Exit Exam
According to the sociologist Kurt Lewin (1952: 169), “there is nothing more practical than a good theory”
Linguistic theories are no less superfluous than, for example, Newton’s theory of gravitation or Einstein’s relativity theory, as both, theories in linguistics and theories in physics, strive essentially for the same goal and serve the same purpose: to identify, formulate and explain a model of the underlying rules and principles of how things work in language or in the world, respectively, by means of observation and generalization. Just as the theory of gravitation allows us to predict that objects which are dropped will fall to the ground rather than begin to float,
A good theory of the English language will allow us to predict which sentences and words speakers are likely to produce and understand and which they will not. adam didn't know about the theory of langauge. first he was chaught by grammar police then he was not able to differentiate between two disimilar sentences .
from adam experince try to refer to the the different theories of langauge
This means that theories do not merely have enormous explanatory potential, but also massive practical implications.
Adam was released by the grammar police after. He decided to change his English teacher. after several classes, he was satisfied with the new way. Yet, he encountered another problem when he was discussing with British friend the difference between the following sentences:
1. John is easy to please.
2. John is eager to please.
A: these sentences are the same; John is the subject.
B: No, they are not. John in 1 is the object and in 2 the subject.
Adam was surprised with the different ways of view the langauge and stared to ask questions: how come each one the different teacher is seeing the langauge differently?. Is langauge a matter of views?
From Adam's experince, try to explain the different view language went through.
Being familiar with different linguistic theoretical models of the 20th century, explain the methodologies informing and supporting them, how they are related to each other and
were they successful to form a good theory of language? how did they serve the study of language?