1.3　考研真题与典型题详解

I. Fill in the blanks.

1．Human language is arbitrary. This refers to the fact that there is no logical or intrinsic connection between a particular sound and the ______ it is associated with. (人大2007研)

【答案】meaning

【解析】语言具有任意性，其所指与其形式没有逻辑或内在的联系。

2．Human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of communication. This quality is labeled as ______. (北二外2003研)

【答案】displacement

【解析】移位性是指人类语言可以让使用者在交际时用语言符号代表时间和空间上不可及的物体、事件和观点。

3．By duality is meant the property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the ______ level are composed of elements of the ______ level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization. (北二外2006研)

【答案】primary, secondary

【解析】双重性是指拥有两层结构的这种属性，底层结构是上层结构的组成成分，每层都有自身的组合规则。

4．The features that define our human languages can be called ______ features. (北二外2006研)

【答案】design

【解析】人类语言区别于其他动物交流系统的特点是语言的区别特征，是人类语言特有的特征。

5．The term ______ originates from Malinowski’s study of the functions of language performed by Trobriand Islanders. It refers to the social interaction of language. (中山大学2006研)

【答案】phatic communion

【解析】寒暄功能是指那些有助于确立和维持人际关系的表达，最先由Malinowski提出。

6．Halliday proposes a theory of metafunctions of language, that is, language has ______, interpersonal and textual functions. (中山大学2008研)

【答案】ideational

【解析】韩理德将儿童的语言功能范围逐渐缩小，简化成为一套高度符号化和抽象化的功能：概念、人际、语篇功能。

7．Our language can be used to talk about itself. This is the ______ function of language. (中山大学2005研)

【答案】metalingual

【解析】语言的元语言功能是指语言可以用来讨论语言本身。

8．Linguistics is usually defined as the ______ study of language. (北二外2003研)

【答案】scientific

【解析】语言学通常被定义为研究科学的语言，或对语言的科学研究。

9．______ studies how the speech sounds are made, transmitted, and received, and ______ studies the rules governing the structure, distribution and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables. (人大2006研)

【答案】phonetics; phonology

【解析】语音学研究语音是如何产生，传播以及接收的；音系学研究支配语音分布和排列的规则以及音节的形式。

10．______ studies meaning in language, ______ is about principles of forming and understanding correct English sentences, and ______ is concerned with the internal organization of words. They are all among the main branches of linguistics. (人大2006研)

【答案】semantics; syntax; morphology

【解析】语义学研究语言的意义，句法学研究构成句子的规则，形态学研究词汇的内部结构。三者都是语言学的分支。

11．In Saussure’s view, the relationship between signifier (sound image) and signified (concept) is ______. (北二外2003研)

【答案】arbitrary

【解析】索绪尔认为符号的形式或声音与其意义之间没有逻辑联系，所以两者之间的关系是任意的。

12．______ is the study of the language-processing mechanisms. It is concerned with the storage, comprehension, production and acquisition of language; ______ on the other hand, attempts to show the relationship between language and society. They both belong to branches of macrolinguistics. (人大2006研)

【答案】psycholinguistics; sociolinguistics

【解析】心理语言学研究语言处理机制，如语言的记忆，理解及习得等；社会语言学研究语言与社会之间的关系。

13．Saussure distinguished the linguistic competence of the speaker and the actual phenomena or data of linguistics (utterances) as ______ and ______. The former refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and the latter is the concrete manifestation of language either through speech or through writing. (人大2006研)

【答案】langue; parole

【解析】索绪尔用语言和言语来区分说话者的语言能力和言语上(表达的)的实际表现或语料。

14．______ grammars attempt to tell what is in the language, while ______ grammars tell people what should be in the language. Most contemporary linguists believe that whatever occurs naturally in the language should be described. (人大2006研)

【答案】descriptive; prescriptive

【解析】描述性语言记录语言共同体的成员所遵循的规则,规定式的语言学目的在于为正确使用语言定下各种规则。

15．One of the important distinctions in linguistics is ______ and performance. (人大2006研)

【答案】competence

【解析】语言能力指理想的语言使用者关于语言规则的语言知识，语言应用指语言交际中关于语言规则知识的实际使用。

16．Theory that primitive man made involuntary vocal noises while performing heavy work has been called the ______ theory.

