Unit

8About

LanguagePre-readingdiscussionWhat

do

you

think

are

thebasic

functions

of

humanlanguage?The

origin

of

language

The

people

of

Earth,

tired

ofpleasing

a

demanding

God,decided

to

build

a

tall

tower

asan

easy

way

to

Heaven.

Begunon

the

plains

of

Babel,

the

towersoon

rose

to

great

heights.

God,

viewing

the

audacity

of

His

people,

confounded

theirlanguage,

creating

chaos

andconfusion.

Unable

to

understandeach

other,

the

people

scatteredthroughout

the

Earth,

preventedfrom

building

another

tower

toHeaven.A

story

from

the

OldTestamentThe

power

of

language

The

power

of

language

has

been

duly

noted

since

the

remoantiquity.

Ancient

Jew,

for

example,

credited

their

belanguage

in

the

Talmud:

“God

created

the

world

by

a

worinstantaneously,

without

toil

or

pains”.

Mystical

aspiece

of

scripture

points

to

“the

primacy

of

language

iway

human

beings

conceive

of

the

world”

(Widdowson,1996).

In

almost

all

ancient

cultures

we

can

find

a

mythconcerning

the

role

of

language:

it

facilitates

gods

totheir

will;

it

satisfies

the

mortal

desire

to

praise

thit

also

empowers

earthlings

to

challenge

the

heaven

(emyth

of

the

Tower

of

Babel).

Indeed,

language

is

a

vehicpower,

for

control,

for

creation,

and

for

change.

The

Cambridge

Encyclopedia

of

Language

uses

thefollowing

description

to

highlight

how

central

languaghuman

lives:

We

look

around

us,

and

are

awed

by

the

variety

of

severathousand

languages

and

dialects,

expressing

a

multipliworld

views,

literatures,

and

ways

of

life.

We

look

bacthe

thoughts

of

our

predecessors,

and

find

we

can

see

onfar

as

language

lets

us

see.

We

look

forward

in

time,

anwe

can

plan

only

through

language.

We

look

outward

inspace,

and

send

symbols

of

communication

along

with

ourspacecraft,

to

explain

who

we

are,

in

case

there

is

anyothere

who

wants

to

know.Critical

period

This

hypothesis

was

firstproposed

by

Eric

Lenneberg.

Hesaid

that

the

ability

to

learn

anative

language

develops

withinfixed

period,

from

birth

topuberty.

During

this

period,language

acquisition

proceedseasily,

swiftly,

and

withoutexternal

intervention.

After

thperiod,

the

acquisition

ofgrammar

is

difficult

and

for

somindividuals

never

fully

achieve

Here

are

two

famous

cases

frequently

cited

to

support

thypothesis.

1.

A

girl

called

Genie

was

found

in

1970

when

she

wasnearly

fourteen

years

old.

She

had

been

abused

and

isolsince

the

age

of

twenty

months.

When

first

discovered,was

completely

silent.

Thereafter

her

language

developwas

extremely

slow,

and

although

she

did

learn

to

speakspeech

was

quite

abnormal.

Below

are

some

wh-questionsmade

by

the

girl.Where

is

tomorrow

Mrs

L.?Where

is

May

I

have

ten

pennies?When

is

stop

spitting?

2.

Isabelle

was

discovered

in

1937

at

the

age

of

sand

a

half.

Her

mother,

who

was

deaf

and

could

notspeak,

had

kept

her

isolated

but

had

not

otherwismistreated

her.

Isabelle

then

began

training

lesat

the

Ohio

State

University,

and

although

herprogress

was

at

first

slow,

it

soon

accelerated.years

later

her

intelligence

and

her

language

usewere

completely

normal

for

a

child

of

her

age.Obviously,

Isabelle

was

luckier

than

Genie

becauher

exposure

to

a

language

started

still

within

tcritical

period

for

language

acquisition.Reading

1

What

did

people

originally

think

was

the

solutioto

miscommunication

between

people

of

differentnative

languages?

Why

is

English

important

to

people

who

need

touse

the

computer

at

work

and

to

study?

Why

were

English

words

such

as

Walkmanbanned

in

France?

What

function

does

English

have

in

theentertainment

world?

What

is

the

author’s

attitude

towards

the

futurof

English?Reading

2Information:

Babbling

Psychological

studies

have

demonstrated

that

babiesat

the

age

of

four

months

can

already

distinguishbetween

the

vowels

[a]

and

[i].

Researchers

show

themouths

of

two

adult

faces

to

an

infant,

one

with

theshape

when

saying

[a],

the

other

with

the

shape

whensaying

[i].

Simultaneously,

a

tape-recorder

plays

eit[a]

or

[i].

When

the

baby

subjects

hear

an

[a],

they

teto

look

at

the

face

saying

[a];

when

they

hear

an

[i],they

tend

to

look

at

the

face

saying

[i].

These

findingsuggest

that

infants

of

about

four

months

of

age

canalready

distinguish

different

vowel

qualities

and

usevisual

cues

to

determine

the

kind

of

articulationinvolved

in

producing

them.

