英语语言学第章课后练习题答案
语言学教程课后习题答案第一章资料(最新整理)
Chapter 1 Invitations to Linguistics1. Define the following terms:design feature: the distinctive features of human language that essentially make human language distinguishable from languages of animals.function: the role language plays in communication (e.g. to express ideas, attitudes) or in particular social situations (e.g. religious, legal).synchronic: said of an approach that studies language at a theoretical ‘point’ in time.diachronic: said of the study of development of language and languages over time. prescriptive: to make authoritarian statement about the correctness of a particular use of language.descriptive: to make an objective and systematic account of the patterns and use of a language or variety.arbitrariness: the absence of any physical correspondence between linguistic signals and the entities to which they refer.duality: the structural organization of language into two abstract levels: meaningful units (e.g. words) and meaningless segments (e.g. sounds, letters).displacement: the ability of language to refer to contexts removed from the speaker’s immediate situation.phatic communion: said of talk used to establish atmosphere or maintain social contact.metalanguage: a language used for talking about language.macrolinguistics: a broad conception of linguistic enquiry, including psychological, cultural, etc.competence: unconscious knowledge of the system of grammatical rules in a language.performance: the language actually used by people in speaking or writing.langue: the language system shared by a “speech community”.parole: the concrete utterances of a speaker.2. Consult at least four introductory linguistics textbooks (not dictionaries), and copy the definitions of “language” that each gives. After carefully comparing the definitions, write a paper discussing which points recur and explaining the significance of the similarities and differences among the definitions.ANSWER:All the definitions should not exclude the description of design features that have been mentioned in this course book. Also it will be better if other design features, say, interchangeability or cultural transmission is included. But it seems impossible to give an unimpeachable definition on language, because the facets people want to emphasize are seldom unanimous. To compare several definitions can make you realize where the argument is.3. Can you think of some words in English which are onomatopoeic?ANSWERS:creak: the sound made by a badly oiled door when it opens.cuckoo: the call of cuckoo.bang: a sudden loud noise.roar: a deep loud continuing sound.buzz: a noise of buzzing.hiss: a hissing sound.neigh: the long and loud cry that a horse makes.mew: the noise that a gull makes.bleat: the sound made by a sheep, goat or calf.4. Do you think that onomatopoeia indicates a non-arbitrary relationship between form and meaning?ANSWER:4. No matter you say "Yes" or "No", you cannot deny that onomatopoeia needs arbitrariness. Before we feel a word is onomatopoeic we should first know which sound the word imitates. Just as what is said in Chapter One, in order to imitate the noise of flying mosquitoes, there are many choices like "murmurous" and "murderous". They both bear more or less resemblance to the genuine natural sound, but "murmurous" is fortunately chosen to mean the noise while "murderous" is chosen to mean something quite different. They are arbitrary as signifiers.5. A story by Robert Louis Stevenson contains the sentence “As the night fell, the wind rose.” Could this be expressed as “As the wind rose, the night fell?” If not, why? Does this indicate a degree of non-arbitrariness about word order? (Bolinger, 1981: 15)5. Yes. It is a case in point to illustrate non-arbitrariness about word order. When the two parts interchange, the focus and the meaning of the sentence is forced to change, because clauses occurring in linear sequence without time indicators will be taken as matching the actual sequence of happening. The writer’s original intention is distorted, and we can feel it effortlessly by reading. That is why systemic-functionalists and American functionalists think language is not arbitrary at the syntactic level.6. Does the traffic light system have duality? Can you explain by drawing a simple graph?6. Traffic light does not have duality. Obviously, it is not a double-level system. There is only one-to-one relationship between signs and meaning but the meaning units cannot be divided into smaller meaningless elements further. So the traffic light only has the primary level and lacks the secondary level like animals’ calls.ANSWER:Red→stopGreen→goYellow→get ready to go or stop7. The recursive nature of language provides a theoretical basis for the creativity of language. Can you write a recursive sentence following the example in section 1.3.3.ANSWER:Today I encountered an old friend who was my classmate when I was in elementary school where there was an apple orchard in which we slid to select ripe apples that…8. Communication can take many forms, such as sign, speech, body language and facial expression. Do body language and facial expression share or lack the distinctive properties of human language?ANSWER:On a whole, body language and facial expression lack most of the distinctive properties of human language such as duality, displacement, creativity and so on. Body language exhibits arbitrariness a little bit. For instance, nod means "OK/YES" for us but in Arabian world it is equal to saying "NO". Some facial expressions have non-arbitrariness because they are instinctive such as the cry and laugh of a newborn infant.9. Do you agree with the view that no language is especially simple?ANSWER:Yes. All human languages are complicated systems of communication. It is decided by their shared design features.10. What do you think of Bertrand Russell’s observation of the dog language: “No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor but honest”? Are you familiar with any type of ways animals communicate among themselves and with human beings? ANSWER:When gazelles sense potential danger, for example, they flee and thereby signal to other gazellesin the vicinity that danger is lurking. A dog signals its wish to be let inside the house by barking and signals the possibility that it might bite momentarily by displaying its fangs.11.Can you mention some typical expressions of phatic communion in Chinese? There is the dialog between Ms. P and Ms. Q. in section 1.5.5. When someone sneezes violently, do you say anything of the nature of phatic communion? Have you noticed your parents or grandparents say something special on such an occasion?Some of the typical phatic expressions in Chinese are: 吃了吗？