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 more allophones of one phoneme never occur in the same linguistic environment they are said
to be in complementary distribution.
34. Distinctive features: It refers to the features that can distinguish one phoneme from another. If we can group the phonemes into two categories: one with this feature and the other without, this feature is
called a distinctive feature.
V. 35.
Acoustic phonetics deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air. When a speech sound is produced it causes minor air disturbances (sound waves). Various instruments are used to measure the characteristics of these
sound waves.
36.
When the vocal cords are spread apart, the air from the lungs passes between them unimpeded. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiceless; consonants [p, s, t] are produced in this way. But when the vocal cords are drawn together, the air from the lungs repeatedly pushes them apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect. Sounds produced in this
way are described as voiced. [b, z, d] are voiced consonants.
VI. 37.
Omit.
Chapter 3 Lexicon
I. Choose the best answer. (20%)
1. Nouns, verbs and adjectives can be classified as __________.
A. lexical words B. grammatical words
C. function words D. form words
2. Morphemes that represent tense, number, gender and case are called
__________ morpheme.
A. inflectional B. free C. bound D.
derivational
3. There are __________ morphemes in the word denationalization. A. three B. four C. five D. six
4. In English –ise and –tion are called __________. A. prefixes B. suffixes C. infixes D.
stems
5. The three subtypes of affixes are: prefix, suffix and __________. A. derivational affix B. inflectional affix C. infix D.
back-formation
6. __________ is a way in which new words may be formed from already existing words by subtracting an affix which is thought to be part of the
old word.
A. affixation B. back-formation C. insertion D.
addition
7. The word TB is formed in the way of __________. A. acronymy B. clipping C. initialism D.
blending
8. The words like comsat and sitcom are formed by __________. A. blending B. clipping C. back-formation D.
acronymy
9. The stem of disagreements is __________.
A. agreement B. agree C. disagree D. disagreement
10. All of them are meaningful except for __________. A. lexeme B. phoneme C. morpheme D. allomorph
II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)
11. Phonetically, the stress of a compound always falls on the first
element, while the second element receives secondary stress. 12. Fore as in foretell is both a prefix and a bound morpheme. 13. Base refers to the part of the word that remains when all
inflectional affixes are removed.
14. In most cases, prefixes change the meaning of the base whereas
suffixes change the word-class of the base.
15. Conversion from noun to verb is the most productive process of
a word.
16. Reduplicative compound is formed by repeating the same morpheme
of a word.
17. The words whimper, whisper and whistle are formed in the way of
onomatopoeia.
18. In most cases, the number of syllables of a word corresponds to
the number of morphemes.
19. Back-formation is a productive way of word-formations. 20. Inflection is a particular way of word-formations.
III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)
21. An __________ is pronounced letter by letter, while an __________
is pronounced as a word.
22. Lexicon, in most cases, is synonymous with __________. 23. Orthographically, compounds are written in three ways:
__________, __________ and __________.
24. All words may be said to contain a root __________. 25. A small set of conjunctions, prepositions and pronouns belong to __________ class, while the largest part of nouns, verbs, adjectives and
adverbs belongs to __________ class.
26. __________ is a reverse process of derivation, and therefore is
a process of shortening.
27. __________ is extremely productive, because English had lost most of its inflectional endings by the end of Middle English period, which facilitated the use of words interchangeably as verbs or nouns, verbs or
adjectives, and vice versa.
28. Words are divided into simple, compound and derived words on the
__________ level.
29. A word formed by derivation is called a __________, and a word
formed by compounding is called a __________.
30. Bound morphemes are classified into two types: __________ and
IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)
35. How many types of morphemes are there in the English language?
36. What are the main features of the English compounds?
37. Match the terms under COLUMN I with the underlined forms from
I II (1) acronym a. foe (2) free morpheme b. subconscious (3) derivational morpheme c. UNESCO (4) inflectional morpheme d. overwhelmed (5) prefix e. calcu
1~5 AACBB 6~10 BCADB
__________.
31. Blending 32. Allomorph 33. Closed-class word 34. Morphological rule
V. Answer the following questions. (20%)
What are they? （厦门大学，2003）
VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)
COLUMN II （武汉大学，2004）
lation Key: I.
