《新编语言学教程》1-4单元课后答案

Chapter 1
Introduction
1. Define the following terms briefly.
(1) linguistics语言学: the scientific or systematic study of language.
(2) language语言: a system of arbitrary vocal 任意的声音symbols used for human communication.用于人类交流的任意声音符号系统
(3) arbitrariness任意性: the absence of similarity between
the form of a linguistic sign and what it relates to in reality,
语言符号的形式与现实的关系缺乏相似性e.g. the word
dog does not look like a dog.
(4) duality双重性: the way meaningless elements of language
at one level (sounds and letters) combine to form
meaningful units (words) at another level.在一个层面上（语
言和字母）的无意义的语言元素结合在另一个层次上形
成有意义的单位（词）
(5) competence语言能力: knowledge of the grammar of a
language as a formal abstraction and distinct from the
behavior of actual language use作为一种形式抽象的语言
的语法知识，区别于实际语言使用的行为, i.e.
performance.
(6) performance语言运用: Chomsky‟s term for actual
language behavior as distinct from the knowledge that
underlies it, or competence.乔姆斯基对实际语言行为的术
语不同于它的知识，或能力。

(8) phatic communion交际性谈话: Language is used to
establish an atmosphere or maintain social contact
between the speaker and the hearer.语言是用来建立一个气
氛或保持说话人和听话人之间的社会联系
(11) synchronic linguistics共时语言学: the study of
language and speech as they are used at a given moment and
not in terms of how they have evolved over time.语言和语
言的研究，因为它们是在一个给定的时刻使用，而不是
他们如何随着时间的推移演变
(12) diachronic linguistics历时语言学: the study of linguistic
change over time in contrast to looking at language as it is
used at a given moment.语言在时间上的变化与语言在特
定时刻使用的对比研究
2. No, language is human-specific. Human language has seven design features, including arbitrariness, duality, productivity, interchangeability, displacement, specialization and
cultural transmission. These features are found utterly lacking in dogs‟ or pigs‟ noises and thus set human language apart from animal cry systems.
3. Arbitrariness refers to the fact that there is no logical or intrinsic connection bet ween a particular sound and the meaning it is associated with. For example, for the same animal dog, in English we call it /d0g/, in Chinese as “gou”, but “yilu” in Japanese; it barks wow wow in English but wang wang in Chinese. Of course, onomatopoetic words such as “quack-quack” and “bang” are exceptions, but words like these are relatively few compared with the total number of words in a language.
4. A human baby does not speak any language at birth. What language the baby is going to speak is determined by the culture he is born into. A Chinese baby born and brought up in London by an English family will speak English, while an English child brought up in Beijing by a Chinese aunt will speak Chinese. That is to say, language cannot be transmitted through heredity. It is culturally transmitted.
5. Firstly, linguistics describes languages and does not lay down rules of correctness while traditional grammar emphasizes correctness. Secondly, linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, while traditional grammar emphasizes the priority of the
written language. Thirdly, traditional grammar is based on Latin and it tries to impose the Latin categories and structures on other languages, while linguistics describes each language on its own merits.
6. A descriptive approach attempts to tell what is in the language while the prescriptive approach tells people what should be in the language. Most modern linguistics is descriptive, whereas traditional grammars are prescriptive.
7. Synchronic linguistics studies language at one particular time while diachronic linguistics studies language developments through time. Synchronic linguistics focuses on the state of language at any point in history while diachronic linguistics focuses on the differences in two or more than two states of language over decades or centuries.
8. No, human language has the design feature of specialization. It refers to the fact that man does not have a total physical involvement in the act of communication. For example, a mother can tell a story to her child while slicing up a cake. However, wolves can only respond to a stimulus and is totally involved physically in the communication process. Thus, a wolf cannot have a language similar to man‟s, even though it could express a thousand different emotions. Besides, the aspect of productivity also distinguishes
human language from wolf ‟s postures.
Chapter 2
The Sounds of Language
1. Define each of the following terms briefly.
(1) articulator: the tongue, lips, and velum, which change the
shape of the vocal tract to produce different speech sounds.
(2) assimilation: a phonological process whereby a sound
becomes phonetically similar (or identical) to a neighboring
sound, e.g. a vowel becomes [+nasal] when followed by a
[+nasal] consonant.
(3) consonant辅音: a speech sound produced by partial or
complete closure of part of the vocal tract, thus obstructing
the airflow and creating audible friction. Consonants are
described in terms of voicing, place of articulation,
and manner of articulation.由于部分或全部声道的部分关
闭所产生的声音讲话，从而阻碍空气flOW和创造声音的
摩擦。

