2012语言学考前练习二(简答 论述)2012语言学考前练习二(简答 论述).doc

2012语言学复习题 Ⅴ.Give a short answer to each of the following questions. 1. Explain “arbitrariness” as one of the design features of human language. (P8) Arbitrariness, as one of the design features of human language, means that there is no logical (intrinsic, motivated) connection between meaning and sounds (3分). A good example is the fact that different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different languages (2分). 2. Explain “displacement” as one of the design features of human language. (P9) 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(2’). In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. This is what displacement means(2’). This property provides speakers with an opportunity to talk about a wide range of things, free from barriers caused by separation in time and place(1’). 3. What does “productivity” mean as one of the design features of human language? (P9) 4. What is a minimal pair? (P24-25) 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 sound combinations are said to form a minimal pair(3’). For example in English, pill and bill are said to form a minimal pair(2’). 5. What is a phoneme? (P23) A phoneme is a phonological unit; it is a unit that is of distinctive value (2分). It is an abstract unit (1分). It is not any particular sound, but rather it is represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context (2分). 6. Illustrate assimilation rule /. (P26) ， componential analysis. (P72) and predication analysis with an example. (P74) The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to another by copying a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones similar(2’). Assimilation of neighboring sounds is, for the most part, caused by articulatory or physiological processes