| 48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.
That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.
The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly.
(49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many language which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraints
Gray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it. Whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lire age-specific and not governed by universals
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Section III Writing
Part A
51. Directions:
Some internationals students are coming to your university. Write them an email in the name of the Students’ Union to
1) extend your welcome and
2) provide some suggestions for their campus life here.
You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming” instead.
Do not write the address(10 points)
Part B
52. Directions: write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay you should
1) describe the drawing briefly
2) explain its intended meaning, and
3) give your comments
You should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.(20 points)
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