语言学名词解释和问答题

语言学

I. Directions: Explain the following terms.

1. Parole: Parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use; parole is the concrete use of the

conventions

and

the

application

of

the

rules;

parole

varies

from

person

to

person,

and

from

situation to situation.

2. Broad transcription is the transcription with letter symbols only. It is the transcription normally

used in dictionaries and teaching textbooks.

3.

International

phonetic

alphabet:

It

is

a

standardized

and

internationally

accepted

system

of

phonetic transcription.

4. Historical linguistics studies language change ( or historical development of language).

5. Phonology: Phonology studies the system of sounds of a particular language; it aims to discover

how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning

in linguistic communication.

6. Langue: Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech

community; Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to follow;

Langue is relatively stable, it does not change frequently

7. Suprasegmental features: the phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are

called suprasegmental features. The main suprasegmental features include stress, intonation and

tone.

8. language: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

9. Minimal pair:

When two different forms are identical in every way except one sound segment

which occurs in the same place in the string, the two words are said to form a minimal pair, such

as /pig/ and /dig.

10. Phonetics: the linguistic study of how speech sounds are produced and classified.

11.

Arbitrariness:

It

is

one

of

the

design

features

of

language.

It

means

that

there

is

no

logical

connection between meanings and sounds

12. Duality: Duality means that language is a system, which consists of two sets of structures, or

two

levels.

At

the

lower

or

the

basic

level

there

is

a

structure

of

sounds,

which

are

meaningless.

But the sounds of language can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of

units of meaning at the higher level of the system.

13. Syntax: Syntax is a subfield of linguistics that studies the sentence structure of language.

14.

Pragmatics:

Pragmatics

can

be

defined

as

the

study

of

how

speakers

of

a

language

use

sentences

to

effect

successful

communication.

It

is

a

discipline

of

studying

meaning

not

in

isolation, but in context

15. Competence: Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user's knowledge of the rules of his

language.

It

is

a

set

of

rules

internalized

in

the

mind

of

a

language

user

which

enables

him

to

produce and understand an indefinitely large number of sentences and recognize sentences that are

ungrammatical and ambiguous.

16. Tones are pitch variations caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords. As a

suprasegmental

feature,

it

can

distinguish

meaning.

For

example,

in

Chinese,

the

same

sound

combination “ma” can have four different tones: ma? (

妈

) má

（麻）

mǎ

（马）

mà

（骂）

.

17. A phone is a speech sound people use when speaking a language. For example, [p], [

ⅰ

] and [t]

are phones; they are the phonetic realizations of the phonemes in [pit].

A phone is a phonetic unit

or segment. It does not necessarily distinguish meaning.

1

18.

Allophones:

The

different

phones

that

can

represent

a

phoneme

in

different

phonetic

environments

are

called

the

allophones

of

that

phoneme.

For

example,

[p]

and

[p

h

]

are

two

allophones of the same phoneme /p/.

19. Linguistics: Linguistics is generally defined as the

scientific study of language.

20.

Psycholinguistics:

The

study

of

language

with

reference

to

the

workings

of

mind

is

called

psycholinguistics.

21. Morphology: The study of the way in which morphemes are arranged to form words is called

morphology.

22. Sociolinguistics: The study of language with reference to society is called sociolinguistics,.

23. Applied linguistics: In a narrow sense, applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistic

principles and theories to language teaching and learning, especially the teaching of foreign and

second languages. In a broad sense, it refers to the application of linguistic findings to the solution

of practical problems such as the recovery of speech ability.

24. Productivity: Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and

interpretation of new signals by its users.

25.

Displacement:

Displacement

means

that

language

can

be

used

to

refer

to

things

which

are

present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future, or in far-away places.

In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations

of the speaker

26.

Design

features:

Design

features

refer

to

the

defining

properties

of

human

language

that

distinguish it from any animal system of communication

27. Performance: performance is the actual realization of the knowledge of the rules in linguistic

communication.

28. Phoneme: The basic unit in phonology is called phoneme; it is a unit of distinctive value. But

it

is

an

abstract

unit.

To

be

exact,

a

phoneme

is

not

a

sound;

it

is

a

collection

of

distinctive

phonetic features.

29. Auditory phonetics: It studies the speech sounds from the hearer's point of view. It studies how

the sounds are perceived by the hearer.

30. Acoustic phonetics: It studies the speech sounds by looking at the sound waves. It studies the

physical

means

by

which

speech

sounds

are

transmitted

through

the

air

from

one

person

to

another.

31. Phonemic contrast:

Phonemic contrast

refers to the relation between two phonemes. If two

phonemes

can

occur

in

the

same

environment

and

distinguish

meaning,

they

are

in

phonemic

contrast.

II. Answer the following questions.

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 used to refer to

the same object in different languages , and even within the same language, the same sound does

not refer to the same thing. However, language is not entirely arbitrary. There are words which are

2

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

users.

This

is

why

they

can

produce

and

understand

an

infinitely large number of sentences, including sentences that they have never said or heard before.

They

can send messages which no one else has ever sent 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

users

can

send

and

receive.

3) Duality

The duality nature of language means that language is a system, which consists of two sets 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

sentences.

This

duality

of

structure

or

double articulation of language enables its users to talk about anything within their knowledge. No

animal communication system has duality or even comes near to possessing it.

4) Displacement

Displacement

means

that

language

can

be

used

to

refer

to

things

which

are

present

or

not

present,

real

or

imagined

matters

in

the

past,

present,

or

future,

or

in

far-away

places.

In

other

words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from

the immediate situations of the

speaker. Animal calls are mainly uttered in response to immediate changes of situation.

5) Cultural transmission

Human beings were born with the ability to acquire language, but the details of any language

are not genetically transmitted or passed down by instinct. They have to be taught and learned, but

animal call systems are genetically transmitted .

2.

What

are

the

differences

and

similarities

between

Saussure’s

distinction

of

langue

and

parole and Chomsky’s distinctio

n of competence and performance?

(1) Saussure’s langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a

speech community, and parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. Chomsky defines

competence as the ideal user’s kn

owledge of the rules of his language, and performance the actual

realization

of

this

knowledge

in

linguistic

communication.

(2)

Similarity:

both

Saussure

and

Chomsky distinguish the abstract language system from the actual use of language. Their purpose

is

to

single

out

the

language

system

for

serious

study.

(3)

Difference:

Saussure’s

distinction

is

made

from

the

sociological

point

of

view

and

his

notion

of

langue

is

a

matter

of

social

conventions, while Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point

of view and to him,

competence is a property of the mind of each individual.

3. Explain with examples the major rules in phonology.

3