At

the

age

of

four

to

sixmonths

or

so,

babies

beginto

babble,

producingsequences

of

vowels

andconsonants,

which

may

notbelong

to

the

speech

soundsof

their

prospective

mothertongue.

According

to

RomanJacobson’s

DiscontinuityHypothesis,

once

a

childproduces

meaningful

wordsand

starts

pairing

soundswith

meaning,

he

willabruptly

stop

producing

allkinds

of

non-native

speechsounds.

It

is

postulated

thatchildren

babble

becausethey

must

go

through

aprocess

of

biologicalmaturation

during

languagedevelopment.Universal

Grammar

There

is

a

biological,

physiological

entity

inside

oubrain

which

decides

what

we

speak.

Chomsky

has

given

a

name

to

this

entity

–

UG,

or,universal

grammar.

His

epistemology

of

the

knowledgeof

language

goes

as

follows:

Every

human

being

has

the

language

competence,because

he

has

the

inborn

UG

which

other

specieslack.

UG

is

the

initial

state

of

the

human

language

facultywhich

alone

cannot

enable

a

human

baby

to

speak.

Ababy

needs

to

be

exposed

to

the

linguisticenvironment

of

a

certain

language

and

accumulateexperience.

Due

to

the

effect

of

later

experience,

the

baby’s

mindevelops

from

the

initial

state

into

the

steady

state,which

corresponds

to

the

competence

of

speaking

aspecific

human

language.

According

to

UG

theory,

every

speaker

is

endowedwith

a

set

of

principles

which

apply

to

all

languagesand

also

a

set

of

parameters

that

can

vary

from

onelanguage

to

another

within

certain

limits.

For

examplall

human

languages

have

the

subject

(S),

verb

(V),and

object

(O),

which

may

be

decided

by

one

of

theuniversal

principles,

but

these

three

constituents

ardifferent

orders

in

the

sentences

of

different

languaIn

English

and

Chinese,

the

dominant

order

is

SVO;

inJapanese,

SOV;

in

Arabic,

we

can

find

VSO;…

Thesevariations

are

regarded

as

different

values

of

theparameter

of

word

order.

Therefore,

acquiring

alanguage

means

applying

the

principles

of

UG

to

aparticular

language,

and

learning

which

value

isappropriate

for

each

parameter.Understanding

Human

speech

and

writing,

why

can

we

judge

thestarting

time

of

the

latter

one

but

can’t

of

the

formeone?

Why

did

the

Linguistic

Society

of

Paris

pass

a

ruleagainst

any

more

theories

about

the

origins

oflanguage

in

1866?

Please

try

to

describe

the

process

of

children

acquirilanguage.What

is

the

language

ability

of

a

five

year-old

child?

Is

the

capacity

of

young

children

to

understandsuperior

to

their

ability

to

speak?What

is

imitation

theory?

Is

it

invulnerable?Para.1

“We

can

have

a

fairly

accurate

idea

of

when

writingbegan

because

writing

leaves

physical

evidence.”

We

know

clearly

when

writing

began

because

it

leavesthe

works

that

we

can

see

and

touch

and

in

additionthose

works

are

the

evidences

to

help

us

judge

thestarting

time

of

writing.

Speculate:

to

form

an

opinion

about

sth

withoutknowing

all

the

details

or

facts ~

(about/on

sth)e.g.我們大家都推測過她辭職的原因。

We

all

speculated

about

the

reasons

for

herresignation.對他為什么這么做妄加猜測毫無用處。It

is

useless

to

speculate

why

he

did

it.他的私生活引起諸多猜測。His

private

life

is

the

subject

of

much

speculation.Para.2

“Human

beings

are

genetically

predisposed

to

learn

totalk.”

(guess

from

the

following

sentence)

Human

beings

are

considered

to

be

naturally

endowed

withthe

ability

to

speak.

Predispose:

1.

to

influence

sb

so

that

they

are

likely

tothink

or

behave

in

a

particular

way~

sb

to

sth/to

do

sth

formale.g.他認為有些人容易犯罪。

He

believes

that

some

people

are

predisposed

to

criminalbehaviour.她當時興致高，所以一定喜歡那出戲。Her

good

mood

predisposed

her

to

enjoy

the

play.

2.

to

make

it

likely

that

you

will

suffer

from

a

particularillness

e.g.緊張容易使人心臟病發(fā)作。Stress

can

predispose

people

to

heart

attacks.Para.3

“Gradually

it

learns

to

produce

thesounds

that

are

in

its

language

andceases

to

produce

sounds

that

are

not.”

Gradually

it

learns

to

only

produce

thesounds

which

can

be

found

in

its

mothertongue

and

ceases

to

produce

soundswhich

don’t

exist

in

its

mother

tongue.Reading

3

Let’slisten

toEnglishspoken

byAustralians.

IPA

charts

for

English

dialectsAustralian

pronunciation

Most

of

the

Australian

specialties

in

vocabulary

derifrom

English

local

dialects.

"On

the

other

hand,

inrecent

years

the

influence

of

American

English

hasbeen

apparent...

Thus

we

find

American

truck,

elevatoand

freeway

alongside

British

petrol,

boot

(of

a

car)and

tap."