【答案】yo-he-ho

【解析】语言的起源有“汪汪”理论，“噗噗”理论和“哟嘿吼”理论。“哟嘿吼”理论语言起源于原始人共同劳动时发出的有节奏的哼哟声。

17．The description of a language as it changes through time is a ______ study.

【答案】Diachronic linguistic

【解析】历时语言学集中研究几十年或几百年的时期内两个或比两个更多的语言状况的差异。

18．Linguistic potential is similar to Saussure’s langue and Chomsky’s ______.

【答案】Competence

【解析】索绪尔的语言与乔姆斯基的语言能力相似，因为二者都指抽象的语言知识，不是实际使用中的语言。

II. Multiple Choices

1．Which of the following statement is NOT true? (大连外国语学院2008研)

A. Language is a means of vocal communication.

B. Language is instrumental.

C. Language is social and conventional.

【答案】B

【解析】语言不是机械的工具的，而是一种交流方式。

2．Which of the following is NOT a frequently discussed design feature? (大连外国语学院2008研)

A. Arbitrariness

B. Convention

C. Duality

【答案】B

【解析】语言的区别性特征主要是指任意性，双重性，创造性和移位性。

3．By ______ we mean language is resourceful because of its duality and recursiveness. (西安外国语学院2006研)

A. arbitrariness

B. duality

C. creativity

D. displacement

【答案】C

【解析】创造性指语言的能产性，它能够使人造出和理解无穷的长句，其中很多句子是以前从

未听过的。

4．Which of the following words is entirely arbitrary? (西安交大2008研)

A. tree

B. crash

C. typewriter

D. bang

【答案】A

【解析】crash是一个缩略语，typewriter是复合词，bang是拟声词，所以只有tree的形成是完全任意的。

5．The functions of language do NOT include______. (大连外国语学院2008研)

A. informative function

B. interpersonal function

C. metacognitive function

【答案】C

【解析】语言的主要功能包括寒暄功能、指示功能、信息功能、疑问功能、表达功能、施为功能和劝说功能。

6．The most important sociological use of language is the ______ function, by which people establish and maintain their status in a society. (西安外国语学院2006研)

A. performative

B. interpersonal

C. phatic

D. metalingual

【答案】B

【解析】语言最重要的社会功能是人际功能。

7．Saussure took a(n) view of language, while Chomsky looks at language from a ______ point of view. (西安交大2008研)

A. sociological...psychological

B. psychological...sociological

C. applied...pragmatic

D. semantic...linguistic

【答案】A

【解析】索绪尔的语言指语言社团中的语言，所以是从社会的角度研究语言。乔姆斯基是从使用者本身掌握的语言知识研究语言，是从心理角度研究语言。

8．According to F. de Saussure, refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community. (西安交大2008研)

A. parole

B. performance

C. langue

D. Language

【答案】C

【解析】索绪尔的语言指语言社团中的语言。

9．The study of physical properties of the sounds produced in speech is closely connected with ______. (大连外国语学院2008研)

A. articulatory phonetics

B. acoustic phonetics

C. auditory phonetics

【答案】B

【解析】声学语音学研究语音的物质特征。

10．Study the following dialogue. What function does it play according to the functions of language?

—A nice day, isn’t it?

—Right! I really enjoy the sunlight.

A. Emotive.

B. Phatic.

C. Performative.

D. Interpersonal.

【答案】B

【解析】谈论天气的问候语体现了语言的寒暄功能。

11．______ deals with language application to other fields, particularly education.

