英语语言学练习题

1、英语语言学练习题Supplementary exercisesChapter 1  Introduction. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False: 1. Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.2. Linguistics studies particular language, not languages in general.3. A scientific study of la

2、nguage is based on what the linguist thinks. 4. In the study of linguistics, hypotheses formed should be based on language facts and checked against the observed facts. 5. General linguistics is generally the study of language as a whole. 6. General linguistics, which relates itself to the research

3、of other areas, studies the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods applicable in any linguistic study. 7. Phonetics is different from phonology in that the latter studies the combinations of the sounds to convey meaning in communication. 8. Morphology studies how words can be for

4、med to produce meaningful sentences. 9. The study of the ways in which morphemes can be combined to form words is called morphology. 10. Syntax is different from morphology in that the former not only studies the morphemes, but also the combination of morphemes into words and words into sentences. 1

5、1. The study of meaning in language is known as semantics. 12. Both semantics and pragmatics study meanings. 13. Pragmatics is different from semantics in that pragmatics studies meaning not in isolation, but in context. 14. Social changes can often bring about language changes. 15. Sociolinguistics

6、 is the study of language in relation to society. 16. Modern linguistics is mostly prescriptive, but sometimes descriptive. 17. Modern linguistics is different from traditional grammar.18. A diachronic study of language is the description of language at some point in time. 19. Modern linguistics reg

7、ards the written language as primary, not the written language. 20. The distinction between competence and performance was proposed by F. de Saussure. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given: 21. Chomsky defines “competence” as the ideal users k_ of the

8、rules of his language. 22. Langue refers to the a_ linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community while the parole is the concrete use of the conventions and application of the rules. 23. D_ is one of the design features of human language which refers to the phenomenon that langua

9、ge consists of two levels: a lower level of meaningless individual sounds and a higher level of meaningful units. 24. Language is a system of a_ vocal symbols used for human communication. 25. The discipline that studies the rules governing the formation of words into permissible sentences in langua

10、ges is called s_. 26. Human capacity for language has a g_ basis, but the details of language have to be taught and learned. 27. P _ refers to the realization of langue in actual use. 28. Findings in linguistic studies can often be applied to the settlement of some practical problems. The study of s

11、uch applications is generally known as a_ linguistics.29. Language is p_ in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. In other words, they can produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences which they have never heard before.30. Linguisti

12、cs is generally defined as the s _ study of language. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement: 31. If a linguistic study describes and analyzes the language people actually use, it is said to be _. A. prescriptiveB. analytic C. descriptiv

13、eD. linguistic 32. Which of the following is not a design feature of human language? A. ArbitrarinessB. Displacement C. DualityD. Meaningfulness 33. Modern linguistics regards the written language as _. A. primaryB. correct C. secondaryD. stable 34. In modern linguistics, speech is regarded as more

14、basic than writing, because _. A. in linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing B. speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed C. speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue D. All of the above 35. A historical s

15、tudy of language is a _ study of language. A. synchronicB. diachronic C. prescriptiveD. comparative 36. Saussure took a(n) _ view of language, while Chomsky looks at language from a _ point of view. A. sociologicalpsychologicalB. psychologicalsociological C. appliedpragmaticD.semanticlinguistic 37.

16、According to F. de Saussure, _ refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the mem- bers of a speech community.A. paroleB. performance C. langueD. Language 38. Language is said to be arbitrary because there is no logical connection between _ and meanings. A. senseB. sounds C. objectsD. id

17、eas 39. Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. This feature is called _, A. displacementB. duality C. flexibilityD. cultural transmission40. The details of any language system is passed on from one generation to the next through _, rather than

18、 by instinct. A. learningB. teaching C. booksD. both A and B . Define the following terms: 41. Linguistics42. Phonology43. Syntax44. Pragmatics 45. Psycholinguistics46. Language47. Phonetics48. Morphology49. Semantics50. Sociolinguistics51. Applied Linguistics52. Arbitrariness53. Productivity54. Dis

19、placement55. Duality56. Design Features 57. Competence58. Performance59. Langue60. Parole. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary: 61. Language is generally defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human commu- nicati

20、on. Explain it in detail. 62. What are the design features of human language? Illustrate them with examples. 63. How is modern linguistics different from traditional grammar? 64. How do you understand the distinction between a synchronic study and a diachronic study? 65. Why does modern linguistics

