Chapter I
I. Fill in the blanks.
1. Human languages is arbitrary. This refers to the fact that there is no logical or intrinsic connection between a particular sound and the ______it is associated with.
2. Human languages enable their users to symbolize objects,events and concepts which are not present(in time and space) at the moment of communication.This quality is labeled as______.
3. By duality is meant the property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the levels are composed of elements of the________level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization.
4. The features that define our human language can be called_______features.
5. The term____originates from Malinowski?s study of the functions of language performed by Trobriand Islanders.It refers to the social interaction of language.
6. Halliday proposes a theory of metafunctions of language, that is,language has____,interpersonal and textual functions.
7. Our language can be used to talk about itself.This is the _______function of language. 8. Linguistics is usually defined as the _____study of language.
9. _____studies how the speech sounds are made,transmitted, and received, and _____studies the rules governing the structure,distribution and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables.
10. ____studies meaning in language, _____is about principles of forming and understanding correct English sentences , and______is concerned with the internal organization of words. They are all among the main branches of linguistics.
11. In Saussure?s view,the relationship between signifier (sound image) and signified (concept) is ______.
12. ______ is the study of the language-processing mechanisms. It is concerned with the storage,comprehension,production and acquisition of language; ______on the other hand,attempts to show the relationship between language and society.They both belong to branches of macrolinguistics. 13.Saussure distinguished the linguistic competence of the speaker and actual phenomena or data of linguistics (utterances) as_______and_________. The former refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community,and the latter is the concrete manifestation of language either through speech or through writing.
14. ______grammars attempt to well what is in the language, while_______grammars tell people what should be in the language .Most contemporary linguists believe that whatever occurs naturally in the language should be described.
15. One of the important distinctions in linguistics is ________ and performance.
16. Theory that primitive man made involuntary vocal noises while performing heavy work has been called the______theory.
17. The description of a language as it changes through time is a _______study. 18. Linguistic potential is similar to Saussure?s langue and Chomsky?s________. II.Multiple Choices
1. Which of the following statement is NOT true? A. Language is a means of vocal communication. B. Language is a instrumental.
C. Language is social and conventional.
2.Which of the following is a NOT a frequently discussed design feature? A. Arbitrariness B. Convention C. Duality
3. By ________we mean language is resourceful because of its duality and recursiveness. A. arbitrariness B. duality C. creativity D. displacement 4. Which of the following words is entirely arbitrary? A.tree B.crash C.typewriter D.bang
5. The functions of the language do NOT include______. A.informative function B.interpersonal function C.metacognitive function
6. The most important sociological use of language is the _________function,by which people establish and maintain their status in a society.
A.performative B.interpersonal C.phatic D.metalingual
7. Saussure took a(n) ________view of language,while Chomsky looks at language from a _____point of view.
A.sociological...psychological B.psychological...sociological C.applied...pragmatic D.semantic...linguistic
8. According to F. de Saussure,_______refers to the abstract language system shared by all the members of a speech community.
A.parole B.performance C.langue D.Language
9. The study of physical properties of the sounds produced in speech is closely connected with _____. A.articulatory phonetics B.acoustic phonetics C.auditory phonetics
10. 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
11. _______deals with language application to other fields,particularly education. A .Linguistc geography B.Sociolinguistics
C. Applied linguistics D.Comparative linguistics
12.Verbal dueling,the use of language for the sheer joy of using it,is mainly to do with the ________.function of language.
A. performative B. interpersonal C. informative D. recretional III. True or False
1. The phatic function refers to language function for establishing or maintaining social contact rather than for exchanging information or ideas.
2. Syntax refers to the study of the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences in a language.
3. “Competence”and “performance”are two distinctive terms proposed by Saussure.
4. The concept competence originally refers to the grammatical knowledge of the ideal language user and has nothing to do with the actual use of language in concrete situation.
5. Prescriptive linguistics is more popular than descriptive linguistics ,because it can tell us how to
speak correct language.
6. By diachronic study we mean to study the change and development of language. 7.Onomatopoeic words are totally arbitrary. IV.Expiain the following terms 1.arbitrariness 2.duality
3.displacement 4.performative 5.parole
6.descriptive study of linguistics 7.langue
V.Short answer questions
1.Cite an example to explain synchronic linguistics.
2.How well, in your opinion, does the word “communication” represent the function of human language?
3.What are linguistic competence and communicative competence?
4.One of the design features of human language is creativity. What is it? And what makes it possible? 5.What is the directive function? VI.Essay questions
1. Linguistics is not the only field with language .Other disciplines such as sociology,psychology,ethnography are also preoccupied with language.
2. There are two kinds of grammar based on different linguistic points of view.They are prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar. A grammar may describe how language is actually spoken and/or written,and may not state or postulate how it ought to be spoken or written. But a grammar may also state the rules for what is considered the best or most correct usage. Which grammar is descriptive grammar,and which grammar is prescriptive grammar?Cite some examples to give your reasons.
