The Nature of Language - Assignment Example

Name Professor Institution Course Date QUESTION 1: MORPHOLOGY [10 marks] Consider the following translations from English to language D. ‘The leaders hunted the frogs.’ kijehona niohoku ligena ‘The girls sliced the plants slowly.’ yaduhona fetide unehoku gudina ‘The plant was boiled quickly.’ unena hetaso peewena ‘The weak servant traps the grasshoppers.’ lo zasarena mefahoku sewejudu ‘The boy hunts the pheasant.’ hana vukuku ligedu ‘The quick monkey will be trapped.’ haso ona sewejuewebi ‘The girl boiled the worm.’ yaduna casiku pena Now translate the following sentences into language D. (i) ‘The servants boil the plant.’ zasarehona pedu unena (ii) ‘The plants are sliced quickly.’ unehoku fetide hetaso (iii) ‘The monkey will hunt the grasshopper.’ ona ligeewedu mefana (iv) ‘The leader boils the pheasants.’ kijena pedu vukuhoku (v) ‘The weak girl will trap the monkey.’ lo yaduna sewejuewebi ona (vi) ‘The boys hunt the quick frogs.’ hahona ligedu haso niohoku QUESTION 2: SYNTAX [16 marks] Consider the following set of phrase-structure rules. CP → C S S → NP VP VP → V CP VP → V NP VP → V VP → VP PP VP → V NP PP VP → VP Adv VP → Aux VP NP → NP CoordP CoordP → Coord NP PP → P NP NP → Det N’ NP → N’ NP → NP PP N’ → Adj N’ N’ → PN (PN = proper noun) N’ → N   Use some or all of the rules listed above (but no others) for the trees in (i), and also for the d-structure tree in (ii). (For the s-structure tree in (ii), you may need to add a new rule and/or modify an existing rule.) (i) There is a structural ambiguity in the following sentence. [2 x 5 = 10 marks] Dogs and cats in shiny jackets played happily at night. Draw a pair of contrasting trees to show the ambiguity. (Do not try to explain the ambiguity in prose instead: this will not get you any marks.) Dogs and cats played happily at night (ii) Draw two trees for the following sentence, one showing the d-structure and the other showing the s-structure. Label each tree accordingly. [2 x 3 = 6 marks] Does the professor like Mozart? d-structure: s-structure: QUESTION 3: PHONETICS [8 marks] Listen to the mp3 named ‘wordlist for Q#3’. There are eight words in the list. The meanings are not important. This set of words is from a language other than English, and is read by a native speaker of the language. Transcribe the words in the list phonetically. Swart swa:t Kru Kru: Rui ru: Vet veit Dik dιk Lank lǽnk Clein kleιn Farch far:ſ NOTES. (1) You can ignore any phonetic features which require diacritics (e.g., aspiration of stops, nasalisation of vowels). (2) You don’t need to enclose your transcriptions in square brackets. QUESTION 4: PHONOLOGY [10 marks] (i) Consider the following data set from language Q. [kinolat] ‘fire’ [hazerek] ‘soil’ [haserek] ‘blood’ [dahuxop] ‘wild boar’ [moxafud] ‘mango’ [tebesam] ‘hole’ (1) Decide which of (a) or (b) is correct, and fill in the missing information. Write your rule in prose: do not use a formal approach (e.g., /t/ -> Ø / p__# ). [2 marks] (a) [t] and [ɾ] are allophones of the phoneme [t] . The rule is that [t] surfaces as [r] between two vowels and as [t] elsewhere. (2) Now do the same for [s] and [z] [2 marks] [s] and [z] are not allophones of the same phoneme. The evidence is that [s] and [z] are articulated differently. NOTES. (1) Wherever you choose (a), make your rule as simple and general as possible. Wherever you choose (b), your evidence must be specific. (2) Be careful about the distinction between square brackets and forward slashes in your answer to (i). (ii) Consider the following data from language E. The meanings of the verb roots are not important. verb root future tense /dero/ [derobo] /duz/ [duzbo] /kinev/ [kinevbo] /gat/ [gatpo] /luhe/ [luhebo] /mulik/ [mulikpo] Now fill in the gaps below. (1) /fasu/ [fasubo] /kared/ (2) [karedo] (3) /wesa/ [wesabo] /bifeθ/ (4)[bifebo] [4 x 1.5 = 6 marks] NOTE. Be careful about the distinction between square brackets and forward slashes in your answer to (ii). QUESTION 5: FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR [16 marks] Compare the two written texts (a) and (b) below. (a) (1) Paul Cézanne was a highly influential French painter. (2) Through planes of colour and small brushstrokes, he created complex visual fields. (3) He also experimented with multiple views of the same subject. (4) Furthermore, Cezanne sought to reduce natural forms to geometric shapes such as cylinders and cubes. (5) These geometric and optical innovations inspired many other artists, most notably Picasso. (b) (1) Paul Cézanne was a highly influential French painter. (2) He created complex visual fields through planes of colour and small brushstrokes. (3) He experimented