语言学与应用语言学2004试卷答案 6页

北京外国语大学2004年硕士研究生入学考试语言学与应用语言学专业试卷IMPORTANT!!!AllthequestionsaretobeansweredinEnglishontheanswersheetsprovided．1．ShakespearehasJulietsay：What’sinaname?ThatwhichwecallaroseByanyothernamewouldsmellassweet．Whatdotheabovelinessaytoyouabouttherelationshipbetweentheform(sounds)andmeaning(concept)ofawordinspokenlanguage?ExplainwithpositiveevidenceaswellasexceptionsfromtheEnglishlanguage．(15points)2．Howmuchdoesourlanguageinfluencethewaywethink?Howdeeplydolanguageandcultureinterpenetrateandinfluenceoneanother?Thesequestionsaboutlanguagehavefascinatedthinkersthroughouttheages．Forexample，JohannGottfriedHerderandWilhelmyonHumboldtintheGermanRomantictraditionregardedlanguageasaprismaorgridspreadoverthingsintheworldsothateachlanguagereflectsadifferentworldview．Writeashortessaytoexplainyourpositiononthisview．(35points)3．IsEnglishalanguagethatusesaphoneticalphabetsystem?Explainbrieflywhyorwhynotwithexamples．(15points)4．Supposeyouweregivenfourcards，eachofwhichhadadifferentphonemeofEnglishprintedonit：kblINowarrangethesecardstoformallthe"possible"wordsthatthesefourphonemescouldform．Discusswhatrulesyouhavefollowedt0comeupwiththesewords．(20points)5．Paraphraseeachofthefollowingsentencesintwodifferentwaystoshowthatyouunderstandtheambiguityinvolved：(10points)a．Dickfinallydecidedontheboat．b．Theprofessor'sappointmentwasshocking．c．Thegovernorisadirtystreetfighter．d．TerryloveshiswifeandsodoI．e．Nosmokingsectionavailable．6．Itisarguedthatgrammaticalityjudgmentsdonotdependonwhetherthesentenceismeaningfulornot,asshownbythesentence"Colorlessgreenideassleepfuriously”，whichdoesnotmakemuchsensebutissyntacticallywellformed．Howwouldyourespondtothisargument?(25points)7．TOEFLoftenrequirestheexamineestospecifythesituationalcontextafterlisteningtoaconversation．Seeforexampleatape-scriptbelowforanexamitem．VoiceA(male)：Howmuchisthistie?VoiceB(female)：FortyVoiceC(male)：Wheredoesthisconversationmostprobablytakeplace?WhatdoyouthinkistheTOEFLpeople’sbeliefaboutwhatconstituteslinguisticcompetenceandhowlinguisticcompetencecanbetested?(30points)\n参考答案：北京外国语大学2004年硕士研究生入学考试语言学与应用语言学专业试卷IMPORTANT!!!AllthequestionsaretobeansweredinEnglishontheanswersheetsprovided．1．ShakespearehasJulietsay：What’sinaname?ThatwhichwecallaroseByanyothernamewouldsmellassweet．Whatdotheabovelinessaytoyouabouttherelationshipbetweentheform(sounds)andmeaning(concept)ofawordinspokenlanguage?ExplainwithpositiveevidenceaswellasexceptionsfromtheEnglishlanguage．(15points)Thelinessaidaboveshowthattherelationshipbetweentheform(sounds)andmeaning(concept)ofawordinspokenlanguageisarbitraryinnature.Thatmeansthereisnologicalconnectionbetweenforms(sounds)andmeaning(concept).Differentsoundsareusedtorefertothesameobjectindifferentlanguages.Soundsarejustsymbols;theyareassociatedwithobjects,actions,ideas,etc.byconvention.Inthisexample,therosecanbecalledbymanynamesindifferentlanguagesbutitssmellneverchanges.Anotherexample,differentlanguageshavedifferentformsforreferringto‘dog’inEnglish,suchasChinese‘狗（gou）’,French‘chien(n.m.)’.Whilelanguageisarbitrarybynature,therearesomeexceptionsaswell.ThebestexamplesinEnglisharetheonomatopoeticwordsandcompoundwords.Forexample,someonomatopoeticwords‘rumble’,‘crash’,‘crackle’‘bang’areutteredlikethesoundstheydescribe,thusseemtohaveanaturalbasis.Besides,somecompoundwordsarealsonotentirelyarbitrary.Forexamplewhile‘photo’and‘copy’arebotharbitrary,thecompoundword‘photocopy’isnotentirelyarbitrary,thusseemtobemotivated.Anyhow,non-arbitrarywordsmakeuponlyasmallpercentageofthevocabularyofalanguage.2．