语言学单元自测

1、Chapter 7 ： Historical LinguisticsI. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. One of the tasks of the historical linguists is to explore methods to reconstruct linguistic history and establish the relationship betweenlanguages.2. Language change is a gradual and constant p

2、rocess, therefore often indiscernible to speakers of the same generation.3. The history of the English language is divided into the periods of Old English, Middle English and Modern English.4. Middle Englishbegan withthe arrivalofAnglo-Saxons,who invadedthe BritishIsles from northern Europe.5. In Ol

3、d English, all the nouns are inflected to mark nominative, genitive, dative and accusative cases.6. In Old English, the verb of a sentence often precedes the subject rather than follows it.7. A direct consequence of the Renaissance Movement was the revival of Frenchas a literary language.8. In gener

4、al,linguisticchange in grammar ismore noticeablethan thatinthesound system and the vocabulary of a language.9. The sound changes include changes in vowel sounds, and in the loss, gain and movement of sounds.10. The leastwidely-spreadmorphologicalchanges inthe historicaldevelopmentof English are the

5、loss and addition of affixes.11. In Old English, the morphosyntactic rule that the endings of adjective must agree withof adjective agreementthe headnoun in case,stipulated number andgender.12.The word order of ModernEnglish is more variablethan that of OldEnglish.13.Derivation refers to theprocess

6、by which new words are formed by theadditionof affixes to the roots, stems, or words.14.“Smog” is a word formed by the word-forming process called acronymy.15.“fridge ” is a word formed by abbreviation.16. Modern linguistsare able to providea consistentaccount forthe exact causesof all types of lang

7、uage change.17. Sound assimilation may bring about the loss of one of two phonetically similar syllables in sequence, as in the case of change of “Engla - land ” to “England”.18. Rule elaboration occurs when there is a need to reduce ambiguity and increase communicative clarity or expressiveness.19.

8、 Language change is always a change towards the simplification of language rules20. The way children acquire the language is one of the causes for language change.II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:21. H_ linguistics isthe subfield oflinguistics

9、thatstudies languagechange.22. The historical study of language is a d_ study of language rather than a synchronic study.23. European R_ Movement separatesthe periodof Middle Englishfrom thatof modern English.24. An importantset of extensivesound changes, which affected7 long or tensevowels and whic

10、h led to one of the major discrepancies between phonemicrepresentationsof words and morphemes at the end of the Middle EnglishPeriod,is known as the Great V_ Shift.25. A_ involves the deletion of a word-final vowel segment.26. A change that involves the insertion of a consonant or vowel sound to the

11、 middle of a word is known as e_.27. The three sets of consonant shifts that Grimm discovered became known collectively as Grimm s L _.28. Sound change as a result of sound movement, known as m_, involves a reversal in position of two adjoining sound segments.29. B_ is a process by which new words a

12、re formed by taking away the supposed suffixes of exiting words.30. Semantic b_ refers to the process in which the meaning of a word becomes more general or inclusive than its historically earlier denotation.31. The original form of a language family that has ceased to exist is calledthe p_.32. Soun

13、d a_ refersto the physiologicaleffectIn thisprocess,successivesounds are made identicalin terms of place or manner of articulation.of one sound on another.or similarto one another33. In order to reduce the exceptional or irregular morphemes, speakers of a particular language may borrow a rule from o

14、ne part of the grammar and apply it generally. This phenomenon is called i_ borrowing.34. By identifyingand comparing similarlinguisticforms withsimilarmeaningsacross related languages, historical linguists reconstruct the proto form inthe commonancestrallanguage.This process iscalledc_ reconstructi

15、on.35. The m _ rule of adjective agreement has been lost from English.III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:36. Historical linguistics explores _.A. the nature of language change B. the causes that lead to language changeC. the rel

16、ationship between languages D. all of the above37. Language change is _.A. universal, continuous and ,to a large extent, regular and systematicB. continuous, regular, systematic, but not universalC. universal, continuous, but not regular and systematicD. always regular and systematic, but not univer

17、sal and continuous38. Modern English period starts roughly _. A. from 449 to 1100 B. from 1500 to the presentC. from 1100 to the present D. from 1700 to the present39. Old English dates back to the mid-fifth century when _.A. the Norman French invaders under William the Conqueror arrived in EnglandB

18、. the printing technology was inventedC. Anglo-Saxons invaded the British Isles from northern EuropeD. the Celtic people began to inhabit England40. Middle English was deeply influenced by _. A. Norman French in vocabulary and grammarB. Greek and Latin because of the European renaissance movementC.

