语言学专八考研真题及答案

专 八 语 言 集 锦

1

（05年——14年专八真题及解析归纳）

目录

1、2005年·····················································1 2、2006年·····················································2 3、2007年·····················································4 4、2008年·····················································6 5、2009年·····················································8 6、2010年·····················································10 7、2011年·····················································11 8、2012年·····················································12 9、2013年·····················································13 10、2014年····················································14

11、附加语言学考研题············································15

2

3

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

2005年

38.（考查点：main branches of linguistics) Syntax is the study of A. language functions B. sentence structures C. textual organization D.word formation 答案：B。

解析：Syntax is about principles of forming and understanding correct English sentences,是关于形成和理解正确英语句子的原则。也就是句子结构。故选择B。

39.（考察点：design features of language) Which of ale following is NOT a distinctive feature of human language?

A. Arbitrariness B. Productivity C. Cultural transmission D. Finiteness 答案：D。

解析：题问下面四个选项中，哪一个不是人类语言的主要特征？除Finiteness(有限性)外，选项中的其它的三项Arbitrariness（任意性）， Productivity（能产性）和Cultural transmission（文化传递性）在语言学概述部分都提到了。故选择D。

40. （考察点：人物）The speech act theory was first put forward by A. John Searle B. John Austin C. Noam Chomsky D. M.A,K. Halliday 答案：B。

解析：问言语行为是哪位语言学家首先提出来的？根据语言学著 作

1

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

的介绍，John Austin于l969年首先提出了“言语行为”理论，其他人如John Searle (1969年提出)等，不管是提出或是进一步阐述该理论，都是在John Austin之后，对比不应有什么怀疑。故选择B。

2006年

38.（考察点：main branches of linguistics) What essentially distinguish- es semantics and pragmatics is the notion of

A. Reference B. Meaning C. Antonymy D. Context 答案：D。

解析：A. Reference即所指，指一种语言形式在现实世界中指代的事物，主要研究语言元素和非语言经验世界之间的关系;C. Antonymy即反义词。再观题意Semantics examines how meaning is encoded in a language,而pragmatics is the study of meaning in context。在没语境的情况下研究语言的意义是语义学的主要任务。在有语境的情况下研究语言的意思是语用学的主要课题。故选择D。

39. （考察点：meaning）The words “kid, child, offspring” are examples of

A. dialectal synonyms B. stylistic synonyms C. emotive synonym D. collocational synonyms 答案：B。

解析：A. dialectal synonyms指地域同义词：意义相同，但用在不同的方言中。E.g. (BE) autumn VS (AE) fall；B. stylistic synonyms指风

2

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

格同义词：意义相同，但风格不同，有的正式，有的随意，有的中性。（e.g. 口头语、常用语和书面语）；C. emotive synonym指感情色彩不同的同义词，词义相近但又有不同的感情色彩，如褒义、贬义或中性； D. collocational synonyms搭配同义词，由于词语的搭配而形成的同义词。E.g. “be charge with” 和“ be accused of”。题目中Kid指小孩，child指孩子，offspring指子孙，其实都是同样的，只是正式程度不同。故选择B。

40. （考察点：人物）The distinction between parole and langue was made by

A. Halliday B. Chomsky C. Bloomfield D. Saussure 答案：D。

解析：A. Holliday韩礼德是系统功能语法的代表人物；

B. Chomsky乔姆斯基区分的是competence 和 performance语言能力指理想语言 使用者关于语言规则的知识储备；语言运用指真实的语言使用者在实际场景中的语言使用；

C. Bloomfield 布龙菲尔德是结构主义的代表人物，认为语言学是心理学的分支，重视行为主义；

D. Saussure索绪尔把“语言”和“言语”区分开来语言指语言系统的整体，这个整体相对是比较稳定的；言语则指代某个个体在实际语言使用环节中说出的具体话语。

再观题意parole and langue指言语和语言，其区分者是

3

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

Saussure。故选择D。

2007年

38. （考察点：main branches of linguistics)_______ refers to the study of the internal structure of words and the rules of word formation. A. Phonology B. Morphology C. Semantics D. Sociolinguistics 答案：B。

解析：A. Phonology（音系学）studies the rules governing the structure,distribution,and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables,研究语音和音节的构成、分布和排列规则；

B. Morphology（形态学）is concerned with the internal organization of words,涉及词的内在结构；

C. Semantics（语义学）is about principles of forming and understanding correct English sentences,研究语言中语义是如何编码的；

D. Sociolinguistics（社会语言学）is the study of the characteristics of language varieties,the characteristics of their functions,and the characteristics of their speakers, 研究各种语言变体的特征、它们的功能特征和语言使用者特征。

那么研究词的内部结构和构词规则的是形态学。故选择B。 39. (考察点：main branches of linguistics and macro linguistics) The distinctive features of a speech variety may be all the following EXCEPT

4

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

A. Lexical B. Syntactic C. Phonological D. Psycholinguistic 答案：D。

解析：speech variety语言变体（e.g英式和美式英语）

A. Lexical（词汇的;字汇的）means relating to the words of a language；

B. Syntactic（句法的）is the study of the rules governing the ways different constituents are combined to form sentences in a language , or the study of the interrelationships between elements in sentence structure；

C. Phonological（音韵学的）studies the rules governing the structure,distribution,and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables；

D. Psycholinguistic（心理语言学）investigates the interrelation of language and mind,研究语言和大脑的相互关系。

Lexical,syntactic和phonological都是语言学的主要分支，而Psycholinguistic属宏观语言学。故选择D。

40. (考察点：meaning） The word tail once referred to “the tail of a horse”, but now it is used to mean “the tail of any animal.” This is an example of

A. widening of meaning B. narrowing of meaning C. meaning shift D. loss of meaning

5

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

答案：A。

解析：widening of meaning词义扩大，引伸。以lady一词为例，它以前仅仅指\女主人\。后来指贵族太太，再后来指有教养的妇女，现在，lady可以用于指任何\女人\，是一种礼貌的用法。

2008年

38.（考察点：design feature of language）Which of the following is NOT a design feature of human language?