(Crystal,

1988:

240).

Few

aboriginal

wordswere

borrowed,

though

a

third

of

the

place

names

istaken

from

their

languages,

with

in

increasing

numberin

our

days

(B?hr,

1974:

274).

A

short

excerpt

fromAussie

vocabulary

(including

slang

words,

which

aremore

accepted

than

in

Mother

England;

B?hr,

1974;Crystal,

1988;

Baker,

1978):Australian

vocabularyUnderstandingIn

which

occasions

is

English

used?Why

does

English

have

prestige

in

Singapore?What

is

acronym?

What

are

the

distinctive

features

of

SingaporeEnglish?

What

are

the

different

understandings

of“follow”

in

Singapore

and

other

Englishspeaking

countries?

What

are

the

evidences

to

judge

that

theSingaporeans

and

the

westerns

have

differentinterpretation

of

“spicy”?Structure

Para.1-3

Though

a

variety

of

languagesare

spoken

in

Singapore,

English

hasirreplaceable

prestige

and

status.

Para.4-15

Some

of

the

distinctivefeatures

of

Singapore

English

as

writtenin

Andrew’s

book.

Para.16

Singapore

English

develops

tobe

understood

internationally.

para.4-6

the

brand

of

English

in

Singapore

isquite

distinct

which

have

been

compared

withstandard

English

by

several

writers.

Para.

7-8

the

fondness

of

using

acronym

inSingapore

Para.9-10

the

word

usage

which

do

not

exist

inother

countries

Para.11-15

different

understandings

of

thesame

words

in

Singapore

and

other

Englishspeaking

countriesPara.1

Namely:used

to

introduce

more

exactand

detailed

information

about

sth

thatyou

have

just

mentioned即；也就是

e.g.我們需針對我們的聽眾對象，即年齡在20到30歲之間的婦女。

We

need

to

concentrate

on

our

targetaudience,

namely

women

aged

between20

and

30.

Prestige:n.the

respect

and

admiration

that

sb/sth

hbecause

of

their

social

position,or

what

they

havedone威信；聲望；威望

uncountable

e.g.social/personal/internationalprestige社會／個國際聲望

There

is

a

lot

of

prestige

attached

to

owning

a

car

likthis.擁有這樣一部汽車會顯得很氣派。jobs

with

low

prestige地位低微的工作

Adj.

that

brings

respect

and

admiration;

important

(obefore

noun)e.g.a

prestige

job/accent體面的工作／口音para.3

competent:

having

enough

skill

or

knowledgeto

do

sth

well

or

to

the

necessary

standard~

(to

do

sth)e.g.要確保這家公司有能力完成這項工作。

Make

sure

the

firm

is

competent

to

carry

outthe

work.他非常勝任自己的工作。He"s

very

competent

in

his

work.Para.7Mindef:

ministry

of

defense

Safti:

Singapore

Armed

Forces

TrainingInstituteCBD:

central

business

districtSBC:

Small

Business

CouncilJTC:

Joint

Technical

Committee

Qantas:

Queensland

and

Northern

TerritoryAerial

Services

“Even

where

there

is

no

vowel

among

theinitials

to

help

in

the

formation

of

a

convenienword,

the

abbreviations

are

so

commonlyspoken

that

they

have

attained

the

status

ofwords.”

If

every

word

of

the

organization

name

doesnot

start

with

a

vowel,

which

means

theabbreviations

of

the

initial

letters

can

not

makup

a

word

that

can

be

easily

pronounced,

theabbreviations

are

also

commonly

spoken

andthey

succeed

in

getting

the

status

of

words.Para.9

Trumpet:

to

talk

about

sth

publicly

in

a

proud

orenthusiastic

waye.g.

to

trumpet

sb"s

achievements吹噓某人的成就drum:

to

make

a

sound

by

hitting

a

surface

again

and

againpara.10

“This

verb

will

no

doubt

sound

strange

to

foreign

ears,particularly

if

it

is

duplicated

for

emphasis,

when

a

foreignmay

understand

that

a

rowdy

dance

(the

can-can)

is

aboutto

take

place.”

Duplicate:

to

do

sth

again,

especially

when

it

isunnecessarye.g.

There‘s

no

point

in

duplicating

work

already

done.重復別人已經(jīng)做過的工作毫無意義。

Whole:

There’s

no

doubt

that

this

verb

will

sound

strangeto

the

foreigners,

especially

when

it

is

said

in

double

–

cancan

–

for

emphasis,

which

will

let

a

foreigner

misunderstandas

rowdy

can-can

dance.

The

can-can:

is

regarded

today

primarily

as

aphysically

demanding

music

hall

dance,

performed

by

a

chorus

line

of

female

dancers

who

wear

costumes

with

long

skirts,

petticoats,

and

blackstockings,

that

hearkens

back

to

the

fashions

of

the1890s.

The

main

features

of

the

dance

are

the

liftingup

and

manipulation

of

the

skirts,

with

high

kicking

and

suggestive,

provocative

body

movements.Para.11

Take

a

lift

with:

take

the

other’s

car

for

free

who

wpass

by

the

place

you

want

to

go

toPara.15

“Th