家里都好吧？这是去哪里啊？最近都挺好的？ANSWER:If someone is sneezing violently, maybe you parents and grandparents may say: “Are you ok?”, “Do you need to see a doctor?”, “Do you need some water?”, “Do you need a handkerchief?”, “Do you have a cold?” or something like these to show their concerns.12．There are many expressions in language which are metalingual or self-reflexives, namely, talking about talk and think about thinking, for instance, to be honest, to make a long story short, come to think of it, on second thought, can you collect a few more to make a list of these expressions? When do we use them most often?ANSWER:To tell the truth, frankly speaking, as a matter of fact, to be precise, in other words, that is to saySuch expressions are used most frequently when we want to expatiate the meaning of former clauses in anther way in argumentation.13. Comment on the following prescriptive rules. Do you think they are acceptable?(A) It is I.(B) It is me.You should say A instead of B because “be” should be followed by the nominative case, not the accusative according to the rules in Latin.(A) Who did you speak to?(B) Whom did you speak to?You should say B instead of A.(A) I haven't done anything.(B) I haven't done nothing.B is wrong because two negatives make a positive.ANSWER:(1) the Latin rule is not universal. In English, me is informal and I is felt to be very formal.(2) Whom is used in formal speech and in writing; who is more acceptable in informal speech.(3) Language does not have to follow logic reasoning. Here two negative only make a more emphatic negative. This sentence is not acceptable in Standard English not because it is illogical, but because language changes and rejects this usage now.14. The prescriptivism in grammar rules has now shifted to prescriptions in choice of words. In the “guidelines on anti-sexist language” issued by the British sociological association, someguidelines are listed below. Do you think they are descriptive and prescriptive? What’s your comment on them?(1) Do not use man to mean humanity in general. Use person, people, human beings, men and women, humanity and humankind.(2) colored: This term is regarded as outdated in the UK and should be avoided as it is generally viewed as offensive to many black people.(3) civilized: This term can still carry racist overtones which derive from a colonialist perception of the world. It is often associated with social Darwinist thought and is full of implicit value judgments and ignorance of the history of the non-industrialized world.ANSWER:They are undoubtedly descriptive. Guidelines are not rules that can determine whether a sentence is right or not. The guidelines advise you to avoid the use of particular words that are grammatically correct but offensive to some certain groups. Actually, they describe the way anti-sexist advocators speak and write.15. Why is the distinction between competence and performance an important one in linguistics? Do you think the line can be neatly drawn between them? How do you like the concept “communicative competence”?ANSWER:This is proposed by Chomsky in his formalist linguistic theories. It is sometimes hard to draw a strict line. Some researchers in applied linguistics think communicative competence may be a more revealing concept in language teaching than the purely theoretical pair—competence and performance.16. Which branch of linguistics do you think will develop rapidly in China and why?It is up to you to decide after you have gone through the whole book. At this stage, we suggest all branches of linguistics have the potential to flourish.17. The following are some well-known ambiguous sentences in syntactic studies of language. Can you disambiguate them?The chicken is too hot to eat.Flying planes can be dangerous.ANSWER:The chicken is too hot to eat.The chicken meat is too hot, so it cannot be eaten at the moment.The chicken feels so hot (maybe after some intense aerobic exercises) that it cannot start eating and needs to calm down first.Flying planes can be dangerous.The ambiguity comes from "flying planes". It can be deciphered as "the planes that is flying" or "to fly planes".18. There are many reasons for the discrepancy between competence and performance in normal language users. Can you think of some of them?ANSWEREthnic background, socioeconomic status, region of the country, and physical state (such as intoxication, fatigue, distraction, illness) vary from individual to individual.19. What do these two quotes reveal about the different emphasis or perspectives of language studies?(1) A human language is a system of remarkable complexity. To come to know a human language would be an extraordinary intellectual achievement for a creature not specifically designed to accomplish this task. A normal child acquires this knowledge on relatively slight exposure and without specific training. He can then quite effortlessly make use of an intricate structure of specific rules and guiding principles to convey his thoughts and feelings to others, ... Thus language is a mirror of mind in a deep and significant sense. It is a product of human intelligence, created anew in each individual by operations that lie far beyond the reach of will or consciousness.(Noam Chomsky: Reflections on Language. 