegrammaticalmarksinanyotherlinguisticfrom,i.e.,itisnotsubordinatedtoalargerlinguisticform,itisastructurallyindependentlinguisticform.Itisalsocalledamaximumfreeform.1.52.Whataresyntacticrelations?“Syntacticrelations”refertothewaysinwhichwords,wordgroupsorphrasesformsentences;hencethreekindsofsyntacticrelations:positionalrelations,relationsofsubstitutabilityandrelationsofco-occurrence.(1)“Positionalrelation”,or“wordorder”,referstothesequentialarrangementtowordsinalanguage.ItisamanifestationofacertainaspectofwhatF.deSaussurecalled“syntagmaticrelations”,orofwhatotherlinguistscall“horizontalrelations”or“chainrelations”.(2)“Relationsofsubstitutability”refertoclassesorsetsofwordssubstitutableforeachothergrammaticallyinsamesentencestructures.Saussurecalledthem“associativerelations”.Otherpeoplecallthem“paradigmatic/vertical/choicerelations”.(3)By“relationsofco-occurrence”,onemeansthatwordsofdifferentsetsofclausesmaypermitorrequiretheoccurrenceofawordofanothersetorclasstoformasentenceoraparticularpartofasentence.Thusrelationsofco-occurrencepartlybelongtosyntagmaticrelationsandpartlytoparadigmaticrelations.1.53.WhatisICanalysis?Whatareimmediateconstituents(andultimateconstituents)?“ICanalysis”isanewapproachofsentencestudythatcutsasentenceintotwo(ormore)segments.Thiskindofpuresegmentationissimplydividingasentenceintoitsconstituentelementswithoutevenknowingwhattheyreallyare.Whatremainofthefirstcutarecalled“immediateconstituents”,andwhatareleftatthefinalcutarecalled“ultimateconstituents”.Forexample,“Johnleftyesterday”canbethussegmented:“John|left||yesterday”.Wegettwoimmediateconstituentsforthefirstcut(|),andtheyare“John”and“leftyesterday”.Furthersplit(||)thissentencegeneratesthree“ultimateconstituents”:“John”,“left”and“yesterday”.1.54.Whatareendocentricandexocentricconstructons?“Endocentricconstruction”isonewhosedistributionisfunctionallyequivalenttothatofoneormoreofitsconstituents,i.e.,awordoragroupofwords,whichservesasadefinable“centre”or“head”.Usuallynounphrases,verbphrasesandadjectivephrasesbelongtoendocentrictypesbecausetheconstituentitemsaresubordinatetothehead.“Exocentricconstruction”,oppositeofendocentricconstruction,referstoagroupofsyntacticallyrelatedwordswherenoneofthewordsisfunctionallyequivalenttothegroupaswhole;thatistosay,thereisnodefinablecentreorheadinsidethegroup.Exocentricconstructionusuallyincludesbasicsentence,prepositionalphrase,predicate(verb+object)construction,andconnective(be+complement)construction.1.55.Whatisasubject?Apredicate?Anobject?\n(1)Insomelanguage,an“subject”referstooneofthenounsinthenominativecase,suchas“pater”inthefollowingexample:“paterfiliumamat”(putliterallyinEnglish:thefatherthesonloves).InEnglish,a“grammaticalsubject”referstoanounwhichcanestablishcorrespondencewiththeverbandwhichcanbecheckedbyatag-questiontest,e.g.,“Heisagoodcook(,isn’the?).”(2)A“predicate”referstoamajorconstituentofsentencestructureinabinaryanalysisinwhichallobligatoryconstituentsotherthanthesubjectareconsideredtogether.e.g.,inthesentence“Themonkeyisjumping”,“isjumping”isthepredicate.(3)Traditionally“object”referstothereceiverorgoalofanaction,anditisfurtherclassifiedintotwokinds:directobjectandindirectobject.Insomeinflectinglanguages,anobjectismarkedbycaselabels:the“accusativecase”fordirectobject,andthe“dativecase”fordirectobject,andthe“dativecase”forindirecttowordorder(aftertheverbandpreposition)andbyinflections(ofpronouns).E.g.,inthesentence“Johnkissedme”,“me”istheobject.Modernlinguistssuggestthatanobjectreferstosuchanitemthatitcanbecomeasubjectinpassivetransformation.1.56.Whatiscategory?Theterm“category”insomeapproachesreferstoclassesandfunctionsinitsnarrowsense,e.g.,noun,verb,subject,predicate,nounphrase,verbphrase,etc.Morespecificallyitreferstothedefiningpropertiesofthesegeneralunits:thecategoriesofthenoun,forexample,includenumber,gender,caseandcountability;andoftheverb,forexample,tense,aspect,voice,etc.1.57.Whatisnumber?Whatisgender?Whatiscase?(1)“Number”isagrammaticalcategoryusedfortheanalysisofwordclassesdisplayingsuchcontrastsassingular,dual,plural,etc.InEnglish,numberismainlyobservedinnouns,andthereareonlytwoforms:singularandplural.Numberisalsoreflectedintheinflectionsofpronounsandverbs.