英语语言学试题(1)及答案
英语语言学试题（1）
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、As modern linguistics aims to describe and analyze the language people actually use, and not to lay down rules for "correct" linguistic behavior, it is said to be ___.
A、prescriptive
B、sociolinguistic
C、descriptive
D、psycholinguistic
2、Of all the speech organs, the ___ is/are the most flexible.
A、mouth
B、lips
C、tongue
D、vocal cords
3、The morpheme "vision" in the common word "television" is a(n) ___.
A、bound morpheme
B、bound form
C、inflectional morpheme
D、free morpheme
4、A ___ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory word that introduces the embedded clause.
A、coordinator
B、particle
C、preposition
D、subordinator
5、"Can I borrow your bike?" _____ "You have a bike."
A、is synonymous with
B、is inconsistent with
C、entails
D、presupposes
6、The branch of linguistics that studies how context influences the way speakers interpret sentences is called ___.
A、semantics
B、pragmatics
C、sociolinguistics
D、psycholinguistics
7、Grammatical changes may be explained, in part, as analogic changes, which are ___ or generalization.
A、elaboration
B、simplification
C、external borrowing
D、internal borrowing
8、___ refers to a marginal language of few lexical items and straightforward grammatical rules, used as a medium of communication.
A、Lingua franca
B、Creole
C、Pidgin
D、Standard language
9、Psychologists, neurologists and linguists have concluded that, in addition to the motor area which is responsible for physical articulation of utterances, three areas of the left brain are vital to language, namely, ___ .
A、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and the angular gyrus
B、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and cerebral cortex
C、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and neurons
D、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and Exner's area
10、According to Krashen, ___ refers to the gradual and subconscious development of ability in the first language by using it naturally in daily communicative situations.
A、learning
B、competence
C、performance
D、acquisition
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、Chomsky defines "competence" as the ideal user's k_______ of the rules of his language.
12、The four sounds /p/,/b/,/m/ and /w/have one feature in common, i.e, they are all b______ .
13、M_______ is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.
14、A s______ is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to form a complete statement, question or command.
15、Synonyms that are mutually substitutable under all circumstances are called c______ synonyms.
16、The illocutionary point of r_____ is to commit the speaker to something's being the case, to the truth of what has been said.
17、Words are created outright to fit some purpose. Such a method of enlarging the vocabulary is known as word c______.
18、Wherever the standard language can use a contraction (he+is→he's), Black English can d___ the form of "be".
19、The basic essentials of the first language are acquired in the short period from about age two to puberty, which is called the c______period for first language acquisition.
20、As a type of linguistic system in 12 learning, I ______is a product of L2 training, mother tongue intereference, overgeneralization of the target language rules, and learning and communicative strategies of the learner.
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. If you think a statement is false, you must explain why you think so and give the correct version. (2%×10=20%)
( )21、In modern linguistic studies, the written form of language is given more emphasis than the spoken form for a number of reasons.
( )22、V oicing is a phonological feature that distinguishes meaning in both Chinese and English.
( )23、The compound word "bookstore" is the place where books are sold. This indicates that the meaning of a compound is the sum total of the meanings of its components.
( )24、Syntactic categories refer to sentences (S) and clauses (C) only.
( )25、Dialectal synonyms can often be found in different regional dialects such as British English and American English but cannot be found within the variety itself, for example, within British English or American English. ( )26、Only when a maxim under Cooperative Principle is blatantly violated and the hearer knows that it is being violated do conversational implicatures arise.
( )27、The territory in which the Indo-European languages are mainly spoken today also includes languages that are not Indo-European.
( )28、In most bilingual communities, two languages have the same in speech situations known as domains. ( )29、According to the strong version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, speakers' perceptions determine language and pattern their way of life.
( )30、All normal children have equal ability to acquire their first language.
IV. Directions: Explain the following terms, using one or two examples for illustration. (3%×10=30%)
31、duality
32、diachronic linguistics
33、broad transcription
34、morphological rules
35、phrase structure rule
36、relational opposites
37、componential analysis
38、context
39、euphemism
40、brain lateralization
V. Answer the following questions. (10%×2=20%)
41、Explain how the inventory of sounds can change, giving some examples in English for illustration.
42、Briefly discuss the individual factors which affect the acquisition of a second language.
