现代语言学 简答整理

3.What are the branches of linguistics? What does each of them study? (语言学的主要分支是什么。每个分支的研究对象是什么？)

Linguistics mainly involves the following branches:

1)General linguistics, which is the study of language as a whole and which deals with the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods applicable in any linguistic study

2)Phonetics, which studies the sounds that are used in linguistic communication

3)Phonology, which studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication

4)Morphology, which studies the way in which morphemes are arranged to form words

5)Syntax, which studies how morphemes and words are combined to form sentences

6)Semantics, which is the study of meaning in language.

7)Pragmatics, which is the study of meaning not in isolation, but in the context of use

8)Sociolinguistics, which is the study of language with reference to society

9)Psycholinguistics, which is the study of language with reference to the workings of mind.

10)Applied linguistics, which is concerned about the application of linguistic findings in linguistic studies; in a narrow sense, applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistic principles and theories to language teaching, especially the teaching of foreign and second languages.

11)Other related branches are anthropological linguistics(人类语言学), neurological linguistics（神经语言学）, mathematical linguistics （数学语言学）, and computational linguistics（计算机语言学）. 4.What makes modern linguistics different from traditional grammar? (现代语言学与传统语法有什么区别？)

Traditional grammar is prescriptive（规定性）; it is based on "high "(religious, literary) written language. It sets models for language users to follow. But Modern linguistics is descriptive（描述性）; its investigations are based on authentic and mainly spoken language data. It is supposed to be scientific and objective and the task of linguists is supposed to describe the language people actually use, whether it is "correct" or not.

5.Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic（共时性）or diachronic（历时性）? Why?

(The description of language at some point in time is a synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study.)

Modern linguistics is mainly synchronic, focusing on the present-day language. Unless the various states of a language are successfully studied, it will not be possible to describe language from a diachronic point of view.

6.Which enjoys priority in modern linguistics, speech or writing? Why?在现代语言学里说话或写作哪一个有优先权？为什

么呢？

Modern linguistics gives priority to the spoken language for the following reasons:

First, speech precedes writing. The writing system is always a later invention used to record the speech. There are still some languages that only have the spoken form.

Then, a larger amount of communication is carried out in speech than in writing.

Third, speech is the form in which infants acquire their native language.

7.Saussure 是如何区分语言langue和言语parole的？

(The distinction between langue and parole was made by the famous Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure early this century. Langue and parole are French words.)

Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to follow while parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules. Langue is abstract; it is not the language people actually use, but parole is concrete; it refers to the naturally occurring language events. Langue is relatively stable, it does not change frequently; while parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation.

8.Chomsky的语言能力competence和语言使用performance各指什么？

(American linguist N. Chomsky in the late 1950’s proposed the distinction between competence and performance.)

Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language. This internalized set of rules enables the language user to produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences and recognize sentences that are ungrammatical and ambiguous. According to Chomsky, performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. Although the speaker’s knowledge of his mother tongue is perfect, his performances may have mistakes because of social and psychological factors such as stress, embarrassment, etc… Chomsky believes that what linguists should study is the competence, which is systematic, not the performance, which is too haphazard (偶然的).

9.How is Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance? And what is their difference?索绪尔是如何区分语言和言语类似乔姆斯基的区分能力和表现？和它们的区别是什么？

Both Saussure and Chomsky make the distinction between the abstract language system and the actual use of language. Their purpose is to single out one aspect of language for serious study. They differ in that Saussure takes a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual. 10.What characteristics of language do you think should be included in a good, comprehensive definition of language?你认为应该怎样用一个良好的，全面的定义来总结语言的特征？Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

First of all, language is a system, i.e. elements of language are combined according to rules.

Second, language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between the word and the thing it refers to.

Third, language is vocal because the primary medium is sound for all languages.

The term “human” is meant to specify that language is human-specific.

11.What features of human language have been specified by Charles Hockett to show that it is essentially different from any animal communication system? 人类语言的甄别性特征是什么？

1.Arbitrariness（任意性）: (课本答案：a sign of sophistication only humans are capable of) It means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. Although language is arbitrary by nature, it is not entirely arbitrary. Non-arbitrary words make up only a small percentage of the total number. The arbitrary nature of language is a sign of sophistication and it makes it possible for language to have an unlimited source of expressions.

