英语自学本科语言学练习题

Supplementaryexercises

Chapter1Introduction

I.DecidewhethereachofthefollowingstatementsisTrueorFalse:

1.Linguisticsisgenerallydefinedasthescientificstudyoflanguage.

2.Linguisticsstudiesparticularlanguage,notlanguagesingeneral.

3.Ascientificstudyoflanguageisbasedonwhatthelinguistthinks.

4.Inthestudyoflinguistics,hypothesesformedshouldbebasedonlanguagefactsandcheckedagainst

theobservedfacts.

5.Generallinguisticsisgenerallythestudyoflanguageasawhole.

6.Generallinguistics,whichrelatesitselftotheresearchofotherareas,studies(hebasicconcepts,

theories,descriptions,modelsandmethodsapplicableinanylinguisticstudy.

7.Phoneticsisdifferentfromphonologyinthatthelatterstudiesthecombinationsofthesoundsto

conveymeaningincommunication.

8.Morphologystudieshowwordscanbeformedtoproducemeaningfulsentences.

9.Thestudyofthewaysinwhichmorphemescanbecombinedtoformwordsiscalledmorphology.

10.Syntaxisdifferentfrommorphologyinthattheformernotonlystudiesthemorphemes,butalsothe

combinationofmorphemesintowordsandwordsintosentences.

11.Tliestudyofmeaninginlanguageisknownassemantics.

12.Bothsemanticsandpragmaticsstudymeanings.

13.Pragmaticsisdifferentfromsemanticsinthatpragmaticsstudiesmeaningnotinisolation,butin

context.

14.Socialchangescanoftenbringaboutlanguagechanges.

15.Sociolinguisticsisthestudyoflanguageinrelationtosociety.

16.Modemlinguisticsismostlyprescriptive,butsometimesdescriptive.

17.Modemlinguisticsisdifferentfromtraditionalgrammar.

18.Adiachronicstudyoflanguageisthedescriptionoflanguageatsomepointintime.

19.Modemlinguisticsregardsthewrittenlanguageasprimary,notthewrittenlanguage.

20.ThedistinctionbetweencompetenceandperformancewasproposedbyF.deSaussurc.

II.Fillineachofthefollowingblankswithonewordwhichbeginswiththelettergiven:

21.Chomskydefines“competence“astheidealuser'skoftherulesofhislanguage.

22.Languereferstothealinguisticsystemsharedbyallthemembersofaspeech

communitywhiletheparoleistheconcreteuseoftheconventionsandapplicationoftherules.

23.Disoneofthedesignfeaturesofhumanlanguagewhichreferstothephenomenonthat

languageconsistsoftwolevels:alowerlevelofmeaninglessindividualsoundsandahigherlevelof

meaningfulunits.

24.Languageisasystemofavocalsymbolsusedfbrhumancommunication.

25.Thedisciplinethatstudiestherulesgoverningtheformationofwordsintopermissiblesentencesin

languagesiscalleds.

26.Humancapacityfbrlanguagehasagbasis,butthedetailsoflanguagehavetobetaughtand

learned.

27.Preferstotherealizationoflangueinactualuse.

28.Findingsinlinguisticstudiescanoftenbeappliedtothesettlementofsomepracticalproblems.The

studyofsuchapplicationsisgenerallyknownasalinguistics.

29.Languageispinthatitmakespossibletheconstructionandinterpretationofnew

signalsbyitsusers.Inotherwords,theycanproduceandunderstandaninfinitelylargenumberof

sentenceswhichtheyhaveneverheardbefore.

30.Linguisticsisgenerallydefinedasthesstudyoflanguage.

111.Therearefourchoicesfollowingeachstatement.Markthechoicethatcanbestcompletethe

statement:

31.Ifalinguisticstudydescribesandanalyzesthelanguagepeopleactuallyuse,itissaidtobe.

A.PrescriptiveB.AnalyticC.DescriptiveD.Linguistic

32.Whichofthefollowingisnotadesignfeatureofhumanlanguage?

A.ArbitrarinessB.DisplacementC.DualityD.Meaningfulness

33.Modemlinguisticsregardsthewrittenlanguageas.

A.PrimaryB.CorrectC.SecondaryD.stable

34.Inmodemlinguistics,speechisregardedasmorebasicthanwriting,because.