(2)“Gender”displayssuchcontrastsas“masculine”,“feminine”,“neuter”,or“animate”and“inanimate”,etc.,fortheanalysisofwordclasses.Whenworditemsrefertothesexofthereal-worldentities,wenaturalgender(theoppositeisgrammaticalgender).(3)“Case”identifiesthesyntacticrelationshipbetweenwordsinasentence.InLatingrammar,casesarebasedonvariationsinthemorphologicalformsoftheword,andaregiventheterms“accusative”,“nominative”,“dative”,etc.InEnglish,thecasecategoryisrealizedinthreeways:byfollowingaprepositionandbywordorder.1.58.Whatisconcord?Whatisgovernment?“Concord”maybedefinedasrequirementthattheformsoftwoormorewordsofspecificwordclassesthatstandinspecificsyntacticrelationshipwithoneanothershallbecharacterizedbythesameparadigmaticallymarkedcategoryorcategories,e.g.,“manruns”,“menrun”.“Government”requiresthatonewordofaparticularclassinagivensyntacticclassshallexhibittheformofaspecificcategory.InEnglish,governmentappliesonlytopronounsamongthevariablewords,thatis,prepositionsandverbsgovernparticularformsoftheparadigmsofpronounsaccordingtotheirsyntacticrelationwiththem,e.g.,“Ihelpedhim;hehelpedme.”1.59.Whatisaphrase?Whatisaclause?\n(1)A“phrase”isasingleelementofstructurecontainingmorethanoneword,andlackingthesubject-predicatestructuretypicalof“clauses”.Traditionally,itisseenaspartofastructuralhierachy,fallingbetweenaclauseandword,e.g.,“thethreetallestgirls”(nominalphrase).Thereisnowatendencytomakeadistinctionbetweenwordgroupsandphrases.A“wordgroup”isanextensionofawordofaparticularclassbywayofmodificationwithitsmainfeaturesoftheclassunchanged.Thuswehavenominalgroup,verbalgroup,adverbialgroup,conjunctiongroupandprepositiongroup.(2)A“clause”isgroupofwordswithitsownsubjectandpredicateincludedinalargersubject-verbconstruction,namely,inasentence.Clausescanalsobeclassifiedintotwokinds:finiteandnon-finiteclauses,thelatterreferringtowhataretraditionallycalledinfinitivephrase,participlephraseandgerundialphrase.(For“sentence”,seeI.51.)1.60.Whatisconjoining?Whatisembedding?Whatisrecursiveness?“Conjoining”referstoaconstructionwhereoneclauseisco-ordinatedorconjoinedwithanother,e.g.,“Johnboughtacatandhiswifekilledher.”“Embedding”referstotheprocessofconstructionwhereoneclauseisincludedinthesentence(ormainclause)insyntacticsubordination,e.g.,“Isawthemanwhohadkilledachimpanzee.”By“recursiveness”wemeanthatthereistheoreticallynolimittothenumberoftheembeddedclausesinacomplexsentence.Thisistruealsowithnominalandadverbialclauses,e.g.,“Isawthemanwhokilledacatwho…aratwhich…that…”1.61.Whatishypotacticrelation?Whatisparatacticrelation?“Hypotacticrelation”referstoaconstructionwhereconstituentsarelinkedbymeansofconjunction,e.g.“Heboughteggsandmilk.”“Paratacticrelation”referstoconstructionswhichareconnectedbyjuxtaposition,punctuationorintonation,e.g.,“Heboughttea,coffee,eggsandmilk”(payattentiontothefirstthreenounsconnectedwithout“and”).1.62.Whatissemantics?“Semantics”referstothestudyofthecommunicationofmeaningthroughlanguage.Orsimply,itisthestudyofmeaning.1.63.Whatismeaning?Thoughitisdifficulttodefine,“meaning”hasthefollowingmeaning:(1)anintrinsicproperty;(2)theconnotationofaword;(3)thewordsputafteradictionaryentry;(4)thepositionanobjectoccupiesinasystem;(5)whatthesymboluseractuallyrefersto;(6)whatthesymbolusershouldreferto;(7)whatthesymboluserbelievesheisreferringto;(8)whatthesymbolinterpreterrefersto;(9)whatthesymbolinterpreterbelievesitrefersto;(10)whatthesymbolinterpreterbelievestheuserrefersto…linguistsarguedabout“meaningofmeaning”fiercelyintheresultof“realism”,“conceptualism/mentalism”,“mechanism”,“contextualism”,“behaviorism”,“functionalism”,etc.(seeHuZhuanglinetal.,pp140-142).Mentionoughttobemadeofthe“SemanticTriangleTheory”ofOgden&Richards.Weuseawordandthelistenerknowswhatitreferstobecause,accordingtothetheory,theyhaveacquiredthesameconcept/referenceofthewordusedandoftheobject/referent.1.64.Whatisthedifferencebetweenmeaning,concept,connotation,sense,implication,denotation,\nnotation,reference,implicatureandsignification?(1)“Meaning”referstotheassociationoflanguagesymbolswiththerealword.(2)“Concept”or“notion”istheimpressionofobjectsinpeople’smind.(3)“connotation”istheimpliedmeaning,similarto“implication”and“implicature”.(4)“Sense”isthelexicalpositioninwhichawordfindsitself.(5)“Denotation”,like“sense”,isnotdirectlyrelatedwithobjects,butmakestheabstractassumptionoftherealworld.