英语语言学期末考试试卷及答案

英语语言学期末考试试卷

第一部分选择题

I.Directions: Read each of the following statements carefully. Decide which one of the four choices best completes the statement and put the letter A, B, C or D in the brackets. (2%X10=20%)

1. Saussure’s distinction and Chomsky’s are very similar, but they differ in that ____________.

A. Saussure took a sociological view of language while Chomsky took a psychological point

of view

B. Saussure took a psychological view of language while Chomsky took a sociological point

of view

C. Saussure took a pragmatic view of language while Chomsky took a semantic point of view

D. Saussure took a structural view of language while Chomsky took a pragmatic point of view

2. Language is a system of ____________ vocal symbols used for human communication.

A. unnatural

B. artificial

C. superficial

D. arbitrary

3. We are born with the ability to acquire language, _______________.

A. and the details of any language system are genetically transmitted

B. therefore, we needn’t learn the details of our mother tongue

C. but the details of language have to be learnt.

D. and the details are acquired by instinct

4. A(n)________ is a phonological unit of distinctive value. It is a collection of distinctive

phonetic features.

A. phone

B. allophone

C. phoneme

D. sound

5. The morpheme –ed in the word “worked” is a(n) __________ morpheme.

A. derivational

B. inflectional

C. free

D. word-forming

6. WH-movement is __________ in English which changes a sentence from affirmative to

interrogative.

A. obligatory

B. optional

C. selectional

D. arbitrary

7. Naming theory, one of the oldest notions concerning meaning, was proposed by _________.

A. Grice

B. Plato

C. Saussure

D. Ogden and Richards

8. “John married a blond heiress.”__________ “John married a blond.”

A. is synonymous with

B. is inconsistent with

C. entails

D. presupposes

9. In semantic analysis of a sentence, the basic unit is called _______, which is the abstraction of

the meaning of a sentence.

A. utterance

B. reference

C. predication

D. morpheme

10. In Austin’s speech act theory, ___________ is the act of expressing the speaker’s intention; it

is the act performed in saying something.

A. a perlocutionary act

B. a locutionary act

C. a constative act

D. an illocutionary act

第二部分非选择题

II. Directions: Fill in the blank in each of the following statements with one word, the first letter of which is already given as a clue. Note that you are to fill in One word only, and you are not allowed to change the letter given. (1%×10=10%)

11. P___________ relates the study of language to psychology. It aims to answer such questions

as how the human mind works when people use language.

12. A d_________ study of language is a historical study; it studies the historical development of language over a period of time.

13. Language is a system, which consists of two sets of structures, or two levels. At the lower level,

there is a structure of meaningless sounds, which can be combined into a large number of meaningful units at the higher level. This design feature is called d___________.

14. The articulatory apparatus of a human being is contained in three important areas: the

pharyngeal cavity, the o_________ cavity and the nasal cavity.

15. The localization of cognitive and perceptual functions in a particular hemisphere of the brain is

called l_____________.

16. S_____________ features such as stress, tone and intonation can influence the interpretation

of meaning.

17. Phrase structure rules can generate an infinite number of sentences, and sentences with infinite

length, due to their r_________ properties.

18. H__________ refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings are identical in

sound or spelling, or in both.

19. Some important missions of historical linguists are to identify and classify families of related

languages in a genealogical family tree, and to reconstruct the p____________, the original form of a language family that has ceased to exist.

20. In Sociolinguistics, speakers are treated as members of social groups. The social group

isolated for any given study is called the speech c___________.

III. Directions: Judge whether each of the following statements is true or false. Put a T for true or F for false in the brackets in front of each statement. (2%×10=20%)

( ) 21. Linguists believe that whatever occurs in the language people use should be described and analyzed in their investigation.

( ) 22. Language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between words and what these words actually refer to.

( ) 23. The conclusions we reach about the phonology of one language can be generalized into the study of another language.

( ) 24. The meaning-distinctive function of the tone is especially important in English because English, unlike Chinese, is a typical tone language.

( ) 25. The syntactic rules of any language are finite in number, and yet there is no limit to the number of sentences native speakers of that language are able to produce and

comprehend.

( ) 26. When we think of a concept, we actually try to see the image of something in our mind’s eye every time we come across a linguistic symbol.

( ) 27. All utterances can be restored to complete sentences. For example, “Good morning!” can be restored to “I wish you a good morning.”

( ) 28. Two people who are born and brought up in the same town and speak the same regional dialect may speak differently because of a number of social factors.