语言学试题(1)参考答案
一、单项选择题（本大题共10小题，每小题2分，共20分）
1、C
2、C
3、D
4、D
5、D
6、B
7、B
8、C
9、A 10、D
二、填空题（本大题共10小题，每小题1分，共10分）
11、knowledge
12、bilabial
13、morphology
14、sentence
15、complete
16、representatives
17、coinage
18、delete
19、critical
20、interlanguage
三、判断改错题（本大题共10小题，每小题2分，共20分）
21、F
Actually modern linguistics lays more emphasis on the spoken form of language than the written form for a number of reasons.
22、F
V oicing distinguishes meaning in English but not in Chinese.
23、F
The meaning of some compound words has nothing to do with the sum total of the meanings of their components, such as the compound "redcoat".
24、F
Apart from S and C, they also refer to a word, or a phrase that performs a particular grammatical function.
25、F
Dialectal synonyms can often be found not only in different regional dialects such as British English and American English but also within the variety itself. For example, within British English, "girl" is called "lassie" in Scottish dialect, and "liquor" is called "whishey" in Irish dialect.
26、T
27、T
28、F
They have a fairly clear fairly clear functional differentiation, i.e. one language may be used in some domains, other language in other domains.
29、F
The true statement is "According to the strong version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, language determines speakers' perceptions and patterns their way of life"
30、T
四、名词解释题（本大题共10小题，每小题3分，共30分）
31、One of the major defining features of human language. Human language consists of two levels. At the lower level, there are a limited number of sounds which are meaningless while at the higher level there are an unlimited number of combinations of these sounds. It is also known as double articulation.
32、Linguistics that studies language over a period of time, also known as historical linguistics, e.g.the study of the Chinese language since the end of the Qing dynasty up to the present.
33、A way to transcribe speech sounds. The basic principle is to use one letter to indicate one sound. It is generally
used in dictionaries and language teaching textbooks.
34、The rules that govern which affix can be added to what type of stem to form a new word, e.g.-ly can be added to a noun to form an adjective.
35、a rewrite rule that allows for the possible combinations of words to form phrases and sentences
36、Relational opposites, a kind of antonyms, refer to pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between the two items. For example, "husband" and "wife", "father" and "son" etc.
37、Componential analysis is a way proposed by the structural semanticists to analyze word meaning. The approach is based upon the belief that the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features. For example, the word "man" is analyzed as comprising of +HUMAN,+ADULT,+ANIMATE,+MALE.
38、Context is regarded as constituted by all kinds of knowledge assumed to be shared by the speaker and the hearer, For example, the knowledge of the language used and the knowledge of the world, including the general knowledge about the world and the specific knowledge about the situation in which linguistic communication is taking place.
39、A euphemism is a mild, indirect or less offensive word or expression that replaces a taboo word or serves to avoid more direct wording that might be harsh, unpleasantly direct, or offensive, e.g. "pass away" for "die".
40、Brain lateralization refers to the localization of cognitive and perceptual functions in a particular hemisphere of the brain. For example, the right hemisphere processes stimuli more holistically and the left hemisphere more analytically. In most people, the left hemisphere has primary responsibility for language, while the right hemisphere controls visual and spatial skills.
五、论述题（本大题共2小题，每小题10分，共20分）
41、The inventory of sounds can change, and sound changes include changes in vowel sounds, sound loss, sound addition, and sound movement.
1) V owel sound change: English has undergone the systematic and regular change in the vowel sounds, known as the Great Vowel shift which occurred at the end of the Middle English period and which involved seven long, or tense vowels. These changes led to one of the major discrepancies between the phonemic representations of words and morphemes, i.e. between pronunciation and the spelling system of Modern English, e.g.five→/fi:v/(Middle English)→/faiv/(Modern English)
2) Sound loss: Sounds can change by the loss of phonemes. In the history of English the velar fricative /x/ was lost. This sound existed in Old English, so "night" was pronounced as /nixt/, but in Modern English, its pronunciation is /nait/.
3) Sound addition: Sound addition includes the gain or insertion of a sound. For example, the word leisure was borrowed from French, so the phoneme /3/ was added to the inventory of English sounds. A change that involves the insertion of a consonant or vowel sound to the middle of a word is known as epenthesis, e.g.spinle--spindle. 4) Sound movement: Sound change as a result of sound movement known as metathesis involves a reversal in position of two adjoining sound segments. Metathesis is less common, but it does exist. In some dialects of English, for example, the word ask is pronounced /? ks/. Also, bridd ("bird") is an Old English word. When metathesis occurred to this word, the movement of /r/ sound to the right of the vowel sound resulted in its Modern English counterpart "bird".
