第一单元
I. True or False:
1. Modern linguistics is mainly diachronic. T
2. In everyday communication, writing plays a greater role than speech in terms of the amount of information conveyed. F
3. The features that define out human languages can be called DESIGN FEATUREs. T
4. According to Saussure, the relation between the signified and the signifier is arbitrary. T
5. Human capacity for language has a genetic basis, i.e. we are all born with the ability to acquire language and the details of a language system are genetically transmitted. T
II. Explain the following terms:
1. linguistics : .Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language. 2. language: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. 3. langue：Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community. It is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to abide by.
4. parole：Parole refers to the realization of language in actual use. It is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules. 5.prescriptive：.Prescriptive refers to the situation in which the linguistic study aims to lay down rules for “correct and standard” behaviour in using language, i.e. to tell people what they should say and what they should not say. III. Answer the Following questions:
1. What are the major branches of linguistics? What does each of them
study? The major branches of linguistics are:
(1) phonetics: it studies the sounds used in linguistic communication;
(2) phonology: it studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication;
(3) morphology: it studies the way in which linguistic symbols representing sounds are arranged and combined to form words;
(4) syntax: it studies the rules which govern how words are combined to form grammatically permissible sentences in languages;
(5) semantics: it studies meaning conveyed by language;
(6) pragmatics: it studies the meaning in the context of language use.
2. In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar? How?
Modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar in several basic ways.
Firstly, linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive.
Second, modem linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tended to emphasize, maybe over-emphasize, the importance of the written word, partly because of its permanence.
Then, modem linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework.
3. Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic?Why?
In modem linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic one. Because people believed that unless the various states of a language in different historical periods are successfully studied, it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development.
4. What are the main features of human language? Explain them briefly.
The main features of human language are termed design features. They include: 1) Arbitrariness. This means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds.
2) Productivity. Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users.
3) Duality. Language consists of two sets of structures, or two levels. At the lower or the basic level there is a structure of sounds, which are meaningless by themselves. But the sounds of language can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning, which are found at the higher level of the system. 4) Displacement. 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.
5) Cultural transmission. While human capacity for language has a genetic basis, i.e., we were all born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned
5. What are the major functions of language?
Three main functions are often recognized of language: the descriptive function, the expressive function, and the social function.
The descriptive function is the function to convey factual information, which can be asserted or denied, and in some cases even verified.
The expressive function supplies information about the user’s feelings, preferences, prejudices, and values.
The social function serves to establish and maintain social relations between people.
第二章语音学练习题
II. Fill in the Blanks or Multiple Choice:
1. Of the three branches of phonetics, the longest established, and until recently the most highly developed, is ___ phonetics. articulatory
2. In terms of the place of articulation, the following sounds [t],[d],[s],[z],[n] share the feature of___. alveolar
3. The organs of speech contain pharyngeal cavity, _____ and nasal cavity. oral 4. In the case of pit, the [p] sound is said to be aspirated while in the case of spit the [p] sound is ______. unaspirated
5. The consonant [f] can be described as having the following phonetic features___. a. voiceless, bilabial, stop b. voiceless, labiodental, fricative c. voiced, bilabial, stop d. voiced, labiodental, fricative b
6. Of the following sound combinations, only __ is permissible according to the sequential rule . a
a. kibl b. bkil c. ilkb d. ilbk
7. Which is the description of the consonant [b]? b
A. Voiceless bilabial stop b. voiced bilabial stop c. voiceless alveolar fricative d. voiced alveolar fricative
8. Which segment in the following does not share one or more phonetic features with the other segments? a
A. [m] b. [l] c. [w] d. [s] II. Explain the following terms:
1. phonetics: Phonetics is defined as the study of the phonic medium of language; it is concerned with all the sounds that occur in the world’s languages.
2. voicing : .Vibration of the vocal cords results in a quality of speech sounds called voicing.
3.broad transcription : Broad transcription refers to the one with letter-symbols only. 4. narrow transcription : Narrow transcription refers to the one with letter-symbols together with the diacritics.
5.diphthong : .Diphthongs are the sounds which are produced by moving from one vowel position to another through intervening positions. III. Do the followings:
1. What are the three branches of phonetics? Describe each of them briefly.
.The three branches of phonetics are articulatory phonetics, auditory phonetics, and acoustic phonetics. Articulatory phonetics studies the sounds from the speaker’s point of view while auditory phonetics looks at the sounds from the hearer’s point of view and acoustic phonetics studies the way sounds travel by looking at the sound waves.
2. How can consonants be classified?
.English consonants can be classified in two ways: one is in terms of manner of articulation and the other is in terms of place of articulation. In terms of manner of articulation the English consonants can be classified into the following types: stops, fricatives, affricates, liquids, nasals and glides. In terms of place of articulation, it can be classified into following types: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, palatal, velar and glottal.
3. What criteria are used to classify the English vowels?
Vowels may be distinguished as front, central, and back according to which part of the tongue is held highest. To further distinguish members of each group, we need to apply another criterion, i.e. the openness of the mouth. Accordingly, we classify the vowels into four groups: close vowels, semi-close vowels, semi-open vowels, and open vowels. A third criterion that is often used in the classification of vowels is the shape of the lips. In English, all the front vowels and the central vowels are unfounded vowels, i. e., without rounding the lips, and all the back vowels, with the exception of [a:], are rounded. It should be noted that some front vowels can be pronounced with rounded lips.
4. Give the phonetic symbol for each of the following sound description:
1) voiced palatal fricative 2) voiceless labiodental fricative 3) voiced alveolar stop 4) front, close, short 5) back, semi-open, long 6) voiceless, bilabial stop
1) [?] 2) f] 3) [d] 4) [i] 5) [?:] 6) [p]
5. Give the phonetic features of each of the following sounds: 1) [d] 2) [l] 3) [t?] 4) [w] 5) [u] 6) [?]
(1) voiced alveolar stop (2) voiced alveolar liquid
(3) voiceless palatal affricate (4) voiced bilabial glide
(5) back, close, short ,rounded (6) front, open,short, unrounded
第二章 音位学练习题
III. Fill in the Blanks or Multiple Choice:
1. From the ______ point of view, the clear [l] and the dark[?] are fundamentally the same, since they have one and the same function in communication. phonological 2.Delete a [g] when it occurs before a final _________. .nasal consonant 3. When pitch, stress and sound lenghth are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as__. intonation
4. Clear [l] and dark [?] are allophones of the same one phoneme /l/. They never take the same position in sound combinations, thus they are said to be in ______ distribution. complementary
5. Phonological rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language are called ____ rules. sequential
II. Explain the following terms:
1. phonemic contrast：A phonemic contrast refers to the pair of phonetically similar sounds which are two different phonemes.
2. minimal pair：A minimal pair refers to a pair of sound combinations which are identical in every way except one sound.
3. sequential rules：.Sequential rules refer to the rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language. 4. phone：A phone is a phonetic unit or segment.Phones are the speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication
5.suprasegmental features：Suprasegmental features refer to the phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments. III. Do the followings:
1. How do phonetics and phonology differ in their focus of study?
While both are related to the study of sounds,, they differ in their approach and focus. Phonetics is of a general nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages: how they are produced, how they differ from each other, what phonetic features they possess, how they can be classified, etc. Phonology, on the other hand, aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.
2. How is phone different from a phoneme? How are allophones related to a phoneme?
A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. A phoneme is not any particular