21、regard the spoken form of language as primary, not the written? 66. What are the major distinctions between langue and parole?67. How do you understand competence and performance?68. Saussures distinction between langue and parole seems similar to Chomskys distinction between competence and performa

22、nce. What do you think are their major differences?69. Do you think human language is entirely arbitrary? Why? Chapter 2  Phonology. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False: 1. Voicing is a phonological feature that distinguishes meaning in both Chinese and English

23、. 2. If two phonetically similar sounds occur in the same environments and they distinguish meaning, they are said to be in complementary distribution. 3. A phone is a phonetic unit that distinguishes meaning. 4. English is a tone language while Chinese is not. 5. In linguistic evolution, speech is

24、prior to writing. 6. In everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed. 7. Articulatory phonetics tries to describe the physical properties of the stream of sounds which a speaker issues with the help of a machine called spectrograph.8

25、. The articulatory apparatus of a human being are contained in three important areas: the throat, the mouth and the chest. 9. Vibration of the vocal cords results in a quality of speech sounds called voicing. 10. English consonants can be classified in terms of place of articulation and the part of

26、the tongue that is raised the highest. 11. According to the manner of articulation, some of the types into which the consonants can be classified are stops, fricatives, bilabial and alveolar. 12. Vowel sounds can be differentiated by a number of factors: the position of tongue in the mouth, the open

27、ness of the mouth, the shape of the lips, and the length of the vowels. 13. According to the shape of the lips, vowels can be classified into close vowels, semi-close vowels, semi-open vowels and open vowels. 14. Any sound produced by a human being is a phoneme. 15. Phones are the sounds that can di

28、stinguish meaning. 16. Phonology is concerned with how the sounds can be classified into different categories. 17. A basic way to determine the phonemes of a language is to see if substituting one sound for another results in a change of meaning.18. When two different forms are identical in every wa

29、y except for one sound segment which occurs in the same place in the strings, the two words are said to form a phonemic contrast. 19. The rules governing the phonological patterning are language specific. 20. Distinctive features of sound segments can be found running over a sequence of two or more

30、phonemic segments. . Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given: 21. A_ refers to a strong puff of air stream in the production of speech sounds.22. A_ phonetics describes the way our speech organs work to produce the speech sounds and how they differ. 23.

31、The four sounds /p/, /b/, /m/ and /w/ have one feature in common, i.e., they are all b_ sounds.24. Of all the speech organs, the t_ is the most flexible, and is responsible for varieties of articulation than any other. 25. English consonants can be classified in terms of manner of articulation or in

32、 terms of p_ of articulation. 26. When the obstruction created by the speech organs is total or complete, the speech sound produced with the obstruction audibly released and the air passing out again is called a s_. 27. S_ features are the phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments

33、. They include stress, tone, intonation, etc.28. The rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language are called s_ rules. 29. The transcription of speech sounds with letter-symbols only is called broad transcription while the transcription with letter-symbols together with the d

34、iacritics is called n_ transcription. 30. When pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as i_. 31. P_ is a discipline which studies the system of sounds of a particular language and how sounds are combined into meaningful

35、units to effect linguistic communication. 32. The articulatory apparatus of a human being are contained in three important cavities: the pharyngeal cavity, the o_ cavity and the nasal cavity. 33. T_ are pitch variations, which are caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords and whi

36、ch can distinguish meaning just like phonemes. 34. Depending on the context in which stress is considered, there are two kinds of stress: word stress and s_ stress. . There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement: 35 Of all the speech organs, t

37、he _ is/are the most flexible. A. mouthB. lipsC. tongueD. vocal cords 36. The sounds produced without the vocal cords vibrating are _ sounds. A. voicelessB. voiced C. vowelD. consonantal 37. _ is a voiced alveolar stop. A. /z/B. /d/ C. /k/D. /b/ 38. The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to ano

38、ther by “copying”a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones _. A. identicalB. same C. exactly alikeD. similar 39. Since /p/ and /b/ are phonetically similar, occur in the same environments and they can distinguish meaning, they are said to be _. A. in phonemic contrastB. in comple

