midterm Guoying Li (นิรุชา)

Midterm Test for Syntax

1. between gestures and meaning? Explain the correlation of the idea that language is used as a correlation
A. GESTURES_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _MEANING
Language as a correlation between gestures and meaning. Most people use gestures and body language in addition to words when they speak. A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication made with a part of the body, used instead of or in combination with verbal communication. The language of gesture is rich in ways for individuals to express a variety of feelings and thoughts, from contempt and hostility to approval and affection. The gesture and meaning aways come together. And most gestures express that speaker’s meaning. Such as Chinese shake hands when they are greeting, means ‘hello’ or ‘you are welcome”.
B.GESTURES_ _ _ _ _ _ARRANGEMENT_ _ _ _ _ MEANING
One could say that syntax makes possible the formulation of expressions with complex meanings out of elements with simple meanings. One of the defining features of human language is its unlimited nature; that is, the number of meaningful expressions that can be produced by users of a human language is potentially infinite, and this expressive potential comes from the combination of the basic meaningful elements with syntactic principles. Much of the interest in language in psychology and cognitive science comes from what the study of the cognitive mechanisms underlying language use and acquisition can reveal about the human mind
2. To understand Syntax perfectly well, we need to under the other linguistic branch ‘Morphology.’ Why is that? Can you try to analyze using the following data.
morphology is the study of words and structure. While words are generally accepted as being the smallest units of syntax, it is clear that in most (if not all) languages, words can be related to other words by rules . syntax is the study of the rules, or "patterned relations", that govern the way words combine to form phrases and phrases combine to form sentences.
a. *Barking dogs dose not bite
-barking is adjective
-dogs is noun
-dose is helping verb
-not is adverb
-bite is verb
b. *All men is create equal
-All is adjective
- men is noun
-Is is helping verb
-create is verb be
- equal is adjective
c. *How long is your feet? One foot
-How is adverb
-long is adjective
-is is verb be
-your is Determiner
-feet is noun
-one is det
-foot is noun
3. Experience of Language_ _ _ _language faculty_ _ _ _Grammar of L

- Competence/performance
Linguistic competence: – what you know about a language, which is ideal or perfect like your ability to do addition – Linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech-community, who knows its language perfectly. • Linguistic performance: – how you use this knowledge in actual speech production and comprehension• Communicative competence:– From a socio-cultural viewpoint, people vary their performance not at random, but in a regular way (Hymes). Apart from a knowledge of grammar, communicative competence incorporates also the pragmatic ability for language use.

- Species-specific
Species-specific is a term used (originally by Chomsky) to refer to language as a genetic endowment unique to the human species.

- Linguistic Acquisition Device—LAD
The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a postulated "organ" of the brain that is supposed to function as a congenital device for learning symbolic language (ie. language acquisition). First proposed by Noam Chomsky, the LAD concept is a component of the nativist theory of language which dominates contemporary formal linguistics, which asserts that humans are born with the instinct or "innate facility" for acquiring language.
- Principles and Parameter Theory—PPT
Principles and parameters is a framework in generative linguistics. Principles and parameters was largely formulated by the linguists Noam Chomsky and Howard Lasnik, though it was the culmination of the research of many linguists. Today, many linguists have adopted this framework, and it is considered the dominant form of mainstream linguistics.

How are these terms related? Explain each term
. The gift of language is the single human trait that marks us all genetically, setting us apart from the rest of life
• When we study language, we are approaching what some might call the “human essence,” the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man. • Language is what distinguishes us from other animals. It is species-specific.
Species-specific is a term used (originally by Chomsky) to refer to language as a genetic endowment unique to the human species.
4. Compare Thai and English in terms of the followings:
a. Case
I think that case of Thai and English are different. In English verb agree in Person and Number with their subjects. For example; (a).He smokes cigars.
(b).I /We/you/They smoke cigars. And there is the tense in English. For example; (a)I get up at 06:30 .(b) I got up at 07:30 this morning. But in Thai the verb is not changed by anything.
b. Number
I think the number of Thai and English are different. In Thai say one, tow, there, four…… And in English say on, tow there, four…....too. But English has the ordinal number: the first, second, third, fourth…….. Thai has not the ordinal number.

c. Sentence/Phrase Structure
I think the sentence/phrase Structure of Thai English are different. Word are combined together to form phrases, phrases are combined together to form clauses, and clauses are combined together to for complex sentence. In English has infinitive phrase, but in Thai has not. For example: They ought to reduce taxes.

5. Employ any means to show clearly the concept of “Constituent’ and ‘Construction’ of the following sentence.
John normally smokes cigarettes in the morning.
John is the subject , smokes is predicate, cigarettes is the complement. Normally and in the morning are adjuncts.

6. Underline the equal constituent with the underlined one.
a. Micheal Moore wrote a book about the President George Bush and Donal Rumsfeld
b. Kkenny G performed his concert in Bangkok and in Uttaradit
c. His Majesty the King is highly regarded not only as the talented Jazz musician but also as the great scientist.


Name: Miss Guoying Li (นิรุชา)
Code: 48043020178
E-mail: liguoying_2005@yahoo.com

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