A. Arbitrariness. B. Displacement. C. Duality. D. Diachronism. 答案：D。

解析：Arbitrariness（任意性），displacement（移位性），duality（二层性），diachronism（历时性）。Design feature of human language包括arbitrariness（任意性），displacement（移位性），duality（二层性）和creativity（创造性），而diachronism（历时性）不是语言学的特征，故选择D。

39.（考察点：sentence structure）What type of sentence is “Mark likes fiction,but Tim is interested in poetry.”?

A. A simple sentence. B. A coordinate sentence.

C. A complex sentence. D. None of the above. 答案：B。

解析：并列句but连接两个分句。A simple sentence(简单句），句子只

6

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

包含一个主谓结构；a coordinate sentence（并列句），句子包含两个或多个主谓结构，通常有并列连词连结，如and，but等；a complex sentence（复合句），句子包含有两个或更多的主谓结构，但是其中一个或多个主谓结构充当句子的成分，就是复合句。所有从句都是复合句。故选择B。

40.（考察点：meaning&sense relation ）The phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form is called

A. Hyponymy B. Synonymy C. Polysemy D. homonymy. 答案：D。

解析：A. Hyponymy（上下义关系）：a hyponymy is a word or phrase whose semantic range is included within that of another word，下义词是事物的具体表现形式或更为具体的说明，如A family usually includes father, mother and child；

B. Synonymy（同义关系）：refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning，如Sobs shook her slender frame.她抽泣著，苗条的身体都在颤动。A slender smile still flickered across her face.她脸上闪过一丝微笑。

C. Polysemy（多义关系）：.a term used to refer to a lexical item which has a range of different meanings如：Give me a hand, please.He is a new hand;

D. Homonymy(异义关系):words identical both in sound and

7

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

spelling，如On Sunday they pray for you and on Monday they prey on you。

那么“that words having different meanings have the same form

is called”所指对应homographs（同形异义词），属于homonymy。故选择D。

2009年

38. （考察点：linguistic）The study of the mental processes of language comprehension and production is__________ A. corpus linguistics. B. sociolinguistics. C. theoretical linguistics. D. Psycholinguistics. 答案：D

解析：D、Psycholinguistics（心理语言学）is the study of the relationship between language and thee mind.(心理语言学是研究语言与思维之间关系的学科）

A、Corpus linguistic(语料库语言学）is an approach to investigating language and use through the analysis of large databases to real language examples stored on computer.(语料库语言学是通过分析储存在电脑里的语言数据库里的大量的真实言语资料来研究语言结构和使用的资料）

8

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

B、Sociolinguistic(社会语言学）the study of effect of any and all aspects of society,including cultural norms,expectations,context and the way language is used.(社会语言学是对语言学是对任何一种或全部社会因素的研究，包括文化标准，期望值，语境及语言使用方式等） 39. （考察点：语言变体）A special language variety that mixes languages and is used by speakers of different languages for purposes of trading is called__________

A. dialect. B. idiolect. C. pidgin. D. Register. 答案：C

解析：Pidgin is a special language variety that mixes or blends languages and it is used by people who speak different languages for restricted purposes such as trading.(洋泾浜是将几种语言混合或者融合在意的一种特殊语言变体，它是由操不同语言的人为了有限的目的，如贸易而使用的语言。）

Idiolect is a personal dialect of an individual speaker that combines elements regarding regional,social,gender,and age variation.(个人语言是个人方言，它结合了有关地域、社会、性别、年龄的变体成分） Register refers to the type or style,of language selected as appropriate to type of situation.(语域是因具体用途不同产生的语言变体）。

Dialect is a variety of language,spoken in one part of a country or by people belonging to a particular social class.（方言的某个地区使用或特定社会阶级的人使用的一种语言变体）

9

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

40. （考察点：语用学）When a speaker expresses his intention of speaking, such as asking someone to open the window, he is performing__________

A. an illocutionary act. B. a perlocutionary act. C. a locutionary act. D. none of the above. 答案：A

解析：Illocutionary act:the act of expressing the speaker’s intention.It is the act preformed in saying something.(言外行为是通过发出这样一个话语，说话者表达他说话的意图）

Perlocutionary act:the act performed by or resulting from saying something.

It is the consequence of,or the change brought about by the utterance.(言后行为是指话语带来的后果）

Locutionary act:the act of uttering words,phrases,clauses.It is the act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax,lexicon and phonology.(言内行为就是发出词的动作。它通过句法、词汇和音位学的方式来传达字面意义的行为。）

2010年

38. （考察点：语言习得）________ refers to the learning and development of a language.