2.Productivity（创造性）: （课本答案：creativity: animals are quite limited in the messages they are able to send）Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the con?struction and interpretation of an infinitely large number of sentences, including those they have never said or heard before.

3.Duality（二重性）: （课本答案：a feature totally lacking in any animal communication）It means that language is a system, which consists of two sets of structure, or two levels, one of sounds at the lower level and the other of meanings at the higher level. At the lower or the basic level, there is the structure of individual and meaningless sounds, which can be grouped into meaningful units at the higher level. This duality of structure or dou?ble articulation of language enables its users to talk about anything within their knowledge.

4.Displacement（移位性）: （课本答案：no animal can “talk” about things removed from the immediate situation）Language can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future, or far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker.

5. Cultural transmission（文化传递性）：（课本答案：details of human language system are taught and learned while animals are born with the capacity to send out certain signals as a means of limited communication）While we are born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.

12.Do you think human language is entirely arbitrary? Why?

人类的语言是否是完全任意的？为什么？

Language is arbitrary in nature, it is not entirely arbitrary, because there are a limited number of words whose connections between forms and meanings can be logically explained to a certain extent, for example, the onomatopoeia, words which are coined on the basis of imitation of sounds by sounds such as bang, crash, etc.. Take compounds for another example. The two elements “photo” and “copy” in “photocopy” are non-motivated, but the compound is not arbitrary.

2.What are the two major media of communication? Of the two, which one is primary and why? 语言交际的两大媒介是什么？哪一个是基本的交际媒介？为什么？

Speech and writing are the major media of communication. Speech is considered primary over writing. The reasons are: speech is prior to writing in language evolution, speech plays a greater role in daily communications, and speech is the way in which people acquire their native language.

3.What are the three branches of phonetics? How do they contribute to the study of speech sounds? 语音学的三个分支是什么。它们是如何研究语言学的？

1)Articulatory phonetics describes the way our speech organs work to produce the speech sounds and how they differ.

2)Auditory phonetics studies the physical properties of the speech sounds, and reaches important conclusion that phonetic identity is only a theoretical ideal.

3)Acoustic phonetics studies the physical properties of the speech sounds, the way sounds travel from the speaker to the hearer; it deals with the sound waves through the use of such machines as a spectrograph（声谱仪）.

4.Where are the articulatory apparatus of human being contained?人类的发声部位在哪？

Pharyngeal cavity , oral cavity and nasal cavity.

5.What is voicing and how is it caused? 什么叫浊音化？它是如何形成的？

V oicing is the result of the vibration of the vocal cords. When the vocal cords are drawn wide apart, letting air go through without causing vibration, the sounds produced in such a way are voiceless. When vocal cords are held together tautly so that the air stream vibrates them, the sounds produced in this way are voiced.

6.What is the function of nasal cavity? How does it perform this function? 鼻腔功能是什么？它是怎样执行这个功能？

The function of nasal cavity is to nasalize the sounds that are produced. It does this by closing the air passage connecting the oral and nasal cavities so that the air stream can only go through the nasal cavity.

7.Describe the various parts in the oral cavity which are involved in the production of speech sounds?描述口腔中参与发声的部位

The various pats of the tongue: the tip, the front, the blade, and the back; the uvula; the soft palate; the hard palate; the teeth ridge (alveolar); the upper and lower teeth; the lips.

8.How broad transcription and narrow transcription differ? 宽式标音和严式标音有什么区别？

The broad transcription is the transcription of sounds by using one letter to represent one sound.

The narrow transcription is the transcription with diacritics 变音符号to show detailed articulatory features of sounds.

In broad transcription, the symbol [l] in used for the sound [l] in words like leaf [li:f], feel [fi:l], build [bild], and health [helθ]. The sound [l] in all these words is differ slightly. The [l] in [li:f], occurring before a vowel, is called a clear [l], and no diacritic is needed to indicate it; the [l] in [fi:l] and [bild], occurring before another consonant, is called dark [l], indicated in narrow transcription as [l]. Then in [helθ], the sound [l] is followed by the dental sound [θ], it is thus called a dental [l], and transcribed as [helθ]（注：l下有一个向下的框，无法打印）in narrow transcription.

