语言学大题完整版

41. Linguistics语言学: Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.E.g. she(subject) is(predicate) a girl(object).42. Phonology音韵学: The study of how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning incommunication is called phonology. E.g. the sounds /t/ and /i:/ are put together to refer to the word “tea”, which means something we drink in our daily life.43. Syntax语法,句法: The study of the rules that govern the combination of words to formgrammatically permissible sentences in language is called syntax. e.g. Words are organized into structures more than just word order: The children watched [the firework from the hill] and The children watched [the firework] [from the hill].44.Pragmatics语用学: The study of meaning in context of language use is called pragmatics. E.g. thesentence “how did it go?” might have occurred in a conversation between two students talking about an examination.45. Psycholinguistics语言心理学: The study of language with reference to关于the workings of mind iscalled psycholinguistics. e.g. “Tom said that Bill had taken the cleaning out yesterday”, we usually prefer to attach the adverb “yesterday” here to the subordinate(从属的) clause “Bill had taken”.46. Language语言: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.E.g. English has its own system of speaking, writing and it has its vocabulary.47. Phonetics语音学: The study of sounds which are used in linguistic communication is calledphonetics. E.g. the differences between /p/ and /p h/ are usually what phonetics is interested in.48. Morphology词态学,词法: The study of the way in which morphemes are arranged and combined toform words is called morphology. E.g.49. Semantics语义学: The study of meaning in language is called semantics. E.g. the words “Tom”and“smoke”can be formed into such sentences of different meanings: Tom smokes, Tom has smoked, Tom smoked, Tom is smoking, etc.50. Sociolinguistics社会语言学: The study of language with reference to society is called sociolinguistics.E.g. Pidgin 洋泾滨语Creole 克里奥尔语51. Applied linguistics应用语言学: In a narrow sense, applied linguistics refers to the application oflinguistic 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. E.g. the study of language and linguistics in relation to practical problems, such as: lexicography词典编纂, translation, speech pathology言语病理学, etc.52. Arbitrariness任意性logical connection between meanings and sounds e.g. different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different language.53. Productivity生产力: Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the constructionand interpretation of new signals by its users. E.g. a red-eyed elephant is dancing on the hotel bed.54. Displacement取代,移位: Displacement means that language can be used to refer to things which arepresent 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 e.g. we can still read ancient Chinese even now, and we can understand what polar bears are even though they are living far away from us.55. Duality二元性: The duality nature of language means that language is a system, which consists oftwo sets of structure, or two levels, one of sounds and the other of meanings. E.g. the group of the three sounds /k/, /a:/, /p/ can mean either a kind of fish (carp), or a public place for rest and amusement (park).56. Design features设计特点: Design features refer to the defining properties of human language thatdistinguish it from any animal system of communication 把所有的特点写出来分别写例子57. Competence能力: Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user's knowledge of the rules of hislanguage, e.g. a native language speaker can produce and understand a lot of sentences whether they are grammatical or not.58. Performance执行,绩效: performance is the actual realization of the knowledge of the rules inlinguistic communication. E.g. an English speaker may not express himself well and make some mistakes because of the external factors, such as stress and embarrassment .ngue 语言: Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speechcommunity语言社区; Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to follow;Langue is relatively stable, it does not change frequently e,g, all English speakers should follow the rules of English.60. Parole言语: Parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use; parole is the concrete use of theconventions and the application of the rules; parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation. E.g. code is used in specific context.简答题61. Language is generally defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. Explain it in detail.First of all, language is a system, i.e. elements of language are combined according to rules. E.g. “iblk” is not a possible sound combination.Secondly, language is arbitrary because there is no intrinsic connection between a linguistic symbol and what it stands for. E.g. Different languages have different words for the same object in the world.Thirdly, language is vocal because the primary medium is sound for all languages, no matter how well - developed their writing systems are. E.g. Children acquire spoken language before they can read or write.Fourthly, the term "human" in the definition indicates that language is human-specific and is very different from the communication systems of other living creatures, such as bird songs and bee dances.Finally, the term "communication" means that language makes it possible for its users to talk to each other and fulfill their communicative needs.62. What are the design features of human language? Illustrate them with examples1) Arbitrariness. It 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. However, language is not entirely arbitrary. E.g. There are words which are created in the imitation of sounds and some compound words are also not entirely arbitrary.2) Productivity. Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. E.g.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. E.g. the grouping of the three sounds /k/, /a:/, and /p/ can mean either a kind of fish (carp), or a public place for rest and amusement (park).