A. Linguistic geography

B. Sociolinguistics

C. Applied: linguistics

D. Comparative linguistics

【答案】C

【解析】应用语言学为语言在其他领域的使用，尤其是教育方面。

12．Verbal dueling, the use of language for the sheer joy of using it, is mainly to do with the_____function of language. (武汉大学2011研)

A. performative

B. interpersonal

C. informative

D. recreational

【答案】D

【解析】如果运用语言仅仅是为了开心好玩，那就是运用了语言的娱乐功能。

III. True or False

1．The phatic function refers to language function for establishing or maintaining social contact rather than for exchanging information or ideas. (清华2001研)

【答案】T

【解析】寒暄功能是指建立与保持社交联络而不是交换信息。

2．Syntax refers to the study of the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences in a language. (大连外国语学院2008研)

【答案】T

【解析】句法学研究词汇构成句子的规则。

3．“Competence” and “performance” are two distinctive terms proposed by Saussure. (北二外2005研)

【答案】F

【解析】语言能力与语言表现的区别是由乔姆斯基提出的。

4．The concept competence originally refers to the grammatical knowledge of the ideal language user and has nothing to do with the actual use of language in concrete situation. (南开大学2004研)

【答案】T

【解析】语言能力与语言在具体情况下的应用无关，语言表现是语言在具体情况下的表现。

5．Prescriptive linguistics is more popular than descriptive linguistics, because it can tell us how to speak correct language.

【答案】F

【解析】描写式和规定式的语言学是分析语言的两种不同的方法，不能简单的说谁好谁坏之说。

6．By diachronic study we mean to study the changes and development of language.

【答案】T

【解析】历时研究是研究语言的变化与发展。

7．Onomatopoeic words are totally arbitrary.

【答案】F

【解析】拟声词并不完全是任意的，与其表达的声音具有一定的相似性。

IV. Explain the following terms.

1．arbitrariness (四川大学2006研)

【答案】Arbitrariness refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs be no natural relationship to their meaning. Arbitrariness of language makes it potentially creative; a conventionality of language makes a language be passed from generation to generation. For example, it is unable to explain why a book is called a /buk/ and a pen a /pen/.

2．duality (四川大学2006研)

【答案】Duality refers to the fact that in all languages so far investigated there are two levels of structure or patterning. At the first, higher level, language is analyzed in terms of combinations of meaningful units (such as morphemes, words etc.); at the second, lower level, it is seen as a sequence of segments which lack any meaning in themselves, but which combine to form units of meaning. For example, a syllable is the smallest unit that is normally spoken by itself, and scores of syllables become the carriers of hundreds of meaningful segments of words that are called morphemes.

3．displacement (南开大学2010研；清华2001研)

【答案】Language can be used to refer to what is present, what is absent, what happens at present, what happened in the past, what will happen in the future or what happens in a far-away place. This property of language enables language users to overcome the barriers caused by time and place. For example, scientists can predict the “future” of certain planets that are several billions of light years away from us.

4．performative function (武汉大学2004研)

【答案】The performative function of language is primarily to change the social status of persons and it can extend to the control of reality as on some magical or religious occasions. The kind of language employed in performative verbal acts is usually quite formal and even ritualized. For example, in Chinese when someone breaks a bowl the host or the people present are likely to say sui sui ping an (every day be safe and happy) as a means of controlling the forces which the believers feel might affect their lives.

5．parole (北师大2004研)

【答案】Parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. It varies enormously according to individuals. The speeches, the idiosyncratic utterances made by individuals are all examples of parole.

6．descriptive study of linguistics (四川大学2007研)

【答案】To say that linguistics is a descriptive study is to say that the linguist tries to discover and record the roles to which the members of a language-community actually conform and does not seek to impose upon them other rules, or norms, of correctness, which are in the scope of prescriptive linguistics.

7．langue(北外2010研)

【答案】Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community.

V. Short answer questions

1．Cite an example to explain synchronic linguistics. (人大2005研)

【答案】Synchronic Linguistics is the description of a language at some point of time in history. It focuses on the characteristics of the language at a certain time. For example, when we study English, we learn about the vocabulary, the language points and oral English etc. At this time, we are learning English of current time in synchronic method.

2．How well, in your opinion, does the word “communication” represent the function of human language? (北二外2008研)

【答案】We use language for an almost infinite number of purposes, from writing letters to gossiping with our friends, making speeches and talking to ourselves in the mirror. But the primary function of language of language is to transmit information and to convey commands, feelings and emotions. That is, language is a tool of communication. The term “communication” can be used to cover much of the function of language. This function can be further divided into more specific functions, such as phatic function/communion, directive function, informative function, interrogative function, expressive function, evocative function, performative function etc.

