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2. Put Yourself in Others Shoes

3. One Culture's Meat Is Another Culture's Poison

4. Honesty and Sincerity Are Key Points to Mutual Understanding

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Chapter Eight

Language in use

Introduction

Speech act theory

Conversational implicature Violation of maxim

Characteristics of implicature

Politeness principle

Definition of pragmatics

Semantics and pragmatics

Context

Sentence meaning and utterance meaning

John Austin’s classification

Searle’s classification

Cooperative principle

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What are the differences and similarities between semantics and pragmatics?

Both semantics and pragmatics study meaning. But semantics is the study of the

literal meaning of linguistics units such as words and sentences. It does not take

context into consideration. Pragmatics is the study of meaning in use or in

communication. It studies of the intended meaning of speaker. It takes context into

consideration. For instance, the semantic meaning of the sentence “It is great.” is

something is very good. But it may have two different meanings in expressing

speaker’s intention which depends on the context.

What is your understanding of context?

Context is a basic concept in the study of pragmatics. It is generally considered as

constituted knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer. The shared knowledge is

of two types: the knowledge of the language they use, and the knowledge about the

world (including the general knowledge about the world and the specific knowledge

about the situation in which linguistic communication is taking place.)

What is the distinction between Sentence Meaning and Utterance Meaning?

The meaning of a sentence is often considered as the abstract, context-independent,

intrinsic property of the sentence itself in terms of a predication.

The meaning of an utterance is concrete, and context-dependent. Utterance meaning is

based on sentence meaning; it is the realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence

in a real situation of communication, or simply, realization in a context.

Make a brief introduction of speech act theory

Speech act theory was proposed by British philosopher J. L. Austin and has been

developed by J. R. Searle. Basically, they believe that language is not only used to

inform or to describe things, it is often used to \"do things\", to perform acts. For

example, if you work in a company where the boss has the power, then the boss's

utterance “You're fired” is more than just a statement.

This utterance can be used to perform the act of ending your employment.

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Explain the terms: performatives and constatives

Austin’s first shot at the theory is the claim that there are two types of sentences:

performatives and constatives. A performative is a sentence like I name this ship the

Queen Elizabeth, which does not describe things and cannot be said to be true or false.

The uttering of a performative sentence is, or is a part of the doing of an action. Verbs

like “name” are known as performative verbs.

In contrast to performative, sentences like\" I pour some liquid into the tube” is a

description of what the speaker is doing at the time of speaking. The speaker cannot

pour any liquid into a tube by simply uttering these words. He must accompany his

words with the actual pouring. Otherwise one can accuse him of making a false

statement. Sentences like this are called constatives.

What are the locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act ? Explain

them with examples.

Locutionary act is the act of uttering words, phrases, clauses. It is the act of conveying

literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and phonology.

Illocutionary act is the act of expressing the speaker's intention (making clear our

purpose;); it is the act performed in saying something.

Perlocutionary act is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the

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consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance.

Let’s look at an example: “You have left the door wide open.”

The locutionary act performed by the speaker is his utterance of the sentence

consisting of all these words “you” “have” “door” “open” etc. It thus expresses what

the words literally mean.

The illocutionary act performed by the speaker is that by making such an utterance he

has expressed his intention of speaking, i.e. asking someone to close the door, (or

making a complaint, depending on the context.)

The perlocutionary act refers to the result of the utterance. There are two possible

results of the utterances The hearer may or may not close the door.

Searle’s classification of speech act

His classification of illocutionary acts (share the same illocutionary point, but differ in

their strength)

1. Representatives/assertives: stating or describing, saying what the speak believes

to be true.

Ex. It was a warm sunny day.

2. Directives: trying to get the hearer to do something.

Ex. Give me that book

3. Commissives: committing to some future action

Ex. I’ll come back in time.

4. Expressives: expressing feelings or attitude towards a situation

Ex. I am really sorry.

5. Declarations: bring about immediate changes by saying something

Ex. I now pronounce you husband and wife.