评分标准：满分为10分，总论及四小点各占2分。
42、The acquisition of a second language is dependent on a combination of factors. The rate and ultimate success in SLA are affected not only by learners' experience with optimal input and instruction, but also by individual learner factors. The learner factors that have captured the attention of SLA researchers include age, motivation, acculturation, and personality:
1) Age The optimum age for SLA does not always accord with the maxim of "the younger the better." But it has been demonstrated that adolescents are quicker and more effective L2 learners than young children. The early
teenagers are good L2 learners because their flexibility of the language acquisition faculty has not been completely lost and their cognitive skills have developed considerably to facilitate the processing of linguistic features of a new language.
2) Motivation Adults are motivated to learn a second language because of a communicative need. If the learners have a strong instrumental need to learn a second language or have a strong interest in the way of life of native speakers of the language they are learning, they are most likely to succeed.
3) Acculturation The more a learner aspires to acculturate to the community of the target language, the further he or she will progress along the developmental continuum.
4) Personality The generally outgoing adult learners learn more quickly and therefore are more successful than the generally reserved ones.
英语语言学试题及答案
英语语言学试题（1） 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、As modern linguistics aims to describe and analyze the language people actually use, and not to lay down rules for "correct" linguistic behavior, it is said to be ___. A、prescriptive B、sociolinguistic C、descriptive D、psycholinguistic 2、Of all the speech organs, the ___ is/are the most flexible. A、mouth B、lips C、tongue D、vocal cords 3、The morpheme "vision" in the common word "television" is a(n) ___. A、bound morpheme B、bound form C、inflectional morpheme D、free morpheme 4、A ___ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory word that introduces the embedded clause. A、coordinator B、particle C、preposition D、subordinator 5、"Can I borrow your bike?" _____ "You have a bike." A、is synonymous with B、is inconsistent with C、entails D、presupposes 6、The branch of linguistics that studies how context influences the way speakers interpret sentences is called ___. A、semantics B、pragmatics C、sociolinguistics D、psycholinguistics 7、Grammatical changes may be explained, in part, as analogic changes, which are ___ or generalization. A、elaboration B、simplification C、external borrowing D、internal borrowing 8、___ refers to a marginal language of few lexical items and straightforward grammatical rules, used as a medium of communication. A、Lingua franca B、Creole C、Pidgin D、Standard language 9、Psychologists, neurologists and linguists have concluded that, in addition to the motor area which is responsible for physical articulation of utterances, three areas of the left brain are vital to language, namely, ___ . A、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and the angular gyrus B、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and cerebral cortex C、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and neurons D、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and Exner's area 10、According to Krashen, ___ refers to the gradual and subconscious development of ability in the first language by using it naturally in daily communicative situations. A、learning B、competence C、performance D、acquisition 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、Chomsky defines "competence" as the ideal user's k_______ of the rules of his language. 12、The four sounds /p/,/b/,/m/ and /w/have one feature in common, i.e, they are all b______ . 13、M_______ is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed. 14、A s______ is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to form a complete statement, question or command. 15、Synonyms that are mutually substitutable under all circumstances are called c______ synonyms. 16、The illocutionary point of r_____ is to commit the speaker to something's being the case, to the truth of what has been said. 17、Words are created outright to fit some purpose. Such a method of enlarging the vocabulary is known as word c______.
