语言学 (2)

Review exercises of Chapter One

Type1:Judge the following statements T(rue) or F(alse):

T 1.Linguistics studies not any particular language , but language in general.

F 2.A scientific study of language is based on what the linguist thinks.

T 3.In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation.

F 4.General linguistics studies the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and

methods applicable in any linguistic study.

T nguage is a simple entity with multiple layers and facets.

F 6.Phonetics deals with how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning.

F 7.Morphology and syntax study the same aspect of language.

T 8.The study of meaning in language is known as semantics.

T nguage is a social activity carried out in a certain social environment by human beings.

F 10.Sociolinguistics has nothing to do with language or society.

T 11.Modern linguistics is mostly descriptive , but sometimes prescriptive.

T 12.Modern linguistics is different from traditional grammar .

Ｆ13.A synchronic study of language is a historical study.

F 14.Traditional grammar regards the spoken language as primary , not the written

language.

T 15.The writing system of any language is always a later invention, used to record the speech.

Ｆ16.The distinction between competence and performance was proposed by F. de Saussure.

F nguage is vocal because the primary medium is sounds for all languages.

F nguage is entirely arbitrary.

F19.Productivity is unique to animal language.

Ｔnguage is culturally transmitted while animal call systems are genetically transmitted.

F 21.Linguists must be able to speak several languages in order to study them.

F 22.Linguists are judges, they know what is right and what is wrong about language.

Ｔ23.When we say synchronic descriptions of a language are prior to diachronic descriptions, we mean in describing one state of the language , some knowledge

of its previous state is unnecessary.

F 24.In linguistics study, linguists first work out a theory about language structure,

then, test it with language facts.

T nguage is arbitrary by nature but it is not entirely arbitrary.

T26.Animals are born with the capacity to produce the set of calls

F 27.peculiar to their species, while human beings haven’t this genetic basis.

Ｆ28.No nonhuman communication system is arbitrary.

T 29.A linguist should be as objective as possible in his description and analysis of language facts.

Type2:Fill in the following blanks:

⏹ 1.Human capacity for language has a （genetic）basis, but the details of language

have to be taught and learned.

⏹ 2.Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of （ｌａｎｇｕａｇｅ）.

⏹ nguage is a system of （ａｒｂｉｔｒａｒｙ）（ｖｏｃａｌ）（ｓｙｍｂｏｌｓ）used for human

communication.

⏹ 4.In professional usage, the （ｌｉｎｇｕｉｓｔ）is a scholar who studies language

objectively.

⏹ 5.If a linguistic study describes and analyses the language people actually use, it is