语言学单元自测7

语言学单元自测7

Chapter7：HistoricalLinguisticsI.DecidewhethereachofthefollowingstatementsisTrueorFalse:1.Oneofthetasksofthehistoricallinguistsistoexploremethodstoreconstructlinguistichistoryandestablishtherelationshipbetweenlanguages.2.Languagechangeisagradualandconstantprocess,thereforeoftenindiscernibletospeakersofthesamegeneration.3.ThehistoryoftheEnglishlanguageisdividedintotheperiodsofOldEnglish,MiddleEnglishandModernEnglish.4.MiddleEnglishbeganwiththearrivalofAnglo-Saxons,whoinvadedtheBritishIslesfromnorthernEurope.5.InOldEnglish,allthenounsareinflectedtomarknominative,genitive,dativeandaccusativecases.6.InOldEnglish,theverbofasentenceoftenprecedesthesubjectratherthanfollowsit.7.AdirectconsequenceoftheRenaissanceMovementwastherevivalofFrenchasaliterarylanguage.8.Ingeneral,linguisticchangeingrammarismorenoticeablethanthatinthesoundsystemandthevocabularyofalanguage.9.Thesoundchangesincludechangesinvowelsounds,andintheloss,gainandmovementofsounds.10.Theleastwidely-spreadmorphologicalchangesinthehistoricaldevelopmentofEnglisharethelossandadditionofaffixes.11.InOldEnglish,themorphosyntacticruleofadjectiveagreementstipulatedthattheendingsofadjectivemustagreewiththeheadnounincase,numberandgender.\n12.ThewordorderofModernEnglishismorevariablethanthatofOldEnglish.13.Derivationreferstotheprocessbywhichnewwordsareformedbytheadditionofaffixestotheroots,stems,orwords.14.“Smog”isawordformedbytheword-formingprocesscalledacronymy.15.“fridge”isawordformedbyabbreviation.16.Modernlinguistsareabletoprovideaconsistentaccountfortheexactcausesofalltypesoflanguagechange.17.Soundassimilationmaybringaboutthelossofoneoftwophoneticallysimilarsyllablesinsequence,asinthecaseofchangeof“Engla-land”to“England”.18.Ruleelaborationoccurswhenthereisaneedtoreduceambiguityandincreasecommunicativeclarityorexpressiveness.19.Languagechangeisalwaysachangetowardsthesimplificationoflanguagerules20.Thewaychildrenacquirethelanguageisoneofthecausesforlanguagechange.II.Fillineachofthefollowingblankswithonewordwhichbeginswiththelettergiven:21.H________linguisticsisthesubfieldoflinguisticsthatstudieslanguagechange.22.Thehistoricalstudyoflanguageisad________studyoflanguageratherthanasynchronicstudy.23.EuropeanR________MovementseparatestheperiodofMiddleEnglishfromthatofmodernEnglish.24.Animportantsetofextensivesoundchanges,whichaffected7longortensevowelsandwhichledtooneofthemajordiscrepanciesbetweenphonemicrepresentationsofwordsandmorphemesattheendoftheMiddleEnglishPeriod,isknownastheGreatV_______Shift.\n25.A_______involvesthedeletionofaword-finalvowelsegment.26.Achangethatinvolvestheinsertionofaconsonantorvowelsoundtothemiddleofawordisknownase__________.27.ThethreesetsofconsonantshiftsthatGrimmdiscoveredbecameknowncollectivelyasGrimmsL____.28.Soundchangeasaresultofsoundmovement,knownasm_______,involvesareversalinpositionoftwoadjoiningsoundsegments.29.B________isaprocessbywhichnewwordsareformedbytakingawaythesupposedsuffixesofexitingwords.30.Semanticb________referstotheprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordbecomesmoregeneralorinclusivethanitshistoricallyearlierdenotation.31.Theoriginalformofalanguagefamilythathasceasedtoexistiscalledthep_________.32.Sounda________referstothephysiologicaleffectofonesoundonanother.Inthisprocess,successivesoundsaremadeidenticalorsimilartooneanotherintermsofplaceormannerofarticulation.33.Inordertoreducetheexceptionalorirregularmorphemes,speakersofaparticularlanguagemayborrowarulefromonepartofthegrammarandapplyitgenerally.Thisphenomenoniscalledi_________borrowing.34.Byidentifyingandcomparingsimilarlinguisticformswithsimilarmeaningsacrossrelatedlanguages,historicallinguistsreconstructtheprotoforminthecommonancestrallanguage.Thisprocessiscalledc________reconstruction.35.Them____ruleofadjectiveagreementhasbeenlostfromEnglish.III.Therearefourchoicesfollowingeachstatement.Markthechoicethatcanbestcompletethestatement:36.Historicallinguisticsexplores________________.A.thenatureoflanguagechangeB.thecausesthatleadtolanguagechange\nC.therelationshipbetweenlanguagesD.alloftheabove37.Languagechangeis______________.A.universal,continuousand,toalargeextent,regularandsystematicB.continuous,regular,systematic,butnotuniversalC.universal,continuous,butnotregularandsystematicD.alwaysregularandsystematic,butnotuniversalandcontinuous38.ModernEnglishperiodstartsroughly_____________.A.from449to1100B.from1500tothepresentC.from1100tothepresentD.from1700tothepresent39.OldEnglishdatesbacktothemid-fifthcenturywhen_________.A.theNormanFrenchinvadersunderWilliamtheConquerorarrivedinEnglandB.theprintingtechnologywasinventedC.Anglo-SaxonsinvadedtheBritishIslesfromnorthernEuropeD.theCelticpeoplebegantoinhabitEngland40.MiddleEnglishwasdeeplyinfluencedby___________.A.NormanFrenchinvocabularyandgrammarB.GreekandLatinbecauseoftheEuropeanrenaissancemovementC.DanishlanguagesbecauseDenmarkplacedakingonthethroneofEnglandD.theCelticpeoplewhowerethefirstinhabitantsofEngland41.Languagechangeisessentiallyamatterofchange________.A.incollocationsB.inmeaning\nC.ingrammarD.inusages42.InOldandMiddleEnglish,both/k/and/n/intheword“knight”werepronounced,butinmodernEnglish,/k/inthesound/kn-/clusterswasnotpronounced.Thisphenomenonisknownas________.A.soundadditionB.soundlossC.soundshiftD.soundmovement43.Achangethatinvolvestheinsertionofaconsonantorvowelsoundtothemiddleofawordisknownas_____.A.apocopeB.epenthesisC.parenthesisD.antithesis44.Segmentswitchofsoundpositionscanbeseenintheexampleofthemodernword“bird”whichcomesfromtheoldEnglishword“bridd”.Thechangeofthewordfrom“bridd”to“bird”isacaseof_________.A.metathesisB.soundlossC.soundadditionD.apocope45._________isaprocessofcombiningtwoormorewordsintoonelexicalunit.A.DerivationB.BlendingC.CompoundingD.Abbreviation46.“Wife”,whichusedtorefertoanywoman,standsfor“amarriedwoman”inmodernEnglish.Thisphenomenonisknownas________.A.semanticshiftB.semanticbroadeningC.semanticelevationD.semanticnarrowing47.Englishlanguagebelongsto_________.A.Indo-EuropeanFamilyB.Sino-TibetanFamily\nC.AustronesianFamilyD.AfroasiaticFamily48.Byanalogytothepluralformationoftheword“dog-s”,speakersstartedsaying“cows”asthepluralof“cow”insteadoftheearlierplural“kine”.Thisisthecaseof_________.A.elaborationB.externalborrowingC.soundassimilationD.internalborrowing49.Morphologcialchangescaninvolve__________.A.thelossofmorphologicalrulesB.theadditionofmorphologicalrulesC.thealterationofmorphologicalrulesD.alloftheabove50.Themostdramaticmorphologicallossconcernsthelossof________.A.comparativemarkersB.tensemarkersC.genderandcasemarkersD.noneoftheaboveIV.Definethefollowingterms:51.Apocope52.Metathesis53.Derivation54.back-formation55.semanticnarrowing56.protolanguage57.haplology58.epenthesis59.Compounding60.Blending61.semanticbroadening62.semanticshift63.GreatVowelShift64.acronym65.soundassimilationV.Answerthefollowingquestions:66.Whatisthepurposeorsignificanceofthehistoricalstudyoflanguage?\n67.Whatarethecharacteristicsofthenatureoflanguagechange?68.WhatarethemajorperiodsinthehistoryofEnglish?69.Aslanguagechangesovertime,themeaningofawordmaydeviatefromitsoriginaldenotation.Discussthemajortypesofsemanticchanges.70.OvertheyearsfromOldEnglishperiodtotheModernEnglishperiod,Englishhasundergonesomemajorsoundchanges.Illustratethesechangeswithsomeexamples.71.Whatarethemostwidely-spreadmorphologicalchangesinthehistoricaldevelopmentofEnglish?72.WhatarethecausesoflanguagechangeDiscussthemindetail.Chapter7HistoricalLinguisticsI.DecidewhethereachofthefollowingstatementsisTrueorFalse:l.T2.T3.T4.F5.F6.T7.F8.F9.T10.F11.T12.F13.T14.F15.F16.F17.T18.T19.F20.TII.Fillineachofthefollowingblankswithonewordwhichbeginswiththelettergiven:21.Historical22.diachronic23.Renaissance24.Vowel25.Apocope26.epenthesis27.Law28.Metathesis29.Backformation30.broadening31.protolanguage32.assimilation33.internal34.comparative35.morphosyntacticIII.Therearefourchoicesfollowingeachstatement.Markthechoicethatcanbestcompletethestatement:36.D37.A38.B39.C40.A41.C42.B43.B44.A45.C46.D47.A48.D49.D50.CIV.Definethefollowingterms:\n1.Apocope:Apocopeisthedeletionofaword-finalvowelsegment.2.Metathesis:Soundchangeasaresultofsoundmovementisknownasmetathesis.Itinvolvesareversalinpositionoftwoneighbouringsoundseg-ments.3.Derivation:Itisaprocessbywhichnewwordsareformedbytheadditionofaffixestotheroots,stemsorwords.4.back-formation:Itisaprocessbywhichnewwordsareformedbytakingawaythesupposedsuffixofanexistingword.5.semanticnarrowing:Semanticnarrowingisaprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordbe-comeslessgeneralorinclusivethanitshistoricallyearliermeaning.6.Protolanguage:Itistheoriginalformofalanguagefamilythathasceasedtoexist.7.Haplology:Itreferstothephenomenonofthelossofoneoftwophoneticallysimilarsyllablesinsequence.8.Epenthesis:Achangethatinvolvestheinsertionofaconsonantorvowelsoundtothemiddleofawordisknownasepenthesis.9.Compounding:Itisaprocessofcombiningtwoormorethantwowordsintoonelexicalunit.10.Blending:Itisaprocessofforminganewwordbycombiningpartsofotherwords.11.semanticbroadening:Semanticbroadeningreferstotheprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordbecomesmoregeneralorinclusivethanitshistoricallyearlierdenota-tion.62.semanticshift:Semanticshiftisaprocessofsemanticchangeinwhichawordlosesitsformermeaningandacquiresanew,sometimesrelated,meaning.63.GreatVowelShift:ItisaseriesofsystematicsoundchangeattheendoftheMiddleEnglishperiodapproximatelybetween1400and1600inthehistoryofEnglishthatinvolvedsevenlongvowelsandconsequentlyledtooneofthemajordiscrepanciesbetweenEnglishpronunciationanditsspellingsystem.\n64.Acronym:Anacronymisawordcreatedbycombiningtheinitialsofanumberofwords.65.soundassimilation:Soundassimilationreferstothephysiologicaleffectofonesoundonan-other.Inanassimilativeprocess,successivesoundsaremadeidentical,ormoresimilar,tooneanotherintermsofplaceormannerofarticulation,orofhaplology.V.Answerthefollowingquestions:66.Whatisthepurposeorsignificanceofthehistoricalstudyoflanguage1)Researchesinhistoricallinguisticsshedlightonprehistoricdevelopmentsintheevolutionoflanguageandtheconnectionsofearlierandlatervariantsofthesamelan-guageandprovidevaluableinsightsintothekinshippatternsofdifferentlanguages.2)Theidentificationofthechangesthataparticularlanguagehasundergoneenablesustoreconstructthelinguistichistoryofthatlanguage,andtherebyhypothesizesitsearlierformsfromwhichcurrentspeechandwritinghaveevolved.3)Thehistoricalstudyoflanguagealsoen-ablesthemtodeterminehownon-linguisticfactors,suchassocial,culturalandpsychologicalfactors,interactovertimetocauselinguisticchange.67.WhatarethecharacteristicsofthenatureoflanguagechangeAlllivinglanguageschangewithtimeandlanguagechangeisinevitable.Asageneralrule,languagechangeisuniversal,continuousand,toaconsiderablede-gree,regularandsystematic.Languagechangeisextensive,takingplaceinvirtuallyallaspectsofthegrammar.Althoughlanguagechangeisuniversal,inevitable,andinsomecases,vigorous,itisneveranovernightoccurrence,butagradualandconstantprocess,oftenindiscernibletospeakersofthesamegeneration.68.WhatarethemajorperiodsinthehistoryofEnglish\nThemajorperiodsinthehistoryofEnglishareOldEnglishperiod(roughlyfrom449to1100),MiddleEnglishperiod(roughlyfrom1100to1500),andModernEnglishperiod(roughlyfrom1500tothepre-sent).OldEnglishdatesbacktothemid-fifthcenturywhenAnglo-SaxonsinvadedtheBritishIslesfromnorthernEurope.ThepronunciationofOldEnglishisverydifferentfromitsmodemform.Forexample,theOldEnglishword"ham"ispronouncedas/ha:m/.Intermsofmorphology,nearlyhalfofthenounsareinflectedtomarknomi-native,genitive,dative,andaccusativecases.Inaddition,suffixesareaddedtoverbstoindicatetense.Syntactical-ly,theverbofanOldEnglishsentenceprecedes,hutdoesnotfollow,thesubject.MiddleEnglishbeganwhentheNormanFrenchinvadersinvadedEnglandunderWilliamtheConquerorin1066.MiddleEnglishhadbeendeeplyinfluencedbyNormanFrenchinvocabularyandgrammar.Forexample,suchtermsas"army,""court,""defense,""faith,""prison"and"tax"camefromthelanguageoftheFrenchrulers.ModernEnglishperiodstartswithEuropeanrenaissancemove-ment.Adi-rectconsequenceoftheRenaissancemovementwastherevivalofLatinasaliterarylanguage.Inthepost-Renaissanceperiod,the"BritishEmpire"setupEnglish-speakingcoloniesinmanypartsoftheworld.Bythenineteenthcentury,Englishwasrecognizedasthelanguageofthegovernment,thelaw,highereducation,andbusinessandcommerceintheUnitedStates,Canada,AustraliaandNewZealand.TodayModernEnglishiswidelyusedandhasinfactbecomeanimportanttoolofinternationalcommunicationamongpeoplesofdifferentcountries.69.Aslanguagechangesovertime,themeaningofawordmaydeviatefromitsoriginaldenotation.Discussthemajortypesofsemanticchanges.Majortypesofsemanticchangesaresemanticbroadening,semanticnarrowingandsemanticshift.Semanticbroadeningreferstotheprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordbecomesmoregeneralorinclusivethanitshistoricallyearlierdenota-tion.Takethe\nword"holiday"forexample,Theoldermeaningwasa"holyday."Todayeveryoneenjoysaholiday,whetherheorsheisreligiousornot.Semanticnarrowingisaprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordbe-comeslessgeneralorinclusivethanitshistoricallyearliermeaning.Forex-ample,"wife,"usedtomean"anywoman,"butnowitmeans“marriedfe-males”only.Semanticshiftisaprocessofsemanticchangeinwhichawordlosesitsformermeaningandacquiresanew,sometimesrelated,meaning.Forexample,thewordsillymeant“happy”inOldEnglish,andnaiveinMiddleEnglish,but"foolish"inModernEnglish.70.OvertheyearsfromOldEnglishperiodtotheModernEnglishperiod,Englishhasundergonesomemajorsoundchanges.Illustratethesechangeswithsomeexamples.Themajorsoundchangesincludechangesinvowelsounds,andintheloss,gainandmovementofsounds.ThechangesinvowelsoundscanbeseenintheGreatVowelShiftinthehistoryofEnglish,whichledtooneofthemajordis-agreementsbetweenthepronunciationandthespellingsystemofModernEnglish.Thesechangesinvolvesevenlong,ortensevowels,forexampleWordsMiddleEnglishModemEnglishFivefi:vfaivMouseMu:smausFeetfe:tfi:tMoodMo:dmu:dBreakBrε:kenbreikSoundsdonotjustchange,theycanbelost.vowelsoundschange,butsomesoundssimplydisappearedfromthegeneralpronunciationofEnglish.Oneexampleofsoundlossisthe/kn-/clustersintheword-initialposition.InOldandMiddleEnglish,both/k/and/n/werepro-nounced,asisshowninthespellingofsuchwordsas"knight"and"knee."AlthoughModernEnglishspellingofthesewordsstillkeepstheinitialletterk,itssoundisnolongerpronounced.\nSoundchangescanalsotaketheformofsoundaddition.Soundadditionincludesthegainorinsertionofasound,forexample:spinlespindleemtyemptySoundchangecantaketheformofsoundmovement.Itinvolvesareversalinpositionoftwoneighbouringsoundseg-ments.Forexample,the/r/soundintheOldEnglishwords"bridd"("bird")and"hros"("horse")wasmovedtotherightofthevowelsoundsintheirModemEnglishcounterparts"bird"and"horse."71.Whatarethemostwidely-spreadmorphologicalchangesinthehistoricaldevelopmentofEnglish?Themostwidely-spreadmorphologicalchangesinthehistoricaldevelopmentofEnglisharethelossandadditionofaffixes.AnumberofmorphologicalrulesinOldEnglisharenowlostinModernEnglish.Someoftheserulesareaboutderivationalaffixes,suchassuffixes"-baere"and"-bora".InOldEnglishanadjectivewouldderiveif"-baere"wasaddedtoanoun,suchas:lust("pleasure")+baerelustbaere("agreeable")ButthisrulehasbeenlostinmodernEnglish.Themostdramaticmorphologicallossconcernsthelossofgenderandcasemarking.InOldEnglish,forexample,"stn"("stone")wasmarkedmasculine,while"gief"("gift")and"d…or"("wildanimal")weremarkedrespectivelyfeminineandneuter.InmodernEnglish,thegendermarkersofthesewordshavebeenlost.SomeaffixeshavebeenaddedtotheEnglishmorphologicalsystem.Take"-able"forexample,ithasbeenaddedtoEnglishsincetheOldEnglishperiod.Atfirst,wordsendingin"-able,"suchas"favourable"and"conceivable,"wereborrowedaltogetherfromFrench.Thenthissuffixbe-cameaproductiveruleinEnglish.Itwasusedwithotherverbstoformad-jectives.ContemporaryEnglishspeakersapplythissuffixruletomorestems,thusproducingnewadjectivessuchas"payable,"and“washable.”72.WhatarethecausesoflanguagechangeDiscussthemindetail.\nLanguagechangesareduetothefollowingcauses:1)Soundassimilation:Soundassimilationreferstothephysiologicaleffectofonesoundonan-other.Inanassimilativeprocess,successivesoundsaremadeidentical,ormoresimilar,tooneanotherintermsofplaceormannerofarticulation,orofhaplology,thelossofoneoftwophoneticallysimilarsyllablesinsequence.Forexample,theOldEnglishword"Engla-land"("thelandoftheAngles")cametobepronounced“England”throughtheassimilationof"la-lasounds.2)Rulesimplificationandregularization:Somechangesaretheresultofsimplificationandregularization.Thepluralformsofborrowedwordsareusuallyirregular,thuscomplex.Forexample,thepluralformsof"agendum","datum","curriculum"and"memorandum"are"agenda","data","curricula"and"mem-oranda".Theirregularpluralsofthesenounshavebeenreplacedbyregularpluralsof"agendas","curriculums",and"memorandums"amongmanyspeakers,thusmakingthemsimplifiedandregularized.3)Internalborrowing:Inordertoreducethenumberofex-ceptionalorirregularmorphemes,speakersofaparticularlanguagemaybor-rowarulefromonepartofthegrammarandapplyitgenerally.Forexam-ple,byanalogytothepluralformationof"foe-s"and"dog-s",speakersstartedsaying"cows"asthepluralof"cow"insteadoftheearlierpluralkine.4)Elaboration:Ruleelaborationoccurswhenthereisaneedtoreduceambiguityandincreasecommunicativeclarityorexpressiveness.Ifaparticulargrammaticalfeatureislostasare-sultofachangeinthephonologicalsystem,someotherfeaturemaybeaddedinanothercomponentofthegrammar.5)Socialtriggers:Socio-politicalchangessuchaswars,invasions,oc-cupation,colonization,andlanguageplanningandstandardiza-tionpoliciesleadtolanguagechanges.Forexample,inthehistoryofEnglish,theNormanConquestmarkedthebeginningoftheMiddleEnglishperiod.AndBritishcolonialsettlement,andthecountry'spolitical,culturalandeconomicadvancesindistantlandssuchasNorthAmerica,Oceania,SouthAfrica,andIndialeadtothechangeofEnglishintoBritish,American,Australian,SouthAfricanandIndianvarieties.\n6)Culturaltransmission:Althoughanewgenerationhastofindawayofusingthelanguageofthepreviousgeneration,ithastofindexpressionsthatcanbestcommunicatetheviewsandconceptsofthetimeandthechangedandever-changingsociallife,andre-createthelanguageofthecommunity.Forexample,whileoldpeopletendtocallarefrigerator"icebox,"theyoungergenerationismoreoftenheardspeakingofa"fridge."Thistenuoustransmissionprocessaddsuptotheinevitableandongoinglanguagechangeandvariation.7)Children'sapproximationtowardtheadultgrammar:Thewaychildrenacquirethelanguageisanotherbasiccauseforlan-guagechange.Childrenusuallyconstructtheirpersonalgrammarsbythemselvesandgeneralizerulesfromthelinguisticinformationtheyhear.Children'sgrammarnevermodelsexactlyafterthatoftheadultspeechcommunity,becausechildrenareexposedtodiverselinguisticinfor-mation.Alltheabovefactorscontributetolanguagechanges.