ENG508 Midterm Past Papers by Nimma Malik

ENG508 · Nov (2K24) · Recent Papers · Solved by Nimma Malik

Define holism with example.

A word is defined in terms of some of the very words which help us to define. This view is similar to ‗meaning holism‘ (Quine, 1960) – the meaning of a word/phrase/ sentence depends on its relationship with other words, e.g. part of what makes up the meaning of ‗tall‘ is that it is opposed to the meaning of ‗short‘. Holist theory tends to be functional in the sense that it is some aspect of the uses of a piece of language which makes for its meaning. If you call something ‗tall‘, you should be willing to call it ‗not short‘.

Meaning holism may be correct in a way, it does not provide a basis for the scientific study of linguistic meaning. That is why; it has not been appreciated by formal semanticists (Portner, 2005, p. 3-5)

Define mood and its type subjunctive mood and imperative mood.

Mood is the quality of verb which conveys a writer‘s attitude or feelings towards a subject (Saeed, 2004). Mood also shows the feelings of a speaker at time of speaking. For example, ‗it may rain tomorrow. ‘In this example, the speaker‘s attitude is uncertain about the rain. There are different types of moods:

Subjunctive moods contrast with indicative moods because there is an element of uncertainty in subjunctive moods. These are used for wishes, beliefs, exhortations, etc. e.g. ‗May you live long! (Saeed, 2004)

Imperative moods make direct commands or requests. For example, show me the money.

What is Core vocabulary?

Each language has a core vocabulary of more frequent and basic words are widely used in foreign language teaching. The core vocabulary could be used to trace lexical links between languages to establish family relationships among them. The implication of this approach is that the membership of core vocabulary will be the same or similar for all languages. Swadesh originally proposed a 200-word list which was later narrowed down to the 100-word list (see Saeed, 2014: 77).

Examples of Core Vocabulary Words

• Pronouns: I, you, it, they
• Verbs: go, do, make, have
• Adjectives: good, big, small, happy
• Prepositions: in, on, at, with

Repetition concern with linguistic.

The three concerns with repetition in linguistic studies discussed in the handouts are:

Lexical Cohesion: Repetition is a tool for connecting ideas in a text. It helps maintain coherence by repeating key words or phrases, which links parts of the text together.

Avoidance of Redundancy: While repetition can help with clarity, it’s important to avoid unnecessary repetition that could disrupt the flow of communication. Using alternative linguistic devices like substitution or ellipsis can help avoid this. Stylistic Effect: Repetition can also serve a stylistic function, adding emphasis or rhythm to the speech or writing. However, too much repetition can make the text monotonous, so it should be used carefully for impact without overdoing it.

Reasons behind introducing conceptual and procedural distinctions in relevance.

The conceptual and procedural distinctions in relevance were introduced by Diane Blakemore (1987) to account for differences in the meanings of regular content words and discourse connectives. Conceptual meaning refers to the content or concepts conveyed by words (like "dog" or "red"), whereas procedural meaning refers to words that guide how the information should be processed (such as "but," "so," "therefore"). This distinction helps explain how words like "but" or "so" influence the way listeners interpret the context of a conversation.

These distinctions are important because they clarify how language can simultaneously carry information and guide the listener on how to use that information within the conversation, reducing cognitive effort for comprehension.

What is Linguistic botanizing?

Austin organized a group of philosophers whose work is known as ordinary language philosophy. The prevailing method was ‗linguistic botanizing‘; to see the distinctions made by ordinary language on the assumption that the way people speak makes many subtle distinctions, worthy of philosophical investigation. These philosophers were drawn into thinking about questions such as ‗what saying or stating involves‘and ‗what else speakers do with language‘.

Objections of Grice model.

Two main objections to Grice's Cooperative Principle are:

Assuming Everyone is Always Cooperative: Grice’s model assumes that people always cooperate in conversations, but in real life, people sometimes want to speak independently or avoid certain topics. This means not everyone follows the rules all the time.