Arbitrariness of Language
英语 语言学 名词解释
名词解释nguage: language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.2.Design features of language(语言的区别性特征) :i.Arbitrariness:the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to theirmeaning=language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between a word(e.g.pen) and the object it refers to .ii.Duality:the property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level. By duality we mean that language system has two sets of structures, one of sounds and the other of meanings.指拥有两层结构的这种特性，底层结构是上层结构的组成成分。
指语言是声音和意义双重结构组成的系统。
举例：Sounds > syllables > words > phrases > clauses > sentences> texts/discoursesiii.Productivity： Language can be used to create new meanings because of its duality .语言可以理解并创造无限数量的新句子，是由双层结构造成的结果（Understand and create unlimited number with sentences）iv.Displacement：Human languages enable their users to symbolize something which are not present at the moment of communication.v.Cultural transmission: language is passed on from generation to generation through teaching and learning rather than instinct.3.Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It is a scientific study because it is based on thesystematic investigation of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure.4.Psycholinguistics: It is the study of how language is acquired, understood and produced.ngue:F. de Saussure. Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all themembers of a speech community.语言指语言系统的整体，这个整体相对是比较稳定的。
语言学名词解释
一、名词解释1.Diachronic历时的It refers to say of the study of developing of language and languages over time.研究语言随时间发展变化的方法。
2.Arbitrariness任意性Saussure first refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning.任意性是指语言符号的形式与所表达的意义之间没有天然或逻辑的联系。
It is refers to absence of any physical correspondence between linguistic signals and the entities to which they refer.任意性是指语言符号和这些符号所指的实体间不存在任何物质的联系。
3.Parole言语It refers to the concrete utterances of a speaker.指语言在实际使用中的实现。
4.Creativity创造性By creativity we mean language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness, which enables human beings to produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences including the sentences that were never heard before.创造性是指语言具有能产型，因为语言有双重性和递归性,也就是说话者能够结合各个语言单位形成无尽的句子，其中很多句子是以前没有的或者没有听说过的。
大学英语专业语言学重点概念复习
术语解释：Language: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.Linguistics: Linguistics is the scientific and systematic study of language.Design features（甑别性特征）: Design features refer to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communicationArbitrariness(任意性): It means that there is no logical connection between meanings and soundsProductivity /creativity (创造性）: Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the con-struction and interpretation of new signals by its users.Recursiveness(递归性）: according to some linguistic theories , the capacity that enables the grammar of a language to produce an infinite number of sentences.Cultural transmission（文化传递性）：It refers to the fact that the details of the linguistic system must be learned anew by each speaker. Language is not transmitted biologically from generation to generation.Interchangeability(可交替性）：means that any human being can be both a producer and receiver of messages.Displacement（移位性）: Displacement means that human language enable their users to symbolize objects,events and concepts which are not present(in time and space) at the moment of communication.Duality（二元性）: 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.Informative(信息功能）: The use of language to record facts to state what things are like, and to exchange information.Interpersonal Function(人际功能）: It is the most important sociological use of language, by which people establish and maintain their status in a society.Performative(行为功能）:Language can be used to do things, to change the social status or the immediate state of affairs of people.Emotive Function(情感功能）：Language can be used to express the emotional state of the speaker.Phatic Communion(交流功能）:This function refers to expressions that help define and maintain interpersonal relations.Ritual exchange: exchange that have little meaning but help to maintain our relationships with other people.Recreational Function(娱乐功能）: the use of language to have fun.Metalingual Function(元语言功能）：language can be used to explain or describe itself or other languages.研究语言学坚持的原则：Exhaustiveness穷尽性Consistency一致性Economy 经济性Objectivity客观性Phonetics（语言学）: The study of sounds which are used in linguistic communication is called phonetics. / the characteristics of speech sounds and provide methods for their description, classification, transcriptionPhonology(音韵学): The study of how sounds are put together and used in communication.Morphology（形态学）: The study of the way in which morphemes are arranged to form words is called morphology.Syntax（句法）: The study of how morphemes and words are combined to form sentences is called syntax. / the rule governing the combination of words into sentencesSemantics（语义学）: It studies how meaning is encoded in a language. / The study of meaning in language is called semantics.Pragmatics(语用学): The study of meaning in context of use is called pragmatics. Macrolinguistics(宏观语言学）: the interdisciplinary study of language.Psycholinguistics（心理语言学）: The study of language with reference to the workings of mind is called psycholinguistics.Sociolinguistics（社会语言学）: The study of language with reference to society is called sociolinguistics.Anthropological Linguistics(人类语言学）: It mainly concerned with the change of language, the different between language in the past and in the present, and its evolution.Computational Linguistics(计算机语言学）: an interdisciplinary branch of study in which mathematical techniques and concepts are applied often with the aid of a computer.Applied linguistics（应用语言学）: Finding in linguistic studies can often be applied to the solution of practical problems such as the recovery of speech ability.Neurolinguistics(神经语言学）：It studies the neurological basis of language development and use in human beings.Descriptive(描述的）:If a linguistic study aims to describe and analyse the language people actually use.Prescriptive(规定的）：It aims to lay down rules for "correct and standard" behavior in using language.Competence（能力）: Chomsky defines competence as the ideal speaker's knowledge of the underlying system of rules in a language,Performance(表现）: refers to the actual use of the language by a speaker in a real communicational context.Synchronic(共时性）：study of language takes a fixed instant as its point of observation. It refers to the description of a language at some point of time in history.Diachronic(历时性）：study examines language through the course of time. It studies the development or history of language.In other words, it refers to the description of a language as it changes through time.langue（语言）: refers to the speaker's understanding and knowledge of the language that he speaks.It's a social phenomenon,an abstraction shared by all the members within a speech community.Parole（言语）: Parole refers to the actual speaking of language by an individual speaker. It's an individual linguistic phenomenon .Differences: Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language use rs all have to follow; Parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules. Langue is relatively stable, while Parole varies fro m person to person, from situation to situation. Langue is abstract; Parole is concrete.第二章Articulatory phonetics（发音语音学）: is the study of the production of speech sounds.Acoustic phonetics（听觉发音学）: is the study of the physical properties of speech sounds.Auditory/Perceptual phonetics（感知语音学）: is concerned with the perception of …Speech Organs（发音器官）: Organs in human body whose secondary use is in the production of speech sounds.International phonetic alphabet（国际音标）: It is a standardized and internation ally accepted system of phonetic transcription.Consonants(辅音):The sounds in the production of which there is an obstruction of the airstream at some point of the vocal tract.Vowels(元音）:sounds in the production of which no two articulators come very close together and no airstream is obstructed at any point of vocal tractVowel glides/ Diphthongs(双元音）: It's produced by moving from one vowel position to another through intervening positions.It's has an audible change of quality.Coarticulation(协同发音）：when such simultaneous or overlapping articulations are involved, we call the process coarticulation.Complementary distribution(互补分布）：when two sounds never occur in the same environment, they are said to be in complementary distribution.Free variation(自由变体）;when the substitution of one sound for the other does not produce a new word.Phoneme(音素）: 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. / minimal linguistic unit of sound that can distinguish.Allophone（音位变体）: The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophones of that phoneme.Phonetic similarity(语音相似性）：means that the allophones of a phoneme must bear some phonetic resemblance.Intonation（声调）: When pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as intonation.phone （音子）: Phones can be simply defined as the speech sounds we use when speaking a language. A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. It does not necessarily distinguish meaning.phonemic contrast（音位对立）: 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.Tone（语气）: Tones are pitch variations, which are caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords.minimal pair（最小音差）: 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.。
英语语言学概论整理
