大学英语语言学练习题考试必考题

1、I. 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. 1. Clear 1 and dark are allophones of the same one phoneme /1/.They never take the same position in sound combinations

2、, thus they are said to be in complementary distribution. (P24)2. Morphology is the smallest meaningful unit of language. (P32)3. Consonant sounds can be either voiceless or voiced, while all vowel sounds are voiced. (P16)4. In making conversation, the general principle that all participants ar

3、e expected to observe is called the Cooperative principle proposed by J. Grice. (P86-87)5.  Language exists in time and changes through time. The description of a language at some point of time is called a synchronic study of language. (P4)6. An essential difference between conso

4、nants and vowels is whether the air coming up from the lungs meets with any obstruction when a sound is produced. (P18)7. XP may contain more than just X. For example, the NP “the boy who likes this puppy” consists of Det, N and S, with Det being the specifier, N the head and S the complement.

5、(P46)9.  While the meaning of a sentence is abstract and decontextualized, that of an utterance is concrete and context-dependent. (P70)11. Psycholinguistics relates the study of language to psychology. It aims to answer such questions as how the human mind works when people use language.

6、(P70)12. A diachronic study of language is a historical study, it studies the historical development of language over a period of time. (P70)13. Language is a system, which consists of two sets of structures, or two levels. At the lower level, there is a structure of meaningless sounds, which can be

7、 combined into a large number of meaningful units at the higher level. This design feature is called duality. (P70)14. The articulatory apparatus of a human being is contained in three important areas: the pharyngeal cavity, the oral cavity and the nasal cavity. (P15)16. Suprasegmental features such

8、 as stress, tone and intonation can influence the interpretation of meaning. (P70)18. Homonymy refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings are identical in sound or spelling, or in both. (P70)19. The three branches of phonetics are labeled as articulatory phonetics, auditory phonet

9、ics and acoustic phonetics respectively. (P15)21. Syntax_ studies the sentence structure of language. (P70)22. The noun “tear” and the verb “tear” are homonymy. (P70)23. Speech act theory is an important theory in the pragmatic study of language. (P70)24. The modern linguistics is descript

10、ive, not prescriptive, and its investigations are based on authentic and mainly spoken language data. (P70)25. Langue refers to the language system shared by a community of speaker while parole contrasted with langue is the concrete act of speaking in actual situations by an individual speaker. (P70

11、)26. In semantic triangle, the relation between a word and a thing it refers to is not direct, and it is mediated by concept. (P70)27. H. Sweet made a distinction between narrow and broad transcription. (P70)28. In the cooperative principle, Grice introduced four categories of maxims. They are maxim

12、 of quality, maxim of quantity, maxim of relation and maxim of manner. (P70)29. Pragmatics is the study of language in use. (P70)30. Historical linguistics studies language change or historical development of language. (P70)II. Directions：Decide whether each of the following statements is true or fa

13、lse. Put a T for true or F for false in the brackets in front of each statement.( T )1. Language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between words and what these words actually refer to.( T ) 2. The syntactic rules of any language are finite in number, and yet there is no

14、 limit to the number of sentences native speakers of that language are able to produce and comprehend.( T ) 3. Two people who are born and brought up in the same town and speak the same regional dialect may speak differently because of a number of social factors. ( T ) 4. In modern linguistic studie

15、s, the spoken form of language is given more emphasis than the written form for a number of reasons. ( F ) 5. The compound word “reading-room” is the place where a person can read books. This indicates that the meaning of a compound is the sum total of the meanings of its components. ( T ) 6. Only w

16、hen a maxim under Cooperative Principle is blatantly violated and the hearer knows that it is being violated do conversational implicatures arise. ( T ) 7. In English, long vowels are also tense vowels because when we pronounce a long vowel such as /i:/,the larynx is in a state of tension.( T ) 8. A

17、n important difference between traditional grammarians and modern linguists in their study of language is that the former tended to over-emphasize the written form of language and encourage people to imitate the “best authors” for language usage.( T ) 9. The open-class words include prepositions.( T

18、 ) 10. According to semantic triangle, there is no direct link between a symbol and referent, i.e. between a word and a thing it refers to. ( T ) 11. The relationship of “flower”, “violet”, “rose” and “tulip” is hyponymy.( F ) 12. Only words of the same parts of speech can be combined to form compou

19、nds. (sunrise)( T ) 13. Linguists believe that whatever occurs in the language people use should be described and analyzed in their investigation.( F ) 14. The conclusions we reach about the phonology of one language can be generalized into the study of another language.( F ) 15. The meaning-distinc

20、tive function of the tone is especially important in English because English, unlike Chinese, is a typical tone language.( F ) 16. When we think of a concept, we actually try to see the image of something in our minds eye every time we come across a linguistic symbol.( F ) 17. All utterances can be

21、restored to complete sentences. For example, “Good morning！” can be restored to “I wish you a good morning.”( T ) 18. Any child who is capable of acquiring some particular human language is capable of acquiring any human language spontaneously and effortlessly.( F ) 19. According to N. Chomsky, 

22、;”competence” is the actual realization of his knowledge in utterance.( F ) 20. The English spelling exactly represents its pronunciation.( F ) 21. All the grammatically well-formed sentences are semantically well-formed.( T ) 22. Pragmatics studies the aspect of meaning that is not accounted for by

