语言学补充练习(1-3)

第一章语言学入门知识：

I. 名词解释

1．cultural transmission (as a defining property of language) Answer: While human capacity for language has a genetic basis, the details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned. An English speaker and a Chinese speaker are both able to use a language, but they are not mutually intelligible. This shows that language is culturally transmitted. It is passed on from one generation to the next through teaching and learning, rather than by instinct. In contrast, animal call systems are genetically transmitted. They are born with the capacity to produce the set of calls peculiar to their species.

2．descriptive linguistics vs. prescriptive linguistics

Answer: A linguistic study is descriptive if it describes and analyses facts observed; it is prescriptive if it tries to lay down rules for "correct" behavior. Linguistic studies before the 204 century are largely prescriptive whereas modem linguistic is mostly descriptive.

II. 判断正误（T for True and F for False）

1. When language is used to get information, it serves an informative function.

Answer: F (It serves an interrogative function).

2．Most animal communication systems lack the primary level of articulation.

Answer: F (The primary units in these systems cannot be further divided into elements. So what they lack is the secondary level of articulation.) 3．Descriptive linguistics are concerned with how languages work, not with how they can be improved.

Answer: T

III. 填空题

1．By saying that "language is arbitrary", we mean that there is no logical connection between meaning and _______.

Answer: sounds

2．The distinction between langue and parole is made by the Swiss linguist E de Saussure. The distinction between competence and performance is made by the American linguist__________.

Answer: Noam Chomsky

3．An approach to linguistic study which attempts to lay down rules of correctness as to how language should be used is _______.

Answer: prescriptive

IV. 选择题

1．Unlike animal communication system, human language is ______.

A. stimulus free

B. stimulus bound

C. under immediate stimulus control

D. stimulated by some occurrence of communal interest

Answer：A

2. ____ has been widely accepted as the forefather of modem linguistics.

a. Chomsky

b. Saussure

c. Bloomfield

d. John Lyon

Answer: b

V. 问答题

l. Is language productive or not Why

Answer: Firstly, Language is productive or creative. This means that language users can understand and produce sentences they have never heard before. Secondly, Productivity is unique to human language. Most animal communication systems have a limited repertoire, which is rapidly exhausted, making any novelty impossible. Thirdly, The productivity or creativity of human language originates from its duality. Because of duality, the speaker can combine the basic

linguistic units to form an infinite set of sentences. The productivity of language also means its potential to create endless sentences. This is made possible by the recursive nature of language.