辅音清浊的描述方面，发音部位和发音方式
(4) elision: the leaving out of a sound or sounds in speech.
(5) intonation语调: the variation in pitch and stress which
gives beat and rhythm to the tune the voice plays in ordinary
speech.音高和重音的变化，使节奏和节奏在普通语言中
起到旋律的作用。

(6) phoneme音位: the abstract element of a sound, identified
as being distinctive in a particular language.一个声音的抽
象元素，并fi为在一个特定的语言特色
(7) phonetics语音学: the study of linguistic speech
sounds, how they are produced, how they are perceived,
and their physical properties.语言语音的研究，它们是如何产生的，它们是如何被感知的，以及它们的物理性质。

(8) phonology音位学: the study of the abstract systems
underlying the sounds of language.语言声音背后的抽象
系统研究。

(9) stress: the prominence given to certain sounds in speech.
(10) voicing音调: the vibration in the larynx caused
by air from the lungs passing through the vocal cords when they are partly closed; speech sounds are said to be
either voiced or voiceless.在通过声带时，部分封闭的肺部的空气引起的喉振动；语音说成是浊音或清音
(11) voiceless清音: When the vocal cords are spread
apart, the airstream from the lungs is not
obstructed at the space between vocal cords and
passes freely. The sounds produced in this way are
described as voiceless sounds.当声带分开，来自肺部的气
流不受阻碍的空间，通过自由的声带。

以这种方式产生
的声音被形容为清音
(12) vowel元音: a speech sound produced without
significant constriction of the air flowing through the
oral cavity.无意义的fi不能收缩由于在口腔的空气fl产生的
语音
2. Minimal pair test or substitution test.
Minimal pair test or substitution test is to see whether substituting one sound for 4another results in a different word. If it does, the two sounds represent different phonemes. For example, as to the English word bear, if we substitute p for b, we get the word pear, the two are different words. Then /b/ and /p/ represent different phonemes. Other examples are chunk/junk, ban/bin, bet/beat,
fine/vine, side/site, etc.
3. Take the word big for example, in the word big /big/, /b/ is the onset, /i/ is the nucleus and /g/ is the coda. The difference between open syllables and closed syllables is whether the words have codas. If there are codas, they are closed syllables, such as pig, hat and at; if not, they are open syllables, such as do, I, tea and key.
4. (1) stop, consonant
(2) back, rounded, vowel
5. (1) voiceless / voiced
(2) bilabial / labiodental
(3) close / semi-open
(4) stop / nasal
(5) alveolar / palatal
(6) alveolar / dental
(1) kit/git, bucker/bugger, bag/back
(2) mark/nark, smack/snack, sum/sun
(3) best/vest, ober/over, lib/live
(4) bore/more, abate/amate, mob/mom
(5) pat/fat, apt/aft (AmE), harp (BrE)/half
7. (1) The stresses are placed on the second syllable except for “promise”. We may easily conclude that the verbs usually are stressed on the second syllable.
(2) Syllable representations of the words:
collide [k2#laid] elect [i#lekt] consider
[k2n#sid2]
Chapter 3
Morphology
1. Define the following terms briefly.
(1) morphology形态学: the study of the structure of words.词
汇结构的研究
(2) morpheme音位: the smallest unit of language that
carries meaning or serves a grammatical function.具有
意义或提供语法功能的最小的语言单位
(3) free morpheme自由词素: a morpheme that can stand
alone as a word.一个可以独立作为一个词的语素
(4) bound morpheme粘着语素: a morpheme that can
not stand alone as a word, e.g. ment (as in
establishment), and -er (as in painter).
(5) morph: the smallest meaningful phonetic segments of
an utterance on the level of parole.
(6) allomorph同词素的异形词: a phonetic form in which a
morpheme is realized, e.g. -s, -es, and en are all allomorphs
(in writing) of the plural morpheme.在其中一个语素的语
音形式实现，如-，-，和EN都是语素（写作）的复数语
素
(7) derivation派生词: the formation of new words by adding
affixes to other words or morphemes in morphology and
word formation.形成新的单词加入AFfixes其他词或语素
构词形态和
(8) clipping构词法: the process by which parts of a word of
more than one syllable have been cut off, and reduced to a
shorter form.一个多音节的词的部分被切断，并缩短为较短的形式的过程.
(9) acronym首字母缩略词: words which are composed of
the first letter of a series of words and are pronounced as single words. Examples: NATO, radar and yuppy.单词是由
一系列的单词的第一字母和发音fi单词。