Chapter 1 Language语言1. Design feature (识别特征) refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish itfrom any animal system of communication.2. Productivity(能产性) refers to the ability that people have in making and comprehendingindefinitely large quantities of sentences in their native language.3. arbitrariness (任意性) Arbitrariness refers to the phenomenon that there is no motivatedrelationship between a linguistic form and its meaning.4. symbol (符号) Symbol refers to something such as an object, word, or sound that representssomething else by association or convention.5. discreteness (离散性) Discreteness refers to the phenomenon that the sounds in a languageare meaningfully distinct.6. displacement (不受时空限制的特性) Displacement refers to the fact that human language canbe used to talk about things that are not in the immediate situations of its users.7. duality of structure (结构二重性) The organization of language into two levels, one of sounds,the other of meaning, is known as duality of structure.8. culture transmission (文化传播) Culture transmission refers to the fact that language is passedon from one generation to the next through teaching and learning, rather than by inheritance.9. interchangeability(互换性) Interchangeability means that any human being can be both aproducer and a receiver of messages.1. ★What is language?Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. This definition has captured the main features of language.First, language is a system.Second, language is arbitrary in the sense.The third feature of language is symbolic nature.2. ★What are the design features of language?Language has seven design features as following:1) Productivity.2) Discreteness.3) Displacement4) Arbitrariness.5) Cultural transmission6) Duality of structure.7) Interchangeability.3. Why do we say language is a system?Because elements of language are combined according to rules, and every language contains a set of rules. By system, the recurring patterns or arrangements or the particular ways or designs in which a language operates. And the sounds, the words and the sentences are used in fixed patterns that speaker of a language can understand each other.4. ★(Function of language.) According to Halliday, what are the initial functions ofchildren’s language? And what are the three functional components of adult language?I. H alliday uses the following terms to refer to the initial functions of children’s language:1) Instrumental function. 工具功能2) Regulatory function. 调节功能3) Representational function. 表现功能4) Interactional function. 互动功能5) Personal function. 自指性功能6) Heuristic function. 启发功能[osbQtq`kf`h]7) Imaginative function. 想象功能II. A dult language has three functional components as following:1) Interpersonal components. 人际2) Ideational components.概念3) Textual components.语篇Chapter 2 Linguistics语言学1. general linguistics and descriptive linguistics(普通语言学与描写语言学) The former dealswith language in general whereas the latter is concerned with one particular language.2. synchronic linguistics and diachronic linguistics(共时语言学与历时语言学) Diachroniclinguistics traces the historical development of the language and records the changes that have taken place in it between successive points in time. And synchronic linguistics presents an account of language as it is at some particular point in time.3. theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics (理论语言学与应用语言学) The former copeswith languages with a view to establishing a theory of their structures and functions whereas the latter is concerned with the application of the concepts and findings of linguistics to all sorts of practical tasks.4. microlinguistics and macrolinguistics (微观语言学与宏观语言学) The former studies only thestructure of language system whereas the latter deals with everything that is related to languages.5. langue and parole (语言与言语) The former refers to the abstract linguistics system shared by allthe members of a speech community whereas the latter refers to the concrete act of speaking in actual situation by an individual speaker.6. competence and performance (语言能力与语言运用) The former is one’s knowledge of all thelinguistic regulation systems whereas the latter is the use of language in concrete situation.7. speech and writing (口头语与书面语) Speech is the spoken form of language whereas writing iswritten codes, gives language new scope.8. linguistics behavior potential and actual linguistic behavior (语言行为潜势与实际语言行为)People actually says on a certain occasion to a certain person is actual linguistics behavior. And each of possible linguistic items that he could have said is linguistic behavior potential.9. syntagmatic relation and paradigmatic relation(横组合关系与纵聚合关系) The formerdescribes the horizontal dimension of a language while the latter describes the vertical dimension of a language.10. verbal communication and non-verbal communication (言语交际与非言语交际) Usual use oflanguage as a means of transmitting information is called verbal communication. The ways we convey meaning without using language is called non-verbal communication.1. ★How does John Lyons classify linguistics?According to John Lyons, the field of linguistics as a whole can be divided into several subfields as following:1) General linguistics and descriptive linguistics.2) Synchronic linguistics and diachronic linguistics.3) Theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics.4) Microlinguistics and macrolinguistics.2. Explain the three principles by which the linguist is guided: consistency, adequacy andsimplicity.1) Consistency means that there should be no contradictions between different parts of the theoryand the description.2) Adequacy means that the theory must be broad enough in scope to offer significantgeneralizations.3) Simplicity requires us to be as brief and economic as possible.3. ★What are the sub-branches of linguistics within the language system?Within the language system there are six sub-branches as following:1) Phonetics. 语音学is a study of speech sounds of all human languages.2) Phonology. 音位学studies about the sounds and sound patterns of a speaker’s nativelanguage.3) Morphology. 形态学studies about how a word is formed.4) Syntax. 句法学studies about whether a sentence is grammatical or not.5) Semantics. 语义学studies about the meaning of language, including meaning of words andmeaning of sentences.6) Pragmatics. 语用学★The scope of language: Linguistics is referred to as a scientific study of language.★The scientific process of linguistic study: It involves four stages: collecting data, forming a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis and drawing conclusions.Chapter 3 Phonetics语音学1. articulatory phonetics(发音语音学) The study of how speech organs produce the sounds iscalled articulatory phonetics.2. acoustic phonetics (声学语音学) The study of the physical properties and of the transmission ofspeech sounds is called acoustic phonetics.3. auditory phonetics (听觉语音学) The study of the way hearers perceive speech sounds is calledauditory phonetics.4. consonant(辅音) Consonant is a speech sound where the air form the language is eithercompletely blocked, or partially blocked, or where the opening between the speech organs is so narrow that the air escapes with audible friction.5. vowel (元音) is defined as a speech sound in which the air from the lungs is not blocked in anyway and is pronounced with vocal-cord vibration.6. bilabials (双唇音) Bilabials means that consonants for which the flow of air is stopped or restrictedby the two lips. [p][b] [m] [w]7. affricates (塞擦音) The sound produced by stopping the airstream and then immediatelyreleasing it slowly is called affricates. [t X] [d Y] [tr] [dr]8. glottis (声门) Glottis is the space between the vocal cords.9. rounded vowel (圆唇元音) Rounded vowel is defined as the vowel sound pronounced by the lipsforming a circular opening. [u:] [u] [OB] [O]10. diphthongs(双元音) Diphthongs are produced by moving from one vowel position to anotherthrough intervening positions.[ei][ai][O i] [Q u][au]11. triphthongs(三合元音) Triphthongs are those which are produced by moving from one vowelposition to another and then rapidly and continuously to a third one. [ei Q][ai Q][O i Q] [Q u Q][au Q] 12. lax vowels (松元音) According to distinction of long and short vowels, vowels are classified tensevowels and lax vowels. All the long vowels are tense vowels but of the short vowels,[e] is a tense vowel as well, and the rest short vowels are lax vowels.1. ★How are consonants classified in terms of different criteria?The consonants in English can be described in terms of four dimensions.1) The position of the soft palate.2) The presence or the absence of vocal-cord vibration.3) The place of articulation.4) The manner of articulation.2. ★How are vowels classified in terms of different criteria?Vowel sounds are differentiated by a number of factors.1) The state of the velum2) The position of the tongue.3) The openness of the mouth.4) The shape of the lips.5) The length of the vowels.6) The tension of the muscles at pharynx.3. ★What are the three sub-branches of phonetics? How do they differ from each other?Phonetics has three sub-branches as following:1) Articulatory phonetics is the study of how speech organs produce the sounds is calledarticulatory phonetics.2) Acoustic phonetics is the study of the physical properties and of the transmission of speechsounds is called acoustic phonetics.3) Auditory phonetics is the study of the way hearers perceive speech sounds is calledauditory phonetics.4. ★What are the commonly used phonetic features for consonants and vowels respectively?I. The frequently used phonetic features for consonants include the