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Sample questions and answers
Dr. Hamza M. J. Kheshaifaty
LANE 423
Questions and answers:
Q 1 - What are the two main approaches of grouping languages?
A 1 – There are two main approaches of classifying languages: The first is typological and it groups languages according to their similarities and differences in linguistic structure. The second is genealogical (or genetic) and it groups languages according to supposed historical relationships.
Q 2 – Explain how languages are classified in terms of their characteristic patterns?
A 2 - One way of classifying languages in terms of their characteristics patterns is of work order. For example the English language uses a word order in which the subject (s) usually appears in the sentence before the verb (v) which in turn is followed by the object (o):
e.g.,
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S
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V
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O
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Jill
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caught
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the house
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English is therefore referred to as an S V O language. Arabic, however, is having two work orders i.e. S V O, in nominal sentences and V S O in verbal sentences
e.g., Nominal sentence:
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S
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V
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O
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Aliun
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kataba
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addarsa
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e.g., Verbal sentence:
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V
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S
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O
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Kataba
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Aliun
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addarsa
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Q 3 – Explain the four groups of the world's languages?
A 3 – 1. Analytic (or isolating) languages like Chinese in which words are simple units without any word endings or affixes. Syntactic relationships are signaled entirely by word order.
2 . Synthetic (or inflectional) languages like Latin which have elaborate systems of suffixes indicating things like the tense of verbs (i.e., past, present or whether a noun is the subject or object.
3. Agglutinative (or affixing) languages like Turkish, in which words contain a series of "slots" into which are placed small verbal elements corresponding to pronouns, tense and so son.
4. Polysynthetic (or incorporating) languages like Australian in which there exist complex word forms which may function as entire sentences.
Q 4 – Define the following linguistic terms.
a – competence
b – Performance
c – Pragmatics
d – Context of situation
e – Ethnography of speaking
A 4 - a – competence refers to a speaker's knowledge of what constitutes a well-formed
sentence in his/her own language.
b – Performance is language use complete with numerous false starts, deviations
from rules etc.
c – Pragmatics refers to certain aspects of the study of language in its
communicative context.
d – Context of situation refers to the speech event in which utterances took place.
Thus , an utterance can only be comprehensible in the context of a specific
situation or an occasion.
e – Ethnography of speaking, according to Dell Hymes, means the linguistic study
(i.e. who spoke to whom, when, why, what topic, et.,) of the context of situation.
Textbook:
Describing Language (David Graddof Jenny Cheshire and Joan Swan)
Second Edition, Open University, Buckingham - Philadelphia
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