例子：北约、雷达和雅皮士
(10) initialism词首字母缩略词: Some new words are
composed of the first letters of a series of words and pronounced by saying each letter in them. Such words are
called initialism.一些新单词是由一系列的单词的第一字
母和发音fi他们说每一封信。

这样的词叫做缩写
(11) blending混成构词法: A single new word can be
formed by combining two separate forms. Typically,
blending is finished by taking only the beginning of
one word and joining it to the end of another
word. For example, brunch is formed by the shortened
forms of breakfast and lunch.一个新单词可以由两个不同
的形式组合而成.。

通常情况下，混合fi完成以只有一个单
词的开始加入到另一个单词的结尾。

例如，早午餐的缩
短形式的早餐和午餐的形成
(12) root词根: the morpheme that remains when all affixes are
stripped from a complex word, e.g. system from un- +
system + atic + ally. 语素是当所有AFfi物从复杂的词了(13) stem词干: the base to which one or more affixes are
attached to create a more complex form that may be
another stem or a word. For example, book is the stem of
bookish. 基地的一个或多个AFfiXES连接创建一个更复
杂的形式，可能是另一个干或一个字
(14) prefix前缀: Affixes can be joined to the beginning of
the root or stem, in which case they are called prefixes.AF
fi物可以加入到根或茎的开始，在这种情况下，他们被称
为预fixes
(15)suffix后缀: Affixes can be joined to the end of the root or
stem, in which case they are called suffixes.AFfi物可以加入
到根或茎端，在这种情况下，他们被称为后fixe
2. (3), (5), (7)
3. (1) simple: fly tree suite
(2) bound morpheme root
fly / fly
reuse re- use
spiteful -ful spite
preplan pre- plan desks -s desk
triumphed -ed triumph suite / suite optionality -ality option untie un- tie
delight de- light fastest -est fast
prettier -ier pretty tree / tree
justly -ly just
deform de- form mistreat mis- treat
dislike dis- like
payment -ment pay
disobey dis- obey premature pre- mature 4. (1) Column I: ablaut (vowel modification)
Column II: suppletion
Column III: stress modificat ion
(2) The process in the Column I is finished by changing the
vowel of each word, while in Column II, the process is
finished by changing vowel and consonant of each word. (3) Column I: awake/awoke bear/bore arise/arose
blow/blew bite/bit hide/hid
lie/lay know/knew foot/feet
goose/geese tooth/teeth louse/lice Column II: bad/worse are/were many/more Column III: …combine/com‟bine …compress/com‟press7
…conduct/con‟duct …insert/in‟sert
…insult/in‟sult …intern/in‟tern
5. (1) Omitted.
(2) Other examples:
…rerun (n.) –re‟run (v.) …contrast (n.) –con‟trast (v.)
…convert (n.) –con‟vert (v.) …desert (n.)–de‟sert (v.)
…export (n.) –ex‟port (v.) …increase (n.) –in‟crease (v.)
…conduct (n.) –con‟duct (v.) …object (n.) –ob‟ject (v.)
…content (n.) –con‟tent (v.) …protest (n.) –pro‟test (v.)
…insult (n.) –in‟sult (v.) …produce (n.) –pro‟duce (v.) When a word belongs to different word classes, the stress of the word will be sometimes placed on different syllables. When all the words above are stressed on the first syllables, they are
nouns, but if they have the second syllables stressed, the words become verbs.
6. (1) It means “the inhabitant of ”.
(2) It means “the person who does”.
(3) The morphological rule working here is “n. + -er
––n.”, and the last phoneme of the noun, which
the suffix -er is added to, should be a consonant.
(4) The rule in (3) doesn‟t work in the word discoverer because the last phoneme
of discoverer is a vowel /2/.
7. (1) inflection (2) derivation (3) inflection (4)
inflection (5) derivation
Chapter 4
Syntax
1. Define the following terms briefly.
(1)syntax语法: the term used to refer to the structure of
sentences and to the study of sentence structure.用来指句子
结构和句子结构研究的术语.。

(2) word class词类: a group of words which are similar in
function; words which are grouped into word classes
according to how they combine with other words, how they
change their forms, etc. 一组在功能上相似的词；根据单
词与其他单词的组合方式，将单词分为词类，如何改变
它们的形式等。