(6)“Reference”istheword-objectrelationship.(7)“Implicature”,initsnarrowsense,referstoconversationalimplicatureachievedbyintentionallyviolatingoneofthefourCPmaxims(seeI.122-123).(8)“Signification”,incontrastwith“value”,meanthemeaningofsituationmaynothaveanycommunicativevalue,like“What’sthis?1.65.WhatistheSemantic/SemioticTriangle?OgdenandRichardspresentedtheclassic“SemanticTriangle”asmanifestedinthefollowingdiagram,inwhichthe“symbol”or“form”referstothelinguisticelements(word,sentence,etc.),the“referent”referstotheobjectintheworldofexperience,and“thought”or“reference”referstoconceptornotion.Thus,thesymbolawordsignifies“things”byvirtueofthe“concept”,associatedwiththeformofthewordinthemindofthespeakerofthelanguage.The“concept”thusconsideredismeaningoftheword.1.66.Whatiscontextualism?“Contextualism”isbasedonthepresumptionthatonecanderivemeaningfrom,orreduceitto,observablecontext:the“situationalcontext”andthe“linguisticcontext”.Everyutteranceoccursinaparticularspatio-temporalsituation,asthefollowingfactorsarerelatedtothesituationalcontext:(1)thespeakerandthehearer;(2)theactionstheyareperformingatthetime;(3)variousexternalobjectsandevents;(4)deicticfeatures.The“linguisticcontext”isanotheraspectofcontextualism.Itconsiderstheprobabilityofoneword’sco-occurrenceorcollocationwithanother,whichformspartofthemeaning,andanimportantfactorincommunication.1.67.Howmanykindsofmeaningdidlinguistsfindandstudy?(1)C.C.Fries(1952)makesatraditionaldistinctionbetweenlexicalmeaningandstructuralmeaning.Theformerisexpressedbythose“meaningful”partsofspeech,suchasnouns,verbs,adjectives,andadverbs,andisgiveninthedictionaryassociatedwithgrammar.Thelatterexpressesthedistinctionbetweenthesubjectandtheobjectofasentence,oppositionsofdefiniteness,tensethenumber,andthedifferencebetweenstatements,questionsandrequests.Inaword,“thetotallinguisticmeaningofanyutteranceconsistsofthelexicalmeaningoftheseparatewordsplussuchstructuralmeaning…”(2)G.Leech(1981)categorizessevenkindsofmeaning,fiveofwhicharebroughtunderthe“associativemeaning”(seethefollowingchart).(3)Differentfromthetraditionalandthefunctionalapproach,F.R.Palmer(1981)andJ.Lyons(1977)suggestwedrawadistinctionbetweensentencemeaningandutterancemeaning,theformerbeingdirectlypredictablefromthegrammaticalandlexicalfeaturesofthesentence,whilethelatterincludesallthevarioustypesofmeaningnotnecessarilyassociatedthereto.\n1.68.Whatissynonymy?“Synonymy”isusedtomeansamenessorclosesimilarityofmeaning.Dictionarymakers(lexicographers)relyontheexistenceofsynonymyfortheirdefinitions.Somesemanticiansmaintain,however,thattherearenorealsynonyms,becausetwoormorewordsnamedsynonymsareexpectedwithoutexceptiontodifferfromoneanotherinoneofthefollowingaspects:(1)Inshadesofmeaning(e.g.,finish,complete,close,conclude,terminate,finalize,end,etc.);(2)Instylisticmeaning(see1.67);(3)Inemotivemeaning(oraffectivemeaning,see1.67);(4)Inrangeofuse(orcollocativemeaning,see1.67);(5)InBritishandAmericanEnglishusages[e.g.,autumn(BrE),fall(AmE)].SimeonPottersaid,“Languageislikedress.Wevaryourdresstosuittheoccasion.Wedonotappearatafriend’ssilver-weddinganniversaryingardeningclothes,nordowegopuntingontheriverinadinner-jacket.”Thismeansthelearninglfsynonymsisimportanttoanyonethatwishestousehislanguagefreelyandwell.1.69.WhatisAntonymy?Howmanykindsofantonymsarethere?Theterm“antonymy”isusedforoppositionsofmeaning;wordsthatstandoppositeinmeaningarecalled“antonyms”,oropposites,whichfallintherecategories1)gradableantonyms(e.g,good-bad);(2)complementaryantonyms(e.g.,single-mar-ried);(3)relationalantonyms(e.g.,buy-sell).1.70.Whatishyponymy?Whatisahyponym?Whatissuperordinate?“Hyponymy”involvesusinthenotionofmeaninginclusion.Itisamatterofclassmembership.Thatistosay,whenXidakindofY,thelowertermXisthe“hyponym”,andtheuppertermYisthe“superordinate”.Twoormorehyponymssharingthesameonesuperordinatearecalled“co-hyponyms”.Forexample,“flower”isthesuperordinateof“tulip”,“violet”and“rose”,whicharetheco-hyponymsof“flower”.1.71.Whatispolysemy?Whatishomonymy?“Polysemy”referstothesemanticphenomenonthatawordmayhavethanonemeaning.Forexample,“negative”,means(1)astatementsayingormeaning“no”,(2)arefusalordenial,(3)oneofthefollowingwordsandexpressions:no,not,nothing,never,notatall,etc.,(4)anegativephotographorfilm.Butwecansometimeshardlytellifaformhasseveralmeaningsoritisadifferentwordtakingthisform;hencethedifferencebetweenpolysemyandhomonymy.1.72.Whatisentailment?