英语专业考研 语言学复习题附答案

英语专业考研语言学复习题附答案Chapter I IntroductionI. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.2.Linguistics studies particular language, not languages in general.3. A scientific study of language is based on what the linguist thinks.4. In the study of linguistics, hypotheses formed should be based on language facts and checked against the observed facts.5. General linguistics is generally the study of language as a whole.6. General linguistics, which relates itself to the research of other areas, studies the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods applicable in any linguistic study.7. Phonetics is different from phonology in that the latter studies the combinations of the sounds to convey meaning in communication.8. Morphology studies how words can be formed to produce meaningful sentences.9. The study of the ways in which morphemes can be combined to form words is called morphology.10. Syntax is different from morphology in that the former not only studies the morphemes, but also the combination of morphemes into words and words into sentences.11. The study of meaning in language is known as semantics.12. Both semantics and pragmatics study meanings.13. Pragmatics is different from semantics in that pragmatics studies meaning not in isolation, but in context.14. Social changes can often bring about language changes.15. Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society.16. Modern linguistics is mostly prescriptive, but sometimes descriptive.17. Modern linguistics is different from traditional grammar.18. A diachronic study of language is the description of language at some point in time.19 Modern linguistics regards the written language as primary, not the written language.20. The distinction between competence and performance was proposed by F. de Saussure.II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:21. Ch omsky defines “ competence” as the ideal user’s k__________ of the rules of his language.ngue refers to the a__________ linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community while the parole is the concrete use of the conventions and application of the rules.23.D_________ is one of the design features of human language which refers to the phenomenon that language consists of two levels: a lower level of meaninglessindividual sounds and a higher level of meaningful units.24. Language is a system of a_________ vocal symbols used for human communication.25. The discipline that studies the rules governing the formation of words into permissible sentences in languages is called s________.26. Human capacity for language has a g ____ basis, but the details of language have to be taught and learned.27. P ____ refers to the realization of langue in actual use.28. Findings in linguistic studies can often be applied to the settlement of some practical problems. The study of such applications is generally known as a________ linguistics.29. Language is p___________ in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. In other words, they can produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences which they have never heard before.30. Linguistics is generally defined as the s ____ study of language.III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement.31. If a linguistic study describes and analyzes the language people actually use, it is said to be ______________.A. prescriptiveB. analyticC. descriptiveD. linguistic32.Which of the following is not a design feature of human language?A. ArbitrarinessB. DisplacementC. DualityD. Meaningfulness33. Modern linguistics regards the written language as ____________.A. primaryB. correctC. secondaryD. stable34. In modern linguistics, speech is regarded as more basic than writing, because ___________.A. in linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writingB. speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed.C. speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongueD. All of the above35. A historical study of language is a ____ study of language.A. synchronicB. diachronicC. prescriptiveD. comparative36.Saussure took a (n)__________ view of language, while Chomsky looks at language from a ________ point of view.A. sociological…psychologicalB. psychological…sociologicalC. applied… pragmaticD.semantic and linguistic37. According to F. de Saussure, ____ refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community.A. paroleB. performanceC. langueD. Language38. Language is said to be arbitrary because there is no logical connection between _________ and meanings.A. senseB. soundsC. objectsD. ideas39. Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. This feature is called_________,A. displacementB. dualityC. flexibilityD. cultural transmission40. The details of any language system is passed on from one generation to the next through ____ , rather than by instinct.A. learningB. teachingC. booksD. both A and BIV. Define the following terms:41. Linguistics 42. Phonology 43. Syntax 44. Pragmatics45. Psycholinguistics 46. Language 47. Phonetics 48. Morphology 49.Semantics 50. Sociolinguistics 51. Applied Linguistics 52.Arbitrariness 53 Productivity 54. Displacement 55.Duality 56. Design Features 57. Competence 58 Performance 59. Langue 60 ParoleV. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:61. Language is generally defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. Explain it in detail.62. What are the design features of human language? Illustrate them with examples.63. How is modern linguistics different from traditional grammar?64. How do you understand the distinction between a synchronic study and a diachronic study?65. Why does modern linguistics regard the spoken form of language as primary, not the written?66. What are the major distinctions between langue and parole?67. How do you understand competence and performance ?68. Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole seems similar to Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance. What do you think are their major differences?69. Do you think human language is entirely arbitrary? Why?I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:l.T 2.F 3.F 4.T 5.T 6.F 7.T 8.F 9.T 10.F 11.T 12.T 13.T 14.T 15.T 16.F 17.T 18.F 19.F 20.FII. