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Linguistics 001 Homework
1 Introduction to Language and Linguistics
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The following questions refer to Chapter 2 of Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct and to your lecture notes. Your answers should not be longer than two or three sentences each! This homework is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, May 25th 1) Which of the following are prescriptive statements and which are descriptive?a. "It's me" is ungrammatical; "It's I" is the correct way to say this in English. b. "Me went home" is ungrammatical; "I went home" is the correct way to say this in English. c. Ending sentences with prepositions is ungrammatical in English. d. People who say "ain't" may suffer some negative social consequences because many speakers of English associate "ain't" with the dialects of the working classes.
2) Pinker discusses Black English Vernacular (now more commonly known as African American Vernacular English, or AAVE), giving an example from an interview recorded by Penn linguist Bill Labov. Give three of the differences between AAVE and Standard American English that Pinker mentions, and illustrate them with examples. (Yes, you can use the examples Pinker gives.)3) How are pidgins related to creoles?4) Give two differences between the two sign languages called Lenguaje de Signos Nicaraguense and Idioma de Signos Nicaraguense .5) Describe how the language of people who suffer from Broca's aphasia is different from that of other people.
6) Give one piece of evidence that humans' ability to learn and use language is an instinct - pick one from Pinker or from the lecture notes (or other sources).7) Give one example of each:a. A descriptively perfect sentence of English that a grammar-checker (like one in MsWord) marks as incorrect.Suggestions: try splitting infinitives, using passives, dangling modifiers, singular their, and other such things. You can make up your own examples, or use real sentences from books, newspapers, the web, etc. b. A descriptively ungrammatical sentence of English that a grammar checker does not mark as incorrect. Here are some examples of a descriptive error that the checker doesn't catch. (PLEASE COME UP WITH YOUR OWN ONES - the examples are endless.) We made the car to go. (make does not take an infinitive, just a bare verb) Eric gave up it. (pronoun must precede particle, i.e. gave it up) I lost my. (missing noun, or wrong form: should be mine) Not saw him I. (word order) The dogs barking are. (word order) |
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