英语语言学习题与答案.doc

  Chapter 1   Introductions to Linguistics
I.        Choose the best answer. (20%)
1.    Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human     
       __________
A. contact     B. communication       C. relation          D. community
2.    Which of the following words is entirely arbitrary?
        A. tree      B. typewriter         C. crash            D. bang
3.   The function of the sentence “Water boils at 100 degrees Centigrade.” is  
__________.
       A. interrogative     B. directive     C. informative       D. performative
4.     In Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate the host or the people present are likely to say“碎碎（岁岁）平安”as a means of controlling the forces which they believes feel might affect their lives. Which functions does it perform?
     A. Interpersonal    B. Emotive     C. Performative       D. Recreational
5.  Which of the following property of language enables language users to overcome the barriers caused by time and place, due to this feature of language, speakers of a language are free to talk about anything in any situation?
   A. Transferability    B. Duality      C. Displacement        D. Arbitrariness
6.  Study the following dialogue. What function does it play according to the functions of language?
        — A nice day, isn’t it?
        — Right! I really enjoy the sunlight.
      A. Emotive        B. Phatic       C. Performative       D. Interpersonal
7.  __________ refers to the actual realization of the ideal language user’s  knowledge of the rules of his language in utterances.
        A. Performance    B. Competence     C. Langue         D. Parole
8.        When a dog is barking, you assume it is barking for something or at someone that exists hear and now. It couldn’t be sorrowful for some lost love or lost bone. This indicates the design feature of __________.
   A. cultural transmission   B. productivity   C. displacement       D. duality
9.    __________ answers such questions as how we as infants acquire our first language.
    A. Psycholinguistics  B.Anthropological linguistics
C. Sociolinguistics      D. Applied linguistics
10.  __________ deals with language application to other fields, particularly education.
   A. Linguistic theory                   B. Practical linguistics
  C. Applied linguistics                 D. Comparative linguistics

II.        Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

11.        Language is a means of verbal communication. Therefore, the communication way used by the deaf-mute is not language.
12.        Language change is universal, ongoing and arbitrary.
13.        Speaking is the quickest and most efficient way of the human communication systems.
14.        Language is written because writing is the primary medium for all languages.
15.        We were all born with the ability to acquire language, which means the details of any language system can be genetically transmitted.
16.        Only human beings are able to communicate.
17.        F. de Saussure, who made the distinction between langue and parole in the early 20th century, was a French linguist.
18.        A study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare’s time is an example of the diachronic study of language.
19.        Speech and writing came into being at much the same time in human history.
20.        All the languages in the world today have both spoken and written forms.

III.        Fill in the blanks. (10%)

21.    Language, broadly speaking, is a means of __________ communication.
22.        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 termed __________.
23.        Language has many functions. We can use language to talk about itself. This function is __________.
24.        Theory that primitive man made involuntary vocal noises while performing heavy work has been called the __________ theory.
25.        Linguistics is the __________ study of language.
26.        Modern linguistics is __________ in the sense that the linguist tries to discover what language is rather than lay down some rules for people to observe.
27.        One general principle of linguistic analysis is the primacy of __________ over writing.
28.        The description of a language as it changes through time is a __________ study.
29.        Saussure put forward two important concepts. __________ refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of a speech community.
30.        Linguistic potential is similar to Saussure’s langue and Chomsky’s __________.

IV.        Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)

31.        Design feature
32.        Displacement
33.        Competence
34.        Synchronic linguistics

V.        Answer the following questions. (20%)

35.        Why do people take duality as one of the important design features of human language? Can you tell us what language will be if it has no such design feature? （南开大学，2004）
36.        Why is it difficult to define language? （北京第二外国语大学，2004）

VI.        Analyze the following situation. (20%)

37.        How can a linguist make his analysis scientific? （青岛海洋大学，1999）

Key:
[In the reference keys, I won’t give examples or further analysis. That seems too much work for me. Therefore, this key is only for reference. In order to answer this kind of question, you need more examples. So you should read the textbook carefully. – icywarmtea]

I.
1~5 BACCC                                        6~10 BACAC
II.
11~15 FFTFF                                        16~20 FFFFF
III.
21. verbal                                                22. productivity / creativity
23. metalingual function                        24. yo-he-ho
25. scientific                                        26. descriptive
27. speech                                        28. diachronic linguistic
29. langue                                        30. competence
IV.
31.        Design feature: It refers to the defining properties of human language that tell the difference between human language and any system of animal communication.
32.        Displacement: It means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts, which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of communication.
33.        Competence: It is an essential part of performance. It is the speaker’s knowledge of his or her language; that is, of its sound structure, its words, and its grammatical rules. Competence is, in a way, an encyclopedia of language. Moreover, the knowledge involved in competence is generally unconscious. A transformational-generative grammar is a model of competence.
34.        Synchronic linguistics: It refers to the study of a language at a given point in time. The time studied may be either the present or a particular point in the past; synchronic analyses can also be made of dead languages, such as Latin. Synchronic linguistics is contrasted with diachronic linguistics, the study of a language over a period of time.
V.

35.        
Duality makes our language productive. A large number of different units can be formed out of a small number of elements – for instance, tens of thousands of words out of a small set of sounds, around 48 in the case of the English language. And out of the huge number of words, there can be astronomical number of possible sentences and phrases, which in turn can combine to form unlimited number of texts. Most animal communication systems do not have this design feature of human language.
If language has no such design feature, then it will be like animal communicational system which will be highly limited. It cannot produce a very large number of sound combinations, e.g. words, which are distinct in meaning.
36.
        It is difficult to define language, as it is such a general term that covers too many things. Thus, definitions for it all have their own special emphasis and are not totally free from limitations.
VI.
37.
        It should be guided by the four principles of science: exhaustiveness, consistency, economy and objectivity and follow the scientific procedure: form hypothesis – collect data – check against the observable facts – come to a conclusion.