with multiple views of the same subject. (4) Cezanne sought to reduce natural forms to geometric shapes such as cylinders and cubes. (5) These geometric and optical innovations inspired many other artists, most notably Picasso. (i) Analyse the structures of the following clauses at the level of the textual metafunction only: (a2), (a3), (a4), (b2), (b3) and (b4). Do each clause in a separate table. [8 marks] (a2) Through planes of colour and small brushstrokes He created complex visual fields Marked Topical Theme Rheme (a3) He also experimented with multiple views of the same subject Conjunctive textual Theme Rheme (a4) Furthermore Cezanne sought to reduce natural forms to geometric shapes, such as cylinders and cubes Conjunctive Textual Theme Rheme (b2) He created complex visual fields through planes of colour and small brushstrokes Theme Rheme (b3) He experimented with multiple views of the same subject Theme Rheme (b4) Cezanne sought to reduce natural forms to geometric shapes, such as cylinders and cubes Theme Rheme NOTE. Follow the approach in Gerot and Wignell (1994) (reading 10.3). Distinguish between textual and topical Themes, and between structural and conjunctive textual Themes. Indicate any marked topical Themes. (See also the relevant parts of Mangubhai (1991) (reading 10.2).) (iii) Analyse each of (a) and (b) at the level of the interpersonal and ideational metafunctions. [2 x 2.5 = 5 marks] (a) My cousin Vinnie noticed a huge leg of lamb on the kitchen table. My cousin Vinnie noticed a huge leg lamb on the kitchen Subject Finite Predictor Adjunct Mood Residue Participant: actor Process: material Circumstance: Manner (b) Could the person over there return my iPad immediately? Could the person over there return My iPad immediately Finite Subject predictor Complement Adjunct Mood Residue Process: material Participant: Actor Process: material Participant: goal Circumstance: manner Essay Question: Approaches to Languages Introduction Since its birth, language has witnessed a number of changes in its trends, orientations, subjects of study, and theories. Two theories, Universal Grammar and Functional Grammar are some of the language approaches that have attracted renewed attention as witnessed in both both linguistics and applied linguistics (Bavali and Sadighi, 2008). The two theories however, seem to be more or less complementary to each other rather than opposing stance against each other. The aim of this paper is to describe the two approaches highlighting their differences and similarities as well as their respective strengths and weaknesses. The Universal Grammar approach is often based on the arguments for some sort of biological basis to language acquisition; the ability of animals and human beings to acquire language and which is free from an influence of intelligence and that language acquisition pattern takes a similar trend and universal irrespective of regions, cultures and people. Unlike Universal Grammar, Functional grammar is concerned with both spoken and written language and focuses on the functions of language. It is more or less closer to language in daily life, and thus can help us to see and understand human language more deeply and comprehensively. Universal Grammar In the UG approach, language acquisition is relatively easy especially with out the need for instruction or formal learning. All these qualities are in line to the innate element or component of development of language. Under this approach, competencies in grammar is influenced by a number of factors including innate or natural intuitions about grammaticality of different sentences generated in ones own which sometimes is refereed to as grammaticality judgments. Individual competencies are also determined by ones interpretation of sentences such as noting ambiguities in sentences. A Universal Grammar is not the synonymous to giving an account the grammar of a specific language. However, it is specifically a theory of grammar. In other words, it means a number or sets of hypotheses concerning the nature of innate grammars of human languages (Radford’s, 1997. p.5). According to this theory, grammar may be regarded as descriptively adequate if and only if it is able to give a full description of properties of the particular language and this should also be consistent with the universal properties already outlined within the theory of Universal Grammar (Bavali and Sadighi, 2008) thus adding to the element of universality. The second criterion of adequacy for grammars is that of explanatory adequacy. In addition, a theory of Universal Grammar may be regarded explanatorily adequate if with some level of success, it is able to account or explain its