“Entailment”canbeillustratedbythefollowingtwosentences,withSentenceAentailingSentenceB:A:Hemarriedablondeheiress.B:Hemarriedablonde.Intermsoftruthvalue,thefollowingrelationshipsexistbetweenthesetwosentences:(1)WhenAistrue,Bisnecessarilytrue;(2)WhenBisfalse,too;(3)whenAisfalse,Bmaybetrueorfalse;(4)WhenBistrue,Amaybetrueorfalse.Entailmentisbasicallyasemanticrelationorlogical\nimplication,butwehavetoassumeco-referenceof“He”insentenceAandsentenceB,beforewehaveAentailB.1.73.Whatispresupposition?Similartoentailment,“presupposition”isasemanticrelationshiporlogicalconnection.Theabove-mentioned“WhenphraseNo.1”isalsotruewithpresupposition.Forexample:A:Thegirlhemarriedwasanheiress.B:Hemarriedagirl.Butthereisanimportantdifference:Presuppositionisnotsubjecttonegation,i.e.,whenAisfalse,Bisstilltrue.Otherstatementsaboutthetruthvalueinpresuppositionare:(1)WhenBistrue,Acaneitherbetrueorfalse;(2)WhenBisfalse,Ahasnotruthvalueatall.Presuppositiondoesnothavetobefoundbetweentwopropositions.Anexampleinpointis:“Whendidyoustopbeatingyourwife?”Thispresupposesthathehasbeenbeatinghiswife.1.74.Whatiscomponentialanalysis?“Componentialanalysis”definesthemeaningofalexicalelementintermsofsemanticcomponents.Forexample,wemay“clip”thefollowingwords“Man”,“Woman”,“Boy”and“Girl”sothatwehaveonlyseparatepartsofthem.Man:+Human+Adult+MaleWoman:+Human+Adult-MaleBoy:+Human-Adult+MaleGirl:+Huamn-Adult-Male1.75.Whatispredicationanalysis?Whatisaone-placepredicate?Whatisatwo-placepredicate?Whatisano-placepredicate?Whataredown-gradedpredications?“Predicationanalysis”isanewapproachforsententialmeaninganalysis.“Predication”isusuallyconsideredanimportantcommoncategorysharedbypropositions,questions,commands,etc.Predicationistobreakdownthesentenceintotheirsmallerconstituents:argument(logicalparticipant)andpredicate(relationelement).The“predicate”isthemajororpivotalelementgoverningtheargument.Wemaynowdistinguisha“two-placepredicate”(whichgovernstwoarguments,e.g.,subjectandobject),a“one-placepredicate”(whichgovernsoneargument,i.e.,subject)anda“no-placepredicate”thathassimplynoargument(norealsubjectorobject).1.76.Whatisalogicaloperator?(1)“Logicaloperator”makeonlyonekindofthe“logicalfactors”or“logicalmeans”,othersbeing“definiteness”,“coreference”,“tense”and“time”,sincepredicationisnotthewholeofasentenceorproposition.Allthesefactorsplayapartinprepositionalactualizationofthepredication---thepiningofapredicationdownaclaimaboutreality.(2)Exampleoflogicaloperatorsare“not”,“and”,“or”,“some”,“if”,“false”,etc.Theterm“logicaloperation”reflectsthefactthatthesemeaningelementsareoftenthoughtofasperformingoperations,controllingelementsofthesemanticsystem,sotospeak.1.77.Whyiswritingimportant?Whyisspeechconsideredpriortowriting?(1)Languagecantaketheformofspeechorwriting,theformerusingsoundasmediumandthe\nlatteremployingvisualsymbols.Noonecouldtellwhenmankindfirstspoke;norcouldpeopletellwhenmankinddevelopedthefirstwriting.Awritingsystemconsistsofagraphemespluscharacteristicfeaturesoftheiruse,resultinginthediversionofthewritingforms;wordwriting,syllabicwritingandsoundwriting.(3)Itiswidelyconsideredthatspeechistheprimarymedium,andwritingthesecondarymedium.Butthiscomparativediminutiondoesnotmeanthatwritingisunimportant.Withtheshot-livedmemoryandthefinitecapacityofinformationstoring,writingisused,partlyforcompensationandpartlyforbettercommunication.Wecannottrustthenegotiationcounterpartsoweturntothewritingandsigningofanagreement.Writingleadspeopletotheacmeofscience,studyandresearch,andtotheultimatejoyofliterature1.78.Whatisapictogram?Whatisanideogram?(1)A“pictogram”referstoaninscriptionrepresentingthefeaturesofaphysicalobject.TheHebrewandtheChineseorthographystillreflectstracesoftheirpictorialorigin.Forinstance,theletter“a”(aleph)imitatestheheadofanoxandtheletter“b”(beth)imitatesahorse.And“niú”,“mǎ”,“hǔ”andhundredsmoreofChinesewordsderivedfrom,andstillkeepthepictorialresemblanceto,theshapesofthethingsorobjects.(2)Theadvantageofpictogramsisthattheycanbeeasilyunderstoodbyanyone.Thatexplainswhyinternationalroadsignsandpublic-toiletsignsmakeawideuseofthem.