英语语言学实用教程英语语言学实用教程教学提示教学提示 Unit 1 Some Preliminaries about Language Check your understanding State whether each of the following statements is True or False. (1) There is universal agreement about the origin of language. F (2) Pet dogs can speak human languages. F (3) All human infants can speak some language. F Note: All normal human infants can learn to speak some language. (4) By creativity we mean the creative use of language as often practiced by poets. FNote: By creativity we mean that we can always create and understand new sentences never used before. (5) With different cultures there will be different languages. FNote: Some cultures can share the same language. (6) Not all uses of language are meant to convey new information. TNote: Example: language used for phatic communion is not meant to convey new information. In-Class Activities1. ASK:(1) What does “language” mean in each of the contexts? a. a natural language; language in particular. b. a human-specific tool for communication; language in general. c. individual style of language use. d. a metaphorical way of referring to bees system of communication. (2) Is there any other context in which the use of the word means something else?Yes. Example: language for the computer like C+2. ASK: (1) What if there were no language?Omit. (2) What if there were only one language the world over?Omit. (3) What can we learn from this Bible story?Language is powerful as a tool of human communication.3. ASK: (1) Do you think the two statements are equally probable, and if not, why not?(a) is more likely than (b), because the word as the basic unit of meaning that can occur independently in language is finite in number, whereas the sentence as composed of words, though almost infinite in number, is made possible by our knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. We can always produce and understand sentences that we never come across before. In that sense, no sentence is really new. (2) In what context do we make the second statement?When we focus our attention on the meaning of a sentence or when we are concerned with the form of a sentence as found in a language class.4. ASK: (1) Are there onomatopoeic words in Chinese? Yes. e.g. “哗啦” 、 “扑通” 、 “喀嚓”. (2) Does the existence of onomatopoeic words overthrow the claim that language is arbitrary?No. Onomatopoeic words account for a very limited percentage in the vocabulary of a language.5. ASK: (1) Can one really invent a language of ones own?No. (2) If not, why? A language comes into being and use by convention or agreement among its speakers.6. ASK: (1) Is there any basic flaw in this experiment?The process is not strictly controlled. There may have been some coincidence. The sample size is too small for the experiment to be valid. (2) Do you think we really can answer the question about the beginning of language?No, at least in the present condition where/when we cannot perform experiments on the human brain, the key organ of speech.7. ASK: (1) Can you identify the most likely order (from least to most advanced) of these samples?CBA (2) What features in each childs utterances can you use as evidence to support your ordering?Child A: good syntax except for improper question form.Child B: visible development of syntax; overgeneralizationChild C: Not much syntax; two-word utterances; telegraphic sentences (sentences that contain only content words but lack function words)8. ASK: (1) It is often assumed that children imitate adults in the course of language acquisition. Can imitation account for the above production on the part of the child?Not wholly. There is counter evidence against the assumption, like the overgeneralization “go-ed” for “went”. (2) What distinguishes the childs production from that of the adult?Overgeneralization of “-ed” for the past tense as shown by “holded”. 9. ASK: (1) How do adults reinforce the process of childrens acquisition as exemplified here?They use explicit correction. (2) Do children know what they are doing wrongly?Not exactly. (3) Do the adults succeed in their reinforcement?Not always, at least. (4) How should we treat the “mistakes” that children make while acquiring their mother tongue?We may ignore them sometimes, although some amount of reinforcement may turn out to be helpful. 10. ASK: (1) Do children learn through structured or simplified input, as suggested?Not always. There is evidence for both sides. (2) Can you offer some examples illustrating, representing the way adults talk to infants? Omit. Note: Motherese is characterized by shorter sentences, higher pitch, exaggerated intonation, higher proportion of content words to function words, simple syntax, more interrogatives and imperatives, more repetitions. Yet it is not syntactically simpler. Rather, it may include syntactically complex sentences such as questions: Do you want your juice now? Embedded sentences: Mommy thinks you should sleep now. Imperatives: Pat the dog gently! Negatives wi