Howmuchdoesourlanguageinfluencethewaywethink?Howdeeplydolanguageandcultureinterpenetrateandinfluenceoneanother?Thesequestionsaboutlanguagehavefascinatedthinkersthroughouttheages．Forexample，JohannGottfriedHerderandWilhelmyonHumboldtintheGermanRomantictraditionregardedlanguageasaprismaorgridspreadoverthingsintheworldsothateachlanguagereflectsadifferentworldview．Writeashortessaytoexplainyourpositiononthisview．(35points)Humanshaveauniquelinguisticsystemforcommunicationthatservesastheprimaryvehicleforexpressingthoughts.Languageandthoughtmaybeviewedastwoindependentcirclesthatdevelopalongtwodifferentroutesbutoverlapinsomeparts,wherelanguageandthoughtareconsistentwitheachother.Butlanguageisnottheonlymeansofexpressingthought.Asfortherelationshipbetweenlanguageandthethought,wethinkthatlanguagedoesnotdeterminethewaywethinkbutinfluencethewayweperceivetheworldandrecallthings,andaffectstheeasewithwhichweperformmentaltasks.Thatis,languagemaybeusedtoprovidenewideas,bringaboutachangeinbeliefsandvalues,solveproblems,andkeeptrackofthingsinmemory.Forexample,awell-developedvocabularymaywellassistusinlearningtheconceptsthelexiscovers.Werecallthingsmoreeasilywhentheycorrespondtoreadilyavailablewordsorphrases.Itiscertainlyeasierforustomakeaconceptualdistinctionifitneatlycorrespondstoaparticularlexicalitemavailableinourlanguage.Whenwelabelourexperiencewithlinguisticsymbols,ourlanguagewillinfluencehowwerememberandthinkaboutthoseexperiences,otherwisetherelationshipbetweenlanguageandperception,memoryorthinkingwillbegreatlyreduced.Intermsofrelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture,wecaninferthatalanguagenotonlyexpressesfacts,ideas,oreventsthatrepresentsimilarworldknowledgebyitspeople,butalsoreflectsthepeople’sattitudes,beliefs,worldoutlooks,andetc.Languageexpressesculturalreality.Ontheotherhand,aspeople’slanguageusesexpresstheirculturerepresentedbyitssocialconventions,normsandsocialappropriateness,theculturebothemancipatesandconstrainspeople\nsocially,historicallyandmetaphorically.Sharingasamecommunityculture,peoplehaveacquiredcommonwaysofviewingtheworldthroughtheirspeechinteractionswithothermembersofthesamegroup.Althoughlanguageandcultureareinextricablyintertwined,cultureisawidersystemthatcompletelyincludeslanguageasasubsystem.Theknowledgeandbeliefsthatconstituteapeople’sculturearehabituallyencodedandtransmittedinthelanguageofthepeople.Languageasanintegralpartofhumanbeing,permeateshisthinkingandwayofviewingtheworld,languagebothexpressesandembodiesculturalreality.Asfortherelationshipbetweenlanguageandworldviews,thelanguagesystemdoesnotnecessarilyprovidespecificsofone’sworldview.Allhumansshareageneralconceptualizingcapacity,Speakersofdifferentlanguagesarecapableofdistinguishingandrecognizingexperiencesaccordingtotheirrespectivelydifferentlinguisticcodingsystemsforthesameobjectiveworld.Ontheonehand,peoplespeakingthesamelanguagemayhavedifferentworldviews,includingpolitical,social,religious,scientificandphilosophicalviews.Ontheotherhand,peoplespeakingdifferentlanguagesmaysharesimilarworldviewsonaboveaspects.Moreover,onelanguagecandescribemanydifferentworldviews,asisevidentinthecaseofsuccessfultranslation.Accordingtothetheoriesshownabove,wecaninferthatJohannGottfriedHerderandWilhelmyonHumboldt’sviewhasbothmeritsandlimitations.First,theyseeclearlythatthereexistsarelationshipbetweenlanguageandthoughts.Second,theyassumethatlanguageinfluencessomuchthewaypeoplethinkthatpeoplewhothinkindifferentwayswillhavedifferentworldviews.Basedonthetheoreticalviewsabovewethinkthisviewisnotrationalinthisaspect.3．