Domande Lingua e traduzione inglese 4

Oral exam questions LTI5: High frequency, medium frequency, and low frequency

(Aggiornato esame novembre 2024)

High frequency (more than 10 occurrences)

1. Fraser’s Conversational Contract - 22 times

Conversational-Contract (View of Politeness): The conversational contract refers to the implicit agreement between the speaker and hearer about their roles, rights, and obligations during communication.

While the rights and obligations of each participant are not explicitly stated, both follow social norms and expectations that guide the interaction.

• Rights: Speakers have the right to express themselves, initiate topics, ask questions, and expect an attentive listener.

Example: In a meeting, the speaker has the right to present their ideas, while the listener has the right to respond or ask for clarification.

• Obligations: The speaker has the obligation to express ideas clearly, while the listener has the obligation to pay attention and respond appropriately.

Example: In a conversation, if one person says, “I don’t understand,” the speaker has the obligation to explain their message more clearly.

2. Metaphor: definition and examples - 21 times

A metaphor is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things by stating that one is the other, creating deeper meaning. It’s a powerful tool for understanding complex ideas and explaining abstract ideas by relating them to something familiar.

Example: When we say “Time is a thief,” we’re comparing time to a thief, suggesting that time steals moments or opportunities from us, showing how quickly time passes.

In metaphor theory, we have two main concepts: source domain and target domain. The source domain is the familiar, concrete idea that helps explain the target domain, which is the abstract or unfamiliar concept.

For example, in “Life is a journey,” the source domain is journey (which has a start, a path, and challenges), and the target domain is life (which we understand through the concept of a journey).

Metaphors generally aren’t reversible. The source domain provides structure for understanding the target domain, but reversing them doesn’t work.

For example, “Love is a battlefield” works because battlefield helps us understand the struggles in love. But if we say, “A battlefield is love,” it doesn’t make sense.

When we talk about cognitive mapping in metaphors, we’re referring to how we link the characteristics of the source domain to the target domain to help us understand it.

Example: In “Time a thief,” we map things like:

• A thief is quick Time passes quickly without notice.
• A thief takes things Time takes moments away.
• A thief leaves us with less Time leaves us with fewer opportunities.

Example 2: "He’s a lion in battle"—Here, a person’s bravery is compared to a lion’s strength, emphasizing courage and fierceness.

3. Target & Source Domain - 21 times

The source domain is the familiar, concrete concept used to explain the target domain, which is more abstract.

Example 1: In "Love is a battlefield", battlefield (source) is used to describe love (target), suggesting emotional struggles.

Example 2: In "Ideas are food", food is the source, and ideas are the target, implying that ideas are nourishing or essential.

14. Jakobson’s 6 functions and 6 points - 21 times

Jakobson identified six core functions of language, each tied to an element of the communication process:

• Referential Function: Focused on the subject or context of communication.

Example: "It’s raining outside."

• Emotive Function: Expresses the speaker's emotions.

Example: "I’m so excited!"

• Conative Function: Directs the listener or prompts action.

Example: "Please pass the salt."

• Phatic Function: Maintains communication or checks the channel of interaction.

Example: "Can you hear me?"

• Metalingual Function: Describes or clarifies language itself.

Example: "What does ‘syntax’ mean?"

• Poetic Function: Focuses on the aesthetic aspects of language, such as rhythm, rhyme, or wordplay.

Example: "To be or not to be, that is the question."

5. On and Off Record - 18 times

Going on record and going off record are two of the strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson to manage the Face Threatening Acts (FTAs).

Going on record means saying something directly and clearly, where the speaker expresses their intention openly. For example, “Give me the salt” is going on record because the request is clear and explicit. You would use this strategy when there is low imposition, or when you have power over the listener or share a close relationship.

Going off record means being indirect or ambiguous, where the speaker avoids stating their intention openly. For example, “It’s getting cold in here” hints that the speaker might want the window closed, but doesn’t directly ask for it. You’d use this strategy when you want to avoid confrontation or give the listener the option to ignore or refuse the request.

6. Robin Lakoff - 18 times

Robin Lakoff is a linguist who studied how language works in everyday life, especially how we use politeness to manage relationships and avoid conflict. She showed how language reflects social rules and power dynamics.

• In her Politeness Theory, Lakoff outlined three main principles of politeness:

Don’t impose: Avoid making the hearer feel pressured (example: instead of saying, “Give me your pen”, you could say, "Would it be okay if I borrow your pen?").

Give options: Let the hearer choose freely (example: "If it’s not too much trouble, could you help me today?").

Make the hearer feel good: Make the hearer feel appreciated (e.g., "Thanks for always being so helpful!").

• Lakoff also introduced the concept ICMs (Idealized Cognitive Models), which are mental shortcuts we use to understand social situations.

Example: In a restaurant, we expect the waiter to bring food, and we order and pay.

• She also explored how politeness can reduce Social Friction or increase tension in communication.

Example: Instead of saying, "Your report was bad," you could say, "Your report had good points, but here are some areas to improve," to avoid causing tension.