9.How are the English consonants classified? 英语的辅音是如何分类的？

1)by manner of articulation.

a. stops（plosive爆破音）: [p],[b],[t],[d],[k],[g]

b. fricatives（磨擦音）: [f],[v],[s],[z],[ θ],[ e], [∫ ], [?], [h]

c. affricates（破擦音）: [ t∫], [d?]

d. liquids（lateral边音，流音）: [l], [r]

e. nasals（鼻音）: [m],[ n],[?]

f. glides （semivowels半元音）: [w], [ j]

2) by place of articulation :

a. bilabial（双唇音）: [p],[b],[m],[w]

b. labiodental （唇齿音）: [f],[v]

c. dental（舌齿音）: [θ],[ e]

d. alveolar（齿龈音）: [t],[d],[s],[z],[n],[l],[r]

e. palatal（腭音）: [∫], [?],[ t∫ ], [d?], [j]

f. velar（软腭音）: [k], [g], [? ]

g. glottal（喉音，声门单）: [h]

10.What criteria are used to classify the English vowels? 英语的元音是如何分类的？

1) Vowels may be distinguished as front vowels such as [i:]

[i] [e] [A] [a], central vowels such as [\:], [[],[Q]and back

vowels such as[u:] [J] [ C:] and [B:] in terms of the position of the tongue in the mouth.

2) According to how wide our mouth is opened, we classify

the vowels into four groups: close vowels such as [i:],[ i],[u:],[J], semi-close vowels such as[e], [з: ] , semi-open vowels such as [ [ ], [ C: ] , and open vowels such as [?], [a], [Λ] and [ɑ:].

3) According to the shape of the lips, vowels are divided

into rounded vowels and unrounded vowels.

4) The English vowels can also be classified into long vowels and short vowels according to the length of the sound. The long vowels include [i:] [\:] [ C: ] [u:] [ɑ:]，while the rest are short vowels.

11.What is the difference between a monophthong and a diphthong?单元音和双元音之间的区别是什么？

A monophthong is one for which the organs of speech remain in a given position for a period of time. A diphthong is a vowel sound consisting of a deliberate glide. The organs of speech starting in the position of one vowel and immediately moving in the direction of another vowel, for example: [i:], [i] are monophthongs, and [a? ], [e? ] are diphthongs.

12.How do phonetics and phonology differ in their focus of study? Who do you think will be more interested in the difference between [l]and [l], [p] and [ph], a phonetician or a phonologist? Why?语音学和音系学研究重点有何不同？你认为语音学家、音韵学家谁会更对[ 1 ]和[ 1 ]，[ J ]和[ph]感兴趣，为什么呢？Phonetics: description of all speech sounds and their fine differences. It not necessarily distinguish meaning.

Phonology: description of sound systems of particular languages and how sounds function to distinguish meaning. It is realized as certain phone and it distinguish meaning.

A phonetician would be more interested in such differences because such differences will not cause differences in meaning, but can make finer distinctions of the sounds.

13.What is a phone? How is it different from a phoneme? How are allophones related to a phoneme?什么是phone？它是如何从不同的音素？如何与一个音位的音位变体？

Phone: a speech sound, a phonetic unit. （It not necessarily distinguish meaning）

Phoneme: a collection of abstract sound features, a phonological unit. (realized as certain phone, distinguish meaning) Allophones: actual realization of a phoneme in different phonetic contexts.

14.What is a minimal pair and what is a minimal set? Why is it important to identify the minimal set in a language?什么是极小对，什么是极小集？为什么在一种语言里确定极小集是重要的？Minimal pair: two sound combinations identical in every way except in one sound element that occurs in the same position.

Minimal set: a group of sound combinations with the above feature. By identifying the minimal pairs or the minimal set of a language, a phonologist can identify its phonemes.