A.inlinguisticevolution,speechispriortowriting

B.speechplaysagreaterrolethanwritingintermsoftheamountofinformationconveyed

C.speechisalwaysthewayinwhicheverynativespeakeracquireshismothertongue

D.Alloftheabove

35.Ahistoricalstudyoflanguageisastudyoflanguage.

A.synchronicB.diachronicC.prescriptiveD.comparative

36.Saussuretooka(n)viewoflanguage,whileChomskylooksatlanguagefroma

pointofview.

A.sociological...psychologicalB.psychological...sociological

C.applied...pragmaticD.semantic...linguistic

37.AccordingtoF.deSaussure,referstotheabstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyallthemem­

bersofaspeechcommunity.

A.paroleB.performanceC.langueD.Language

38.Languageissaidtobearbitrarybecausethereisnologicalconnectionbetweenand

meanings.

A.senseB.soundsC.objectsD.ideas

39.Languagecanbeusedtorefertocontextsremovedfromtheimmediatesituationsofthespeaker.

Thisfeatureiscalled,

A.displacementB.duality

C.flexibilityD.culturaltransmission

40.Thedetailsofanylanguagesystemispassedonfromonegenerationtothenextthrough,

ratherthanbyinstinct.

A.learningB.teachingC.booksD.bothAandB

IV.Definethefollowingterms:

41.Linguistics42.Phonology43.Syntax

44.Pragmatics45.Psycholinguistics46.Language

47.Phonetics48.Morphology49.Semantics

50.Sociolinguistics51.AppliedLinguistics52.Arbitrariness

53.Productivity54.Displacement55.Duality

56.DesignFeatures57.Competence58.Performance

59.Langue60.Parole

V.Answerthefollowingquestionsascomprehensivelyaspossible.Giveexamplesfbrillustrationif

necessary:

61.Languageisgenerallydefinedasasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommu­

nication.Explainitindetail.

62.Whatarethedesignfeaturesofhumanlanguage?Illustratethemwithexamples.

63.Howismodernlinguisticsdifferentfromtraditionalgrammar?

64.Howdoyouunderstandthedistinctionbetweenasynchronicstudyandadiachronicstudy?

65.Whydoesmodemlinguisticsregardthespokenformoflanguageasprimary,notthewritten?

66.Whatarcthemajordistinctionsbetweenlangueandparole?

67.Howdoyouunderstandcompetenceandperformance?

68.Saussure'sdistinctionbetweenlangueandparoleseemssimilartoChomsky'sdistinctionbetween

competenceandperformance.Whatdoyouthinkaretheirmajordifferences?

69.Doyoutliinkhumanlanguageisentirelyarbitrary?Why?

Chapter2Phonology

I.DecidewhethereachofthefollowingstatementsisTrueorFalse:

1.VoicingisaphonologicalfeaturethatdistinguishesmeaninginbothChineseandEnglish.

2.Iftwophoneticallysimilarsoundsoccurinthesameenvironmentsandtheydistinguishmeaning,they

aresaidtobeincomplementarydistribution.

3.Aphoneisaphoneticunilthatdistinguishesmeaning.

4.EnglishisatonelanguagewhileChineseisnot.

5.Inlinguisticevolution,speechispriortowriting.

6.Ineverydaycommunication,speechplaysagreaterrolethanwritingintermsoftheamountof

informationconveyed.

7.Articulatoryphoneticstriestodescribethephysicalpropertiesofthestreamofsoundswhichaspeaker

issueswiththehelpofamachinecalledspectrograph.

8.Thearticulatoryapparatusofahumanbeingarecontainedinthreeimportantareas:thethroat,the

mouthandthechest.

9.Vibrationofthevocalcordsresultsinaqualityofspeechsoundscalledvoicing.

10.Englishconsonantscanbeclassifiedintermsofplaceofarticulationandthepartofthetonguethat

israisedthehighest.

11.Accordingtothemannerofarticulation,someofthetypesintowhichtheconsonantscanbe

classifiedarestops,fricatives,bilabialandalveolar.

12.Vbwelsoundscanbedifferentiatedbyanumberoffactors:thepositionoftongueinthemouth,the

opennessofthemouth,theshapeofthelips,andthelengthofthevowels.