What is your understanding of cooperative principle？

This is the principle suggested by Paul Grice about the regularity in conversation. His

idea is that in making a conversation, the participants must first of all be willing to

cooperate. It reads \"Make your conversational contribution such as required, at the

stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in

which you are engaged.\" There are four categories of maxims under it, namely,

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quantity maxims, quality maxims, relation maxim and manner maxims.

The maxim of quantity:

i. Make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purpose of the

exchange);

ii. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

The maxim of quality: Try to make your contribution one that is true.

i. Do not say what you believe to be false;

ii. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

The maxim of relation:

Be relevant.

The maxim of manner:

Be perspicuous.

i. Avoid obscurity of expression

ii. Avoid ambiguity

iii. Be brief ( avoid unnecessary prolixity)

iv. Be orderly.

What is your understanding of conversational implicature?

According to P. Grice, it refers to the extra meaning (“言外之意” in Chinese) not

contained in the utterance, understandable to the listener only when he shares the

speaker's knowledge or he knows why and how he violates intentionally one of the

four maxims of the CP. For instance, the implicature of the sentence “He is a tiger” is

that he has some characteristics of tiger.

Give some examples for the violation of maxims

1)The violation of the first maxim of Quantity:

The first of Maxim of Quantity is: make your contribution as informative as is

required (for the current purposes of the exchange).

Sentences such as Boys are boys and War is war are extreme examples in which the

first Quantity maxim is violated. (At the superficial level, the level of what is said,

they are totally uninformative. At a deeper level, the level of what is implicated,

however, they are informative. They may convey implicatures like Boys are naughty

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and mischievous by nature. It's no use lamenting the tragedies of war. Terrible things

always happen in it. That's its nature.)

The violation of the second maxim of Quantity:

The second of Maxim of Quantity is: Do not make your contribution more

informative than is required.

An example in which the second maxim of Quantity is violated will be:

A: Where is X?

B: He's gone to the library. He said so when he left.

(In a sense, the first part of B's answer is enough for A's question. But by adding the

second part, the speaker may implicate that he is not sure whether X hạs really gone

to the library.)

2)The violation of the first maxim of Quality:

The maxim of quality: Try to make your contribution that is true.

Do not say what you believe to be false.

Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

Let's look at two traditional figures of speech like: He is made of iron and Every nice

girl loves a sailor. (At the level of what is said, they are false statements. No natural

human being is made of iron, unless he is a robot. So the first case will not be taken

literally. Instead we will interpret it as a metaphor, meaning this man has a character

like iron. In the second case, the implicature is many girls love sailors.)

3)The violation of the maxim of Relation:

The maxim of relation: Be relevant.

At a genteel tea party, A says Mrs. X is an old bag. And then B says “The weather has

been quite delightful this summer, hasn't it?\" (B has apparently refused to make what

he says relevant to A's preceding remark. He thereby implicates that A's remark

should not be discussed)

4) The violation of the maxim of Manner:

The maxim of manner: Be perspicuous.

1. Avoid obscurity of expression. 2. Avoid ambiguity. 3. Be brief. 4. Be orderly.

1. A: Let's get the kids something.

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B: OK, but I veto I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M-S.

The above may be seen as a case in which B is being deliberately obscure, so that the

children will not be able to understand what they are talking about.

2. William Blake wrote these lines:

Never seek to tell thy love, Love that never told can be.

In this case, Love may refer to an emotion or the person one loves. And “Love that

never told can be.\" may mean either Love that cannot be told or Love that if told

cannot continue to exist.

3. a. Miss X sang “Home sweet home”

b. Miss X produced a series of sounds that corresponded closely with the score of

“Home sweet home”

If “b” is chosen, then the implicature is that Miss X’s performance is poor.

4. “屡败屡战” is an example for the violation of “ Be orderly”

Politeness

Politeness is a universal phenomenon in social interaction in all cultures. Politeness

can be defined as the means employed to show awareness of another person’s face.