following:1) Voiced.2) Nasal.3) Consonantal.4) Vocalic.5) Continuant.6) Anterior.7) Coronal.8) Aspirated.II. The most common phonetic features for vowels include the following:1) High.2) Low.3) Front.4) Back.5) Rounded.6) Tense.Chapter 4 Phonology 音位学1. phonemes (音位) Phonemes are minimal distinctive units in the sound system of a language.2. allophones(音位变体) Allophones are the phonetic variants and realizations of a particularphoneme.3. phones(单音) The smallest identifiable phonetic unit found in a stream of speech is called aphone.4. minimal pair (最小对立体) Minimal pair means words which differ from each other only by onesound.5. contrastive distribution (对比分布) If two or more sounds can occur in the same environmentand the substitution of one sound for another brings about a change of meaning, they are said to be in contrastive distribution.6. complementary distribution(互补分布) If two or more sounds never appear in the sameenvironment ,then they are said to be in complementary distribution.7. free variation(自由变异) When two sounds can appear in the same environment and thesubstitution of one for the other does not cause any change in meaning, then they are said to be in free variation.8. distinctive features(区别性特征) A distinctive feature is a feature which distinguishes onephoneme from another.9. suprasegmental features(超切分特征) The distinctive (phonological) features which apply togroups larger than the single segment are known as suprasegmental features.10. tone languages(声调语言) Tone languages are those which use pitch to contrast meaning atword level.11. intonation languages (语调语言) Intonation languages are those which use pitch to distinguishmeaning at phrase level or sentence level.12. juncture(连音) Juncture refers to the phonetic boundary features which may demarcategrammatical units.1. ★What are the differences between English phonetics and English phonology?1) Phonetics is the study of the production, perception, and physical properties of speech sounds,while phonology attempts to account for how they are combined, organized, and convey meaning in particular languages.2) Phonetics is the study of the actual sounds while phonology is concerned with a more abstractdescription of speech sounds and tries to describe the regularities of sound patterns.2. Give examples to illustrate the relationship between phonemes, phones and allophones.When we hear [pit],[tip],[spit],etc, the similar phones we have heard are /p/. And /p/ and /b/ are separate phonemes in English, while [ph] and [p] are allophones.3. How can we decide a minimal pair or a minimal set?A minimal pair should meet three conditions:1) The two forms are different in meaning.2) The two forms are different in one sound segment.3) The different sounds occur in the same position of the two strings.4. ★Use examples to explain the three types of distribution.1) Contrastive distribution. Sounds [m] in met and [n] in net are in contrastive distributionbecause substituting [m] for [n] will result in a change of meaning.2) Complementary distribution. The aspirated plosive [ph] and the unaspirated plosive [p] arein complementary distribution because the former occurs either initially in a word or initially ina stressed syllable while the latter never occurs in such environments.3) Free variation. In English, the word “direct” may be pronounce in two ways: /di’rekt/ and/dia’rekt/, and the two different sounds /i/ and /ai/ can be said to be in free variation.5. What’s the difference between segmental features and suprasegmental features? What arethe suprasegmental features in English?I. 1) Distinctive features, which are used to distinguish one phoneme from another and thus haveeffect on one sound segment, are referred to as segmental features.2) The distinctive (phonological) features which apply to groups larger than the single segmentare known as suprasegmental features.3) Suprasegmental features may have effect on more than one sound segment. They may applyto a string of several sounds.II.The main suprasegmental features include stress, tone, intonation and juncture.6. What’s the difference between tone language s and intonation language?Tone languages are those which use pitch to contrast meaning at word level while intonation languages are those which use pitch to distinguish meaning at phrase level or sentence level7. ★What’s the difference between phonetic tran scriptions and phonemic transcriptions?The former was meant to symbolize all possible speech sounds, including even the most minute shades of pronunciation, while the latter was intended to indicate only those sounds capable of distinguishing one word from another in a given language.Chapter 5 Morphology 形态学1. morphemes (语素) Morphemes are the minimal meaningful units in the grammatical system of alanguage.allomorphs (语素变体) Allomorphs are the realizations of a particular morpheme.morphs (形素) Morphs are the realizations of morphemes in general and are the actual forms used to realize morphemes.2. roots(词根) Roots is defined as the most important part of a word that carries the principalmeaning.affixes(词缀) Affixes are morphemes that lexically depend on roots and do not convey the fundamental meaning of words.free morphemes (自由语素) Free morphemes are those which can exist as individual words.bound morphemes (粘着语素) Bound morphemes are those which cannot occur on their own as separate words.3. inflectional affixes (屈折词缀) refer to affixes that serve to indicate grammatical relations, butdo not change its part of speech.derivational affixes(派生词缀) refer to affixes that are added to words in order to change its grammatical category or its meaning.4. empty morph (空语子) Empty morph means a morph which has form but no meaning.zero morph (零语子) Zero morph refers to a morph which has meaning but no form.5. IC Analysis (直接成分分析) IC analysis is the analysis to analyze a linguistic expression (both aword and a sentence) into a hierarchically defined series of constituents.6. immediate constituents(直接成分) A immediate constituent is any one of the largestgrammatical units that constitute a construction. Immediate constituents are often further reducible.ultimate constituents (最后成分) Ultimate constituents are those grammatically irreducible units that constitute constructions.7. morphological rules (形态学规则) The principles that determine how morphemes are combinedinto new words are said to be morphological rules.8. word-formation process (构词法) Word-formation process mean the rule-governed processes offorming new words on the basis of already existing linguistic resources.1. ★What is IC Analysis?IC analysis is the analysis to analyze a linguistic expression (both a word and a sentence) into a hierarchically defined series of constituents.2. How are morphemes classified?1) Semantically speaking, morphemes are grouped into two categories: root morphemes andaffixational morphemes.2) Structurally speaking, they are divided into two types: free morphemes and boundmorphemes.3. ★Explain the interrelations between semantic and structural classifications ofmorphemes.a) All free morphemes are roots but not all roots are free morphemes.b) All affixes are bound morphemes, but not all bound morphemes are affixes.4. What’s the difference between an empty morph and a zero morph?a) Empty morph means a morph that has form but no meaning.b) Zero morph refers to a morph that has meaning but no form.5. Explain the differences between inflectional and derivational affixes in term of bothfunction and position.a) Functionally:i.Inflectional affixes sever to mark grammatical relations and never create new words whilederivational affixes can create new words.ii.Inflectional affixes do not cause a change in grammatical class while derivational affixes very often but not always cause a change in grammatical class.b) In term of position:i.Inflectional affixes are suffixes while derivational affixes can be suffixes or prefixes.ii.Inflectional affixes are always after derivational affixes if both are present. And derivational affixes are always before inflectional suffixes if both are present.6. What are morphological rules? Give at least four rules with examples.The principles that determine how morphemes are combined into new words are said to be morphological rules.For example:a) un- + adj. ->adj.b) Adj./n. + -ify ->v.c) V. + -able -> adj.d) Adj. + -ly -> adv.Chapter 6 Syntax 句法学1. syntagmatic relations (横组关系) refer to the relationships between constituents in aconstruction.paradigmatic relations (纵聚合关系) refer to the relations between the linguistic elements withina sentence and those outside the sentence.hierarchical relations (等级关系) refer to relationships between any classification of linguistic units which recognizes a series of successively subordinate levels.2. IC Analysis (直接成分分析) is a kind of grammatical analysis, which make major divisions at anylevel within a syntactic construction.labeled IC Analysis (标记法直接成分分析) is a kind of grammatical analysis, which make major divisions at any level within a syntactic construction and label each constituent.phrase markers (短语标记法) is a kind of grammatical analysis, which make major divisions at any level within a syntactic construction, and label each constituent while remove all the linguistic forms.labeled bracketing(方括号标记法) is a kind of grammatical analysis, which is applied in representing the hierarchical structure of sentences by using brackets.3. constituency (成分关系)dependency (依存关系)4. surface structures (表层结构)refers to the mental representation of a linguistic expression,derived from deep structure by transformational rules.deep structures (深层结构) deep structure of a linguistic