15. What are phonemic contrast, complementary distribution, and minimal pair? 什么叫音位对立？什么叫互补分布？什么是极小对？(p34)

If two phonetically similar sounds can occur in the same environments and they distinguish meaning, they are in phonemic contrast. [p], [b]

If two phonetically similar sounds are two allophones of the same phoneme and they occur in different environments, they are said to be in complementary distribution. [p], [ph].

When two different forms are identical in every way except for one sound segment which occurs in the same place in the strings, the two words are said to form a minimal pair. For example, kill and bill.

16.Explain with examples the sequential rule, the assimilation rule and the deletion rule. (每条规则记一个例子)

Sequential rule: rule governing the combination of sounds in a particular language.

Assimilation rule: rule assimilating one sound similar to the following one by copying one of its phonetic features.

Deletion rule: rule governing the deletion of a sound in a certain phonetic context although it is represented in spelling.

18.What does sentence stress mean?什么是强调句

Sentence stress refers to the relative force which is given to the words in a sentence. Some words are more important than others, and the more important words are pronounced with greater force and made more prominent. The more important words in English are nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and demonstrative pronouns, and the other categories of words (articles, personal pronouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions, and conjunctions) are usually not stressed. To give special emphasis to a certain notion, a word in a sentence that is usually unstressed can be stressed. For example: He is driving my car. My may be stressed to emphasize the fact that the car is mine.

11、复合词有什么特点？

Orthographically a compound can be written as one word,

two separate words with or without a hyphen in between. Syntactically, the part of speech of a compound is

determined by the last element. Semantically, the meaning

of a compound is idiomatic, not calculable from the meanings of all its components. Phonetically, the word stress of a compound usually falls on the first element

6、什么是X-标杆理论?

X-bar theory is a general and highly abstract schem a

that collapses all phrasal structure rules into a single format:

X″→(Spec) X (Compl). In this format, Spec stands for specifier while Compl stands for complement. This theory is capable of reducing the redundancies of individual phrasal structure rules and may well capture certain basic properties shared by all phrasal categories, i.e. NP, VP, AP, PP, across the languages of the world.

14、Sense and reference所指与意义有什么关系？

Sense and reference are two terms in the study of

meaning. (1) Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning

of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de-contextualized. It is the aspect of meaning that dictionary compilers are interested in. Reference means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic elem ent and the non-linguistic world of experience. (2) Obviously, linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations. On the other hand, there are less frequent occasions when linguistic forms with the sam e reference might differ in sense, e.g. “morning star” and “evening star”.

16、在语义上，反义关系可以分为哪几个类别？各有什么特征？1) gradable antonys: Some antonyms are gradable because there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair such as old/young, hot/cold.

2) Complementary antonyms: a pair of complementary

antonyms is characterized by the feature that the denial of

one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other.

3) Relational opposites: pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between the two items

18、句子的意义是构成句子的每个单词意义的总和吗？

The meaning of a sentence is not the sum total of the meanings of all its components. It cannot be worked out by adding up all the meanings of its constituent words. Eg; The dog bit the man. The man bit the dog.

The two sentences consist of exactly the same words, but they arc widely different in their meanings.

7、Pragmatics语用学和traditional semantics传统语义学有什么区别？

Pragmatics is the study of meaning in the context of use, while traditional semantics treats meaning as something intrinsic, abstract and de-contextualized.

8、sentence句子和Utterance话语有什么区别？

A sentence is a grammatical unit. Its meaning is often studied as the abstract, intrinsic property of the sentence itself in terms of a predication. Utterance is what people actually utter in the course of communication. It should be considered in the situation in which it is actually uttered or used. Most utterances take the form of sentences, i.e. most utterances are complete sentences in terms of syntax; however, som e utterances are not, and some cannot even be restored to complete sentences.

9、句子的语义与话语语义有什么区别？

The meaning of a sentence is abstract and de-contextualized, while the meaning of an utterance is concrete and context-dependent. Utterance meaning is based on sentence meaning; it is the realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation of communication, or simply in a context.

11、Searle是如何对言外行为进行分类的？它们各自的言外之的是什么？

1) Representatives: stating or describing, saying what the speaker believes to be true.

