现代语言学大题.doc

第一章 一.?Explain the following definition of linguistics: Linguistics is the scientific study of language.Linguistics investigates not any particular language, but languages in general. Linguistic study is scientific because it is based on the systematic investigation of authentic(可靠的，真实的) language data. No serious linguistic conclusion is reached until after the linguist has done the following three things: observing the way language is actually used, formulating some hypotheses, and testing these hypotheses against linguistic facts to prove their validity. 二.What are the branches of linguistics? What does each of them study? (语言学的主要分支是什么。每个分支的研究对象是什么？)Linguistics mainly involves the following branches: 1)General linguistics, which is the study of language as a whole and which deals with the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods applicable in any linguistic study 2)Phonetics, which studies the sounds that are used in linguistic communication 3)Phonology, which studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication 4)Morphology, which studies the way in which morphemes are arranged to form words 5)Syntax, which studies how morphemes and words are combined to form sentences 6)Semantics, which is the study of meaning in language. 7)Pragmatics, which is the study of meaning not in isolation, but in the context of use 8)Sociolinguistics, which is the study of language with reference to society 9)Psycholinguistics, which is the study of language with reference to the workings of mind. 10)Applied linguistics, which is concerned about the application of linguistic findings in linguistic studies; in a narrow sense, applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistic principles and theories to language teaching, especially the teaching of foreign and second languages. 11)Other related branches are anthropological linguistics(人类语言学), neurological linguistics（神经语言学）, mathematical linguistics（数学语言学）, and computational linguist