expression is a theoretical construct that seeks to unify several related structures.5. phrase structure rules (短语结构规则)are a way to describe a given language's syntax. Theyare used to break a natural language sentence down into its constituent parts.6. transformational rules (转换规则)7. structural ambiguity (结构歧义)1. What are the differences between surface structure and deep structure?They are different from each other in four aspects:1) Surface structures correspond directly to the linear arrangements of sentences while deepstructures correspond to the meaningful grouping of sentences.2) Surface structures are more concrete while deep structures are more abstract.3) Surface structures give the forms of sentences whereas deep structures give the meaningsof sentences.4) Surface structures are pronounceable but deep structures are not.2. Illustrate the differences between PS rules and T-rules.1) PS rules frequently applied in generating deep structures.2) T-rules are used to transform deep structure into surface structures.3. What’s the o rder of generating sentences? Do we start with surface structures or with deepstructures? How differently are they generated?To generate a sentence, we always start with its deep structure, and then transform it into its corresponding surface structure.Deep structures are generated by phrase structure rules (PS rules) while surface structures are derived from their deep structures by transformational rules (T-rules).4. What’s the difference between a compulsory constituent and an optional one?Optional constituents may be present or absent while compulsory constituents must be present.5. What are the three syntactic relations? Illustrate them with examples.1) Syntagmatic relations2) Paradigmatic relations.3) Hierarchical relations.Chapter 7 Semantics 语义学1. Lexical semantics (词汇语义学) is defined as the study of word meaning in language.2. Sense (意义) refers to the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.3. Reference (所指) means what a linguistic form refers to in the real world.4. Concept (概念) is the result of human cognition, reflecting the objective world in the human mind.5. Denotation(外延) is defined as the constant ,abstract, and basic meaning of a linguisticexpression independent of context and situation.6. Connotation (内涵) refers to the emotional associations which are suggested by, or are part of themeaning of, a linguistic unit.7. Componential analysis (成分分析法) is the way to decompose the meaning of a word into itscomponents.8. Semantic field (语义场) The vocabulary of a language is not simply a listing of independent items,but is organized into areas, within which words interrelate and define each other in various ways.The areas are semantic fields.9. Hyponymy (上下义关系) refers to the sense relation between a more general, more inclusiveword and a more specific word.10. Synonymy (同义关系) refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning.11. Antonymy (反义关系) refers to the oppositeness of meaning.12. Lexical ambiguity (词汇歧义)13. Polysemy (多义性) refers to the fact that the same one word may have more than one meaning.14. Homonymy(同音(同形)异义关系) refers to the phenomenon that words having differentmeanings have the same form.15. Sentence semantics (句子语义学) refers to the study of sentence meaning in language.1. What’s the criterion of John Lyons in classifying semantics into its sub-branches? Andhow does he classify semantics?In terms of whether it falls within the scope of linguistics, John Lyons distinguishes between linguistic semantics and non-linguistic semantics.According John Lyons, semantics is one of the sub-branches of linguistics; it is generally defined as the study of meaning.2. What are the essential factors for determining sentence meaning?1) Object, 2) concept, 3) symbol, 4) user, 5) context.3. What is the difference between the theory of componential analysis and the theory ofsemantic theory in defining meaning of words?。
语言学概论相关试题及答案
《语言学概论》相关试题及答案1、How to define language? What are the design features of language?Definition: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal and symbols used for human communication.The design features of language are Arbitrariness, Duality, Creativity and Displacement. The illustrations are as followed.Firstly, Arbitrariness’s meaning was discussed by Saussure. It refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. For instance, we can’t explain why a book is called a /buk/ and a pen a /pen/. Instead of going to extreme, more would agree that there seems to be different levels of arbitrariness. There is arbitrary relationship between the sound of a morpheme and its meaning. For example, dogs bark “bowwow” in English but “汪汪” in Chinese. And syntax is purely arbitrary to some people. Functionalists hold that the most strictly arbitrary level of language exists in the distinctive units of sounds by which we distinguish pairs of words like “pin” and “bin”, or “fish” and “dish”. So Arbitrariness is the first feature.Secondly, Duality refers to the property of having two levels of structures, units of the primary level being composed ofelements of the secondary level and each level having its own principles of organization according to Lyons. Roughly speaking, the elements of the spoken language are sounds which do not convey meaning in themselves. The only function of sounds is to combine with one another to form units that have meaning, such as words. We call sounds here secondary units as opposed to such primary units as words. So Duality is the second feature.Thirdly, Language is creative in another sense, that is, its potential to create endless sentences according to Chomskian linguistics. For example, we can write a sentence like the following and go on endlessly: He bought a book which was written by a teacher who taught in a school which was know for its graduates who…In other words, language is characterized by its creativity, as grammar enables us to produce infinite number of sentences.Lastly, Displacement means that human language enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present(in time and space) at the moment of communication. Thus, I can refer to Confucius, or the North Pole, even though the first has been dead for over 2500 years and the second is situated far away from us.All in all, these features are so important that makeshuman language more complicated and flexible.2、How do you understand the functions of language?Many categorizations of Functions of language have been made. Language is put to in our daily life (such as to chat, to think, to buy and sell, to read and write, to greet people) or perform in human communication. But the most basic and important theories are Jakobson’s classification and Halliday’s theory of metafunctions. For Jakobson and the Prague school structuralists, language is above all, as any sematic system, for commu nication. In Jakobson’s article, “Linguistics and Poetics” , he defined the six primary factors of any speech event, namely :SPEAKER, ADDRESSEE, CONTEXT, MESSAGE, CODE, and CONTACT.His well-know framework of language functions, namely: REFERENTIAL, POETIC, EMOTIVE, CONATIVE, PHATIC and METALINGUAL. Besides, Halliday proposed seven categories of language function, that is, instrumental, regulatory, representational, interactional, personal, heuristic and imaginative. Thus, the function of language can be summarized into seven categories: Referential Function, Interpersonal Function, Performative Function, Emotive Function, Phatic Communication, Recreational Function and MetalingualFunction. The illustrations are as followed.Referential Function also can be called INFORMATIONAL, or REFERENTIAL, or IDEATIONAL. It means that function is associated with what objects and ideas are called and how events are described. For example, for the same event-someone broke the vase in his colleague’s house whil e the latter went to the other room to answer the phone, the following things can be said, “I broke the vase”，“The vase was broken by me”, “The vase broke” etc. And each represents a choice in the TRANSITIVITY system realizing the IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION.Interpersonal Function is variational and negotiable aspects of language in contrast to conventional concerns with the more ideational, content-based and stable relations between forms and meaning. In short, it is interactional and attitudinal. For example, the ways in which people address others and refer to themselves(e.g. “Dear Sir”, “Dear Professor”, “Johnny”, “yours”, “your obedient servant”) indicate the various grades of interpersonal relations. What’s more, the interpersonal function is often discussed under various other terms as performative, emotive, expressive and phatic function of language. They emphasize different aspects of the interpersonal function.Performative Function originates from the philosophiscal study of language represented by Austin and Searle. It is primarily to change the social status of persons as in marriage ceremonies, the sentencing ceremony, and the cursing of enemies. The kind of language employed in performative verbal acts is usually quite formed and even ritualized. For example, in Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate the host or the people present are likely to say “岁岁(碎碎)平安” as a means of controlling the forces which the believers feel might affect their lives.Emotive Function is one of the most powerful uses of language because it is so crucial in changing the emotional status of an audience for or against someone or something. It is also a means of getting rid of our