10

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

A. Language acquisition B. Language comprehension C. Language production D. Language instruction 答案：A

解析：本题为语言学常识题。背景知识：语言习得最基本的定义，其余选项一看就不符合提干内容。

39. （考察点：语言学分支形态学） The word “ Motel” comes from “motor + hotel”. This is an example of ________ in morphology. A. Backformation B. conversion C. Blending D. Acronym 答案：C

解析：本题为语言学分支形态学最基本常识，也是比较活跃的一种构词方式。背景知识：A逆生法；B转类法；C拼缀法；D首字母构词。 40. Language is t tool of communication. The symbol “ Highway Closed” on a highway serves________

A. an expressive function. B. an informative function. C. a performative function D. a persuasive function. 答案：D 语言学基本常识。Expressive function意为表达功能。 Information function意为信息功能。C为施为功能。D为劝导功能

2011年

38.（考察点：语言与思维）_________ is defined as the study of the

11

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

relationship between language and mind. A. Semantics B. pragmatics

C. cognitive linguistics D. sociolinguistics 答案：C

解析：探讨语言和思维的学科：Cognitive Linguistics：refers to the branch of linguistics that interprets language in terms of the concepts, sometimes universal, sometimes specific to a particular tongue, which underlie its forms. It is thus closely associated with semantics but is distinct from psycholinguistics, which draws upon empirical findings from cognitive psychology in order to explain the mental processes that underlie the acquisition, storage, production and understanding of speech and writing.

39.（考察点：元音与辅音）A vowel is different from a consonant in English because of ________.

A. absence of obstruction B. presence of obstruction C. manner of articulation D. place of articulation 答案： A

解析：元音和辅音的区别：Obstruction of the air stream;

40. （考察点:多语言学）：The definition “the act of using, or promoting the use of, several languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers” refer to__________.

A. Pidgin B. Creole C. Multilingualism D. Bilingualism

12

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

答案：C 解析：推动多种语言使用：Multilingualism

2012年

37. \y\

A. Exaggeration. B. understatement. C. Personification. D. synecdoche. 答案：C

[分析]“生菜没有了番茄和黄瓜的陪伴就会十分孤单”这句话是什么的例子？A是夸张 B是低调陈述 C是拟人 D是提喻。根据题意知道选C

38. In English if a word begin with a [l] or a [r], then next sound must be a vowel. This is an ______ 答案：B

[分析]在英语中如果一个单词以【l】或者【r】开头发音，那么下一个声音一定是元音。这是什么规则？A是同化规则 B是序列规则 C是省略规则 D是语法规则。选B

39. Which of the following is an example of clipping? A.APEC. B.Motel. C.Xerox. D.Disco. 答案：D

[分析]下面那个词是用截略法来构词的？clipping（截略）是一种构词方法，即对长词加以略写，从而构成新词，但同义保持不变。截略同常用于非正式语体，口语中尤为常见。其中D选项的disco就是

13

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

discotheque截略而来。故选D

40. The type of language which is selected as appropriate to a particular type of situation is called ________

A. register. B. dialect. C. slang. D. Variety 答案：A

[分析]A指语域 B指方言 C指俚语行话 D指语言变体根据意义知道选A 。语域是指依据用法而变的变量

2013年

37.Which of the following clusters of words is an example of alliteration? A. weak seat． B．Safe and sound． C．Knock and kick． D．Coat and boat． 答案：B

[分析] 下面哪一个是头韵法？只有B选项的save 和sound 的开头发音是一样的

38.Which of the following italicized parts is an inflectional morpheme? A、Unlock． B．Government． C．Goes． D．Off-stage． 答案：C

[分析]英语中的曲折语素有：名词所有格 名词复数 动词现在分词 动词过去式 动词过去分词 第三人称单数 比较级 最高级 这8种。所以选C

14

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

39._____ is a language phenomenon in which words sound like what they refer to.

A．Onomatopoeia B．Collocation C．Denotation D．Assimilation

答案：A

[分析]问题是听到其音就知道其意思的是什么？ A为拟声 B为搭配 C为符号 D为同化 因此选A

40.The sentence \(n) ____ function．

A．interrogative B．informative C．performative D．Directive

答案：D

[分析]题问“关上书认真听我讲”起到了什么作用其中A表示疑问功能 B表示信息功能 C表示述行功能 D表示命令功能 根据句子意思知道选D

2014年

38、Which of the following pairs of words are homophones? A、wind(v.) wind(n.) B、suspect(v.) suspect(n.) C、bare(adj.) bear(v.) D、Convict(v.) convict(n.)

答案：C

[分析]下面哪组是同音异形词,C 组发音相同但是单词不同 选C

15

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

39、Which of the following sentences has the “S+V+O” structure? A、He did a hero. B、I went to London. C、She became angry. D、Mary enjoyed parties.

答案：D

[分析]下面那个句子是主谓宾结构的句子。A是主语+宾语+宾补 B是主语+谓语+补语 C是主语+表语 D是 主语+谓语+宾语 选D 40、Which of the following CAN NOT be used as an adverbial. A.Heart and soul. B.The lion’s share. C.Null and void. D.Hammer and tongs.