II.
11~15 FTFTT 16~20 FTFFF
III.
21. initialism, acronym 22. vocabulary
23. solid, hyphenated, open 24. morpheme
25. close, open 26. back-formation
27. conversion 28. morpheme 29. derivative, compound 30. affix, bound root
IV.
31. Blending: It is a process of word-formation in which a new word is formed by combining the meanings and sounds of two words, one of which is not in its full form or both of which are not in their full forms, like
newscast (news + broadcast), brunch (breakfast + lunch)
32. Allomorph: It is any of the variant forms of a morpheme as
conditioned by position or adjoining sounds.
33. Close-class word: It is a word whose membership is fixed or limited. Pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, etc. are all
closed-class words.
34. Morphological rule: It is the rule that governs which affix can be added to what type of base to form a new word, e.g. –ly can be added to
a noun to form an adjective.
V. Omit. VI. 37.
(1) c (2) a (3) e (4)
d (5) b
Chapter 4 Syntax
I. Choose the best answer. (20%) 1. The sentence structure is ________.
A. only linear B. only hierarchical C. complex D. both linear and
hierarchical
2. The syntactic rules of any language are ____ in number. A. large B. small C. finite D. infinite 3. The ________ rules are the rules that group words and phrases to form
grammatical sentences.
A. lexical B. morphological C. linguistic D.
combinational
4. A sentence is considered ____ when it does not conform to the
grammati¬cal knowledge in the mind of native speakers. A. right B. wrong C. grammatical D.
ungrammatical
5. A __________ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory word
that introduces the embedded clause.
A. coordinator B. particle C. preposition D.
subordinator
6. Phrase structure rules have ____ properties.
A. recursive B. grammatical C. social D.
functional
7. Phrase structure rules allow us to better understand _____________.
A. how words and phrases form sentences.
B. what constitutes the grammaticality of strings of words C. how people produce and recognize possible sentences
D. all of the above.
8. The head of the phrase “the city Rome” is __________. A. the city B. Rome C. city D. the city
Rome
9. The phrase “on the shelf” belongs to __________ construction. A. endocentric B. exocentric C. subordinate D.
coordinate
10. The sentence “They were wanted to remain quiet and not to expose
themselves.” is a __________ sentence.
A. simple B. coordinate C. compound D. complex
II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)
11. Universally found in the grammars of all human languages, syntactic rules that comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledge of a
language speaker are known as linguistic competence.
12. The syntactic rules of any language are finite in number, but there is no limit to the number of sentences native speakers of that language are
able to produce and comprehend.
13. In a complex sentence, the two clauses hold unequal status, one
subordinating the other.
14. Constituents that can be substituted for one another without loss of
grammaticality belong to the same syntactic category.
15. Minor lexical categories are open because these categories are not
fixed and new members are allowed for.
16. In English syntactic analysis, four phrasal categories are commonly recognized and discussed, namely, noun phrase, verb phrase, infinitive
phrase, and auxiliary phrase.
17. In English the subject usually precedes the verb and the direct object
usually follows the verb.
18. What is actually internalized in the mind of a native speaker is a complete list of words and phrases rather than grammatical knowledge. 19. A noun phrase must contain a noun, but other elements are optional. 20. It is believed that phrase structure rules, with the insertion of the
lexicon, generate sentences at the level of D-structure.
III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)
21. A __________ sentence consists of a single clause which contains a
subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence. 22. A __________ is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to form a complete statement, question or command. 23. A __________ may be a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence that usually
precedes the predicate.
24. The part of a sentence which comprises a finite verb or a verb phrase and which says something about the subject is grammatically called __________. 25. A __________ sentence contains two, or more, clauses, one of which is
incorporated into the other.
26. In the complex sentence, the incorporated or subordinate clause is
normally called an __________ clause.
27. Major lexical categories are __________ categories in the sense that
new words are constantly added.
28. __________ condition on case assignment states that a case assignor
and a case recipient should stay adjacent to each other.
