Third, language is vocal because the primary medium for all languages is sound.
Fourth, language is human-specific, i. e., it is very different from the communication systems other forms of life possess.
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?
答：The main features of human language are termed design features. They include:
     1) Arbitrariness
     Language is arbitrary. 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 languages.
     2) Productivity
     Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. This is why they can produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences, including sentences they have never heard before.
     3) Duality
     Language 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 by themselves. But the 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 used 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. This is what “displacement” means.
     5) Cultural transmission
     While human capacity for language has a genetic basis, i.e., we were all born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.
9. What are the major functions of language? Think of your own examples for illustration.
答： Three main functions are often recognized of language: the descriptive function, the expressive function, and the social function.
The descriptive function is the function to convey factual information, which can be asserted or denied, and in some cases even verified. For example: “China is a large country with a long history.”
The expressive function supplies information about the user’s feelings, preferences, prejudices, and values. For example: “I will never go window-shopping with her.”
The social function serves to establish and maintain social relations between people. . For example: “We are your firm supporters.”

Chapter 2  Speech Sounds
1. What are the two major media of linguistic communication? Of the two, which one is primary and why?
答： Speech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication.
     Of the two media of language, speech is more primary than writing, for reasons, please refer to the answer to the fifth problem in the last chapter.
2. What is voicing and how is it caused?
答：  Voicing is a quality of speech sounds and a feature of all vowels and some consonants in English. It is caused by the vibration of the vocal cords.
3. Explain with examples how broad transcription and narrow transcription differ?
答：  The transcription with letter-symbols only is called broad transcription. This is the transcription normally used in dictionaries and teaching textbooks for general purposes. The latter, i.e. the transcription with letter-symbols together with the diacritics is called narrow transcription. This is the transcription needed and used by the phoneticians in their study of speech sounds. With the help of the diacritics they can faithfully represent as much of the fine details as it is necessary for their purpose.
     In broad transcription, the symbol [l] is used for the sounds [l] in the four words leaf [li:f], feel [fi:l], build [bild], and health [helθ]. As a matter of fact, the sound [l] in all these four sound combinations differs slightly. The [l] in [li:f], occurring before a vowel, is called a dear [l], and no diacritic is needed to indicate it; the [1] in [fi:l] and [bild], occurring at the end of a word or before another consonant, is pronounced differently from the clear [1] as in “leaf”. It is called dark [ɫ] and in narrow transcription the diacritic [˜] is used to indicate it. Then in the sound combination [helθ], the sound [l] is followed by the English dental sound [θ], its pronunciation is somewhat affected by the dental sound that follows it. It is thus called a dental [l], and in narrow transcription the diacritic [、] is used to indicate it. It is transcribed as [helθ].