Chapter 7： Historical Linguistics 

I.  Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:

1.  One of the tasks of the historical linguists is to explore methods to reconstruct linguistic history and establish the relationship between languages.

2.  Language change is a gradual and constant process, therefore often indiscernible to speakers of the same generation.

3.  The history of the English language is divided into the periods of Old English, Middle English and Modern English.

4.  Middle English began with the arrival of Anglo-Saxons, who invaded the British Isles from northern Europe.

5.  In Old English, all the nouns are inflected to mark nominative, genitive, dative and accusative cases.

6.  In Old English, the verb of a sentence often precedes the subject rather than follows it.

7.  A direct consequence of the Renaissance Movement was the revival of French as a literary language.

8.  In general, linguistic change in grammar is more noticeable than that in the sound system and the vocabulary of a language.

9.  The sound changes include changes in vowel sounds, and in the loss, gain and movement of sounds.

10.    The least widely-spread morphological changes in the historical development of English are the loss and addition of affixes.

11.    In Old English, the morphosyntactic rule of adjective agreement stipulated that the endings of adjective must agree with the head noun in case, number and gender.

12.    The word order of Modern English is more variable than that of Old English.

13.    Derivation refers to the process by which new words are formed by the addition of affixes to the roots, stems, or words.

14.    “Smog” is a word formed by the word-forming process called acronymy.

15.    “fridge” is a word formed by abbreviation.

16.    Modern linguists are able to provide a consistent account for the exact causes of all types of language change.

17.    Sound assimilation may bring about the loss of one of two phonetically similar syllables in sequence, as in the case of change of “Engla-land” to “England”.

18.    Rule elaboration occurs when there is a need to reduce ambiguity and increase communicative clarity or expressiveness.

19.    Language change is always a change towards the simplification of language rules

20.    The way children acquire the language is one of the causes for language change.

II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:

21.    H________ linguistics is the subfield of linguistics that studies language change.

22.    The historical study of language is a d________ study of language rather than a synchronic study.

23.    European R________ Movement separates the period of Middle English from that of modern English.

24.    An important set of extensive sound changes, which affected 7 long or tense vowels and which led to one of the major discrepancies between phonemic representations of words and morphemes at the end of the Middle English Period, is known as the Great V_______ Shift.

25.    A_______ involves the deletion of a word-final vowel segment.

26.    A change that involves the insertion of a consonant or vowel sound to the middle of a word is known as  e__________.

27.    The three sets of consonant shifts that Grimm discovered became known collectively as Grimm s L ____.

28.    Sound change as a result of sound movement, known as m_______, involves a reversal in position of two adjoining sound segments.

29.    B________ is a process by which new words are formed by taking away the supposed suffixes of exiting words.

30.    Semantic b________ refers to the process in which the meaning of a word becomes more general or inclusive than its historically earlier denotation.

31.    The original form of a language family that has ceased to exist is called the p_________.

32.    Sound a________ refers to the physiological effect of one sound on another. In this process, successive sounds are made identical or similar to one another in terms of place or manner of articulation.

33.    In order to reduce the exceptional or irregular morphemes, speakers of a particular language may borrow a rule from one part of the grammar and apply it generally. This phenomenon is called i_________ borrowing.

34.    By identifying and comparing similar linguistic forms with similar meanings across related languages, historical linguists reconstruct the proto form in the common ancestral language. This process is called c________ reconstruction.

35.    The m ____ rule of adjective agreement has been lost from English.

III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:

36.     Historical linguistics explores ________________.

     A.   the nature of language change

B.   the causes that lead to language change

   C.  the relationship between languages

   D. all of the above

37.    Language change is ______________.

A.   universal, continuous and ,to a large extent, regular and systematic

B.   continuous, regular, systematic, but not universal

C.   universal, continuous, but not regular and systematic

D.   always regular and systematic, but not universal and continuous

38.    Modern English period starts roughly _____________.

A.   from 449 to 1100

B.   from 1500 to the present

C.   from 1100 to the present

D.   from 1700 to the present

39.    Old English dates back to the mid-fifth century when _________.

A.  the Norman French invaders under William the Conqueror arrived in England

B.   the printing technology was invented

C.  Anglo-Saxons invaded the British Isles from northern Europe

D.  the Celtic people began to inhabit England

40.    Middle English was deeply influenced by ___________.

A.  Norman French in vocabulary and grammar

B.   Greek and Latin because of the European renaissance movement

C.  Danish languages because Denmark placed a king on the throne of England

D.  the Celtic people who were the first inhabitants of England

41.    Language change is essentially a matter of change ________.

A. in collocations                 B. in meaning

C. in grammar                   D. in usages

42.    In Old and Middle English, both /k/ and /n/ in the word “knight” were pronounced, but in modern English, /k/ in the sound /kn-/ clusters was not pronounced. This phenomenon is known as ________.

A. sound addition              B. sound loss

C. sound shift                 D. sound movement

43.    A change that involves the insertion of a consonant or vowel sound to the middle of a word is known as _____.

A. apocope                    B. epenthesis

C. parenthesis                  D. antithesis

44.    Segment switch of sound positions can be seen in the example of the modern word “ bird” which comes from the old English word “bridd”. The change of the word from “bridd” to “bird” is a case of _________.

  A. metathesis                   B. sound loss

  C. sound addition                D. apocope

45.    _________ is a process of combining two or more words into one lexical unit.

A. Derivation                     B. Blending

C. Compounding                  D. Abbreviation

46.    “Wife”, which used to refer to any woman, stands for “ a married woman” in modern English. This phenomenon is known as ________.

A. semantic shift                   B. semantic broadening

C. semantic elevation               D. semantic narrowing

47.    English language belongs to _________.

A. Indo-European Family            B. Sino-Tibetan Family

C. Austronesian Family              D. Afroasiatic Family

48.    By analogy to the plural formation of the word “dog-s”, speakers started saying “cows” as the plural of “cow” instead of the earlier plural “kine”. This is the case of _________.

A. elaboration                       B. external borrowing

C. sound assimilation                 D. internal borrowing

49.    Morphologcial changes can involve __________.

A.  the loss of morphological rules

B.   the addition of morphological rules

C.  the alteration of morphological rules

D.  all of the above

50.    The most dramatic morphological loss concerns the loss of ________.

A.  comparative markers

B.   tense markers

C.  gender and case markers

D.  none of the above  

IV. Define the following terms:

51. Apocope               52. Metathesis             53. Derivation 

54. back-formation          55. semantic narrowing     56.protolanguage  

57. haplology              58. epenthesis            59. Compounding 

60. Blending             61. semantic broadening   62. semantic shift        

63. Great Vowel Shift         64. acronym         65. sound assimilation  

V. Answer the following questions:

66.  What is the purpose or significance of the historical study of language?

67.  What are the characteristics of the nature of language change?

68.  What are the major periods in the history of English?

69.  As language changes over time, the meaning of a word may deviate from its original denotation. Discuss the major types of semantic changes.

70.  Over the years from Old English period to the Modern English period, English has undergone some major sound changes. Illustrate these changes with some examples.

71.  What are the most widely-spread morphological changes in the historical development of English?

72.  What are the causes of language change? Discuss them in detail.

Suggested answers to supplementary exercises:

                 Chapter 7  Historical Linguistics

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:

 l.T   2.T   3.T   4.F   5.F   6.T   7.F   8.F   9.T   10.F

11.T  12.F  13.T  14.F  15.F  16. F  17. T  18. T  19. F  20.T

II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:

21.Historical         22.diachronic         23.Renaissance       24.Vowel

25.Apocope         26.epenthesis         27.Law              28. Metathesis 29.Backformation     30.broadening        31.protolanguage     32.assimilation 33. internal         34.comparative       35. morphosyntactic

III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:

36.D   37.A   38.B   39.C   40.A   41.C   42.B   43.B   44.A   45.C

46. D  47.A   48. D   49. D  50. C

IV. Define the following terms:

1.  Apocope : Apocope is the deletion of a word-final vowel segment.

2.  Metathesis: Sound change as a result of sound movement is known as metathesis. It involves a reversal in position of two neighbouring sound seg­ments.

