英语语言学习题与答案

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%)

31. Entailment 32. Proposition

33. Componential analysis 34. Reference

V. Answer the following questions. (20%)

35. 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） 36. What are the three kinds of antonymy? （武汉大学，2004）

VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)

37. 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） Key: I.

1~5 ABDDB 6~10 CACDA II.

11~15 FFTFT 16~20 TFTTT III.

21. Semantics 22. direct 23. Reference 24. synonyms 25. homophones 26. Relational 27. Componential 28. selectional 29. argument 30. naming IV.

31. Entailment: It is basically a semantic relation (or logical implication), and it can be clarified with the following sentences: a. Tom divorced Jane. b. Jane was Tom’s wife.

In terms of truth value, the following relationships exist between these two sentences: when A is true, B must be also true; when B is false, A must also be false. When B is true, A may be true or false. Therefore we can say A entails B.

32. Proposition: It is the result of the abstraction of sentences, which are descriptions of states of affairs and which some writers see as a basic element of sentence meaning. For example, the two sentences “Caesar invaded Gaul” and “Gaul was invaded by Caesar” hold the same proposition.

33. Compositional analysis: It defines the meaning of a lexical element in terms of semantic components, or semantic features. For example, the meaning of the word boy may be analyzed into three components: HUMAN, YOUNG and MALE. Similarly girl may be analyzed into HUMAN, YOUNG and FEMALE.

34. Reference: It is what a linguistic form refers to in the real world; it is a matter of the relationship between the form and the reality. V. 35.

Hyponymy, metonymy or part-whole relationship 36.

(Omit.) VI. 37.

(1) The (a) words and (b) words are male.

The (a) words are human, while the (b) words are non-human. (2) The (a) words and (b) words are inanimate.

The (a) words are instrumental, while the (b) words are edible. (3) The (a) words and (b) words are worldly or conceptual.

The (a) words are material, while the (b) words are spiritual.

Chapter 7 Language, Culture and Society [注：第六章无测试题]

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

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 33. Register

34. Sociolinguistics

V. Answer the following questions. (20%)

35. Is American English superior to African English? Why or why not? （中国人民大学，2003）

36. If we take it as rule that language is intimately related to culture, then how do the kinship words, such as uncle and aunt, reflect the cultural differences between English and Chinese? （东北师范大学，2004）

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） 答案 I.

1~5 BCAAC 6~10 DACAD II.

11~15 FTFFF 16~20 TFTFF III.

21. community 22. variety 23. dialectal 24.planning 25. sociolects 26. Stylistic 27. official 28. superposed 29. vernacular 30. inflectional IV.

31. Lingua franca: A lingua franca is a variety of language that serves as a common speech for social contact among groups of people who speaks different native languages or dialects. 32. Regional dialect: Regional dialect, also social or class dialect, is a speech variety spoken by the members of a particular group or stratum of a speech community.

33. Register: Register, also situational dialect, refers to the language variety appropriate for use in particular speech situations on which degrees of formality depends. 34. Sociolinguistics: Defined in its broadest way, sociolinguistics, a subdiscipline of linguistics, is the study of language in relation to society. It is concerned with language variation, language use, the impact of extra-linguistic factors on language use, etc. V. 35.