The Politeness Principle

Besides being cooperative in communication, interlocutors will in general consider

the matter of face for themselves and others. Based on this observation, Leech

proposes the politeness principle (PP), which contains six maxims. The PP concerns

the relationship between participants whom Leech calls self (the speaker) and other

(the addressee, or a third party).

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Examples:

What is the relationship and difference between cooperative principle and

politeness principle?

(思考)

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Chapter nine Language and literature

Language and literature

Definition of literary stylistics

Introduction General features of literary language

Figurative language

Language in Poetry

Language in fiction

Rhyme

Other sound patterning

Narration

Speech and thought presentation

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Please briefly introduce literary stylistics

It is the part of linguistics that studies the language of literature. It focuses on the

study of linguistic features related to literary style.

What are the differences between literal meaning and figurative meaning？

The first meaning for a word that a dictionary definition gives is usually its literal

meaning. While Figurative meaning is the metaphorical sense of a word or expression

and it departs from everyday literal language for the sake of comparison, emphasis,

clarity or freshness. For example, Jack is a fox. The literal meaning of the sentence is

that Jack is a kind of animal while its figurative meaning is that Jack has some

characteristics of fox such as being cunning.

What is your understanding of the term trope?

Trope is term for the figurative use of language, which refers to language used in a

figurative way for a rhetorical purpose. There are different forms of tropes, such as

simile, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, etc. For example, “Friends, Romans and

Countrymen, lend me your ears”. Here “lend me your ears” is a trope, used

figuratively in order to make more impact than a literal variation such as listen to me

for a moment. Here, we do not interpret the line literally as a wish to borrow the

flesh-and-blood ears of the audience, but as a figurative request for attention.

From the view of figurative language, what is metaphor? （思考）

How does metaphor differ from simile?

A metaphor makes a comparison between two things; It differs from a simile, because

this comparison is implied rather than stated, without the word “like” or “as”. All the

world is a stage is a typical metaphor. We can see that because metaphors are not

explicitly signaled, they are more difficult to identify, but they are more powerful.

What is metaphorical metonymy?

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Metonymy is a figurative use of language which means the act of referring to

something by the name of something else that is closely connected with it. For

example, the White House made a statement today. Here the “White house” refers to

the President’s administration. Victoria was the crown of England.

What is direct speech and indirect speech?

Direct speech refers to what the character said in its fullest form. It is put in quotation

marks. For example, she asked us, “how are you doing?”

Indirect speech refers to the propositional content of what the speaker said, but not the

word she used to utter the content. She asked us how we were doing.

Explain the term “Free indirect speech (FIS)”

Free indirect speech comes between indirect speech and direct speech. It usually

occurs in a form which appears at first sight to be IS but also has DS features. It omits

the reporting clause. Free indirect speech usually occurs in novels narration. For

example, and he lied down on the bed. Just what pleasure had he found, since he came

into this world?

What would you say about the importance of literature?

Today, there are too many people who believe that literature is simply not important

or underestimate its abilities to give us great knowledge.

To me, however, literature serves as a gateway to learning of the past and expanding

my knowledge and understanding of the world. Here are just a few reasons why

literature is important.

First and foremost, literature opens our eyes. It helps us realize the wide world outside,

surrounding us. With this, we begin to learn, ask questions, and build our intuitions

and instincts. We expand our minds.

Then literature builds critical thinking skills. Many of us learn what critical thinking is

in our literature classes. When we read, we learn to look between the lines, make

connections, find themes, and learn about characters.

Then, literature can also foster appreciation for other cultures and beliefs. Reading

provides a method of learning about cultures and beliefs other than our own. It allows

you to understand and experience these other systems of living and other worlds.

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All in all, literature is important and necessary. It provides growth, strengthens our

minds, and gives us the ability to think outside the box.

Chapter ten: language and computer

What is Computer Literacy?

It refers to those people who have sufficient knowledge and skills in the use of

computers and computer software.

Say something about computational Linguistics

It can be seen as a branch of applied linguistics, dealing with computer processing of

human language. It includes the analysis of language data so as to establish the order

in which learners acquire various grammatical rules or the frequency of occurrence of

some particular item, electronic production of artificial speech, automatic recognition

of human speech, automatic translation between natural languages, text processing

and communication between people and computers.

