语言学练习题(附答案)Chapter1Language

语言学练习题（附答案）Chapter1Language

Chapter One Language

1. Define the following terms

1) discreteness 2) design features

3) arbitrariness 4) duality

5) displacement 6) cultural transmission

7) the imaginative function of language 8) the personal

function of language

9) the heuristic function of language 10) language

2. Multiple Choice

Directions: In each question there are four choices. Decide

which one would be the best answer to the question or to

complete the sentence best.

1) Which of the following words is entirely arbitrary

A. tree

B. crash

C. typewriter

D. bang

2) The function of the sentence “Water boils at 100 degrees

Centigrade” is ________.

A. interrogative

B. directive

C. informative

D. performative

3) In Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate the

host or the people present are

likely to say sui sui ping an (every year be safe and happy) as

a means of controlling the

forces which the believers feel might affect their lives. Which

function does it perform

A. Interpersonal.

B. Emotive. C Performative. D. Recreational.

4) Which of the following properties of language enables

language users to overcome the

barriers causedby time and place, due to this feature of

language, speakers of a

language are free to talk about anything in any situation

A. interchangeability.

B. Duality.

C. Displacement.

D. Arbitrariness.

5) Study the following dialogue. What function does it play

according to the functions of

language

—A nice day, isn’t it

—Right! I really enjoy the sunlight.

A. Emotive

B. Phatic.

C. Peformative.

D. Interpersonal.

6) Unlike animal communication systems, human language

is .

A. stimulus free

B. stimulus bound

C. under immediate stimulus control

D. stimulated by some occurrence of communal interest.

7) Which of the following is the most important function of

language

A. interpersonal function

B. performative function

C. informative function

D. recreational function

8) In different languages, different terms are used to express

the animal “狗”, this shows the nature of --- of human language.

A arbitrariness

B cultural transmission

C displacement

D discreteness

9) Which of the following disciplines are related to applied

linguistics

A. statistics

B. psycholinguistics

C. physics

D. philosophy

10) has been widely accepted as the father of modem

linguistics.

A. Chomsky

B. Saussure

C. Bloomfield

D. John Lyons

3. Word Completion

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the most suitable words.

1) Design features, a framework proposed by the American

linguist Charles Hockett, refer

to the ________ properties of human language that

distinguishes it from any animal

system of communication.

2) ________ refers to the phenomenon that the sounds in a

language are meaningfully

distinct. For instance, the difference between the sounds /p/

and /b/ is not actually

very great, but when these sounds are part of a language like

English, they are used in

such a way that the occurrence of one rather than the other

is meaningful.

3) In any language words can be used in new ways to mean

new things and can be

combined into innumerable sentences based on limited rules.

This feature is usually

termed p_______ or c________.

4) Language has many functions. We can use language to

talk about language itself. This

function is m________ function.

5) Cultural transmission refers to the fact that language is

c________ transmitted. It is

passed on from one generation to the next through teaching

and learning, rather than

by i_________.

6) One general principle of linguistic analysis is the primacy

of ________ over writing.

7) The ________ function refers to the use of language to

communicate knowledge about

the world, to report events, to make statements, to give

accounts, to explain

relationships, to relay messages and so on.

8) The ________ function refers to language used to ensure

social maintenance. Phatic

communion is part of it. The term phatic communion

introduced by the

anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski refers to language

used for establishing an

atmosphere or maintaining social contact rather than for

exchanging facts.

9) Language is a system of arbitrary symbols used for human

Communication.

10) Language has two levels. They are ______ level and ______

level.

11) Language is a ________ because every language consists

of a set of rules which

underlie people’s actual speech or writing.

12) The _function refers to language used in an attempt to

control events once they

happen.

13) The design features of language are (1) (2) (3)

(4) (5) (6) and (7) _______.

14) By saying “language is arbitrary”, we mean that there

is no logical connection between

meaning and .

15) The four principles in the linguistic study are (1) (2) (3)

and (4) .

4. True or False Questions

Directions: Decide whether the following statements are true

or false. Write T for true and F for false in the bracket before each

of them.

1) ( ) The relation between form and meaning in human

language is natural.