29. __________ are syntactic options of UG that allow general principles to operate in one way or another and contribute to significant linguistic
variations between and among natural languages.
30. The theory of __________ condition explains the fact that noun phrases
appear only in subject and object positions.
IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)
31. Syntax 32. IC analysis 33. Hierarchical structure
34. Trace theory
V. Answer the following questions. (20%)
35. What are endocentric construction and exocentric construction? （武
汉大学，2004）
36. Distinguish the two possible meanings of “more beautiful flowers”
by means of IC analysis. （北京第二外国语大学，2004）
VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)
37. Draw a tree diagram according to the PS rules to show the deep structure
of the sentence:
The student wrote a letter yesterday.
Key: I.
1~5 DCDDD 6~10 ADDBA
II.
11~15 TTTTF 16~20 FTFTT
III.
21. simple 22. sentence 23. subject 24. predicate 25. complex 26. embedded 27. open 28. Adjacency
29. Parameters 30. Case
IV.
31. Syntax: Syntax refers to the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences in a language, or simply, the study of the formation of
sentences.
32. IC analysis: Immediate constituent analysis, IC analysis for short, refers to the analysis of a sentence in terms of its immediate constituents – word groups (phrases), which are in turn analyzed into the immediate constituents of their own, and the process goes on until the ultimate sake
of convenience.
33. Hierarchical structure: It is the sentence structure that groups words into structural constituents and shows the syntactic category of each
structural constituent, such as NP, VP and PP.
34. Trace theory: After the movement of an element in a sentence there will be a trace left in the original position. This is the notion trace in T-G grammar. It’s suggested that if we have the notion trace, all the necessary information for semantic interpretation may come from the surface structure. E.g. The passive Dams are built by beavers. differs from the active Beavers built dams. in implying that all dams are built by beavers. If we add a trace element represented by the letter t after built in the passive as Dams are built t by beavers, then the deep structure information that the word dams was originally the object of built is also captured by the surface structure. Trace theory proves to be not only theoretically significant but also
empirically valid.
V. 35.
An endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent, or approaching equivalence, to one of its constituents, which serves as the center, or head, of the whole. A typical example is the three small children with children as its head. The exocentric construction, opposite to the first type, is defined negatively as a construction whose distribution is not functionally equivalent to any of its constituents. Prepositional phrasal like on the shelf are typical examples of this type.
36.
(1) more | beautiful flowers (2) more beautiful | flowers
Chapter 5 Meaning
[Mainly taken from lxm1000w’s exercises. – icywarmtea]
I. Choose the best answer. (20%)
1. The naming theory is advanced by ________.
A. Plato B. Bloomfield C. Geoffrey Leech D. Firth 2. “We shall know a word by the company it keeps.” This statement
represents _______.
A. the conceptualist view B.
contexutalism
C. the naming theory D.
behaviorism
3. Which of the following is NOT true?
A. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. B. Sense is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form.
C. Sense is abstract and decontextualized.
D. Sense is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are not interested
in.
4. “Can I borrow your bike?”_______ “You have a bike.” A. is synonymous with B. is inconsistent with C. entails D. presupposes 5. ___________ is a way in which the meaning of a word can be dissected
into meaning components, called semantic features.
A. Predication analysis B. Componential analysis C. Phonemic analysis D. Grammatical analysis
6. “Alive” and “dead” are ______________.
A. gradable antonyms B. relational
antonyms
C. complementary antonyms D. None of the above 7. _________ deals with the relationship between the linguistic element
and the non-linguistic world of experience.
A. Reference B. Concept C. Semantics D. Sense 8. ___________ refers to the phenomenon that words having different
meanings have the same form.
A. Polysemy B. Synonymy C. Homonymy D. Hyponymy 9. Words that are close in meaning are called ______________. A. homonyms B. polysemies C. hyponyms D. synonyms 10. The grammaticality of a sentence is governed by _______. A. grammatical rules B. selectional restrictions C. semantic rules D. semantic features
II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)
11. Dialectal synonyms can often be found in different regional dialects such as British English and American English but cannot be found within the variety itself, for example, within British English or American English. 12. Sense is concerned with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience, while the reference deals
with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.
13. Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references
in different situations.
14. In semantics, meaning of language is considered as the intrinsic and
inherent relation to the physical world of experience.
15. Contextualism is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning
from or reduce meaning to observable contexts.
16. Behaviorists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in
the hearer.
17. The meaning of a sentence is the sum total of the meanings of all its
components.
18. Most languages have sets of lexical items similar in meaning but ranked
differently according to their degree of formality.
19. “It is hot.” is a no-place predication because it contains no
argument.
20. In grammatical analysis, the sentence is taken to be the basic unit, but in semantic analysis of a sentence, the basic unit is predication, which
is the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence.
III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)
21. __________ can be defined as the study of meaning.
22. The conceptualist view holds that there is no __________ link between
a linguistic form and what it refers to.
23. __________ means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the
non-linguistic world of experience.
24. Words that are close in meaning are called __________.
25. When two words are identical in sound, but different in spelling and
meaning, they are called __________.
26. __________ opposites are pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of
a relationship between the two items.
27. __________ analysis is based upon the belief that the meaning of a word
can be divided into meaning components.
28. Whether a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called __________ restrictions, which are constraints on what lexical items
can go with what others.
29. A(n) __________ is a logical participant in a predication, largely
identical with the nominal element(s) in a sentence.
30. According to the __________ theory of meaning, the words in a lan¬guage
are taken to be labels of the objects they stand for.
IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)
31. Entailment 32. Proposition 33. Componential analysis
34. Reference
V. Answer the following questions. (20%)
35. What are the sense relations between the following groups of words? Dogs, cats, pets, parrots; trunk, branches, tree, roots （青岛海
洋大学，1999）
36. What are the three kinds of antonymy? （武汉大学，2004）
VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)
37. For each group of words given below, state what semantic property or properties are shared by the (a) words and the (b) words, and what semantic property or properties distinguish between the classes of (a) words and (b)
words.
(1) a. bachelor, man, son, paperboy, pope, chief
b. bull, rooster, drake, ram
(2) a. table, stone, pencil, cup, house, ship, car
b. milk, alcohol, rice, soup (3) a. book, temple, mountain, road, tractor
b. idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fear （青岛
海洋大学，1999）
Key: I.
1~5 ABDDB 6~10 CACDA
II.
11~15 FFTFT 16~20 TFTTT
III.
21. Semantics 22. direct 23. Reference 24. synonyms 25. homophones 26. Relational 27. Componential 28. selectional 29. argument 30. naming
IV.
31. Entailment: It is basically a semantic relation (or logical implication), and it can be clarified with the following sentences:
a. Tom divorced Jane. b. Jane was Tom’s wife.
In terms of truth value, the following relationships exist between these two sentences: when A is true, B must be also true; when B is false, A must also be false. When B is true, A may be true or false. Therefore we
can say A entails B.
32. Proposition: It is the result of the abstraction of sentences, which are descriptions of states of affairs and which some writers see as a basic element of sentence meaning. For example, the two sentences “Caesar invaded Gaul” and “Gaul was invaded by Caesar” hold the same proposition.
33. Compositional analysis: It defines the meaning of a lexical element in terms of semantic components, or semantic features. For example, the meaning of the word boy may be analyzed into three components: HUMAN, YOUNG and MALE. Similarly girl may be analyzed into HUMAN, YOUNG and FEMALE. 34. Reference: It is what a linguistic form refers to in the real world; it is a matter of the relationship between the form and the reality.
V. 35.
Hyponymy, metonymy or part-whole relationship
36. (Omit.)
VI. 37.
(1) The (a) words and (b) words are male.
The (a) words are human, while the (b) words are non-human.
(2) The (a) words and (b) words are inanimate.
The (a) words are instrumental, while the (b) words are edible. (3) The (a) words and (b) words are worldly or conceptual. The (a) words are material, while the (b) words are spiritual.
Chapter 7 Language, Culture and Society
[注：第六章无测试题]
I. Choose the best answer. (20%)
1. _______ is concerned with the social significance of language
variation and language use in different speech communities. A. Psycholinguistics B. Sociolinguistics C. Applied linguistics D. General linguistics 2. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is
its __________.
