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）

Test Eight: Theories and Schools of Modern Linguistics

I.     Choose the best answer. (20%)

1.    The person who is often described as “father of modern linguistics” is __________..

       A. Firth                        B. Saussure                   C. Halliday                   D. Chomsky

2.    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

3.    The principal representative of American descriptive linguistics is __________.

       A. Boas                        B. Sapir                       C. Bloomfield               D. Harris

4.    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

5.    __________ Grammar is the most widespread and the best understood method of discussing Indo-European languages.

       A. Traditional               B. Structural                 C. Functional                D. Generative

6.    __________ 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

7.    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

8.    The rheme in the sentence “On it stood Jane” is __________.

       A. On it                       B. stood                       C. On it stood               D. Jane

9.    Chomsky follows __________ in philosophy and mentalism in psychology.

       A. empiricism               B. behaviorism              C. relationalism             D. mentalism

10.   TG grammar has seen __________ stages of development.

       A. three                        B. four                         C. five                         D. six

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.

16.   The Standard Theory focuses discussion on language universals and universal grammar.

17.   American descriptive linguistics is empiricist and focuses on diversities of languages.

18.   Chomsky’s concept of linguistic performance is similar to Saussure’s concept of parole, while his use of linguistic competence is somewhat different from Saussure’s langue.

19.   Glossematics emphasizes the nature and status of linguistic theory and its relation to description.

20.   If two sentences have exactly the same ideational and interpersonal functions, they would be the same in terms of textual coherence.

III.  Fill in the blanks. (20%)

21.   The Prague School practiced a special style of __________ Linguistics.

22.   The Prague School is best known and remembered for its contribution to phonology and the distinction between __________ and phonology.

23.   The man who turned linguistics proper into a recognized distinct academic subject in Britain was __________.

24.   Halliday’s Systemic Grammar contains a functional component, and the theory behind his Functional Grammar is __________.

25.   Systemic-Functional Grammar is a(n) __________ oriented functional linguistic approach.

26.   Structuralism is based on the assumption that grammatical categories should be defined not in terms of meaning but in terms of __________.

27.   In the history of American linguistics, the period between 1933 and 1950 is also known as __________ Age.

28.   __________ in language theories is characteristic of America.

29.   The starting point of Chomsky’s TG grammar is his __________ hypothesis.

30.   Chomsky argues that LAD probably consists of three elements, that is a __________, linguistic universal, and an evaluation procedure.

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

31.   FSP

32.   Cohesion

33.   LAD

34.   Case Grammar

V.    Answer the following questions. (20%)

35.   Why is Saussure hailed as the father of modern linguistics?

36.   What is behaviorism? What is behaviorism in linguistics? What is the relationship between linguistics and behaviorism according to Bloomfield? Does behaviorism have any limitations? If yes, what are they?

VI.  Analyze the following situation. (20%)

37.   Can you make a brief introduction to some important schools and their influential representatives in modern linguistics?

第二部分结束

第三部分 测试题参考答案

[In the reference keys, I won’t give examples or further analysis. That seems too much work for me. Therefore, this key is only for reference. In order to answer this kind of question, you need more examples. So you should read the textbook carefully. – icywarmtea]

Test One

I.

1~5 BACCC                               6~10 BACAC

II.

11~15 FFTFF                             16~20 FFFFF

III.

21. verbal                                          22. productivity / creativity