3．What are linguistic competence and communicative competence? (武汉大学2007研)

【答案】Linguistic competence was originally proposed by Noam Chomsky. It is defined as a language user’s underlying knowledge about the system or rules. In Chomsky’s view, the native speaker’s competence can be characterized as a set of rules for producing an understanding of sentences in his language. To acquire the native speaker’s competence is to obtain the ability of recognizing and producing grammatical sentences in a language.

Communicative competence, on the other hand, was proposed by Dell Hymes as an effort to refine the original notion by Chomsky. He pointed out that Chomsky’s competence is necessary but not sufficient for a learner to communicate with others successfully in a speech community. In addition to grammatical accuracy, a successful communication requires appropriacy in the sense that he knows when he speaks what to whom. Thus he extended the notion of competence by incorporating the pragmatic ability for language use. This extended idea of competence is called communicative competence.

4．One of the design features of human language is creativity. What is it? And what makes it possible? (浙江大学2007研)

【答案】The creativity of language means that users can understand and produce sentences they have never heard before. Creativity is a property unique to human language. It combine the basic linguistic units to form an infinite set of sentences, most of which are never heard before. Human language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. The speaker is able to understand the sentences before produced or heard. The fact that human language is recursive could be shown in that words can be used in new ways to mean new things, and can be instantly understood by people who have never come across that word before. For example, I could make a sentence like “The man who is waiting for the lady who is talking to the boy who is playing with a girl…is my uncle.”

5．What is the directive function? (西安交大2008研)

【答案】Directive function is one of functions of language. Language is used to get the hearer to do something. Most imperative sentences are of this function. For example, the sentence “Close your book and listen to me carefully!” performs a directive function. Other syntactic structures or sentences of other sorts can, according to J. Austin and J. Searle’s “Indirect speech act theory” at least, serves the purpose of direction too, e.g., “If I were you, I would have blushed to the bottom of my ears!”

VI. Essay questions

1．Linguistics is not the only field concerned with language. Other disciplines such as sociology, psychology, ethnography are also preoccupied with language. (中山大学2008研)

【答案】Since language has both individual and social aspects, it is naturally of interest to psychologists and sociologists among others.

Many psychologists are interested to investigate the interrelation of language and mind, in processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition for example, language development in the child, such as the theories of language acquisition; biological foundations of language, and a big topic—the relationship between language and cognition, so there are psycholinguistics.

Socialists who are interested in the relations between language and society do researches concerned both sociology and linguistics, including the social functions of language and the social characteristics of its users.

When anthropologists enlisted the help of linguists to study unwritten languages, anthropology and linguistics became closely associated in the early days of anthropological fieldwork. In contrast with other linguists, anthropological linguists are interested primarily in the history and structure of formerly unwritten languages. They are concerned with the emergence of language and also with the divergence of languages over thousands of years.

Therefore, it is not surprising there are some branches of macrolinguistics that show an interdisciplinary nature.

2．There are two kinds of grammar based on different linguistic points of view. They are prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar. A grammar may describe how language is actually spoken and/or written, and may not state or postulate how it ought to be spoken or written. But a grammar may also state the rules for what is considered the best or most correct usage. Which grammar is descriptive grammar, and which grammar is prescriptive grammar? Cite some examples to give your reasons. (北师大2003研)

【答案】The first one is typical of descriptive grammar, while the second one is prescriptive grammar. The descriptive grammar aims to describe how people speak and detail the underlying knowledge. It is believed in descriptive grammar that whatever occurs in natural speech, such as hesitation, incomplete utterance, should be described in the analysis, and not be marked as incorrect, abnormal, or corrupt; modern linguistics is mostly descriptive. Whereas, the prescriptive approach aims to teach people how to speak, read, and write a particular language; in the 18th century, all the main European languages were studied prescriptively.

For example, the statement that “in standard English, a double negative is rarely used” is a description, showing how the language is used in standard English, regardless whether it is correct or not. “You should never use a double-negative” is a typical grammar rule that prescribes what should be grammatically correct in the Standard English. As for the spelling, prescription says “judgment” is correct, but description accurately points out that “judgment” is considered by Edited English to be correct too, and a descriptive account for these two different spellings will show how the later one is used and who uses it.

