-
I.
Directions:
Fill
in
the
blank
in
each
of
the
following
statements
with
one
word,
the
first
letter of which is
already given as a clue. Note that you are to fill
in ONE word only.
1. Clear
［
1
］
and dark [
?
] are
allophones of the same one phoneme /1/.They never
take the same
position in sound
combinations, thus they are said to be in
c
omplementary
distribution. (P24)
2.
M
orphology
is the
smallest meaningful unit of language. (P32)
3. Consonant sounds can be either
voiceless or voiced, while all
v
owel
sounds are
voiced. (P16)
4.
In
making
conversation,
the
general
principle
that
all
participants
are
expected
to
observe
is
called
the
C
ooperative
principle proposed by J. Grice. (P86-87)
5. Language exists in time and changes
through time. The description of a language at
some point
of time is called a
s
ynchronic
study of language. (P4)
6.
An essential difference between consonants
and vowels
is
whether the air coming up from
the
lungs meets with any
o
bstruction
when
a sound is produced. (P18)
7. XP may
contain more than just X. For example, the NP
“
the boy who likes this
puppy
”
consists
of Det, N and S, with Det being the
s
pecifier
, N the
head and S the complement. (P46)
9.
While the meaning of a sentence is abstract and
decontextualized, that of an
u
tterance
is
concrete
and context-dependent. (P70)
11.
P
sycholinguistics
relates the study of language to psychology. It
aims to answer such questions
as how
the human mind works when people use language.
(P70)
12.
A
d
iachronic
study
of
language
is
a
historical
study,
it
studies
the
historical
development
of
language over a period of time. (P70)
13. Language is a system, which
consists of two sets of structures, or two levels.
At the lower level,
there
is
a
structure
of
meaningless
sounds,
which
can
be
combined
into
a
large
number
of
meaningful units at the higher level.
This design feature is called
d
uality
. (P70)
14.
The
articulatory
apparatus
of
a
human
being
is
contained
in
three
important
areas:
the
pharyngeal cavity, the
o
ral
cavity and the nasal
cavity. (P15)
16.
S
uprasegmental
features such as stress, tone and
intonation can influence the interpretation of
meaning. (P70)
18.
H
omonymy
refers
to
the
phenomenon
that
words
having
different
meanings
are
identical
in
sound or spelling, or in both. (P70)
19.
The
three
branches
of
phonetics
are
labeled
as
a
rticulatory
phonetics,
auditory
phonetics
and
acoustic phonetics respectively. (P15)
21.
S
yntax
_ studies
the sentence structure of language. (P70)
22. The noun
“
tear
”
and the verb
“
tear
”
are
h
omonymy
.
(P70)
23.
S
peech
act theory is an important theory in
the pragmatic study of language. (P70)
24.
The
modern
linguistics
is
d
escriptive
,
not
prescriptive,
and
its
investigations
are
based
on
authentic and mainly spoken language
data. (P70)
25. Langue refers to the
language system shared by a community of speaker
while
p
arole
contrasted
with langue is the concrete
act of speaking in actual situations by an
individual speaker. (P70)
26. In
semantic triangle, the relation between a word and
a thing it refers to is not direct, and it is
mediated by
c
oncept
. (P70)
27. H. Sweet made a distinction between
narrow and
b
road
transcription. (P70)
28.
In
the cooperative principle, Grice introduced four
categories of maxims. They are maxim of
quality, maxim of quantity, maxim of
r
elation
and
maxim of manner. (P70)
29.
P
ragmatics
is the
study of language in use. (P70)
30.
H
istorical
linguistics studies language change or historical
development of language. (P70)
II.
Directions
：
Decide whether
each of the following statements is true or false.
Put a T for true
or F for false in the
brackets in front of each statement.
( T )1. Language is
arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic
connection between words and
what these
words actually refer to.
( T
) 2. The syntactic rules of any language are
finite in number, and
yet there is no
limit to the
number of sentences native
speakers of that language are able to produce and
comprehend.
( T ) 3. Two people who are
born and brought up in the same town and speak the
same regional
dialect may speak
differently because of a number of social factors.
( T ) 4. In modern
linguistic studies, the spoken form of language is
given more emphasis than the
written
form for a number of reasons.
(
F
)
5.
The
compound
word
“
reading-
room
”
is
the
place
where
a
person
can
read
books.