19、Danish languages because Denmark placed a king on the throne of England D. the Celtic people who were the first inhabitants of England41. Language change is essentially a matter of change _.A. in collocations B. in meaningC. in grammar D. in usages42. In Old and Middle English, both /k/ and /n/ in t

20、he word“knight ” werepronounced, but in modern English, /k/ in the sound /kn-/ clusters was not pronounced. This phenomenon is known as _.A. sound addition B. sound lossC. sound shift D. sound movement43. A change that involves the insertion of a consonant or vowel sound to the middle of a word is k

21、nown as _.A. apocope B. epenthesisC. parenthesis D. antithesis44. Segment switch of sound positions can be seen in the example of the modernword “ bird ” which comes from the old English word“bridd ”. The change ofthe word from“bridd ” to“bird ” is a case of _.A. metathesis B. sound lossC. sound add

22、ition D. apocope45. _ isa process of combiningtwo or more words intoone lexicalunit.A. Derivation B. BlendingC. Compounding D. Abbreviation46. “Wife ”,which used to referto any woman, stands for“ a married woman”in modern English. This phenomenon is known as _.A. semantic shift B. semantic broadenin

23、gC. semantic elevation D. semantic narrowing47. English language belongs to _.A. Indo-European Family B. Sino-Tibetan FamilyC. Austronesian Family D. Afroasiatic Family48. By analogy to the plural formation of theword “dog- s”, speakers startedsaying “cows” as the pluralof “cow” insteadof the earlie

24、rplural“kine ”.This is the case of _.A. elaboration B. external borrowingC. sound assimilation D. internal borrowing49. Morphologcial changes can involve _. A. the loss of morphological rulesB. the addition of morphological rules C. the alteration of morphological rules D. all of the above50. The mo

25、st dramatic morphological loss concerns the loss of _. A. comparative markers B. tense markersC. gender and case markers D. none of the above IV. Define the following terms:51. Apocope 52. Metathesis 53. Derivation54. back-formation 55. semantic narrowing 56.protolanguage57. haplology 58. epenthesis

26、 59. Compounding60. Blending 61. semantic broadening 62. semantic shift63. Great Vowel Shift 64. acronym 65. sound assimilation V. Answer the following questions:66. What is the purpose or significance of the historical study of language ?67. What are the characteristics of the nature of language ch

27、ange ?68. What are the major periods in the history of English ?69. As language changes over time, the meaning of a word may deviate from its original denotation. Discuss the major types of semantic changes.70. Over the years from Old English period to the Modern English period, English has undergon

28、e some major sound changes. Illustrate these changes with some examples.71. What are the most widely-spread morphological changes in the historical development of English ?72. What are the causes of language change Discuss them in detail.Chapter 7 Historical LinguisticsI. Decide whether each of the

29、following statements is True or False:l.T 2.T 3.T 4.F 5.F 6.T 7.F 8.F 9.T 10.F11.T 12.F 13.T 14.F 15.F 16. F 17. T 18. T 19. F 20.TII. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:21.Historical 22.diachronic 23.Renaissance 24.Vowel 25.Apocope 26.epenthesis27.

30、Law 28. Metathesis 29.Backformation 30.broadening 31.protolanguage32.assimilation 33.internal parative 35. morphosyntacticIII. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:36.D 37.A 38.B 39.C 40.A 41.C 42.B 43.B 44.A 45.C46. D 47.A 48. D 49. D

31、 50. CIV. Define the following terms:1. Apocope : Apocope is the deletion of a word-final vowel segment.2. Metathesis:Sound change as a resultof sound movement is known as metathesis.It involves a reversal in position of two neighbouring sound seg-ments.3. Derivation: It is a process by which new wo

32、rds are formed by the addition of affixes to the roots, stems or words.4. back-formation: It is a processby which new words areformed bytakingawaythe supposed suffix of an existing word.5. semantic narrowing: Semantic narrowing is a process in which the meaning ofa word be-comes lessgeneralor inclus

33、ivethan itshistoricallyearliermeaning.6. Protolanguage: It is the original form of a language family that has ceased to exist.7. Haplology: It refers to the phenomenon of the loss of one of two phonetically similar syllables in sequence.8. Epenthesis:A change thatinvolvesthe insertionof a consonanto

34、r vowel soundto the middle of a word is known as epenthesis.9. Compounding: It is a process of combining two or more than two words into one lexical unit.10. Blending:It is a process offorminga new word by combining parts ofotherwords.11. semanticbroadening:Semantic broadeningrefersto the process in

35、 which themeaning of a word becomes more general or inclusive than its historically earlier denota-tion.62. semantic shift: Semantic shift is a process of semantic change in which a word loses its former meaning and acquires a new, sometimes related, meaning.63. Great Vowel Shift: It is a series of