2) ( ) When language is used to get information from others,

it serves an informative

function.

3) ( ) The reason for French to use cheval and for English to

use horse to refer to the same

animal is inexplicable.

4) ( ) Most animal communication systems lack the primary

level of articulation.

5) ( ) Language change is universal,ongoing and arbitrary.

6) ( ) Language is a system of arbitrary, written signs which

permit all the people in a given

culture, or other people who have learned the system of that

culture, to communicate

or interact.

7) ( ) In theory, the length of sentences is limited.

8) ( ) The relationship between the sounds and their meaning

is arbitrary.

9) ( ) Linguistic symbols are a kind of visual symbols, which

include vocal symbols.

10) ( ) Linguistic symbols are produced by human speech

organs.

11) ( ) Every language has two levels: grammatically —meaningless and sound —

meaningful.

12) ( ) Such features of language as being creative, vocal, and

arbitrary can differentiate

human languages from animal communicative systems.

13) ( ) Duality is one of the characteristics of human language.

It refers to the fact that

language has two levels of structures: the system of sounds

and the system of

meanings.

14) ( ) Language is a means of verbal communication.

Therefore, the communication way

used by the deaf-mute is not language.

15) ( ) Arbitrariness of language makes it potentially creative,

and conventionality of

language makes a language be passed from generation to

generation. As a foreign

language learner, the latter is more important for us.

5. Glossary translation

1)personal function

2)heauristic function

3)ideational function

4)interchangeability

5)控制功能

6)表现功能

7)文化传递性

8)分离性

9)区别性特征

10)不受时空限制的属性

11)Interactional function

12)instrumentational function

13)imaginative function

14)寒暄功能

15)元语言功能

16)Personal function

17)performative function

18)娱乐功能

19)信息功能

20)人际功能

6. Short Essay Questions

1)What are the functions of language Exemplify each

function.

2)Explain what the term duality means as it is used to

describe a property of human

language.

3)Is language productive or not Why

4)What is language

5)What are the major design features of language Please

explain three of them with

examples.

Key to Chapter One

1. Define the followina terms

1) Discreteness refers to the phenomenon that the sounds in

a language are meaningfully distinct. For instance, the difference

between the sounds /p/ and /b/ is not actually very great, but

when these sounds are part of a language like English, they are

used in such a way that the occurrence of one rather than the

other is meaningful. The fact that the pronunciation of the forms

pad and bad leads to a distinction in meaning can only be due to

the difference between the sounds /p/ and /b/ in English. Each

sound in the language is thought of as discrete. It is possible to

produce a range of sounds in a continuous stream which are all

generally like the sounds /p/ and /b/.

2) “Design features” refer to the defining properties of

human language that tell the difference between human

language and any system of animal communication. They are

arbitrariness, duality, productivity, displacement, cultural

transmission and interchangeability. (3分)

3) “Arbitrariness” means that there is no logical connection

between meanings and sounds.

A dog might be a pig if only the first person or group of

persons had used it for a pig.

Language is therefore largely arbitrary. But language is not

absolutely arbitrary, because there are cases where there are or

at least seem to be some sound-meaning association, if we think

of echo Words, like “bang”, “crash”,”roar”,’ which are

motivated in a certain sense. Secondly, some compounds are not

entirely arbitrary either. “Snow” and “storm” are arbitrary or

unmotivated words, while “snowstorm” is less so. So we can

say “arbitrariness” is a matter of degree.

4) Linguists refer “duality” of structure to the fact that in all

languages so far investigated, one finds two levels of structure or

patterning. At the first, higher level, language is analyzed in terms

of combinations of meaningful units (such as morphemes, words

etc.); at the second, lower level, it is seen as a sequence of

segments which lack any meaning in themselves, but which

combine to form units of meaning. According to Hu Zhuanglin et

al., language is a system of two sets of structures, one of sounds

and the other of meaning. This is important for the workings of

language. A small number of sounds can be grouped and

regrouped into a large number of semantic units (words), and

these units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an

infinite number of sentences. (For example, we have dictionaries

of words, but no dictionary of sentences!) Duality makes it

possible for a person to talk about anything within his knowledge.