答案：B

[分析]下面哪个不能做状语？A翻译为全心全意地为副词短语可以做状语。B翻译为最大份额为名词短语不能做状语 C翻译为无效的为形容词短语可以做状语D翻译为全力以赴地为副词短语可以做状语。故选择B

16

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

二部分 重点章节测试题

Test One: Invitations to Linguistics

I. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Choose the best answer. (20%)

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human __________. A. contact B. communication C. relation D. community Which of the following words is entirely arbitrary? A. tree B. typewriter C. crash D. bang The function of the sentence “Water boils at 100 degrees Centigrade.” is __________. A. interrogative B. directive C. informative D. performative In Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate the host or the people present are likely to say“碎碎（岁岁）平安”as a means of controlling the forces which they believes feel might affect their lives. Which functions does it perform? A. Interpersonal B. Emotive C. Performative D. Recreational Which of the following property of language enables language users to overcome the barriers caused by time and place, due to this feature of language, speakers of a language are free to talk about anything in any situation? A. Transferability B. Duality C. Displacement D. Arbitrariness Study the following dialogue. What function does it play according to the functions of language?

— A nice day, isn’t it?

— Right! I really enjoy the sunlight. A. Emotive B. Phatic C. Performative D. Interpersonal __________ refers to the actual realization of the ideal language user’s knowledge of the rules of his language in utterances. A. Performance B. Competence C. Langue D. Parole

When a dog is barking, you assume it is barking for something or at someone that exists hear and now. It couldn’t be sorrowful for some lost love or lost bone. This indicates the design feature of __________.

A. cultural transmission B. productivity C. displacement D. duality __________ answers such questions as how we as infants acquire our first language. A. Psycholinguistics B. Anthropological linguistics C. Sociolinguistics D. Applied linguistics

__________ deals with language application to other fields, particularly education. A. Linguistic theory B. Practical linguistics C. Applied linguistics D. Comparative linguistics

5.

6. 7. 8.

9. 10.

17

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

11. Language is a means of verbal communication. Therefore, the communication way used by

the deaf-mute is not language.

12. Language change is universal, ongoing and arbitrary.

13. Speaking is the quickest and most efficient way of the human communication systems. 14. Language is written because writing is the primary medium for all languages.

15. We were all born with the ability to acquire language, which means the details of any

language system can be genetically transmitted. 16. Only human beings are able to communicate.

17. F. de Saussure, who made the distinction between langue and parole in the early 20th century,

was a French linguist.

18. A study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare’s time is an example of the

diachronic study of language.

19. Speech and writing came into being at much the same time in human history. 20. All the languages in the world today have both spoken and written forms.

III. Fill in the blanks. (10%)

21. Language, broadly speaking, is a means of __________ communication.

22. In any language words can be used in new ways to mean new things and can be combined

into innumerable sentences based on limited rules. This feature is usually termed __________.

23. Language has many functions. We can use language to talk about itself. This function is

__________.

24. Theory that primitive man made involuntary vocal noises while performing heavy work has

been called the __________ theory.

25. Linguistics is the __________ study of language.

26. Modern linguistics is __________ in the sense that the linguist tries to discover what

language is rather than lay down some rules for people to observe.

27. One general principle of linguistic analysis is the primacy of __________ over writing. 28. The description of a language as it changes through time is a __________ study.

29. Saussure put forward two important concepts. __________ refers to the abstract linguistic

system shared by all members of a speech community.

30. Linguistic potential is similar to Saussure’s langue and Chomsky’s __________.

IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)

31. Design feature 32. Displacement 33. Competence

34. Synchronic linguistics

V. Answer the following questions. (20%)

18

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

35. Why do people take duality as one of the important design features of human language? Can

you tell us what language will be if it has no such design feature? （南开大学，2004） 36. Why is it difficult to define language? （北京第二外国语大学，2004）

VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)

37. How can a linguist make his analysis scientific? （青岛海洋大学，1999）

19

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

Test Two: Phonetics and Phonology

I. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Choose the best answer. (20%)

Pitch variation is known as __________ when its patterns are imposed on sentences. A. intonation B. tone C. pronunciation D. voice Conventionally a __________ is put in slashes (/ /). A. allophone B. phone C. phoneme D. morpheme An aspirated p, an unaspirated p and an unreleased p are __________ of the p phoneme. A. analogues B. tagmemes C. morphemes D. allophones The opening between the vocal cords is sometimes referred to as __________. A. glottis B. vocal cavity C. pharynx D. uvula

The diphthongs that are made with a movement of the tongue towards the center are known as __________ diphthongs. A. wide B. closing C. narrow D. centering A phoneme is a group of similar sounds called __________. A. minimal pairs B. allomorphs C. phones D. allophones Which branch of phonetics concerns the production of speech sounds? A. Acoustic phonetics B. Articulatory phonetics C. Auditory phonetics D. None of the above Which one is different from the others according to places of articulation? A. [n] B. [m] C. [b] D. [p] Which vowel is different from the others according to the characteristics of vowels? A. [i:] B. [u] C. [e] D. [i] What kind of sounds can we make when the vocal cords are vibrating? A. Voiceless B. Voiced C. Glottal stop D. Consonant

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

11. Suprasegmental phonology refers to the study of phonological properties of units larger than

the segment-phoneme, such as syllable, word and sentence.

12. The air stream provided by the lungs has to undergo a number of modification to acquire the

quality of a speech sound.

13. Two sounds are in free variation when they occur in the same environment and do not

contrast, namely, the substitution of one for the other does not produce a different word, but merely a different pronunciation. 14. [p] is a voiced bilabial stop.

