SAMPLE TEST

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is true or false.

1. Spoken language is more complicated than written language in
structure.F
2. Heavily premodified noun phrases occur frequently in spoken
language.F
3. Topic-comment structures are quite common in spoken language.T
4. The speaker frequently uses a lot of generalized vocabulary.T
5. Context refers to linguistic factors necessary for text interpretation.F
II. Fill each gap with a suitable word.
1. Section 5.1
There is little doubt that spoken and written language make somewhat
different demands on the language producers. The speaker can vary his
voice quality, adopting this or that posture, and gestures, and so on to
express a great deal, which will be denied the writer. A warm and breathy
voice or a smile accompanying “I’d love to” – a reply to a request, for
instance, could mean a great deal more than the same said in a sneering or
nasal voice.
The speaker also has to control and process the production of
communication under circumstances which are, probably, more
demanding. He has to monitor what it is that he has just said and determine
whether it matches what he wants to say and the responses he means to
make, and they should be appropriate. He may not remember much of what
he said earlier. This is clearly a disadvantage.
The writer, on the other hand enjoys some advantages such as the
possibility of looking over what he has already written, pausing between
each word or taking his time in choosing a particular word or phrase to suit
his needs. While the writer is under no pressure in terms of monitoring and
processing communication simultaneously, he also runs against some
disadvantages. There is no way of observing the reactions from the reader
or the person he wants to communicate with. Knowing how the others
respond or react is an obvious plus. Meanwhile, the speaker can monitor
the reaction of the hearer and therefore be able to make immediate response
to whichever way his hearer reacts.
2. Section 4.1
As you are already aware, there seems to be no limit on the size of the
context or context of situation. Thus, it will present the problem of how
much of the context may be adequate enough for the interpretation of
discourse. If you are told to turn on the television, what you will be
doing is to look for the one that is part of the situation you are in rather
than go out and turn on the one upstairs or downstairs. This strategy,
adopted by nearly all speakers of a language is referred to by Brown and
Yule as the “principle of local interpretation”.
According to these scholars, this principle “instructs the hearer not to
construct a context any larger than he needs to arrive at an
interpretation”; (Brown and Yule, [Link]: 59). Let us consider the
example (transcript of a description) offered by them: a man and a
woman sitting in the living room ... the man’s bored goes to the window
looks out the window m... and goes out + goes to his goes to a club + has
a drink talks to the barman.
It is apparent that the initial setting of co-text (a man and a woman
sitting in the living room) determines the extent of the context within
which the hearer will interpret what is said next. He will assume that the
entities (man and woman) will remain what they are, and local setting (a
living room) will stay constant, unless he indicates any change.
Therefore, hearing “the man’s bored” will allow him to identify which
man. Further, “the window” will be interpreted by the hearer as the
window of the living room, set by co-text, as discussed earlier. When the
man goes to a club, it will the club nearest to where the living room is,
i.e. the town or village where it is rather than he drives to another town,
which is not indicated by the speaker.