3.  Derivation: It is a process by which new words are formed by the addition of affixes to the roots, stems or words.

4.  back-formation: It is a process by which new words are formed by taking away the supposed suffix of an existing word.

5.  semantic narrowing: Semantic narrowing is a process in which the meaning of a word be­comes less general or inclusive than its historically earlier meaning.

6.  Protolanguage: It is the original form of a language family that has ceased to exist.

7.  Haplology: It refers to the phenomenon of the loss of one of two phonetically similar syllables in sequence.

8.    Epenthesis: A change that involves the insertion of a consonant or vowel sound to the middle of a word is known as epenthesis.

9.    Compounding: It is a process of combining two or more than two words into one lexical unit. 

10.    Blending: It is a process of forming a new word by combining parts of other words.

11.    semantic broadening: Semantic broadening refers to the process in which the  meaning of a word becomes more general or inclusive than its historically earlier denota­tion.

62. semantic shift: Semantic shift is a process of semantic change in which a word loses its former meaning and acquires a new, sometimes related, meaning.

63.  Great Vowel Shift: It is a series of systematic sound change at the end of the Middle English period approximately between 1400 and 1600 in the history of English that involved seven long vowels and consequently led to one of the major discrepancies between English pronunciation and its spelling system.

64. Acronym: An acronym is a word created by combining the initials of a number of words.     

65.  sound assimilation: Sound assimilation refers to the physiological effect of one sound on an­other. In an assimilative process, successive sounds are made identical, or more similar, to one another in terms of place or manner of articulation, or of haplology.

V. Answer the following questions:

66.  What is the purpose or significance of the historical study of language?

1)   Researches in historical linguistics shed light on prehistoric developments in the evolution of language and the connections of earlier and later variants of the same lan­guage and provide valuable insights into the kinship patterns of different languages.

2)   The identification of the changes that a particular language has undergone enables us to reconstruct the linguistic history of that language, and thereby hypothesizes its earlier forms from which current speech and writing have evolved.

3)   The historical study of language also en­ables them to determine how non - linguistic factors, such as social, cultural and psychological factors, interact over time to cause linguistic change.

67.  What are the characteristics of the nature of language change?

  All living languages change with time and language change is inevitable. As a general rule, language change is universal, continuous and, to a considerable de­gree, regular and systematic. Language change is extensive, taking place in virtually all aspects of the grammar.

  Although language change is universal, inevitable, and in some cases, vigorous, it is never an overnight occurrence, but a gradual and constant process, often indiscernible to speakers of the same generation.

68.  What are the major periods in the history of English?

    The major periods in the history of English are Old English period (roughly from 449 to 1100), Middle English period(roughly from 1100 to 1500), and Modern English period (roughly from 1500 to the pre­sent). Old English dates back to the mid-fifth century when Anglo-Saxons invaded the British Isles from northern Europe.

   The pronunciation of Old English is very different from its modem form. For example, the Old English word "ham" is pronounced as /ha:m/. In terms of morphology, nearly half of the nouns are inflected to mark nomi­native , genitive, dative, and accusative cases . In addition, suffixes are added to verbs to indicate tense. Syntactical­ly , the verb of an Old English sentence precedes, hut does not follow, the subject.

    Middle English began when the Norman French invaders invaded England under William the Conqueror in 1066. Middle English had been deeply influenced by Norman French in vocabulary and grammar. For example, such terms as " army," " court," " defense," " faith," "prison" and "tax" came from the language of the French rulers.

    Modern English period starts with European renaissance move­ment. A di­rect consequence of the Renaissance movement was the revival of Latin as a literary language. In the post-Renaissance period, the "British Empire" set up English-speaking colonies in many parts of the world. By the nineteenth century, English was recognized as the language of the government, the law, higher education, and business and commerce in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Today Modern English is widely used and has in fact become an important tool of international communication among peoples of different countries.

69.  As language changes over time, the meaning of a word may deviate from its original denotation. Discuss the major types of semantic changes.

   Major types of semantic changes are semantic broadening, semantic narrowing and semantic shift.

    Semantic broadening refers to the process in which the meaning of a word becomes more general or inclusive than its historically earlier denota­tion. Take the word "holiday" for example,  The older meaning was a " holy day." Today everyone enjoys a holiday, whether he or she is religious or not.

    Semantic narrowing is a process in which the meaning of a word be­comes less general or inclusive than its historically earlier meaning. For ex­ample, " wife," used to mean "any woman," but now it means “married fe­males” only.

    Semantic shift is a process of semantic change in which a word loses its former meaning and acquires a new, sometimes related, meaning. For example, the word silly meant “happy” in Old English, and naive in Middle English, but "foolish" in Modern English.

70.    Over the years from Old English period to the Modern English period, English has undergone some major sound changes. Illustrate these changes with some examples.

The major sound changes include changes in vowel sounds, and in the loss, gain and movement of sounds.

The changes in vowel sounds can be seen in the Great Vowel Shift in the history of English, which led to one of the major dis­agreements between the pronunciation and the spelling system of Modern English. These changes involve seven long, or tense vowels, for example

Words	Middle English	Modem English
Five	fi:v	faiv
Mouse	Mu:s	maus
Feet	fe:t	Fi:t
Mood	Mo:d	Mu:d
Break	Brε:ken	breik

    Sounds do not just change, they can be lost. vowel sounds change, but some sounds simply disappeared from the general pronunciation of English. One example of sound loss is the /kn - / clusters in the word - initial position. In Old and Middle English, both /k/ and /n/ were pro­nounced, as is shown in the spelling of such words as "knight" and "knee." Although Modern English spelling of these words still keeps the initial letter k, its sound is no longer pronounced.

  Sound changes can also take the form of sound addition. Sound addition includes the gain or insertion of a sound, for example:

              spinle          spindle

              emty           empty

Sound change can take the form of sound movement. It involves a reversal in position of two neighbouring sound seg­ments. For example, the /r/ sound in the Old English words "bridd" ("bird") and "hros" ("horse") was moved to the right of the vowel sounds in their Modem English counterparts "bird" and "horse."

71. What are the most widely-spread morphological changes in the historical development of English?

The most widely-spread morphological changes in the historical development of English are the loss and addition of affixes. A number of morphological rules in Old English are now lost in Modern English. Some of these rules are about derivational affixes, such as suffixes "-baere" and "-bora" . In Old English an adjective would derive if "-baere" was added to a noun, such as:

   lust ("pleasure") + baere     lustbaere ("agreeable")

But this rule has been lost in modern English.

    The most dramatic morphological loss concerns the loss of gender and case marking. In Old English,for example, "st?n" ("stone") was marked masculine, while "gief" ("gift") and "d…or" ("wild animal") were marked respectively feminine and neuter. In modern English, the gender markers of these words have been lost.

    Some affixes have been added to the English morphological system.Take "-able" for example, it has been added to English since the Old English period. At first, words ending in "-able," such as "favourable" and "conceivable," were borrowed altogether from French. Then this suffix be­came a productive rule in English. It was used with other verbs to form ad­jectives. Contemporary English speakers apply this suffix rule to more stems, thus producing new adjectives such as " payable," and “washable.”

72.What are the causes of language change? Discuss them in detail.

Language changes are due to the following causes:

1)   Sound assimilation: Sound assimilation refers to the physiological effect of one sound on an­other. In an assimilative process, successive sounds are made identical, or more similar, to one another in terms of place or manner of articulation, or of haplology, the loss of one of two phonetically similar syllables in sequence. For example, the Old English word "Engla-land" ("the land of the Angles") came to be pronounced “England” through the assimilation of "la-la sounds.

