*Question of the week
1. |
Decide what you think are the four most important characteristics
of language and explain them. |
2. |
Explain one-to-one mapping. |
3. |
Compare the Chinese language situation
with the Romance language situation with regard to defining what one language
is. |
4. |
Ø
What does ¡§taboo¡¨ mean? Ø
What are the six areas of language taboo in English? Ø
How do people avoid breaking language taboos? Ø
Are areas of language taboo in Mandarin Chinese the same as
those in English? |
5. |
See Yule p.50 #1-5 and p.51 B (i)". |
*Discussion Questions
*Remember that what we want here is discussion, not just repetition of
what the textbook or professor has said.
1. Give examples of
each of the levels of language in English, Mandarin, or any other language
that you know. Explain your
examples. 2. Give examples from
your own life and experience to show that language is social and
cultural. See if you can find
examples in which language form is affected by social factors. 3. Below are some
common, though probably mistaken, ideas about language. What do you think about each
one? What kind of linguistic
evidence would we need to disprove (or prove) each one? a) French is the most
beautiful language. b) British English is
better than American English. c) Some languages are
primitive, with simple vocabulary and grammar. d) Mandarin has no
grammar. e) The Japanese
language came from Chinese. f) Women generally
speak better than men. |
1. How are
comprehension and speaking different?
How are they similar? 2. What effect does the rule BE EXPRESSIVE (RHETORICALLY) have on
language? Try to give some examples
from English and Chinese showing how this rule may compete with the other
three rules. Why is this rule
necessary? 3. What is happening when children learning Mandarin use Ó for all measure words?
What other Mandarin forms do you think children may
overgeneralize? Why? 4. How do we know that language ¡§grows¡¨ to meet the Four Rules? |
1. Find some features
of language which can be (and are) used to identify things about
people in the English Department.
Consider features of language such as pronunciation (of certain
sounds), word choice, sentence structures, choice of language(s) to use and
their frequency, and code-switching.
What things about people are the features used to identify? (Avoid naming any specific
people.) 2. What features of your
speech can be used to identify things about you, personally? What things about you can they be
used to identify? 3. To speak a language, what do you
have to know (unconsciously) about its sounds and sound system? List as many things as you can, and
explain why you need to know them. |