华师在线-网院-英语语言学复习资料(考试题库)
Which of the following forms a minimal pair? A.fear, pear B.tip, pit C.food, foot D.beat, bit 答案:D The word "realization" consists of _____ syllables as against _____ morphemes. A.five/five B.five/four C.four/three D.four/four 答案:C Which of the following best describes the relations between “Alice is a vegetarian” and “Alice prefers eating steak”? A.The former is synonymous with the latter. B.The former is inconsistent with the latter. C.The former entails the latter. D.The former presupposes the latter. 答案:B Which of the following underlined parts is a free morpheme? A.understandable B.eastward C.otherwise D.without 答案:D Which of the following is a directive? A.Your money or your life! B.You are fired! C.The earth is round. D.Thank you very much. 答案:A How many arguments are there in “I’m not feeling very well”? A.no B.one C.three D.five 答案:B The word “boatel” is a(n) ____. A.acronym B.blend C.clipped word D.coined word 答案:B ‘Parent’ and ‘child’ are ___. A.gradable antonyms B.ungradable opposites C.relational opposites https://www.sodocs.net/doc/0a9159124.html,plementary synonyms 答案:C Which of the following is the head of the phrase ‘often read science fictions’? A.often B.read C.science D.fictions 答案:B ‘That is a box’ is a ___-place predication. A.no B.one C.two D.three 答案:B The word “DINK” is a(n) ____. A.acronym B.blend C.clipped word D.coined word 答案:A Around the time of their second birthday, children begin to produce ____ utterances. A.one-word B.two-word C.three-word D.four-word 答案:B Which of the following underlined parts is NOT an inflectional morpheme? A.teeth B.speaking C.taken D.chaos 答案:D The design features of human language include the following features EXCEPT____. A.duality of structure B.genetic feature C.arbitrariness D.displacement 答案:B ‘Like’ and ‘dislike’ are ___. A.gradable antonyms B.ungradable opposites C.relational opposites https://www.sodocs.net/doc/0a9159124.html,plementary synonyms 答案:A Which of the following is an expressive? A.The earth is a globe. B.Your money or your life! C.I’m very grateful for your help. D.I fire you. 答案:C ‘Slim’ and‘skinny’ are ___. A.dialectal synonyms B.collocational synonyms C.stylistic synonyms D.synonyms that differ in their emotive meaning 答案:D Which of the following best explains the relationship between “I like Beijing opera” and “I dislike Beijing opera”? A.inconsistency B.anomaly C.contradiction D.entailment 答案:A The chief exponent of the behaviorist view of language acquisition is ____. A.Bloomfield
2021复旦大学英语语言文学考研参考书真题经验
复旦大学 英语语言文学考研经验
从决定考研开始就一直查各种资料和各种考验心得，经常在high研看师哥师姐们的热血经历，也得到了很多师哥师姐们的帮助，在这里先谢谢大家了。 我准备考研比较早，元旦左右就开始了，因为大三课比较多，所以前期复习时间较短，速度有点慢，因此，如果大家已经有目标，建议越早开始越好The early bird catches the worm! 政治： 暑假开始复习政治，一直到最后都是跟着肖秀荣老师的书在走，1000题很重要，可以抓很多细节性的知识，建议不要在书上直接写，方便后期反复利用。暑假期间可以先看去年大纲，大概有个印象，最后冲刺时四八套题一定要好好背，今年肖老师大题基本都中了。政治最好每天都分配一定的时间，这一科记得快忘的也快。 考研政治每门课都是一个庞大的体系，有着大量的内容。因此需要建构每门课的大体系框架，通过一个框架把整门课连接起来，背李凡政治新时器就够了。以中国近现代史纲要为例，以时间顺序可以把中国近现代史纲要分为两部分，即以1949年10月为分界限的中国近代史和中国现代史。 中国近代史又可分为两部分，即以“五四运动”为界限的旧民主主义运动和新民主主义运动两部分。在这两个阶段有一条非常明显的主线：列强对中国的侵略和中华民族各个阶层为了中国的独立所做出的努力。 根据这条主线旧民主主义运动又可以分为几个部分，即地主阶级、资产阶级维新派、资产阶级革命派、农民阶级做出的尝试，分别是“洋务运动”“戊戌变法”“辛亥革命”“太平天国运动”和“义和团运动”。“五四运动”后的新民主主义运动也可根据主线分为几个阶段，即第一次国内革命战争时期，国共十年对峙时期，抗日战争时期，解放战争时期。 中国现代史就是新中国的建设史，可以根据这条主线分为几个阶段，即1949~1956年的过渡时期，1956~1966年的社会主义建设时期，1966~1976年的“十年文革”时期，1976以后的社会主义建设新时期。 二外法语： 本科学校教材是新大学法语，我复习用过的资料有：考研必备，二外法语考研综合（肖红），和圣才出版的名校历年二外真题，不过这些书提供的答案有些
英语语言学试题库
英语语言学 Ⅰ.Directions：Read each of the following statements carefully，Decide which of the four choices completes the statement and put the letter A,B,C or D in the brackets. 1.There are ( )main areas of phonetic study. A.2 B.3 C.4 D.5 ANSWER:B 2.The term( )linguistics may be defined as a way of referring to the approach which studies language change over various periods of time and at various historical stages. A.synchronic B.diachronic https://www.sodocs.net/doc/0a9159124.html,parative D.historical comparative ANSWER:B 3.Foreign language learning always contain ( ) A language historical process learning B.input and language learning C inter language in language learning D.grammar and language learning ANSWER:BCD 4.The way in which people address each other depends on their age, sex, social group, and personal relationship. The English system of address forms frequently used includes first name, last name, title+ last name, ( )and kin term. A title+ first name B title+ title
英语专业考研 语言学复习题附答案
英语专业考研语言学复习题附答案 Chapter I Introduction I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False: 1. Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language. 2.Linguistics studies particular language, not languages in general. 3. A scientific study of language is based on what the linguist thinks. 4. In the study of linguistics, hypotheses formed should be based on language facts and checked against the observed facts. 5. General linguistics is generally the study of language as a whole. 6. General linguistics, which relates itself to the research of other areas, studies the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods applicable in any linguistic study. 7. Phonetics is different from phonology in that the latter studies the combinations of the sounds to convey meaning in communication. 8. Morphology studies how words can be formed to produce meaningful sentences. 