A. use of words B. use of structures
C. accent D. morphemes 3. __________ is speech variation according to the particular area where
a speaker comes from.
A. Regional variation B. Language variation C. Social variation D. Register variation
4. _______ are the major source of regional variation of language.
A. Geographical barriers
B. Loyalty to and confidence in one’s native speech C. Physical discomfort and psychological resistance to change
D. Social barriers
5. _________ means that certain authorities, such as the government choose, a particular speech variety, standardize it and spread the use of
it across regional boundaries.
A. Language interference B. Language changes C. Language planning D. Language transfer 6. _________ in a person’s speech or writing usually ranges on a continuum from casual or colloquial to formal or polite according to the type
of communicative situation.
A. Regional variation B. Changes in emotions C. Variation in connotations D. Stylistic variation 7. A ____ is a variety of language that serves as a medium of communication
among groups of people for diverse linguistic backgrounds. A. lingua franca B. register C. Creole D. national language 8. Although _______ are simplified languages with reduced grammatical
features, they are rule-governed, like any human language. A. vernacular languages B. creoles
C. pidgins D. sociolects
9. In normal situations, ____ speakers tend to use more prestigious forms
than their ____ counterparts with the same social background.
A. female; male B. male; female
C. old; young D. young; old
10. A linguistic _______ refers to a word or expression that is prohibited
by the “polite” society from general use.
A. slang B. euphemism C. jargon D. taboo
II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)
11. Language as a means of social communication is a homogeneous system
with a homogeneous group of speakers.
12. The goal of sociolinguistics is to explore the nature of language
variation and language use among a variety of speech communities and in
different social situations.
13. From the sociolinguistic perspective, the term “speech variety” can not be used to refer to standard language, vernacular language, dialect or
pidgin.
14. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is
its grammar and uses of vocabulary.
15. A person’s social backgrounds do not exert a shaping influence on his
choice of linguistic features.
16. Every speaker of a language is, in a stricter sense, a speaker of a
distinct idiolect.
17. A lingua franca can only be used within a particular country for communication among groups of people with different linguistic backgrounds. 18. A pidgin usually reflects the influence of the higher, or dominant, language in its lexicon and that of the lower language in their phonology
and occasionally syntax.
19. Bilingualism and diglossia mean the same thing.
20. The use of euphemisms has the effect of removing derogatory overtones
and the disassociative effect as such is usually long-lasting.
III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)
21. The social group isolated for any given study is called the speech
__________.
22. Speech __________ refers to any distinguishable form of speech used by
a speaker or group of speakers.
23. From the sociolinguistic perspective, a speech variety is no more than
a __________ variety of a language.
24. Language standardization is also called language __________. 25. Social variation gives rise to __________ which are subdivisible into smaller speech categories that reflect their socioeconomic, educational,
occupational background, etc.
26. __________ variation in a person’s speech or writing usually ranges on a continuum from casual or colloquial to formal or polite according to the
type of communicative situation.
27. A regional dialect may gain status and become standardized as the national
or __________ language of a country.
28. The standard language is a __________, socially prestigious dialect of
language.
29. Language varieties other than the standard are called nonstandard, or
__________ languages.
30. A pidgin typically lacks in __________ morphemes.
IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)
31. Lingua franca 32. Regional dialect
33. Register 34. Sociolinguistics
V. Answer the following questions. (20%)
35. Is American English superior to African English? Why or why not? （中
国人民大学，2003）
36. If we take it as rule that language is intimately related to culture, then how do the kinship words, such as uncle and aunt, reflect the cultural
differences between English and Chinese? （东北师范大学，2004）
VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)
37.Explain the differences between registers and regional/social dialects.
Give examples if necessary. （东北师范大学，2005）
答案 I.
1~5 BCAAC 6~10 DACAD
II.
11~15 FTFFF 16~20 TFTFF
III.
21. community 22. variety 23. dialectal 24.planning 25. sociolects 26. Stylistic
27. official 28. superposed 29. vernacular 30. inflectional
IV.