3．Saussure puts forward the concept of langue and parole, and Chomsky puts forward the concept of competence and performance. Please dwell upon the differences and similarities, if any, of the two pairs: langue and parole vs. competence and performance. (北京交通大学2007研)

【答案】According to F. de Saussure, langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of a speech community; while parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use.

For Chomsky, a fundamental distinction between linguistic competence and performance should be made. A language user’s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called linguistic competence. And performance refers to the actual use of language in concrete situations. In light with this, competence enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker’s competence is stable but his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors, and thus would involve imperfections such as slips of tongue, false starts, unnecessary pauses, and so on. Thus, the point is that a speaker’s performance does not always match his competence.

Saussure’s distinction is somewhat similar with Chomsky’s in the sense that they both refer to the constant factor which underlies the utterances that constitute parole/performance. However, their difference is quite obvious. Saussure’s language is a social product, a set of conventions for a speech community. Chomsky regards competence as a property of the mind of each individual. Saussure looks at language more from a sociological point of view while Chomsky looks at it more from a psychological point of view.

4．Examine the following two statements about language，and discuss the similarities and differences between them. Do you agree with the two statements? Explain your answer.

(1) Sapir (1921:Language): “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas，emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.”

(2) Bloch and Trager (1942: Outline of Linguistic Analysis): “A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group co-operates.”

【答案】Similarities:

(1) Both definitions stick to the fact that language is primarily a matter of speech because the primary medium of language is sound. Sapir illustrates this idea by implying that the produced symbols are auditory and Bloch and Trager by explicitly using the word ‘vocal’.

(2) Both definitions allude to the fact that the association between the words and the things that they denoted is rarely inherent, Sapir by using the word ‘symbols’ and Bloch and Trager by placing emphasis on ‘arbitrary’ and ‘symbols’.

Differences:

(1) Sapir’s definition emphasize that language relates to communication between human beings. It is very different from the communication systems of other creatures, such as bird songs and bee dances. Bloch and Trager do not clearly indicate this property, only saying that it is possessed by a social group.

(2) Sapir also considers that language is ‘non-instinctive’ and ‘voluntarily produced’. Thus for him language does not include such instinctive forms of communication as smiling and cries of pain, etc. However, Bloch and Trager’s definition do not include this feature.

(3) The element ‘system’ in Bloch and Trager’s definition reflects the fact that language provides us with the framework for generating appropriate utterances rather than providing us with an infinite store of ready-made utterances. Still elements of lacunae are combined according to rules.

(4) The function of language is indicated differently in two definitions. Sapir sees language as for communicating ideas, emotions and desires, while Bloch and Trager considers it for a social group’s co-operation. Sapir’s definition proposes ‘communication’ as the principal function of language and specifies what is communicated; Bloch and Trager only vaguely points out that language can be used for co-operation.

Each of the two definitions has its own special emphasis and it not totally free from limitations. We think the two definitions grasp some defining properties of language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication, for example, ‘vocal’, ‘arbitrary’, ‘symbol’, ‘purely human’, ‘a system’. But either has some limitation. As for Sapir’s definition, whether one considers language to be instinctive or not is an issue. Language is instinctive in so far as we are all born with a predisposition to speak, we all acquire a language without tuition and when we speak we do not consciously convert our thoughts into speech. Language is, however, non-instinctive in that we can choose what to say or whether to say anything at all. Both the definition’s description of language’s function is not precise. Sapir’s definition confines language only to communicating ideas, emotions and desires, and Bloch and Trager’s definition does not point it out at all.

5．It is widely known that animals have their own ways of communicating with each other. For example, bees can dance very complicated dances and some birds can sing very complicated songs. It is also generally agreed that there are fundamental differences between human language and other animals’ ways of communicating.

i. What is your view on this point?

【答案】There’re fundamental differences between human language and other animal’s ways of communicating. All creatures, not only the “clever” ones like apes and dolphins but also such “lower” ones as bees and birds are able to communicate with each other. We have been careful in using the term “animal communication system” to indicate this ability. But language is human-specific which is not merely a tool used to transmit information but also a means of social communication. Linguists made a list of “design features”, which are found utterly absent in animal communication and thus distinguish human language from animal’s cry.

ii. If you also think that there are fundamental differences between human language and other animals’ ways of communicating, according to you, what are the differences? Please give short explanations. If you don’t think that there are fundamental differences between human language and other animals’ ways of communicating, please also defend your position. Illustrate your points with examples if necessary.