2)    Rule simplification and regularization: Some changes are the result of simplification and regularization. The plural forms of borrowed words are usually irregular, thus complex. For example, the plural forms of  "agendum", "datum", "curriculum" and "memorandum" are "agenda" , "data" , "curricula" and "mem­oranda" . The irregular plurals of these nouns have been replaced by regular plurals of "agendas", "curriculums", and "memorandums" among many speakers, thus making them simplified and regularized.

3)    Internal borrowing: In order to reduce the number of ex­ceptional or irregular morphemes, speakers of a particular language may bor­row a rule from one part of the grammar and apply it generally. For exam­ple, by analogy to the plural formation of "foe-s" and "dog-s", speakers started saying "cows" as the plural of "cow" instead of the earlier plural kine.

4)   Elaboration: Rule elaboration occurs when there is a need to reduce ambiguity and increase communicative clarity or expressiveness. If a particular grammatical feature is lost as a re­sult of a change in the phonological system, some other feature may be added in another component of the grammar.

5)   Social triggers: Socio-political changes such as wars, invasions, oc­cupation, colonization, and language planning and standardiza­tion policies lead to language changes. For example, in the history of English, the Norman Conquest marked the beginning of the Middle English period. And British colonial settlement, and the country' s political, cultural and economic advances in distant lands such as North America, Oceania, South Africa, and India lead to the change of English into British, American, Australian, South African and Indian varieties.

6)    Cultural transmission: Although a new generation has to find a way of using the language of the previous generation, it has to find expressions that can best communicate the views and concepts of the time and the changed and ever-changing social life, and re-create the language of the community. For example, while old people tend to call a refrigerator "icebox," the younger generation is more often heard speaking of a "fridge." This tenuous transmission process adds up to the inevitable and ongoing language change and variation.

7)    Children's approximation toward the adult grammar:The way children acquire the language is another basic cause for lan­guage change. Children usually construct their personal grammars by themselves and generalize rules from the linguistic information they hear. Children' s grammar never models exactly after that of the adult speech community, because children are exposed to diverse linguistic infor­mation.

All the above factors contribute to language changes.

Supplementary Exercises to 

                             Chapter 8：Sociolinguistics 

I.  Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:

   1. Sociolinguistics is the sub-discipline of linguistics that studies social contexts.

2. Language as a means of social communication is a homogeneous system with a homogeneous group of speakers.

3. Language use varies from one speech community to another, from one regional group to another, from one social group to another, and even from one individual to another.

4. The goal of sociolinguistics is to explore the nature of language variation and language use among a variety of speech communities and in different social situations.

5. The linguistic markers that characterize individual social groups may serve as social markers of group membership.

6. From the sociolinguistic perspective, the term “speech variety ” can not be used to refer to standard language, vernacular language, dialect or pidgin.

7.Functional speech varieties are known as regional dialects.

8. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its grammar and uses of vocabulary.

9.Geographical barriers are the only source of regional variation of language.

10. A person’s social backgrounds do not exert a shaping influence on his choice of linguistic features.

11.Two speakers of the same language or dialect use their language or dialect in the same way.

12. Every speaker of a language is, in a stricter sense, a speaker of a distinct idiolect.

13. The standard language is a better language than nonstandard languages.

14. A lingua franca can only be used within a particular country for communication among groups of people with different linguistic backgrounds.

15.Pidgins are linguistically inferior to standard languages.

16. A pidgin usually reflects the influence of the higher, or dominant, language in its lexicon and that of the lower language in their phonology and occasionally syntax.

17.The major difference between a pidgin and a creole is that the former usually has its native speakers while the latter doesn’t.

18.Bilingualism and diglossia mean the same thing.

19.The kind of name or term speakers use to call or refer to someone may indicate something of their social relationship to or personal feelings about that individual.

20.The use of euphemisms has the effect of removing derogatory overtones and the disassociative effect as such is usually long-lasting.

II. Fill in each of the blanks below with one word which begins with the letter given:

21.  The social group isolated for any given study is called the speech c________.

22.  Speech v_________ refers to any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker or group of speakers.

23.  From the sociolinguistic perspective, a speech variety is no more than a d__________ variety of a language.

24.  Language standardization is also called language p_______.

25.  Social variation gives rise to s_________ which are subdivisible into smaller speech categories that reflect their socioeconomic, educational, occupational background, etc.

26.  S_______ variation in a person’s speech or writing usually ranges on a continuum from casual or colloquial to formal or polite according to the type of communicative situation.

27.  A regional dialect may gain status and become standardized as the national or o________ language of a country.

28.  The standard language is a s_________, socially prestigious dialect of language.

29.  Language varieties other than the standard are called nonstandard, or v_______ languages.

30. A pidgin typically lacks in i_______ morphemes.

31. Linguistic taboo reflects s_________ taboo.

32.  The avoidance of using taboo language mirrors social attitudes, emotions and value judgments and has no l_________ basis.

III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:

33. _______ is concerned with the social significance of language variation and language use in different speech communities.

    A. Psycholinguistics                  B. Sociolinguistics

    C. Historical linguistics               D. General linguistics

34. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its _____.

   A. use of words                      B. use of structures

   C. accent                           D. morphemes

35. ____ is speech variation according to the particular area where a speaker comes from.

   A. Regional variation                 B. Language variation

   C. Social variation                   D. Register variation

36. _______ are the major source of regional variation of language.

            A. Geographical barriers

   B. Loyalty to and confidence in one’s native speech

            C. Physical discomfort and psychological resistance to change

            D. Social barriers

37. _________ means that certain authorities, such as the gov­ernment choose, a particular speech variety, standardize it and spread the use of it across regional boundaries.

   A. Language interference                 B. Language changes

   C. Language planning                    D. Language transfer

38. _________ in a person’s speech or writing usually ranges on a continuum from casual or colloquial to formal or polite according to the type of communicative situation.

   A. Regional variation                   B. Changes in emotions

   C. Variation in connotations              D. Stylistic variation

39. A ____ is a variety of language that serves as a medium of com­munication among groups of people for diverse linguistic back­grounds .

   A. lingua franca                      B. register

   C. Creole                           D. national language

40. Although _______ are simplified languages with reduced grammatical features, they are rule-governed, like any human language.

   A. vernacular languages               B. creoles

   C. pidgins                          D. sociolects

41. In normal situations, ____ speakers tend to use more prestigious forms than their ____ counterparts with the same social back­ground.

  A. female; male                       B. male; female

  C. old; young                         D. young; old

42.   A linguistic ____ refers to a word or expression that is prohibit­ed by the "polite" society from general use.

  A. slang                        B. euphemism

  C. jargon                       D. taboo

IV. Define the following terms:

43. sociolinguistics           44. speech community    

45. speech variety            46. language planning      

47. idiolect                  48. standard language

49. nonstandard language      50. lingua franca   

51. pidgin                  52. Creole

53. diglossia                54. Bilingualism       

55. ethnic dialect            56. Sociolect               

57. register                 58. slang

59. taboo                  60. euphemism

V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:

61. Discuss with examples that the speech of women may differ from the speech of men.

62. Discuss with examples some of the linguistic differences between Standard English and Black English.

63. What is a linguistic taboo? What effect does it have on our use of language?

             Suggested answers to supplementary exercises

                      Chapter 8  Sociolinguistics

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:

  l.F    2.F     3.T    4.T    5.T    6.F    7.F    8.F    9.F   10.F

11. F   12. T   13. F   14. F   15.F   16. T  17. F   18. F   19. T  20. F

II. Fill in each of the blanks below with one word which begins with the letter given:

21. community 22. variety  23. dialectal  24.planning  25. sociolects

26. Stylistic  27. official  28. superposed  29. vernacular

30. inflectional  31. social   32. linguistic

III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:

33. B  34. C   35. A.   36. A.  37. C  38.D  39.A  40. C  41. A  42. D

IV. Define the following terms:

43.  sociolinguistics: Sociolinguistics is the study of language in social contexts.