9. The study of the ways in which morphemes can be combined to form words is called morphology. 10. Syntax is different from morphology in that the former not only studies the morphemes, but also the combination of morphemes into words and words into sentences. 11. The study of meaning in language is known as semantics. 12. Both semantics and pragmatics study meanings. 13. Pragmatics is different from semantics in that pragmatics studies meaning not in isolation, but in context. 14. Social changes can often bring about language changes. 15. Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society. 16. Modern linguistics is mostly prescriptive, but sometimes descriptive. 17. Modern linguistics is different from traditional grammar. 18. A diachronic study of language is the description of language at some point in time. 19 Modern linguistics regards the written language as primary, not the written language. 20. The distinction between competence and performance was proposed by F. de Saussure. II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given: 21. Ch omsky defines “ competence” as the ideal user’s k__________ of the rules of his language. https://www.sodocs.net/doc/0a9159124.html,ngue refers to the a__________ linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community while the parole is the concrete use of the conventions and application of the rules. 23.D_________ is one of the design features of human language which refers to the phenomenon that language consists of two levels: a lower level of meaningless
英语语言学试题(2)及答案-2002年1月
英语语言学试题（2） 一、单项选择题(在每小题的四个备选答案中，选出一个正确答案，并将正确答案的序号填在题干的括号内。每小题2分，共20分) 1. The pair of words “lend”and “borrow” are ___. A. gradable opposites B. relational opposites C. co-hyponyms D. synonyms 2. The discovery of Indo-European language family began with the work of the British scholar____ . A. Jacob Grimm B. Rasmus Rask C. Franz Bopp D. Sir William Jones 3. A linguist regards the changes in language and language use as ___. A. unusual B. something to be feared C. abnormal D. natural 4. ___produce fast and fluent speech with good intonation and pronunciation but the content of their speech ranges from mildly inappropriate to complete nonsense, often as unintelligible. A. Broca's aphasic B. The linguistic deprivation C. The damage on the angular gyrus D. Wernicke's aphasic 5. Some Southern learners of English in China tend to say “night” as “light”. This shows:___ A. They cannot pronounce/n/ B. Interlangue interference because there is not the sound /n/in their mother tongue C. The teachers do not have a good teaching method D. They do not like to pronounce nasal sounds 6. A word with several meanings is called __word. A. a polysemous B. a synonymous C. an abnormal D. a multiple 7. The function of the sentence “A nice day, isn't it?” is __. A. informative B. phatic C. directive D. performative 8. The most recognizable differences between American English and British English are in __ and vocabulary. A. usage B. grammar C. pronunciation D. structure 9.__deals with the way in which a language varies through geographical space. A. Linguistic geography B. Lexicology C. Lexicography D. Sociolinguistics 10.The semantic c omponents of the word “gentleman” can be expressed as __. A. +animate, +male, +human,-adult B. +animate, +male, +human, +adult C. +animate, -male, +human,-adult D. +animate,-male,+ human, +adult 二、填空题(每空1分，共10分) 11. A sentence is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of w________ to form a complete statement, q ________or command. 12. In sociolinguistic studies, speakers are treated as members of s____ g________. 13. Utterance is based on ________ ________ ;it is the realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation of communication, or simply in a context. 14. To many people, a linguist is the same as a ________, one who can speak several languages fluently. 15. Consonant sounds can be either v ________or v____, while all vowel sounds are v________. 三、判断说明题(判断下列各小题，正确的在题后括号内写“T”，错的写“F”，并说明理由。每小题2分，共20分) 16. All words may be said to contain a root morpheme.( ) 17. Tense and reference are two terms often encountered in the study of meaning.( ) 18. Linguistics is the course of language.( ) 19. The part of a sentence which comprises an infinite verb or a verb phrase is grammatically called
英语语言学考研真题与典型题详解
I. Fill in the blanks. 1. The features that define our human languages can be call ed ______ features. (北二外2006研) 2. Linguistics is usually defined as the ______study of language. (北二外2003研) 3. Language, broadly speaking, is a means of______ communication. 4. In any language words can be used in new ways to mean new things and can be combined into innumerable sentences based on limited rules. This feature is usually ter med______ 5. Linguistics is the scientific study of______. 6. Modern linguistic is______ in the sense that the linguist tries to discover what language is rather than lay down some rules for people to observe. 7. One general principle of linguistic analysis is the primacy of ______ over writing. 