Obtaining Linguistic Data Reading Answers: IELTS Reading Practice Test with Answers

Looking to register for IELTS? Check out the upcoming dates!

Obtaining Linguistic Data Reading Passage

Paragraph A

Many processes are accessible for acquiring data about a language. They span from an attentively planned, intensive field investigation in a distant country to a normal introspection about one's mother tongue transfer to a recliner at home.

Paragraph B

In all occasions, someone has to behave as the origin of language data- and source tipsters are (preferably) verbalisers of a language who provide remarks for investigation and other kinds of details about the language(illustration- rephrasing, utterance about correctness, or judgements on utilisation). Frequently, when studying their mother tongue, linguists(grammarians) act as their own tipsters, judging the ambivalence, desirability, or other properties of remarks as opposed to their own instinct. The benefit of this method is that it is broadly used, and grammarians think it is the standard in a fecund manner. However, a grammarian's personal judgments are frequently unsure or differ from the judgements of other grammarians, at which point an option is needed for more unbiased methods of query, using non-grammarians as tipsters.

The closing process is unpreventable when working on distant languages or child speech.

Paragraph C

Many factors must be thought about when choosing tipsters- whether one is working with single speakers( an ordinary occasion when languages have not been reported before), two people communicating, small groups or large-scale examples. Sex, Age, social background, and other features of the specification are a must, as these factors are known to affect the kind of language used. The subject of interaction and the feature of social setting (sample - the level of ritual) is also highly pertinent, as are the personal standards of the tipsters (for example, their flow and stability). For larger studies, excess attention has been paid to instance theory employees, and on all occasions, resolutions have to be made about the best analytical approach to use.

Paragraph D

Today, analysts frequently use cassette-record tipsters. This authorises the grammarians about the language to be examined and supplies a way of making those asserts more correct (' hard' bits of speech can be listened to frequently). But getting lifelike, good-grade data is never easy. People talk irregularly when they know they are being taped, and sound standards can be poor. A kind of cassette-recording process has been conceived to reduce the 'spectator's contradictions' (how to notice the way people act when they are not being noticed). Some notes are made without the speakers being knowledgeable of the fact - a process that gets very natural data; even so, moral protest must be expected. On the other hand, attempts can be made to make the speaker forget about the tape, such as keeping the record out of sight or using radio microphones. A useful approach is to initiate a topic that quickly includes the speakers and restorative a natural language style ( sample asking older tipsters about how times have swapped in their locality).

Paragraph E

An audio cassette- recording does not solve all the grammarians' issues, however. Speech is frequently unclear and doubtful. Where possible, consequently, the recording has to be augmented by the spectators' written remark on the non-verbal act of the contributor, and about the context in common, a facial appearance, for illustration, can badly change the meaning of what is said. Video recording avoids these issues to a marked degree, but even they have restrictions ( the camera cannot be everywhere), and the transcript always takes advantage of any extra explanation given by a spectator.

Paragraph F

Linguists also make enormous use of arranged sessions, in which they thoroughly ask their tipster for remarks that explain certain actions, objects or actions. With a multilingual tipster or via the use of a translator, it is feasible to use a rendition approach (‘How do you say table in your language?’). A huge number of points can be completed in a short time using meeting worksheets and questionnaires. Frequently, the analyst wishes to get details about just one variable, in which case a circumscribed set of questions may be used: a specific characteristic of pronunciation, for illustration, can be obtained by asking the tipster to say a circumscribed set of words. There are also some direct ways of educe, such as asking tipsters to fill in the blanks in an exchange frame( for example, I___ see a car) or feeding them the wrong incitement for correction(‘Is it possible to say/no can see?’).

Paragraph G

A typical illustration of language assembled for the intent of linguistic inspection is known as a corpus. A corpus authorises the linguist to make impartial declarations about the regularity of utilisation, and it gives reachable data for the use of various analysts. Its standard and size are changeable. Some corpora try to cover the language as a whole, taking extracts from many kinds of text; others are very choosy, giving a group of material that deals only with a specific linguistic characteristic. The size of the corpus depends on practical elements, such as the time obtainable to collect, procedure and store the data: it can take up to some hours to give a correct transcription of a countable minute of speech. Sometimes, a small example of data will be sufficient to decide a linguistic hypothesis; by difference, corpora, whatever their size, are naturally limited in their scope and always need to be augmented by data obtained from the instinct of native speakers of the language, through either brooding or testing.

Discover exciting and informative IELTS reading answers about Obtaining Linguistic Data