13.Accordingtotheshapeofthelips,vowelscanbeclassifiedintoclosevowels,semi-closevowels,

scmi-opcnvowelsandopenvowels.

14.Anysoundproducedbyahumanbeingisaphoneme.

15.Phonesarethesoundsthatcandistinguishmeaning.

16.Phonologyisconcernedwithhowthesoundscanbeclassifiedintodifferentcategories.

17.Abasicwaytodeterminethephonemesofalanguageistoseeifsubstitutingonesoundforanother

resultsinachangeofmeaning.

18.Whentwodifferentformsareidenticalineverywayexceptfbronesoundsegmentwhichoccursin

thesameplaceinthestrings,thetwowordsarcsaidtoformaphonemiccontrast.

19.Therulesgoverningthephonologicalpatterningarelanguagespecific.

20.Distinctivefeaturesofsoundsegmentscanbefoundrunningoverasequenceoftwoormore

phonemicsegments.

II.Fillineachofthefollowingblankswithonewordwhichbeginswiththelettergiven:

21.Areferstoastrongpuffofairstreamintheproductionofspeechsounds.

22.Aphoneticsdescribesthewayourspeechorgansworktoproducethespeechsoundsand

howtheydiffer.

23.Thefoursounds/p/,/b/,/m/and/w/haveonefeatureincommon,i.e.,theyareallbsounds.

24.Ofallthespeechorgans,thetisthemostflexible,andisresponsibleforvarietiesof

articulationthananyother.

25.Englishconsonantscanbeclassifiedintermsofmannerofarticulationorintermsofpof

articulation.

26.Whentheobstructioncreatedbythespeechorgansistotalorcomplete,thespeechsoundproduced

withtheobstructionaudiblyreleasedandtheairpassingoutagainiscalledas.

27.Sfeaturesarethephonemicfeaturesthatoccurabovethelevelofthesegments.They

includestress,tone,intonation,etc.

28.Tlicrulesthatgovernthecombinationofsoundsinaparticularlanguagearecalledsrulcs.

29.Thetranscriptionofspeechsoundswithletter-symbolsonlyiscalledbroadtranscriptionwhilethe

transcriptionwithletter-symbolstogetherwiththediacriticsiscalledntranscription.

30.Whenpitch,stressandsoundlengtharetiedtothesentenceratherthanthewordinisolation,theyare

collectivelyknownasi.

31.Pisadisciplinewhichstudiesthesystemofsoundsofaparticularlanguageandhow

soundsarecombinedintomeaningfulunitstoeffectlinguisticcommunication.

32.Thearticulatoryapparatusofahumanbeingarccontainedinthreeimportantcavities:thepharyngeal

cavity,theocavityandthenasalcavity.

33.Tarepitchvariations,whicharecausedbythedifferingratesofvibrationofthevocalcords

andwhichcandistinguishmeaningjustlikephonemes.

34.Dependingonthecontextinwhichstressisconsidered,therearetwokindsofstress:wordstressand

sstress.

III.Therearefourchoicesfollowingeachstatement.Markthechoicethatcanbestcompletethe

statement:

35Ofallthespeechorgans,theis/arethemostflexible.

A.mouthB.lipsC.tongueD.vocalcords

36.Thesoundsproducedwithoutthevocalcordsvibratingare__sounds.

A.voicelessB.voicedC.vowelD.consonantal

37.isavoicedalveolarstop.

A./zZB./d/C.MD./b/

38.Theassimilationruleassimilatesonesoundtoanotherby“copying”afeatureofasequential

phoneme,thusmakingthetwophones.

A.identicalB.sameC.exactlyalikeD.similar

39.Since/p/and/b/arcphoneticallysimilar,occurinthesameenvironmentsandtheycandistinguish

meaning,theyaresaidtobe.

A.inphonemiccontrastB.incomplementarydistribution

C.theallophonesD.minimalpair

40.Thesound/f7is.

A.voicedpalatalaffricateB.voicedalveolarstop

C.voicelessvelarfricativeD.voicelesslabiodentalfricative

41.A__vowelisonethatisproducedwiththefrontpartofthetonguemaintainingthehighest

position.

A.backB.centralC.frontD.middle

42.Distinctivefeaturescanbefoundwinningoverasequenceoftwoormorephonemicsegments.The

phonemicfeaturesthatoccurabovethelevelofthesegmentsarecalled.