What is the relation between language and computer?

From my point of view, language is very essential for the operation of computers. By

virtue of language, we can establish artificial interaction between human and

computer. That is to say, we can give orders or instructions to computers to follow and

receive responses from computers. In linguistics, the branch which studies the relation

between language and computer is computational linguistics. It deals with computer

processing of human language. It includes electronic production of artificial speech,

automatic recognition of human speech, automatic translation between natural

languages, text processing and communication between people and computers.

Make a brief introduction of machine translation.

Machine translation has always been a chief concern in computational linguistics. It

refers to the use of machine (usually computers) to translate texts from one language

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to another. MT can be further divided into two types: unassisted MT, which takes

pieces of text and translates them into output for immediate use without human

involvement; and assisted MT, which uses a human translator to clean up after the

translation for high quality output.

Could say something about your understanding of corpus linguistics?

Corpus refers to a collection of linguistic data, either in an oral form or in a written

form. Through the analysis of large linguistic databases stored on computer, corpus

linguistics investigates language structure and use. Issues in corpus linguistics include

the meanings of words across registers, the distribution and function of grammatical

forms and categories, and issues in language acquisition and development. Corpus can

provide empirical data which enables the linguist to make objective. Therefore, it is

not hard to find that corpus can play important roles in a number of different fields of

language study such as speech research, lexical studies, grammar, semantics,

pragmatics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis etc.

How do you understand CALL in computational linguistics?

Computer has been used in the classroom for second or foreign language teaching and

learning. CALL，acronym for Computer-assisted language Learning , refers to the use

of a computer in the teaching or learning of a second or foreign language. If CAI or

CAL deals with teaching and learning in general，then CALL deals with language

teaching and learning in particular.

How do you understand the functions of PPT?

POWERPOINT is an application which enables one to create slide shows on his/ her

computer screen. The user creates individual slides, which can contain text, graphics,

sound, animation and video. When the user has created all the slides, he/she can step

us the slides so that they run themselves. It can also be applied in teaching as a

powerful tool, to conduct a lesson by slides upon a common theme.

Do you like communicating face to face or through on-line chatting? Why?

It depends, but I prefer to communicate face to face rather than chat on-line.

For one thing, I think face to face talk can gives me an impression of intimacy, and I’d

like to talk with my family and friends face to face. Besides, it’s necessary for some

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important meeting or agreement or contract to talk face to face, so that we can infer

details from others facial expressions and body language. However, with the emerging

technology, on-line chatting is become more and more popular and convenient in

many fields. For example, during the COVID-19, people can study and work at home

through on-line chatting and they can talk freely with others.

What information Corpora can provide in language teaching?

Corpora usually provide the following types of information:

1. Frequency information. Bearing in mind the knowledge of frequency of certain

language items and structures, we can decide what to teach and what to focus on in

the language classroom.

2. Grammatical information. What the corpora show us about grammar is far more

complicated than what grammar books tell about.

3. Context and context information. When we cannot tell apart the differences

between words or phrases having similar meaning, we can look at the context in

which they are used, then we will be clear of the differences.

4. Collocation and phraseology information. Corpus will help us remember

collocations where words are frequently used together.

Pragmatics information. Information from corpora can tell us how language is

actually used in communication.

Do you think that Chat GPT is likely to replace human teachers in the future?

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Chapter 11 second and foreign language teaching

Input and Language

Learning

Authentic input

Linguistics and

foreign language

teaching

Introduction

The relation between language

teaching and linguistics

Language teaching (Applied Linguistics)

Second language

acquisition

Contrastive analysis

Error analysis

Interlanguage

language teaching

and learning

Some teaching methods

The Discourse-based View of Language Teaching

Grammar teaching

Teaching syllabus and curriculum

Comprehensible input

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What is your understanding of language teaching?

