英语语言学名词解释

Acronyms

Acronyms

is

a

word

coined

by

putting

together

the

initial

letters

of

a

group of words.

Affixation

A word formation approach that attaches morpheme

–

an affix to a base

，

which is a word with 1 or more affixes in it.

Anaphoric

reference

前照应

A demonstrative determiner with

anaphoric reference

is more likely to go with a non- restrictive relative clause

Cataphoric reference

后照应

A demonstrative determiner with cataphoric reference

，

which goes with a restrictive relative clause

Collective nouns

These are generally countable nouns

，

but even in the singular they

refer to groups of people

，

animals or things.

Compound

A

compound

，

the

product

of

composition

，

and

it

is

a

lexical

unit

consisting

of

more

than

one

base

and

functioning

both

grammatically

and

semantically as a single word.

Conversion

The derivational process whereby an item is adapted or converted to a

new word class without the addition of an affix.

Coordination

并

列

词

Realized

by

coordinators

（

also

termed

coordinating

conjunctions

）

which join units at the same level.

Countable nouns

Nouns that can take plural.

Dangling participle:

When the subject of participle is not expressed, it is normally to

be the subject of the clause. It is usually poor grammar, and sometimes absurd, if this

rule is broken: Trying to be quiet, the floor board creaked. But the rule is often broken

when the subject is vaguely understood to be “one”, “we”, “you”, people in general.

Determiner

Words used in the premodification of noun phrase and put before any

adjectives that premodify the head word of noun.

Dynamic

adjectives

Many

adjectives

can

also

be

used

in

the

dynamic

sense

（

be

being

a.

）

in

predicative

position

to

show

subjective

measurement

or

suggest

a

temporary state

，

implying the qualities can be controlled or restricted.

（

e.g. he is

being rude

）

end-focus

尾部焦点

under neutral conditions

，

the nucleus falls on the last element

of

the

sequence

as

it

is

common

that

we

process

the

information

in

a

message

to

achieve a linear presentation form low to high information value. We refer to this as

the principle of end-focus.

ellipsis

：

省略

leaves out the redundant/wordy part and do not provide a substitute.

Exclamation

Express

our

impression

，

especially

our

surprise

，

excitement

，

amazement

，

etc. It doesn?t take S

-V inversion.

exophoric reference

语言外照应

Nonlinguistic or situational context.

Finite verb phrase

Its head word is a finite verb

，

which is restricted by tense and

keeps concord with the subject.

Foreign

plurals

Words

that

are

borrowed

from

other

languages

often

have

foreign

plurals.

Fronting:

Fronting

is

a

term

which

refers

to

the

removal

of

an

item

from

its

unmarked position to the marked presubject position.

Infinitive

The

infinitive

occurs

as

a

verb

in

the

base

form

which

may

go

with

or

without to.

Inherent

adjectives

Inherent

adjectives

denote

inherent

qualities

characterize

the

referent of the noun.

（

e.g a big house

）

Mass nouns

Nouns that can?t take plural.a

Non-finite Verb Phrase

Its first element is a non-finite verb free from the restrict of

tense and concord of subject.

Non-inherent

adjectives

Non-inherent

adjectives

identify

qualities

in

an

indirect

way.

（

e.g. a big eater

）

Non- predictive

（

non- epistemic

）

Non-predictive meanings of modal auxiliaries are

very heterogeneous in nature

，

this category covers a variety of meanings

，

except

“prediction”

。

Non-restrictive

adjectives

非限定性形容词

Non-restrictive

adjectives

provide

additional

information

not

essential

for

the

identification

of

the

noun.

Adjective

modifying proper noun are normally non-restrictive.

（

e.g. my fat wife

）

Predictive meaning

（

epistemic

）

The predictive meaning

，

rather homogeneous in

nature

，

is concerned with the speaker?s assumption or assessment of probability and

indicates the speaker?s confidence in the truth of his

statement.

Proper Nouns

Proper nouns denote individual persons

，

places

，

etc

，

normally

begins with a capital letter

，

has no plural form and can?t occur after an article.

Pseudo- passive

A pseudo-passive sentence is passive in form but active in meaning.

Its ed-participle is adjectivalized

；

it can occur in a comparative construction

，

with a

variety

of

prepositional

phrases

other

than

by- phrase

，

and

with

other

link

verbs

besides be and get.

Putative Should

Putative should is not very meaningful in its own right

；

in many

cases

，

its function is to fill in a structural slot. This use of should is commonly found

in the that-

clause after an adjective or a noun denoting a feeling or an opinion.e.g. It?s

strange that she should wear her evening dress for such an informal party.

Unit nouns

Unit nouns are used to specify the quantities of the modified noun.

reference

照应

using grammatical pro-form which explicitly/clearly refer elsewhere

Restrictive adjectives

Restrictive adjectives help identify the noun by describing its

distinctive qualities

（

e.g. a fat woman

）

Stative

adjectives

The

majority

of

adjectives

are

stative

in

nature

，

describing

permanent inherent qualities.e.g. a big house

Subject complement

Semantically

，

subject complements denote what the subject

is or what the subject becomes

–

the two notions that are most typically expressed by

be and become.

Subordination

主从连接词

Realized by subordinators

（

also termed subordinating

conjunctions

）< /p>

，

involves the linking of units at different levels so that they form a

hierarchy.