A.phoneticcomponentsB.immediateconstituents

C.suprasegmentalfeaturesD.semanticfeatures

43.A(n)isaunitthatisofdistinctivevalue.Itisanabstractunit,acollectionof

distinctivephoneticfeatures.

A.phoneB.soundC.allophoneD.phoneme

44.Thedifferentphoneswhichcanrepresentaphonemeindifferentphoneticenvironmentsarecalled

the_ofthatphoneme.

A.phonesB.soundsC.phonemesD.allophones

IV.Definethetermsbelow:

45.phonology46.phoneme47.allophone

48.internationalphoneticalphabet49.intonation50.phonetics

51.auditoryphonetics52.acousticphonetics53.phone

54.phonemiccontrast55.tone56.minimalpair

V.Answerthefollowingquestionsascomprehensivelyaspossible.Giveexamplesfbrillustrationif

necessary:

57.Ofthetwomediaoflanguage,whydoyouthinkspeechismorebasicthanwriting?

58.Whatarethecriteriathatalinguistusesinclassifyingvowels?

59.Whatarcthemajordifferencesbetweenphonologyandphonetics?

60.Illustratewithexampleshowsuprasegmentalfeaturescanaffectmeaning.

61.Inwhatwaycanwedeterminewhetheraphoneisaphonemeornot?

Chapter3Morphology

I.DecidewhethereachofthefollowingstatementsisTrueorFalse:

1.Morphologystudiestheinternalstructureofwordsandtherulesbywhichwordsareformed.

2.Wordsarethesmallestmeaningfulunitsoflanguage.

3.Justasaphonemeisthebasicunitinthestudyofphonology,soisamorphemethebasicunitinthe

studyofmorphology.

4.Thesmallestmeaningfulunitsthatcanbeusedfreelyallbythemselvesarefreemorphemes.

5.Boundmorphemesincludetwotypes:rootsandaffixes.

6.Inflectionalmorphemesmanifestvariousgrammaticalrelationsorgrammaticalcategoriessuchas

number,tense,degree,andcase.

7.Theexistingformtowhichaderivationalaffixcanbeaddediscalledastem,whichcanbeabound

root,afreemorpheme,oraderivedformitself.

8.Prefixesusuallythepartofspeechoftheoriginalword,notthemeaningofit.

9.Therearerulesthatgovernwhichaffixcanbeaddedtowhattypeofstemtoformanewword.

Therefore,wordsfbnnedaccordingtothemorphologicalrulesareacceptablewords.

10.Phonetically,thestressofacompoundalwaysfallsonthefirstelement,whilethesecondelement

receivessecondarystress.

II.Fillineachblankbelowwithonewordwhichbeginswiththelettergiven:

11.Misthesmallestmeaningfulunitoflanguage.

12.Theaffix”・ish"inthewordboyishconveysagmeaning.

13.Bmorphemesarethosethatcannotbeusedindependentlybuthavetobecombined

withothermorphemes,eitherfreeorbound,tofonnaword.

14.Affixesareoftwotypes:inflectionalaffixesanddaffixes.

15.Daffixesareaddedtoanexistingformtocreatewords.

16.Asisaddedtotheendofstemstomodifythemeaningoftheoriginalwordanditmaycase

changeitspartofspeech.

17.Cisthecombinationoftwoorsometimesmorethantwowordstocreatenewwords.

18.Therulesthatgovernwhichaffixcanbeaddedtowhattypeofstemtoformanewwordarecalled

mrules.

19.Intermsofmorphemicanalysis,dcanbeviewedastheadditionofaffixesto

stemstoformnewwords.

20.Ascanbeaboundroot,afreemorpheme,oraderivedformitselftowhichaderivational

affixcanbeadded.

III.Therearcfourchoicesfollowingeachstatement.Markthechoicethatcanbestcompletethe

statement:

21.Themorpheme“vision”inthecommonword“television“isa(n).

A.boundmorphemeB.boundform

C.inflectionalmorphemeD.freemorpheme

22.Thecompoundword“bookstore“istheplacewherebooksaresold.Thisindicatesthatthemeaning

ofacompound.