1975: 4)(2) It is fairly obvious that language is used to serve a variety of different needs, but until we examine its grammar there is no clear reason for classifying its uses in any particular way. However, when we examine the meaning potential of language itself, we find that the vast numbers of options embodied in it combine into a very few relatively independent “networks”; and these networks of options correspond to certain basic functions of language. This enables us to give an account of the different functions of language that is relevant to the general understanding of linguistic structure rather than to any particular psychological or sociological investigation. (M. A. K. Halliday, 1970: 142)ANSWER:The first quote shows children’s inborn ability of acquiring the knowledge of intricate structure of specific rules. It implies that the language user's underlying knowledge about the system of rules is the valuable object of study for linguists. The second attaches great importance to the functions of language. It regards the use of language as the choice of needed function. The meaning of language can be completely included by a few “networks” which is directly related to basic functions of language. It indicates the necessity to study the functions of language.20. You may be familiar with the following proverbs. How do you perceive them according to the arbitrariness and conventionality of language?The proof of the pudding is in the eating.Let sleeping dogs lie.You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.Rome was not built in a day.When in Rome, do as the Romans do.All roads lead to Rome.ANSWER:20. Arbitrariness and conventionality derive from the choice of the subject matter. For example, in the “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” The word “pudding” is selected arbitrarily, for we can use another word such as cheese instead of pudding without changing the associative meaning of the proverb. On the other hand, once such links between particular words and associativemeaning are fixed, it becomes a matter of conventionality.21. Give examples of situations in which a usage generally considered non-standard (e.g. ain’t) would be acceptable, even appropriate.ANSWER21. In the talks between intimate friends, one may say “gimme that!” instead of “give me that!” and “wachya doin’?” instead of “what are you doing?” and this list may go on.22. The following are some book titles of linguistics. Can you judge the diachronic and diachronic orientation just from the titles?English Examined: Two centuries of Comment on the Mother-Tongue.Protean Shape: A Study in Eighteenth-century Vocabulary and Usage.Pejorative Sense Development in English.The Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word-Formation.Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular.ANSWER22. Synchronic:Protean Shape: A Study in Eighteenth-century Vocabulary and Usage.The Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word-Formation.Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular.Diachronic:English Examined: Two centuries of Comment on the Mother-Tongue.Pejorative Sense Development in English。
语言学答案Chapter1-3
Chapter 1 -3Chapter 1 Introduction1. Linguistics is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. In order to discover the nature and rules of the underlying language system, the linguists has to collect and observe language facts first, which are found to display some similarities, and generalizations are made about them; then he formulates some hypotheses about the language structure. The hypotheses thus formed have to be checked repeatedly against the observed facts to fully prove their validity. In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation, that is, a theory without the support of data can hardly claim validity, and data without being explained by some theory remain a muddled mass of things.2. The major branches of linguistics are:(1) phonetics: it studies the sounds used in linguistic communication;(2) phonology: it studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning incommunication;(3) morphology: it studies the way in which linguistic symbols representing sounds are arrangedand combined to form words;(4) syntax: it studies the rules which govern how words are combined to form grammaticallypermissible sentences in languages;(5) semantics: it studies meaning conveyed by language;(6) pragmatics: it studies the meaning in the context of language use.3. The general approach thus traditionally formed to the study of language over the years is roughly referred to as “t raditional gramma r.” Modern linguistics differs from traditional g rammar in several basic ways.Firstly, linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive.Second, modem linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tended to emphasize, maybe over-emphasize, the importance of the written word, partly because of its permanence.Then, modem linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework.4. In modem linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic one. Because people believed that unless the various states of a language in different historical periods are successfully studied, it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development.5. Speech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication. Modem linguistics regards the spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of human language for some obvious reasons. From the point of view of linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any langu age is always “invented” by its users to record speech when the need arises. Even in today's world there are still many languages that can only be spoken but not written.Then in everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed. And also, speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue, and writing is learned and taught later when he goes to school. For modern linguists, spoken language reveals many true features of human speech while written language is only the “revised” record of speech. Thus their data for investigation and analysis are mostly drawn from everyday speech, which they regard as authentic.6. Saussure's distinction and Chomsky's are very similar, they differ at least in that Saussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.7. First of all, language is a system, i.e., elements of language are combined according to rules.Second, language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between a linguistic symbol and what the symbol stands for.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.Chapter 2 Phonology1. 