Running Head: Take-Home Open Test

LIN 5000 Take-Home Open Test

Take-home Open Test QUESTION 1 Listen to the audio. Question 1a audio

a. You will hear a Thai student introducing himself and giving his initial perception of Australia. Using the IPA write a phonemic transcription of his speech.

mai neim [su: mi:n| sum han tas ku:n] || ai km frm tailn|| : wen ai km tu : | wen ai keim tu in : ala austl | ai s:t austl mai neitiv mai knti| bik:z mai knti iz hv : meni trfik dm|| : hv pblm meni [porit: n]|| austl iz gd : : iz gd : [:] || de pblm in trfik dm| ai in f mi: dnt hv | [ms] na ai m hpi wen ai stei in austl|| (unclear pieces are placed in brackets)

b. Pick out four words from the transcript and contrast them with their expected English pronunciation. Thai speakers pronunciation 1. austl 2. knti 3. s:t 4.tailn English pronunciation streili kntri country :t tailnd thought Thailand English word Australia

Take-home Open Test c. Identify at least one aspect of his English pronunciation and explain why it could make it difficult for you to understand him clearly. (Write two or three sentences maximum). There is a consonant dropping in English consonant clusters in the final position, e.g.: tailn[d], in[k]. The stress in two-syllable words often falls on the last syllable, e.g.: tailn

QUESTION 2 What is the significance/function of phonological rules in language? Illustrate your answer with reference to two such rules (in English or any language you are familiar with), and give examples of how each rule operates. (Maximum 150 words) The main function of phonological rules is to specify how phonemes the basic units of sound change in context. Phonological rules also show the way of expressing a systematic phonological process in a language. There are the following phonological rules: assimilation, dissimilation, insertion, deletion, n-dentalization, vowel shortening, flapping. Assimilation refers to the influence exercised by one sound segment upon the articulation of another, so that the sounds become more alike, or identical (Crystal, p. 39). Regressive assimilation refers to the sound change because of the influence of the following sound e.g. give me (no assimilation [giv mi:]; assimilation [gimmi]; progressive assimilation refers to the sound change because of the influence of the preceding sound, in reciprocal assimilation there is mutual influence of the sounds on each other. Dissimilation is defined as the influence exercised by one sound segment upon the articulation of another, so that the sounds become less alike, or different (Crystal, p. 151), e.g., temperature [ temprt].

Take-home Open Test

QUESTION 3 Choose three of the following terms and write a paragraph of no more than 80 words in total explaining each term with an example (write 26 words or so per term): a) Antonyms (including types) Antonyms are the words which have opposite meanings; they can be gradable slow and fast; complementary, or absolute dead and alive; relational parent and child; autoantonyms an opposite to itself, e.g.: left (remaining) and left (having gone) b) Homophones Homophones refer to words which have the same pronunciation, but they differ in meaning, e.g.: see sea; rode rowed. Ambiguity due to identical pronunciation can cause homophonic conflict. c) Speech acts Speech act is an attempt at doing something purely by speaking, things we do with words. There are distinguished three aspects of a speech act: the locutionary act, the illocutionary act, and the perlocutionary act.

QUESTION 4 Define a morpheme and then write about 100150 words on the different types of morphemes, giving an example of each type. Morpheme is the minimal and smallest identifiable grammatical unit. Halliday (2003) defined it as the elementary particle of lexicogrammar, the thing out of which words are built (p. 103). For example, the word unfriendly consists of 3 mophems: the prefix un-, the stem friend and the suffix ly.

Take-home Open Test Semantically, morphemes can be classified as root morphemes forming the lexical nucleus of the word, e.g.: friend; and non-root morphemes, including inflectional and affixational morphemes carrying grammatical meaning and performing a certain grammatical function for example, the suffix ful turns a noun into an adjective: beauty beautiful. Structurally, mophemes can be free standing alone to make a word, e.g.: friend; bound unable to stand alone, thus have to be attached to one another, e.g.: -ness, un-; and

semi-free can function both as a root and an affixational morpheme, e.g.: well (as a separate word), well-known. (Trask 2007, pp. 176 177; Halliday 2003; p. 103) QUESTION 5 (total 6 marks) a. Please draw and label ONE phrase structure tree diagram (that is, using phrase structure grammar) to describe each of the following sentences. You can do this diagram by hand and scan it into your test paper or use word processing tools. I. The amused child laughed. II. The green parrots screeched loudly. III. The dog barked. IV. The city lights flickered brightly in the distance.

