SECTION A
Question 1
Language as a semiotic system “… is thought of as a system where the individual
elements – signs – take their overall meaning from how they are combined with other
elements” (Carter & Goddard, 2016, p. 45). Bearing this quotation in mind, study TEXT
A before you answer the questions that follow.
You may also refer to Table 1 (Aspects of language) which is attached but can also be
found on page 8 of Tutorial Letter 501.
TEXT A
What will 2021 bring? Never before have we started a new year with so many
questions, to which there are so little answers (or are there)?
A friend gave my 10-year-old grandson a little round grey object as a birthday
present recently, and I just could not figure out what it was, or why he was so excited
about it than the new swimming trunk decorated with huge and colourful toucans
that I gave him.
It turned out to be a mini smart speaker, or more precisely, an Artificial
intelligence voice-controlled assistant called a Google Home Speaker, apparently
designed to control the home by voice command, leaving your hands free to do other
things. After a swift little DIY procedure requiring a small screwdriver, he connected
another small device between the speaker and his bedside lamp . . .
After my bewildered questions . . . , he informed me that this little critter can
communicate with Google and is activated by him saying, “Hey Google”. He can
then ask Google whatever he wants to know.
Source: Celliers, A. (2021). The Gardener. (p.96)
1.1 The words in the sub-title of TEXT A: Never before have we started a new year with
so many questions, to which there are so little answers (or are there?) could be
arranged in a different way while maintaining the same meaning of the sentence.
Rearrange the order of the words in this sub-title without changing the meaning. The
re-arranged sentence must be grammatically correct.