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. V oicing 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. The transcription with letter-symbols only 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 differe ntly 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].Another example is the consonant [p]. We all know that [p] is pronounced differently in the two words pit and spit. In the word pit, the sound [p] is pronounced with a strong puff of air, but inspit the puff of air is withheld to some extent. In the case of pit, the [p] sound is said to be aspirated and in the case of spit, the [p] sound is unaspirated. This difference is not shown in broad transcription, but in narrow transc ription, a small raised “h” is used to show aspiration, thus pit is transcribed as [p hɪt] and spit is transcribed as [spɪt].4. English consonants can be classified in two ways: one is in terms of manner of articulation and the other is in terms of place of articulation. In terms of manner of articulation the English consonants can be classified into the following types: stops, fricatives, affricates, liquids, nasals and glides. In terms of place of articulation, it can be classified into following types: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, palatal, velar and glottal.5. V owels may be distinguished as front, central, and back according to which part of the tongue is held highest. To further distinguish members of each group, we need to apply another criterion, i.e. the openness of the mouth. Accordingly, we classify the vowels into four groups: close vowels, semi-close vowels, semi-open vowels, and open vowels. A third criterion that is often used in the classification of vowels is the shape of the lips. In English, all the front vowels and the central vowels are unfounded vowels, i. e., without rounding the lips, and all the back vowels, with the exception of [a:], are rounded. It should be noted that some front vowels can be pronounced with rounded lips.6. (1) [ʤ] (2) [ f ] (3) [d ](4) [ ɪ] (5) [ɔ:] (6) [p](1) voiced alveolar stop (2) voiced alveolar liquid(3) voiceless palatal affricate (4) voiced bilabial glide(5) back, close, short (6) front, open7. (1) Both phonology and phonetics are concerned with the same aspect of language ––the speech sounds. But while both are related to the study of sounds,, they differ in their approach and focus. Phonetics is of a general nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages: how they are produced, how they differ from each other, what phonetic features they possess, how they can be classified, etc. Phonology, on the other hand, aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.(2) A phonologist will be more interested in it. Because one of the tasks of the phonologists is to find out rule that governs the distribution of [l] and [ɫ], [p h] and [p].8. A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. A phoneme is not any particular sound, but rather it is represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context. The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophones of that phoneme. For example, the phoneme /l/ in English can be realized as dark [ɫ], clear [l], etc. which are allophones of the phoneme /l/.9. Rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language are called sequentialrules.There are many such sequential rules in English. For example, if a word begins with a [l] or a [r], then the next sound must be a vowel. That is why [lbik] [lkbi] are impossible combinations in English. They have violated the restrictions on the sequencing of phonemes.The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to another by “copying” a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones similar. Assimilation of neighbouring sounds is, for the most part, caused by articulatory or physiological processes. When we speak, we tend to increase the ease of articulation. This “sloppy” t endency may become regularized as rules of language.We all know that nasalization is not a phonological feature in English, i.e., it does not distinguish meaning. But this does not mean that vowels in English are never nasalized in actual pronunciation; in fact they are nasalized in certain phonetic contexts. For example, the [i:] sound is nasalized in words like bean, green, team, and scream. This is because in all these sound combinations the [i:] sound is followed by a nasal [n] or [m].The assimilation rule also accounts for the varying pronunciation of the alveolar nasal [n] in some sound combinations. The rule is that within a word, the nasal [n] assumes the same place of articulation as the consonant that follows it. We know that in English the prefix in- can be added to ma adjective to make the meaning of the word negative, e.g. discreet –indiscreet, correct –incorrect. But the [n] sound in the prefix in- is not always pronounced as an alveolar nasal. It is so in the word indiscreet because the consonant that follows it, i.e. [d], is an alveolar stop, but the [n] sound in the word incorrect is actually pronounced as a velar nasal, i.e. [ŋ]; this is because the consonant that follows it is [k], which is a velar stop. So we can see that while pronouncing the sound [n], we are “copying” a feature of the consonant that follows it.Deletion rule tells us when a sound is to be deleted although it is orthographically represented. We have noticed that in the pronunciation of such words as sign, design, and paradigm, there is no [g] sound although it is represented in spelling by the letter g. But in their corresponding forms signature, designation, and paradigmatic, the [g] represented by the letter g is pronounced. The rule can be stated as: Delete a [g] when it occurs before a final nasal consonant. Given the rule, the phonemic representation of the stems in sign – signature, resign – resignation, phlegm –phlegmatic, paradigm –paradigmatic will include the phoneme /g/, which will be deleted according to the regular rule if no suffix is added.10. The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are called suprasegmental features. The main suprasegmental features include stress, intonation, and tone. The location of stress in English distinguishes meaning. There are two kinds of stress: word stress and sentence stress. For example, a shift of stress may change the part of speech of a word from a noun, to a verb although its spelling remains unchanged. Tones are pitch variations which can distinguish meaning just like phonemes.Intonation plays an important role in the conveyance of meaning in almost every language, especially in a language like English. When spoken in different tones, the same sequence of words may have different meanings.Chapter 3 Morphology1. a. micro + file b. be + draggle + edc. announce + mentd. pre + digest + ione. tele + communicate + ionf. fore + fatherg. psycho + physics h. mechan + ist2. (1) suffix: -ablemeaning: something can be done or is possiblestem type: added to verbsexamples: acceptable, “can be accepted”respectable, “can be respected”(2) suffix: -lymeaning: functionalstem type: added to adjectivesexamples: freely. “adverbial form of…fr ee‟”quickly, “adverbial form of 'quick' ”.(3) suffix: -eemeaning: the person receiving the actionstem type: added to verbsexamples: employee, “one who works in a company”interviewee, “one who is interviewed”3. (1) prefix: dis-meaning: showing an oppositestem type: added to verbs or nounsexamples : disapprove, “do not approve”dishonesty, “lack of honesty”.(2) prefix: anti-meaning: against, opposed tostem type: added to nouns or adjectivesexamples : antinuclear, “opposing the use of atomic weapons and power”antisocial, “opposed or harmful to the laws and customs of an organizedcommunity. ”(3) prefix: counter-meaning: the opposite ofstem type: added to nouns or adjectives.examples: counterproductive, “producing resu lts opposite to those intended”counteract, “act against and reduce the force or effect of (sth.) ”4. (1) the third person singular(2) the past tense(3) the present perfect(4) the present progressive。
