语言学试题答案

语言学试题答案

               ChapterI   IntroductionI.DecidewhethereachofthefollowingstatementsisTrueorFalse:  l.T   2.F   3.F   4.T   5.T   6.F   7.T  8.F   9.T   10.F  11.T  12.T  13.T 14.T  15.T  16.F  17.T 18.F   19.F  20.FII.Fillineachofthefollowingblankswithonewordwhichbeginswiththelettergiven:21.knowledge     22.abstract      23.Duality     24.arbitrary25.syntax  26.genetic27.Parole   28.applied   29.productive  30.scientific(orsystematic)III.Therearefourchoicesfollowingeachstatement.Markthechoicethatcanbestcompletethestatement.3l.C  32.D  33.C  34.D  35.B  36.A  37.C  38.B  39.A  40.DIV.Definethefollowingterms:41. Linguistics:Linguisticsisgenerallydefinedasthescientificstudyoflanguage.42. Phonology:Thestudyofhowsoundsareputtogetherandusedincommunicationiscalledphonology.43. Syntax:Thestudyofhowmorphemesandwordsarecombinedtoformsentencesiscalledsyntax..44. Pragmatics:Thestudyofmeaningincontextofuseiscalledpragmatics.45. Psycholinguistics:Thestudyoflanguagewithreferencetotheworkingsofmindiscalledpsycholinguistics.46. Language:Languageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.47. Phonetics:Thestudyofsoundswhichareusedinlinguisticcommunicationiscalledphonetics.48. Morphology:Thestudyofthewayinwhichmorphemesarearrangedtoformwordsiscalledmorphology.49. Semantics:Thestudyofmeaninginlanguageiscalledsemantics.50. Sociolinguistics:Thestudyoflanguagewithreferencetosocietyiscalledsociolinguistics,.51. Appliedlinguistics:Inanarrowsense,appliedlinguisticsreferstotheapplicationoflinguisticprinciplesandtheoriestolanguageteachingandlearning,especiallytheteachingofforeignandsecondlanguages.Inabroadsense,itreferstotheapplicationoflinguisticfindingstothesolutionofpracticalproblemssuchastherecoveryofspeechability.52. arbitrariness:Itisoneofthedesignfeaturesoflanguage.Itmeansthatthereisnologicalconnectionbetweenmeaningsandsounds53. Productivity:Languageisproductiveorcreativeinthatitmakespossibletheconstructionandinterpretationofnewsignalsbyitsusers.54. Displacement:Displacementmeansthatlanguagecanbeusedtorefertothingswhicharepresentornotpresent,realorimaginedmattersinthepast,present,orfuture,orinfar-awayplaces.Inotherwords,languagecanbeusedtorefertocontextsremovedfromtheimmediatesituationsofthespeaker55. Duality:Thedualitynatureoflanguagemeansthatlanguageisasystem,which\nconsistsoftwosetsofstructure,ortwolevels,oneofsoundsandtheotherofmeanings.56. Designfeatures:Designfeaturesrefertothedefiningpropertiesofhumanlanguagethatdistinguishitfromanyanimalsystemofcommunication.57. Competence:Chomskydefinescompetenceastheidealuser'sknowledgeoftherulesofhislanguage,58. Performance:performanceistheactualrealizationoftheknowledgeoftherulesinlinguisticcommunication.59. langue:Languereferstotheabstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyallthemembersofaspeechcommunity;Langueisthesetofconventionsandruleswhichlanguageusersallhavetofollow;Langueisrelativelystable,itdoesnotchangefrequently60.  