nervous energy when we under stress. For example, swear words, obscenities, involuntary verbal reactions to beautiful art or scenery; conventional words/phrases, like “God”, “My”, “Dame it”, “What a sight”, “Wow”, “Ugh”, “Ow” etc. It is also discussed under the term EXPRESSIVE function.P hatic Communication originates from Malinowski’s study of the functions of language used on Trobriand Islands. It refers to the social interaction of language. For example, Mrs. Psneezes violently. Mrs. Q: Bless you. Mrs. P: Thank you. We all use such small seemingly meaningless expressions to maintain a comfortable relationship between people without involving any factual content. Ritual exchanges about health or weather such as “Good morning!”,“God bless you!”, “Nice day!” often state the obvious. Some typical expressions of phatic communication in Chinese ar e: “好久不见”, “祝你一路顺风”，and “过年好”etc.The Recreational Function is use for the sheer joy, such as a baby’s babbling or a chanter’s chanting. In China, there widespread use of verbal dueling. When we observe a children’s play, we can find nonsensical lyrics performing a recreational function in the game. Adults also have their way to appreciate language for its own sake. For instance, poetry writing gives them the pleasure of using language for its sheer joy.Metalingual Function means that our language can be used to talk about itself. For example, I can use the word “book” to refer to a book or talk about the concept “book” ,and I can also use the expression “the word ‘book’” to talk about the sign “book” itself. To organize any written text into a coherent whole, writers employ certain expressions to keep their readers informed about where they are and where they are going. Forinstance, instead of saying “The lion beat the unicorn all round the town.”, They say “All around the town the lion beat the unicorn,” The change in linear order chang es our perspective about the concerns of clause.This is the METALINGUAL function of language, or in Halliday’s term, the TEXTUAL FUNCTION.3、How many speech organs are involved in speaking? How can we study phonetics?There are 23 speech organs are involves in speaking. They are the LUNGS, the TRACHEA(or wind-pipe), the THROAT, the NOSE, and the MOUTH. What’s more, they are the TONGUE, the PALATE, the PHARYNX, the LARYNX, the VOCAL FOLDS(or VOCAL CARDS), the VOCAL TRACT, the ORAL CAVITY and the NASAL CA VITY. Besides, they are also BRONCHIOLES, the BRONCHI, the VENTRICULAR FOLDS, the LIP, the TEETH, the ALVEOLAR RIDGE, the HARD PALATE, the SOFT PALATE, the UVULA and the MANDIBLE.PHONETICS is a matter of anatomy and physiology, referring to speech organs and their functions, speech sounds, waves carrying speech sounds, analysis and processing of the sounds by the listener. It can be further divided into anatomyand physiology of speech, articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory or perceptual phonetics. We can study phonetics from aspects as followed.First, we should use the notation system of the INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET(IPA). In 1886, the INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ASSOCIATION was inaugurated by a small group of language teachers in France who had found the practice of phonetics useful in their teaching and wished to popularize their method. Its main principles were that there should be a separate letter for each distinctive sound, and that the same symbol should be used for that sound in any language in which it appears. The IPA has been revised and corrected several times and is now widely used in dictionaries and textbooks through the world. So we should learn IPA well if we want to learn PHONETICS.Secondly, we can study PHONETICS by learning Consonants and V owels well. Theoretically, as far as phoneticians are concerned, any segment must be either a vowel or a consonants. We can learn Consonants from these aspects: Manners of Articulation, Places of Articulation and the Consonants of English. Then we can study V owels from the Criteria of V owel Description, the Theory of Cardinal V owelsand the Change of V owel Quality.Thirdly, we can study PHONECTICS from some other aspects, like Syallables, Stress, Pitch, Intonation and Tone. The Syllable is an important unit in the study of suprasegmentals. Then, Stress refers to the degree of force used in producing a syllable. The Pitch of a sound is dependent on the rate of vibration of the vocal folds within the larynx. Intonation involves the occurrence of recurring pitch patterns, each of which is used with a set of relatively consistent meanings, either on single words or on groups of relatively consistent meanings, either on single words or on groups of words of varying length. Pitch can cause changes in word meaning are called Tone. Above all, we can study Phonetics from these aspects.In a word, we can study PHONETICS by studying more theories and practising more.4、As phonetics is concerned, what are segments, divergences, and phonetic transcription respectively?Segments means that the English spelling does not represent its pronunciation all the time. In the production of theword “above” , for example, alt hough the spelling suggests five sounds, there are in fact four. When the word is said slowly, we recognize the four sound SEGMENTS that are comparable to the “a”, “b”, “o” and “v” of the spelling.Divergences are apart results between sounds and symbols. Because there more sounds in English than its letters can represent, each letter must represent more than one sound. For example, in 1400 the words “put”, “bush”, “pull”, “cup”, “luck”and“mud”all had the vowels[u], a high front vowel, for the Londoners. By about 1550, however, the vowel in“cup”,“luck”and“mud”had lowered to[γ], a mid-high back vowel, whereas [u] was retained in “put”, “bush” and “pull”.Phonetic Transcription is a set of symbols to record the sounds. The divergence between spelling and pronunciation become greater when we consider the many accents of English used by people from different regions. In addition, there are still many languages in the world that do not have a writing system of their own. So, it is necessary to devise sets of symbols that can be used for transcribing sounds in language. Then, INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET(IPA) appears.5、What does morphology study? How to define morphemes, morphs and allomorphs?MORPHOLOGY is the branch of linguistics that studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.Traditionally, words are treated as the basic and minimal units of a language to make sentences, which are combinations of words according to syntactic rules. These minimal meaningful units are known as MORPHEMES. Secondly, in view of word-formation, the morpheme is seen as “the smallest functioning unit in the composition of words” according to Crystal. Syntactically, however, a morpheme is the minimal form of grammatical analysis.MORPHS are actual spoken forms, minimal carriers of meaning. In other words the phonetic or orthographic strings or segments which realize morpheme are termed “morphs”. Most morphemes are realized by one morph like “bird”, “tree”, “green”, “sad”, “want” etc.ALLOMORPHY is concerned with the ways in which morphemes are related to phonological forms, in other words, with the principles governing the range of variation in shapeshown by particular morphemes. It deals with the relation between morphs and morphemes.6、What are the classification of morphemes?Morphemes vary in function. Accordingly, we can classify morphemes into several general categories: free versus bound, derivational versus inflectional, and lexical versus grammatical.I shall define each type in terms of its characteristics.Free versus Bound Morphemes: Firstly, Free Morphemes are independent of other morphemes and can stand by themselves. These morphemes can be used as free grammatical units in sentences. They are identical with words, for example, “man”, “earth”, “wind”, “car” and “anger”. However, Bound Morphemes are bound to other morphemes to form words or to perform a particular grammatical function. They are mainly found in derived words. For example, each of the three words comp rises three morphemes: “recollection”（re-collect-ion）, “idealistic”( ideal -ist -ic), “ex-prisoner”(ex- prison -er). Secondly, Free Morphemes are all roots, which are capable of being used as words or as word-building elements to form newwords. For example, “sun”, “moon”,“use”are all roots. But Bound Morphemes consist of both roots and affixes , most of which can be used to create new words like re-, -ion, -ist, -ic and ex-. But there are a few affixes, which can only indicate such grammatical concepts as “tense”, “aspect”, “number” and “case”, for example, the -ing in “watching”, -er in “earsier”, -s in “books”, and -ed in “worked”Derivational versus Inflectional Morphemes: Firstly, Derivational Morphemes are used to derive new words. Because when these morphemes are conjoined, new words are derived. For example, a+mor+al, clear+ance, life+like and homo+gen+eous. But Inflectional Morphemes, in contrast, indicate the syntactic relationships between words and thus function as grammatical marks. For example, the usage of the regular plural suffix -s(es), the possessive case of nouns –’s, the comparative or superative degrees -er, -est , the past tense marker -ed and progressive marker -ing. Secondly, Inflectional Morphemes does not change meaning or part of speech of the stem. But Derivational Morphemes changes meaning or part of speech of the stem. Thirdly, Inflectional Morphemes