2) Directives: trying to get the hearer to do something.

3) Commissives: committing the speaker himself to som e future course of action.

4) Expressives: expressing feelings or attitude towards an existing state.

5) Declarations: bringing about immediate changes by saying something.

14、Sentence meaning & utterance meaning句子意义和话语意义

If we take it as a grammatical unit and consider it as a self-contained unit in isolation from context, then we are treating it as a sentence.

If we take it as something a speaker utters in a certain situation with a certain purpose, then we are treating it as an utterance.

The meaning of a sentence is abstract, and decontextualizd, that of an utterance is concrete, and context dependent. 22、Bilingualism双语和two varieties of language双言现象有什么区别？

Bilingualism refers to a linguistic situation in which two standard languages are used in a speech community; whereas in a diglossic community, two varieties of language are used for different situations , one being more standard and higher, and used for more formal matters, and the other less prestigious, and used for colloquial situations.

26、过度使用euphemism委婉语有什么消极影响？

An excessive use of euphemism may have negative effects. As a m atter of fact, many euphemisms have become cliches that are to be avoided in formal speech and writing. They also tend to be wordy and to give writing a timid quality. In addition, euphemism can be evasive or even deceitful. Because they are often improperly used to obscure the intended meaning, many people find them offensive and prefer plain language

15、什么是大脑的单侧化？

The localization of cognitive and perceptual functions in a particular hemisphere of the brain is called lateralization. The process of lateralization is believed to be maturational.

That is, brain lateralization is genetically programmed, but

takes time to develop. During development, the two sides of the brain become specialized for different functions and

lateralization takes place. It is a commonly held view that

lateralization is an evolutionary precondition of the development of superior intelligence as well as a precondition of language acquisition .

17、Dichotic两耳分听研究证明了什么？

Dichotic listening tests involve simultaneously presenting, through ear-phones, two different auditory signals, one to the right ear and the other to the left ear. The test shows that stimuli heard in the left ear are reported less accurately than those heard in the right ear. This proves the hypothesis that a signal coming in the right ear will go to the left hemisphere and a signal coming in the left ear will go to the right hemisphere.

The test also proves that the left hemisphere is not superior for processing all sounds, but only for those that are linguistic in nature, thus providing evidence in support of the view that the left side of the brain is specialized for language and that it is where language centers reside. 18、语言对思维的影响可能是什么？

Language does not so much determine the way we think as it influences the way we perceive the world and recall things, and affects the ease with which we perform mental tasks. That is, language may be used to provide new ideas, bring about a change in beliefs and values, solve problems, and keep track of things in memory.

It is evident that to the degree of success that language functions as an indispensable medium of information storage and retrieval, it can lead language users to be predisposed to act and perceive in certain ways rather than in others. In conclusion, language by no means determines the ways we perceive the objective world, but by its convenience, availability, and habitual use, does influence the perceptions, memory tasks, and other verbal and nonverbal behavior of human beings.

16、为什么说母语习得是语法规则的习得？

In principle, no human brain can store all the words and expressions of a language. What happens is that when processing the language they hear, children construct the grammar and make sense of the expressions according to the grammar. When producing utterances, they follow the internalized grammatical rules. Without the knowledge of the productive rules, it would be impossible for language users to produce and understand an unlimited number of sentences which they have never heard before.

17、在母语习得中，语言输入起什么样的作用？

For language to be eventually acquired, children must be provided with an appropriate linguistic environment in which they have access to language data and opportunities to interact with the input. 15、Krashen是如何区分习得和学习的？

According to Stephen Krashen, language acquisition is contrasted with language learning on the assumption that these are different processes.

According to Krashen, acquisition refers to the gradual and subconscious development of ability in the first language by using it naturally in daily communicative situations. Learning, however, is a conscious process of accumulating knowledge of a second language usually obtained in school settings. It is recognized that children acquire their native language without explicit learning. A second language, Krashen argues, is more commonly learned but to som e degree may also be acquired, depending on the environm ental setting and the input received by the L2 learner. A rule can be learned before it is internalized (i.e., acquired), but having learned a rule does not necessarily prevent having to acquire it later.