ENG 227 Final, Fall 2002

Engl 227 January 25, vos Fall 2002-2003 Prof. Lina Choueiri Final Exam Part Essay (20ps) Define the notions competence and performance. Studies in human language processing and conversational analysis show the importance of CONTEXT (linguistic or non-linguistic) for successful language performance. Discuss a type of study in human language processing and a Gricean Maxim to illustrate this point. Part II Short answer questions and exercises (80 pis) (1) Define briefly the following terms: Mutual intelligibility, Garden Path sentences, Register. (15pts) (2) Identify briefly two major problems that current research in speech understanding faces and aims to solve in the future. (76 pss) (3) Explain why there is no entailment relation between the following two sentences: (4pts) a. ABC filters remove bacteria from your drinking water. b. Ifyou use ABC filters, your drinking water will be free of bacteria. (4) For each of the following conversational excerpts, name a maxim that has been flouted/violated and explain how. (20pss) Example: [I’m a millionaire (Actually you're penniless). Maxim: Quality. The speaker has failed to tell the truth. a. A: So tell me, do you like what I did to my hair? B: Er ... what’s on TV tonight? b. Don’t be silly. I ve working 80 hours a week with no vacation, c. A: What are the three most important things in real estate? B: Location, location, and location. d. (1 come home last night, and there’s a car in the dining room.) Me: How did you get the cat in the dining room? My wife: It was easy. I made a left turn when I came out of the kitchen. (5) We have observed three semantic relations among sentences: P(araphrase), E(ntailment), and C(ontradiction). Which of these relations is exemplified in each of the following pairs of sentences? (Hint: use N, for none) (10pts) (a) If you go to the party, I’ll go too. If you don’t go to the party, I won’t go. (b) At least 30 people will come to the party. At least 20 people will come to the party. (c) My pet cobra likes the taste of chocolate fudge. My pet cobra finds chocolate fudge tasty. (d) Vera is an only child. Olga is Vera’s sister. (e) John remembered to send Mary a gift. John sent Mary a gift. (6) (a) What is a metaphor? (75ps) (b) In the sentences that follow identify the word (or phrase) that is used metaphorically and determine, for each set of sentences, the basis for each metaphor. Example: i. They got into a heated argument ii. She gave him an icy stare iii. He gave her the cold shoulder The metaphors in (i-iii) describe human relations in terms of temperature. (a) i The eye of a needle ii. The foot of the bed iii, The hands of the clock iv. The arms of a chair v. The table legs (b) i. This lecture is easy to digest ii. He just eats up the lecturer’s words ili. Chew on this thought for a while iv. Listen to this juicy piece of gossip