15. Acoustic phonetics is concerned with the perception of speech sounds.

16. All syllables must have a nucleus but not all syllables contain an onset and a coda. 17. When pure vowels or monophthongs are pronounced, no vowel glides take place.

20

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

18. According to the length or tenseness of the pronunciation, vowels can be divided into tense

vs. lax or long vs. short.

19. Received Pronunciation is the pronunciation accepted by most people.

20. The maximal onset principle states that when there is a choice as to where to place a

consonant, it is put into the coda rather than the onset.

III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)

21. Consonant sounds can be either __________ or __________, while all vowel sounds are

__________.

22. Consonant sounds can also be made when two organs of speech in the mouth are brought

close together so that the air is pushed out between them, causing __________. 23. The qualities of vowels depend upon the position of the __________ and the lips.

24. One element in the description of vowels is the part of the tongue which is at the highest

point in the mouth. A second element is the __________ to which that part of the tongue is raised.

25. Consonants differ from vowels in that the latter are produced without __________.

26. In phonological analysis the words fail / veil are distinguishable simply because of the two

phonemes /f/ - /v/. This is an example for illustrating __________.

27. In English there are a number of __________, which are produced by moving from one

vowel position to another through intervening positions.

28. __________ refers to the phenomenon of sounds continually show the influence of their

neighbors.

29. __________ is the smallest linguistic unit.

30. Speech takes place when the organs of speech move to produce patterns of sound. These

movements have an effect on the __________ coming from the lungs.

IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)

31. Sound assimilation 32. Suprasegmental feature 33. Complementary distribution 34. Distinctive features

V. Answer the following questions. (20%)

35. What is acoustic phonetics?（中国人民大学，2003）

36. What are the differences between voiced sounds and voiceless sounds in terms of articulation?

（南开大学，2004）

VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)

37. Write the symbol that corresponds to each of the following phonetic descriptions; then give

an English word that contains this sound. Example: voiced alveolar stop [d] dog. （青岛海洋

21

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

大学，1999）

(1) voiceless bilabial unaspirated stop (2) low front vowel (3) lateral liquid (4) velar nasal

(5) voiced interdental fricative

22

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

Test Three: Morphology

I. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Choose the best answer. (20%)

Nouns, verbs and adjectives can be classified as __________. A. lexical words B. grammatical words C. function words D. form words Morphemes that represent tense, number, gender and case are called __________ morpheme. A. inflectional B. free C. bound D. derivational There are __________ morphemes in the word denationalization. A. three B. four C. five D. six In English –ise and –tion are called __________. A. prefixes B. suffixes C. infixes D. stems The three subtypes of affixes are: prefix, suffix and __________. A. derivational affix B. inflectional affix C. infix D. back-formation __________ is a way in which new words may be formed from already existing words by subtracting an affix which is thought to be part of the old word. A. affixation B. back-formation C. insertion D. addition The word TB is formed in the way of __________. A. acronymy B. clipping C. initialism D. blending The words like comsat and sitcom are formed by __________. A. blending B. clipping C. back-formation D. acronymy The stem of disagreements is __________. A. agreement B. agree C. disagree D. disagreement All of them are meaningful except for __________. A. lexeme B. phoneme C. morpheme D. allomorph

7. 8. 9. 10.

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

11. Phonetically, the stress of a compound always falls on the first element, while the second

element receives secondary stress.

12. Fore as in foretell is both a prefix and a bound morpheme.

13. Base refers to the part of the word that remains when all inflectional affixes are removed. 14. In most cases, prefixes change the meaning of the base whereas suffixes change the

word-class of the base.

15. Conversion from noun to verb is the most productive process of a word.

16. Reduplicative compound is formed by repeating the same morpheme of a word. 17. The words whimper, whisper and whistle are formed in the way of onomatopoeia.

18. In most cases, the number of syllables of a word corresponds to the number of morphemes. 19. Back-formation is a productive way of word-formations. 20. Inflection is a particular way of word-formations.

23

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)

21. An __________ is pronounced letter by letter, while an __________ is pronounced as a

word.

22. Lexicon, in most cases, is synonymous with __________.

23. Orthographically, compounds are written in three ways: __________, __________ and

__________.

24. All words may be said to contain a root __________.

25. A small set of conjunctions, prepositions and pronouns belong to __________ class, while

the largest part of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs belongs to __________ class. 26. __________ is a reverse process of derivation, and therefore is a process of shortening.

27. __________ is extremely productive, because English had lost most of its inflectional

endings by the end of Middle English period, which facilitated the use of words interchangeably as verbs or nouns, verbs or adjectives, and vice versa.

28. Words are divided into simple, compound and derived words on the __________ level.

29. A word formed by derivation is called a __________, and a word formed by compounding is

called a __________.

30. Bound morphemes are classified into two types: __________ and __________.

IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)

31. Blending 32. Allomorph

33. Closed-class word 34. Morphological rule

V. Answer the following questions. (20%)

35. How many types of morphemes are there in the English language? What are they? （厦门大

学，2003）

36. What are the main features of the English compounds?

VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)

37. Match the terms under COLUMN I with the underlined forms from COLUMN II （武汉大

学，2004） I II (1) acronym a. foe (2) free morpheme b. subconscious (3) derivational morpheme c. UNESCO (4) inflectional morpheme d. overwhelmed (5) prefix e. calculation

24

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

Test Four: Syntax

I. Choose the best answer. (20%)

1. The sentence structure is ________.

A. only linear B. only hierarchical C. complex D. both linear and hierarchical 2. The syntactic rules of any language are ____ in number.