indicate syntactic or semantic relations between words in a sentence. However, Derivational Morphemes indicates semantics relationswithin the word. Fourthly, Inflectional Morphemes occurs with all members of some large class of morphemes. In the contrast, Derivational morpheme occurs with only some members of a class of morphemes. Lastly, Inflectional Morphemes occurs at margins of words. But Derivational Morphemes occurs before any inflectional morpheme.Lexical versus Grammatical Morphemes: Lexical Morphemes are used as we see above to derive new words, so also known as derivational morphemes. These morphemes, whether free or bound, whether roots or affixes. Grammatical Morphemes, on the other hand, are grammatical in nature. They function primarily as grammatical markers or show syntactics relations. They encompass both inflectional morphemes and such free morphemes as “in”, “and”, “do”, “have”, “they”, “while”, “where” and “that”, “which” are traditionally known as functional words. What’s more, the boundary between lexical and grammatical morphemes ,however, is not always clear.7、How are words formed? What rules can we apply to form words?It is clear that words can be analyzed into morphemes, which are minimal meaningful units in the composition of words. In word-formation, however, morphemes are conventionally labeled root, stem, base, and affix. What’s more, word-formation has many processes. It includes Compounding, Affixation, and Shortening.Compounding: COMPOUNDS mostly consist of two or more free morphemes like “dump show”, “hot seat”, “childhood” and “sweetheart”. They are formed on a variety of patterns, which yield three major classes of words: nouns, adjectives and verbs, e.g. “information highway”(n+n), “sunrise”(n+v), pickpocket(v+n). There are also a small number of words which combine with only bound forms as in “biochemistry”, “sociolinguistics”, in which bio-, socio-, tele-, and anglo- are combining forms. According to sematic criteria, compounds fall into four classes. The first class is called ENDOCENTRIC COMPOUNDS comprising words like “armchair” and “house party”. The second class is EXOCENTRIC COMPOUNDS, consisting of words like “redskin” and “birdbrain”. The third class is APPOSITIONAL COMPOUNDS. They are words like “girlfriend” and “women lawyer”. The final classCOPULATIVE COMPOUND is exemplified by “French-German” and “aural-oral”, each of which shows a coordinating relationship and it is often difficult to decide which of the two is the focal element.Affixation: AFFIXATION is also known as derivation, a process of producing new words by adding affixes to stems or bases. As infixes are unknown in English, all the affixes can be classified into prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes change the meaning of the base but normally not the part of speech. For example, “obey”, “treat” and “distribute” are verbs and remain verbs after dis-, mal-, re- are at tached to them as “disobey”, “maltreat” and “redistribute”. Suffixes change the part of speech and alter the meaning as well. For example, if suffixes are added to those words above, their part of speech will all change as “obedient”, “treatment” and “distributor”Shortening: SHORTENING used in this context is a cover term referring to any process of word formation to create words by making the original shorter in various ways. It includes five aspects. Blends are words formed by combining elements of two stems, either part of both words or part of one with the whole of the other. For example, “colaholic” ( cocacola+ aco holic),“telequiz”(telephone+quiz). Besides, Acronyms and Abbreviations are the combinations of initial letters of a noun phrase but they are different mainly in formation and pronunciation. Like “radar”( radio detecting and ranging), VIP(very important person.). Clippings are shorted forms of words by cutting a part off the original. For example, “quake”(earthquake), “van”( advantage) and “flu”(influenza). Backformation is another kind of word creation by means of reduction. For example, “auth”( from author), “bant”(from banting),etc.8、What is referential theory?The REFERENTIAL THEORY is known as the theory of meaning which relates the meaning of a word to the thing it refers to, or stands for. It is generally , as we have shown in the previous section, to explain the meaning of a word by pointing noun phrases, this is especially true. When we say “The most influential linguist” and “Noam Chomsky” to mean a particular person, and “MIT” a particular institution of higher learning.However, there are also problems with this theory. One is that when we explain the mea ning of “desk” by pointing to the thing it refers to, we do not mean a desk must be of theparticular size, shape, colour and material as the desk we are pointing to at the moment of speaking. The theory include Concept.CONCEPT means that something is abstract, which has no existence in the material world and can only be sensed in our mind. A theory which explicitly employs the notion “concept” is the SEMANTIC TRIANGLE proposed by Ogden and Richards in their book The Meaning of Meaning. They argue that the relation between a word and a thing it refers to is not direct. It is mediated by concept.Leech also uses SENSE as a briefer term for his conceptual meaning. This usage is justifiable in that as a technical term “sense” may be used in the same way as “connotation” is used in philosophy. For example, the definition of “desk” as “a piece of furniture with a flat top and four legs, at which one reads and writes” may also be called the sense of “desk”.REFERENCE is different from SENSE. The distinction be tween “sense” and “reference” is comparable to that between “connotation” and “denotation”. The former refers to some abstract properties, while the latter refers to some concrete entities. What’s more, we can say every word has a sense, butnot every word has a reference. For example, “but”, “if” and “and” do not refer anything. And words like “God”, “ghost” and “dragon” refer to imaginary things, which do not exist in reality.9、In Semantics, what are the sense relations?We should define the “sense” first, if we want to know the sense relations.The sense of a word may be seen as the network of its sense relations with others. In other words, sense may be defined as the semantic relations between one word and another, or more generally between one linguistic relationsSo, words are in different SENCE RELATIONS with each other. Some words have more similar senses than others. For example, the sense of “desk” is more closely related to that of “table” than to “chair” . Converse ly we can say the sense of “desk” is more different from that of “chair” than from “table”. And the sense of “desk” is included in the sense of “furniture”, or the sense of “furniture” includes that of “desk”.There are generally three kinds of sense relations recognized, namely, sameness relation, oppositeness relation and inclusiveness relation.。
英语语言学常考大题(本科、研究生、复试通用)
1. 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.2. 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 imitationof 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.3. How is modern linguistics different from traditional grammar?Traditional grammar 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.4. 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.5. 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 amountof information conveyed and it serves a wider range of purposesFinally, the spoken form is the medium through which we acquire our mother tongue.6. 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 from person to person, and from situation to situation.7. 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 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.8. Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole seems similar to Chomsky’sdistinction 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.9. 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.10. 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.11. 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.12. Illustrate with examples how suprasegmental features can affect meaning.1) The location of stress in English distinguishes meaning, such as `import andimport. 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 pronounced with greater force and made more prominent. But to give special emphasis to a certain notion, a word in sentence that is usually unstressed can be stressed to achieve different effect. Take the sentence “He is driving my car.” For example, to emphasize the fact that the car he is driving is not his, or yours, but mine, the speaker can stress the possessive pronoun my, which under normal circumstances is not stressed.3) English has four basic types of intonation, known as the four tones: When spoken in different tones, the same sequence of words may have different meanings. Generally speaking, the falling tone indicates that what is said is a straight-forward, matter-of-fact statement, the rising tone often makes a question of what is said, and the fall-rise tone often indicates that there is an implied message in what is said.13. In what way can we determine whether a phone is a phoneme or not?A basic way to determine the phonemes of a language is to see if substituting one sound for other results in a change of meaning. If it does, the two sounds then represent different phonemes.14. What are the main features of the English compounds?