1. WhydoesmodernlinguisticsregardthespokenformofIanguageasprimary,notthewritten?First,thespokenformispriortothewrit-tenformandmostwritingsystemsarederivedfromthespokenformofIanguage.Second,thespokenformplaysagreaterrolethanwritingintermsoftheamountofinformationconveyedanditservesawiderrangeofpurposesFinally,thespokenformisthemediumthroughwhichweacquireourmothertongue.66.WhatarethemajordistinctionsbetweenIangueandparole?ThedistinctionbetweenIangue,andparolewasmadebythefamouslinguistFerdinanddeSaussureearlythiscentury.Languereferstotheabstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyallthemembersofaspeechcommunity,andparolereferstotherealizationofIangueinactualuse.LangueisthesetofconventionsandruleswhichIanguageusersallhavetofollowwhileparoleistheconcreteuseoftheconventionsandtheapplicationoftherules.Langueisabstract;itisnottheIanguagepeopleactuallyuse,butparoleisconcrete;itreferstothenaturallyoccurringIanguageevents.Langueisrelativelystable;itdoesnotchangefrequently;whileparolevariesfrompersontoperson,andfromsituationtosituation.2. Whatarethemajorviewsconcerningthestudyofmeaning?Howdotheydiffer?Oneoftheoldestwasthenamingtheory,proposedbytheancientGreekscholarPlato,whobelievedthatthewordsusedinaIanguagearetakentobela-belsoftheobjectstheystandfor.Theconceptualistviewholdsthatthereisnodirectlinkbetweenalin-guisticformandwhatitrefersto.Theformandthemeaningarelinkedthroughthemediationofconceptsinthemind.Contextualismisbasedonthepresumptionthatonecanderivemeaningfromorreducemeaningtoobservablecontexts.Twokindsofcontextarerecognized;thesituationalcontextandthelinguisticcontext.Forexample,themeaningofthewordsealinthesentenceThesealcouldnotbefoundcanonlybedeterminedac-cordingtothecontextinwhichthesentenceoccurs:Thesealcouldnotbefound.Thezookeeperbecameworried.(sealmeaninganaquaticmammal)Thesealcouldnotbefound.Thekingbecameworried.(sealmeaningthekingsstamp)Behaviorismdrewonbehavioristpsychologywhenhetriedtodefinethemeaningoflinguisticforms.Behavioristsattemptedtode-finethemeaningofalanguageformasthesituationinwhichthespeakeruttersitandtheresponseitcallsforthinthehearer.3.DiscusswithexamplessomeofthelinguisticdifferencesbetweenStandardEnglishandBlackEnglish.OneofthemostprominentphonologicalcharacteristicsofBlackEnglishisthefrequentsimplificationofconsonantclustersattheendofwordswhenoneofthetwoconsonantsisanalveolar/t/,/d/,/s/,or/z/.Theapplicationofthissimplificationrulemaydeletethepast?tensemorpheme,sopastandpassedarebothpronouncedlikepass.AnothersalientcharacteristicofBlackEnglishphonologicalsystemcon-cemsthedeletionofsomeword-finalstopconsonantsinwordslikesideandborrowed.SpeakersofBlackEnglishfrequentlydeletetheseword-fi-nalstops,pronouncingsidelikesighand“botrowed”like“botrow.OneprominentsyntacticfeatureisthefrequentabsenceofvariousformsofthecopulabeinBlackEnglish,whicharerequiredofStandardEng-lish.ComparethefollowingexpressionsinBlackEnglishandStandardEng-lish:(1)BlackEnglishStandardEnglishTheymine.They*remine.Youcrazy.Yourecrazy.AnotherdistinctivesyntacticfeatureofBlackEnglishisthesystematicuseofdieexpressionitiswhereStandardEnglishusesthereisinthesenseofthereexists:IsitaMr.Johnsoninthisoffice?AnotheraspectofBlackEnglishistheuseofdoublenegationconstructions.Whenevertheverbisnegated,theindefinitepronounssomething,some-body,andsomebecomethenegativeindefinitesnothing,nobody,andnone,forexample:Hedontknownothing.(Hedoesntknowanything.)4.Howdoesasentencemeaningdifferfromanutterancemeaning?Asentencemeaningisof-tenconsideredastheintrinsicpropertyofthesentenceitselfintermsofapredication.Itisabstractandindependentofcontext.Themeaningofanutteranceisconcrete,andcontext-dependent.Theutterancemeaningisbasedonsentencemeaning;itisrealizationoftheabstractmeaningofasentenceinarealsituationofcommunication,orsimplyinacontext.Forexample,Thereisadogatthedoorr”.Thecouldutteritasamatter-of-factstate-ment,tellingthehearerthatthedogisatthedoor.Thespeakercoulduseitasawarning,askingthehearernottoapproachthedoor.Thereareotherpossibilities,too.So,theunderstandingoftheutterancemeaningofThereisadogatthedoordependsonthecontextinwhichitisutteredandthepurposeforwhichthespeakeruttersit.