Language teaching is part of applied linguistics and applied linguistics is part of

linguistics. In early stage, applied linguistics was mainly concerned with how

language is learned and taught. It is about the application of linguistic theories in

teaching and learning languages. Therefore, it serves as a mediating area which

interprets the results of linguistic theories and makes them user friendly to the

language teacher and learner.

What do you think of the relation between linguistics and language teaching?

Linguistics has always played an important role in the studies of language learning

and teaching. Linguistic theories influence the approaches to language teaching. In

fact, many language learning theories are proposed based on certain linguistic theories.

Besides, linguistic knowledge helps teachers to better explain the specific language

items they teach. On the other hand, language teaching can also have an impact on

linguistics. Linguistic theories could be enriched and testified in the process of

English educational practice.

Do think linguistics can be helpful in second language teaching and why?

For a foreign language teacher, he will definitely benefit a great deal from the

knowledge of linguistics.

For one thing, he will get a better understanding of language itself. For example, if he

has a profound knowledge of phonetics, he will be able to present more accurate

descriptions and classification of speech sounds. Phonological knowledge such as

devoicing, assimilation, deletion, etc also allows him to teach more accurate

pronunciation so that students can speak like a native speaker.

For another, he will also understand how language is closely related to many things

outside itself such as the mind, the culture, and society, among other things.

Linguistics can be helpful in second language teaching because language teaching is

essentially informed by the findings from linguistic research and the development of

language teaching theories is heavily dependent on the development of linguistic

research.

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What is communicative competence? And do you think it is important to develop

students’ communicative competence in language teaching?

Communicative competence refers to what a learner knows about how a language is

used in particular situations for effective and appropriate communication. It includes

knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary, knowledge of rules of speaking,

knowledge of how to use and respond to different types of speech acts and social

conventions, and knowledge of how to use language appropriately.

It is very important and necessary to develop communicative competence because the

education of English as a foreign language aims to cultivate students who not only

master basic elements of English such as vocabulary, grammar but also know how to

communicate effectively with others in English.

Do you think pragmatic and sociolinguistic knowledge is important to L2

learners?

思考

How does language acquisition differ from language learning?

思考

Could you introduce some teaching methods?

The first one I wish to introduce is communicative language teaching method (CLT) .

It aims to improve students’ communicative competence by classroom activities so

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that students can achieve effective communication in English. Communicative

competence refers to what a learner knows about how a language is used in particular

situations for effective and appropriate communication. It includes knowledge of the

grammar and vocabulary, knowledge of rules of speaking, knowledge of how to use

and respond to different types of speech acts and social conventions, and knowledge

of how to use language appropriately.

The second is task-based language teaching method (TBLT). It stresses the

importance of tasks that are conducted to learn English. There are two types of tasks:

real-world tasks and pedagogical tasks. The former is very close to something we do

in daily life or work. The latter are those activities that students do in the classroom

but those may not take place in real life.

Lastly, the grammar-translation method is probably the most widely known and has

been the most widely used of all approaches to language teaching. The main features

of the grammar-translation method are the teaching of grammar rules and the

subsequent translation of sentences and passages into the new language by rules. The

basic techniques are rote learning.

How do you think of the importance of input in Language Learning?

Input is very essential in the process of language learning. Language learning can take

place when the learner has enough access to input in the target language, whether the

input is in written or spoken form. Proper and enough input could help improve the

learner’s target language. One type of input is called comprehensive input. It is

believed that any input must be comprehensible if it is to have any effect on learning.

What do you think of Krashen’s i+1 principle?

According to Krashen, learners acquire language as a result of comprehending input

addressed to them. Krashen put forward the concept of \"i + 1 principle’’ and it goes

that the language that learners are exposed to should be just far enough beyond their

current competence so that they can understand most of it but still be challenged to

make progress. I am aligned with Krashen’saying, because I believe that input should

be neither too difficult nor too easy for the learners. If it’s too hard, learners won’t be

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able to understand and learn it. If it’s too easy, it will be nothing left to be learned.