44.  speech community: The social group isolated for any given study is called the speech community or a speech community is a group of people who form a community and share the same language or a particular variety of language. The important characteristic of a speech community is that the members of the group must, in some reasonable way, interact lin­guistically with other members of the community. They may share closely re­lated language varieties, as well as attitudes toward linguistic norms.

45.  speech variety: Speech variety, also known as language variety, refers to any distin­guishable form of speech used by a speaker or group of speakers. The dis­tinctive characteristics of a speech variety may be lexical, phonological, morphological, syntactic, or a combination of linguistic features.

46.  language planning: language standardization is known as lan­guage planning. This means that certain authorities, such as the government or government agency of a country, choose a particular speech variety and spread the use of it, including its pronunciation and spelling systems, across regional boundaries.

47.  Idiolect: An idiolect is a personal dialect of an individual speaker that com­bines aspects of all the elements regarding regional, social, and stylistic variation, in one form or another. In a narrower sense, what makes up one’s idiolect includes also such factors as voice quality, pitch and speech rhythm, which all contribute to the identifying features in an individual' s speech.

48.  standard language : The standard language is a superposed, socially prestigious dialect of language. It is the language employed by the government and the judiciary system, used by the mass media, and taught in educational institutions, in­cluding school settings where the language is taught as a foreign or second language.

49.  nonstandard language: Language varieties other than the standard are called nonstandard languages

50.  lingua franca: A lingua franca is a variety of language that serves as a medium of com­munication among groups of people for diverse linguistic backgrounds.

51.  pidgin: A pidgin is a variety of language that is generally used by native speak­ers of other languages as a medium of communication.

52.  Creole: A Creole language is originally a pidgin that has become established as a native language in some speech community.

53.  diglossia : Diglossia usually describes a situation in which two very different vari­eties of language co-exist in a speech community, each with a distinct range of purely social function and appropriate for certain situations.

54.  Bilingualism: Bilingualism refers to a linguistic situation in which two standard lan­guages are used either by an individual or by a group of speakers, such as the inhabitants of a particular region or a nation.

55.  ethnic dialect: Within a society, speech variation may come about because of different ethnic backgrounds . An ethnic language variety is a so­cial dialect of a language, often cutting across regional differences. An eth­nic dialect is spoken mainly by a less privileged population that has experi­enced some form of social isolation, such as racial discrimina­tion or segregation.

56.  Sociolect: Social dialects, or sociolects, are varieties of language used by people belonging to particular social classes.

57.  register: Registers are language varieties which are appropriate for use in partic­ular speech situations, in contrast to language varieties that are associated with the social or regional grouping of their customary users. Format reason, registers are also known as situational dialects .

58.  Slang: Slang is a casual use of language that consists of expressive but non-standard vocabulary, typically of arbitrary, flashy and often ephemeral coinages and figures of speech characterized by spontaneity and sometimes by raciness.

59.  taboo : taboo, or rather linguistic taboo, denotes any pro­hibition by the polite society on the use of particular lexical items to refer to objects or acts.

60.  euphemism: A euphemism, then, is a mild, indirect or less of­fensive word or expression substituted when the speaker or writer fears more direct wording might be harsh, unpleasantly direct, or offensive.

V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:

61. Discuss with examples that the speech of women may differ from the speech of men.

    In normal situations, female speakers tend to use more prestigious forms than their male counterparts with the same general social background. For example, standard English forms such as "I did it" and "he isn' t" can be found more often in the speech of females, while the more colloquial "I done it" and "he ain' t" occur more frequently in the speech of males.

    Another feature often associated with so-called women' s language is politeness. Usually, tough and rough speeches have connotations of mas­culinity and are not considered to be desirable feminine qualities. In gener­al, men's language is more straightforward, less polite, and more direct, and women's language is more indirect, less blunt, and more circumlocuto­ry.

   This phenomenon of sex-preferential differentiation is also reflected in the relative frequency with which males and females use the same lexical items. For example, certain words that are closely associated with women may sound typically feminine as a result of that association. For example, some English adjectives like "lovely", "nice", "darling" and "cute" occur more often in female speeches and therefore cause feminine association. Fe­males have also been shown to possess a greater variety of specific color terms than males, in spite of the fact that men do not necessarily possess less acute color perception than women. On the other hand, males have the reputation of possessing a larger vocabulary in traditionally male-dominated domains such as sports, hunting and the military.

    A request in English such as " Close the door when you leave" can be phrased in a number of ways ranging from a harsh command to a very polite request:

   a. Close the door when you leave.

b. Please close the door when you leave.

c. Would you please close the door when you leave?

d. Could you close the door when you leave?

    Although the above options are all available to both men and women, it is usually the more polite forms that are selected by female speakers. In general, females are found to use more questions than declarative statements in comparison with males.

62. Discuss with examples some of the linguistic differences between Standard English and Black English.

One of the most prominent phonological characteristics of Black English is the frequent simplification of consonant clusters at the end of words when one of the two consonants is an alveolar /t/, /d/, /s/, or /z/. The application of this simplification rule may delete the past - tense morpheme, so "past "and "passed "are both pronounced like "pass."

   Another salient characteristic of Black English phonological system con­cerns the deletion of some word-final stop consonants in words like "side" and "borrowed." Speakers of Black English frequently delete these word-fi­nal stops, pronouncing “side” like “sigh” and “borrowed” like “borrow.”

    One prominent syntactic feature is the frequent absence of various forms of the copula "be" in Black English, which are required of Standard Eng­lish. Compare the following expressions in Black English and Standard Eng­lish:

(1) Black English                  Standard English

They mine.                     They' re mine.

You crazy.                      You re crazy.

    Another distinctive syntactic feature of Black English is the systematic use of die expression "it is" where Standard English uses "there is " in the sense of “there exists” :

                Is it a Mr. Johnson in this office?

Another aspect of Black English is the use of double negation constructions. Whenever the verb is negated, the indefinite pronouns "something", "some­body", and "some" become the negative indefinites "nothing", "nobody", and "none", for example:

           He don't know nothing. (He doesn't know anything.)

63. What is a linguistic taboo? What effect does it have on our use of language?

    A linguistic taboo refers to a word or expression that is prohibited by the "polite" society from general use. Obscene, profane, and swear words are all taboo words that are to be avoided entirely, or at least avoided in mixed company.

    In sociolinguistics, a linguistic taboo, denotes any pro­hibition on the use of particular lexical items to refer to objects or acts. As language use is contextualized in particular social settings, linguistic taboo originates from social taboo. When an act is taboo, reference to this act may also become taboo. Taboo words and expressions reflect the particular social customs and views of a particular culture.

As linguistic taboo reflects social taboo, certain words are more likely to be avoided, for examples, the words related to sex, sex organs and ex­crement in many cultures. The avoidance of using taboo language mirrors social attitudes, emo­tions and value judgments, and has no linguistic basis.

The avoidance of using taboo language has led to the creation of euphemisms. A euphemism is a mild, indirect or less of­fensive word or expression substituted when the speaker or writer fears more direct wording might be harsh, unpleasantly direct, or offensive. For exam­ple, we say "portly" instead of "fat".

    In many cultures, people avoid using direct words that pertain to death or dying because it is the subject that everyone fears and is unpleasant to talk about. In the English-speaking world, for example, people do not “die” , but “pass away”.

   Euphemisms involve a wide range of fields. Although the use of euphemisms has the effect of removing derogatory overtones, the disassociative effect is never long-lasting . Often when the negative connotation of a word is recognized in its euphemistic form, a new euphemism will have to be sought for. However, an excessive use of euphemism may have negative effects. As a matter of fact, many euphemisms have become cliches that are to be avoided in formal speech and writing. They also tend to be wordy and to give writing a timid quality. In addition, euphemism can be evasive or even deceitful. Because they are often improperly used to obscure the intended meaning, many people find them offensive and prefer plain language.