IsEnglishalanguagethatusesaphoneticalphabetsystem?Explainbrieflywhyorwhynotwithexamples．(15points)ThePhoneticAlphabetisasystemoflettersandsymbolsthatareusedtorepresenttheindividualsoundsofalanguage.Englishisalanguagethatusesaphoneticalphabetsystembecauseitisaphonographiclanguagebynature.Therearemainlythreetypesoflanguageconcerningitswritingsystem:ideographiclanguagewhichusesymbols(ideograms)torepresentwholewordsorconcepts(ideas),withChineseasanexample;syllabiclanguagewhichwordorconceptsarerepresentedbysyllable,withJapanesesyllabicsystemasanexample;phonographiclanguagewhichusesspecialalphabeticorothertypographicalcharacterstoexpressthesoundsofanactualspokenutteranceinwriting,withmanyEuropeanlanguagesasexamples.Englishusesalphabeticscripttorepresentcertainsingletypesound.Forexample,thesoundwhichiswrittenshinEnglishcanbeexpressedbysymbolsof[∫]ship;andthesoundthatiswritteninccanbeexpressedbythesymbolof[k]cup.4．Supposeyouweregivenfourcards，eachofwhichhadadifferentphonemeofEnglishprintedonit：kblINowarrangethesecardstoformallthe"possible"wordsthatthesefourphonemescouldform．Discusswhatrulesyouhavefollowedtocomeupwiththesewords．(20points)The“possible”wordsthatthefourphonemescouldformareblik,klib,bilkandkilb.ThephonologicalrulesofEnglishdeterminethepossiblecombinationofsound.First,anEnglishsyllableconsistsofOnsetandRhymethatcanfurtherbedividedintoNucleusandCoda.TheNucleusisnecessaryinasyllableandisrepresentedbyvowel.BoththeOnsetandtheRhymearenotnecessaryandcanberepresentedbyaconstantoraclusterofconstants.Ifthreeconsonantsclustertogetheratthebeginningofaword,thefirstphonememustbe/s/.Inthisexample,because\ntherearetwoStops,the/k/,/b/,/l/couldnotformpossibleconstantcluster.Secondly,thevowel/i/shouldnotfunctionasnucleusbecausethereisnocombinationofotherthreeconsonantsasCoda.Thirdly,thedegreeofsonorityofdifferentclassesofsoundsaffectstheirpossiblepositionsinthesyllable.InEnglishthesonorityscalefromthemostsonoroustotheleastsonorousisVowels^Approximants^Nasals^Fricatives^Stops.InapossibleEnglishsyllable,thesonorityofeachsoundgraduallyrisestoapeakattheNucleusandthenfallsattheCoda.Soifthefirstphonemeis/l/,thenthenextsoundmustbeavowel/i/,leaving/b/and/k/toformacluster.However,thephoneme/b/and/k/arebothStopsandcouldnotformaconstantcluster.Thisexcludesthewordsbeginningwith/l/.Fourthly,consideringtherulesdescribedabove,theonlypossiblearrangementsarewordsbeginningwith/k/,/b/,/kl/,or/bl/.Whenthefirstphonemeis/k/functioningasOnset,theNucleusisthevowel/i/andwith/lb/aspossibleconstantclusterTheOnsetcanbeaconstantclusterof/kl/with/i/asnucleusandasingleconstant/b/ascoda.Boththetwoarrangementsconformtothesonorityscaleofanacceptedsyllable.Similarly,‘bilk’and‘blik’arepossiblewordsformedbythefourphonemes.5．Paraphraseeachofthefollowingsentencesintwodifferentwaystoshowthatyouunderstandtheambiguityinvolved：(10points)a．Dickfinallydecidedontheboat．b．Theprofessor'sappointmentwasshocking．c．Thegovernorisadirtystreetfighter．d．TerryloveshiswifeandsodoI．e．Nosmokingsectionavailable．