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.15. Discuss the types of morphemes with examples.Free morphemes: They are the independent units of meaning and can be used freely all by themselves, for example, “book-” in the word “bookish”.Bound morphemes: They are those that cannot be used independently but have to be combined with other morphemes, either free or bound, to form a word such as “-ish” in “bookish”. Bound morphemes can be subdivided into roots and affixes. A root is seen as part of a word; it can never stand by itself although it has a clear and definite meaning, such as “gene-” in the word “generate”. Affixes are of two types: inflectional and derivational. Inflectional morphemes manifest various grammatical relations or grammatical categories such as “-s” in the word “books” to indicate plurality of nouns. Derivational affixes are added to an existing form to create a word such as “mis-” in the word “misinform”. Derivational affixes can also be divided into prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes occur at the beginning of a word such as “dis- ” in the word “dislike”, while suffixes occur at the end of a word such as “-less” in the word “friendless”.16. What are the basic components of a sentence?Normally, a sentence consists of at least a subject and its predicate which contains a finite verb or a verb phrase.17. Are the elements in a sentence linearly structured? Why?No. Language is both linearly and hierarchically structured. When a sentence is uttered or written down, the words of the sentence are produced one after another in a sequence. A closer examination of a sentence shows that a sentence is not composed of sequence of words arranged in a simple linear order with one adding onto another following a simple arithmetic logic. In fact, sentences are also hierarchically structured. They are organized by grouping together words of the same syntactic category, such as noun phrase (NP) or verb phrase (VP), as can be seen from the following tree diagram:SNP VPDet N V NPDet NThe boy likes the music.18. What are the advantages of using tree diagrams in the analysis of sentence structures?The tree diagram can not only reveal a linear order, but also a hierarchical structure that groups words into structural constituents. It can, in addition, show the syntactic category of each structural constituent, thus it is believed to most truthfully illustratethe constituent relationship among linguistic elements.。
语言学样题及答案
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. Linguistics is the scientific study of ____C___.A. a particular languageB. the English languageC. human languages in generalD. the system of a particular language2. The consonant [f] in English can be correctly described as having the following phonetic features: ___B____.A. voiceless, bilabial, stopB. voiceless清音, labiodental唇齿音, fricative摩擦音C. voiced, bilabial双唇音, stop闭塞音D. voiced浊音, labiodental, fricative3. There are different types of affixes or morphemes. The affix "ed" in the word "learned" is known as a(n) ___C____.A. derivational morpheme 派生词素B. free morpheme 自由词素C. inflectional morpheme 屈折词素D. free form 自由形态5. "I bought some roses" ____A___ "I bought some flowers".A. entailsB. presupposesC. is inconsistent with 不符合D. is synonymous with 与同义6. Y's utterance说话方式in the following conversation exchange violates 违犯冒犯the maxim of ___C_____.X: Who was that you were with last night?Y: Did you know that you were wearing odd socks?A. qualityB. quantityC. relationD. manner7. Changes in a language are changes in the grammar of the speakers of the language. This means that phonemes, ____C___, words and grammatical rules may be borrowed外来词, added, lost or altered改变.A. phrases 短语B. sentencesC. morphemes 词素D. utterances 话语8. Predication analysis 预测分析is a way to analyze ___D__ meaning.A. phonemeB. wordC. phraseD. sentence9.According to Searle，those illocutionary acts言外行为whose point is to commit承诺the speaker to some future course of action are called __A __.A. commisives 承诺类B. directives 指令类C. expressives 表达类D. declaratives 宣告类18. The famous quotation from Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet” ‘A rose by any othername would smell as sweet’ well illustrates __A_.A. the conventional 传统性nature of languageB. the creative nature of languageC. the universality of language 普遍性D. the arbitrariness of language19. Of the following sound combinations，only ___A____ is permissible 可允许的according to thesequential rules in English.A. kiblB. bkilC. ilkbD. ilbk20. Syntax句法学is the study of___B_____。
arbitrary语言学例子
arbitrary语言学例子语言学概论1. Language—a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication2. Nature of languageArbitrary. Systematic. Vocal. Symbolic. human specific for communication3. Design features of language① Productivity/creativity. produce or understand indefinite sentences by using finite set of rules② Duality. Sounds and meaning system③ Arbitrariness: no connection between words and meanings.④ Displacement. overcome barriers caused by space and time⑤ Transferability. Spoken and read, transfer into each other.⑥ Cultural transmission：Language and culture are closely connected. Languages are parts of culture， reflect culture and pass on from generation to generation by learning4. Function of language① informative function(最重要)② phatic function—maintain social relationship③ recording function④ performative function带来行为效果⑤ physiological/emotive/expressive function⑥ recreation function(pleasure function)5. some basic distinctions in linguistic（前三个是老师重点讲的）⑴ langue and parole(语言和言语)﹡Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of aspeech communityParole refers to particular realization of langue﹡Langue is the social, conventional side of languageParle is individualized speech﹡Langue is relatively stable and systematic, whereasParole is more variable and may change according to contextual factors ﹡Langue and Parole together constitute language⑵synchronic and diachronic(共识语言学和历识语言学)﹡Language can be studied at a given point in time or over time﹡when we study language at one particular time, it is called synchronicstudy(synchronic linguistics)[state of language at any point in history]﹡when we study language developments through time diachronicstudy(diachronic/linguistics)[differences of two or more than two languages over time]⑶competence and performance(能力和表现)﹡competence—the knowledge that native speakers have of their language asa system of abstract formal relations① what he knows② the ideal language users knowledge of that language system③ stable﹡performance—their actual linguistic behavior， the actual use of thisknowledge① what he does② the actual realization of the language user’s knowledge③ variable﹡The language user’s performance is not a true reflection of his competence⑷ prescriptive and descriptivePrescriptive grammars tell what should be in the language.Descriptive grammars tell what is in the language.⑸ speech and writingIn the past, spoken language is primary, but not the written, and the spoken language in some sense dependent upon the standard written language. However, language is primarily vocal.6. Scope of phonetics ①articulatory phonetics 发音语言学（简答题）②acoustic phonetics声学语言学③auditory phonetics听觉语言学7.Constant分类⑴place of articulation① bilabial双唇音② labiodental 唇齿音③ interdental /dental齿间音④ alveolar齿龈音⑤ palatal腭音⑥ velar软腭音⑦ uvula小舌音⑧ glottal声门音⑵manner of articulation① stops/plosives爆破音② fricatives摩擦音③affricates塞擦音④ nasals鼻音⑤ liquids流音⑥ glides滑音8. Phonemes 音素（定义题）定义：the minimum phonemic unit that is not further analyzable into smaller units9. Minimal pairs and sets (定义或者分析题)﹡Minimal pairs: two different forms are identical in every way except for one sound segment that occurs in the same place in the string, the two words are called minimal pairs ﹡Minimal sets: more than two different forms are identical in every way except for one sound segment that occurs in the same place in the string, the words are called minimal sets10. Complementary distribution互补分布（分析题—见原来那张练习）When two or more sounds never occur in an identical phonemic context or environment, they are said to be in complementary distribution11. Pitch音高Intonation语调---pitch differences that extend over phonetic units larger than the syllablesTone声调--- pitch variations12. Morpheme: A morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that carries grammaticaland/or semantic meaning. 可分为 free morpheme and bound morpheme.free morpheme：some morphemes like car, talk, friend, can stand alone as words. (定义题) 又可分为lexical morpheme and functional morphemebound morpheme(affixes): the morphemes which can not stand alone, butfunction only as parts of words.