No animal communication system enjoys this duality, or even

approaches this honor.

5) “Displacement”, as one of the design features of the

human language, refers to the fact

that one can talk about things that are not present, as easily

as he does things present. In other words, one can refer to real

and unreal things, things of the past, of the present, of the future.

Language itself can be talked about too. People can use language’

to describe something that had occurred, is occurring, or is to

occur. But a dog could not bark for a bone to be lost. The bee’s

System has a small share of “displacement”, but it is an

unspeakable tiny share.

6) Language is not biologically transmitted from generation

to generation, but the details of the linguistic system must be

learned anew by each speaker. It is true that the capacity for

language in human beings (N. Chomsky called it “language

acquisition device”, or LAD) has a geneticbasis, but the

particular language a person learns to speak is a cultural one

rather than a genetic one like the dog’s barking system. If a

human being is brought up in isolation he cannot acquire

language. The wolf-child reared by the wolves turned out to

speak the wolf’s roaring “tongue” when he was saved. And it

was difficult for him to acquire human language.

7) The imaginative function refers to language used to create

imaginary system, whether these are literary works, philosophical

systems or utopian visions on the one hand, or daydreams and

idle musings on the other hand. It is also language used for sheer

joy of using language, such as a baby’s babbling, a chanter’s

chanting, a poet’s pleasuring.

8) The personal function refers to language used to express

the individual’s feelings, emotions and personality.

9) The heuristic function of language refers to language used

in order to acquire knowledge and understanding the world. The

heuristic functioning provides a basis for the structure of

knowledge in the different disciplines. Language allows people

to ask questions about the nature of the world they live in and to

construct possible answers.

10) Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for

human communication.

2. Multiple Choice

1) – 5): A C C C B 6) – 10): A C C B B

3. Word Completion.

1) defining 2) Descreteness 3）productivity or creativity 4)

metalingual 5) culturally, instinct or inheritance 6) speech 7)

representational 8) interactional; 9) vocal;10) gramatically

meaningful, sound meaningless; 11) system; 12) regulatory 13)

arbitrariness, duality, productivity, cultural transmission,

interchangeability, discreteness, displacement. 14) sound; 15)

exhaustiveness, economy, objectivity, consistency

4. True or False Questions

1 – 5: FFTFF 6 – 10: FFTFT 11 – 15: FFTFT

5. Glossary Translation

1)personal function: 人际功能

2)heauristic function：启发功能

3)ideational function：概念功能

4)interchangeability：互换性

5)控制功能：regulatory function

6)表现功能: representational functin

7)文化传递性: cultural transmisssion

8)分离性: discreteness

9)区别性特征: design features

10)不受时空限制的属性: displacement

11)Interactional function: 互动功能

12)instrumentational function：工具功能

13)imaginative function：想象功能

14)寒暄功能：phatic function

15)元语言功能: metalingual function or metafunction of

language

16)personal function: 自指性功能

17)performative function: 表达功能

18)娱乐功能: recreational function

19)信息功能: informative function

20)人际功能: interpersonal function

6. Short Essay Questions

1) What are the functions of language Exemplify each

function.

According to Wang Gang (1988: 11), the functions of

language can be mainly embodied in three aspects. i) Language

is a tool of human communication; ii) Language is a tool whereby

people learn about the world; iii) Language is a tool by which

people create art.

As a matter of fact, different linguists have different terms for

the various functions of language. The British linguist M. A. K.

Halliday uses the following terms to refer to the initial functions

of children’s language:

(1) Instrumental

The instrumental function of language refers to the fact that

language allows speakers to get things done. It allows them to

control things in the environment. People can cause things to be

done and to happen through the use of words alone. An

immediate contrast here is with the animal world in which sounds

are hardly used in this way, and, when they are, they are used in

an extremely limited degree. The instrumental function can be

primitive too in human interaction. Performative utterances such

as the words which name a ship at a launching ceremony clearly

have instrumental functions if the right circumstances exist；they

are acts, . I name this ship Liberty Bell.