(4)An“ideogram”meansanideapictureorideawriting.Inordertoexpresstheattributeofanobjectorconceptsassociatedwithit,thepictogram’smeaninghadtobeextended.Forinstance,apictureofthesundoesnotnecessarilyrepresenttheobjectitself,butconnotes“warmth”,“heat”,“light”,“daytime”,etc.Inspiteofitsdisadvantages,thelaterformofideogramsturnedouttobelinguisticsymbols,symbolsforthesoundsoftheseobjects.Theprocessiscalledthe“RebusPrinciple”indicatingthatwritingislikeariddlecomposedofwordsorsyllablesdepictedbysymbolsorpicturesthatsuggestthesoundofthewordsorsyllablestheyrepresent.1.79.Whatiswordwriting?Whatissoundwriting?Whatissyllabicwriting?(1)Wordwritingreferstothewritingsystembasedonideogramsand/orpictograms,likeChinese(see1.78).“Soundwriting”or“alphabeticwriting”,whichdominatestheworld,derivedformtheLatinalphabetwithmildadjustments.MostoftheEuropeanalphabetsbelongtothesoundwritingsystem,e.g.,Spanish,German,French,English,etc.(2)“Syllabicwriting”isaword-syllabuswriting,developedbytheEgyptians.Japaneseisatypicalsyllabic-writinglanguage,thoughderivedfromChinese,aSino-Tibetanlanguage.TheJapanesemodifiedtheChinesecharacterstheyhadborrowedfromancientChinasothattheJapanesesyllables(tothenumberoffifty)wereeachrepresented,eitherbywhatiscalled“hiragana”orbywhatisname“katakana”.1.80.Whatisanalphabet?Whatisasyllabary?An“alphabet”referstothelettersorsignsrepresentingspeechsoundsusedinwritingalanguage,arrangedinaconventionalorder.A“syllabary”referstoasetortableorsystemofwrittencharactersrepresentingsyllablesratherthanindividualsounds1.81.Whatisagrapheme?Whatisorthography?\n(1)A“grapheme”istheminimalconstructiveunitinthewritingsystemofalanguage.TheEnglishgraphemeAisrepresentedbyA,α,aetc.(3)Orthographymeanscorrectspelling,spellingrulesorattemptstoimprovespelling.(4)1.82.Whatisreference?“Reference”,asfaraswritingisconcerned,meansthatinasoundwritingsystemthegraphemesandthephonemesareexpectedtobuildupandtokeepupco-reference.Forinstance,theReferenceoftheEnglishgraphemeBgenerallyis“b”andthatofthegraphemeXis“ks”.Theproblemwithreferenceisthatmorethanonephonemecanberepresentedbyonesingleletterorgrapheme.ThegraphemeO,forexample,canrepresentitsitsdifferentcorrespondingphonemesasin:so[],money[],together[],sob[].Forreferenceusedinthesenseof“sense”or“meaning”,placereferbackto1.64.1.83.Whatisaffixation,conversionandcompounding?(1)”Affixation”isthemorphologicalprocesswherebygrammaticaloflexicalinformationisaddedtothebase(rootorstem).Ithasbeentheoldestandthemostproductiveword-formationmethodintheEnglishlanguageandsomeotherEuropeanlanguages.“Prefixation”meansadditionofaprefixtomakeanewword,while“suffixation”meansaddingasuffixtoaword.Theword“unfaithful”isresultofbothprefixationandsuffixation.(2)“Conversion”(calledsometimes“fullconversion”)isaword-formationprocessbywhichawordisalteredfromonepartofspeechintoanotherwithouttheaddition(ordeletion)ofanymorpheme.“Partialconversion”isalsoalterationwhenawordofoneword-classappearsinafunctionwhichischaracteristicofanotherword-class,e.g.,“thewealthy”(=wealthypeople).(3)”Compounding”issocomplexaword-formationprocessasfarasEnglishisconcernedthatthereisnoformalcriterionthatcanbeusedforthedefinitionofit,thoughitmaymeansimplythattwowordsormorecometogetherusedasonelexicalitem,like“dustbin”.1.84.Whatisblending,abbreviationandbackformation?(1)”Blending”isarelativelycomplexformofcompoundinginwhichtworootsareblendedbyjoiningtheinitialpartofthefirstrootandthefinalpartofthesecondroot,orbyjoiningtheinitialpartsofthetworoots,e.g.,smog→smoke+fog,boatel→boat+hotel,etc.(2)”Abbreviation”,alsocalledinsomecases“clipping”,meansthatawordthatseemsunnecessarilylongisshortened,usuallybyclippingeitherthefrontorthebackpartofit,e.g.,telephone→phone,professor→prof.,etc.Broadlyspeaking,abbreviationincludesacronymsthataremadeupfromthefirstlettersofthelongnameofanorganization,e.g.,WorldBank→WB,EuropeanEconomicCommunity→EEC,etc.Otherexamplesofacronymscanbefoundwithterminologies,tobereadlikeoneword,e.g.,radiodetectingandranging→radar[].TestofEnglishasaForeignLanguage→TOEFL[],etc.(3)“Back-formation”referstoanabnormaltypeofword-formationwhereashorterwordisderivedbydetectinganimaginedaffixfromalongerformalreadypresentinthelanguage.Itisaspecialkindofmetanalyais,combinedwithanalogicalcreation(see1.85),e.g.,editor→edit,enthusiasm→enthuse,etc.1.85.Whatisanalogicalcreation?Whatisborrowing?