Chapter 2   Speech Sounds
I.        Choose the best answer. (20%)

1.        Pitch variation is known as __________ when its patterns are imposed on sentences.
        A. intonation   B. tone      C. pronunciation                D. voice
2.        Conventionally a __________ is put in slashes (/ /).
        A. allophone        B. phone        C. phoneme        D. morpheme
3.        An aspirated p, an unaspirated p and an unreleased p are __________ of the p phoneme.
        A. analogues       B. tagmemes      C. morphemes     D. allophones
4.        The opening between the vocal cords is sometimes referred to as
      __________.
        A. glottis         B. vocal cavity        C. pharynx              D. uvula
5.        The diphthongs that are made with a movement of the tongue towards the center are known as __________ diphthongs.
        A. wide       B. closing    C. narrow            D. centering
6.        A phoneme is a group of similar sounds called __________.
        A. minimal pairs        B. allomorphs   C. phones       D. allophones
7.        Which branch of phonetics concerns the production of speech sounds?
        A. Acoustic phonetics           B. Articulatory phonetics
        C. Auditory phonetics            D. None of the above
8.        Which one is different from the others according to places of articulation?
        A. [n]         B. [m]             C. [ b ]              D. [p]
9.        Which vowel is different from the others according to the characteristics of vowels?
        A. [i:]           B. [ u ]                C. [e]             D. [ i ]
10.        What kind of sounds can we make when the vocal cords are vibrating?
        A. Voiceless        B. Voiced      C. Glottal stop        D. Consonant

II.        Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

11.        Suprasegmental phonology refers to the study of phonological properties of units larger than the segment-phoneme, such as syllable, word and sentence.
12.        The air stream provided by the lungs has to undergo a number of modification to acquire the quality of a speech sound.
13.        Two sounds are in free variation when they occur in the same environment and do not contrast, namely, the substitution of one for the other does not produce a different word, but merely a different pronunciation.
14.        [p] is a voiced bilabial stop.
15.        Acoustic phonetics is concerned with the perception of speech sounds.
16.        All syllables must have a nucleus but not all syllables contain an onset and a coda.
17.        When pure vowels or monophthongs are pronounced, no vowel glides take place.
18.        According to the length or tenseness of the pronunciation, vowels can be divided into tense vs. lax or long vs. short.
19.        Received Pronunciation is the pronunciation accepted by most people.
20.        The maximal onset principle states that when there is a choice as to where to place a consonant, it is put into the coda rather than the onset.

III.        Fill in the blanks. (20%)

21.        Consonant sounds can be either __________ or __________, while all vowel sounds are __________.
22.        Consonant sounds can also be made when two organs of speech in the mouth are brought close together so that the air is pushed out between them, causing __________.
23.        The qualities of vowels depend upon the position of the __________ and the lips.
24.        One element in the description of vowels is the part of the tongue which is at the highest point in the mouth. A second element is the __________ to which that part of the tongue is raised.
25.        Consonants differ from vowels in that the latter are produced without __________.
26.        In phonological analysis the words fail / veil are distinguishable simply because of the two phonemes /f/ - /v/. This is an example for illustrating __________.
27.        In English there are a number of __________, which are produced by moving from one vowel position to another through intervening positions.
28.        __________ refers to the phenomenon of sounds continually show the influence of their neighbors.
29.        __________ is the smallest linguistic unit.
30.        Speech takes place when the organs of speech move to produce patterns of sound. These movements have an effect on the __________ coming from the lungs.

IV.        Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)

31.        Sound assimilation
32.        Suprasegmental feature
33.        Complementary distribution
34.        Distinctive features

V.        Answer the following questions. (20%)

35.        What is acoustic phonetics?（中国人民大学，2003）
36.        What are the differences between voiced sounds and voiceless sounds in terms of articulation?（南开大学，2004）

VI.        Analyze the following situation. (20%)

37.        Write the symbol that corresponds to each of the following phonetic descriptions; then give an English word that contains this sound. Example: voiced alveolar stop [d] dog. 青岛海洋大学，1999）
        (1)        voiceless bilabial unaspirated stop
        (2)        low front vowel
        (3)        lateral liquid
        (4)        velar nasal
        (5)        voiced interdental fricative

答案I.
1~5        ACDAA                                        6~10 DBABB
II.
11~15 TTTFF                                        16~20 TTTFF
III.
21. voiced, voiceless, voiced                22. friction
23. tongue                                        24. height
25. obstruction                                        26. minimal pairs
27. diphthongs                                        28. Co-articulation
29. Phonemes                                        30. air stream
IV.
31.        Sound assimilation: Speech sounds seldom occur in isolation. In connected speech, under the influence of their neighbors, are replaced by other sounds. Sometimes two neighboring sounds influence each other and are replaced by a third sound which is different from both original sounds. This process is called sound assimilation.
32.        Suprasegmental feature: The phonetic features that occur above the level of the segments are called suprasegmental features; these are the phonological properties of such units as the syllable, the word, and the sentence. The main suprasegmental ones includes stress, intonation, and tone.
33.        Complementary distribution: The different allophones of the same phoneme never occur in the same phonetic context. When two or mo