5.3　考研真题与典型题详解

I. Fill in the blanks.

1．The sound /p/can be described with “_______ , bilabial, stop”. （北二外2007研）

【答案】voiceless

【解析】/p/是双唇音，爆破音，清音。

2．The sound /b/can be described with “_______ , bilabial, stop”. （北二外2004研）

【答案】voiced

【解析】/b/是双唇音，爆破音，浊音。

3．Consonant articulations are relatively easy to feel. And as a result are most conveniently described in terms of _______and manner of articulation. （北二外2004研）

【答案】place

【解析】辅音根据发音方式和发音部位进行分类。

4．_______ are produced by constricting or obstructing the vocal tract at some place to divert, impede, or completely shut off the flow of air in the oral cavity. （中山大学2006研）

【答案】Consonants

【解析】发音时，声道的某些部位受到压缩或阻碍后，使得气流在口腔里转向、受阻或完全被阻塞而产生的音叫做辅音。

5．The present system of the _______ derives mainly from one developed in the 1920s by the British phonetician, Daniel Jones (1881-1967), and his colleagues at University of London. （中山大学2008研）

【答案】cardinal vowels

【解析】基本元音是指一系列约定俗成、固定不变的元音特质，目的是为语言中实际存在的元音描述提供一个参照框架。

6．Consonant articulations are relatively easy to feel, and as a result are most conveniently described in terms of place and ______ of articulation. （北二外2008研）

【答案】manner

【解析】辅音根据发音方式和发音部位进行分类。

7．The sound /k/ can be described with “voiceless, ______ , stop”. （北二外2003研）

【答案】velar

【解析】/k/是清音，软腭音，爆破音。

8．The syllable structure in Chinese is _______ or ______ or ______. （清华2000研）

【答案】CVC,CV,V

【解析】普通话的音节中节首位置最多有一个辅音，结尾只能是鼻音/n, N/，所以汉语的音节可以写为(C)V(C)。

II. Multiple Choice

1．Of the three cavities. _______ is the most variable and active in amplifying and modifying speech sounds. （北二外2004研）

A. nasal cavity

B. pharynx cavity

C. oral cavity

【答案】C

【解析】在三大发音器官中，气流在口腔中受挤或转向从而产生不同的声音。

2．Of the consonants/p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /m/, /z/ and /g/, which has the features of voiceless and velar? （对外经贸2005研）

A. /k/

B. /p/

C. /g/

D. /t/

【答案】A

【解析】/k/是清音，软腭音，爆破音；/t/是齿龈音，爆破音，清音；/g/是浊音，软腭音，爆破音，/p/是双唇音，爆破音，轻音。

3．The consonant /s/ in the word “smile” can be described as: （对外经贸2006研）

A voiceless  oral  alveolar  fricative

B voiceless  nasal  bilabial  liquid

C voiced  oral  alveolar  plosive

D voiced  oral  bilabial  fricative

【答案】A

【解析】/s/是清音，摩擦音，齿龈音。

4．The vowel ________ is a low back vowel. （西安外国语学院2006研）

A. /i: /

B. /u/

C. /e/

D. / a: /

【答案】D

【解析】/a/是低元音，后元音，紧音。

5．Which of the following CANNOT be considered as minimal pair? （大连外国语学院2008研）

A. /ai/-/Ci/

B. /p/-/b/

C. /s/-/θ/

【答案】C

【解析】/s/是齿龈音，而/θ/是齿音，所以二者不能构成最小对立体。

6．Point out which item does not fall under the same category as the rest, and explain the reason in ONE sentence. （南京大学2007研）

A. resolution

B. resident

C. restar

D. resignation

【答案】C

【解析】/s/在restart中位于清辅音前，所以被轻音化。

7．Classification of English speech sounds in terms of manner of articulation involves the following EXCEPT_____.

A. fricatives

B. lateral

C. affricates

D. bilabial

【答案】D

【解析】bilabial是根据发音部位划分的。

8．An aspirated p, an unaspirated p and an unreleased p are _____ of the p phoneme.

A. analogues

B. tagmemes

C. morphemes

D. allophones

【答案】D

【解析】送气的/p/和不送气的/p/是同一个音位/p/在不同语音环境中的实现方式, 所以被称为该音位的音位变体。

9．Which branch of phonetics concerns the production of speech sounds?

A. Acoustic phonetics

B. Articulatory phonetics.

C. Auditory phonetics

D. Neither of them.

【答案】B

【解析】发音语言学研究语音的发生。

10．Which one is different from the others according to manners of articulation?

A. [f]

B. [v]

C. [z]

D. [w]

【答案】D

【解析】选项A、B、C都是摩擦音，/w/是通音。

11．Which one is different from the others according to places of articulation?