31. Lingua franca: A lingua franca is a variety of language that serves as a common speech for social contact among groups of people who speaks
different native languages or dialects.
32. Regional dialect: Regional dialect, also social or class dialect, is a speech variety spoken by the members of a particular group or stratum of
a speech community.
33. Register: Register, also situational dialect, refers to the language variety appropriate for use in particular speech situations on which degrees
of formality depends.
34. Sociolinguistics: Defined in its broadest way, sociolinguistics, a subdiscipline of linguistics, is the study of language in relation to society. It is concerned with language variation, language use, the impact of
extra-linguistic factors on language use, etc.
V. 35.
American English is not superior to African English. As different branches of English, African English and American English are equal. Similar as they are, they are influenced by their respective cultural context and thus form
respective systems of pronunciation, words and even grammar.
36.
In China, Chinese has a more strict and complex relationship system.
So in Chinese there are a lot more kinship words than in English.
VI. 37. (Omit.)
Chapter 8 Language in Use I. Choose the best answer. (20%)
1. What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in
the study of meaning _________ is considered.
A. reference B. speech act C. practical usage D.
context
2. A sentence is a _________ concept, and the meaning of a sentence is
often studied in isolation.
A. pragmatic B. grammatical C. mental D. conceptual 3. If we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the course
of communication, it becomes a (n) _________.
A. constative B. directive C. utterance D.
expressive
4. Which of the following is true?
A. Utterances usually do not take the form of sentences. B. Some utterances cannot be restored to complete sentences.
C. No utterances can take the form of sentences. D. All utterances can be restored to complete sentences. 5. Speech act theory did not come into being until __________. A. in the late 50’s of the 20the century B. in the early 1950’s C. in the late 1960’s D. in the early
21st century
6. __________ is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance.
A. A locutionary act B. An
illocutionary act
C. A perlocutionary act D. A performative
act
7. According to Searle, the illocutionary point of the representative is
______.
A. to get the hearer to do something
B. to commit the speaker to something’s being the case C. to commit the speaker to some future course of action
D. to express the feelings or attitude towards an existing state of affairs 8. All the acts that belong to the same category share the same purpose,
but they differ __________.
A. in their illocutionary acts B. in their intentions expressed C. in their strength or force D. in their effect brought about
9. __________ is advanced by Paul Grice
A. Cooperative Principle B. Politeness
Principle
C. The General Principle of Universal Grammar D. Adjacency Principle
10. When any of the maxims under the cooperative principle is flouted,
_______ might arise.
A. impoliteness B. contradictions C. mutual understanding D. conversational implicatures
II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)
11. Pragmatics treats the meaning of language as something intrinsic and
inherent.
12. It would be impossible to give an adequate description of meaning if
the context of language use was left unconsidered.
13. What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in
the study of meaning the context of use is considered.
14. The major difference between a sentence and an utterance is that a
sentence is not uttered while an utterance is.
15. The meaning of a sentence is abstract, but context-dependent. 16. The meaning of an utterance is decontexualized, therefore stable.
17. Utterances always take the form of complete sentences
18. Speech act theory was originated with the British philosopher John
Searle.
19. Speech act theory started in the late 50’s of the 20th century. 20. Austin made the distinction between a constative and a performative.
III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)
21. The notion of __________ is essential to the pragmatic study of
language.
22. If we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the course
of communication, it becomes an __________.
23. The meaning of a sentence is __________, and decontexualized. 24. __________ were statements that either state or describe, and were thus
verifiable.
25. __________ were sentences that did not state a fact or describe a state,
and were not verifiable.
26. A(n) __________ act is the act of uttering words, phrases, clauses. It is the act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and
phonology.
27. A(n) __________ act is the act of expressing the speaker’s intention;
it is the act performed in saying something.
28. A(n) _________ is commit the speaker himself to some future course of
action.
29. A(n) ________ is to express feelings or attitude towards an existing
state.
30. There are four maxims under the cooperative principle: the maxim of __________, the maxim of quality, the maxim of relation and the maxim of
manner.
IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)
31. Conversational implicature
32. Performative 33. Locutionary act 34. Q-principle (Horn)
V. Answer the following questions. (20%)
35. Explain the following remarks with examples or make some comments. “Both semantics and pragmatics are concerned with meaning, but the difference between them can be traced to two different uses of the verb mean: (a) What does X mean? (b) What did you mean by X?” （东北师范大学，2006） 36. Do you think B is cooperative in the following dialogue? Support your
argument with Cooperative Principle. （南开大学，2004）
A: When is the bus coming?
B: There has been an accident further up the road.
VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)
37. What is the function of context in communication? Try to explain the
following utterances rather than just state facts.
(1) The room is messy.
(2) It would be good if she had a green skirt on.
Key: I.
1~5 DBCBA 6~10 CBCAD
II.
11~15 FTTFF 16~20 FFFTT
III.
21. context 22. utterance 23. abstract 24. Constatives 25. Performatives 26. locutionary 27. illocutionary 28. commissive 29. expressive 30. quantity
IV.
31. Conversational implicature: In our daily life, speakers and listeners involved in conversation are generally cooperating with each other. In other words, when people are talking with each other, they must try to converse smoothly and successfully. In accepting speakers’ presuppositions, listeners have to assume that a speaker is not trying to mislead them. This sense of cooperation is simply one in which people having a conversation are not normally assumed to be trying to confuse, trick, or withhold relevant information from one another. However, in real communication, the intention of the speaker is often not the literal meaning of what he or she says. The real intention implied in the words is called conversational implicature. 32. Performative: In speech act theory an utterance which performs an act,
such as Watch out (= a warning).
33. Locutionary act: A locutionary act is the saying of something which
is meaningful and can be understood.
34. Horn’s Q-principle: (1) Make your contribution sufficient (cf.
quantity); (2) Say as much as you can (given R).
V. 35.
Pragmatics is the study of the use of language in communication, particularly the relationships between sentences and the contexts and situations in which
they are used. Pragmatics includes the study of
(1) How the interpretation and use of utterances depends on
knowledge of the real world;
(2) How speakers use and understand speech acts;
(3) How the structure of sentences is influenced by the relationship
between the speaker and the hearer.
Pragmatics is sometimes contrasted with semantics, which deals with meaning without reference to the users and communicative functions of
sentences. 36.
Yes, B is cooperative. On the face of it, B’s statement is not an answer to A’s question. B doesn’t say “when.” However, A will immediately interpret the statement as meaning “I don’t know” or “I am not sure.” Just assume that B is being “relevant” and “informative.” Given that B’s answer contains relevant information, A can work out that “an accident further up the road” conventionally involves “traffic jam,” and “traffic jam” preludes “bus coming.” Thus, B’s answer is not simply a statement of “when the bus comes”; it contains an implicature concerning “when the
bus comes.”
VI. 37.
It occurs before and / or after a word, a phrase or even a longer utterance or a text. The context often helps in understanding the particular
meaning of the word, phrase, etc.
The context may also be the broader social situation in which a
linguistic item is used.
(1)
a. A mild criticism of someone who should have cleaned the room. b. In a language class where a student made a mistake, for
he intended to say “tidy.”
c. The room was wanted for a meeting.
(2)
a. A mild way to express disagreement with someone who has complimented
on a lady’s appearance.
b. A regret that the customer had not taken the dress.
c. That she wore a red shirt was not in agreement with the custom on the
occasion.
Chapter 12 Theories and Schools of Modern Linguistics
【注：第九、十、十一章无测试题】
I. Choose the best answer. (20%)
1. The person who is often described as “father of modern linguistics”
is __________..
A. Firth B. Saussure C. Halliday D.
Chomsky
2. The most important contribution of the Prague School to linguistics
is that it sees language in terms of __________.
A. function B. meaning C. signs D. system 3. The principal representative of American descriptive linguistics is
__________.
A. Boas B. Sapir C. Bloomfield D. Harris 4. Generally speaking, the __________ specifies whether a certain tagmeme is in the position of the Nucleus or of the Margin in the structure. A. Slot B. Class C. Role D. Cohesion 5. __________ Grammar is the most widespread and the best understood
method of discussing Indo-European languages.