【答案】There are fundamental differences between human language and other animals’ ways of communicating, such as the “design feature” could distinguish human language from other systems of communication. For instance, 1) Duality, animals that use vocal signals have a stock of basic sounds which vary according to species. A cow has less than ten, a chicken has around twenty, but most animals can use each basic sound to stand for one thing only, so the communicative power of animal language is highly limited. However, human language has a number of sound units, or phonemes and each phoneme can become meaningful when it is combined with other phonemes, so we say human language operates on two levels of structures. 2) Productivity or Creativity, it means that human beings can produce novel utterances whenever they want. The robin is creative in its ability to sing the same thing in many ways, but not creative in its ability to use the same units of the system to express many different messages with different meanings.3)Displacement, it is a property of language enabling people to talk about things being remote either in space or in time. Most animals can only communicate about things in the immediate situation.

(本题主要考查语言的本质特征。结合所学知识和自己对这一组特征的理解，先给出自己的观点，再阐释动物语言系统和人类语言系统的区别。)

6．Why do we say linguistics is a science? (北外2011研)

【答案】Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language. It tries to answer the basic questions “What is language?” and “How does language work?” Linguistics studies not any particular language, e.g. English, Chinese, Arabic, and Latin, but it studies languages in general.

It is a scientific study because it is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. In order to discover the nature and rules of the underlying language system, what the linguist has to do first is to collect and observe language facts, which arc found to display some similarities, and generalizations are made about them; then he formulates some hypotheses about the language structure. But the hypotheses thus formed have to be checked repeatedly against the observed facts to fully prove their validity. In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation; that is, a theory without the support of data can hardly claim validity, and data without being explained by some theory remain a muddled mass of things.

(此题考查语言学作为一门学科其科学性，为开放性试题，从其研究内容及方法角度作答即可。)

7．What are the three metafunctions of Systemic Functional Grammar? Illustrate each of them with specific examples. (武汉大学2011研)

【答案】According to Halliday, the adult’s language becomes much more complex and it has to serve many more functions, and the original functional is gradually reduced to a set of highly coded and abstract functions, which are three metafunctions: the ideational, the interpersonal, and the textual functions.

First, the ideational function (“experiential” and “logical”) is to convey new information, to communicate a content that is unknown to the hearer. Present in all language uses, the ideational function is a meaning potential, because whatever specific use one is making of language he has to refer to categories of his experience of the world.

The ideational function mainly consists of “transitivity” and “voice”. This function not only specifies the available options in meaning but also determines the nature of their structural realisations. For example, John built a new house can be analysed as a configuration of the function roles:

Actor: John

Process: Material: creation: built

Goal: affected: a new house

Second, the interpersonal function embodies all uses of language to express social and personal relations. This includes the various ways the speaker enters a speech situation and performs a speech act. Because the clause is not confined to the expression of transitivity, there are non-ideational elements in the adult language system.

Interpersonal function is realised by mood and modality. Mood shows what role the speaker selects in the speech situation and what role he assigns to the addressee. If the speaker selects the imperative mood, he assumes the role of one giving commands and puts the addressee in the role of one expected to obey orders. Modality specifies if the speaker is expressing his judgement or making a prediction. For example, “Give me that teapot!”

Mood is made up of two parts: the “Subject” and the “Finite” element. The subject can be a noun, a noun phrase, or a clause.

Third, the textual function refers to the fact that language has mechanisms to make any stretch of spoken or written discourse into a coherent and unified text and make a living passage different from a random list of sentences. Although two sentences may have exactly the same ideational and interpersonal functions, they may be different in terms of textual coherence.

The textual function fulfils the requirement that language should be operationally relevant, having texture in a real context of situation that distinguishes a living passage from a mere entry in  a grammar or a dictionary. It provides the remaining strands of meaning potential to be woven into the fabric of linguistic structure.

For example, analyze the sentence “John likes linguistics.” on three levels of metafunctions.

(考查韩礼德功能语法中三项元功能，并举例说明。)