语言学Chapter课后练习答案
Chapter 4 Revision Exercises1. What is syntaxSyntax is a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences.2. What is phrase structure ruleThe grammatical mechanism that regulates the arrangement of elements (i.e. specifiers, heads, and complements) that make up a phrase is called a phrase structure rule.The phrase structural rule for NP, VP, AP, and PP can be written as follows:NP→(Det) N (PP) ...VP→(Qual) V (NP) ...AP→(Deg) A (PP) ...PP→(Deg) P (NP) ...We can formulate a single general phrasal structural rule in which X stands for the head N, V, A or P.The XP rule: XP→(specifier) X (complement)3. What is category How to determine a word’s categoryCategory refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb.To determine a word's category, three criteria are usually employed, namely meaning, inflection and distribution. The most reliable of determining a word’s category is its distribution.4. What is coordinate structure and what properties does it haveThe structure formed by joining two or more elements of the same type with the help of a conjunction is called coordinate structure.It has four important properties:1)there is no limit on the number of coordinated categories that can appear priorto the conjunction.2) a category at any level (a head or an entire XP) can be coordinated.3)coordinated categories must be of the same type.4)the category type of the coordinate phrase is identical to the category type ofthe elements being conjoined.5. What elements does a phrase contain and what role does each element playA phrase usually contains the following elements: head, specifier and complement. Sometimes it also contains another kind of element termed modifier.The role each element can play:Head:Head is the word around which a phrase is formed.Specifier:Specifier has both special semantic and syntactic roles. Semantically, it helps to make more precise the meaning of the head. Syntactically, it typically marks a phrase boundary.Complement:Complements are themselves phrases and provide information about entities and locations whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head.Modifier:Modifiers specify optionally expressible properties of the heads.6. What is deep structure and what is surface structureThere are two levels of syntactic structure. The first, formed by the XP rule in accordance with the head's subcategorization properties, is called deep structure (or D-structure). The second, corresponding to the final syntactic form of the sentence which results from appropriate transformations, is called surface structure (orS-structure).7. Indicate the category of each word in the following sentences.8. The following phrases include a head, a complement, and a specifier. Draw the appropriate tree structure for each phrase.a) rich in mineralsA PPrich in mineralsb) often read detective storiesVPQual V NPoften read detective storiesc) the argument against the proposalsNPDet N PPthe argument against the proposalsd) already above the windowPPDeg P NPalready above the window9. The following sentences contain modifiers of various types. For each sentences, first identify the modifier(s), then draw the tree sentences.a) A crippled passenger landed the airplane with extreme caution.Modifiers: crippled(AdjP), with extreme caution(PP)NP Infl VPAPDet A N Pst V NPDet N PPP NPAP NAA crippled passenger landed the airplane with extreme caution b) A huge moon hung in the black sky.Modifiers: huge(AdjP), in the black sky(PP)SNP Infl VPDet AP N Pst V PPA P NPDet AP NA huge moon hung in the black sky c) The man examined his car carefully yesterday.Modifiers: carefully(AdvP), yesterday(AdvP)SNP Infl VPDet N Pst V NP AdvPDet N AdvP AdvAdv The man examined his car carefully yesterdayd) A wooden hut near the lake collapsed in the storm.Modifiers: wooden(AdjP), in the storm(PP)SNP Infl VPDet AP N PP Pst V PPA P NP P NPDet N Det NA wooden hut near the lake collapsed in the storm10. The following sentences all contain conjoined categories. Draw a tree structure for each of the sentences.a) Jim has washed the dirty shirts and pants.SNP Infl VPN V NPDet AP N Con NAJim has washed the dirty shirts and pantsb) Helen put on her clothes and went out.SNP Infl VPN Pst V PP Con V PPP NP PDet NHelen put on her clothes and went out c) Mary is fond of literature but tired of statistics.SNP Infl VPN Pre V AP Con APA PP A PPP NP P NPN N Mary is fond of literature but tired of statistics11. The following sentences all contain embedded clauses that function as complements of a verb, an adjective, a preposition or a noun. Draw a tree structure for each sentence.a) You know that I hate war.SNP Infl VPN Pre V NPCPC SNP Infl VPNP N Pre V NPN You know that I hate war b) Gerry believes the fact that Anna flunked the English exam.SNP Infl VPN Pre V NPDet N CP-C SNP Infl VPNP N Pst V NPDet AP NA Gerry believes the fact that Anna flunked the English exam c) Chris was happy that his father bought him a Rolls-Royce.SNP Infl VPN Pst V APA CPC SNP NP Infl VPDet N Pst V NPN Det N Chris was happy that his father bought him a Roll-Royced) The children argued over whether bats had wings.SNP Infl VPDet N Pst V PPP CPC SNP Infl VPN Plu V NPNThe children argued over whether bats had wings 12. Each of the following sentences contains a relative clause. Draw the deep structure and the surface structure for each of these sentences.a) The essay that he wrote was excellent.Deep Structure:CPC SNP Infl VPDet N CP Pst V APC S Aux ANP Infl VPN Pst V NPNThe essay he wrote that was excellentSurface