36、systematic sound change at the end of the Middle English period approximately between 1400 and 1600 in the history of English that involved seven long vowels and consequently led to one of the major discrepancies between English pronunciation and its spelling system.64. Acronym: An acronym is a word

37、createdby combining the initialsof a numberof words.65. sound assimilation: Sound assimilation refers to the physiological effectof one sound on an-other. In an assimilative process, successive sounds are made identical, or more similar, to one another in terms of place or manner of articulation, or

38、 of haplology.V. Answer the following questions:66. What is the purpose or significance of the historical study of language1) Researches in historicallinguisticsshed lighton prehistoricdevelopmentsin the evolution of language and the connections of earlier and later variants of the same lan-guage an

39、d provide valuable insights into the kinship patterns of different languages.2) The identification of the changes that a particular language has undergone enables us to reconstruct the linguistic history of that language, and thereby hypothesizes its earlier forms from which current speech and writi

40、ng have evolved.3) The historical study of language also en-ables them to determine how non -linguistic factors, such as social, cultural and psychological factors, interact over time to cause linguistic change.67. What are the characteristics of the nature of language changeAll living languages cha

41、nge with time and language change is inevitable. As a general rule, language change is universal, continuous and, to a considerablede-gree, regular and systematic. Language change is extensive, taking place in virtually all aspects of the grammar.Althoughlanguage change is universal,inevitable,and i

42、n some cases,vigorous,it is never an overnight occurrence, but a gradual and constant process, often indiscernible to speakers of the same generation.68. What are the major periods in the history of EnglishThe major periods inthe history of English are Old Englishperiod(roughly from449 to 1100), Mid

43、dle English period(roughly from 1100 to 1500), and ModernEnglish period (roughly from 1500 to the pre-sent). Old English dates back tothe mid-fifthcenturywhen Anglo-Saxons invaded the BritishIslesfrom northernEurope.The pronunciation of Old English is very different from its modem form. For example,

44、 the Old English word "ham" is pronounced as /ha:m/. In terms ofmorphology, nearly half of the nouns are inflected to mark nomi-native , genitive, dative, and accusative cases . In addition, suffixes are added to verbs toindicate tense. Syntactical-ly , the verb of an Old English sentence

45、precedes, hut does not follow, the subject.Middle English began when the Norman French invaders invaded England under William the Conqueror in 1066. Middle English had been deeply influenced by Norman French in vocabulary and grammar. For example, such terms as " army,"" court,"

46、" defense," " faith," "prison" and "tax" came from the language of the French rulers.Modern English period starts with European renaissance move-ment. A di-rectconsequence of the Renaissance movement was the revival of Latin as a literary language. In the post

47、-Renaissance period, the "British Empire" set up English-speaking colonies in many parts of the world. By the nineteenthcentury,English was recognized as the language of the government, the law, higher education, and business and commerce in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zea

48、land. Today Modern English is widely used and has in fact become an important tool of international communication among peoples of different countries.69. As language changes over time, the meaning of a word may deviate from its original denotation. Discuss the major types of semantic changes.Major

49、types of semantic changes are semantic broadening, semantic narrowing and semantic shift.Semantic broadening refers to the process in which the meaning of a word becomes more general or inclusive than its historically earlier denota-tion. Take theword "holiday" for example, The older meani

50、ng was a " holy day." Today everyone enjoys a holiday, whether he or she is religious or not.Semantic narrowing is a process in which the meaning of a word be-comes less general or inclusive than its historically earlier meaning. For ex-ample, "wife," used to mean "any woman

51、," but now it means“married fe- males” only.Semantic shift is a process of semanticchange in which a word losesitsformermeaning and acquires a new, sometimes related, meaning. For example, the wordsillymeant “happy” in Old English,and naive in Middle English,but "foolish"in Modern Eng

52、lish.70. Over the years from Old English period to the Modern English period, English has undergone some major sound changes. Illustrate these changes with some examples.The major sound changes include changes in vowel sounds, and in the loss, gain and movement of sounds.The changes invowel sounds c

53、an be seen in the GreatVowel Shift inthe historyof English, which led to one of the major dis-agreements between thepronunciationand the spellingsystem of ModernEnglish.These changes involveseven long, or tense vowels, for exampleWordsMiddle EnglishModem EnglishFivefi:vfaivMouseMu:smausFeetfe:tfi:tM

54、oodMo:dmu:dBreakBr:kenbreikSounds do not just change,they can be lost. vowel sounds change, but some soundssimply disappeared from the general pronunciation of English. One example ofsound loss is the /kn - / clusters in the word - initial position. In Old andMiddle English, both /k/ and /n/ were pro-nounced, as is shown in the spellingof such words as "knight"and "knee." Although Modern English spelling of thesewords still keeps the initia