Opera singers and dry air don't get along. In fact, the best professional singers require humid settings to help them achieve the right pitch. "When your vocal cords are really dry, they're a little less elastic," says Caleb Everett, an anthropological linguist at the University of Miami. As a result, singers experience tiny variations in pitch, called jitter, as well as wavering volume-- both of which contribute to rougher refrains. If the amount of moisture in the air influences musical pitch, Everett wondered, has that translated into the development of fewer tonal languages in arid locations? Tonal languages, such as Mandarin Chinese and Cherokee, rely on variations in pitch to differentiate meaning: the same syllable spoken at a higher pitch can specify a different word if spoken at a lower pitch or in a rising or falling tone. In a survey of more than 3,700 languages, Everett and his collaborators found that those with complex tones do indeed occur less frequently in dry areas than they do in humid ones, even after accounting for the clustering of related languages. For instance, more than half of the hundreds of languages spoken in tropical sub-Saharan locations feature complex tones, whereas none of the two dozen languages in the Sahara do. Overall only one in 30 complex tonal languages flourished in dry areas; one in three nontonal languages cropped up in those same regions. Those conclusions run counter to a traditional linguistic view that the structure of language is independent of its environment, says Robert Ladd, a linguistics researcher at the University of Edinburgh. To bolster the Miami group's findings, researchers in the field will need to prove that tonal languages require a precise control of pitch.
- Jun 13 Sun 2021 15:09
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article 01 -tonal language & nontonal language
- Jun 13 Sun 2021 13:52
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語言教學法-CLL
DIn this approach, the teacher acts as a counselor and a paraphraser, while the learner is seen as a client and collaborator.” What is this language teaching approach?
(A)The Direct Method
(B) The Silent Way
(C) The Community Language Learning Approach
(D)The Communicative Approach
(A)The Direct Method
(B) The Silent Way
(C) The Community Language Learning Approach
(D)The Communicative Approach
- Jun 13 Sun 2021 10:30
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Word Choice -ability,capacity,capability
C Although such devices as the abacus and the desk calculating machine have limited calculating _________, the computer is characterized by the number and complication of operations it can perform and by its ability to store, retrieve and process data.
- Jun 06 Sun 2021 23:35
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語音學-造詞word formation
DWhich of the following is NOT a correct description about English word formation 造詞 processes?
(A) The word textbook is a compound 複合字
(B) The word gym for gymnasium is an example of clipping減縮字.
(C) NATO for North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an acronym緊縮字.
(D) The use of geese as the plural form of goose is an example of suppletion不規則詞型變化.
(A) The word textbook is a compound 複合字
(B) The word gym for gymnasium is an example of clipping減縮字.
(C) NATO for North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an acronym緊縮字.
(D) The use of geese as the plural form of goose is an example of suppletion不規則詞型變化.
- Jun 06 Sun 2021 23:35
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語音學-造詞word formation
DWhich of the following is NOT a correct description about English word formation 造詞 processes?
(A) The word textbook is a compound 複合字
(B) The word gym for gymnasium is an example of clipping減縮字.
(C) NATO for North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an acronym緊縮字.
(D) The use of geese as the plural form of goose is an example of suppletion不規則詞型變化.
(A) The word textbook is a compound 複合字
(B) The word gym for gymnasium is an example of clipping減縮字.
(C) NATO for North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an acronym緊縮字.
(D) The use of geese as the plural form of goose is an example of suppletion不規則詞型變化.
- Jun 06 Sun 2021 23:06
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語音學- 指稱reference
CWhich of the following is NOT correct?
(A) The interpretation of a pronoun can be determined by another element, called the antecedent.
(B) In the sentence “Betty was my former classmate. She is now my teacher.,” the pronoun “She” is an anaphor.
(C) In the sentence “This is a big city.,” the deictic form “This” has gestural function.
(D) In the sentence “The book over there is Mary’s.,” the noun phrase “The book over there” is an exophoric reference.
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- Jun 06 Sun 2021 22:04
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語言學-反義詞antonyms
BWhat is the relationship between the adjectives “wet” and “dry” in this sentence “Mix the wet and dry ingredients separately, combining them just before cooking”?
(A) Complementary antonyms
(B) Gradable antonyms
(C) Reverses
(D) Converses
(A) Complementary antonyms
(B) Gradable antonyms
(C) Reverses
(D) Converses
- Jun 06 Sun 2021 21:41
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語言-ELF vs. EFL
Learning is best served by collaboration between teacher and students and among students. Which theoretical concept facilitates such learning?
(A) ELF (English as a Lingua Franca)
ELF是「英語作為通用語」：ELF的核心概念著眼於英語的溝通功能，也就是達到使用者雙方彼此理解、有效溝通的目的。「正確性」並不是ELF最強調的層面，重要的是有沒有發揮溝通的「功能」並且達到溝通的「目的」。
EIL或是EFL（English as a foreign language，英語作為外國語），都暗示了英語的使用或學習，要以達到母語人士的程度為目標。
(B) ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)
Vygotsky的近側發展區
(C) LAD (Language Acquisition Device)
Chomsky的語言習得裝置
(D) LEP (Limited English Proficiency)
參考資料
https://cap.rcpet.edu.tw/fly/106/1069803.html
(A) ELF (English as a Lingua Franca)
ELF是「英語作為通用語」：ELF的核心概念著眼於英語的溝通功能，也就是達到使用者雙方彼此理解、有效溝通的目的。「正確性」並不是ELF最強調的層面，重要的是有沒有發揮溝通的「功能」並且達到溝通的「目的」。
EIL或是EFL（English as a foreign language，英語作為外國語），都暗示了英語的使用或學習，要以達到母語人士的程度為目標。
(B) ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)
Vygotsky的近側發展區
(C) LAD (Language Acquisition Device)
Chomsky的語言習得裝置
(D) LEP (Limited English Proficiency)
參考資料
https://cap.rcpet.edu.tw/fly/106/1069803.html
- Jun 06 Sun 2021 18:23
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語言學-
A Which of the following can be distinguished by stress placement, such as ′record (noun), re′cord (verb)?
(A) Word-class pairs.
(B) Minimal pairs.
(C) Articulatory settings.
(D) Allophonic variations.
- Jun 06 Sun 2021 17:52
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語言學-詞素 morpheme/ 同位異形allomorph/ 音位phoneme/ 同位異音allophone
- Jun 06 Sun 2021 17:20
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語言學-發音
AThe pronunciation of two distinct phonemes as one, such as /s/ and /Θ/ refers to _____.
(A) conflation
(B) epenthesis
(C) fricatives
(D) plosives
