Chapter 1
1. How do you interpret the following definition of linguistics: linguistics is the scientific study of language?
Linguistics studies not any particular language,but it studies languages in general.It is a scientific study because it is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data,conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure.In order to discover the nature and rules of the underlying language system, what the linguist has to do first is to collect and observe language facts,which are found to display some similarities ,and generalizations are made about them,then he formulates some hypotheses about the language structure .But the hypotheses thus formed have to be checked repeatedly against the observed facts to fully prove their validity.
6. How is Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance?
Both Saussure and Chomsky make the distinction between the abstract language system and the actual use of language. their purpose is to single out the language system for serious study
They are similar in two aspects: the definition and the content of study.
On one hand, Saussure defines langue as the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and parole as the realization of langue in actual use. Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language, and performance the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. We can see that langue and competence both refer to the abstract issue, conventions and knowledge, and parole and performance both are their actual realization, the concrete use.
On the other hand, in Saussure’s opinion, what linguists should do is to abstract langue from parole as parole is too varied and confusing. And this is the same as Chomsky. He thinks linguists should study the ideal speaker’s competence, not  his performance, which
is too haphazard to be studied.
Two linguists idea differ in that Saussure took a sociological view of language, Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view, competence is a property of the mind of each individual.
8. What are the main features of human language that have been specified by C.Hockett to show that it is essentially different from animal communication system? 
1) Arbitrariness: this means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. A good example is the fact that different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different language.
2) Productivity: Language is productive in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals of its users.
3) words Duality: language is a system, which consists of two sets of structures, or two levels. At the lower or the basic level there is a structure of sounds, which are meaningless. But t
he sounds of language can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning, which are found at the higher level of the system.
4) Displacement: Language can be use to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past ,present or future, or in far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker.
5) Cultural transmission ：Language is passed on from one generation to next through teaching and learning rather than by instinct.
Chapter 5
1. What are the major views concerning the study of meaning?
1) The naming theory命名论 was proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. The linguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they stand for; words are just names or labels for things. The semant
ic relationship holding between words and things is the relationship of naming.
2) The conceptualist view概念论: This view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to; rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind. This is best illustrated by the semantic triangle suggested by Ogden and Richards:
3) Contextualism语境论: Representatively proposed by the British linguist J. R. Firth who had been influenced by the Polish anthropologist Malinowski and the German philosopher Wittgenstein.It holds that meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context – elements closely linked with language behavior. … the meaning of a word is its use in the language.
4) Behaviourism行为主义论: Based on contextualist view by Bloomfield who drew on behaviorist psychology in defining “meaning”. Behaviorists attempted to define the meaning of a language from as the “ situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.” This theory, somewhat close to contextualism, is link
ed with psychological interest.

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