4.3　考研真题与典型题详解

I. True or False

1．The definition of what counts as “using language” is non-controversial.

【答案】F

【解析】对于“语言的使用”还没有完全不存在争议的定义。

2．Animals have their special communication system.

【答案】T

【解析】动物之间也会进行交流，它们有其独特的交流系统。

3．Washoe and Kanzi were capable of taking part in interaction with humans by using a symbol system chosen by humans and not chimpanzees.

【答案】T

【解析】从他们的试验中可以得出，Washoe和Kanzi能够应用人类的信号系统与人类进行互动。

4．Washoe and Kanzi went on to perform linguistically on a level comparable to a human child about to begin pre-school.

【答案】F

【解析】实际上Washoe和Kanzi的语言水平达不到学前孩子的水平。

II. Short answer question

Why language is uniquely human according to the chimpanzees’ learning human language?

【答案】Underlying the two-year-old communicative activity is the capacity to develop a highly complex system of sounds and structures, plus a set of computational procedures, that will allow the child to produce extended discourse containing a potentially infinite number of novel utterances. No other creature has been observed “using language” in this sense. It is in this more fundamental or abstract sense that we say that language is uniquely human.