This
indicates that the meaning of a
compound is the sum total of the meanings of its
components.
( T ) 6. Only
when a maxim under Cooperative Principle is
blatantly violated and the hearer knows
that it is being violated do
conversational implicatures arise.
( T ) 7. In English, long vowels are
also tense vowels because when we pronounce a long
vowel
such as /i:/,the larynx is in a
state of tension.
( T ) 8. An important
difference between traditional grammarians and
modern linguists in their study
of
language is that the former tended to over-
emphasize the written form of language and
encourage
people to imitate the
“
best
authors
”
for language usage.
( T ) 9. The open-class words include
prepositions.
( T ) 10. According to
semantic triangle, there is no direct link between
a symbol and referent, i.e.
between a
word and a thing it refers to.
( T ) 11.
The relationship
of “flower”
,
“violet”
,
“rose”
and “tulip” is hyponymy.
( F
) 12. Only words of the same parts of speech can
be combined to form compounds. (sunrise)
( T ) 13. Linguists believe that
whatever occurs in the language people use should
be described and
analyzed in their
investigation.
( F ) 14. The
conclusions we reach about the phonology of one
language can be generalized into the
study of another language.
(
F )
15. The meaning-distinctive
function of the tone is
especially
important
in
English because
English, unlike Chinese, is a typical
tone language.
( F ) 16. When we think
of a concept, we actually try to see the
im
age of something in our mind’s
eye every time we come across a
linguistic symbol.
( F ) 17. All
utterances can be restored to complete sentences.
For example,
“
Good
morning
！
”
can
be restored to
“
I
wish you a good morning.
”
(
T
)
18.
Any
child
who
is
capable
of
acquiring
some
particular
human
language
is
capable
of
acquiring any human language
spontaneously and effortlessly.
(
F
)
19.
According
to
N.
Chomsky,
”
compete
nce
”
is
the
actual
realization
of
his
knowledge
in
utterance.
( F ) 20. The
English spelling exactly represents its
pronunciation.
( F ) 21. All the
grammatically well-formed sentences are
semantically well-formed.
( T ) 22.
Pragmatics studies the aspect of meaning that is
not accounted for by semantics.
( F )
23. An illocutionary act is the consequence of or
the change brought about by the utterance.
( T ) 24. Language is a system of
arbitrary vocal symbols used for human
communication.
( T ) 25.
The writing system of a language is always a later
invention used to record speech; thus
there are s
till many
languages in today’s world that can only be
spoken
, but not written.
( F
) 26. In classifying the English consonants and
vowels, the same criteria can be applied.
(
F
)
27.
Parole
refers
to
the
abstract
linguistic
system
shared
by
all
the
members
of
a
speech
community.
(
T
)
28.
Conversational
implicature
is
a
kind
of
implied
meaning,
deduced
on
the
basis
of
the
conventional
meaning
of
words
together
with
the
context,
under
the
guidance
of
the
CP
and
its
maxims.
(
F
)
29.
Pragmatic
failure
may
occur
in
cross-cultural
communication,
i.e.
between
speakers
of
different cultural
backgrounds, but not occur in intra-cultural
communication i.e. between speakers
of
the same cultural background.
( T ) 30.
Sense and reference are two terms often
encountered in the study of meaning.
III. Directions: Explain the following
terms, using one or two examples for illustration
when
necessary.
1. diachronic linguistics
Linguistics that studies language over
a period of time, also known as historical
linguistics, e.g. the
study of the
Chinese language since the end of the Qing dynasty
up to the present.
2. synchronic
linguistics
Linguistics that
studies language at one particular point of time,
e.g. the study of the kind of English
used during
Shakespeare
’
s time.
3. Language
Language is a
system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human
communication.
4.
context
Context
is
generally
considered
as
constituted
by
the
knowledge
shared
by
the
speaker
and
the
hearer.
5. blending
A process of forming a new word by
combining parts of other words. E.g. smog--- smoke
+ fog.
6. reference
Reference
is
what
a
linguistic
form
refers
to
in
the
real
world;
it
is
a
matter
of
the
relationship
between the
form and the reality.
7.
broad transcription
Broad
transcription is the transcription with letter
symbols only. It is the transcription normally
used
in dictionaries and teaching
textbooks.
8. a minimal pair