A.isthesumtotalofthemeaningofitscomponents

B.canalwaysbeworkedoutbylookingatthemeaningsofmorphemes

C.isthesameasthemeaningofafreephrase.

D.Noneoftheabove.

23.Thepartofspeechofthecompoundsisgenerallydeterminedbythepartofspeechof.

A.thefirstelementB.thesecondelement

C.eitherthefirstorthesecondelementD.boththefirstandthesecondelements

24.arethosethatcannotbeusedindependentlybuthavetobecombinedwithothermorphemes,

eitherfreeorbound,toformaword.

A.FreemorphemesB.Boundmorphemes

C.BoundwordsD.Words

25.isabranchofgrammarwhichstudiestheinternalstructureofwordsandtherulesby

whichwordsareformed.

A.SyntaxB.GrammarC.MorphologyD.Morpheme

26.Themeaningcarriedbytheinflectionalmorphemeis_______.

A.lexicalB.morphemicC.grammaticalD.semantic

27.Boundmorphemesarethosethat___________.

A.havetobeusedindependentlyB.cannotbecombinedwithothermorphemes

C.caneitherbefreeorboundD.havetobecombinedwithothermoiphemes

28.modifythemeaningofthestem,butusuallydonotchangethepartofspeechoftheoriginal

word.

A.PrefixesB.SuffixesC.RootsD.Affixes

29.areoftenthoughttobethesmallestmeaningfulunitsoflanguagebythelinguists.

A.WordsB.MorphemesC.PhonemesD.Sentences

30.“-s"intheword“books"is.

A.aderivativeaffixB.astem

C.aninflectionalaffixD.aroot

IV.Definethefollowingtemis:

31.morphology32.inflectionalmorphology33.derivationalmorphology

34.morpheme35.freemorpheme36.boundmorpheme

37.root38.affix39.prefix

40.suffix41.derivation42.Compounding

V.Answerthefollowingquestions:

43.WhatarethemainfeaturesoftheEnglishcompounds?

44.Discussthetypesofmorphemeswithexamples.

Chapter4Syntax

I.DecidewhethereachofthefollowingstatementsisTrueorFalse:

1.Syntaxisasubfiedoflinguisticsthatstudiesthesentencestructureoflanguage,includingthe

combinationofmorphemesintowords.

2.Grammaticalsentencesareformedfollowingasetofsyntacticrules.

3.Sentencesarccomposedofsequenceofwordsarrangedinasimplelinearorder,withoneaddingonto

anotherfollowingasimplearithmeticlogic.

4.Universallyfoundinthegrammarsofallhumanlanguages,syntacticrulesthatcomprisethesystemof

intemalizedlinguisticknowledgeofalanguagespeakerareknownaslinguisticcompetence.

5.Thesyntacticrulesofanylanguagearefiniteinnumber,butthereisnolimittothenumberof

sentencesnativespeakersofthatlanguagearcabletoproduceandcomprehend.

6.Inacomplexsentence,thetwoclausesholdunequalstatus,onesubordinatingtheother.

7.Constituentsthatcanbesubstitutedforoneanotherwithoutlossofgrammaticalitybelongtothesame

syntacticcategory.

8.Minorlexicalcategoriesareopenbecausethesecategoriesarenotfixedandnewmembersare

allowedfor.

9.InEnglishsyntacticanalysis,fourphrasalcategoriesarecommonlyrecognizedanddiscussed,namely,

nounphrase,verbphrase,infinitivephrase,andauxiliaryphrase.

10.InEnglishthesubjectusuallyprecedestheverbandthedirectobjectusuallyfollowstheverb.

11.Whatisactuallyinternalizedinthemindofanativespeakerisacompletelistofwordsandphrases

ratherthangrammaticalknowledge.

12.Anounphrasemustcontainanoun,butotherelementsareoptional.

13.Itisbelievedthatphrasestructurerules,withtheinsertionofthelexicon,generatesentencesatthe

levelofD-structure.

14.WH-movcmentisobligatoryinEnglishwhichchangesasentencefromaffinnativetointerrogative.

II.Fillineachofthefollowingblankswithonewordwhichbeginswiththelettergiven:

15.Assentenceconsistsofasingleclausewhichcontainsasubjectandapredicateandstands

aloneasitsownsentence.

16.Asisastructurallyindependentunitthatusuallycomprisesanumberofwordstoforma

completestatement,questionorcommand.