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. E.g. we can still read ancient Chinese even now, and we can understand what polar bears are even though they are living far away from us.5) Cultural transmission. While human beings were born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language are not genetically transmitted, but instead they have to be taught and learned. E.g. an English speaker and a Chinese speaker are both able to use a language, but they are not mutually intelligible,63. How is modern linguistics different from traditional grammar?1)modern linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive. E.g. A linguist is interested in what is said, not in what he thinks ought to be said. But traditional grammar sets grammatical rules and imposes the rules on language users.2)modern linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. But the traditional grammar is the opposite. E.g. many of the rules of traditional grammar apply only to the written language.3)modern linguistics doesn’t force language into a Latin-based framework. E.g. modern linguists are opposed to the notion that any one language can provide an adequate framework for all others.64. How do you understand the distinction between a synchronic study and a diachronic study?The description of a language at some point in time is a Synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study. A synchronic study of language describes a language as it is at some particular point in time, while a diachronic study of language is the study of the historical development of language over a period of time. E.g. Shakespeare’s English is a kind of synchronic study.65. Why does modern linguistics regard the spoken form of language as primary, not the written?First, the spoken form is prior to the written form and most writing systems are derived from the spoken form of language. E.g. there is no any writing system but people can communicate to each other by speaking in the primitive society.Second, the spoken form plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyedE.g. the amount of information one can convey in 2 minutes isFinally, the spoken form is the medium through which we acquire our mother tongue. E.g. Children acquire spoken language before they can read or write.66. What are the major distinctions between langue and parole?The distinction between langue and parole was made by the famous linguist Ferdinand de Saussure early this century.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.Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to follow while parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules.Langue is abstract; it is not the language people actually use, but parole is concrete; it refers to the naturally occurring language events.Langue is relatively stable; it does not change frequently; while parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation.67. How do you understand competence and performance?Chomsky defi nes competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language. This internalized内在化set of rules enables the language user to produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences and recognize sentences that are ungrammatical and ambiguous引起歧义的.P erformance is the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. Although the speaker’s knowledge of his mother tongue is perfect, his performances may have mistakes because of social and psychological factors such as stress, embarrassment, etc..Chomsky believes that what linguists should study is the competence, which is systematic, not the performance, which is too haphazard偶然的.68. Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole seems similar to Chomsky’s distin ction between competence and performance. What do you think are their major differences?Although Saussure’s distinction and Chomsky’s are very similar, they differ at least in that Saussure took a sociological社会的view of language and his notion见解of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological心理的point of views and to him, competence is a property of the mind of each individual.69. Do you think human language is entirely arbitrary? Why?Language is arbitrary in nature, it is not entirely arbitrary, because there are a limited number of words whose connections between forms and meanings can be logically explained to a certain extent, for example, the onomatopoeia拟声，声喻法, words which are coined杜撰on the basis of imitation of sounds such as bang, crash, etc.Besides, some compound words are also not entirely arbitrary. The two elements “photo” and “copy” in “photocopy” are non-motivated, but the compound is not arbitrary.70. What is Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis? State its strong version and weak version.Language filters people’s perception and the way they categorize their experiences. This independence of language and thought is now known as Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. The strong version believes that language patterns determine people’s thinking and behavior, the weak one holds that the former influences the later.E.g. The word “snow” in Eskimo and English is very different. The Eskimos have countless words for snow because snow is extremely important to them, while in English-speaking cultures, the simple word snow usually can meet their need.Answer the following Questions71. Question 1Why is de Saussure hailed as被赞为the father of modern linguistics?(1)The book “Course in General Linguistics” (1916), which is the most important source of Saussure's ideas, marked the beginning of modern linguistics.(2) Saussure was the first to notice the complexities复杂度of language which direct our attention to essentials of language and make clear解释清楚the object of study研究对象for linguistics as a science. He believed that language is a system of signs, called conventions. He held this sign is the union of a form and an idea, which he called the signifier (能指) and the signified (所指).(3) Saussure’s idea s on the arbitrary nature of sign, on the relational nature of linguistic units, on the distinction of langue and parole and of synchronic and diachronic linguistics, etc. pushed linguistics into a brand new stage.72. Question 2What are the main functions of language?The descriptive functionThe expressive functionThe social function。