features or inherent properties. The other quality of UG is that is must be restrictive in nature implying that its descriptive power must be limited in terms of scope so that it is able to describe as well the artificial languages including scientific Languages) or other human and non-human communication components . Lastly, the language must meet the quality of learnability principle that is; it should be generated with ease and easily learned by children in a relatively short time frame. In other word, the language should be as simple as possible. Universal Grammar is not without challenges. For instance, while it is conceived easily due to the innate capacity for language acquisition, cognitive principles are often not similar and this may affect the language (Bavali and Sadighi, 2008). Functional Grammar Functional grammar has a number of features which make it suitable for studying language variation. Firstly, it is based on the notion of choice - it models grammar as a set of options (a repertoire or resource). This means that it presents grammar to teachers and students as a set of tools they can use rather than a set of rules about what not to do. Secondly, functional grammar looks at the way in which grammar is used to construct texts in their context of use - it is concerned in other words with real language not just with the made up examples of language that can be found in many language tests, exercises, work sheets or traditional grammar books. Its application is not restricted to the analysis of isolated sentences - it explains the way in which sentences are structured to construct whole texts such as stories, essays and reports which students learn to read and write in primary and secondary school. Thirdly, functional grammar is concerned with the way in which grammar is organised to make meaning. Because it is concerned with meaning, it can be related directly to the concerns of teachers and students in all subject areas (Bloor, 1995). Overall, functional grammar is concerned with the way that the different kinds of meaning that contribute to grammatical structure are comprehensively addressed. It is concerned with resources for analysing experience (what is going on), analysing interaction (who is communicating with whom) and analysing the ways in which messages are constructed. In order to model grammar as a context sensitive, meaning-making resource, functional grammar looks closely at the different contributions made by clause, phrase and group and word structure to a text (Christie, 1991). At the clause level, functional grammar deals with resources for analysing experience (Process type, Participants and Circumstances), participating in communication (mood and modality) and packaging information (theme and cohesion). In addition, it is concerned with resources for combining clauses into clause complexes (sentences). At the phrase and group level, functional grammar deals with resources for constructing Participants (noun groups) ,assessing events and setting them in time (verb groups), modifying events (adverb groups) and qualifying Processes (preposition phrases). At the word class level functional grammar is concerned with resources for adapting words to clause, phrase and group structures. Within words, functional grammar is concerned with resources for analysing morphemes (inflection and derivation) (Radford, 1997). Conclusion Functional Grammar is different from Universal grammar right from its name, ‘functional’ which is used to indicate that the approach is concerned with meaning. This makes up the differences between the two models of grammar. According to functional grammarians, language is a social activity which always takes place in a context. Therefore it is not a prescriptive grammar which tells us what we can and we cannot say, or it is not a grammar of etiquette. In short, functional approaches to grammar can be differentiated from universal grammar by their focus on the communicative, as opposed to cognitive, aspect of language. The roots of systemic functional grammar lie in sociology and anthropology rather than psychology and computer science. References Bavali, M. & Sadighi, F. (2008). Chomsky’s Universal Grammar and Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics: An appraisal and a compromise. Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, 12(1), 11-28. Bloor, Thomas & Meriel (1995). The Functional Analysis of English, Oxford University Press Inc., Oxford Christie, F. (1991). What is functional grammar in Teaching English Literacy, pp. 106-107 Functional Grammar, Arnold, London Radford, A. (1997). Syntax: A Minimalist Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Read More