(2) Regulatory

The regulatory function refers to language used in an

attempt to control events once they happen. Those events may

involve the self as well as others. People do try to control

themselves through language, . Why did I say that / Steady! / And

Let me think about that again. Language helps to regulate

encounters among people. Language provides devices for

regulating specific kinds of encounters and contains words for

approving or disapproving and for controlling or disrupting the

behavior of others. It allows us to establish complex patterns of

organization in order to try to regulate behavior, from game

playing to political organization, from answering the telephone

to addressing in foreign affairs. It is the regulatory function of

language that allows people some measure of control over

events that occur in their lives.

(3)Representational

The representational function refers to the use of language

to communicate knowledge about the world, to report events, to

make statements, to give accounts, to explain relationships, to

relay messages and so on. This function of language is

represented by all kinds of record-keeping, such as historical

records, geographical surveys, business accounts, scientific

reports, government acts, and public data banks. It is an essential

domain of language use, for the availability of this material

guarantees the knowledge-base of subsequent generations,

which

is a prerequisite of social development.

(4) Interactional

The interactional function refers to language used to ensure

social maintenance. Phatic communion is part of it. The term

phatic communion introduced by the anthropologist Bronislaw

Malinowski refers to language used for establishing an

atmosphere or maintaining social contact rather than for

exchanging facts. A greeting such as how are you is relatively

empty of content, and answers like fine or very well, thank you

are equally empty, because the speaker is not inte rested in the

hearer’s health, but rather to demonstrate his politeness and

general attitude toward the other person when he gives a

conversational greeting.

(5) Personal

The personal function refers to language used to express the

individual’s feelings, emotions and personality. A person’s

individuality is usually characterized by his or her use of personal

function of communication. Each individual has a “voice” in

what happens to him. He is free to speak or not to speak, to say,

as much or as little as he pleases, and to choose how to say what

he says. The use of language can tell the listener or reader a great

deal about the speaker or writer — in particular, about his

regional origin, social background, level of education, occupation,

age, sex, and personality.

Language also provides the individual with a means to

express feelings, whether outright in the form of exclamations,

endorsements, or curse, or much more subtly through a careful

choice of words. Many social situations display language used to

foster a sense of identity: the shouting of a crowd at a football

match, the shouting of names or slogans at public meetings, the

reactions of the audience to television game shows, the shouts

of affirmation at some religious meetings. For example, th e

crowds attending President Regan’s pre-election meetings in

1984 repeatedly shouted “Four more years!” which united

among those who shared the same political views.

(6) Heuristic

The heuristic function refers to language used in order to

acquire knowledge and understanding the world. The heuristic

functioning provides a basis for the structure of knowledge in the

different disciplines. Insofar as the inquiry into language itself, a

necessary result is the creation of a metalanguage, . a language

used to refer to language, containing terms such as sound,

syllable, word, structure, sentence, meaning and so on.

(7) Imaginative

The imaginative function refers to language used to create

imaginary system, whether these are literary works, philosophical

systems or utopian visions on the one hand, or daydreams and

idle musings on the other hand. The imaginative function also

allows people to consider not just the real world but all possible

worlds — and many impossible ones. Much literature is the most

obvious example to serve this function as an account of Robinson

Crusoe in the deserted island. The imaginative function enables

life to be lived vicariously and helps satisfy numerous deep

artistic urges.

2) Explain what the term duality means as it is used to

describe a property of human

language.

Language is organized at two levels or layers-- sounds and

meaning-- simultaneously. This property is called duality, or

“double articulation”. In terms of speech production, we have

the physical level at which we can produce individual sounds, like

n, b, and i. As individual sound,

none of these discrete forms has any intrinsic meaning.

When we produce those sounds in a particular combination, as

in bin, we have another level producing a meaning, which is

different from the meaning of the combination in nib. So, at one

level, we have distinct sounds, and at another level, we have

distinct meanings. This duality of levels is, in fact,: one of the most

economical features of human language, since with a limited set

of distinct sounds we are capable of producing a very large

number of sound combinations (relatively finite words and

infinite number of sentences) which are distinct in meaning. No

animal communication system has duality, or ever comes near to

possessing it.

