Unit 6

Unit 6 Exempl ification

The last unit was concerned with There are different ways of exemplifying,
definitions. It is often useful in definitions e.g.
to give examples: this action is known as Geol ogy may be defined as the science of the
exemplification (or exemplifying) . earth's history a s shown b y i ts crust, rocks, etc.
Exemplifications are often introduced by Geography may be defined as the science of the
for example or e.g. earth's su rface. It is com:erned with a n u mber of
Linguistics may be defined as the science of featu res, particularly physic a l , c l imate and
l anguage, for example, its structu re, sou n d prod ucts.
systems and meaning systems. (Here particularly has the meaning 'more
than some others' . )
Exemplification is commonly used
throughout academic writing.

Stage 1 1 Read the fol lowi ng ca refu l ly.

Words
What is Language?
A l anguage is a signal ling system w h i c h operates with
symbol ic vocal sou nds, and which is u sed by a group of
people for the pu rposes of com m u nication.
Let us look at this defi n i tion in more detai l because it is
l angu age, more than anyth i ng el se, that distinguishes m a n
from the rest o f the a n i m a l world.
Other anim a l s, it is true, com m u nicate with one a nother by
means of cries: for exa m p l e, many birds u tter warning ca l l s at
the approach of danger; apes utter d i fferent cries, such as
10 expressions of anger, fear and p l easure. B ut these various
means of com m u nication differ i n i m portant ways from
h u man language. For insta nce, anima l s' cries are not
articu l ate. This means, basica l l y, that they lack structu re. They
l ack, for example, the k i n d of structu re given by the contrast
15 between vowels and consonants . They a l so l ack the kind of
structu re that enables us to divide a h u man utterance into
words.
We can change an utterance by repl acing one word in it by
another: a good i l l ustration of this is a sol dier who can say,
20 e.g. 'tanks approaching from the north ', or he can change one
word and say 'ai rcraft approaching from the north' or 'tanks
approaching from the west'; but a bird has a single a larm cry,
which means 'danger ! '
This is w h y t h e n u m ber o f signa l s that a n a nim a l c a n make
25 is very limited: the great tit is a case in po i nt; it has about
twenty different ca l l s, whereas in h u man l anguage the n u m ber
of possible utterances is infinite. It a l so exp l ains why animal
cries are very genera l in meaning.

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Unit 6

Read the passage again and draw a I box I a round a l l the

expressions which have the same mea n i n g as for example. Notice
how they are used and the punctuation that is used with them.

Now d raw a line u nder all the examples, e.g.

I such as I expressions of anger, fear and pleasure.

2 The fol l owi ng sentences a re based u pon the information conta i n ed

in the passage above. Complete the sentences making use of each
of the fol lowi ng words (use each one only once).

illustration for example a case in point an example

for instance such as

a At the approach of danger many birds utter warning calls: this

IS of animals communicating with each
other.
b Cries, those of anger, fear and pleasure,
are uttered by apes.
c There are important differences between human language and
animal communication: , animals' cries
are not articulate.
d Animals' cries lack, , the kind of
structure that enables us to divide a human utterance into
words.
e A good of changing an utterance by
substituting one word for another is a soldier who can say
'tanks approaching from the north' or 'tanks approaching
from the west'.
f The number of signals that an animal can make is very limited:
the great tit is _________

Stage 2 1 Look at the fol lowi ng:

Sente n ces
Language Families

Latin
I
I I I
Portuguese Spanish Italian French Romanian etc.

This information can be expressed in two ways:

- There are a n u m ber of languages wh i ch a re descended from
Lati n: for example, Portuguese and Ita l i a n .
- There are a n u m ber o f l anguages, s u c h as Portuguese and
Ita l ian, which are descended from Lati n .

Write two sentences, as a bove, a bout the fol l owing information.

a Latin
I
I I I I
Romansch Proven<;:al Catalan Sardinian etc.

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 Unit 6

b Sanskrit
t
I I I
Bengali Hindi Singalese etc.

2 Read the fol l owing ca refu lly, espec i a l ly the pa rt in ita l ics.
There are now over two thousand different languages in the
world; an examination of them shows that m a ny of them belong
to a gro u p of rel ated l anguages, and some of t h ese groups are
very large, constituting what we can ca l l l anguage families.
An example of such a family is the Semitic group of languages.
Examples of members of the family are Arabic and Hebrew.

Now write out the last two sentences substituting the fol l owing
(not all the examples need to be l isted):

a Germanic - e.g. English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish,

Norwegian.
b Sino-Tibetan - e.g. Thai, Burmese, Chinese, Tibetan.

Stage 3 1 Here a re some notes on writi ng systems. Read them ca refu l ly.
Pa ra g ra p hs
Writing Systems
Writing method of h u man interco m m u nication by means
=

of conventional visible marks.

Two main kinds of writing system :

1 ideographic (an ideogram or sign one idea/word e.g.
=

Chinese)
2 phonetiC: a sy l l abiC (one sign one sy l l able
=

e.g. Amharic, Japanese ka na)

b a l p habetic (one sign one sou nd e.g. =

G reek, Arabic)

Now write a paragraph on writing systems based on the

i nformation i n the notes. Do not use notes i n you r writing, only
complete sentences. Beg i n the paragraph with a defi n ition of
writing. Then conti nue with a description of the writing systems,
beg i n n i n g the sentence 'The re a re . . .' Remember to use seq uence
ma rkers (connectives); practise using different expressions for e.g.

To p : Chinese
Centre: Japanese
2 Write a defi n ition of you r own subject of study or resea rch . Describe
Bottom: Greek part of it, with exa mples.

41
Unit 6

Pyramid Discussion 1 What a re the three main advantages of knowing a foreign

Know i n g a Fore i g n language? Select from the l ist be low. The order of the choices is not
i mporta nt.
La n g u a g e
1 enables direct communication with a foreigner
2 gives access to a foreign literature
3 helps understanding of another culture
4 makes it easier to live/work in another country
5 helps if you want to study in another country
6 puts your own language and culture into perspective
7 helps you to understand the difficulties of people learning
your language
8 personal satisfaction in mastering the skill
9 adds another dimension to education
10 enables you to make closer contact with other nationalities
11 helps understanding of other attitudes
12 makes it easier and cheaper to conduct business with another
country
13 makes interpreters and translators unnecessary
14 enables you to understand information in another language
15 makes it easier to express your ideas to others

Final ly, add some adva ntages of your own .

2 Write a brief explanation of the advantages of knowing a foreign

language, with some exam ples.

Structure a n d A Alternatives to the word examples are: cases, instances.

Vocabula ry Aid B Other commonly used verb forms and methods of expression are:

8D
shown
exemplified
illustrated

B
shows
exemplifies
illustrates

the following examples,

the following are examples of X:

a and b are examples of X.

8 Dickens and Hardy D

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