3. Clyne’s revised maxims:

In spite of all the criticisms, it is essential to keep in mind that Grice’s
purpose is to show how conversation proceeds, and not to impose cultural
hegemony. Some of the criticisms that his theory is Anglo-centric are
unfair. Clyne (1994: 194), on the basis of intercultural studies proposes the
following revised maxims:
Quantity: A single maxim – make your contribution as informative as is
required for the purpose of the discourse, within the bounds of the
discourse parameters of the given culture.
 Quality: Supermaxim – Try to make your contribution one for which you
can take responsibility within your own cultural norms. Maxims are:
1. Do not say what you believe to be in opposition to your cultural norms of
truth, harmony, clarity and/or respect.
2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
Manner: The supermaxim is still: Be perspicacious. Other maxims are:
1. Do not make it more difficult to understand than may be dictated by
questions of face and authority.
2. Avoid ambiguity unless it is in the interests of politeness or of
maintaining a dignity-driven cultural core value, such as harmony, charity
or respect.
3. Make your contribution the appropriate length required by the nature and
purpose of the exchange and the discourse parameters of your culture.
4. Structure your discourse according to the requirements of your culture.
On the basis of successful intercultural communication, Clyne suggests it
would be desirable to change the second maxim of the Manner category to:
Make clear your communicative intent unless this is against the interests of
politeness or of maintaining a dignity-driven cultural core value, such as
harmony, charity or respect,
and to add as fifth maxim of Manner:
In your contribution, take into account anything you know or can predict
about the interlocutor’s communication expectations.
4. The notion “topic” as “what is being talked about” can serve as a
criterion for distinguishing the connected text from any thing that is not.
The topic framework should comprise all the relevant features of context
because they are the context aspects directly reflected in the text, and
need to be called upon to interpret it. The speaker or the writer usually
operate within this topic framework to produce sentences ,thus we will
have a sense that the sentences are meaningfully connected.
5. Theme, usually expressed by the initial constituent of the sentence,
refers to what the speaker nominates as the subject (not necessarily the
grammatical subject) of what he will speak about later in the
sentence .In other words, theme is the starting point of the utterance or
point of departure in Halliday’s terminology. Theme may be seen as
having two functions:
 i.) to link back and link to the preceding discourse, maintaining a
coherent point of view,
ii.) serve as point of departure for further development of the
discourse.
III. Give short answers to the following questions.
1. What is discourse analysis?
Discourse analysis is the study of language in use. It examines how
sentences are connected and how meaning is created in real communication
contexts.
2. Present two major approaches to the notion “Text”.
a, text as a product: text is viewed as a finished linguistic product
composed of connected sentences.
b, text as a process: text is viewed as a communicative process involving
interaction between writer/speaker and reader/listener
3. Present the functions of language in terms of communication.
Language functions: - giving information, expressing feelings, influencing
others, maintaining social relationships, entertaining, performing actions
4. What is cohesion?
- Cohesion refers to grammatical and lexical relationships linking parts of
a text together. Eg: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, lexical
cohesion
5. What is coherence? What factors contribute to coherence?
- Coherence is the logical and meaningful relationship among parts of a
text>
Factors contributing to coherence: shared topic, logical organization,
context, background knowledge, cohesive devices.
6. Give and analyze an example of pro-forms of adverbials.
Ex: “ John went to Hanoi and Mary went there too”
Analysis: - “there” is a pro-form of adverbial
-It substitutes for “Hanoi”
7. What is context?
- Context refers to the situational, social, and cultural environment in
which communication occurs -> helps linsteners/readers interpret
meaning correctly
8. What is reference?
 Reference is a cohesive device in which one linguistic item refers to another
for interpretation. Ex: “ Linda lost her bag. She is upset.” “she” refers to
Linda
9. What are the four maxims that comprise the co-operative principle?
According to Grice: maxin of quantity (give enough information); maxim of
quality (tell the truth); maxim of relation (be relevant); maxim of manner (be
clear and orderly)
10. What are three types of speech acts according to Austin’s
classification.
- Locutionary act: the literal meaning
- Illocutionary act: the speaker’s intention
- Perlocutionary: the effect on the listener

IV. Analyze the following passage in terms of Hymes’ features of context to

the extent possible.
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker,
Members of the House and the Senate,
Distinguished Americans here as visitors in this Chamber as I might,
It’s nice to have a fresh excuse for giving a long speech. When presidents
speak to the Congress and the nation from this podium, typically they comment
on the changes and the opportunities that face the United States, but this is not
an ordinary time for all the many tasks that require our attention. I believe
tonight one calls on us to unite and to act, that’s our economy… For more than
anything else, our task tonight as Americans is to make our eonomy thrive
again.
Let me begin by saying that it has been too long, at least three decades
since a President has come and challenged Americans to join him on a great
national journey, not merely to consume the bounty of today but to invest for a
much greater one tomorrow.
(Address by ex-President William Jefferson Clinton before a Joint Session of
Congress on Administration Goals on February, 1993)
Example:
Feature 1: Addressor: Mr. William Jefferson Clinton – the 42th President of the
USA
Feature 2: Addressees: Members of Congress, Senate, distinguished Americans,
and the American people
Feature 3: Topic: The American economy and national economic recovery
Feature 4: Setting: Joint Session of Congress, Washington D.C., February 1993
Feature 5: Channel: Spoken language; political speech delivered orally
Feature 6: Code: English language, formal political style
Feature 7: Message form: Persuasive and formal presidential address
Feature 8: Event: Presidential speech before Congress on administration goals
Feature 9: Key: Serious, formal, persuasive, patriotic
Feature 10: Purpose: To encourage unity and support for economic recovery
and national investment

