※ Indicate the following statements true or false.
1. Linguistics studies one specific language. (F)
2. Linguists must be able to speak several languages in order to study them. (F)
3. Modern linguistics is mostly descriptive because it sets rules for language users to follow. (F)
4. Linguists are judges; they know what is right and what is wrong about language. (F)
5. When we say synchronic descriptions of a langue are prior to diachronic descriptions, we mean in describing one state of the language, some knowledge of its previous state is unnecessary.  (F)
6. In linguistics study , linguists first work out a theory about language structure, then, test it with language facts. (F)
7. Language is arbitrary by nature but it is not entirely arbitrary.  (T)
8. Animals are born with the capacity to produce the set of calls peculiar to their species, while human beings haven’t this genetic basis. (F)
9. No nonhuman communication system is arbitrary. (T)
10. A linguist should be as objective as possible in his description and analysis of language facts. (T)
※Fill in each of the following blanks with one word.
1. Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.
2. Language is a system of  __arbitrary discoursevocal_ symbols_ used for human communication.
3. In professional usage, the linguist is a scholar who studies language objectively.
4. If a linguistic study describes and analyses the language people actually use, it is said to be descriptive. If it aims to lay down rules for correct behavior it is said to be prescriptive.
5. Language exists in time and changes through time. The description of a language at some point of time in history is a synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study.
6. In modern linguistics, a __synchronic__ approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic one. 
7. Language is a system which consists of two sets of structures, one of sound and the other of meaning.
8. Language can refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker, that means language has the feature of displacement.
9. “A rose by any other  name would smell as sweet”. This sentence means that language has the feature of arbitrariness.
10. Writing is a secondary language form based upon speech.
11. The reason why an English speaker and a Chinese speaker are not mutually intelligible is because language is culturally transmitted.
※ In each of the following questions, there are four choices. Decide which one would be the best answer to the question or best complete the sentence..
1. A scientific study of language is based on __B__.
A. close observation of pronunciation
B. systematic investigation of data.
C. careful study of langue structure
D. Some basic theories
2. Language is ___B___.
A.  instinctive      B.  non-instinctive  C. static      D. genetically transmitted
3. The study of _A___ used in linguistic community led to establishment of a branch of linguistics called phonetics.
A. sounds            B. phoneme  C. morpheme    D. allomorpheme
4. The core of linguistics excludes _____ D___.
A. semantics  B. morphology    C. phonetics    D. psycholinguistics
5. The distinction between langue and parole was made by ___B___.
A. N. Chomsky.    B. F. de. Saussure  C. Charles Hockett  D. Sir William Jones
6. The ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language is the language __A___.
A. competence    B. performance  C. acquisition    D. genetical transmission
7. By __D__ it is meant that something represents something else.
A.  sound    B. speech    C. utterance  D. symbol
8. The abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community is ___C__.
A. parole  B. performance    C. langue  D. speech
9. The study of the emergence of a new teaching approach or method belongs to the __C___ study.
A. pragmatics  B. sociolinguistics    C. applied linguistics  D. syntax
10. The fact that the ability of speak a language is transmitted from generation to generation through teaching and learning rather than by instinct is usually referred to as  __A___.
A. cultural transmission  B. language acquisition  C. competence  D. performance
※Terms:
1. language: is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for huamn communication.
2. linguistics: it is generally defined as the scientific study of language.