a.Firstinterpretation:Dickfinallymadeadecisionwhichisrelatedto‘boat’.Secondinterpretation:Dickfinallymadeadecisionattheplaceofaboat.b.Firstinterpretation:Theprofessorwasappointedbysomeoneelse,andthiseventwasshocking.Secondinterpretation:Theprofessorhadappointedsomeoneelseandhisactofappointingwasshocking.c.Firstinterpretation:Thegovernoralwaysundergoestheactoffightinginthestreetandhe/shehasadirtyreputation.Secondinterpretation:Thegovernorisasanitationworkerwhoisresponsibleforcleaningthedirtystreets.d.Firstinterpretation:TerryloveshiswifeandIlovemywife.Secondinterpretation:TerryloveshiswifeandIlovehiswifetoo.e.Firstinterpretation:Thesectionfornon-smokersisavailable.Secondinterpretation:Theavailablesectionforsmokersdoesnotexist.6．Itisarguedthatgrammaticalityjudgmentsdonotdependonwhetherthesentenceismeaningfulornot,asshownbythesentence"Colorlessgreenideassleepfuriously”，whichdoesnotmakemuchsensebutissyntacticallywellformed．Howwouldyourespondtothisargument?(25points)ThissentencewhosegrammariscorrectbutmeaningisnonsensicaliscomposedbyNoamChomsky.Atthesyntacticlevelitisacceptablewithasubjectnounmodifiedbyanadjectiveandaverbmodifiedbyanadverb.However,thesentencedoesnotmakesensebecausethingslogicallycannotbecolorlessandgreensimultaneously,ideascannotsleepandnothingcansleepfuriously.Suchasentence,whichisgrammaticallycorrectbutsemanticallyanomalous,illustratesthattherearetwoaspectsofmeaning:grammaticalmeaningandsemanticmeaning.Thegrammaticalmeaningofasentencereferstoitsgrammaticality,i.e.,itsgrammaticalwell-formednesswhichisgovernedbythegrammaticalrules.Whetherasentenceissemanticallymeaningfulisgovernedbyrulescalledselectionalrestrictions,i.e.,constraintsonwhatlexical\nitemscangowithothers.So,itwouldseemthatthestructureofsentencesandtheirmeaningaretwodistinctthings,representingtwodifferentlevelsoflanguageprocessing.Therulesforformingthestructureofsentencesarewhollyindependentanddifferentfromthoseruleswhichcomposethemeaningsofsentences.Chomskydemonstratesthatwordsaresymbolswithassociatedpropertiesthatwillnotfunctioniftheyarenotusedinthepropersemanticcontext.“Meaning”isnotdependentonthegrammarofacertainlanguage.Thatmeansthatthoughwordsmayfollowavalidgrammaticalstructure,theycannotformameaningfulsentence,orbeapartofameaningfulphrase,iftheyviolatetheirdefinedlinguisticcontexts.Thesecontextsplayanimportantroleintheinitialformingoflogicalsentences.Aseachwordissimplyasymboliccontainerforbothgreaterandsmallercontexts,theunderlyingstructurebywhichthesecontainersareorganized,hasimportantbearingonhowtheyarecomposedtoformsentences.Chomskyexplainedthatsentenceswiththepropersymboliccontainers(words)mayoftenberecomposedwithmoreusefulgrammaticalstructure—butmeaninglesssentences,regardlessiftheyhavepropergrammar,arehopelesslylostformeaning.Manyfunctionalistlinguistsandcognitivelinguistshavearguedagainstthenotionofmeaninglessnessinlanguage.Theypointtothefactthatthepurposeoflanguageistheexchangeofmeanings;whilesentenceslike'colorlessgreenideassleepfuriously'maybepossible,theyhardlyeverappearinnaturallyoccurringlanguage.7．TOEFLoftenrequirestheexamineestospecifythesituationalcontextafterlisteningtoaconversation．Seeforexampleatape-scriptbelowforanexamitem．VoiceA(male)：Howmuchisthistie?VoiceB(female)：FortyVoiceC(male)：Wheredoesthisconversationmostprobablytakeplace?WhatdoyouthinkistheTOEFLpeople’sbeliefaboutwhatconstituteslinguisticcompetenceandhowlinguisticcompetencecanbetested?