A. large B. small C. finite D. infinite

3. The ________ rules are the rules that group words and phrases to form grammatical

sentences. A. lexical B. morphological C. linguistic D. combinational 4. A sentence is considered ____ when it does not conform to the grammati-cal knowledge in

the mind of native speakers. A. right B. wrong C. grammatical D. ungrammatical 5. A __________ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory word that introduces the

embedded clause. A. coordinator B. particle C. preposition D. subordinator 6. Phrase structure rules have ____ properties.

A. recursive B. grammatical C. social D. functional 7. Phrase structure rules allow us to better understand _____________.

A. how words and phrases form sentences.

B. what constitutes the grammaticality of strings of words C. how people produce and recognize possible sentences D. all of the above.

8. The head of the phrase “the city Rome” is __________. A. the city B. Rome C. city D. the city Rome 9. The phrase “on the shelf” belongs to __________ construction. A. endocentric B. exocentric C. subordinate D. coordinate

10. The sentence “They were wanted to remain quiet and not to expose themselves.” is a

__________ sentence. A. simple B. coordinate C. compound D. complex

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

11. 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.

12. 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.

25

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

13. In a complex sentence, the two clauses hold unequal status, one subordinating the other. 14. Constituents that can be substituted for one another without loss of grammaticality belong to

the same syntactic category.

15. Minor lexical categories are open because these categories are not fixed and new members

are allowed for.

16. In English syntactic analysis, four phrasal categories are commonly recognized and discussed,

namely, noun phrase, verb phrase, infinitive phrase, and auxiliary phrase.

17. In English the subject usually precedes the verb and the direct object usually follows the

verb.

18. What is actually internalized in the mind of a native speaker is a complete list of words and

phrases rather than grammatical knowledge.

19. A noun phrase must contain a noun, but other elements are optional.

20. It is believed that phrase structure rules, with the insertion of the lexicon, generate sentences

at the level of D-structure.

III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)

21. A __________ sentence consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate

and stands alone as its own sentence.

22. A __________ is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to

form a complete statement, question or command.

23. A __________ may be a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence that usually precedes the

predicate.

24. The part of a sentence which comprises a finite verb or a verb phrase and which says

something about the subject is grammatically called __________.

25. A __________ sentence contains two, or more, clauses, one of which is incorporated into the

other.

26. In the complex sentence, the incorporated or subordinate clause is normally called an

__________ clause.

27. Major lexical categories are __________ categories in the sense that new words are

constantly added.

28. __________ condition on case assignment states that a case assignor and a case recipient

should stay adjacent to each other.

29. __________ 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.

30. The theory of __________ condition explains the fact that noun phrases appear only in

subject and object positions.

IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)

31. Syntax 32. IC analysis

33. Hierarchical structure

26

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

34. V. 35. 36.

Trace theory

Answer the following questions. (20%)

What are endocentric construction and exocentric construction? （武汉大学，2004）

Distinguish the two possible meanings of “more beautiful flowers” by means of IC analysis. （北京第二外国语大学，2004）

VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)

37. Draw a tree diagram according to the PS rules to show the deep structure of the sentence: The student wrote a letter yesterday.

27

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

Test Five: Semantics

[Mainly taken from lxm1000w’s exercises. – icywarmtea]

I. Choose the best answer. (20%)

1. The naming theory is advanced by ________.

A. Plato B. Bloomfield C. Geoffrey Leech D. Firth 2. “We shall know a word by the company it keeps.” This statement represents _______.

A. the conceptualist view B. contexutalism C. the naming theory D. behaviorism 3. 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. 4. “Can I borrow your bike?”_______ “You have a bike.”

A. is synonymous with B. is inconsistent with C. entails D. presupposes

5. ___________ is a way in which the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning

components, called semantic features. A. Predication analysis B. Componential analysis C. Phonemic analysis D. Grammatical analysis 6. “Alive” and “dead” are ______________.

A. gradable antonyms B. relational antonyms C. complementary antonyms D. None of the above

7. _________ deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic

world of experience. A. Reference B. Concept C. Semantics D. Sense

8. ___________ refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same

form.

A. Polysemy B. Synonymy C. Homonymy D. Hyponymy 9. Words that are close in meaning are called ______________.

A. homonyms B. polysemies C. hyponyms D. synonyms 10. The grammaticality of a sentence is governed by _______.

A. grammatical rules B. selectional restrictions C. semantic rules D. semantic features

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

28

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations. 14. In semantics, meaning of language is considered as the intrinsic and inherent relation to the

physical world of experience.

15. Contextualism is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from or reduce

meaning to observable contexts.

16. Behaviorists 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.

17. The meaning of a sentence is the sum total of the meanings of all its components.

18. Most languages have sets of lexical items similar in meaning but ranked differently according

to their degree of formality.

19. “It is hot.” is a no-place predication because it contains no argument.

20. 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.

III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)

21. __________ can be defined as the study of meaning.

22. The conceptualist view holds that there is no __________ link between a linguistic form and

what it refers to.

23. __________ 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. 24. Words that are close in meaning are called __________.

25. When two words are identical in sound, but different in spelling and meaning, they are called

__________.

26. __________ opposites are pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between

the two items.