8. The branch of linguistics which studies the sound patterns of a language is called ______. (北二外2003研) 9. The branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words is called______ . (北二外2004研) 10. ______mainly studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription. (北二外2005研) 11. Semantics and ______investigate different aspects of linguistic meaning. (北二外2007研) 12. In linguistics, ______ refers to the study of the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences in a language, or simply, the study of the formation as sentence. (中山大学2008研) 13. ______can be defined as the study of language in use. Sociolinguistics, on the other hand, attempts to show the relationship between language and society. 14. The branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of sentence is called _______. (北二外2008研) 15. Saussure distinguished the linguistic competence of the speaker and the actual ph enomena or data of linguistics (utterances) as and . The former refers to the abstract linguistic linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and the latter is the concrete manifestation of language either through speech or through writing. (人大2006研) 16. The description of a language as it changes through time is a ______ study. 17. Linguistic potential is similar to Saussure’s langue and Chomsky’s______. 18. One of the important distinctions in linguistics is ______ and parole. The former is the French word for “language”,which is the abstract knowledge necessary for s peaking，listening， writing and reading. The latter is concerned about the actual use of language by peop le in speech or writing. Parole is more variable and may change according to contextu al factors. 19. One of the important distinctions in linguistics is and performance. (人大2006研) 20. Chomsky initiated the distinction between ______ and performances. (北二外2007研) II. Multiple Choice 1.Which of the following is NOT a frequently discussed design feature? (大连外国语学院 2008研) A. Arbitrariness B. Convention C. Duality of the following words is entirely arbitrary? (西安交大2008研) A. tree B. crash C. typewriter D. bang
英语语言学第1-3章课后练习题
《新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版第1-3章练习题参考答案 Chapter 1 Introduction P13 1. How do you interpret the following definition of linguistics: Linguistics is the scientific study of language？ 答：Linguistics is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. In order to discover the nature and rules of the underlying language system, the linguists has to collect and observe language facts first, which are found to display some similarities, and generalizations are made about them; then he formulates some hypotheses about the language structure. The hypotheses thus formed have to be checked repeatedly against the observed facts to fully prove their validity. In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation, that is, a theory without the support of data can hardly claim validity, and data without being explained by some theory remain a muddled mass of things. 2. What are the major branches of linguistics? What does each of them study? 答：The major branches of linguistics are: (1) phonetics: it studies the sounds used in linguistic communication; (2) phonology: it studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication; (3) morphology: it studies the way in which linguistic symbols representing sounds are arranged and combined to form words; (4) syntax: it studies the rules which govern how words are combined to form grammatically permissible sentences in languages; (5) semantics: it studies meaning conveyed by language; (6) pragmatics: it studies the meaning in the context of language use. 3. In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar? 答：The general approach thus traditionally formed to the study of language over the years is roughly referred to as “t raditional gramma r.” Modern linguistics differs from traditional g rammar in several basic ways. Firstly, linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive. Second, modem linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tended to emphasize, maybe over-emphasize, the importance of the written word, partly because of its permanence. Then, modem linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework. 4. Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic? Why? 答：In modem linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic one. Because people believed that unless the various states of a language in different historical periods are successfully studied, it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development. 5. For what reasons does modern linguistics give priority to speech rather than to writing? 答：Speech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication. Modem linguistics regards the spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of human language for some obvious reasons. From the point of view of linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any langu age is always “invented” by its users to record speech when the need arises. Even in today's world there are still many languages that can only be spoken but not written. Then in everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed. And also, speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue, and writing is learned and taught later when he goes to school. For modern linguists, spoken language reveals many true features of human speech while written language is only the “revised” record of spe ech. Thus their data for investigation and analysis are mostly drawn from everyday speech, which they regard as authentic.