Chapter One Language

1. Define the following terms

1) discreteness 2) design features 3) arbitrariness 4) duality 5) displacement 6) cultural transmission 7) the imaginative function of language 8) the personal function of language 9) the heuristic function of language 10) language 2. Multiple Choice

Directions: In each question there are four choices. Decide which one would be the best answer to the question or to complete the sentence best. 1) Which of the following words is entirely arbitrary?

A. tree B. crash C. typewriter D. bang

2) The function of the sentence “Water boils at 100 degrees Centigrade” is ________.

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

3) In Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate the host or the people present are

likely to say sui sui ping an (every year be safe and happy) as a means of controlling the forces which the believers feel might affect their lives. Which function does it perform?

A. Interpersonal. B. Emotive. C Performative. D. Recreational.

4) Which of the following properties of language enables language users to overcome the

barriers causedby time and place, due to this feature of language, speakers of a language are free to talk about anything in any situation? A. interchangeability. B. Duality. C. Displacement. D. Arbitrariness.

5) 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. Peformative. D. Interpersonal. 6) Unlike animal communication systems, human language is .

A. stimulus free B. stimulus bound

C. under immediate stimulus control

D. stimulated by some occurrence of communal interest.

7) Which of the following is the most important function of language?

A. interpersonal function B. performative function C. informative function D. recreational function

8) In different languages, different terms are used to express the animal “狗”, this shows the nature of --- of human language.

A arbitrariness B cultural transmission C displacement D discreteness 9) Which of the following disciplines are related to applied linguistics?

A. statistics B. psycholinguistics C. physics D. philosophy

10) has been widely accepted as the father of modem linguistics. A. Chomsky B. Saussure C. Bloomfield D. John Lyons

3. Word Completion

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the most suitable words.

1) Design features, a framework proposed by the American linguist Charles Hockett, refer

to the ________ properties of human language that distinguishes it from any animal system of communication.

2) ________ refers to the phenomenon that the sounds in a language are meaningfully

distinct. For instance, the difference between the sounds /p/ and /b/ is not actually very great, but when these sounds are part of a language like English, they are used in such a way that the occurrence of one rather than the other is meaningful.

3) 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 p_______ or c________.

4) Language has many functions. We can use language to talk about language itself. This

function is m________ function.

5) Cultural transmission refers to the fact that language is c________ transmitted. It is

passed on from one generation to the next through teaching and learning, rather than by i_________.

6) One general principle of linguistic analysis is the primacy of ________ over writing. 7) The ________ function refers to the use of language to communicate knowledge about

the world, to report events, to make statements, to give accounts, to explain relationships, to relay messages and so on.

8) The ________ function refers to language used to ensure social maintenance. Phatic

communion is part of it. The term phatic communion introduced by the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski refers to language used for establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact rather than for exchanging facts.

9) Language is a system of arbitrary symbols used for human Communication. 10) Language has two levels. They are ______ level and ______ level.

11) Language is a ________ because every language consists of a set of rules which

underlie people’s actual speech or writing.

12) The _ function refers to language used in an attempt to control events once they

happen.

13) The design features of language are (1) (2) (3)

(4) (5) (6) and (7) _______.

14) By saying “language is arbitrary”, we mean that there is no logical connection between

meaning and .

15) The four principles in the linguistic study are (1) (2) (3)

and (4) .

4. True or False Questions

Directions: Decide whether the following statements are true or false. Write T for true and F for false in the bracket before each of them.

1) ( ) The relation between form and meaning in human language is natural.

2) ( ) When language is used to get information from others, it serves an informative

function.

3) ( ) The reason for French to use cheval and for English to use horse to refer to the same

animal is inexplicable.

4) ( ) Most animal communication systems lack the primary level of articulation. 5) ( ) Language change is universal,ongoing and arbitrary.

6) ( ) Language is a system of arbitrary, written signs which permit all the people in a given

culture, or other people who have learned the system of that culture, to communicate or interact.

7) ( ) In theory, the length of sentences is limited.

8) ( ) The relationship between the sounds and their meaning is arbitrary.

9) ( ) Linguistic symbols are a kind of visual symbols, which include vocal symbols. 10) ( ) Linguistic symbols are produced by human speech organs.

11) ( ) Every language has two levels: grammatically — meaningless and sound —

meaningful.

12) ( ) Such features of language as being creative, vocal, and arbitrary can differentiate

human languages from animal communicative systems.

13) ( ) Duality is one of the characteristics of human language. It refers to the fact that

language has two levels of structures: the system of sounds and the system of meanings. 14) ( ) Language is a means of verbal communication. Therefore, the communication way

used by the deaf-mute is not language.

15) ( ) Arbitrariness of language makes it potentially creative, and conventionality of

language makes a language be passed from generation to generation. As a foreign language learner, the latter is more important for us.

5. Glossary translation

1) personal function 2) heauristic function 3) ideational function 4) interchangeability 5) 控制功能 6) 表现功能 7) 文化传递性 8) 分离性 9) 区别性特征 10) 不受时空限制的属性 11) Interactional function 12) instrumentational function 13) imaginative function 14) 寒暄功能 15) 元语言功能 16) Personal function 17) performative function 18) 娱乐功能 19) 信息功能 20) 人际功能

6. Short Essay Questions

1) What are the functions of language? Exemplify each function.

2) Explain what the term duality means as it is used to describe a property of human

language.

3) Is language productive or not? Why? 4) What is language?

5) What are the major design features of language? Please explain three of them with

examples.

Key to Chapter One

1. Define the followina terms

1) Discreteness refers to the phenomenon that the sounds in a language are meaningfully distinct. For instance, the difference between the sounds /p/ and /b/ is not actually very great, but when these sounds are part of a language like English, they are used in such a way that the occurrence of one rather than the other is meaningful. The fact that the pronunciation of the forms pad and bad leads to a distinction in meaning can only be due to the difference between the sounds /p/ and /b/ in English. Each sound in the language is thought of as discrete. It is possible to produce a range of sounds in a continuous stream which are all generally like the sounds /p/ and /b/.

2) “Design features” refer to the defining properties of human language that tell the difference between human language and any system of animal communication. They are arbitrariness, duality, productivity, displacement, cultural transmission and interchangeability. (3分)

3) “Arbitrariness” means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. A dog might be a pig if only the first person or group of persons had used it for a pig.

Language is therefore largely arbitrary. But language is not absolutely arbitrary, because there are cases where there are or at least seem to be some sound-meaning association, if we think of echo Words, like “bang”, “crash”,”roar”,’ which are motivated in a certain sense. Secondly, some compounds are not entirely arbitrary either. “Snow” and “storm” are arbitrary or unmotivated words, while “snowstorm” is less so. So we can say “arbitrariness” is a matter of degree.

4) Linguists refer “duality” of structure to the fact that in all languages so far investigated, one finds two levels of structure or patterning. At the first, higher level, language is analyzed in terms of combinations of meaningful units (such as morphemes, words etc.); at the second, lower level, it is seen as a sequence of segments which lack any meaning in themselves, but which combine to form units of meaning. According to Hu Zhuanglin et al., language is a system of two sets of structures, one of sounds and the other of meaning. This is important for the workings of language. A small number of sounds can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of semantic units (words), and these units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences. (For example, we have dictionaries of words, but no dictionary of sentences!) Duality makes it possible for a person to talk about anything within his knowledge. No animal communication system enjoys this duality, or even approaches this honor.

5) “Displacement”, as one of the design features of the human language, refers to the fact that one can talk about things that are not present, as easily as he does things present. In other words,