(3) prescriptive approach: This view regards grammar
as a set of rules for the 8“proper” use of a
language, that‟s to say, it tries to lay down rules to tell
people how to use a language.
(4) descriptive approach: the approach of linguistic studies,
with which linguists collect samples of the language they
are interested in and attempt to describe the regular
structures of the language as they are used, not according to
some view of how they should be used.
(5) IC analysis: the approach to divide the sentence up into
its immediate constituents by using binary cutting until
obtaining its ultimate constituents. For example, the
immediate constituents of “The man bought a car” are the
man and bought a car. The immediate constituents of
the man are the and man, and so on until no further cuts
can be made. The ultimate constituents of “The man bought
a car” at the word level are the, man, bought, a, and car.
(6) structural analysis: a type of descriptive approach to study
the distribution of linguistic forms in a language through
such metho ds as the use of “test frames”.
(7) immediate constituent: Linguistic units can be divided
into small constituents, which can be further
analyzed into smaller constituents. This process
continues until no further divisions are possible. The fir st
division or units are known as immediate constituents. (8) ultimate constituent: Linguistic units can be divided into
small constituents, which can be further analyzed
into smaller constituents. This process continues until no further divisio ns are possible. The final division or units are known as ultimate constituents.
(9) constituent structural grammar: It refers to a grammar
which analyzes sentences using only the idea of
constituency, which reveals a hierarchy of structural levels.
(10) transformational grammar: a type of grammar which attempts
to define and describe by a set of rules or principles all the
grammatical sentences (without ungrammatical ones) of a
language.
(11) ideational function: the use of language as a means of giving
structure to our experience of the real or imaginary world. (12) interpersonal function: the use of language for maintaining
social roles and interacting with others.
(13) textual function: to create written or spoken texts which
cohere within the mselves and which fit the particular situation
in which they are used.
2. Yes. As we know, morphology is the study of the internal structure, forms and 9classes of words, while syntax focuses on the structure and ordering of components within a sentence. The major distinction between morphology and syntax is that the former is concerned with the internal composition of a word, while the latter is concerned with the combination of words.
3. (2) Instead of using the form “suggest somebody to
do something”, we usually use “suggest + that-clause”
or “suggest doing”, here we‟d better substitute “advise”
for “suggest”
(4) The word “request” is a transitive verb which should take
an object directly, so the word “for” should be omitted. (6) The word “donate” cannot be followed by double objects
as “donate somebody something”. Instead we always use
“donate something to somebody”.
(10) The subject of the verb “write” is usually a human; an
“article” cannot write itself. In this case t he passive
construction is normally used: The article was very well
writen.
(11) Usually we don‟t use “be bored of something/somebody”, but
“be bored with something/somebody” which means losing
interest in somebody/something.
(13) Here “myself ” is a reflexive pronoun, which can‟t be used
as subject, and it should be replaced by “I”.
(14) The word “surprise” is usually used as a transitive
verb, so the expression “…surprise for you” is
ungrammatical, and it can be replaced by “surpris e
somebody (with something)” or “I was surprised by your
getting married.”
(15) The word “sleep” is usually used as an intransitive verb,
which can‟t take an object. The cases of “sleep” being used
as a transitive verb are semantically limited, as in “to
sleep a good sleep” or “the room can sleep 3 people”.
4. It‟s ungrammatical, because “us” is the objective case which
can‟t serve as the subject, while “she” is the subjective case
which can‟t serve as the object. The sentence should be “We
visit he r on Sundays”. The personal pronouns “you” and “it”
have the same form whether used as the subject or object.
5. (1) NP: A Guns “N” Roses concert, an arena, some 2500 fans,
a full-fledged riot, A Guns “N” Roses concert at an arena , A Guns “N” Roses conc ert at an arena near ST. Louis ,The trouble, venue security, a camera, the front, the stage, the front of the stage. PP: at an arena, at an arena near ST. Louis, near ST. Louis, in disaster, near the front, of the stage, near the front of the stage. VP: staged a
full-fledged riot, asked venue security, confiscate a camera.
(2) N: Guns, Roses, concert, arena, ST. Louis, disaster, fans, riot, trouble, Axl 10Rose, venue, security, camera, front, stage. Prep: at, near, in, of. V: end, stage, start, ask, c onfiscate, see. 6. (1) You mustn‟t end a sentence with a preposition.
You mustn‟t split infinitives
7. (i)
(ii)
8. (1) a. Terry loves his wife and I love his wife, too. b. I love
my wife as well as Terry loves his wife.
(2) a. It‟s yesterday that they said she would go. b. She
would go yesterday as they said.
(3) a. The governor is a street fighter who is dirty.b. The
governor is a fighter in a dirty street.
(4) a. The design has squares and circles, both of which are
big. b. The design has big squares, and it also has some
circles. (The sizes of the circles are not mentioned.)。