State your understanding of syllabus and give some examples

A syllabus is a specification of what takes place in the classroom, which usually

contains the aims and contents of teaching and sometimes contains suggestions of

methodology. Types of syllabus are the structural syllabus, the situational syllabus, the

communicative syllabus and the task-based syllabus

How does the native language influence the learning of the target language?

As we all know, native language plays an important role in the process of second

language acquisition. When the native language influences the acquisition of the

target language, language transfer happens. When the two languages are similar in

structure, then the native language facilitates the target language learning, and we call

it a positive transfer; when the two languages are different in structures, then the

native language interferes with the target language learning, and we call it a negative

transfer.

Make a brief introduction of contrastive analysis and its problems.

Contrastive analysis is a way of comparing the forms and meanings across the native

language and the target language to spot the mismatches or differences so that people

could predict learners’ difficulty, then what needs to be learned and what does not

need to be learned in a second language learning situation is decided. Contrastive

analysis is problematic because many errors made by second language learners were

caused by factors other than native language interference. For instance, she cuted

herself.

What is error analysis?

Since contrastive analysis cannot account for all errors, it was gradually replaced by

error analysis, the study and analysis of errors which are confined to the learners. Its

major claim is that many errors made by second language learners were caused by

factors other than native language interference.

How do mistakes differ from errors?

Error is the grammatically incorrect form. For instance, he walk to school every day.

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It arises from the learners’ lack of knowledge which represents a lack of competence.

A mistake made by a learner refers to the production of incorrect forms caused by

lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, or some other performance. For example,

sometimes we use the word “she ” to refer to a male even tough we know the correct

form.

Analyze the errors of the following two sentences “He speaked English” and “I

cuted myself”

The type of errors in the two sentences is called overgeneralization. It occurs usually

when the learner knows some rules of English but applies them in the wrong place, It

is a type of error within the target language system. Beginners of English often tend to

make such errors.

How are errors classified?

In terms of the source of errors, errors are often divided into interlingual errors and

intralingual errors. Interlingual errors occur when the learner misuses an item because

it shares features with an item in the native language. Intralingual errors are errors

within the target language itself, such as OVERGENERALIZATION, which arises

when the learner applies a rule in a situation where the rule does not apply.

In terms of the nature of errors, errors often fall into five types: omissions, additions,

double markings, misformations and misorderings. Below are the explanations and

examples for these five types of errors.

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What is interlanguage?

It refers to the type of language constructed by second or foreign language learners

who are still in the process of learning a language is often referred to as interlanguage.

It is a language system between the target language and the learner's native language.

Interlanguage is a dynamic language system, which is constantly moving from the

beginning stage to the final stage. There are many examples of interlanguage, such as

“ I no have a book\"

What do you think of Critical Period Hypothesis?

According to the Critical Period Hypothesis, there is a specific and limited time

period during which children have a special propensity for acquiring knowledge. Such

a period is claimed to extend from about two to puberty, during which the human

brain is most ready to acquire a particular language and language learning can

proceed easily, swiftly, and without explicit instruction.

People have now reached the consensus that there is a critical period for L1

acquisition. There is evidence, such as the case of Henie for L1 acquisition. However,

as to L2 acquisition, the force of CPH seems to reduce. Some evidence shows that not

all learners are subject to critical periods in L2 acquisition.

Do you think it is necessary to teach culture in second language teaching?

Learning a language is inseparable from learning its culture. When learning a foreign

or second language, we should not only learn the pronunciation, grammar, words and

idioms, but also learn to see the world as native speakers do; that is to say, we should

learn the ways in which the foreign language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior

of that society, and learn to understand their \" language of the mind \" culture. We need

to learn enough about the language's culture so that we can communicate in the target

language properly to achieve not only the linguistic competence but also the

pragmatic or communicative competence as well. This is of great significance in

learning a foreign or a second language.

Otherwise, the ignorance of cultural differences can create barriers in learning the

target language and in communication, or may lead to misunderstanding and

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confusion sometimes

What are the types of test?

Aptitude test: Aptitude test attempts to measure the learner's aptitude or natural

abilities to learn languages.