Parole:Parolereferstotherealizationoflangueinactualuse;paroleistheconcreteuseoftheconventionsandtheapplicationoftherules;parolevariesfrompersontoperson,andfromsituationtosituation.V.Answerthefollowingquestionsascomprehensivelyaspossible.Giveexamples forillustrationifnecessary:61.Languageisgenerallydefinedasasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.Explainitindetail.Firstofall,languageisasystem,becauseelementsoflanguagearecombinedaccordingtorules.Secondly,languageisarbitrarybecausethereisnointrinsicconnectionbetweenformandmeaning,orbetweenthesignandwhatitstandsfor.Differentlanguageshavedifferentwordsforthesameobjectintheworld.Thisfactisagoodillustrationofthearbitrarynatureoflanguage.Thisalsoexplainsthesymbolicnatureoflanguage:wordsarejustsymbols;theyareassociatedwithobjects,actions,ideas,etc.byconvention.Thirdly,languageisvocalbecausetheprimarymediumissoundforalllanguages,nomatterhowwell-developedtheirwritingsystemsare.   Theterm"human"inthedefinitionindicatesthatlanguageispossessedbyhumanbeingsonlyandisverydifferentfromthecommunicationsystemsofotherlivingcreatures.Theterm"communication"meansthatlanguagemakesitpossibleforitsuserstotalktoeachotherandfulfilltheircommunicativeneeds.62. Whatarethedesignfeaturesofhumanlanguage?Illustratethemwithexamples.  1)ArbitrarinessAsmentionedearlier,thearbitrarypropertyoflanguagemeansthatthereisnologicalconnectionbetweenmeaningsandsounds.Forinstance,thereisnonecessaryrelationshipbetweenthewordelephantandtheanimalitsymbolizes.Inaddition,differentsoundsareusedtorefertothesameobjectindifferentlanguages,andevenwithinthesamelanguage,thesamesounddoesnotrefertothesamething.However,languageisnotentirelyarbitrary.Therearewordswhicharecreatedintheimitationofsoundsbysounds,suchascrash,banginEnglish.Besides,somecompoundwordsarealsonotentirelyarbitrary.Butthenon-arbitrarywordsarequitelimitedinnumber.Thearbitrarynatureoflanguagemakesitpossibleforlanguagetohaveanunlimitedsourceofexpressions.2)Productivity\n   Languageisproductiveorcreativeinthatitmakespossibletheconstructionandinterpretationofnewsignalsbyitsusers.Thisiswhytheycanproduceandunderstandaninfinitelylargenumberofsentences,includingsentencesthattheyhaveneversaidorheardbefore.Theycansendmessageswhichnooneelsehaseversentbefore. Productivityisuniquetohumanlanguage.Mostanimalcommunicationsystemsappeartobehighlyrestrictedwithrespecttothenumberofdifferentsignalsthattheiruserscansendandreceive.3)Duality   Thedualitynatureoflanguagemeansthatlanguageisasystem,whichconsistsoftwosetsofstructure,ortwolevels,oneofsoundsandtheotherofmeanings.Atthelowerorthebasiclevel,thereisthestructureofsounds,whicharemeaningless,discrete,individualsounds.Butthesoundsoflanguagecanbecombinedaccordingtorulesintounitsofmeaningsuchasmorphemesandwords,which,atthehigherlevel, canbearrangedintosentences.Thisdualityofstructureordoublearticulationoflanguageenablesitsuserstotalkaboutanythingwithintheirknowledge.Noanimalcommunicationsystemhasdualityorevencomesneartopossessingit.4)DisplacementDisplacementmeansthatlanguagecanbeusedtorefertothingswhicharepresentornotpresent,realorimaginedmattersinthepast,present,orfuture,orinfar-awayplaces.Inotherwords,languagecanbeusedtorefertocontextsremovedfromtheimmediatesituationsofthespeaker.Animalcallsaremainlyutteredinresponsetoimmediatechangesofsituation.5)Culturaltransmission   Humanbeingswerebornwiththeabilitytoacquirelanguage,butthedetailsofanylanguagearenotgeneticallytransmittedorpasseddownbyinstinct.Theyhavetobetaughtandlearned, butanimalcallsystemsaregeneticallytransmitted.63. Howismodernlinguisticsdifferentfromtraditionalgrammar?   