【正确答案】正确答案：1)Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. This definition has captured the main features of language, i. e. human-specific, vocal, arbitrary, symbolic and systematic.(3 points) 2)Design features refer to the defining properties of human language that tell the differences between human language and any system of animal communication.(2 points) They are: (1)Arbitrariness; This is a core feature of language, which means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. This feature was first discussed by Saussure. There are different levels of arbitrariness; arbitrary relationship between the sound of a morpheme and its meaning; arbitrary at the syntactic level.(4 points) (2)Duality; It means the property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization. At the lower or 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. Then the units at the higher level can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences.(4 points) Many animals communicate with special calls, which have corresponding meanings. That is, the primary units have meanings but cannot be further divided into elements. So we say animal communication systems do not have this design feature of human language.(2 points) (3)Creativity; By creativity we mean language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. Because of duality, the speaker is able to combine the basic linguistic units to form an infinite set of sentences, most of which are never before produced or heard. Language is creative in another sense, that is, its potential to create endless sentences. That is to say, it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users.(4 points) As we know, birds, bees, crabs, and most other creatures communicate in some way, but the information imparted is severely limited and confined to a small set of messages.(1 point) (4)Displacement: By displacement it means that 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. Displacement benefits human beings by giving them the power to handle generalizations and abstractions. In a word, the intellectual benefits of displacement to us are that it makes it possible for us to talk and think in abstract terms.(4 points) On the other hand, most animals respond communicatively as soon as they are stimulated by some occurrence of communal interest, while human language is stimulus free.(1 point)

【答案解析】解析：考查人类语言和动物交流系统的区别。语言是人类用以口头交流的任意的符号系统。该定义包含五个要素：人类、口头、任意、符号、系统。人类语言与动物的交流系统的不同之处在于它的一些本质特征。人类语言的区别性特征包括：任意性、二重性、创造性、移位性，而动物的交流系统则不具备这些特征。