Mechanisms of linguistic change

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题目与答案

1. 27 The pronunciation of living language undergo changes throughout thousands of years. Large scale regular Changes are usually called _____ .

   答案：sound laws

   原文定位：Such regular changes are often called sound laws

2. 28 There are three reasons for these changes. Firstly, the influence of one language on another; when one person imitates another pronunciation(the most prestige’s), the imitation always partly involving factor of _____ .

   答案：fashion

   原文定位：It is also possible that fashion plays a part in the process of change. It certainly plays a part in the spread of change:one person imitates another, and people with the most prestige are most likely to be imitated

3. 29 Secondly, the imitation of children from adults1 language sometimes are _____, and may also contribute to this change if there are insignificant deviations tough later they may be corrected.

   答案：imperfect

   原文定位：A less specific variant of the argument is that the imitation of children is imperfect:they copy their parents’ speech, but never reproduce it exactly

4. 30 Finally, for those random variations in pronunciation, the deeper evidence lies in the _____ or minimization of effort.

   答案：principle of ease

   原文定位：One such force which is often invoked is the principle of ease, or minimization of effort

5. 31 It is impossible for modern people to find pronunciation of words in an earlier age.
   • TRUE
   • FALSE
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：FALSE

   原文定位：These various kinds of evidence, combined with a knowledge of the mechanisms of speech-production, can often give us a very good idea of the pronunciation of an earlier age, though absolute certainty is never possible

6. 32 The great change of language in Russian history is related to the rising status and fortune of middle classes.
   • TRUE
   • FALSE
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：FALSE

   原文定位：When a social group goes up or down in the world, its pronunciation of Russian, which had formerly been considered desirable, became on the contrary an undesirable kind of accent to have;Some of the changes in accepted English pronunciation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have been shown to consist in the replacement of one style of pronunciation by another style already existing, and it is likely that such substitutions were a result of the great social changes of the period:the increased power and wealth of the middle classes

7. 33 All the children learn speeches from adults white they assume that certain language is difficult to imitate exactly.
   • TRUE
   • FALSE
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：NOT GIVEN

   原文定位：A less specific variant of the argument is that the imitation of children is imperfect: they copy their parents’ speech, but never reproduce it exactly

8. 34 Pronunciation with causal inaccuracy will not exert big influence on language changes.
   • TRUE
   • FALSE
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：TRUE

   原文定位：This, however, cannot explain changes in pronunciation unless it can be shown that there is some systematic trend in the failures of imitation: if they are merely random deviations they will cancel one another out and there will be no net change in the language

9. 35 The word 'scant' can be pronounced more easily than 'skamt'.
   • TRUE
   • FALSE
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：TRUE

   原文定位：For example, the word scant was once skamt, but the /m/ has been changed to /n/ under the influence of the following /t/. Greater efficiency has hereby been achieved, because /n/ and /t/ are articulated in the same place (with the tip of the tongue against the teeth-ridge), whereas /m/ is articulated elsewhere (with the two lips)

10. 36 The [g] in gnat not being pronounced will not be spelt out in the future.
    • TRUE
    • FALSE
    • NOT GIVEN

    答案：NOT GIVEN

    原文定位：At one time there was a [t] in words like castle and Christmas, and an initial [k] in words like knight and know

11. 37 The sound of ‘temporary’ cannot wholly present its spelling.
    • TRUE
    • FALSE
    • NOT GIVEN

    答案：TRUE

    原文定位：Sometimes a whole syllable is dropped out when two successive syllables begin with the same consonant (haplology): a recent example is temporary, which in Britain is often pronounced as if it were tempory

12. 38 As a consequence, ‘b’ will be pronounced as
    • Since the speakers can pronounce it with less effort
    • Assimilation of a sound under the influence of a neighbouring one
    • It is a trend for changes in pronunciation in a large scale in a given period
    • Because the speaker can pronounce [n] and [t] both in the same time

    答案：It is a trend for changes in pronunciation in a large scale in a given period

    原文定位：when we study the pronunciation of a language over any period of a few generations or more, we find there are always large-scale regularities in the changes: for example, over a certain period of time, just about all the long [a:] vowels in a language may change into long [e:] vowels, or all the [b] consonants in a certain position (for example at the end of a word) may change into [p] consonants

13. 39 The pronunciation of [mt] changed to [nt]
    • Since the speakers can pronounce it with less effort
    • Assimilation of a sound under the influence of a neighbouring one
    • It is a trend for changes in pronunciation in a large scale in a given period
    • Because the speaker can pronounce [n] and [t] both in the same time

    答案：Assimilation of a sound under the influence of a neighbouring one

    原文定位：Assimilation is the changing of a sound under the influence of a neighbouring one. For example, the word scant was once skamt, but the /m/ has been changed to /n/ under the influence of the following /t/

14. 40 The omit of ‘f in the sound of Christmas
    • Since the speakers can pronounce it with less effort
    • Assimilation of a sound under the influence of a neighbouring one
    • It is a trend for changes in pronunciation in a large scale in a given period
    • Because the speaker can pronounce [n] and [t] both in the same time

    答案：Since the speakers can pronounce it with less effort

    原文定位：At one time there was a [t] in words like castle and Christmas;Consonant-clusters are often simplified;One such force which is often invoked is the principle of ease, or minimization of effort