语言学概论Chapter+1+Exercises

Chapter 1 Introduction

I. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement.

1. If a study describes and analyzes the language people actually use, it is said to be

______________.

A. prescriptive

B. analytic

C. descriptive

D. linguistic

2. Which of the following is not a design feature of human language?

A. Arbitrariness

B. Displacement

C. Duality

D. Meaningfulness

3. Modern linguistics regards the written language as ____________.

A. primary

B. correct

C. secondary

D. stable

4. In modern linguistics, speech is regarded as more 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

5. A historical study of language is a ____ study of language.

A. synchronic

B. diachronic

C. prescriptive

D. comparative

6. Saussure took a(n) __________ view of language, while Chomsky looks at

language from a ________ point of view.

A. sociological, psychological

B. Psychological, sociological

C. applied, pragmatic

D. semantic, linguistic

7. According to F. de Saussure, ____ refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by

all the members of a speech community.

A. parole

B. performance

C. Langue

D. language

8. Language is said to be arbitrary because there is no logical connection between

_________ and meanings.

A. sense

B. Sounds

C. objects

D. ideas

9. Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations

of the speaker. This feature is called_________.

A. displacement

B. duality

C. flexibility

D. cultural transmission

10. The details of any language system is passed on from one generation to the next

through ____ , rather than by instinct.

A. learning

B. teaching

C. books

D. both A and B

II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given.

1.D_________ is one of the design features of human language which refers to the

phenomenon that language consists of two levels: a lower level of meaningless individual sounds and a higher level of meaningful units.

nguage is a system of a_________ vocal symbols used for human

communication.

3.The discipline that studies the rules governing the formation of words into

permissible sentences in languages is called s________.

4.Human capacity for language has a g ____ basis, but the details of language have

to be taught and learned.

5.P ____ refers to the realization of langue in actual use.

6.Findings in linguistic studies can often be applied to the settlement of some

practical problems. The study of such applications is generally known as a________ linguistics.

nguage 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.

III. Define the following terms.

1. Syntax

2. Applied linguistics

3. Arbitrariness

4. Displacement

5. Duality

6. Design features

IV. Answer the following questions.

1. A wolf is able to express subtle gradations of emotion by different positions of the ears, the lips, and the tail. There are eleven postures of the tail that express such emotions as self-confidence, confident threat, lack of tension, uncertain threat, depression, defensiveness, active submission, and complete submission. This system seems to be complex. Suppose there were a thousand different emotions that the wolf could express in this way. Would you then say a wolf had a language