Structure:CPC SNP Infl VPDet N CP Pst V APC S Aux ANP NP Infl VPN N Pst V NPNThe essay that he wrote e was excellentb) Herbert bought a house that she loved.Deep Structure:CPC SNP Infl VPN Pst V NPDet N CPC SNP Infl VPN Pst V NPN Herbert bought a house she loved thatC SNP Infl VPN Pst V NPDet N CPC SNP NP Infl VPN N Pst V NPN Herbert bought a house that loved ec) The girl whom he adores majors in linguistics.Deep Structure:CPC SNP Infl VPDet N CP Pre V PPC S P NPNP Infl VP NN Pre V NPNThe girl he adores whom majors in linguisticsC SNP Infl VPDet N CP Pre V PPNP C S P NPNP Infl VP NN N Pre V NPNThe girl whom he adores e majors in linguistics13. The derivations of the following sentences involve the inversion transformation. Give the deep structure and the surface structure of each sentence.a) Would you come tomorrowDeep Structure:CPC SNP Infl VPN Aux V AdvPAdvYou would come tomorrowSurface Structure:CPC SInfl NP Infl VPAux N Aux V AdvPAdvWould You e come tomorrowb) What did Helen bring to the partyDeep Structure:CPC SNP Infl VPN Pst V NPN PPP Det NPNHelen did bring what to the partySurface Structure: CPC SNP Infl NP Infl VPN Pst N Pst V NPN PPP Det NPN What did Helen e bring e to the partyc) Who broke the windowDeep Structure:CPC SNP Infl VPN Pst V NPDet NWho broke the windowSurface Structure: CPC SNP NP Infl VPN N Pst V NPDet N Who e broke the window。
(完整版)英语语言学习题与答案
Chapter 1 Introductions to LinguisticsI. Choose the best answer. (20%)1. Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human__________A. contactB. communicationC. relationD. community2. Which of the following words is entirely arbitrary?A. treeB. typewriterC. crashD. bang3. The function of the sentence “Water boils at 100 degrees Centigrade.”is__________.A. interrogativeB. directiveC. informativeD. performative4. In Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate the host or the people present are likely to say“碎碎（岁岁）平安”as a means of controlling the forces which they believes feel might affect their lives. Which functions does it perform?A. InterpersonalB. EmotiveC. PerformativeD. Recreational5. Which of the following property of language enables language users to overcome the barriers caused by time and place, due to this feature of language, speakers of a language are free to talk about anything in any situation?A. TransferabilityB. DualityC. DisplacementD. Arbitrariness6. Study the following dialogue. What function does it play according to the functions of language?—A nice day, isn't it?—Right! I really enjoy the sunlight.A. EmotiveB. PhaticC. PerformativeD. Interpersonal7. __________ refers to the actual realization of the ideal language user's knowledge of the rulesof his language in utterances.A. PerformanceB. CompetenceC. LangueD. Parole8. When a dog is barking, you assume it is barking for something or at someone that exists hear and now. It couldn't be sorrowful for some lost love or lost bone. This indicates the designfeature of __________.A. cultural transmissionB. productivityC. displacementD. duality9. __________ answers such questions as how we as infants acquire our first language.A. PsycholinguisticsB.Anthropological linguisticsC. SociolinguisticsD. Applied linguistics10. __________ deals with language application to other fields, particularly education.A. Linguistic theoryB. Practical linguisticsC. Applied linguisticsD. Comparative linguisticsII. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)11. Language is a means of verbal communication. Therefore, the communication way usedby the deaf-mute is not language.12. Language change is universal, ongoing and arbitrary.13. Speaking is the quickest and most efficient way of the human communication systems.14. Language is written because writing is the primary medium for all languages.anyof details the means which language, acquire to ability the with born all were We 15.language system can be genetically transmitted.16. Only human beings are able to communicate.17. F. de Saussure, who made the distinction between langue and parole in the early 20th century, was a French linguist.18. A study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare's time is an example of the diachronic study of language.19. Speech and writing came into being at much the same time in human history.20. All the languages in the world today have both spoken and written forms.III. Fill in the blanks. (10%)21. Language, broadly speaking, is a means of __________ communication.22. In any language words can be used in new ways to mean new things and can be combined into innumerable sentences based on limited rules. This feature is usually termed__________.23. Language has many functions. We can use language to talk about itself. This function is __________.24. Theory that primitive man made involuntary vocal noises while performing heavy work has been called the __________ theory.25. Linguistics is the __________ study of language.26. Modern linguistics is __________ in the sense that the linguist tries to discover what language is rather than lay down some rules for people to observe.27. One general principle of linguistic analysis is the primacy of __________ over writing.28. The description of a language as it changes through time is a __________ study.29. Saussure put forward two important concepts. __________ refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of a speech community.30. Linguistic potential is similar to Saussure's langue and Chomsky's __________.IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)31. Design feature32. Displacement33. Competence34. Synchronic linguisticsV. Answer the following questions. (20%)35. Why do people take duality as one of the important design features of human language? Can you tell us what language will be if it has no such design feature? （南开大学，2004）36. Why is it difficult to define language? （北京第二外国语大学，2004）VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)）1999（青岛海洋大学，How can a linguist make his analysis scientific? 37.Key:[In the reference keys, I won't give examples or further analysis. That seems too much work for me. Therefore, this key is only for reference. In order to answer this kind of question, you need more examples. So you should read the textbook carefully. –icywarmtea]I.1~5 BACCC 6~10 BACACII.11~15 FFTFF 16~20 FFFFFIII.21. verbal 22. productivity / creativity23. metalingual function 24. yo-he-ho25. scientific 26. descriptive27. speech 28. diachronic linguistic29. langue 30. competenceIV.31. Design feature: It refers to the defining properties of human language that tell the difference between human language and any system of animal communication.32. Displacement: It means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts, which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of communication. 