( ) 29. Black English is linguistically inferior to standard English because Black English is not as systematic as standard English.

( ) 30. Any child who is capable of acquiring some particular human language is capable of acquiring any human language spontaneously and effortlessly.

IV. Directions: Explain the following terms. (3%×10=30%)

31. parole:

32. broad transcription:

33. allophones:

34. phrase structure rules:

35. context

36. Historical Linguistics:

37. standard language:

38. linguistic taboo:

39. acculturation:

40. care-taker speech:

V. Answer the following questions. (10%×2=20%)

41. Enumerate three causes that lead to the systematic occurrence of errors in second language

acquisition and give your examples.

42. English has undergone tremendous changes since its Anglo-Saxon days. Identify the major

periods in its historical development and name major historical events that led to the transition from one period to the next.

参考答案

第一部分选择题

I. Directions: Read each of the following statements carefully. Decide which one of the four choices best completes the statement and put the letter A, B, C or D in the brackets. (2%×10=20%)

1. A

2. D

3. C

4. C

5.B

6. A

7. B

8. C

9. C 10. D

第二部分非选择题

II. Directions: Fill in the blank in each of the following statements with one word, the first letter of which is already given as a clue. Note that you are to fill in One word only, and you are not allowed to change the letter given. (1%×10=10%)

11. Psycholinguistics

12. diachronic

13. duality

14. oral

15. lateralization

16. Suprasegmental

17. recursive

18. Homonymy

19. protolanguage

20. community

III. Directions: Judge whether each of the following statements is true or false. Put a T for true or F for false in the brackets in front of each statement. (2%X10=20%)

( T ) 21. Linguists believe that whatever occurs in the language people use should be described and analyzed in their investigation.

( T ) 22. Language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between words and what these words actually refer to.

( F ) 23. The conclusions we reach about the phonology of one language can be generalized into the study of another language.

( F ) 24. The meaning-distinctive function of the tone is especially important in English because English, unlike Chinese, is a typical tone language.

( T ) 25. The syntactic rules of any language are finite in number, and yet there is no limit to the number of sentences native speakers of that language are able to produce and

comprehend.

( F ) 26. When we think of a concept, we actually try to see the image of something in our mind’s eye every time we come across a linguistic symbol.

( F ) 27. All utterances can be restored to complete sentences. For example, “Good morning!” can be restored to “I wish you a good morning.”

( T ) 28. Two people who are born and brought up in the same town and speak the same regional dialect may speak differently because of a number of social factors.

( F ) 29. Black English is linguistically inferior to standard English because Black English is not as systematic as standard English.

( T ) 30. Any child who is capable of acquiring some particular human language is capable of acquiring any human language spontaneously and effortlessly.

IV. Directions: Explain the following terms. (3%X10=30%)

31. parole: It refers to the realization of langue in actual use. It is concrete and varies with context.

32. Broad transcription is the transcription with letter symbols only. It is the transcription normally

used in dictionaries and teaching textbooks.

33. Allophones are the different phones that represent a phoneme in different phonetic

environments.

34. Phrase structure rules are the rewrite rules which allow for the possible combination of words

to form phrases and sentences.

35. Context is generally considered as constituted by the knowledge shared by the speaker and the

hearer.

36. Historical linguistics studies language change ( or historical development of language).

37. Standard language is a superposed, socially prestigious dialect of language. It is the language

employed by the government and the judiciary system, used by the mass media and taught in educational institutions.

38. Linguistic taboo refers to a word or expression that is prohibited by the “polite” society from

general use.

39. Acculturation is a process of adapting to the culture and value system of the second language

community.

40. It is simple and modified speech used by parents, baby-sitter, etc. when they talk to young

children who are acquiring their native language.

V. Answer the following questions. (10%X2=20%)

41. Enumerate three causes that lead to the systematic occurrence of errors in second language

acquisition and give your examples.

1) Mother tongue interference

2) interlingual interference

3) Overgeneralization

42. English has undergone tremendous changes since its Anglo-Saxon days. Identify the major

periods in its historical development and name major historical events that led to the transition from one period to the next.

Major periods: Old English (449-1100)

Middle English (1100-1500)

Modern English (1500-present)

Historical events: The old English period began with the invasion of the British Isles by English-speaking Anglo-Saxons from Europe, and ended with the arrival of Norman French invaders historically known as the Norman Conquest. The Middle English period is distinguished from the Old English period by the Norman Conquest. The European renaissance movement marked the beginning of the Modern English period.