27. __________ analysis is based upon the belief that the meaning of a word can be divided into

meaning components.

28. Whether a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called __________

restrictions, which are constraints on what lexical items can go with what others.

29. A(n) __________ is a logical participant in a predication, largely identical with the nominal

element(s) in a sentence.

30. According to the __________ theory of meaning, the words in a lan-guage are taken to be

labels of the objects they stand for.

IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)

29

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

31. 32. 33. 34. V. 35. 36. VI. 37.

Entailment Proposition

Componential analysis Reference

Answer the following questions. (20%)

What are the sense relations between the following groups of words?

Dogs, cats, pets, parrots; trunk, branches, tree, roots （青岛海洋大学，1999） What are the three kinds of antonymy? （武汉大学，2004） Analyze the following situation. (20%)

For each group of words given below, state what semantic property or properties are shared by the (a) words and the (b) words, and what semantic property or properties distinguish between the classes of (a) words and (b) words. (1) a. bachelor, man, son, paperboy, pope, chief b. bull, rooster, drake, ram

(2) a. table, stone, pencil, cup, house, ship, car b. milk, alcohol, rice, soup

(3) a. book, temple, mountain, road, tractor b. idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fear （青岛海洋大学，1999）

30

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

Test Six: Pragmatics

I. Choose the best answer. (20%)

1. What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in the study of meaning

_________ is considered. A. reference B. speech act C. practical usage D. context

2. A sentence is a _________ concept, and the meaning of a sentence is often studied in

isolation. A. pragmatic B. grammatical C. mental D. conceptual 3. If we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the course of communication, it

becomes a (n) _________. A. constative B. directive C. utterance D. expressive 4. Which of the following is true?

A. Utterances usually do not take the form of sentences.

B. Some utterances cannot be restored to complete sentences. C. No utterances can take the form of sentences.

D. All utterances can be restored to complete sentences.

5. Speech act theory did not come into being until __________.

A. in the late 50’s of the 20the century B. in the early 1950’s C. in the late 1960’s D. in the early 21st century

6. __________ is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the

consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance. A. A locutionary act B. An illocutionary act C. A perlocutionary act D. A performative act 7. According to Searle, the illocutionary point of the representative is ______.

A. to get the hearer to do something

B. to commit the speaker to something’s being the case C. to commit the speaker to some future course of action

D. to express the feelings or attitude towards an existing state of affairs

8. All the acts that belong to the same category share the same purpose, but they differ

__________.

A. in their illocutionary acts B. in their intentions expressed C. in their strength or force D. in their effect brought about 9. __________ is advanced by Paul Grice

A. Cooperative Principle B. Politeness Principle C. The General Principle of Universal Grammar D. Adjacency Principle

10. When any of the maxims under the cooperative principle is flouted, _______ might arise. A. impoliteness B. contradictions

C. mutual understanding D. conversational implicatures

31

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

11. Pragmatics treats the meaning of language as something intrinsic and inherent.

12. It would be impossible to give an adequate description of meaning if the context of language

use was left unconsidered.

13. What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in the study of meaning

the context of use is considered.

14. The major difference between a sentence and an utterance is that a sentence is not uttered

while an utterance is.

15. The meaning of a sentence is abstract, but context-dependent. 16. The meaning of an utterance is decontexualized, therefore stable. 17. Utterances always take the form of complete sentences

18. Speech act theory was originated with the British philosopher John Searle. 19. Speech act theory started in the late 50’s of the 20th century.

20. Austin made the distinction between a constative and a performative.

III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)

21. The notion of __________ is essential to the pragmatic study of language.

22. If we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the course of communication, it

becomes an __________.

23. The meaning of a sentence is __________, and decontexualized.

24. __________ were statements that either state or describe, and were thus verifiable.

25. __________ were sentences that did not state a fact or describe a state, and were not

verifiable.

26. A(n) __________ act is the act of uttering words, phrases, clauses. It is the act of conveying

literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and phonology.

27. A(n) __________ act is the act of expressing the speaker’s intention; it is the act performed

in saying something.

28. A(n) _________ is commit the speaker himself to some future course of action. 29. A(n) ________ is to express feelings or attitude towards an existing state.

30. There are four maxims under the cooperative principle: the maxim of __________, the

maxim of quality, the maxim of relation and the maxim of manner.

IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)

31. Conversational implicature 32. Performative 33. Locutionary act 34. Q-principle (Horn)

V. Answer the following questions. (20%)

32

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

35. Explain the following remarks with examples or make some comments.

“Both semantics and pragmatics are concerned with meaning, but the difference between them can be traced to two different uses of the verb mean: (a) What does X mean? (b) What did you mean by X?” （东北师范大学，2006）

36. Do you think B is cooperative in the following dialogue? Support your argument with

Cooperative Principle. （南开大学，2004） A: When is the bus coming? B: There has been an accident further up the road.

VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)

37. What is the function of context in communication? Try to explain the following utterances

rather than just state facts. (1) The room is messy. (2) It would be good if she had a green skirt on.

33

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

Test Seven: Language, Culture and Society

I. Choose the best answer. (20%)

1. _______ is concerned with the social significance of language variation and language use in

different speech communities. A. Psycholinguistics B. Sociolinguistics C. Applied linguistics D. General linguistics

2. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its __________.

A. use of words B. use of structures C. accent D. morphemes

3. __________ is speech variation according to the particular area where a speaker comes from.