\nTheprocessof“analogicalcreation”,asoneoftheEnglishtendenciesinEnglishword-formation,referstothephenomenonthatanewwordoranewphraseiscoinedbyanalogybetweenanewlycreatedoneandanexistingone.Forexample,“marathon”appearedattheFirstOlympicGamesandbyanalogymodernEnglishcreatedsuchwordsas“telethon”,“talkthon”,etc.Analogymaycreatesinglewords(e.g.,sunrise-moonrise,earthrise,etc.;earthquake-starquake,youthquake,etc.)andphrases(e.g.,environmentalpollution-soundpollution,airpollution,culturalpollution,etc.).“Borrowing”meanstheEnglishlanguageborrowedwordsfromforeignlanguages,whichfallinfourcategories:aliens,denizens,translation-loansandsemanticborrowings.“Aliens”areforeignloansthatstillkeeptheiralienshapes,i.e.,morphologicalandphonologicalfeatures,e.g.,“elite”,“coupdétat”,“coupé”,etc.(fromFrench).“Deniens”,alsoforeignwords,havetransformedtheirforeignappearance,i.e.,theyhavebeenAngolcized(orAmericanized),e.g.,“get”(aScandinavianborrowing),“theater”(aFrenchloan),etc.“Hybrids”arealsodenizens,becausetheyarewordsmadeupoftwopartsbothfromforeignsoil,suchas“sociology”(“socio-”fromFrenchand–logyfromGreek).“Translation-loans”arewordsimportedbywayoftranslation,e.g.,“blackhumor”fromFrench(“humornoir”),“foundobject”formFrench,too(“objecttrouve”),etc.Finally,semanticborrowingshaveacquirednewmeaningundertheinfluenceoflanguageorlanguagesotherthanthesourcetongue.Forexample,“gift”mean“thepriceofawife”inOldEnglish(450-1150AD),andafterthesemanticborrowingofthemeaningof“giftorpresent”oftheScandinavianterm“gipt”,itmeantandstillmeans“gift”inthemodernsenseofit.1.86.Whatisassimilation,dissimilationandmetathesis?(1)“Assimilation”referstochangeofasoundastheresultoftheinfluenceofanadjacentsound,whichiscalled“contact”or“contiguous”assimilation.Theassimitativeprocessesatwordinlanguagecouldbeexplainedbythe“theoryofleasteffort”,i.e.,inspeakingwetendtoexertaslittleeffortaspossiblesothatwedonotwanttovarytoooftenplacesofarticulationinutteringasequenceofsounds.Assimilationtakesplaceinquickspeechveryoften.Inexpressionssuchas“immobile”,“illegal”,etc.,thenegativeprefixesshouldbeorhavebeen“in-”etymologically.(2)“Dissimilation”,oppositeofassimilation,istheinfluenceexercisedbyonesoundsegmentuponthearticulationofanothersound,sothatthesoundsbecomelessalikethanexpected.Astherearetwo[r]soundsintheLatinword“peregrines”,forinstance,thefirstsegmenthadtodissimilateinto[l],hencetheEnglishword“pilgrim”.(3)“Metathesis”isaprocessinvolvinganalterationinthesequenceofsounds.Metathesishadoriginallybeenaperformanceerror,whichwasoverlookedandacceptedbythespeechcommunity.Forinstance,theword“bird”was“bird”inOldEnglish.Theword“ask”usedtobepronounced[ask]inOldEnglish,asstilloccursinsomeEnglishdialects.84.Whatispragmatics?Pragmaticscanbesimplydefinedasthestudyoflanguageinuse.Itisconcernedwiththestudyofmeaningascommunicatedbyaspeaker(orwriter)andinterpretedbyalistener(orreader).Ithas,consequently,moretodowiththeanalysisofwhatpeoplemeanbytheirutterancesthanwhatthewordsorphrasesinthoseutterancesmightmeanbythemselves.\n85.Whatisspeechacttheory?SpeechacttheorywasproposedbyJ.L.AustinandhasbeendevelopedbyJ.R.Searle.Basically,theybelievethatlanguageisnotonlyusedtoinformortodescribethings,itisoftenusedto“dothings”,toperformacts.Austinsuggeststhreebasicsensesinwhichinsayingsomethingoneisdoingsomethingandthreekindsofactsareperformedsimultaneously:1)Locutionaryact:theutteranceofasentencewithdeterminatesenseandreference;2)Illocutionaryact:themakingofastatement,offer,promise,etc,inutteringasentence,byvirtueoftheconventionalforceassociatedwithit;3)Perlocutionaryact:thebringingaboutofeffectsontheaudiencebymeansofutteringthesentence,sucheffectsbeingspecialtothecircumstances.86.What’sSearle’sclassificationofillocutionaryacts?Searlesuggestsfivebasiccategoriesofillocutionaryacts:Assertives:sentencesthatcommitthespeakertothetruthofsomething.Typicalcasesare"Ithinkthetrainismoving"and"I'msureJohnhasstolenthebook".Thedegreeofcommitmentvariesfromstatementtostatement.Thecommitmentissmallin"IguessJohnhasstolenthebook"butverystrongin"IsolemnlyswearthatJohnhasstolenthebook".Directives:sentencesbywhichthespeakertriestogetthehearertodosomething."Ibegyoutogivemesomehelp"and"Iorderyoutodoitrightnow"arebothattemptstogetsomethingdonebythehearer.Amongtheverbsthatfallintothisgroupare"ask","plead","entreat","command",or"advise".Commissives:sentencesthatcommitthespeakertosomefutureaction.Promisesandoffersarecharacteristicoftheseacts.Interestingly,warningisalsoacommissive,asin"Ifyoudothatagain,I'llhityou",becauseitalsocommitsthespeakertodoingsomething.Expressives:sentencesthatexpressthespeaker'spsychologicalstateaboutsomething.Verbstypicallyusedforthiscategoryare"thank","congratulate","apologize","welcome","deplore".Declaratives:sentencesthatbringaboutimmediatechangeinexistingstateofaffairs.Assoonasanemployersaystoanemployee"Youarefired",theemployeeloseshisjob.Verbsoftenusedfordeclarationsare"name","christen","nominate","point",or"declare".87.Whatisthecooperativeprinciple?H.P.Grice(1975)believesthattheremustbesomemechanismsgoverningtheproductionandcomprehensionoftheseutterances.Hesuggeststhatthereisasetorassumptionsguidingtheconductofconversation.ThisiswhathecallstheCooperativePrinciple.Heformulatestheprincipleanditsmaximsasfollows:Makeyourcontributionsuchasisrequired,atthestageatwhichitoccurs,bytheacceptedpurposeordirectionoftheexchangeinwhichyouareengaged.TheMaximofQualityTrytomakeyourcontributiononethatistrue,specifically(i)donotsaywhatyoubelievetobefalse;(ii)donotsaythatforwhichyoulackadequateevidence.TheMaximofQuantity(i)Makeyourcontributionasinformativeasisrequiredforthecurrentpurposeofthe\nexchange;(ii)donotmakeyourcontributionmoreinformativethanisrequired.TheMaximofRelevanceMakeyourcontributionrelevant.TheMaximofMannerBeperspicuousandspecific:(i)avoidobscurity;(ii)avoidambiguity;(iii)bebrief;(iv)beorderly.88.Whatisappliedlinguistics?Inthebroadestsense,appliedLinguisticsreferstothestudyoflanguageandlinguisticsinrelationtopracticalproblems,suchaslexicography,translation,speechpathology,etc.Appliedlinguisticsusesinformationfromsociology,psychology,anthropology,andinformationtheoryaswellasfromlinguisticsinordertodevelopitsowntheoreticalmodelsoflanguageandlanguageuse,andthenusesthisinformationandtheoryinpracticalareassuchassyllabusdesign,speechtherapy,languageplanning,machinetranslation,variousfacetsofcommunicationresearch,andmanyothers.Inthenarrowsense,appliedlinguisticsreferstothestudyofsecond/foreignlanguagelearningandteaching.Itservesasamediatingareawhichinterpretstheresultsoflinguistictheoriesandmakesthemuser-friendlytothelanguageteacherandlearner.89.WhatisSapir-WhorfHypothesis?TheSapir-Whorftheory,namedaftertheAmericanlinguistsEdwardSapirandBenjaminLeeWhorf,isaveryinfluentialbutcontroversialtheoryconcerningtherelationshipbetweenlanguage,thoughtandculture.Whatthishypothesissuggestsislikethis:ourlanguagehelpsmouldourwayofthinkingand,consequently,differentlanguagesmayprobablyexpressouruniquewaysofunderstandingtheworld.Followingthisargument,twoimportantpointscouldbecapturedinthistheory.Ontheonehand,languagemaydetermineourthinkingpatterns;ontheother,similaritybetweenlanguagesisrelative,thegreatertheirstructuraldifferentiationis,themorediversetheirconceptualizationoftheworldwillbe.Forthisreason,thishypothesishasalternativelybeenreferredtoasLinguisticDeterminismandLinguisticRelativity.Nowadays,fewpeoplewouldpossiblytendtoaccepttheoriginalformofthistheorycompletely.Consequently,twoversionsoftheSapir-WhorfHypothesishavebeendeveloped,astrongversionandaweakversion.Thestrongversionofthetheoryreferstotheclaimtheoriginalhypothesissuggests,emphasizingthedecisiveroleoflanguageastheshaperofourthinkingpatterns.Theweakversionofthishypothesis,however,isamodifiedtypeofitsoriginaltheory,suggestingthatthereisacorrelationbetweenlanguage,cultureandthought,butthecross-culturaldifferencesthusproducedinourwaysofthinkingarerelative,ratherthancategorical.90.Whatissociolinguistics?Sociolinguisticsstudiesrelationshipsbetweenlanguageandvariousaspectsofsociety.Onemajorfocusofsociolinguisticsisthestudyoflanguagevariation,thatis,thewayslanguagediffers\nacrosssocialsettings.91.Whatarelanguagevarietiesanddialects?Languagevarietyisabroadtermthatcanbeappliedtoanylanguagesystem.Forexample,entirelanguagessuchasEnglish,Japanese,Flemish,andMalaysiancanbereferredtoaslanguagevarieties.Languagevarietiesalso(andperhapsmorecommonly)refertodifferentformsofthesamelanguage.Suchvarietiesareoftencalleddialects.Dialectsofalanguagemaybeassociatedwithdifferentgeographicalregions,forexample,Michigan,Mississippi,orLosAngeles,aswellaswithvarioussocialgroupsdefinedbysocioeconomicclass,culture,and/orethnicity.Thus,wespeakofregionaldialectsandsocialdialects.92.Whatarepidginsandcreoles?Twosortsoflanguagevarietiesthatdonotfittypicallanguageordialectdefinitionsarepidginsandcreoles.Theseinterestingvarietiesevolveastheresultofcontactbetweenmultiplelanguages.Pidgins,forexample,developwhenspeakersfromdifferentlanguagesneedacommonlanguageforcommunication,suchasfortrade.Circumstancesmaynotallowspeakerstoselectoneoftheirownlanguagesasalinguafranca,orcommonlanguage,sospeakerscreateasystemthatblendsvariouspartsoftheirdifferentlanguages.Weoftenrefertothesemixedlanguagesystems,orpidgins,asEnglish-based,Portuguese-based,andsoforthtoindicatewhatlanguagehassuppliedthebulkofthevocabularytothepidgin.ExamplesofEnglish-basedpidginsincludeTokPisin,spokeninPapuaNewGuinea,andCameroonPidgin,spokeninCameroon,Africa.Theseandotherpidginsdifferfrom"normal"languagevarietiesinthattheyaresimplifiedintheirphonological,lexical,andstructuralfeatures.Pidginsareusuallyauxiliarylanguages;thatis,pidginspeakerstendtohavesomeotherlanguageastheir"mothertongue"andtypicallyusepidginsforothersocialfunctions.Oftenwhentheoriginalneedforthepidgindisappears,sodoesthepidgin.Insomecases,however,theroleofthepidgingreatlyexpandsasaspeechcommunityacquiresthepidginasitsprimarylanguage.Whenthisoccurs,thepidginturnsintosomethingelse--acreole.Structurally,creoles(e.g.theFrench-basedHaitianCreole,theEnglish-basedJamaicancreole,andmanyothers)aredistinguishedfrompidginsbytheirlargervocabulariesandmorecomplexgrammaticalpatterns.93.Whatstagesdochildrengothroughinacquiringalanguage?Ifyouhaveeverbeenaroundbabies,youhaveundoubtedlynoticedthattheybegin"vocalizing"rightaway.However,itisnotuntillaterthattheirutterancesbegintoreflectclearerlinguisticfeatures.Ataboutsixweeks,forexample,babiesbegincooingvowelsounds.Later,atroughlysixmonths,childrensoundevenmorelanguage-likeastheybeginbabblingstreamsofconsonantsandvowelswithpatternedsyllablestructure(e.g."babababa")aswellaswithintonationfeaturesofthelanguagebeinglearned.Thus,someofchildren’sbabblesmaysoundalittlelikerealsentencesbecauseoftheirmelodies,orprosody.Aroundoneyear,childrenreachamajormilestone—thefirstword,ortheonewordstage.Althoughchildren’searlywordsmaynotsoundexactlylikeadultwords(e.g."baba"forbottle),theynonethelesshaverealmeaningforchildren.Earlyvocabulariestendtoconsistofconcretewordsdescribingthings,people,andactionsinthechild’simmediateenvironment(e.g."kitty,""daddy,""juice,""mommy,""go"),aswellassocialinteractivewords(e.g."hi,""bye").\nChildren’sutterancesatthistimeareoftencalledholophrasesbecauseasinglewordmayrepresentthemeaningofanentireadultsentence.Forexample,"doggie?"witharisingintonationmightmean"Isthatadog?"Asonemightpredict,thenextmajorstageoflanguagedevelopmentisthetwo-wordstage,beginningroughlyaroundtwoyearsold.Herechildrenbegintoexpressrelationshipsthroughlanguage(e.g."mommyshoe,""babysleep,""teddybed,""kickball")aswellasreflectawarenessofbasicsyntacticstructuresintheirlanguage.Forexample,achildwhosays"kickball"showsunderstanding,albeitunconscious,thatverbs(e.g."kick")gobeforedirectobjectnouns(e.g."ball")inEnglish.Intheirnextstageofdevelopment,childrenbegintocombinethreeormorewordsinsentences.Thismulti-wordmilestoneisoftencalledthetelegraphicstagebecausetheutteranceschildrenproduceduringthistimesoundliketelegrams.Considerthefollowingtelegraphicsentences:"Katiewalkschool,""Jeremyneedthat,""Cathybuildtwohouse."Whatdoyounoticeismissingfromthesesentences?Childrenduringthisstagetendtoleaveoutfunctionwords,suchasprepositions(e.g.the"to"inthefirstsentence),determiners,andauxiliaryverbs,aswellasaffixes(e.g.thethirdpersonsingular-son"need"andtheplural-son"house").Theseomittedfunctionwordsandaffixesareknownasgrammaticalmorphemes.Overthenextseveralyears,childrengraduallyaddinotherpiecesofthelanguage,suchasgrammaticalmorphemes,andtheirsentencesbecomelongerandmorecomplex.Theybegin,forexample,toproducefullquestionsandnegativestatements,aswellassentenceswithmultipleclauses.Amazingly,bythetimechildrenarefourorfiveyearsold,theyhavemasteredmostofthesoundsandstructuralpatternsoftheirlanguage.Ifyouknowanykindergartners,youknowthattheirlanguageisquitedeveloped!