ENG 227 Final, Spring 2001

Engl 227 Spring 2001 Prof. Lina Choueiri June 12, 2001 Final Exam Good luck! PartI Essay (opis) Please choose one of the following 4wo topics: « Research into male and female speech has shown that there are sex-differentiated varieties in language. Provide and discuss specific examples that illustrate those results. In your discussion, describe Deborah Tannen’s point of view on male and female conversation. Do you think that these differences are biologically or culturally determined? Provide arguments for your point of view. * State, explain, and illustrate Grice’s maxims. Apply them to analyze the following exchanges (¢.g. explain how the literal meaning of the utterances differs from the non-literal meaning and provide motivation for this difference): (a) Mother to her child: Q: Have you washed the floor and done the dishes? A: I’ve washed the floor. (b) Courtroom Exchange: Q: Please state the location of your right foot immediately prior to impact. A: Immediately before impact, my right foot was located at the end of my right leg. Part II Short answer questions (60 pt) (1) Define briefly the following terms: Ebonics, Standard (dialect NG (2) | What are logographic writing systems? Provide an example of a logo; writing system. (3) Give the semantic role of each of the underlined noun phrases in the following sentences: (a) Small US Studios delight Audiences at Moscow Fair (b) The Farmer loaded hay onto the truck with a fork. (4) Speakers sometimes deliberately violate (flout) the rules of ordinary conversation to achieve certain ends. For the following excerpts, identify a maxim that has been violated, and give a plausible motivation for the violation. {a) Q: Would you like to go out with Andrea? A: Is the Pope Catholic? (b) A: Tam sorry you’ve had to put so many extra hours into this project. B: Don’t be silly. I LOWE working 80 hours a week with no vacations! (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) (a) It was Terry that I saw at the anniversary party. I saw Terry at the anniversary party. (b)John sent a letter to Mary. Marty received a letter from John. (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) The captain realized that the ship was in danger. The ship was in danger. (6) (a) What is a metaphor? (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 iti. 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 i. 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 iii. Chew on this thought for a while iv. Listen to this juicy piece of gossip 2