Take-home Open Test

S =sentence; NP=noun phrase; VP=verb phrase; AP= adjective phrase; PP = preposition phrase; Det= determiner; N = noun; V= verb; Adv= adverb; Prep = preposition

(Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press., pp. 176 189)

Take-home Open Test b. Which one of the following phrasal structures is not permissible in English?

i. ii. iii. IV.

S NP VP PP

NPVP DetN V DetP

Phrasal structure IV (PP Det P) is not possible. QUESTION 6 What is the difference between competence and performance as used in linguistic theory? Write a paragraph of no more than 50 words in total explaining to what extent they are useful concepts for second language teachers to know (write no more than 25 words for each term). Competence refers to internalized rules of syntax and it abstracts from the social rules of language use. Performance refers to the infinitely varied individual acts of verbal behaviour with their irregularities, inconsistencies, and errors, whereas competence refers to capacity of the individual to abstract from these acts of performance (Stern, 1983, p. 129).

QUESTION 7 For each of the clauses (a. b. and c.) given below, use Systemic Functional Grammar to identify the following. (Next to each grammatical category, write the relevant words/phrases in full or use tables if you prefer). i. The actor(s). ii. The process. iii. The theme and rheme.

Take-home Open Test

a. The old couple is leaving their house to their grandchild. b. A part of the population may worry excessively about dieting. c. Mary has put her blouse neatly in her drawer. Number of sentence 1 The old couple is leaving The old couple is leaving their house to their grandchild. 2 A part of the population may worry may worry excessively about dieting 3 Mary has put Mary has put her blouse neatly in her drawer A part of the population The actor(s) The process The theme The rheme

(Haliday 1985, pp. 37 67) QUESTION 8 (3 marks) Give a simple definition with an example of the following (write no more than 25 words per term): Genre is a historically stable variety of text with readily identified distinguishing features which discriminate between genres and remain stable over a sufficient period of time (lyric poetry, religious liturgy, legal documents, proverbs, fairy tales, scholarly monographs, and news stories) (Trask 2007, pp. 100 101).

Take-home Open Test Register refers to varieties of a language according to differences in uses demanded by specific social situations: advertising, church service, political journalism, academic discussion (Stern 1983, p. 125, cited Halliday, McIntosh, and Strevens 1964).

QUESTION 9 (3 marks) The course The nature of language provides a survey of the main issues and topics involved in the study of language. How do you think this kind of knowledge could help you become a better second language teacher? Your answer will be judged on how precise you are, so you should give examples wherever it is possible. I think that the knowledge of the language system is of utter importance and is an essential condition for one to become a successful second language teacher. For example, the understanding of the phonological system and the phonological rules can be of great help when teaching English pronunciation as it can help avoid interference from the first language of students. The understanding of such a grammatical category as, for example, the word order, can give students an idea of how to construct a correct sentence in the English language that is critical for students in whose first language the word order is loose.

END OF TEST

Take-home Open Test Reference

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Bourke, J. M. (2005). The grammar we teach. Reflections on English Language Teaching, 4, 8597. Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Crystal D. (2008). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd Halliday, M.A.K. (1985). An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold. Halliday, M.A.K. (2003). On Language and Linguistics. Edited by Jonathan Webster. MPG Books Ltd, Bodrnin, Cornwall Kay, H., & Dudley-Evans, T. (1998). Genre: what teachers think. ELT Journal: English Language Teaching Journal, 52 (4), 308314. Stern, H. H. (1983). Fundamental concepts of language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Trask, R. L. (2007) Language and Linguistics. The Key Concepts. Second Edition. Edited by Peter Stockwell. Routledge, 393 p.