Supplementary Exercises 

                       Chapter 9： Psycholinguistics  

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:

1.        The linguistic ability of human beings depends primarily on the structure of the vocal cords.

2.        Human beings are the only organisms in which one particular part of the left half of the brain is larger than the corresponding part of the right half.

3.        The case of Phineas Gage suggests that if our language ability is located in the brain, it is clear that it is not situated right at the front.

4.        In general, the right side of the brain controls voluntary movements of, and responds to signals from, the left side of the body, whereas the left side controls voluntary movements of, and responds to signals from, the right side of the body.

5.        Language functions are believed to be lateralized primarily in the left hemisphere of the brain.

6.        The language we speak determines the way we perceive the world and therefore the nature of thought.

7.        Human beings can not think without language, just as they can not speak without thinking.

8.        If a language lacks a word, its speakers will not be able to grasp its concept.

9.        Generally speaking, left hemisphere is responsible for language and speech, analytic reasoning, associative thought, etc., while the right hemisphere is responsible for perception of nonlinguistic sounds, holistic reasoning, recognition of musical melodies, etc.

10.    Language by no means determines the ways we perceive the objective world, but by its convenience, availability, and habitual use, does influence the perceptions of human being.

II. Fill in each of the blanks below with one word which begins with the letter given:

11.    P_________ is the study of language in relation to the mind.

12.    The most important part of the brain is the outside surface of the brain, called the cerebral c_________, which is the decision-making organ of the body.

13.    The brain is divided into two roughly symmetrical halves, called h_________, one on the right and one on the left.

14.    The localization of cognitive and perceptual functions in a particular side of the brain is called l__________.

15.    Brain lateralization is g__________ programmed, but takes time to develop.

16.    In addition to the m________ area which is responsible for physical articulation of utterances, three areas of the left hemisphere are vital to language, namely, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area and the angular gyrus.

17.    The relationship between the name and the meaning of a word is quite a______________.

18.    When language and thought are identical or closely parallel to each other, we may regard thought as s________ speech and speech as o__________ thought.

19.    Because languages differ in many ways, Whorf believed that speakers of different languages perceive and experience the world differently, relative to their linguistic background. This notion is called linguistic r__________.

20.    The basic essentials of the first language are acquired in the short period from about age two to puberty, which is called the c____ period for first language acquisition.

21.    The strong version of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has two aspects: linguistic d_______ and linguistic relativism.

III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:

22.    Human linguistic ability largely depends on the structure and dynamics of _________.

A. human brain                    B. human vocal cords

C. human memory                  D. human

23.     Psychologists, neurologists and linguists have concluded that, in addition to the motor area which is responsible for physical articulation of utterances, three areas of the left brain are vital to language, namely, _______.

A.      Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area and the angular gyrus

B.     Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area and cerebral cortex

C.     Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area and neurons

  D. Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area and Exner’s area

24.    The ____ age for the acquisition of the first language coincides with the period of brain lateralization.

        A. youngest                   B. flexible

        C. optimum                   D. relevant

25. Linguistic ____ is the brain’s neurological specialization for lan­guage.

A. fossilization               B. performance

          C. competence               D. lateralization

26. Our linguistic ability is a ________ gift of the species’ gene program.

A. chemical                    B. physical

C. scientific                    D. biological

27.  ________shows that if our language ability is located in the brain, it is clear that it is not situated right at the front of the brain.

A.The case of Genie             B. The case of Phineas Gage

C. The componential analysis      D. The contrastive analysis

28.  The most important part of the brain is the outside surface of the brain, called _________.

A. the neurons                B. nerve pathways

C. cerebral cortex             d. sensory organs

29.  According to lateralization theory, which of the following is not the primary function of the left hemisphere of the brain?

A. analytic reasoning           B. temporal ordering

C. associative thought          D.visual and spatial skills

30.  _______ is commonly held to be an evolutionary precondition of the development of superior intelligence as well as a precondition of language acquisition.

A. Lateralization                B. Maturation

C. Brain separation              D. Memory capacity

31.  The dichotic listening research shows that the left hemisphere is not superior for processing all sounds, but only for those that are ________ in nature.

A. non-linguistic                B. musical

C. linguistic                    D. natural

32.  _______ is responsible for physical articulation of utterances.

A. The motor area               B. Broca’s area

C. Wernicke’s area              D. The angular gyrus

33.  Language disorder resulting from a damage to _________ in the brain reveals word-finding difficulties and problems with syntax.

A. the motor area               B. Broca’s area

C. Wernicke’s area              D. the angular gyrus

34.  In 1874, the young German physician Carl Wernicke published his discovery in a paper which contributed to the hypothesis that __________.

A.  there was only one language area in the left brain

B.   there was no language area in the left brain

C.  there was one language area in the right brain

D.  there was more than one language area in the left brain.

35.  __________ is the language center primarily responsible for converting a visual stimulus into an auditory form and vice versa.

A. The motor area               B. Broca’s area

C. Wernicke’s area              D. The angular gyrus

36.  The neurobiologist Eric Lenneberg is a major proponent of the idea that ________.

A.  there is a distinction between acquisition and learning

B.   there is a critical period for language acquisition

C.  language influences thinking

D.  there is interrelationship between language and thinking

37.  The case of Genie shows that ____________.

A.   language can not be acquired at all after the critical period.

B.   Cerebral plasticity after puberty is still high enough to for a successful mastery of a new language.

C.   the language faculty of an average human degenerates after the critical period

D.   the language learning should be done as early as possible.

IV Explain the following terms:

38. psycholinguistics                39. brain lateralization 

40. dichotic listening                41. Broca's area

42. angular gyms                   43. cerebral plasticity   

44. linguistic determinism           45. sub vocal speech 

46. cerebral cortex                 47. linguistic lateralization

48. right ear advantage             49. critical period hypothesis

50. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis         51. linguistic relativism

52. overt thought                  53. intrapersonal communication   

54. interpersonal communication

V. Answer the following questions:

55.  What are the biological foundations of language?

56.  What are the major mental functions under the control of each hemi­sphere?

57.  What can we do by means of dichotic listening tests?

58.  What is the safe conclusion from Genie's case?

59.  How are language and thought related to each other?

Suggested answers to supplementary exercises

                    Chapter 9   Psycholinguistics

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:

1.    F  2.T  3.T   4.T   5.T   6. F   7.F   8.F   9.T   10.T

II. II. Fill in each of the blanks below with one word which begins with the letter given:

11. Psycholinguistics  12. cortex   13. hemispheres   14. lateralization 

15. genetically 16. Motor  17. arbitrary  18. sub-vocal, overt 19.relativism

20. critical  21. determinism

III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:

 22.A    23.A    24.C    25.D    26.D    27.B    28.C    29.D    30.A

31.C    32. A    33. B    34. D   35. D    36. B    37. C

IV Explain the following terms:

38. Psycholinguistics: Psycholinguistics is the study of language in relation to the mind.

39. brain lateralization:   The localization of cognitive and perceptual functions in a    particular hemisphere of the brain is called brain lateralization.

40.dichotic listening: a research technique which has been used to study how the brain controls hearing and language, with which subjects wear earphones and simultaneously receive different sounds in the right and left ear, and are then asked to repeat what they hear. Dichotic listening research makes use of the generally established fact that anything experienced on the right-hand side of the body is processed in the left hemisphere of the brain, and vice versa. A basic assumption, thus, would be that a signal coming in the right ear will go to the left hemisphere and a signal coming in the left ear will go to the right hemisphere.

41. Broca's area : It refers to the frontal lobe in the left cerebral hemisphere, which is  vital to language. This area is discovered by Paul Broca, a French surgeon and anatomist.