Proficiency test: The purpose of proficiency test is to discover what the testee already

knows about the target language.

Achievement test: An Achievement test assesses how much a learner has mastered the

contents of a particular course.

Diagnostic test: A Diagnostic test is designed to discover mainly what the testee does

not know about the language

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Chapter 12 Theories and Schools of Modern Linguistics

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What is Saussure’s contribution to linguistics? (Who is your favorite linguist?

And why ? )

Modern linguistics has started from the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, who is

often described as \"father of modern linguistics\"

One of the important distributions he made is the distinction between the Signifier and

the Signified. According to Saussure, language is a system of signs that uses sounds to

express or exchange ideas. The sign is the union of a form and a concept: the signifier

refers to the form of a sign and the signified is the concept of a sign.

Saussure also identifies other several groups of important concepts: langue and parole,

synchronic and diachronic research, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations etc. This

pushes researches to the nature of language and thus clarifies the subjects of

linguistics as a science.

What is signifier and signified?

According to Saussure, language is a system of signs that uses sounds to express or

exchange ideas. The sign is the union of a form and a concept: the signifier refers to

the form of a sign and the signified is the concept of a sign. They are inseparable like

two sides of the same coin. Let’s take the word “book” for an example. The signifier

of it is its form, the way it is pronounced. While the signified of it is its concept,

something you can read.

What do you think about the contribution of the Prague School?

As far as I am concerned, there are three points about the Prague school. Firstly, it

practiced a synchronic style of linguistics. Secondly, it sees language in terms of

function and put forward the famous FSP (Functional sentence persepective). The

third is its contribution to phonology and the distinction between phonetics and

phonology. It defined the sphere of phonological studies and gave an accurate

definition for the phoneme. Trubetzkoy, the most influential figure in this field, argued

that phonetics belonged to parole whereas phonology belonged to langue.

Could you elaborate on FSP (Functional sentence perspective)

Functional sentence perspective (FSP) is a theory of linguistic analysis which refers to

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an analysis of utterances in terms of the information they contain. It is believed that a

sentence contains a Theme and a Rheme. The former is a point of departure, the

ground where the speaker proceeds, which is equally present to the speaker and to the

hearer; the latter is the goal of discourse, the information that is to be imparted to the

hearer by the speaker. In brief, theme is the old or known information and rheme is

the new or unknown information. For example, in the sentence, the thief stole my bag.

“The thief ” is the Theme, and the rheme is “stole my bag.”

What do you know about the London School?

London school belongs to the functional approach side in modern linguistics, opposed

to the formal approach. It has a tradition of putting stress on the function of language,

contexts of situation and the system aspect of language. The mastermind behind the

London School M A K Halliday who developed his ideas stemming from Firth’s

theories in the London School. Halliday is well-known for his Systemic-Functional

Grammar which is sociologically oriented functional linguistic approach. As one of

the most influential linguistic theories in the 20th century, it has great effect on various

disciplines related to language such as language teaching, sociolinguistics, discourse

analysis, machine translation etc.

Could you say something about the Halliday’s Systematic Functional Grammar?

Systemic-functional grammar, developed by M. A. K. Halliday, is a socially oriented

functional linguistic approach and one of the most influential linguistic theories in the

twentieth century.

It consists of two inseparable parts: systemic grammar and functional grammar.

1) Systemic grammar

The system is a list of choices that are available in the grammar of a language. For

example, the number system in English contains two choices: singular and plural.

(Systemic grammar aims to explain the internal relations in language as a system

network, or meaning potential, and this network consists of subsystems from which

language users make choices.)

2) Functional grammar

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Functional grammar aims to reveal that language is a means of social interaction,

(based on the position that language system and the forms that make it up are

inescapably determined by the use or functions which they serve. In other words,

language exists to serve certain functions, and Social demand on language has helped

to shape its structure.)

There are three general functions of language: ideational, interpersonal and textual

function.

Explain the term “register” in Halliday’s Systematic Functional Grammar.

Register refers to a form of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular

social setting.