A. Traditional B. Structural C. Functional D.
Generative
6. __________ Grammar started from the American linguist Sydney M. Lamb
in the late 1950s and the early 1960s.
A. Stratificational B. Case C. Relational D.
Montague
7. In Halliday’s view, the __________ function is the function that the
child uses to know about his surroundings.
A. personal B. heuristic C. imaginative D.
informative
8. The rheme in the sentence “On it stood Jane” is __________. A. On it B. stood C. On it stood D. Jane 9. Chomsky follows __________ in philosophy and mentalism in psychology. A. empiricism B. behaviorism C. relationalism D.
mentalism
10. TG grammar has seen __________ stages of development.
A. three B. four C. five D. six
II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)
11. Following Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole, Trubetzkoy argued that phonetics belonged to langue whereas phonology
belonged to parole.
12. The subject-predicate distinction is the same as the theme and rheme
contrast.
13. London School is also known as systemic linguistics and functional
linguistics.
14. According to Firth, a system is a set of mutually exclusive options
that come into play at some point in a linguistic structure. 15. American Structuralism is a branch of diachronic linguistics that emerged independently in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth
century.
16. The Standard Theory focuses discussion on language universals and
universal grammar.
17. American descriptive linguistics is empiricist and focuses on
diversities of languages.
18. Chomsky’s concept of linguistic performance is similar to Saussure’s concept of parole, while his use of linguistic competence is somewhat
different from Saussure’s langue.
19. Glossematics emphasizes the nature and status of linguistic theory and
its relation to description.
20. If two sentences have exactly the same ideational and interpersonal
functions, they would be the same in terms of textual coherence.
III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)
21. The Prague School practiced a special style of __________ Linguistics. 22. The Prague School is best known and remembered for its contribution
to phonology and the distinction between __________ and phonology. 23. The man who turned linguistics proper into a recognized distinct
academic subject in Britain was __________.
24. Halliday’s Systemic Grammar contains a functional component, and the
theory behind his Functional Grammar is __________.
25. Systemic-Functional Grammar is a(n) __________ oriented functional
linguistic approach.
26. Structuralism is based on the assumption that grammatical categories should be defined not in terms of meaning but in terms of __________. 27. In the history of American linguistics, the period between 1933 and
1950 is also known as __________ Age.
28. __________ in language theories is characteristic of America. 29. The starting point of Chomsky’s TG grammar is his __________
hypothesis.
30. Chomsky argues that LAD probably consists of three elements, that is
a __________, linguistic universal, and an evaluation procedure.
IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)
31. FSP 32. Cohesion 33. LAD 34. Case Grammar
V. Answer the following questions. (20%)
35. Why is Saussure hailed as the father of modern linguistics? 36. What is behaviorism? What is behaviorism in linguistics? What is the relationship between linguistics and behaviorism according to Bloomfield?
Does behaviorism have any limitations? If yes, what are they?
VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)
37. Can you make a brief introduction to some important schools and their
influential representatives in modern linguistics?
Key:
I.1~5 BACAA 6~10 ABDCC I11~15 FFTTF 16~20 FTTTF
III.21. synchronic 22. phonetics23. J. R.
Firth 24. systemic
25. sociologically 26. distribution
27. Bloomfieldian 28. Descriptivism 29. innateness 30. hypothesis-maker
IV.
31. FSP: It stands for Functional Sentence Perspective. It is a theory of linguistic analysis which refers to an analysis of utterances (or texts) in
terms of the information they contain.
32. Cohesion: The Cohesion shows whether a certain tagmeme is dominating
other tagmemes or is dominated by others.
33. LAD: LAD, that is Language Acquisition Device, is posited by Chomsky in the 1960s as a device effectively present in the minds of children by which
a grammar of their native language is constructed.
34. Case Grammar: It is an approach that stresses the relationship of elements in a sentence. It is a type of generative grammar developed by C.
J. Fillmore in the late 1960s.
V. VI. Omit.
w w w . ik y. cn
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