英语语言学练习题Supplementary exercisesChapter 1 IntroductionⅠ. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.2. Linguistics studies particular language, not languages in general.3. A scientific study of language is based on what the linguist thinks.4. In the study of linguistics, hypotheses formed should be based on language facts and checked against the observed facts.5. General linguistics is generally the study of language as a whole.6. General linguistics, which relates itself to the research of other areas, studies the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods applicable in any linguistic study.7. Phonetics is different from phonology in that the latter studies the combinations of the sounds to convey meaning in communication.8. Morphology studies how words can be formed to produce meaningful sentences.9. The study of the ways in which morphemes can be combined to form words is called morphology.10. Syntax is different from morphology in that the former not only studies the morphemes, but also the combination of morphemes into words and words into sentences.11. The study of meaning in language is known as semantics.12. Both semantics and pragmatics study meanings.13. Pragmatics is different from semantics in that pragmatics studies meaning not in isolation, but in context.14. Social changes can often bring about language changes.15. Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society.16. Modern linguistics is mostly prescriptive, but sometimes descriptive.17. Modern linguistics is different from traditional grammar.18. A diachronic study of language is the description of language at some point in time.19. Modern linguistics regards the written language as primary, not the written language.20. The distinction between competence and performance was proposed by F. de Saussure.Ⅱ. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:21. Chomsky defines “competence” as the ideal user’s k__________ of the rules of his language.22. Langue refers to the a__________ linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community while the parole is the concrete use of the conventions and application of the rules.23. 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.24. Language is a system of a_________ vocal symbols used for human communication.25. The discipline that studies the rules governing the formation of words into permissible sentences in languages is called s________.26. Human capacity for language has a g_______ basis, but the details of language have to be taught and learned.27. P _______ refers to the realization of langue in actual use.28. 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.29. Language 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.30. Linguistics is generally defined as the s _______ study of language.Ⅲ. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:31. If a linguistic study describes and analyzes the language people actually use, it is said to be _______.A. prescriptiveB. analyticC. descriptiveD. linguistic32. Which of the following is not a design feature of human language?A. ArbitrarinessB. DisplacementC. DualityD. Meaningfulness33. Modern linguistics regards the written language as _______.A. primaryB. correctC. secondaryD. stable34. In modern linguistics, speech is regarded as more basic than writing, because _______.A. in linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writingB. speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyedC. speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongueD. All of the above35. A historical study of language is a _______ study of language.A. synchronicB. diachronicC. prescriptiveD. comparative36. Saussure took a(n) _______ view of language, while Chomsky looks at language from a ________ point of view.A. sociological…psychologicalB. psychological…sociologicalC. applied…pragmaticD.semantic…linguistic37. According to F. de Saussure, _______ refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the mem- bers of a speech community.A. paroleB. performanceC. langueD. Language38. Language is said to be arbitrary because there is no logical connection between _______ and meanings.A. senseB. soundsC. objectsD. ideas39. Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. This feature is called _______,A. displacementB. dualityC. flexibilityD. cultural transmission40. The details of any language system is passed on from one generation to the next through _______, rather than by instinct.A. learningB. teachingC. booksD. both A and BⅣ. Define the following terms:41. Linguistics42. Phonology43. Syntax44. Pragmatics45. Psycholinguistics46. Language47. Phonetics48. Morphology49. Semantics50. Sociolinguistics51. Applied Linguistics52. Arbitrariness53. Productivity54. Displacement55. Duality56. Design Features57. Competence58. Performance59. Langue60. ParoleⅤ. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:61. Language is generally defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human commu- nication. Explain it in detail.62. What are the design features of human language? Illustrate them with examples.63. How is modern linguistics different from traditional grammar?64. How do you understand the distinction between a synchronic study and a diachronic study?65. Why does modern linguistics regard the spoken form of language as primary, not the written?66. What are the major distinctions between langue and parole?67. How do you understand competence and performance?68. Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole seems similar to Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance. What do you think are their major differences?69. Do you think human language is entirely arbitrary? Why?Chapter 2 PhonologyⅠ. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Voicing is a phonological feature that distinguishes meaning in both Chinese and English.2. If two phonetically similar sounds occur in the same environments and they distinguish meaning, they are said to be in complementary distribution.3. A phone is a phonetic unit that distinguishes meaning.4. English is a tone language while Chinese is not.5. In linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing.6. In everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed.7. Articulatory phonetics tries to describe the physical properties of the stream of sounds which a speaker issues with the help of a machine called spectrograph.8. The articulatory apparatus of a human being are contained in three important areas: the throat, the mouth and the chest.9. Vibration of the vocal cords results in a quality of speech sounds called voicing.10. English consonants can be classified in terms of place of articulation and the part of the tongue that is raised the highest.11. According to the manner of articulation, some of the types into which the consonants can be classified are stops, fricatives, bilabial and alveolar.12. Vowel sounds can be differentiated by a number of factors: the position of tongue in the mouth, the openness of the mouth, the shape of the lips, and the length of the vowels.13. According to the shape of the lips, vowels can be classified into close vowels, semi-close vowels, semi-open vowels and open vowels.14. Any sound produced by a human being is a phoneme.15. Phones are the sounds that can distinguish meaning.16. Phonology is concerned with how the sounds can be classified into different categories.17. A basic way to determine the phonemes of a language is to see if substituting one sound for another results in a change of meaning.18. When two different forms are identical in every way except for one sound segment which occurs in the same place in the strings, the two words are said to form a phonemic contrast.19. The rules governing the phonological patterning are language specific.20. Distinctive features of sound segments can be found running over a sequence of two or more phonemic segments.Ⅱ. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:21. A_______ refers to a strong puff of air stream in the production of speech sounds.22. A_______ phonetics describes the way our speech organs work to produce the speech sounds and how they differ.23. The four sounds /p/, /b/, /m/ and /w/ have one feature in common, i.e., they are all b_______ sounds.24. Of all the speech organs, the t_______ is the most flexible, and is responsible for varieties of articulation than any other.25. English consonants can be classified in terms of manner of articulation or in terms of p_______ of articulation.26. When the obstruction created by the speech organs is total or complete, the speech sound produced with the obstruction audibly released and the air passing out again is called a s________.27. S_________ features are the phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments. They include stress, tone, intonation, etc.28. The rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language are called s_______ rules.29. The transcription of speech sounds with letter-symbols only is called broad transcription while the transcription with letter-symbols together with the diacritics is called n_________ transcription.30. When pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as i_________.31. P___________ is a discipline which studies the system of sounds of a particular language and how sounds are combined into meaningful units to effect linguistic communication.32. The articulatory apparatus of a human being are contained in three important cavities: the pharyngeal cavity, the o_______ cavity and the nasal cavity.33. T_______ are pitch variations, which are caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords and which can distinguish meaning just like phonemes.34. Depending on the context in which stress is considered, there are two kinds of stress: word stress and s_________ stress.Ⅲ. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:35 Of all the speech organs, the _______ is/are the most flexible.A. mouthB. lipsC. tongueD. vocal cords36. The sounds produced without the vocal cords vibrating are ____ sounds.A. voicelessB. voicedC. vowelD. consonantal37. __________ is a voiced alveolar stop.A. /z/B. /d/C. /k/D. /b/38. The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to another by “copying”a feature of a sequ ential phoneme, thus making the two phones ____________.A. identicalB. sameC. exactly alikeD. similar39. Since /p/ and /b/ are phonetically similar, occur in the same environments and they can distinguish meaning, they are said to be ___________.A. in phonemic contrastB. in complementary distributionC. the allophonesD. minimal pair40. The sound /f/ is _________________.A. voiced palatal affricateB. voiced alveolar stopC. voiceless velar fricativeD. voiceless labiodental fricative41. A ____ vowel is one that is produced with the front part of the tongue maintaining the highest position.A. backB. centralC. frontD. middle42. Distinctive features can be found running over a sequence of two or more phonemic segments. The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are called _______.A. phonetic componentsB. immediate constituentsC. suprasegmental featuresD. semantic features43. A(n) ___________ is a unit that is of distinctive value. It is an abstract unit, a collection of distinctive phonetic features.A. phoneB. soundC. allophoneD. phoneme44.The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the ____ of that phoneme.A. phonesB. soundsC. phonemesD. allophonesⅣ. Define the terms below:45. phonology46. phoneme47. allophone48. international phonetic alphabet 49. intonation 50. phonetics51. auditory phonetics52. acoustic phonetics53. phone54. phonemic contrast55. tone56. minimal pairⅤ. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:57. Of the two media of language, why do you think speech is more basic than writing?58. What are the criteria that a linguist uses in classifying vowels?59. What are the major differences between phonology and phonetics?60. Illustrate with examples how suprasegmental features can affect meaning.61. In what way can we determine whether a phone is a phoneme or not?Chapter 3 MorphologyⅠ. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Morphology studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.2. Words are the smallest meaningful units of language.3. Just as a phoneme is the basic unit in the study of phonology, so is a morpheme the basic unit in the study of morphology.4. The smallest meaningful units that can be used freely all by themselves are free morphemes.5. Bound morphemes include two types: roots and affixes.6. Inflectional morphemes manifest various grammatical relations or grammatical categories such as number, tense, degree, and case.7. The existing form to which a derivational affix can be added is called a stem, which can be a bound root,a free morpheme, or a derived form itself.8. Prefixes usually modify the part of speech of the original word, not the meaning of it.9. There are rules that govern which affix can be added to what type of stem to form a new word. Therefore, words formed according to the morphological rules are acceptable words.10. Phonetically, the stress of a compound always falls on the first element, while the second element receives secondary stress.Ⅱ. Fill in each blank below with one word which begins with the letter given:11. M _______ is the smallest meaningful unit of language.12. The affix “-ish” in the word boyish conveys a g_______ meaning.13. B___________ morphemes are those that cannot be used independently but have to be combined with other morphemes, either free or bound, to form a word.14. Affixes are of two types: inflectional affixes and d__________ affixes.15. D________ affixes are added to an existing form to create words.16. A s______ is added to the end of stems to modify the meaning of the original word and it may case change its part of speech.17. C__________ is the combination of two or sometimes more than two words to create new words.18. The rules that govern which affix can be added to what type of stem to form a new word are called m___________ rules.19. In terms of morphemic analysis, d_______________ can be viewed as the addition of affixes to stems to form new words.20. A s______ can be a bound root, a free morpheme, or a derived form itself to which a derivational affix can be added.Ⅲ. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:21. The morpheme “vision” in the common word “television” is a(n) ______.A. bound morphemeB. bound formC. inflectional morphemeD. free morpheme22. The compound word “bookstore” is the place where books are sold. This indicates that the meaning ofa compound __________.A. is the sum total of the meaning of its componentsB. can always be worked out by looking at the meanings of morphemesC. is the same as the meaning of a free phrase.D. None of the above.23. The part of speech of the compounds is generally determined by the part of speech of __________.A. the first elementB. the second elementC. either the first or the second elementD. both the first and the second elements24. _______ are those that cannot be used independently but have to be combined with other morphemes, either free or bound, to form a word.A. Free morphemesB. Bound morphemesC. Bound wordsD. Words25. _________ is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.A. SyntaxB. GrammarC. MorphologyD. Morpheme26. The meaning carried by the inflectional morpheme is _______.A. lexicalB. morphemicC. grammaticalD. semantic27. Bound morphemes are those that ___________.A. have to be used independentlyB. can not be combined with other morphemesC. can either be free or boundD. have to be combined with other morphemes28. _______ modify the meaning of the stem, but usually do not change the part of speech of the original word.A. PrefixesB. SuffixesC. RootsD. Affixes29. _________ are often thought to be the smallest meaningful units of language by the linguists.A. WordsB. MorphemesC. PhonemesD. Sentences30. “-s” in the word “books” is _______.A. a derivative affixB. a stemC. an inflectional affixD. a rootⅣ. Define the following terms:31. morphology32. inflectional morphology33. derivational morphology34. morpheme35. free morpheme36. bound morpheme37. root38. affix39. prefix40. suffix41. derivation42. CompoundingⅤ. Answer the following questions:43. What are the main features of the English compounds?44. Discuss the types of morphemes with examples.Chapter 4 SyntaxⅠ. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Syntax is a subfied of linguistics that studies the sentence structure of language, including the combination of morphemes into words.2. Grammatical sentences are formed following a set of syntactic rules.3. Sentences are composed of sequence of words arranged in a simple linear order, with one adding onto another following a simple arithmetic logic.4. Universally found in the grammars of all human languages, syntactic rules that comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledge of a language speaker are known as linguistic competence.5. The syntactic rules of any language are finite in number, but there is no limit to the number of sentences native speakers of that language are able to produce and comprehend.6. In a complex sentence, the two clauses hold unequal status, one subordinating the other.7. Constituents that can be substituted for one another without loss of grammaticality belong to the same syntactic category.8. Minor lexical categories are open because these categories are not fixed and new members are allowed for.9. In English syntactic analysis, four phrasal categories are commonly recognized and discussed, namely, noun phrase, verb phrase, infinitive phrase, and auxiliary phrase.10. In English the subject usually precedes the verb and the direct object usually follows the verb.11. What is actually internalized in the mind of a native speaker is a complete list of words and phrases rather than grammatical knowledge.12. A noun phrase must contain a noun, but other elements are optional.13. It is believed that phrase structure rules, with the insertion of the lexicon, generate sentences at the level of D-structure.14. WH-movement is obligatory in English which changes a sentence from affirmative to interrogative. Ⅱ. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:15. A s________ sentence consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence.16. A s______ is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to form a complete statement, question or command.17. A s______ may be a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence that usually precedes the predicate.18. The part of a sentence which comprises a finite verb or a verb phrase and which says something about the subject is grammatically called p_________.19. A c_________ sentence contains two, or more, clauses, one of which is incorporated into the other.20. In the complex sentence, the incorporated or subordinate clause is normally called an e_______ clause.21. Major lexical categories are o_______ categories in the sense that new words are constantly added.22. A _____ Condition on case assignment states that a case assignor and a case recipient should stay adjacent to each other.23. P_______ are syntactic options of UG that allow general principles to operate in one way or another and contribute to significant linguistic variations between and among natural languages.24. The theory of C_______ condition explains the fact that noun phrases appear only in subject and object positions.Ⅲ. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:25. A sentence is considered ____ when it does not conform to the grammatical knowledge in the mind of native speakers.A. rightB. wrongC. grammaticalD. ungrammatical26. A __________ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory word that introduces the embedded clause.A. coordinatorB. particleC. prepositionD. subordinator27. Phrase structure rules have ____ properties.A. recursiveB. grammaticalC. socialD. functional28. Phrase structure rules allow us to better understand _____________.A. how words and phrases form sentences.B. what constitutes the grammaticality of strings of wordsC. how people produce and recognize possible sentencesD. All of the above.29. Syntactic movement is dictated by rules traditionally called ________.A. transformational rulesB. generative rulesC. phrase structure rulesD. x-bar theory30. The theory of case condition accounts for the fact that __________.A. noun phrases appear only in subject and object positions.B. noun phrases can be used to modify another noun phraseC. noun phrase can be used in adverbial positionsD. noun phrase can be moved to any place if necessary.31. The sentence structure is ________.A. only linearB. Only hierarchicalC. complexD. both linear and hierarchical32. The syntactic rules of any language are ____ in number.A. largeB. smallC. finiteD. infinite33. The ________ rules are the rules that group words and phrases to form grammatical sentences.A. lexicalB. morphologicalC. linguisticD. combinational34._______ rules may change the syntactic representation of a sentence.A. GenerativeB. TransformationalC. X-barD. Phrase structureⅣ. Define the following terms:35. syntax36. Sentence37. coordinate sentence38. syntactic categories39. grammatical relations40. linguistic competence41. transformational rules42. D-structureⅤ. Answer the following questions:43. What are the basic components of a sentence?44. What are the major types of sentences? Illustrate them with examples.45. Are the elements in a sentence linearly structured? Why?46. What are the advantages of using tree diagrams in the analysis of sentence structures?47. What is NP movement. Illustrate it with examples.Chapter 5 SemanticsⅠ. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Dialectal synonyms can often be found in different regional dialects such as British English and American English but cannot be found within the variety itself, for example, within British English or American English.2. Sense is concerned with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience, while the reference deals with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.3. Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations.4. In semantics, meaning of language is considered as the intrinsic and inherent relation to the physical world of experience.5. Contextualism is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from or reduce meaning to observable contexts.6. Behaviourists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.7. The meaning of a sentence is the sum total of the meanings of all its components.8. Most languages have sets of lexical items similar in meaning but ranked differently according to their degree of formality.9. “It is hot.” is a no-place predication because it contains no argument.10. In grammatical analysis, the sentence is taken to be the basic unit, but in semantic analysis of a sentence, the basic unit is predication, which is the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence.Ⅱ. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:11. S________ can be defined as the study of meaning.12. The conceptualist view holds that there is no d_______ link between a linguistic form and what it refers to.13. R______ means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience.14. Words that are close in meaning are called s________.15. When two words are identical in sound, but different in spelling and meaning, they are calledh__________.16. R_________ opposites are pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between the two items.17. C ____ analysis is based upon the belief that the meaning of a word can be divided into meaning components.18. Whether a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called s________ restrictions, which are constraints on what lexical items can go with what others.19. An a______ is a logical participant in a predication, largely identical with the nominal element(s) in a sentence.20. According to the n______ theory of meaning, the words in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they stand for.Ⅲ. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:21. The naming theory is advanced by ________.A. PlatoB. BloomfieldC. Geoffrey LeechD. Firth22. “We shall know a word by the company it keeps.” This statement represents _______.A. the conceptualist viewB. contexutalismC. the naming theoryD. behaviourism23. Which of the following is not true?A. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.B. Sense is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form.C. Sense is abstract and decontextualized.D. Sense is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are not interested in.24. “Can I borrow your bike?”_______ “You have a bike.”。