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:21. knowledge 22. abstract 23. Duality 24. arbitrary25. syntax 26.genetic 27. Parole 28. applied 29. productive30. scientific (or systematic)III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement.3l.C 32.D 33.C 34.D 35.B 36.A 37.C 38.B 39.A 40.DIV. Define the following terms:41. Linguistics: Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.42. Phonology: The study of how sounds are put together and used in communication is called phonology.43. Syntax: The study of how morphemes and words are combined to form sentences is called syntax. .44. Pragmatics: The study of meaning in context of use is called pragmatics.45. Psycholinguistics: The study of language with reference to the workings of mind is called psycholinguistics.46. Language: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.47. Phonetics: The study of sounds which are used in linguistic communication is called phonetics.48. Morphology: The study of the way in which morphemes are arranged to form words is called morphology.49. Semantics: The study of meaning in language is called semantics.50. Sociolinguistics: The study of language with reference to society is called sociolinguistics.51. Applied linguistics: In a narrow sense, applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistic principles and theories to language teaching and learning, especially the teaching of foreign and second languages. In a broad sense, it refers to the application of linguistic findings to the solution of practical problems such as the recovery of speech ability.52. Arbitrariness: It is one of the design features of language. It means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds53. Productivity: Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the con-struction and interpretation of new signals by its users.54. Displacement: Displacement means that 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 in far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker55. Duality: The duality nature of language means that language is a system, which consists of two sets of structure, or two levels, one of sounds and the other of meanings.56. Design features: Design features refer to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication57. Competence: Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user's knowledge of the rules of his language,58. Performance: performance is the actual realization of the knowl-edge of the rules in linguistic communication.59. langue : Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community; Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to follow; Langue is relatively stable, it does not change frequently60. Parole: Parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use; parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules; parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation.V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:61. Language is generally defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. Explain it in detail.First of all, language is a system, because elements of language are combined according to rules. Secondly, language is arbitrary because there is no intrinsic connection between form and meaning, or between the sign and what it stands for. Different languages have different words for the same object in the world. This fact is a good illustration of the arbitrary nature of language. This also explains the symbolic nature of language: words are just symbols; they are associated with objects, actions, ideas, etc. by convention . Thirdly, language is vocal because the primary medium is sound for all languages, no matter how well - developed their writing systems are.The term "human" in the definition indicates that language is possessed by human beings only and is very different from the communication systems of other living creatures. The term "communication" means that language makes it possible for its users to talk to each other and fulfill their communicative needs.62. What are the design features of human language? Illustrate them with examples.1) ArbitrarinessAs mentioned earlier, the arbitrary property of language means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. For instance, there is no necessary relationship between the word elephant and the animal it symbolizes. In addition, different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different languages, and even within the same language, the same sound does not refer to the same thing. However, language is not entirely arbitrary. There are words which are created in the imitation of sounds by sounds, such as crash, bang in English. Besides, some compound words are also not entirely arbitrary. But the non-arbitrary words are quite limited in number. The arbitrary nature of language makes it possible for language to have an unlimited source of expressions.2) ProductivityLanguage is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. This is why they can produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences, including sentences that they have never said or heard before. They can send messages which no one else has ever sent before.Productivity is unique to human language. Most animal communication systems appear to be highly restricted with respect to the number of different signals that their users can send and receive.3) DualityThe duality nature of language means that language is a system, which consists of two sets of structure, or two levels, one of sounds and the other of meanings. At the lower or the basic level, there is the structure of sounds, which are meaningless,discrete, individual sounds. But the sounds of language can be combined according to rules into units of meaning such as morphemes and words, which, at the higher level, can be arranged into sentences. This duality of structure or double articulation of language enables its users to talk about anything within their knowledge. No animal communication system has duality or even comes near to possessing it.4) DisplacementDisplacement means that 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 in far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. Animal calls are mainly uttered in response to immediate changes of situation.5) Cultural transmissionHuman beings were born with the ability to acquire language, but the details of any language are not genetically transmitted or passed down by instinct. They have to be taught and learned, but animal call systems are genetically transmitted.63. How is modern linguistics different from