（定义题）又可分为derivational morpheme and inflectional morpheme13. Word formation (简答题)① Compounding合成词② Derivation派生词③ Conversion词形不变，词性变化④ abbreviation(clipping 和 initials＆acronyms)缩略词⑤ blending混合词⑥ back formation逆构词(减词缀)⑦ neologism创造新词⑧ borrowing外来词14. IC Analysis(Immediate Constituents Analysis) （定义题）The segmentation of the sentence up into its immediate constituents by using binary cuttings until its ultimate constituents is obtained.15. Sentence types⑴structural approach① simple sentence② coordinate or compound sentence③ complex sentence⑵functional approach① declarative sentence② interrogative sentence③ imperative sentence④ exclamatory sentence16. Leech’s seven type of meanings⑴conceptual meaning概念意义⑵associative meaning联想意义 connotative meaning内涵意义Social meaningAffective meaningReflected meaning词义间联系Collocative meaning⑶thematic meaning主位意义17. Semantic fieldThe organization of related lexemes into a system which shows their relationship to one another18. Synonymy ＆ Antonymy﹡synonymy--words or expressions with the same or similar meaning﹡antonymy --the relationship of oppositeness of meaning 分类① complementary antonyms② gradable antonyms③ relational opposites19. Intersentential semantic relations (前两条重点)⑴entailment蕴含关系Something that logically follows what is asserted in the utterance⑵presupposition前提What is assumed by the speaker and/or assumed by him or her to be known to the hearer before he or she makes the utterance⑶implicature含义，言外之意In communicative practice, the speaker may use an utterance to imply further information. He or she may imply what he orshe dose not literally means. Such information is called implication20. Speech Act Theory---Sentences are not always uttered just to say things, butrather, they are used to do things21. Speech Act① locutionary act ② illocutionary act ③perlocutionary act22. The cooperative principle and the Politeness Principle⑴The cooperative principle① the maxim of quality ② the maxim of quantity③ the maxim of relevance ④ the maxim of manner⑵The Politeness Principle① tact maxim得体② generosity maxim慷慨③ approbation maxim赞誉④ modesty maxim谦虚⑤ agreement maxim一致⑥ sympathy maxim同情23. Dialect--any regional, social or ethnic variety of a language.分类：①regional dialect—the language variety used in a geographical religion.②social dialect—is used to describe differences in speech associated withvarious social groups or classes. It could be furtherdistinguished by gender, age, ethnic group, religion and class.③temporal dialect ④standard dialect24.register语域the functional variety of language that is defined according to its use in context ﹡Halliday’s register theory –register is determined by 3 factors①field of discourse 话语范围②mode of discourse 话语方式③tenor of discourse 话语意旨25. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis⑴linguistic determinism语言决定论﹡The language we use to some extent determines the way in which we viewand think about the world around us﹡2 versions(strong determinism and weak determinism)⑵linguistic relativity语言相关论﹡Distinctions encoded in one language are unique to that language alone, andthere is no limit to the structural diversity of languages26. Language planningA deliberate attempt, usually at the level of the state or government administration, to affect language use in order to prevent or solve some problems of communication27. Status planningIt changes the function of a language or a variety of a language and the rights of those who use it.28. Development of first language acquisition (4 stages)①the babbling stage②the one-word stage③the two-word stage⑤ the telegraph to infinity stage29. Language testing: the discrete point test, the communicative testthe integrative test ---cloze dictation, oral cloze test, question & answer, paraphrase recognitionAccording to the purpose, tests fall into the achievement test, the proficiency test, the aptitude test, the diagnosis test.All tests fall into the subject test & the objective test.。
陈新仁《英语语言学实用教程》(考研真题精选 判断正误)【圣才出品】
圣才电子书 十万种考研考证电子书、题库视频学习平台
双唇、清音等特征。voicing 是能够区别意义的语音特征之一，但 aspiration 不是。
5. The “Theory of Conversational Implicature” was first proposed by John L. Austin.（北二外 2015 研） 【答案】F 【解析】本题考查会话含义理论。会话含义理论是美国哲学家格莱斯首先提出的，它是语用
2. Onomatopoeic words can show the arbitrary nature of language.（清华 2000 研） 【答案】F 【解析】It is the exception of the arbitrariness of language.
3. The English sentence “If only I could fly!” is in imperative mood.（北二外 2012 研） 【答案】F 【解析】It is in subjunctive mood.
学的核心内容。而奥斯汀提出的是言语行为理论，因此该表述有误。
6. Auditory phonetics studies how sounds are perceived by the speaker.（清华 2001 研） 【答案】F 【解析】It studies how sounds are perceived by the hearer.
7. The Cooperative Principle, an important pragmatic principle proposed by P. Grice, aims to explain how we mean more than we say.（上海外国语大学 2000 研）
语言学教程第一章
16
At
the syntactic level
--- language is not arbitrary at the syntactic level. e.g. He came in and sat down. He sat down and came in. He sat down after he came in.
Language is symbolic in nature
Symbolic---- words are associated with objects, actions, ideas by convention. e.g. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” ----Shakespeare
Different definitions of some Linguists
―From now on I will consider language to be a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.‖ --Noam Chomsky (1928- ): Syntactic Structures (1957)
Human-specific---- different from the communication systems other forms of life possess, e.g. bird songs, bee dance, animal cries. “no matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor but honest.” ----Bertrand Russell
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Arbitrariness of Language作者：杨文娟来源：《课程教育研究·学法教法研究》2016年第23期【Abstract】Arbitrariness is one of the design features of language. And a linguistic sign， the combination between the concept and the sound image， is arbitrary. There exist both absolute and relative arbitrariness. This paper aims to analyze the nature of the arbitrariness and through them， it can lead to explain the essence of many different langauge phenomena.【Keywords】arbitrariness； linguistic sign； concept； sound image【中图分类号】G64 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2016）23-0061-02To start with， it is necessary for us to know that we study on arbitrariness on a synchronic stage instead of a diachronic stage， for what we need and want to know is how to have a better understanding of arbitrariness but is not to master the motivation or the origin of a word. As known，arbitrariness is one of design features of language， which means that there is no intrinsic connection between a word and the thing it refers to. For example，“book” by any other name is the thing we use to read.According to Saussurean linguistic theories，arbitrariness is regarded as “the first principle of linguistics”. Before we analyze arbitrariness， it is necessary for us to have a good understanding of the linguistic sign. The linguistic sign is the combination of the concept and the sound image. Meanwhile， the linguistic sign is always a two-sided psychological entity in which the concept is not just the object but it is a reflection of something in our mind， and the sound image is not just a sound but it is the hearer’s psychological impression of a word. Besides these above， a linguistic sign is also regarded as a combination in which a signal is associated with a signification. And the point is the connection between a signal and a signification is arbitrary. For example，the concept “table”，which is a piece of furniture consisting of a flat top supported on one or more legs， has the sound images /teibl/ in English，（zhuozi） in Chinese and /tabl/ in French. There is no exact connection between the concept and the sound image. Then，let’s take another example. We all know that there are many different dialects， besides Putonghua which is the common speech of Chinese languages，in China. When we come to study on the linguistic sign， we can still get different sound images from the same concept. For instance，“鞋子” has the sound image /xiezi/ in Putonghua， but it is pronounced as /haizi/ in Chongqing dialect or in Baitou dialect and it also has the sound /xiai/ in Henan dialect. As the example shows， although the sound images in different places are different，it does not mean that “鞋子” in these places are different things. Therefore， from the examples above， we can easily recognize the arbitrariness between the concept and the sound image or named the signification and the signal. Or in the contrast， if we deny the arbitrariness of the linguisticsign， we may find that no matter which country we live in in the world， the signs of the table and “鞋子” will totally apply to the same concept， and then there will be no different languages. Of course， this will never happen.However， arbitrariness is not always absolute. There also exists relative arbitrariness. As one part of English vocabulary， onomatopoeic words， which are somewhat motivated， are the evidences for relative arbitrariness. As known， onomatopoeic words can be regarded as imitation of natural sound but they are not exact imitations. Specifically， we can deduce some characteristics of onomatopoeic words， for example， the bark of a dog. It seems that there is no arbitrariness between the concept and the sound image， but when we get to know the bark of a dog in other foreign countries， we will fond that there still exists the arbitrariness. In addition， the sound images of onomatopoeic words are always determined by certain phonological rules. For example， wow-wow in English and wang-wang in Chinese， they are all the bark of a dog. The relationship between the concept and the sound image is still arbitrary. So do compound words. It is certain that the linguistic sign is unmotivated but there really is motivated sign. For instance， shoe-maker is a compound word. There are two different constituents，which are “shoe” and “maker”. From them，we can find motivations when we analyze the structure of the word and the its concept， but it is unmotivated when we analyze the two constituents separately.All in all， arbitrariness is a design feature of language. And the linguistic sign is arbitrary which means that the connection between the concept and the sound image or between the signification and the signal is arbitrary. What’s more， it is clear that there exist not only the absolute arbitrariness but also the relative arbitrariness.References：[1]Manfu， Duan. On the Arbitrary Nature of Linguistic Sign. In Theory and Practice in Language Studies，（vol. 2， No. 1）， 2012： 54-59.[2]段满福、李满亮，《实用英语语言学》.呼和浩特：内蒙古大学出版社，2007.[3]罗宾斯，《普通语言学概论》.北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2000.[4]胡壮麟、姜望琪，《语言学高级教程》.北京：北京大学出版社，2002.。