ENG 227 Final, Summer 2001

English 227 Summer 2001 Introduction to Language Prof. Shaaban FINDL EXAIMINATION — (4s/2 bows) August 21, 2001 Answer the first question and any three of the remaining five questions. 1. Mark the following statements as TRUE or FALSE. a. Teaching grammar represents the deliberate attempt by grammarians to break the rules of prescriptive grammar. b. “Pig Latin” is used to refer to vulgar latin dialects that became the romance languages ¢. The Roman (Latin) alphabet was the first writing system to represent both consonants and vowels in writing. d. The unmarked member of the antonym is the one used in asking two-word information questions such as “How far...” and “How tail ...”. e. The meaning of an idiomatic expression is always related in some way to the meaning of its parts. f. English does not have any long consonant sounds within words, but it sometimes has them across word boundaries. g. Nonstandard dialects (e.g. Ebonics or Hispanic English) have recently been allowed to be used as language of instruction in early childhood education in their speech communities. h. The first form of writing was syllabic. i. “Pronunciation spelling” refers to the pronunciation of words as they are spelled as in “kwik” for “quick”. j. In first language situations, no one teaches children rules of grammar; they just “pick them up.” 2. Comment briefly on three of the following statements, and provide examples. a. Euphemisms are terms that tend to be used in certain aspects of our lives more than in others as they are used to replace terms that are not to be used in “polite company.” od. Feminists believe that language is a major tool used by the male-dominated establishment to “keep women in their place.” b. The human child appears to be equipped from birth with the neural prerequisites for the acquisition and use of human language just as bees are biologically “predisposed” to learn the dances of their species. c. Dialectal diversity develops when people are separated from each other geographically and socially. 3. Define and give examples of seven of the following terms. a. Lingua franca f. Style b. Creole g. Generic “he” c. Structural ambiguity h. Rebus d. Closed class of words i. Jargon e. Consonantal writing j. Telegraphic speech 4. a. Identify the stages in acquiring negation or interrogation (questions). Explain the implications of the existence of these stages to the theory of language acquisition. a. Which theory of laaguage acquisition do you believe provides the best explanation for how children learn their first ianguage. Justify your answer. - Identify the various types of writing systems that exist in the world today. . Provide examples of the discrepancies between letters and sounds in English and suggest reasons for the existence of such discrepancies. . Transcribe the following words phonemically. Mister Plastic Physical Major Describe {Interaction Phoneme Morphology Though Creature b. Identify and describe the sounds of the underlined letters. Examples: remit (m] voiced bilabial nasal Poor [u] high back tense rounded vowel Good buch