traditional grammar?Traditional gram-mar is prescriptive; it is based on "high "(religious, literary) written language. It sets grammatical rules and imposes the rules on language users. But Modern linguistics is descriptive; It collects authentic, and mainly spoken language data and then it studies and describes the data in an objective and scientific way.64. How do you understand the distinction between a synchronic study and a diachronic study?The description of a language at some point in time is a Synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study. A synchronic study of language describes a language as it is at some particular point in time, while a diachronic study of language is the study of the historical development of language over a period of time.65. Why does modern linguistics regard the spoken form of language as primary, not the written?First, the spoken form is prior to the writ-ten form and most writing systems are derived from the spoken form of language.Second, the spoken form plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed and it serves a wider range of purposesFinally, the spoken form is the medium through which we acquire our mother tongue.66. What are the major distinctions between langue and parole?The distinction between langue, and parole was made by the famous linguist Ferdinand de Saussure early this century. 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 fromperson to person, and from situation to situation.67. How do you understand competence and performance?American linguist N. Chomsky in the late 1950’s proposed the distinction between competence and performance. Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user’s knowl edge 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. 68. Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole seems similar to Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance. What do you think are their major differences?Although Saussure’s distinction and Chomsky’s are very similar, they differ at least in that Saussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a mater of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of vies and to him, competence is a property of the mind of each individual. 69. Do you think human language is entirely arbitrary? Why?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.Chapter 2：PhonologyI. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. V oicing is a phonological feature that distinguishes meaning in both Chinese and English.2. If two phonetically similar sounds occur in the same environments and they distinguish meaning, they are said to be in complementary distribution.3. A phone is a phonetic unit that distinguishes meaning.4. English is a tone language while Chinese is not.5. In linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing.6. In everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed.7. Articulatory phonetics tries to describe the physical properties of the stream of sounds which a speaker issues with the help of a machine called spectrograph.8. The articulatory apparatus of a human being are contained in three important areas: the throat, the mouth and the chest.9. Vibration of the vocal cords results in a quality of speech sounds called voicing.10. English consonants can be classified in terms of place of articulation and the partof the tongue that is raised the highest.11. According to the manner of articulation, some of the types into which the consonants can be classified are stops, fricatives, bilabial and alveolar.12. V owel sounds can be differentiated by a number of factors: the position of tongue in the mouth, the openness of the mouth, the shape of the lips, and the length of the vowels.13. According to the shape of the lips, vowels can be classified into close vowels, semi-close vowels, semi-open vowels and open vowels.14. Any sound produced by a human being is a phoneme.15. Phones are the sounds that can distinguish meaning.16. Phonology is concerned with how the sounds can be classified into different categories.17. A basic way to determine the phonemes of a language is to see if substituting one sound for another results in a change of meaning.18. 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 forma phonemic contrast.19. The rules governing the phonological patterning are language specific.20. Distinctive features of sound segments can be found running over a sequence of two or more phonemic segments.II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:21. A ____ refers to a strong puff of air stream in the production of speech sounds. 22．A ____ phonetics describes the way our speech organs work to produce the speech sounds and how they differ.23. The four sounds /p/,/b/,/m/ and /w/ have one feature in common, i.e, they are all b_______ sounds.24．Of all the speech organs, the t ____ is the most flexible, and is responsible for varieties of articulation than any other.25．English consonants can be classified in terms of manner of articulation or in terms of p____ of articulation.26．When the obstruction created by the speech organs is total or complete, the speech sound produced with the obstruction audibly released and the air passing out again is called a s________. <![endif]>27．S_________ features are the phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments. They include stress, tone, intonation, etc.28．The rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language are called s ____ rules.29．The transcription of speech sounds with letter-symbols only is called broad transcription while the transcription with letter-symbols together with the diacritics is called n_________ transcription.30．When pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as i_________.31．P______ is a discipline which studies the system of sounds of a particularlanguage and how sounds are combined into meaningful units to effect linguistic communication.32．The articulatory apparatus of a human being are contained in three important cavities: the pharyngeal cavity, the o_______ cavity and the nasal cavity.33．T____ are pitch variations, which are caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords and which can distinguish meaning just like phonemes. <![endif]> 34．Depending on the context in which stress is considered, there are two kinds of stress: word stress and s_________ stress.III. There are four choices following each of the statements below. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:35．Of all the speech organs, the _______ is/ are the most flexible.A. mouthB. lipsC. tongueD. vocal cords36．The sounds produced without the vocal cords vibrating are ____ sounds.A. voicelessB. voicedC. vowelD. consonantal37．__________ is a voiced alveolar stop.A. /z/B. /d/C. /k/D./b/38．The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to another by “copying”a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones ____________.A. identicalB. sameC. exactly alikeD. similar39．Since /p/ and /b/ are phonetically similar, occur in the same environments and they can distinguish meaning, they are said to be ___________.A. in phonemic contrastB. in complementary distributionC. the allophonesD. minimal pair40．The sound /f/ is _________________.A. voiced palatal affricateB. voiced alveolar stopC. voiceless velar fricativeD. voiceless labiodental fricative41. A ____ vowel is one that is produced with the front part of the tongue maintaining the highest position.A. backB. centralC. frontD. middle42. Distinctive features can be found running over a sequence of two or more phonemic segments. The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are called ____________.A. phonetic componentsB. immediate constituentsC. suprasegmental featuresD. semantic features43. A(n) ___________ is a unit that is of distinctive value. It is an abstract unit, a collection of distinctive phonetic features.A. phoneB. soundC. allophoneD. phoneme44．The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the ____ of that phoneme.A. phonesB. soundsC. phonemesD. allophones <![endif]>IV. Define the terms below:45. phonology 46. phoneme 47.allophone48. international phonetic alphabet49. intonation 50. phonetics 51. auditory phonetics52. acoustic phonetics 53. phone 54. phonemic contrast55. tone 56. minimal pairV. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give ex-amples for illustration if necessary:57. Of the two media of language, why do you think speech is more basic than writing?58. What are the criteria that a linguist uses in classifying vowels?59. What are the major differences between phonology and phonetics?60. Illustrate with examples how suprasegmental features can affect meaning.61. In what way can we determine whether a phone is a phoneme or not?I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:l.T 2.F 3.F 4.F 5.T 6.T 7.F 8.F 9.T 10.F11.F 12.T 13.F 14.F 15.F 16. F 17. T 18. F 19. T 20. TII. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:21. Aspiration 22.Articulatory 23. bilabial 24. tongue 25. place26. stop 27. Suprasegmental 28. sequential 29. narrow 30. intonation31. Phonology 32. oral 33. Tone 34. sentenceIII. There are four choices following each of the statements below. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:35.C 36.A 37.B 38.D 39.A 40.D 41.C 42.C 43.D 44.DIV. Define the terms below:45. phonology: Phonology studies the system of sounds of a particular language; it aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.46. phoneme: The basic unit in phonology is called phoneme; it is a unit of distinctive value. But it is an abstract unit. To be exact, a phoneme is not a sound; it is a collection of distinctive phonetic features.47. allophone: The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophones of that phoneme.48. international phonetic alphabet: It is a standardized and internationally accepted system of phonetic transcription.49. intonation: When pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as intonation.50. phonetics: Phonetics is defined as the study of the phonic medium of language; it is concerned with all the sounds that occur in the world' s languages51. auditory phonetics: It studies the speech sounds from the hearer's point of view. It studies how the sounds are perceived by the hear-er.52. acoustic phonetics: It studies the speech sounds by looking at the sound waves. It studies the physical means by which speech sounds are transmitted through the air from one person to another.53. phone : Phones can be simply defined as the speech sounds we use when speakinga language. A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. It does not necessarily distinguish meaning.54. phonemic contrast: Phonemic contrast refers to the relation between two phonemes. If two phonemes can occur in the same environment and distinguish meaning, they are in phonemic contrast.55. tone: Tones are pitch variations, which are caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords.56. minimal pair: 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.V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give ex-amples for illustration if necessary:57. Of the two media of language, why do you think speech is more basic than writing?1) In linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing.2) In everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed.3) Speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue, and writing is learned and taught later at school.58. What are the criteria that a linguist uses in classifying vowels?1) V owels may be distinguished as front, central and back 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, semi-close vowels, semi-open vowels, and open vowels.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.59. What are the major differences between phonology and phonetics?They differ in their approach and focus. Phonetics is of a general nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages: how they are produced, how they differ from each other, what phonetic features they possess, how they can be classified. Phonology, on the other hand, is interested in the system of sounds of a particular language; it aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.60. Illustrate with examples how suprasegmental features can affect meaning.1) The location of stress in English distinguishes meaning, such as `import and import. The similar alternation of stress also occurs between a compound noun and a phrase consisting of the same elements. A phonological feature of the English compounds is that the stress of the word always falls on the first element and the second element receives secondary stress, for example: `blackbird is a particular kind of bird, which is not necessarily black, but a black `bird is a bird that is black.2) The more important words such as nouns, verbs adjectives , adverbs,etc are。