3) Is language productive or not Why

(1) Language is productive or creative. (233) This means that

users can understand and produce sentences they have never

heard before. Every day we send messages that have never been

sent before, and we understand novel messages. Much of them

we say and hear for the first time; yet there seems no problem of

understanding. For example, the sentence” A red-eyed elephant

is dancing on the hotel bed” must be new to you and it does

not describe a common happening in the world. Nevertheless,

nobody has any difficulty in understanding it.

(2) 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. For example, gibbon calls are not productive,

for they draw all their calls from a limited repertoire, which is

rapidly exhausted, making any novelty impossible. Bee dancing

is used only to indicate food sources, which is the only message

that can be sent through the dancing.

(3) The productivity or creativity of language partially.

originates from its duality, because of which the speaker is able

to combine the basic linguistic units to form an infinite set of

sentences, most of which are never before produced or heard.

The productivity of language also means its potential to create

endless sentences. It is the recursive nature of language that

provides a theoretical basis for this possibility.

4) What is language

(1) It is very difficult to give this question a satisfactory

definition. However, most linguists would accept a tentative

definition like this: language is a system of arbitrary vocal

symbols used for human communication. (2) Language must be

a system, since elements in it are arranged according to certain

rules; they cannot be combined at will. If language were not

systematic, it could not be learned or used consistently. (3)

Language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic

connection between the word pen and the thing we use to write

with. The fact that different languages have different words for it

(钢笔in Chinese for instance) speaks strongly for the arbitrary

nature of language. (4) This also explains the symbolic nature of

language: words are associated with objects, actions, ideas by

convention. (5) We say language is vocal because the primary

medium is sound for all languages, no matter how well

developed are their writing systems. All evidence shows that

writing systems came much later than the spoken forms and t hat

they are only attempts to capture sounds and meaning on paper

(6) The term “human” in the definition is meant to specify that

language is ; that is, it is very different from the communication

systems other forms of life possess.

5) What are the major design features of language Please

explain three of them with

examples.

(1) Displacement is one of the defining properties of human

language, which refers to the

fact that human language can be used to talk about things

that are present or not present, real or not real, and about

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 its users. This phenomenon is

thought of as “displacement”, whic h can provide its users with

an opportunity to communicate about a wide range of subjects,

free from any barriers caused by separation in time and space.

That is, the feature of displacement can enable us to talk about

things and places whose existence we cannot even be sure of. We

can refer to mythical creatures, demons, fairies, angels, Santa

Claus, and recently invented characters such as superman. This

feature is unique to human language. No animal communication

system possesses it. Some animal calls are often uttered in

response to immediate changes of situation. For instance, during

the mating season, in the present of danger or pain, animals will

make calls. Once the danger or pain is missing, their calls stop.

(2) Discreteness The sounds used in language are

meaningfully distinct. For example, the difference between the

sounds b andp is actually not very great, but when these sounds

are part of a language like English, they are used in such a way

that the occurrence of one rather than the other is meaningful.

The fact that the pronunciation of the forms pack and back leads

to a distinction in meaning can only be due to the difference

between the sounds p and b in English. This property of language

is described as discreteness. Each sound in the language is

treated as discrete. It is possible; in fact, to produce a range of

sounds in a continuous stream which are all generally like the p

and b sounds. However, that continuous stream will only be

interpreted as being either a p sound, or a b sound (or, possibly,

as a non-sound) in the language. We have a very discrete view of

the sounds of our language and wherever a pronunciation falls

within the physically possible range of sounds, it will be

interpreted as a linguistically specific and meaningfully distinct

sound

(3) Language is a system. It is organized into two levels

simultaneously. We have distinct sounds at the lower level (sound

level), which is seen as a sequence of segments which have no

meaning in themselves. At the higher level, we have distinct

meanings (meaningful level). Language is analyzed in terms of

combination of meaningful units. Then the meaningful units

(such as morphemes, words, etc.) at the higher level can be

arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences.

The organization of language into levels, one of sounds, the other

of meaning, is known as duality or double articulation. This

unique feature of language enables its users to talk about

anything within their knowledge. No animal communication

system possesses the feature of duality.