33. Competence: It is an essential part of performance. It is the speaker's knowledge of his or her language; that is, of its sound structure, its words, and its grammatical rules. Competence is, ina way, an encyclopedia of language. Moreover, the knowledge involved in competence is generally unconscious. A transformational-generative grammar is a model of competence.34. Synchronic linguistics: It refers to the study of a language at a given point in time. The time studied may be either the present or a particular point in the past; synchronic analyses can also be made of dead languages, such as Latin. Synchronic linguistics is contrasted with diachronic linguistics, the study of a language over a period of time.V.35.Duality makes our language productive. A large number of different units can be formed out of asmall number of elements –for instance, tens of thousands of words out of a small set of sounds, around 48 in the case of the English language. And out of the huge number of words, there can be astronomical number of possible sentences and phrases, which in turn can combine to formunlimited number of texts. Most animal communication systems do not have this design feature of human language.If language has no such design feature, then it will be like animal communicational system whichwill be highly limited. It cannot produce a very large number of sound combinations, e.g. words,which are distinct in meaning.36.It is difficult to define language, as it is such a general term that covers too many things. Thus, definitions for it all have their own special emphasis, and are not totally free from limitations.VI.37.It should be guided by the four principles of science: exhaustiveness, consistency, economy and objectivity and follow the scientific procedure: form hypothesis –collect data –checkagainst the observable facts –come to a conclusion.Chapter 2 Speech SoundsI. Choose the best answer. (20%)1. Pitch variation is known as __________ when its patterns are imposed on sentences.A. intonationB. toneC. pronunciationD. voice2. Conventionally a __________ is put in slashes (/ /).A. allophoneB. phoneC. phonemeD. morpheme3. An aspirated p, an unaspirated p and an unreleased p are __________ of the p phoneme.A. analoguesB. tagmemesC. morphemesD. allophones4. The opening between the vocal cords is sometimes referred to as__________.A. glottisB. vocal cavityC. pharynxD. uvula5. The diphthongs that are made with a movement of the tongue towards the center are known as __________ diphthongs.A. wideB. closingC. narrowD. centering6. A phoneme is a group of similar sounds called __________.A. minimal pairsB. allomorphsC. phonesD. allophones7. Which branch of phonetics concerns the production of speech sounds?A. Acoustic phoneticsB. Articulatory phoneticsC. Auditory phoneticsD. None of the above8. Which one is different from the others according to places of articulation?A. [n]B. [m]C. [ b ]D. [p]9. Which vowel is different from the others according to the characteristics of vowels?A. [i:]B. [ u ]C. [e]D. [ i ]10. What kind of sounds can we make when the vocal cords are vibrating?A. VoicelessB. VoicedC. Glottal stopD. ConsonantII. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)11. Suprasegmental phonology refers to the study of phonological properties of units larger than the segment-phoneme, such as syllable, word and sentence.12. The air stream provided by the lungs has to undergo a number of modification to acquirethe quality of a speech sound.13. Two sounds are in free variation when they occur in the same environment and do not contrast, namely, the substitution of one for the other does not produce a different word, but merelya different pronunciation.14. [p] is a voiced bilabial stop.Acoustic phonetics is concerned with the perception of speech sounds.15.16. All syllables must have a nucleus but not all syllables contain an onset and a coda.17. When pure vowels or monophthongs are pronounced, no vowel glides take place.18. According to the length or tenseness of the pronunciation, vowels can be divided into tense vs. lax or long vs. short.19. Received Pronunciation is the pronunciation accepted by most people.20. The maximal onset principle states that when there is a choice as to where to place a consonant, it is put into the coda rather than the onset.III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)21. Consonant sounds can be either __________ or __________, while all vowel sounds are __________.22. Consonant sounds can also be made when two organs of speech in the mouth are brought close together so that the air is pushed out between them, causing __________.23. The qualities of vowels depend upon the position of the __________ and the lips.24. One element in the description of vowels is the part of the tongue which is at the highest point in the mouth. A second element is the __________ to which that part of the tongue is raised.25. Consonants differ from vowels in that the latter are produced without __________.26. In phonological analysis the words fail / veil are distinguishable simply because of the two phonemes /f/ - /v/. This is an example for illustrating __________.27. In English there are a number of __________, which are produced by moving from one vowel position to another through intervening positions.28. __________ refers to the phenomenon of sounds continually show the influence of their neighbors.29. __________ is the smallest linguistic unit.30. Speech takes place when the organs of speech move to produce patterns of sound. These movements have an effect on the __________ coming from the lungs.IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)31. Sound assimilation32. Suprasegmental feature33. Complementary distribution34. Distinctive featuresV. Answer the following questions. (20%)35. What is acoustic phonetics?（中国人民大学，2003）36. What are the differences between voiced sounds and voiceless sounds in terms of articulation?