23、 semantics.( F ) 23. An illocutionary act is the consequence of or the change brought about by the utterance.( T ) 24. Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. ( T ) 25. The writing system of a language is always a later invention used to record speech; thus

24、 there are still many languages in todays world that can only be spoken, but not written.( F ) 26. In classifying the English consonants and vowels, the same criteria can be applied.( F ) 27. Parole refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community.( T ) 28. Co

25、nversational implicature is a kind of implied meaning, deduced on the basis of the conventional meaning of words together with the context, under the guidance of the CP and its maxims.( F ) 29. Pragmatic failure may occur in cross-cultural communication, i.e. between speakers of different cultural b

26、ackgrounds, but not occur in intra-cultural communication i.e. between speakers of the same cultural background.( T ) 30. Sense and reference are two terms often encountered in the study of meaning.III. Directions: Explain the following terms, using one or two examples for illustration when necessar

27、y. 1. diachronic linguistics 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.2. synchronic linguisticsLinguistics that studies language at one particular point of

28、 time, e.g. the study of the kind of English used during Shakespeares time.3. LanguageLanguage is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.4. contextContext is generally considered as constituted by the knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer.5. blendingA process of fo

29、rming a new word by combining parts of other words. E.g. smog- smoke + fog.6. referenceReference is what a linguistic form refers to in the real world; it is a matter of the relationship between the form and the reality. 7. broad transcription Broad transcription is the transcription with letter sym

30、bols only. It is the transcription normally used in dictionaries and teaching textbooks.8. a minimal pairA pair of sound combinations which are identical in every way except one sound segment which occurs in the same position in the strings, e.g. /pit/ and /bit/. 9. homonymyHomonymy refers to the ph

31、enomenon that words having different meanings are identical in sound or spelling, or in both. eg. night / knight; lead v. / lead n.; fast adj. / fast v.10. hyponymyIt refers to meaning inclusiveness, that is, the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific wor

32、d. e.g. The relationship of “flower”, “violet”, “rose” and “tulip” is hyponymy.11. cultural transmission (as a defining feature of human language)One of the major defining features of human language. Humans are born with the ability to acquire a language, but different from animals, the actual use o

33、f human language is not genetically transmitted, rather it is culturally transmitted, i.e. it has to be taught and learnt.12. allophones Allophones are the different phones that represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments.13. morphology Morphology is a branch of grammar which studies the

34、internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed. 14. dualityLanguage is a system, which consists of two sets of structures, or two levels. At the lower level, there is a structure of meaningless sounds, which can be combined into a large number of meaningful units at the higher l

35、evel. This design feature is called duality. 15. pragmaticsIt refers to the study of language in use.16. bound morphemeThe morphemes that do not occur alone.17. arbitrarinessThe forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning.18. syntaxSyntax studies the sentence structure of

36、 language.IV. Answer the following questions. 1. What are the four maxims under the cooperative principle? （P86-87）According to Grice, there are four maxims under the cooperative principle:A. The maxim of quantity1) Make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purpose of t

37、he exchange) .2) Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.B. The maxim of quality1) Do not say what you believe to be false.2) Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.C. The maxim of relationBe relevant.D. The maxim of manner1) Avoid obscurity of expression. 

38、                             2) Avoid ambiguity.3) Be brief ( avoid unnecessary prolixity) .       4) Be orderly.2. How are s

39、entence meaning and utterance meaning related, and how do they differ? (P79)The meaning of a sentence is abstract and de-contextualized, while the meaning of an utterance is concrete and context-dependent. Utterance meaning is based on sentence meaning, and it is the realization of the abstract mean

40、ing of a sentence in a real situation of communication, or simply in a context. 3. How is Saussures distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomskys distinction between competence and performance? What do they differ? ( P4-5)1) Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all t

41、he members of a speech community, and parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. Chomsky defines competence as the ideal users knowledge of the rules of his language, and performance the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. 2) Both Saussure and Chomsky mak

42、e the distinction between the abstract language system and the actual use of language. Their purpose is to single out the language system for serious study. Similar to Saussure, Chomsky thinks what linguist should study is the ideal speakers competence, and the task of linguists is to discover and s

43、pecify the rules of language.3) Two linguists differ in that Saussure took a sociological view of language, while Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view. 4. What are the differences between modern linguistics and traditional grammar? (P5-6)A. Linguistics is descriptive, not pre

44、scriptiveB. Linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written.C. Linguistics differs from traditional grammar in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework.5. What is the speech act theory advanced by John Austin? (P80-81)Speech act theory is the first major theo

45、ry in the pragmatic study of language, which was originated with John Austin and aims to answer the question “What do we do when using language”. First, he made a distinction between “constatives”（述事话语） and “performatives”（行事话语）. Later on, he set up another model to explain the way acts were perform

46、ed by means of language. According to his new model, a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously when speaking: that is,The locutionary act（言内行为）-an act of saying something, i.e. an act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and phonology. The illocutionary act（言外行为）-an act of expressing the speakers intention; it is the act performed in saying something.The perlocutionary act（言后行为）-an act performed by or re