A. Regional variation B. Language variation C. Social variation D. Register variation 4. _______ are the major source of regional variation of language.

A. Geographical barriers

B. Loyalty to and confidence in one’s native speech

C. Physical discomfort and psychological resistance to change D. Social barriers

5. _________ means that certain authorities, such as the government choose, a particular speech

variety, standardize it and spread the use of it across regional boundaries. A. Language interference B. Language changes C. Language planning D. Language transfer

6. _________ in a person’s speech or writing usually ranges on a continuum from casual or

colloquial to formal or polite according to the type of communicative situation. A. Regional variation B. Changes in emotions C. Variation in connotations D. Stylistic variation

7. A ____ is a variety of language that serves as a medium of communication among groups of

people for diverse linguistic backgrounds. A. lingua franca B. register C. Creole D. national language

8. Although _______ are simplified languages with reduced grammatical features, they are

rule-governed, like any human language. A. vernacular languages B. creoles C. pidgins D. sociolects 9. In normal situations, ____ speakers tend to use more prestigious forms than their ____

counterparts with the same social background. A. female; male B. male; female C. old; young D. young; old 10. A linguistic _______ refers to a word or expression that is prohibited by the “polite” society

from general use. A. slang B. euphemism C. jargon D. taboo

34

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

11. Language as a means of social communication is a homogeneous system with a

homogeneous group of speakers.

12. The goal of sociolinguistics is to explore the nature of language variation and language use

among a variety of speech communities and in different social situations.

13. From the sociolinguistic perspective, the term “speech variety” can not be used to refer to

standard language, vernacular language, dialect or pidgin.

14. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its grammar and uses of

vocabulary.

15. A person’s social backgrounds do not exert a shaping influence on his choice of linguistic

features.

16. Every speaker of a language is, in a stricter sense, a speaker of a distinct idiolect.

17. A lingua franca can only be used within a particular country for communication among

groups of people with different linguistic backgrounds.

18. A pidgin usually reflects the influence of the higher, or dominant, language in its lexicon and

that of the lower language in their phonology and occasionally syntax. 19. Bilingualism and diglossia mean the same thing.

20. The use of euphemisms has the effect of removing derogatory overtones and the

disassociative effect as such is usually long-lasting.

III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)

21. The social group isolated for any given study is called the speech __________.

22. Speech __________ refers to any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker or group

of speakers.

23. From the sociolinguistic perspective, a speech variety is no more than a __________ variety

of a language.

24. Language standardization is also called language __________.

25. Social variation gives rise to __________ which are subdivisible into smaller speech

categories that reflect their socioeconomic, educational, occupational background, etc.

26. __________ variation in a person’s speech or writing usually ranges on a continuum from

casual or colloquial to formal or polite according to the type of communicative situation. 27. A regional dialect may gain status and become standardized as the national or __________

language of a country.

28. The standard language is a __________, socially prestigious dialect of language.

29. Language varieties other than the standard are called nonstandard, or __________ languages. 30. A pidgin typically lacks in __________ morphemes.

IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)

31. Lingua franca 32. Regional dialect

35

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

33. 34. V. 35.

Register

Sociolinguistics

Answer the following questions. (20%)

Is American English superior to African English? Why or why not? （中国人民大学，2003） words, such as uncle and aunt, reflect the cultural differences between English and Chinese? （东北师范大学，2004）

36. If we take it as rule that language is intimately related to culture, then how do the kinship

VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)

37. Explain the differences between registers and regional/social dialects. Give examples if

necessary. （东北师范大学，2005）

36

湖北工业大学11级英语专业语言学作业

Test Eight: Theories and Schools of Modern Linguistics

I. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Choose the best answer. (20%)

The person who is often described as “father of modern linguistics” is __________.. A. Firth B. Saussure C. Halliday D. Chomsky

The most important contribution of the Prague School to linguistics is that it sees language in terms of __________. A. function B. meaning C. signs D. system The principal representative of American descriptive linguistics is __________. A. Boas B. Sapir C. Bloomfield D. Harris

Generally speaking, the __________ specifies whether a certain tagmeme is in the position of the Nucleus or of the Margin in the structure. A. Slot B. Class C. Role D. Cohesion

__________ Grammar is the most widespread and the best understood method of discussing Indo-European languages. A. Traditional B. Structural C. Functional D. Generative __________ Grammar started from the American linguist Sydney M. Lamb in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. A. Stratificational B. Case C. Relational D. Montague

In Halliday’s view, the __________ function is the function that the child uses to know about his surroundings. A. personal B. heuristic C. imaginative D. informative The rheme in the sentence “On it stood Jane” is __________. A. On it B. stood C. On it stood D. Jane Chomsky follows __________ in philosophy and mentalism in psychology. A. empiricism B. behaviorism C. relationalism D. mentalism TG grammar has seen __________ stages of development. A. three B. four C. five D. six

8. 9. 10.

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

11. Following Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole, Trubetzkoy argued that

phonetics belonged to langue whereas phonology belonged to parole.

12. The subject-predicate distinction is the same as the theme and rheme contrast. 13. London School is also known as systemic linguistics and functional linguistics.

14. According to Firth, a system is a set of mutually exclusive options that come into play at

some point in a linguistic structure.

15. American Structuralism is a branch of diachronic linguistics that emerged independently in

the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century.

37

本文来源：https://www.bwwdw.com/article/eoa3.html