A

subordinator

introduces

a

subordinate

clause

which

is

attached

to

the

main clause

（

also termed the superordinate clause

）

。

substitute

替代

cuts off part of the sentence

（

a word

，

phrase

，

or a clause

）

and

fills in the gap with a smaller item

，

which corresponds to the replace item.

Tag questions

A tag question normally consists of a statement and a question tag.

text

Refers

to

a

unified

passage

and

it

is

a

semantic

unit.

It

is

structurally

well- integrated

，

and semantically coherent.

Verb Phrase

The head word of a verb phrase is the main verb. Two elements in the

structure are important

：

the main verb and auxiliaries.

WH-questions

WH-questions

begin

with

WH-series

of

words.

（

What

if

=

what

should I do

，

How come = why

）

YES-NO questions

YES-NO questions

can be answered by “Yes” or “No”

1.

What are the two major types of alternative questions?

They are the type of YES-NO questions, e.g. A: Would you like tea or coffee? B: Tea, please.

And the type of WH- questions, e.g. A: What would you like, tea of coffee? B: Tea, please.

2. Why do we need to go beyond the sentence and study the text?

Because to express a clear and complete idea or thought, we need more than one sentence. It

is quite rare that we only use one sentence to express our ideas. When an idea or thought is

expressed

in

more

than

one

sentence,

we

have

a

text,

which

relates

sentences

together.

In

other

words,

sentences

in

a

text

are

coherent

so

that

they

help

each

other

in

expressing

a

complete

idea.

The

study

of

the

text

is

to

know

how

sentences

can

be

joined

together

coherently so that they can best express ideas.

n

the

syntactic

distinction

between

the

predictive

and

non-predictive

use

of

modal auxiliary with examples.

The syntactic distinction between the predictive and non-predictive use of modal auxiliary is

clear in the following two sentences: 1) He can?t have been there yesterday. 2) He couldn?t be

there yesterday. The two sentences reveal two quite different uses of the modal auxiliary. The

first sentence, where the predictive can?t relates to impossibility and the main verb is marked

for past time reference, r

efers to the speaker?s present denial of possibility of a past event. In

the second, the modal auxiliary itself, in non- predictive use, is marked for past tense, referring

to lack of ability in the past.

’s the function of relative pronoun?

The

re

lative

pronoun

serves

as

a

“link”

between

the

relative

clause

and

its

antecedent.

It

performs

two

functions:

showing

concord

with

its

antecedent

and

indicating

its

function

within the relative clause.

5.. Provide example to illustrate nominal, verbal and causal ellipsis.

1) Nominal ellipsis: Why give me two cups of coffee? I only asked for one.

2) Verbal ellipsis: --Have you seen him before? --Yes, I have (seen him before).

3) Causal ellipsis: --Are you OK? --Yes (, I am OK).

6. If tense is related to time, what is aspect related to?

When tense points to the temporal location of an event or a state of affairs, aspect “reflects the

way in which the verb action is regarded or experienced with respec

t to time”.

7. Apart from querying the truth of a statement, what other potential functions can a No

question perform?

They may be regarded as the speaker?s invitations or suggestions, made in a tentative way as

they often are, rather than his negative assumptions. They are like imperatives. For example:

Won?t you come in? Won?t you sit down? They can also be like exclamations: Isn?t it lovely?

Aren?t you silly?

8. List the types of antecedents.

The

antecedent

is

divided

into

nominal

antecedent

and

non-nominal

antecedent.

Nominal

antecedents

fall

into

different

subclasses:

they

may

be

common

nouns

or

proper

nouns,

personal

pronouns

or

demonstrative

pronouns.

Non-nominal

antecedent

can

be

subdivided

into three types: clause, verb phrase, predicative adjective.

9. Provide examples to illustrate result-adjuncts and purpose-adjuncts

that

are

introduced

by

so

that.

He

worked

harder,

so

that

he

managed

to

pass

the

examinations. (result) He worked harder so that he could pass the examinations. (purpose)

10. Provide examples to illustrate the three degrees of comparison.

My brother is as tall as me. (positive degree) My brother is taller than my father. (comparative

degree) My brother is the tallest in the family. (superlative degree)

11. When the simple present refers to the present time, what are its characteristic uses?

When the simple present refers to the present time, it is suitable for the general timeless

statements or the expression of so-

called “eternal truths”. At the same time, it also denote

s the

present existence or state of affairs. Besides, it can express regular recurrence such as a habit,

and it is also found in the presentation of an event that happens simultaneously with speech.

12. Under what general circumstances do we prefer genitive to of-phrase and vice versa.

When nouns refer to people, and the relation between the nouns is one of definition,

classification, etc. genitives are preferred. When nouns refer to inanimate, lifeless objects, and

the head words of noun phrases are classifying adjectives, of-phrases are classifying

adjectives, of-phrases are preferred.

13. What is the primary of a WH-question?

The primary function of a WH-question is to ask for information concerning what, when ,why,

whose, which and how.

14. What are contingency adjuncts? How many types of contingency adjuncts have we

recognized?

Contingency adjuncts are an adverbial category that includes adjuncts denoting some kind of

cause-effect relation. They can be divided into subclasses: reason-adjuncts, result- adjuncts,

purpose-adjuncts, concession- adjuncts and condition-adjuncts.

15. Explain the differences between a double relative clause and an embedded relative

clause.