3. Saussure puts forward the concept of language and parole, and Chomsky puts forward the concept of competence and performance. Please dwell upon the differences and similarities, if any, of the two pairs:langue and parole vs.competence and performance.
4. Examine the following two statements about language,and discuss the similarities and differences between them.Do you agree with the two statements? Explain your answer.
(1) Sapir (1921:Language):“Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.”
(2) Bloch and Teager (1942:Outline of Linguistic Analysis):“A Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group co-operates.”
5. It is widely known that animals have their own ways of communicating with each other.For example ,bees can dance very complicated dances and some birds can sing very complicated songs. It is also generally agreed that there are fundamental differences between human language and other animals? ways of communicating.
i. What is your view on this point?
ii. If you also think there are fundamental differences between human language and other animals? ways of communicating ,according to you, what are the differences? Please give short explanations .If you don?t think that there are fundamental differences between human language and other animals? ways of communicating ,please also defend your position ,Illustrate your points with examples if
necessary.
6. Why do we say linguistics is a science?
7. What are the three metafunctions of Systemic.Functional Grammar ?Illustrate each of them with specific examples.
Chapter II
I.Fill in the blanks.
1.The sound [b] can 0be described with“______,bilabial,stop”.
2.Consonant articulations are relatively easy to feel and as a result are most conveniently described in terms of _______ and manner of articulation.
3._________ are produced by constricting or obstructing the vocal tract at some place yo divert,impede, or completely shut off the flow of air in the oral cavity.
4.Consonant articulations are relatively easy to feel,and as a result are most conveniently described in terms of place and ________ of articulation.
5.The sound [k] can be described with “voiceless,________, stop”.
6._________ refers to the change of a sound as a result of the influence of an adjacent sound. 7.Stress refers to the degree of _________ used in producing a syllable.
8.In phonological analysis the words fail-veil are distinguishable simply because of the two phonemes/f/-/v/.This is an example for illustrating________.
9.In English there are a number of ________,which are produced by moving from one vowel position to another through intervening positions.
10.The different members of a phoneme,sounds which are phonetically different but do not make one word different from another in meaning,are __________.
11.Phonetic similarity means that the _________ of a phoneme must bear some phonetic resemblance. II.Multiple Choice
1.All syllables contain a _______.
A.nucleus B.coda C.onset
2.Of the three cavities._______is the most variable and active in amplifying and modifying speech sounds.
A.nasal cavity B.pharynx cavity C.oral cavity
3.Of the consonants/p/,/t/,/k/,/f/,/m/,/z/and /g/,which has the features of voiceless and velar? A./k/ B./p/ C./g/ D./t/ 4.The consonant (s) in the word “smile” can be described as： A.voiceless oral alveolar fricative B.vioceless nasal bilabial liquid C.vioced oral alveolar plosive D.voiced oral bilabial fricative
5.The categories of consonant are NOT established on the basis of _______. A.manners of articulation B.place of articulation C.narrow transcription
7.Point out which item does not fall under the same category as the rest,and explain the reason in ONE sentence.
A./f/ B./z/ C./?/ D./k/ 8.Which of the following is not a minimal pair?
A.(li:f) (fi:l) B.(sip) (zip) C.(sai) (sei) D.(keit) (feit) 9.In a syllable ,a vowel often serves as _________. A.Peak or Nucleus B.Onset C.Coda
10.Classification of English speech sounds in terms of manner of articulation involves the following EXCEPT
A.fricative B.lateral C.affricates D.bilabial
11.The most recognizable differences between American English and British English are in ______and vocabulary.
A.usage B.grammar C.pronunciation D.structure 12.Which one is different from the others according to places of articulation? A.[n] B.[m] C.[b] D.[p]
13.Which branch of phonetics concerns the production of speech sounds? A.Acoustic phonetics. B.Articulatory phonetics. C.Auditory phonetics D.Neither of them III.True or False
1.When the vocal folds are apart,the air can pass through easily and the sound produced is said to be voiced.
2.Of the three cavities, larynx cavity is the most variable and active in amplifying and modifying speech sounds.
3.English consonants can be classified into two categories :voiced and voiceless consonants.
4.Bilabial consonant is produced when the obstruction is partial and the air is forced through a narrow passage.
5.The sound segments are grouped into consonants and vowels. 6.Uvular is made with the back of tongue and the uvula.
7.A syllable can be divided into two parts,the NUCLEUS and the CODA. 8.Auditory phonetics studies how sounds are perceived by the speaker,
9.The last sound of “top”can be articulated as an unreleased or released plosive.These different realization of the same phoneme are not in complementary distribution.
10.The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communications are all phonemes.
11.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 different pronunciation.
IV.Explain the following terms. 1.Glottal Stop 2.Voiceless 3.Minimal pairs 4.Phoneme 5.Free variation 6.Assimilation
7.Suprasegmental features 8.Syllable
9.Complementary distributiong V.Short answer questions