(30points)（本题比较灵活，以下答案可供参考）TOEFL(TestofEnglishasaForeignLanguage)hasfordecadesbeenusedthroughouttheworldasastandardizedtestforassessingEnglishproficiency.Originally,TOEFLscoresareintendedtoprovideareliablemeasureofthelinguisticcompetenceofcandidatesforEnglishspeakinguniversities,butnowitfocusesoncommunicativecompetenceandteststheholisticlanguageproficiencyoftest-takersincludingreading,listening,speakingandwriting,aswellasimprovingpronunciationandbuildingvocabulary.Particularemphasisisplacedonlisteningandspeaking.Theprimarygoalofthecourseistoteachcommunicativecompetence,thatis,theabilitytocommunicateinEnglishaccordingtothesituation,purpose,androlesoftheparticipants.TOEFLisapartofthefunctionalapproachtoasecondlanguageevaluation.Thecommunicativecompetencetestwasdesignedtoinvestigatethepossibilitiesofconstructingdiscourse-orientedmeasuresoflanguagebehavior.Thesocialappropriatenessofanutterance,whoistalkingtowhom,when,andunderwhatcircumstances,isjustasimportantasitslinguisticaccuracy,orgrammaticality.Mostsecondlanguageinstructionismainlyconcernedwiththeformalstructureofthetargetlanguage.Consequently,learningasecondlanguageinmostlanguageclassroomsisamatterofmasteringgrammarandpronunciation.Asaresult,littleattentionispaidtoteachinglanguageasatoolforcommunicationintherealworld.ButTOEFLpeoplebelievethatitisnotenoughtoteachandtestlearnershowtomanipulatethestructuresoftheforeignlanguage.Studentsmustalsodevelopstrategiesforrelatingthesestructurestotheircommunicativefunctionsinrealsituationsandrealtime.Foreignlanguageteachersmustthereforeprovidelearnerswithampleopportunitiestousethelanguagethemselvesforcommunicativepurposes.Theyshouldbeconcernedwithdevelopingthelearners'abilitytotakepartinthe"processofcommunicating"throughlanguage,ratherthanwiththeirperfectmasteryofindividualstructures.Languageuse,whatissaidonaparticularoccasion,howitisphrased,andhowitiscoordinatedwithnonverbalsigns,hasbecomeawidelyresearchedfieldinTOEFLlisteningtest.Thesocialaspectsoflanguageuseratherthantheformalaspectsoflanguagestructurehavebecometheobjectsofattention.Asaresult,thelearningofalanguageisnowviewedasincluding\nnotonlythegrammarofthatlanguagebutalso“thecapacitytousethelanguageinawaythatisappropriatetothesituationalandverbalconstraintsoperatingatanygiventime”.Theseconstraintsmaycomefromtherelationshipbetweenthespeakerandtheaddressee,thenatureofthetopic,themediumthatisbeingused,thespecificoccasion,otherritualisticconventions,andsoforth.Therefore,helpingsecondlanguagelearnersachievelanguageappropriatenessshouldbeasimportantashelpingthemachievegrammaticalityinthetargetlanguage.Becausetheappropriatelanguagechoicedependsonthecharacteristicsoftheaddresseeandrelationswiththespeaker,moreattentionshouldbegiventosuchrelationships.TOEFLusesmorereal-lifetaskstoassessreading,writing,listeningandspeakingskills.Forexample,oneoftheitemtypesintheListeningComprehensionsectionoftheTOEFLtestistheshortDialogue,wheretherelationshipofrealspeakers,thespecialcontextofcommunication,theintendedmeaningofonespeakeretcareparticularlyexamined.Inanothertestinstance,studentsmaywatchauniversitylecturethattakesplaceinarealuniversityclassroom.Studentsarefirstaskedtocompleteanactivityaboutthelectureaspartoftheirlisteningtask.Followingthistask,studentsmaythenbeaskedtoexplainsomethingaboutthelecture,andthiswillbethespeakingassessment.Inordertoassessreadingandwritingskills,studentsmaybeaskedtoanswerquestionsby,forexample,fill-in-theblanksaboutatextandperhapswriteafor/againsttypeofessayaboutwhatisdiscussedinthetext.Whenwethinkaboutthetasksastudenthastocompleteincollege,weseethatallfouroftheabovetasksaresimilar.