42. angular gyms: The angular gyrus lies behind Wernicke' s area. The angular gyrus  is the language center re­sponsible for converting a visual stimulus into an auditory form and vice ver­sa. This area is crucial for the matching of a spoken form with a perceived object, for the naming of objects, and for the comprehension of written lan­guage , all of which require connections between visual and speech regions.

43. cerebral plasticity: Ac­cording to Lenneberg, prior to the end of the critical period, both hemispheres are involved to some extent in language and one can take over if the other is damaged. This neurological flexibility is called cerebral plasticity .

44. linguistic determinism: a theory put forward by the American anthropological linguists Sapir and Whorf, which states that the way people view the world is determined by the structure of their native language.

45. subvocal speech: a term used to refer to thought when thought and language are identical or closely parallel to each other.

46. cerebral cortex : the outside surface of the brain which receives messages from all the sensory organs and where human cognitive abilities reside.

47. linguistic lateralization: It refers the brain’s neurological specialization for language.

48.right ear advantage: The speech signals presented in the right ear goes directly to the left brain, while the speech signals in the left ear must first go to the right hemisphere, from where it is transferred to the left side of the brain for processing. Since the speech signals in the left ear takes a non-direct route and a longer time before processing than a linguistic signal received through the right ear, linguistic stimuli heard in the left ear are reported less accurately than those heard in the right ear. This phenomenon is called the right ear advantage.

49. critical period hypothesis: The critical period hypothesis refers to a period in one' s life extending from about age 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.

50.Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: a theory put forward by the American anthropological linguists Sapir and Whorf which states that the way people view the world is determined wholly or partly by the structure of their native language.

51.linguistic relativism: Whorf believed that speakers of different languages perceive and experience the world differently, relative to their linguistic back­ground, hence the notion of linguistic relativism .

52.  overt thought: When language and thought are identical or closely parallel to each other, we may regard speech as "overt thought.”

53. intrapersonal communication: It means that language users use language to facilitates thinking, speech behavior and action for the individual.

54.interpersonal communication: It means language users use language to convey information, thoughts and feelings from one person to another, or to control each other' s behavior.

V. Answer the following questions:

55.  What are the biological foundations of language?

  Of all organisms, human beings are the only spontaneous cre­ators and users of highly sophisticated languages that permit the communica­tion of a wide range of knowledge and ideas. Evidently, our linguistic ability does not depend primarily on the struc­ture of our vocal cords, for other mammals also have vocal cords. Human linguistic ability largely depends, instead, on the structure and dynamics of the human brain. As far as is currently known, human beings are the only organisms in which one particular part of the left half of the brain is larger than the corresponding part of the right half. This has led to the belief that human language is biologically, or more exactly, neurologically, based.

56. What are the major mental functions under the control of each hemi­sphere?

    Psychological research suggests that both hemispheres perform important mental functions and they differ only in the manner in which they treat incoming stimuli. For example, the right hemisphere processes stimuli more holistically and the left hemisphere more analytically.

Brain lateralization for major mental functions under the control of each hemisphere is given as follows:

        (1) Left hemisphere             Right hemisphere

     language and speech     perception of nonlinguistic sounds       

     analytic reasoning        holistic reasoning

     temporal ordering        visual and spatial skills

     reading and writing       recognition of patterns

     calculation              recognition of musical melodies

   associative thought

    Because each cerebral hemisphere has unique functional superiority, it is accurate to think of the hemispheres as complementarily spe­cialized .

57.  What can we do by means of dichotic listening tests?

    Dichotic listening research makes use of the generally established fact that anything experienced on the right-hand side of the body is processed in the left hemisphere of the brain, and vice versa. A basic assumption, thus, would be that a signal coming in the right ear will go to the left hemisphere and a signal coming in the left ear will go to the right hemisphere. By means of dichotic listening tests, we can analyze the characteristics of incoming stimuli processed by the individual hemispheres.

  Dichotic listening test can show that the left hemisphere is not superior for process­ing all sounds, but only for those that are linguistic in nature, thus providing evidence in support of the view that the left side of the brain is specialized for language and that it is where language centers reside.

58.  What is the safe conclusion from Genie's case?

A safe conclusion from Genie' s case is that the lan­guage faculty of an average human degenerates after the critical period and consequently, most linguistic skills cannot develop.

59.  How are language and thought related to each other?

    Language and thought may be viewed as two independent circles overlapping in some parts, where language and thought are consistent with each other and one never occurs without the other. When language and thought are identical or closely parallel to each other, we may regard thought as "subvocal speech”, and speech as "overt thought. In such a case, speaking and thinking take place simultaneously.

  Supplementary Exercises 

                         Chapter 10：Language Acquisition

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:  

1.  L1 development and L2 development seem to involve the same processes.

2.  The capacity to acquire one’s first language is a fundamental human trait that all human beings are equally well possessed with.

3.  All normal children have equal ability to acquire their first language.

4.  Children follow a similar acquisition schedule of predictable stages along the route of language development across cultures, though there is an idiosyncratic variation in the amount of time that takes individuals to master different aspects of the grammar.

5.  Humans can be said to be predisposed and biologically programmed to acquire at least one language.

6.  Some languages are inferior, or superior, to other languages.

7.  Language acquisition is primarily the acquisition of the vocabulary and the meaning of language.

8.  Human beings are genetically predetermined to acquire language, this genetic predisposition is a sufficient condition for language development.

9.  Children who grow up in culture where caretaker speech is absent acquire their native language more slowly than children who are exposed to caretaker speech.

10.    In mother tongue acquisition, normal children are not necessarily equally successful.

11.    For the vast majority of children, language development occurs spontaneously and require little conscious instruction on the part of adults.

12.    The available evidence to date indicates that an explicit teaching of correct forms to young children plays a minor role at best.

13.    Correction and reinforcement are not key factors in child language development as they were claimed to be.

14.    Imitation, plays at best a very minor role in the child’s mastery of language.

15.    Observations of children in different language areas of the world reveal that the developmental stages are similar, possibly universal, whatever the nature of the input.

16.    A child’s babbling seems to depend on the presence of acoustic, auditory input.

17.    In general, the two-word stage begins roughly in the second half of the child’s first year.

18.    Children’s two-word expressions are absent of syntactic or morphological markers.

19.    Children first acquire the sounds in all languages of the world, no matter what language they are exposed to, and in late stages acquire the more difficult sounds.

20.    Language acquisition begins at about the same time as lateralization does and is normally complete, as far as the essentials are concerned, by the time that the process of lateralization comes to an end.

II. Fill in each blank below with one word which begins with the letter given:

21.    The first language a____________ refers to the development of a first or native language.

22.    According to a n__________ view of language acquisition, humans are quipped with the neural prerequisites for language and language use, just as birds are biologically prewired to learn the songs of their species.

23.    A caretaker speech, also called m______ or b______, is the type of modified speech typically addressed to young children.

24.    B_________ learning theory suggested that a child’s verbal behaviour was conditioned through association between a stimulus and the following response.

25.    Children’s one-word utterances are also called h__________ sentences, because they can be used to express a concept or predication that would be associated with an entire sentence in adult speech.

26.    The early multiword utterances of children lack inflectional morphemes and most minor lexical categories, they are often referred to as t__________ speech.

27.    A___________ refers to the gradual and subconscious development of ability in the first language by using it naturally in daily communicative situations.

28.    The C________ Analysis was founded on the belief that it was possible, by establishing the linguistic differences between the native and target language systems, to predict what problems learners of a particular second language would face and the types of errors they would make.

29.    The language that a learner constructs at a given stage of SLA is known as i_________.

30.    Learners subconsciously use their first language knowledge in learning a second language. This is known as language t___________.

31.    Motivation in language learning can be defined in terms of the learner’s overall goal or orientation. I_________ motivation occurs when the learner’s goal is functional and i________ motivation occurs when the learner’s goal is social.

III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the one that can best complete the statement:

32.   In first language acquisition, imitation plays _________.

   A. a minor role                     B. a significant role

   C. a basic role                      D. no rule  

33. Linguists have found that for the vast majority of children, language development occurs _____________.

A.   with much imitation

B.   with little conscious instruction

C.  with much correction from their parents

D.  with little linguistic input  

34. The development of linguistic skills involves the acquisition of ____ rules rather than the mere memorization of words and sen­tences .

       A. cultural                       B. grammatical

       C. behaviour                 D. pragmatic

35. ____ has been found to occur usually in children' s pronunciation or reporting of the truthfulness of utterances, rather than in the grammaticality of sentences.

         A. Punishment                B. Instruction

         C. Reinforcement             D. Imitation

36. According to the _______, the acquisition of a second language involves, and is dependent on, the acquisition of the culture of the target language community.

    A. acculturation view             B. mentalist view

    C. behaviourist view              D. conceptualist view

37. In general, a good second learner is an adolescent ________.

A.  who has a strong and well-defined motivation to learn

B.   who seeks out all chances to interact with the input

C.  who is willing to identify himself with the culture of the target language community

D.  all the above

38. The optimum age for second language acquisition is ________________.

A.  early teenage

B.   after puberty

C.  at puberty

D.  after the brain lateralization

39. The formal instruction in second language acquisition  ___________.

A.   has no effect at all

B.   has a powerful delayed effect

C.   has very little effect

D.   has unsatisfactory effect  

40. ________ is believed to be a major source of incorrect forms resistant to further instruction.

A.  The second language learners’ unwillingness to learn

B.   The Poor classroom teaching

C.  The fossilization of the learner’s interlanguage

D.  The learner’s lack of instrumental motivation  

41. Which of the following is not true?

A.   Interlanguage is a product of communicative strategies of the learner.

B.   Interlanguage is a product of mother tongue interference.

C.   Interlanguage is a product of overgeneralization of the target language rules.

D.   Interlanguage is the representation of learners’ unsystematic L2 rules.  

42.  _________, except those with mental or physical impairments, are better or worse first language acquirers.

A. Some men                   B. Almost all men

C. No men                     D. Few men  

IV. Explain the following terms:

43.  caretaker speech

44.  holophrastic sentences

45.  telegraphic speech

46.  second language acquisition

47.  acquisition

48.  learning

49.  transfer

50.  interlanguage

51.  fossilization

52.  instrumental motivation

53.  integrative motivation

54.  acculturation

V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:  

55.  What's the difference between acquisition and learning, according to Krashen?

56.  How do the learner factors potentially influence the way in which a second language is acquired?

57.  What is the role of input for SLA?

58.  How do you understand interlanguage?

59.  Discuss the contrastive analysis in detail.

60.  What are the major stages that a child has to follow in first language development? What are the features of the linguistic forms at each stage?

61.  What is the role of correction and reinforcement in first language acquisition?

62.  Why do we say language acquisition is primarily the acquisition of the grammatical system of language?

63.  Discuss the biological basis of language acquisition.

64.  What is the role of imitation in first language acquisition?

   Suggested answers to supplementary exercises

                      Chapter 10  Language Acquisition

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:

l.F    2.T   3.T   4.T   5.T   6.F   7.F   8.F   9.F   10.F

11.T  12.T  13.T  14.T  15.T  16.F  17.F  18.T  19.T  20.T

II. Fill in each blank below with one word which begins with the letter given:

21. acquisition 22. nativist  23. motherese, babytalk 24. Behaviorist 25. holophrastic

26. telegraphic 27. Acquisition  28. Contrastive 29. interlanguage 30. transfer

31. Instrumental, integrative

III. III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the one that can best complete the statement:

32.A   33.B   34.B   35.C   36.A   37.D   38.A   39.B  40.C   41.D 

42. C

IV. Explain the following terms:

43.  caretaker speech: It is the modified speech typically addressed to young children. Such modified speech is called  babytalk, motherses, or parentese.

44.  holophrastic sentences: They are children' s one-word utterances. They are called holophrastic sentences, because they can be used to express a concept or predication that would be associated with an entire sentence in adult speech.

45. telegraphic speech: They are the early multiword utterances of children which typically lack inflectional morphemes and most minor lexical cate­gories. Some function words are altogether missing. What occur in these multiword utterances are usually the "substantive" or "content" words that carry the main message. Because of their resemblance to the style of lan­guage found in telegrams, utterances at this acquisition stage are often called telegraphic speech.

46. second language acquisition: Second language acquisition (SLA) is a general term which refers to the acquisition of a second language (L2) , in contrast with first language acqui­sition (FLA). SLA is also used as a general term to refer to the acquisition of a foreign or subsequent language (such as a third or fourth language). Thus, SLA is primarily the study of how learners acquire or learn an addi­tional language after they have acquired their first language (LI).

47.  Acquisition: According to Krashen, acquisition refers to the gradual and subcon­scious development of ability in the first language by using it naturally in daily communicative situations.

48.  Learning: Learning, however, is defined by Krashen as a conscious process of accumulating knowledge of a second language usu­ally obtained in school settings.

49. Transfer: It refers to the phenomenon that learners subcon­sciously use their LI knowledge in learning a second language.

50. Interlanguage: It is a series of internal representations that comprises the learner's interim knowledge of the target language. This is the language that a learner constructs at a given stage of SLA. Interlanguage consists of a series of interlocking and ap­proximate linguistic systems in-between and yet distinct from the learner's native and target languages. It represents the learner' s transitional compe­tence moving along a learning continuum stretching from one' s LI compe­tence to the target language competence.

51.  Fossilization: it is a process that sometimes occurs in second language learning in which incorrect linguistic features become a permanent part of the way a person speaks or writes in the target language.

52.  instrumental motivation: Adults are motivated to learn a second language in order to use it functionally. In other words, the learners desire to learn a second language because it is useful for some functional, “instrumental” goals. This motivation is called instrumental motivation.

53.  integrative motivation: Adults are motivated to learn a second language in order to use it socially. In other words, the learners learn a second language in order to communicate with native speakers of the target language.

54.  Acculturation: It is the process of adapting to the new culture of the L2 com­munity.

V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:

55.  What's the difference between acquisition and learning, according to Krashen?

According to Krashen, acquisition refers to the gradual and subcon­scious development of ability in the first language by using it naturally in daily communicative situations. Learning, however, is defined as a conscious process of accumulating knowledge of a second language usu­ally obtained in school settings. A second language, Krashen ar­gues, is more commonly learned but to some degree may also be acquired, depending on the environmental setting and the input received by the L2 learner. A rule can be learned before it is internalized (i.e., acquired), but having learned a rule does not necessarily prevent having to acquire it later. For example, an English language learner may have learned a rule like the third person singular "-s", but is unable to articulate the correct form in casual and spontaneous conversation because the rule has not yet been acquired. This shows that conscious knowledge of rules does not ensure an immediate guidance for actual performance.

56.  How do the learner factors potentially influence the way in which a second language is acquired?

 1) The optimum age for second language acquisition: First language acquisition is most successful when it oc­curs during the early years of one' s life before puberty, but the optimum age for SLA does not always accord with the maxim of "the younger the better". The optimum age for SLA is early teenage. This claim is justifiable because this is the age when the learner' s flexibility of the language acquisition faculty has not been com­pletely lost while one's cognitive skills have developed considerably.

2)       Motivation: Motivation in language learning can be defined in terms of the learner’s overall goal or orientation. Instrumental motivation occurs when the learner's goal is functional, and integrative motivation occurs when the learner's goal is social. If the target language functions as a foreign language (used in a limited environment such as in school), the learner is likely to benefit from an integrative motivation; but if the target language functions as a second language (used as a primary means of com­munication in the community of the learner), an instrumental motivation is more effective.