A. [n]

B. [m]

C. [b]

D. [p]

【答案】A

【解析】[m],[b],[p]都是双唇音，[n]是齿龈音。

12．What kind of sounds can we make when the vocal cords are vibrating?

A. Voiceless

B. Voiced

C. Glottal stop

D. Consonant

【答案】B

【解析】声带振动产生浊音。

13．The most recognizable differences between American English and British English are in _____ and vocabulary.

A. usage

B. grammar

C. pronunciation

D. structure

【答案】C

【解析】英音和美音最大的区别就是发音和词汇，比如发音方面，美音有儿化音。

14．Which of the following is the correct description of [v]?

A. voiceless labiodental fricative

B. voiced labiodental fricative

C. voiceless labiodental stop

D. voiced labiodental stop

【答案】B

【解析】[v]是唇齿音，擦音，浊辅音。

III. True or False

1．The initial sound of “peak” is aspirated while the second sound of “speak” is unaspirated. They are in free variation. （北二外2005研）

【答案】F

【解析】“peak”和 “speak”中的发音不同的“p”是同一个音位的音位变体，而不是自由对立体。

2．A syllable can be divided into two parts, the NUCLEUS and the CODA. （大连外国语学院2008研）

【答案】F

【解析】音节中必不可少的就是结核，即元音。节首和节尾可有可无。

3．All syllables contain three parts: onset, nucleus and coda. （北二外2003研）

【答案】F

【解析】所有音节必须有结核，但不是所有的音节都有节首和节尾。

4．In English, we can have the syllable structure of CCCVCCCC. （清华2001研）

【答案】T

【解析】英语的节首最多包括三个辅音，节尾最多包括四个辅音，而且必须有一个元音。

5．The airstream provided by the lungs has to undergo a number of modifications to acquire the quality of a speech sound.

【答案】T

【解析】气流从肺部产生，而后穿过声道经过一些变化比如转向、受阻等发出不同的音。

6．[p] is voiced bilabial stop.

【答案】F

【解析】[p]是双唇爆破音，没有摩擦。

7．Sound [p] in the word “spit” is an unaspirated stop.

【答案】T

【解析】/p/在/s/之后是不送气的。

IV. Explain the following terms.

1．Distinctive features of speech sounds （中山大学2008研；北师大2003研；北交大2005研, 浙江大学2007研）

【答案】The distinctive feature is a property which distinguishes one phoneme from another. For example, “voicing” is a distinctive feature, since it plays an important role in distinguishing obstruents in English.

2．Cardinal vowel （四川大学2006研；大连外国语学院2008研）

【答案】Cardinal vowel: The cardinal vowels are a set vowel qualities arbitrarily defined, fixed and unchanging, intended to provide a frame of reference for the description of the actual vowels of existing languages.

3．Voiceless （西安交大2008研）

【答案】When the vocal folds are apart, the air can pass through easily and the sound produced is said to be voiceless. For example, consonants（p, s, t) are produced this way, so they are voiceless consonants. “Voiceless” is defined in contrast with “voiced”. Consonants（b, z, d)are voiced consonants.

4．acoustic phonetics （南开大学2011研）

【答案】Acoustic phonetics: It is one of the three branches of phonetics，it is the study of the physical properties of speech sounds.

V. Short answer questions

1．For the following words, state the conditions under which the different forms of the past tense appear. What determines whether /t/, /d/, or /id/ is used? What distinctive features define conditioning environment? （南开大学2004研）

【答案】/t/ appears after these sounds: /F, p, k, s, tF/, /id/ is found after t, d/, and /d/ occurs after /g, l, b, v, T, n, au, m, N, ei/. The general factor to determine whether /t/, /d/, or /id/ is used is the distinctive feature of voicing. Therefore, /t/ occurs after a voiceless sound, except /t/; /d/ occurs after a voiced sound, except /d/; and /id/ occurs after either the consonant /t/ or /d/.

2．How are the vowels described usually? （北二外 2009研）

【答案】Usually, the description of the vowels needs to fulfill four basic requirements:

(1) The height of tongue raising (high, mid, low);

(2) The position of the highest part of the tongue (front, central, back);

(3) The length or tenseness of the vowel (tense vs. lax or long vs. short), and

(4) lip-rounding (rounded vs. unrounded).

3．Why do we say language is primarily vocal? （厦门大学 2009研）

【答案】Language is system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. Language is primarily vocal, because sound or speech is the primary medium for all human languages, developed or “new”. Writing systems came much later than the spoken forms. The fact that small children learn and can only learn to speak (and listen) before they write (and read) also indicates that language is primarily vocal, rather than written. The term “human” in the definition is meant to specify that language is human specific.