Key Writings:

• Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage (1987): Explored how politeness works across cultures and influenced other theories.

27. What are Pushes and Pops? 18 times

Pushes and pops are ways a story shifts focus. A push moves the story to new information or a different perspective, while a pop brings the story back to the original focus.

Examples from Dracula:

• Push: In Dracula, the narrative “pushes” from Jonathan Harker’s journal entries, where he describes his time in Dracula’s castle, to Mina’s letters, showing her experiences back in England.
• Pop: After focusing on Mina’s letters, the story “pops” back to Jonathan’s account as he continues to describe the dangers of Dracula’s castle.
• Push: When the story shifts from Van Helsing’s point of view to one of the other characters, like Dr. Seward or Lucy’s letters, it’s a push. These shifts often happen to give a fuller picture of Dracula’s influence.
• Pop: Once Lucy’s storyline progresses (for example, her transformation into a vampire), the narrative “pops” back to Van Helsing and the others as they plan to destroy Dracula.

The use of journals, letters, and multiple narrators in Dracula creates many pushes and pops, helping the reader see events from different perspectives while keeping the overall story connected.

8. Popping move - 18 times

What is a popping move?

A popping move is when a story shifts back to its original focus or perspective after temporarily moving away to explore another character, event, or time. It allows the reader to return to the main narrative thread and keeps the story connected.

Examples from Dracula:

• Jonathan Harker’s Journal: After the story shifts to Mina’s letters or Lucy’s storyline (push), the narrative “pops” back to Jonathan’s journal as he continues describing his experiences in Dracula’s castle.
• Lucy’s Death: The story shifts to the group’s fight to save Lucy from Dracula (push), but later “pops” back to Van Helsing and the group focusing on stopping Dracula’s wider plans.
• Multiple Narratives: The novel uses a series of journals, letters, and newspaper clippings. A popping move happens when the story returns to a specific narrator after exploring another character’s perspective—for example, popping back to Dr. Seward’s diary after reading Mina’s entries.

9. What is Relevance Theory? - 17 times

Relevance Theory, developed by Sperber and Wilson, explains how we interpret communication. The main idea is that we seek information that gives us useful meaning (contextual effects) - with the least processing effort.

The key Concepts are:

• The Cognitive Principle of Relevance: We focus on information that gives us the most meaning with the least effort.

For Example, if someone says, "I’m cold," we know they likely want something warm, so we respond with a blanket.

• The second concept is the Communicative Principle of Relevance: Speakers try to make their messages as relevant as possible, which involves:

Explicature: Clear, literal meaning.

Example: "Could you close the window?"

Implicature: Implied meaning.

Example: "It’s cold in here" implies they want the window closed.

Sperber and Wilson also defined the Degree of Relevance, which is how much contextual effect an information gives relative to the effort it takes to understand it. The more meaningful and easier to process, the higher the relevance 3

Relevance Theory is important because it explains how we process and understand communication - not just through what’s said but through what’s implied. This makes conversations more efficient and help us quickly understand meaning in everyday interactions.

10. What is foregrounding? 17 times

Foregrounding is when certain parts of a text are made to catch attention or be more noticeable in a surprising or creative way. This is done to make the text more interesting or striking.

Writers use techniques like metaphors, alliteration, or even breaking normal language rules to make something in the text catch attention. The goal is to make the language feel fresh or “strange,” so it grabs the reader's focus.

The concept of foregrounding comes from linguistic and literary theory, particularly from Roman Jakobson, a key figure in structuralist linguistics. He believed that certain elements of language or text could be emphasized to create more impact, often by deviating from the usual way of expressing things.

Examples:

• Alliteration: Repeating sounds, like in “Big black bears”, where the repetition of the b sound makes it catchy.
• Metaphor: Saying “The sun is a golden coin tossed into the sky” makes the sun feel more vivid and imaginative.
• Deviation from normal language patterns: Instead of saying, “He walked into the room,” a writer might say, “Into the room, he walked.” The unusual word order makes the sentence catch attention.

11. Banter - 17 times

Banter is a specific form of mock impoliteness where rude language is used humorously to strengthen relationships, is playful language used between friends. It might sound rude, but it’s meant to be fun and isn’t intended to hurt anyone. Geoffrey Leech explored how mock impoliteness (like banter) is used to strengthen relationships.

Example of Banter: If two friends are watching a movie and one says, “You’re always the one who picks the worst films!” it’s a playful tease, showing affection and shared humor, not meant to insult.

Example of Mock Impoliteness: “You’re terrible at this!” said jokingly in a friendly conversation.

Banter helps create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere by using humour and light rudeness.

In banter, using language that might seem rude is part of the fun. It relies on mutual understanding that no harm is meant, and it helps maintain a friendly, relaxed tone in communication.

12. Lexical & Non-Lexical Onomatopoeia - 17 times

Onomatopoeia refers to words that imitate or resemble the sounds they describe, like buzz or meow. It is studied in phonetics, phonology, and semant