2012年1月现代语言学自考试题

全国2012年1月自考
现代语言学试题
课程代码：00830

I . Directions: Read each of the following statements carefully. Decide which one of the four choices best completes the statement and put the letter A, B, C, or D in the brackets. ( 2% 10=20% )
1. Language users can send messages which no one else has ever sent before, which results from ________of language. (      )
 A. displacement  B. productivity
C. arbitrariness  D. universality
2. In terms of manner of articulation, the English consonants [1] and [r] are classified as ________.(      )
 A. liquids  B. affricates
C. stops  D. fricatives
3. The morpheme “-al” in the common word “literal” is a(n) _______.(      )
A. root  B. derivational affix
C. inflectional affix  D. free morpheme
4. In English syntactic analysis, four phrasal categories are commonly recognized and discussed, namely, __________.(      )
 A. CP, NP, VP and PP  B. NP, VP, PP and IP
 C. CP, IP, NP and NP  D. NP, VP, PP and AP
5. The sense relation between “flower” and “lily” is_______.(      )
A. antonymy  B. homonymy
C. polysemy  D. hyponymy
6. In the following dialogue, which maxim under CP is violated when the conversational implicature occurs? (      )
 —What did your sister buy in the Department Store?
 —She bought a red dress, she bought a green dress, and she bought a blue dress.
 A. Quantity.  B. Quality.
C. Relation.  D. Manner.
7. All the following words except ________ are the examples which can be used to illustrate semantic broadening. (      )
 A. “deer”  B. “tail”
 C. “bird”  D. “holiday”
8.________is a casual use of language that consists of expressive but nonstandard vocabulary, typically of arbitrary, flashy and often ephemeral coinages and figures of speech. (      )
 A. Register  B. Slang
 C. Address term  D. Taboo
9. When we listen, the word is heard and comprehended via the _________ area. (      )
A. motor  B. Broca's
C. Wernicke's  D. angular gyrus
10. Apart from the genetic predisposition for language acquisition, language _________is necessary for successful language acquisition. (      )
 A. input and interaction  B. instruction
C. correction and reinforcement  D. imitation

Ⅱ. Directions: Fill in the blank in each of the following; statements with one word, the first letter of which is already given as a clue. Note that you are to fill in ONE word only, and you are not allowed to change the letter given ( 1% X10=10% )
11. P __________ is a branch of linguistic study of how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication.
12. The consonant [p] is pronounced differently in the two words pit and spit. In the word pit, the sound [p] is a ______________ .
13. Some morphemes are words such as help, table and room, which are independent units of meaning and can be used independently. They are called f_________ morphemes.
14. Linguistic elements are arranged in a particular order to make a string of words not only meaningful but also l_________ -and hierarchically-structured.
15. In predication analysis, a p _________is something said about an argument or it states the logical relation linking the arguments in a sentence.
16. Among the views concerning the study of meaning, contextualism holds that meaning can be derived from or reduced to observable c _________ in which language is used.
17. Language change is largely a process of balancing between the simplification and the e_________ of rules, between the need to reduce memory burdens and the need to maintain commnunicative clarity.
18. In sociolinguistics, i_________ is sometimes used to refer to the whole of a person's language.
19. Whorf proposed that all higher levels of thinking are dependent on l_________.
20. In second language leaning, instrumental motivation occurs when the learner's goal is functional, and i_________ motivation occurs when the learner's goal is social.

Ⅲ. Directions : Judge whether each of the following statements is true or false. Put a T for true or F for false in the brackets in front of each statement. If you think a statement is false’ you must explain why you think so and then give the correct version ( 2% 10=20% )
21. (      ) Modern linguistics, i.e., linguistic study carried out in the 20th century, is mostly prescriptive.
22. (      ) In English classification of vowels, [α:] is a low back rounded vowel.
23. (      ) How a compound is written is simply a matter of convention, which should be respected as it always is.
24. (      ) The Adjacency Condition on Case assignment states that a Case assignor and a Case recipient should stay adjacent to each other.
25. (      ) Sense is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; and it is abstract and de-contextualized.
26. (      ) According to Searle's classification of illocutionary acts, to ask someone to pass a book is a directive, and to advise someone to watch less TV is not a directive.
27. (      ) Although language change is universal, inevitable, and sometimes vigorous, it is not an overnight occurrence, but a gradual and constant process, particularly the changes in the syntactic systems.
28. (      ) The standardization of a particular dialect such as standard English and Putonghua in relation to one or more vernaculars is not necessarily the result of a deliberate governmental policy, but of a historical and cultural tradition.
29. (      ) As language and thought may blend together as “verbal thought” and “inner speech,” we cannot think without language while we cannot speak without thinking.
30. (      ) Children's grammar develops gradually until it becomes exactly the adult's grammar.

IV. Directions: Explain the following terms and give examples for illustration where appropriate. ( 3% 10=30% )
31. arbitrariness
32. minimal pair
33. inflectional affixes
34. X-bar theory
35. selectional restrictions
36. illocutionary act
37. clipping
38. situational dialects
39. the critical period for language acquisition
40. negative transfer

V . Directions: Answer the following questions. ( 10% X2=20% )
41. The basic form of English negative prefix in- is [in-], as in inaccurate and insecure. In impossible, [n] is changed to match the place of articulation of its following stop [p]. In illiterate, [n] becomes identical to its following [1]. Which phonological rule does this example illustrate? Please define the rule and give one more example.

42. One of the important missions of historical linguistics is to reconstruct the protolanguage. Please explain what the protolanguage is and how historical linguists reconstruct it.