4．What are the criteria used in phonetic description of vowels? （厦门大学2010研）

【答案】As the vowels can not be described in the same way as the consonants, a system of cardinal vowels has been suggested to get out of this problem. The cardinal vowels are a set of vowel qualities arbitrarily defined, fixed and unchanging, intended to provide a frame of reference for the description of the actual vowels of existing languages. The cardinal vowels are abstract concept. The cardinal vowel diagram is a set of hypothetical positions for vowels used as reference points.

The description of English vowels needs to fulfill four basic requirements: (1) the height of tongue raising(high, middle or low); (2) the position of the highest part of the tongue (front, central , back); (3) the length or tenseness of the vowel(tense vs. lax or long vs. short); (4) lip-rounding(rounded vs. unrounded). For example:

[i:]: high, front, tense, unrounded vowel.

[u]: high, back, lax, rounded vowel.

5．In English, the phoneme /p/ is pronounced differently in pat, spat, and tap, can you form a rule that can generalize this linguistic phenomenon? （南开大学2010研）

【答案】In English, there is a rule that /p/ is unaspirated after /s/ but aspirated in other places. So /p/ in pat, tap is aspirated but unaspirated in spat since it is after /s/. To bring out the phonetic difference, an aspirated sound is transcribed with a raised “h” after the symbol of the sound. So a phonetic transcription for peak is [phi:k] and that for speak is [spi:k]. So [p, ph] are two different phones and are variants of the phoneme /p/. Such variants of a phoneme are called allophones of the same phoneme. The allophones are said to be in complementary distribution because they never occur in the same context: [p] occurs after [s] while [ph ] occurs in other places. We can present this rule as:

/p/ : [p] / [s]____

[ph] elsewhere

(note: ____ is the position in which /p/ appears.)

In addition, sometimes a phoneme may also have free variants. The final consonant of tap may not be released by some speakers so there is no audible sound at the end of this word. Such phenomenon is called free variation.

6．What are the differences between voiced sounds and voiceless sounds in terms of articulation? （南开大学2004研）

【答案】When the vocal cords are spread apart, the air from the lungs passes between them unimpeded. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiceless, consonants [p, s, t] are produced in this way; but when the vocal cords are drawn together, the air from the lungs repeatedly pushes them apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiced [b, z, d] are voiced consonants.

7．In the African language Manika, the affix, the meaning of which is similar to that of the suffix-ing in English, has two phonetic forms, as shown in the data given below. You are required to.

(1)give the two phonetic forms of the affix;

(2)give the underlying form of the affix;

(3)write a formal phonological rule to derive the underlying form of the affix to its phonetic forms, using the words [dumuni] “eating” and [sungoli] “sleeping” to illustrate the process of derivation. （南开大学2011年研）

【答案】(1) The two phonetic forms are: [ni] and [li].

(2) The underlying form is [ni].

(3) [ni] → [ni] / [- vowel] _______[ni] → [li] / [+ vowel, -u] _______In the word sungo, the last sound [o] is vowel so -ing form of the word is sungoli. While the last sound of the word dumu is [u], which is quite an exception, the -ing form of the word is dumuni.

8．What are vowels glide about? What differentiates pure or monophthong vowel from vowel glides?

【答案】When pure or monophthongs are pronounced, the quality remains constant throughout the articulation. In contrast, those where there is an audible change of quality are called vowel glides. Vowel glides are produced by moving from one vowel position to another through intervening positions. If a single movement of the tongue is involved, the glides are called diphthongs. A double movement produces triphthongs.

VI. Essay questions

1．Is English a language that uses a phonetic alphabet system? Explain briefly why or why not with examples. （北外2004研）

【答案】The Phonetic Alphabet is a system of letters and symbols that are used to represent the individual sounds of a language. English is a language that uses a phonetic alphabet system because it is a phonographic language by nature.

There are mainly three types of language concerning its writing system: ideographic language which uses

ymbols (ideograms) to represent whole words or concepts (ideas), with Chinese as an example; syllabic language which word or concepts are represented by syllable, with Japanese syllabic system as an example; phonographic language which uses special alphabetic or other typographical characters to express the sounds of an actual spoken utterance in writing, with many European languages as examples. English uses alphabetic script to represent certain single type sound. For example, the sound which is written sh in English can be expressed by symbols of (∫) ship; and the sound that is written in c can be expressed by the symbol of(k)cup.

2．What are the differences between voiced sounds and voiceless sounds in terms of articulation? （南开大学2004研）

【答案】When the vocal cords are spread apart, the air from the lungs passes between them unimpeded. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiceless, consonants(p, s, t)are produced in this way; but when the vocal cords are drawn together, the air from the lungs repeatedly pushes them apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiced(b, z, d)are voiced consonants.