39、mentary distribution C. the allophonesD. minimal pair 40. The sound /f/ is _. A. voiced palatal affricateB. voiced alveolar stop C. voiceless velar fricativeD. voiceless labiodental fricative41. A _ vowel is one that is produced with the front part of the tongue maintaining the highest position.A. b

40、ackB. central C. frontD. middle42. Distinctive features can be found running over a sequence of two or more phonemic segments. The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are called _. A. phonetic componentsB. immediate constituents C. suprasegmental featuresD. semantic features

41、 43. A(n) _ is a unit that is of distinctive value. It is an abstract unit, a collection of distinctive phonetic features. A. phoneB. sound C. allophoneD. phoneme44.The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the _ of that phoneme. A. phonesB. sou

42、nds C. phonemesD. allophones . Define the terms below:45. phonology46. phoneme47. allophone  48. international phonetic alphabet  49. intonation  50. phonetics51. auditory phonetics52. acoustic phonetics53. phone54. phonemic contrast55. tone56. minimal pair . Answer the

43、 following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary: 57. Of the two media of language, why do you think speech is more basic than writing? 58. What are the criteria that a linguist uses in classifying vowels? 59. What are the major differences between pho

44、nology and phonetics? 60. Illustrate with examples how suprasegmental features can affect meaning. 61. In what way can we determine whether a phone is a phoneme or not? Chapter 3  Morphology. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False: 1. Morphology studies the intern

45、al structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.2. Words are the smallest meaningful units of language. 3. Just as a phoneme is the basic unit in the study of phonology, so is a morpheme the basic unit in the study of morphology.4. The smallest meaningful units that can be used freely

46、all by themselves are free morphemes.5. Bound morphemes include two types: roots and affixes.6. Inflectional morphemes manifest various grammatical relations or grammatical categories such as number, tense, degree, and case.7. The existing form to which a derivational affix can be added is called a

47、stem, which can be a bound root, a free morpheme, or a derived form itself.8. Prefixes usually modify the part of speech of the original word, not the meaning of it.9. There are rules that govern which affix can be added to what type of stem to form a new word. Therefore, words formed according to t

48、he morphological rules are acceptable words.10. Phonetically, the stress of a compound always falls on the first element, while the second element receives secondary stress. Fill in each blank below with one word which begins with the letter given: 11. M _ is the smallest meaningful unit of language

49、. 12. The affix “-ish” in the word boyish conveys a g_ meaning. 13. B_ morphemes are those that cannot be used independently but have to be combined with other morphemes, either free or bound, to form a word.14. Affixes are of two types: inflectional affixes and d_ affixes.15. D_ affixes are added t

50、o an existing form to create words.16. A s_ is added to the end of stems to modify the meaning of the original word and it may case change its part of speech.17. C_ is the combination of two or sometimes more than two words to create new words.18. The rules that govern which affix can be added to wh

51、at type of stem to form a new word are called m_ rules.19. In terms of morphemic analysis, d_ can be viewed as the addition of affixes to stems to form new words.20. A s_ can be a bound root, a free morpheme, or a derived form itself to which a derivational affix can be added. There are four choices

52、 following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement: 21. The morpheme “vision” in the common word “television” is a(n) _. A. bound morphemeB. bound formC. inflectional morphemeD. free morpheme 22. The compound word “bookstore” is the place where books are sold. This indic

53、ates that the meaning of a compound _.A. is the sum total of the meaning of its componentsB. can always be worked out by looking at the meanings of morphemesC. is the same as the meaning of a free phrase.D. None of the above.23. The part of speech of the compounds is generally determined by the part

54、 of speech of _.A. the first elementB. the second elementC. either the first or the second elementD. both the first and the second elements24. _ are those that cannot be used independently but have to be combined with other morphemes, either free or bound, to form a word.A. Free morphemesB. Bound mo

55、rphemesC. Bound wordsD. Words25. _ is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.A. SyntaxB. GrammarC. MorphologyD. Morpheme26. The meaning carried by the inflectional morpheme is _. A. lexicalB. morphemic C. grammaticalD. semantic 27. B

56、ound morphemes are those that _. A. have to be used independentlyB. can not be combined with other morphemesC. can either be free or bound D. have to be combined with other morphemes28. _ modify the meaning of the stem, but usually do not change the part of speech of the original word. A. PrefixesB. Suffixes C. RootsD. Affixes 29. _ are often thought to be the smallest meaningful uni