V. For each of the following exchanges, determine (a) which of Grice's

maxims the second speaker's utterance appears to flout, and (b) the
implicature raised by th e second speaker. The first one has been done
for you.
Example: Katy: Do you know where Billy Bob is?
Anna: Well, he didn't meet me for lunch like he was supposed to.
a. Which of Grice's maxims does Anna's statement appear to flout? Relation
b. What is the implicature raised by Anna's statement? She does not know
where Billy Bob is.
1. Bob: Do you want some dessert?
Ray: Do birds have wings?
a) Maxim flouted: Relation (also indirectly Manner)
b) Implicature: Yes, Ray definitely wants dessert.
2. Diana: Don't you think John is a nice guy?
Susan: Yeah, he's about as sensitive as Attila the Hun.
a) Maxim flouted: Quality
b) Implicature: Susan thinks John is not nice or sensitive at all.
1. Explain the transactional function and the interactional function of
language.
 - Transactional function: language is used to communicate information,
ideas, and content.
- Interactional function: language is used to maintain social relationships
and social interaction.
2. List the differences between written and spoken English.
- Spoken English is spontaneous, less structured, and interactive.
- Written English is planned, more structured, and grammatically
complex.
- Spoken language uses generalized vocabulary and topic-comment
structures.
- Written language frequently uses heavily premodified noun phrases.
3. What is cohesion?
Cohesion is the grammatical and lexical relationship linking parts of a text
together
4. What is coherence?
Coherence is the meaningful and logical relationship among parts of a text.
5. List the means of grammatical cohesion. Give examples for illustration.
- Reference: “Mary lost her bag. She is upset.”
- Substitution: “I like the red shirt. I prefer the blue one.”
- Ellipsis: “Want coffee?” – “Yes.”
- Conjunction: “He was tired, so he went home.”
6. List the means of lexical cohesion. Give examples for illustration.
- Repetition: “The boy entered. The boy sat down.”
- Synonymy: “car – vehicle”
- Antonymy: “rich – poor”
- Hyponymy: “rose – flower”
- Collocation: “doctor – patient – hospital”
7. List the means of logical cohesion. Give examples for illustration.
- Addition: and, furthermore
- Contrast: but, however
- Cause-result: because, therefore
- Time relation: then, finally
- Example: “It rained, so we stayed home.”
8. What is context? List the 10 features of context from Hymes’ view.
Context is the situational environment necessary for interpreting a text.
Hymes’ 10 features:
1. Addressor: the speaker/ửiter
2. Addressee: the listener/reader
3. Topic: what is being talked about
4. Setting: time and place
5. Channel: spoken/written communication
6. Code: language or variety used
7. Message form: style or form of communication
8. Event: type of cumminicative event
9. Key: tone or manner (serious, humorous, etc)
[Link]: goal of communication

9. What is co-text?
Co-text is the linguistic environment surrounding a linguistic unit in a text.
[Link] principle of analogy.
The principle of analogy means interpreting unfamiliar language forms based
on familiar patterns and previous experience.
[Link] the concepts of reference, presupposition, implicature and
inferencing.
- Reference: the relationship between linguistic expressions and what
they refer to.
- Presupposition: information assumed to be true before an utterance is
made.
- Implicature: implied meaning beyond literal meaning.
- Inferencing: the process of interpreting implied meaning.
[Link] the 4 maxims in Grice’s view.