Halliday further distinguishes three social variables that determine the register: field

of discourse, tenor of discourse, and mode of discourse.

Field of discourse (what or topic) refers to what is going on: to the area of operation

of the language activity. It is concerned with the purpose and subject-matter of

communication. Field maybe non-technical or technical: shopping, game-playing, and

a personal letter VS a linguist giving a lecture in class and meteorologists talking

about the weather.

Tenor of discourse (participants) (refers to the role of relationship in the situation in

question: who the participants in the communication groups are and in what

relationship they stand to each other.) It answers the question of “to whom” the

speaker is communicating.

Mode of discourse (medium of text) mainly refers to the means of communication. It

is concerned with how communication is carried out. Fundamental to the mode of

discourse is the distinction between speaking and writing.

Any instance of communication can be analyzed in terms of these three dimensions.

1) For example, a lecture on biology in a technical college could be identified as

Field: scientific (biological)

Tenor: teacher students (formal, polite)

Mode: oral (academic lecturing)

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2) Another example: Cookbook

Field: Cooking

Tenor: Expert, learner

Mode: Written

Make brief introduction of American Structuralism

(American structuralism is a branch of synchronic linguistics that emerged

independently in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century. It

developed differently from that of Europe under the leadership of the anthropologist F.

Boas).

The development of American Structuralism can be roughly classified into three

stages:

a. Boas and Sapir Period (1911 - 1932)

b. Bloomfieldian Period (1933 - 1950)

c. Post-Bloomfieldian Period (1952 - 1956)

1) Early Period: Boas and Sapir

Boas was an anthropologist, worked as organizer of a survey of the many indigenous

languages of America north of Mexico.

In the survey of the indigenous languages, Boas discussed the framework of

descriptive approach to language. He held that such descriptions consist of three parts:

the sound of languages, the semantic categories of linguistic expression, and the

process of grammatical combination in semantic expression. He held that every

language has its system of sounds and grammatical system; therefore, when

approaching language, one cannot impose the grammatical categories of IndoEuropean languages upon all other languages. Boas descriptive methods paved the

way for American descriptive linguistics and influenced generations of linguists.

Sapir, an eminent anthropological linguist, undertook the description of American

Indian languages after Boas's method, using a native informant in his own cultural

surroundings, which is a novel expert

(Boas was the pioneer of descriptive approach to language. Boas and Sapir were both

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anthropological linguists who studied indigenous languages. They took descriptive

approach to language. )

2) Bloomfieldian Period

L. Bloomfield (1887 - 1949) was the principal representative of American descriptive

linguistics. The period between 1933 and 1950 in the history of American linguistics

is known as Bloomfieldian Era, in which American descriptive linguistics formally

came into being and reached its prime development.

For Bloomfield, linguistics is a branch of psychology, and specifically of the

positivistic brand of psychology known as behaviorism. Behaviorism is a principle of

scientific method, based on the belief that human beings cannot know anything they

have not experienced. It holds that children learn language through a chain of

stimulus-response reinforcement\", and the adult's use of language is also a process of

stimulus-response. Its famous formula is S- r...... -s-R.

Here S stands for practical stimulus, r stands for the substitute reaction of speech, S

stands for the substitute stimulus, and R stands for external practical reaction.

Bloomfield also touched upon the application of linguistics to language teaching and

criticized traditional grammar. He believed that learning a language involves constant

practice and repetition in real situations.

(Bloomfield was the principal representative of American descriptive linguistics. His

behaviorism is based on the belief that human beings cannot know anything they have

not experienced. It holds that children learn language through a chain of

stimulus-response reinforcement, and the adult's use of language is also a process of

stimulus-response.)

3) Post-Bloomfieldian Period

Post-Bloomfieldian linguistics focused on direct observation, which was characterized

by a strict empiricism. Its goal was to devise procedures to enable the computer to

process raw data about any language and form a complete grammar without

intervention by the human linguists.

American linguists, such as Z. S. Harris , C. Hockett,G. Trager, H. L. Smithare

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representatives of this period.

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