Chapter 1. Language and Linguistics
I. For each question, there are four choices of answers. In some cas, only one choice is correct while in others more than one should be chon. Choo all the correct ones.
1 ABD 2 B 3 D 4 B 5 D 6 B 7 D 8 AC D 9 A 10 B
11 D 12 B 13 C 14 A 15 B 16 C 17 D 2019高考英语18 C 19 B
20.C 21.D 22.C 23i wish you were here.B 24.A 25.C 26.B 27.A
II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:
1. knowledge 2. abstract 3. Duality 4. arbitrary 5. syntax
6.genetic chkdsk是什么 7. Parole 8. applied 9. productive 10. scientific
III. Decide whether the following statements are true or fal.csn
moonlightflower1 T 2 T 3 F 4 F 5 T 6 T 7 F 8 F 9 F cruel是什么意思10 T
11.T 12.F 13.F 14.T 15.F 16.T 17.F 18.T 19.T 20.T
21.T 22.T 23F 24T 25.F 26jamelia.F 27.F
Ⅳ. Choo Four of the following questions and answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:
1. What are the design features of human language? Illustrate them with examples.
1) Arbitrariness
As mentioned earlier, the arbitrary property of language means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. For instance, there is no necessary relationship between the word elephant and the animal it symbolizes. In addition, different sounds are ud to refer to the same object in different languages , and even within the s
ame language, the same sound does not refer to the same thing. However, language is not entirely arbitrary. There are words which are created in the imitation of sounds by sounds, such as crash, bang in English. Besides, some compound words are also not entirely arbitrary. But the non-arbitrary words are quite limited in number.
The arbitrary nature of language makes it possible for language to have an unlimited source of expressions.
2) Productivity
Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its urs. This is why they can produce and understand an infinitely large number of ntences, including ntences that they have never said or heard before. They can nd messages which no one el has ever nt before.
Productivity is unique to human language. Most animal communication systems appear to be highly restricted with respect to the number of different signals that their urs can nd and receive.
3) Duality
The duality nature of language means that language is a system, which consists of two ts of structure, or two levels, one of sounds and the other of meanings. At the lower or the basic level, there is the structure of sounds, which are meaningless, discrete, individual sounds. But the sounds of language can be combined according to rules into units of meaning such as morphemes and words, which, at the higher level, can be arranged into ntences. This duality of structure or double articulation of language enables its urs to talk about anything within their knowledge. No animal communication system has duality or even comes near to posssing it.
dictionaries4) Displacement
Displacement means that language can be ud to refer to things which are prent or not prent, real or imagined matters in the past, prent, or future, or in far-away places. In other words, language can be ud to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. Animal calls are mainly uttered in respon to immediate chang
es of situation.
2. Why do people take duality as one of the important design features of human language?
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 t of sounds, around 48 in the ca of the English language, And out of the huge number of words,少儿英语培训机构 there can be astronomical number of possible ntences and phras, 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.
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3. How do you understand the distinction between a synchronic study and a diachronic study?
The description of a language at some point in time is a Synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study. A synchronic study of language describes a language as it is at some particular point in time, while a diachronic study of language is the study of the historical development of language over a period of time.
4. Why does modern linguistics regard the spoken form of language as primary, not
the written?
First, the spoken form is prior to the written form and most writing systems are derived from the spoken form of language; Second, the spoken form plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed and it rves a wider range of purpos; Finally, the spoken form is the medium through which we acquire our mother tongue.