3)      Acculturation: The acculturation hypothesis focuses on the social and psychological conditions un­der which L2 processing is most likely to take place successfully. It states simply that the more a person aspires to acculturate to the community of the target language, the further he or she will progress along the developmental continuum.

4)      Personality: Intuitively, an outgoing per­sonality may contribute to language acquisition. Research results, however, only partially support this hypothesis. No significant relationship has been found between talkativeness on the one hand and overall proficiency in a second language on the other. But it is recog­nized that as a result of being frequently exposed to and interacting with the target language, learners with an extroverted personality are likely to achieve better oral fluency than otherwise.

  In sum, A good second language learner is, among other things, an adolescent who has a strong and well-de­fined motivation to learn. He is able to respond and adaptable to differ­ent learning situations. He seeks out all opportunities and makes maxi­mum use of them to interact with the input. He employs appropriate learning strategies. And he is willing to identify himself or herself with the culture of the target language community.

57.  What is the role of input for SLA?

   It is evident that SLA takes place only when the learner has access to L2 input and the opportunity to interact with the input. It appears that what learners need is not mere exposure to L2 da­ta, but the kind of input data that are specially suited to their current stage of development. There is, however, no agreement as to precisely what con­stitutes optimum input. Some scholars advise that access to comprehensible input is a necessary condition for acquisition to take place. It is suggested that input can be made comprehensible by the use of learned structures and vocabu­lary, the linguistic and extralinguistic contexts of the input data, and the learner's general knowledge to interpret new language items. It is also sug­gested that interaction (i.e. , taking part in communicative ac­tivities) and intake (i.e. , the input that is assimilated and fed into the interlanguage system) are more important for SLA than input.

58.  How do you understand interlanguage?

   Interlanguage consists of a series of interlocking and ap­proximate linguistic systems in-between and yet distinct from the learner's native and target languages. It represents the learner' s transitional compe­tence moving along a learning continuum stretching from one' s LI compe­tence to the target language competence. As a type of linguistic system in its own right, interlanguage is a product of L2 training, mother tongue interfer­ence, overgeneralization of the target language rules, and communicative strategies of the learner.

59.  Discuss the contrastive analysis in detail.

  Contrastive Analysis was developed in order to identify and predict the areas of learning difficulty. Given this approach, it was hypothesized that L2 errors were predominantly the re­sult of negative transfer, or mother tongue interference and second language learning was believed to be a matter of overcoming the differences between LI and L2 systems.

   According to this view, the major task of second language teaching should predominantly be: first, contrast the native and the target language systems and make predictions about the lan­guage items that would cause difficulty and the errors that learners were like­ly to make; then use these predictions in deciding on the type of language items that needed special treatment in teaching and in material development and the type of intensive techniques that would be employed to overcome learning difficulties created by the interference.

   In practice, the Contrastive Analysis is not effective because a large proportion of grammatical errors could not be explained by mother tongue interference.  Errors predicted by contrastive analysis have often not occurred, whereas many actual errors, such as "goed" and "foots", come from overgeneralization instead of nega­tive transfer.

Errors, according to the contrastive analysis approach, are negative and had to be overcome or given up. In fact, errors produced in a learner's second language utterance may very well be developmental errors and therefore, should not be looked upon simply as a failure to learn the correct form, but as an indication of the actual acquisition process in action. Developmental errors often result from the effort on the part of the learner to construct and test general rules of communication in the target language.

60.  What are the major stages that a child has to follow in first language development? What are the features of the linguistic forms at each stage?

1)The prelinguistic stage: At the babbling stage, the sounds and syllables that children utter are meaningless. Babbling, especially early babbling, is largely independent of the particular language to which children are exposed. The sounds produced in this period seem to include a large variety of sounds. Babbling does not seem to depend on the presence of acoustic, auditory input.

When children are through the tenth and eleventh months, they are capable of using their vocalizations to express emotions and emphasis, and of attempting at the grand task of language acquisition.

2)The one-word stage: This stage usually occurs in the late part of the first year or the early part of the second year. At this stage children learn that sounds are related to meanings. They begin to use the same string of sounds of the native language to "mean" the same thing. Children' s one-word utterances are also called holophrastic sentences, because they can be used to express a concept or predication that would be associated with an entire sentence in adult speech. One-word utterances sometimes show an overextension or underextension of reference.

3)The two-word stage: During the second year of life, child’s utterances gradually become longer. Children are heard uttering two-word expressions in a variety of combinations. Children' s two-word utterances can express a certain vari­ety of grammatical relations indicated by word order, for example:

    Daddy hat.

Doggie bark.

Shoe mine.

Apple me.

    Two-word expressions are absent of syntac­tic or morphological markers. Pronouns are rare.

4) The multiword stage: It occurs between two and three years old. The salient feature of the utterances at this stage ceases to be the number of words, but the variation in strings of lexical morphemes,for example:

   Daddy like this book.

He play little tune.

This shoe all wet.

No sit there.

The early multiword utterances typically lack inflectional morphemes and most minor lexical categories, therefore they are often called telegraphic speech. Although they lack grammatical morphemes, telegraphic sentences are not simply words that are randomly strung together, but follow the principles of sentence formation. As this type of telegram-format speech increases, a number of grammatical morphemes begin to appear in children' s speech. Simple prepo­sitions begin to turn up in their speech.

By the age of five, with an operating vocabulary of more than 2,000 words, children have completed the greater part of the language acquisition process.

61.  What is the role of correction and reinforcement in first language acquisition?

   According to Behaviorist learning theory, children are believed to gradually assume correct forms of the language of their community when their "bad" speech gets corrected and when their good speech gets positively reinforced.

Researchers have found that correction and reinforcement are not key factors in child language development as they were claimed to be. When adults do attempt to correct children s grammatical errors and the correct form is repeated, their efforts seem to have little effect, or simply doom to failure because children often do not know what the problem is and continue to use a personally constructed form. Children Reinforcement has been found to occur usually in children' s pronun­ciation or reporting of the truthfulness of utterances, rather than in the grammaticality of sentences.

62.  Why do we say language acquisition is primarily the acquisition of the grammatical system of language?

   In principle, no human brain can store all the words and expressions of a language. What happens is that when processing the language they hear, children construct the grammar and make sense of the expressions according to the grammar. When producing utterances, they follow the internalized grammatical rules. Without the knowledge of the productive rules, it would be impossible for language users to produce and understand an unlimited number of sentences which they have never heard before.

63.  Discuss the biological basis of language acquisition.

   Language acquisition is a genetically determined capacity that all hu­mans possess. Although the development of a communicative system is not unique to human beings, the natural acquisition of language as a system of highly abstract rules and regulations for creative communication distinguishes humans from all other animal species. In this sense, humans can be said to be predisposed, that is, biologically programmed, to acquire at least one language. Language development can thus be regarded as analogous to other biological developments in human growth and maturation, such as the growth and maturation of one’s limbs and organs. Humans are equipped with the neural prerequisites for language and language use, just as birds are biologically “prewired” to learn the songs of their species.

64.  What is the role of imitation in first language acquisition?

    At one time, it was widely believed that children learned language by simply imitating the speech of those around them. We now know that this cannot be true, since many utterance types produced by children do not closely resemble structures found in adult speech. . If children learn their native tongue by imitating their parents, how can we account for the utter­ances that are typical of children' s language, such as the plural form "my foots," the past tense forms of " I eated," and the negative construction of “No the sun shining”?  It is impossible that children imitate these structures from adults because they are never heard in adult conversations. In addition, Children with speech impairment for neurological or physiological reasons learn the language spoken to them and understand what is said. A more rea­sonable explanation is that children are attempting to construct and generalize their own grammatical rules.

    Some young language learners do seem to make selective use of imitation, but they do not blindly mimic adult speech in a parrot fashion, but rather exploit it in very restricted ways to improve their linguistic skills. The point is that imitation plays at best a very minor role in the child' s mastery of lan­guage.