【正确答案】Human beings are capable of making all kinds of sounds, but only some of them of these sounds have become units in the language system. Language is first and foremost a "system of vocal symbols", as we have seen in the discussion of language. Speech sounds had existed long before writing was invented, and even today, in some parts of the world, there are still languages that have no writing systems. Speech and writing are the two media used by natural languages as vehicles for communication. Of the two media of language, speech is more basic than writing. Speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any language is always "invented" by its users to record speech when the need arises. For linguists, the study of sounds is of greater importance than that of writing. Therefore, the study of speech sounds is a major part of linguistics.

【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查语音研究的重要意义。语言首先是一个语音符号系统，语音远远早于文字而存在，并且，即使是今天，在世界的某些角落，还有些语言是没有文字系统的。因此，语音的研究是语言学的一个重要组成部分。