17.Asmaybeanounoranounphraseinasentencethatusuallyprecedesthepredicate.

18.Thepartofasentencewhichcomprisesafiniteverboraverbphraseandwhichsayssomething

aboutthesubjectisgrammaticallycalledp.

19.Acsentencecontainstwo,ormore,clauses,oneofwhichisincorporatedintotheother.

20.Inthecomplexsentence,theincorporatedorsubordinateclauseisnormallycalledane

clause.

21.Majorlexicalcategoriesareocategoriesinthesensethatnewwordsareconstantlyadded.

22.AConditiononcaseassignmentstatesthatacaseassignorandacaserecipientshouldstay

adjacenttoeachother.

23.ParesyntacticoptionsofUGthatallowgeneralprinciplestooperateinonewayoranother

andcontributetosignificantlinguisticvariationsbetweenandamongnaturallanguages.

24.ThetheoryofCconditionexplainsthefactthatnounphrasesappearonlyinsubjectand

objectpositions.

III.Therearefourchoicesfollowingeachstatement.Markthechoicethatcanbestcompletethe

statement:

25.Asentenceisconsidered__whenitdoesnotconformtothegrammati-calknowledgeinthemind

ofnativespeakers.

A.rightB.wrongC.grammaticalD.ungrammatical

26.Aintheembeddedclausereferstotheintroductorywordthatintroducestheembedded

clause.

A.coordinatorB.particleC.prepositionD.subordinator

27.Phrasestructureruleshave__properties.

A.recursiveB.grammaticalC.socialD.functional

28.Phrasestructurerulesallowustobetterunderstand.

A.howwordsandphrasesformsentences.

B.whatconstitutesthegrammaticalityofstringsofwords

C.howpeopleproduceandrecognizepossiblesentences

D.Alloftheabove.

29.Syntacticmovementisdictatedbyrulestraditionallycalled.

A.transformationalrulesB.generativerules

C.phrasestructurerulesD.x-bartheory

30.Thetheoryofcaseconditionaccountsforthefactthat.

A.nounphrasesappearonlyinsubjectandobjectpositions.

B.nounphrasescanbeusedtomodifyanothernounphrase

C.nounphrasecanbeusedinadverbialpositions

D.nounphrasecanbemovedtoanyplaceifnecessary.

31.Thesentencestructureis.

A.onlylinearB.Onlyhierarchical

C.complexD.bothlinearandhierarchical

32.Thesyntacticrulesofanylanguageare__innumber.

A.largeB.smallC.finiteD.infinite

33.Themlesaretherulesthatgroupwordsandphrasestoformgrammaticalsen-tences.

A.lexicalB.morphologicalC.linguisticD.combinational

34.rulesmaychangethesyntacticrepresentationofasentence.

A.GenerativeB.Transformational

C.X-barD.Phrasestructure

IV.Definethefollowingterms:

35.syntax36.Sentence37.coordinatesentence

38.syntacticcategories39.grammaticalrelations40.linguisticcompetence

41.transformationalrules42.D-structure

V.Answerthefollowingquestions:

43.Whatarethebasiccomponentsofasentence?

44.Whatarcthemajortypesofsentences?Illustratethemwithexamples.

45.Aretheelementsinasentencelinearlystructured?Why?

46.Whataretheadvantagesofusingtreediagramsintheanalysisofsentencestructures?

47.WhatisNPmovement.Illustrateitwithexamples.

Chapter5Semantics

I.DecidewhethereachofthefollowingstatementsisTrueorFalse:

1.DialectalsynonymscanoftenbefoundindifferentregionaldialectssuchasBritishEnglishand

AmericanEnglishbutcannotbefoundwithinthevarietyitself,forexample,withinBritishEnglishor

AmericanEnglish.

2.Senseisconcernedwiththerelationshipbetweenthelinguisticelementandthenon-Iinguisticworld

ofexperience,whilethereferencedealswiththeinherentmeaningofthelinguisticform.

3.Linguisticformshavingthesamesensemayhavedifferentreferencesindifferentsituations.

4.Insemantics,meaningoflanguageisconsideredastheintrinsicandinherentrelationtothephysical

worldofexperience.

5.Contextualismisbasedonthepresumptionthatoneca