Traditionalgrammarisprescriptive;itisbasedon"high"(religious,literary)writtenlanguage.Itsetsgrammaticalrulesandimposestherulesonlanguageusers.ButModernlinguisticsisdescriptive;Itcollectsauthentic,andmainlyspokenlanguagedataandthenitstudiesanddescribesthedatainanobjectiveandscientificway.64. Howdoyouunderstandthedistinctionbetweenasynchronicstudyandadiachronicstudy?ThedescriptionofalanguageatsomepointintimeisaSynchronicstudy;thedescriptionofalanguageasitchangesthroughtimeisadiachronicstudy.Asynchronicstudyoflanguagedescribesalanguageasitisatsomeparticularpointintime,whileadiachronicstudyoflanguageisthestudyofthehistoricaldevelopmentoflanguageoveraperiodoftime.65. Whydoesmodernlinguisticsregardthespokenformoflanguageasprimary,notthewritten?First,thespokenformispriortothewrittenformandmostwritingsystemsarederivedfromthespokenformoflanguage.\nSecond,thespokenformplaysagreaterrolethanwritingintermsoftheamountofinformationconveyedanditservesawiderrangeofpurposesFinally,thespokenformisthemediumthroughwhichweacquireourmothertongue.66.Whatarethemajordistinctionsbetweenlangueandparole? Thedistinctionbetweenlangue,andparolewasmadebythefamousSwisslinguistFerdinanddeSaussureearlythiscentury.Languereferstotheabstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyallthemembersofaspeechcommunity,andparolereferstotherealizationoflangueinactualuse.Langueisthesetofconventionsandruleswhichlanguageusersallhavetofollowwhileparoleistheconcreteuseoftheconventionsandtheapplicationoftherules.Langueisabstract;itisnotthelanguagepeopleactuallyuse,butparoleisconcrete;itreferstothenaturallyoccurringlanguageevents.Langueisrelativelystable,itdoesnotchangefrequently;whileparolevariesfrompersontoperson,andfromsituationtosituation.67.Howdoyouunderstandcompetenceandperformance? AmericanlinguistN.Chomskyinthelate1950’sproposedthedistinctionbetweencompetenceandperformance.Chomskydefinescompetenceastheidealuser’sknowledgeoftherulesofhislanguage.Thisinternalizedsetofrulesenablesthelanguageusertoproduceandunderstandaninfinitelylargenumberofsentencesandrecognizesentencesthatareungrammaticalandambiguous.AccordingtoChomsky, performanceistheactualrealizationofthisknowledgeinlinguisticcommunication.Althoughthespeaker’sknowledgeofhismothertongueisperfect,hisperformancesmayhavemistakesbecauseofsocialandpsychologicalfactorssuchasstress,embarrassment,etc..Chomskybelievesthatwhatlinguistsshouldstudyisthecompetence,whichissystematic,nottheperformance,whichistoohaphazard.68.Saussure’sdistinctionbetweenlangueandparoleseemssimilartoChomsky’sdistinctionbetweencompetenceandperformance.Whatdoyouthinkaretheirmajordifferences?  AlthoughSaussure’sdistinctionandChomsky’sareverysimilar,theydifferatleastinthatSaussuretookasociologicalviewoflanguageandhisnotionoflangueisamaterofsocialconventions,andChomskylooksatlanguagefromapsychologicalpointofviesandtohim,competenceisapropertyofthemindofeachindividual.69. Doyouthinkhumanlanguageisentirelyarbitrary?Why?   Languageisarbitraryinnature,itisnotentirelyarbitrary,becausetherearealimitednumberofwordswhoseconnectionsbetweenformsandmeaningscanbelogicallyexplainedtoacertainextent,forexample,theonomatopoeia,wordswhicharecoinedonthebasisofimitationofsoundsbysoundssuchasbang,crash,etc..Takecompoundsforanotherexample.Thetwoelements “photo”and“copy”in“photocopy”arenon-motivated,butthecompoundisnotarbitrary.