（南开大学，2004）VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)Write the symbol that corresponds to each of the following phonetic descriptions; then give37.an English word that contains this sound. Example: voiced alveolar stop [d] dog. （青岛海洋大学，1999）(1) voiceless bilabial unaspirated stop(2) low front vowel(3) lateral liquid(4) velar nasal(5) voiced interdental fricative答案I.1~5 ACDAA 6~10 DBABBII.11~15 TTTFF 16~20 TTTFFIII.21. voiced, voiceless, voiced 22. friction23. tongue 24. height25. obstruction 26. minimal pairs27. diphthongs 28. Co-articulation29. Phonemes 30. air streamIV.31. Sound assimilation: Speech sounds seldom occur in isolation. In connected speech, under the influence of their neighbors, are replaced by other sounds. Sometimes two neighboring sounds influence each other and are replaced by a third sound which is different from both original sounds. This process is called sound assimilation.32. Suprasegmental feature: The phonetic features that occur above the level of the segments are called suprasegmental features; these are the phonological properties of such units as the syllable, the word, and the sentence. The main suprasegmental ones includes stress, intonation,and tone.33. Complementary distribution: The different allophones of the same phoneme never occur in the same phonetic context. When two or more allophones of one phoneme never occur in the same linguistic environment they are said to be in complementary distribution.34. Distinctive features: It refers to the features that can distinguish one phoneme from another. If we can group the phonemes into two categories: one with this feature and the other without, this feature is called a distinctive feature.V.35.Acoustic phonetics deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air. When a speech sound is produced it causes minor air disturbances (sound waves). Various instruments are used to measure the characteristics of these sound waves.36.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.VI.37.Omit.Chapter 3 LexiconI. Choose the best answer. (20%)1. Nouns, verbs and adjectives can be classified as __________.A. lexical wordsB. grammatical wordsC. function wordsD. form words2. Morphemes that represent tense, number, gender and case are called __________ morpheme.A. inflectionalB. freeC. boundD. derivational3. There are __________ morphemes in the word denationalization.A. threeB. fourC. fiveD. six4. In English –ise and –tion are called __________.A. prefixesB. suffixesC. infixesD. stems5. The three subtypes of affixes are: prefix, suffix and __________.A. derivational affixB. inflectional affixC. infixD. back-formation6. __________ is a way in which new words may be formed from already existing words by subtracting an affix which is thought to be part of the old word.A. affixationB. back-formationC. insertionD. addition7. The word TB is formed in the way of __________.A. acronymyB. clippingC. initialismD. blending8. The words like comsat and sitcom are formed by __________.A. blendingB. clippingC. back-formationD. acronymy9. The stem of disagreements is __________.A. agreementB. agreeC. disagreeD. disagreement10. All of them are meaningful except for __________.A. lexemeB. phonemeC. morphemeD. allomorphII. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)11. Phonetically, the stress of a compound always falls on the first element, while the secondelement receives secondary stress.12. Fore as in foretell is both a prefix and a bound morpheme.13. Base refers to the part of the word that remains when all inflectional affixes are removed.14. In most cases, prefixes change the meaning of the base whereas suffixes change theword-class of the base.15. Conversion from noun to verb is the most productive process of a word.16. Reduplicative compound is formed by repeating the same morpheme of a word.17. The words whimper, whisper and whistle are formed in the way of onomatopoeia.18. In most cases, the number of syllables of a word corresponds to the number of morphemes.19. Back-formation is a productive way of word-formations.20. Inflection is a particular way of word-formations.III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)21. An __________ is pronounced letter by letter, while an __________ is pronounced as a word.22. Lexicon, in most cases, is synonymous with __________.23. Orthographically, compounds are written in three ways: __________, __________ and__________.24. All words may be said to contain a root __________.25. A small set of conjunctions, prepositions and pronouns belong to __________ class, while the largest part of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs belongs to __________ class.26. __________ is a reverse process of derivation, and therefore is a process of shortening.27. __________ is extremely productive, because English had lost most of its inflectional endings by the end of Middle English period, which facilitated the use of words interchangeably as verbs or nouns, verbs or adjectives, and vice versa.28. Words are divided into simple, compound and derived words on the __________ level.29. A word formed by derivation is called a __________, and a word formed by compounding is called a __________.30. Bound morphemes are classified into two types: __________ and __________.IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)31. Blending32. Allomorph33. Closed-class word34. Morphological ruleV. Answer the following questions. (20%)35. How many types of morphemes are there in the English language? What are they? （厦门大学，2003）36. What are the main features of the English compounds?VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)37. Match the terms under COLUMN I with the underlined forms from COLUMN II （武汉大学，2004）I II(1) acronym a. foe(2) free morpheme b. subconscious(3) derivational morpheme c. UNESCOoverwhelmedd. inflectional morpheme (4)(5) prefix e. calculationKey:I.1~5 AACBB 6~10 BCADBII.11~15 FTFTT 16~20 FTFFFIII.21. initialism, acronym 22. vocabulary23. solid, hyphenated, open 24. morpheme25. close, open 26. back-formation27. conversion 28. morpheme29. derivative, compound 30. affix, bound rootIV.31. Blending: It is a process of word-formation in which a new word is formed by combiningthe meanings and sounds of two words, one of which is not in its full form or both of which are not in their full forms, like newscast (news + broadcast), brunch (breakfast + lunch)32. Allomorph: It is any of the variant forms of a morpheme as conditioned by position or adjoining sounds.33. Close-class word: It is a word whose membership is fixed or limited. Pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, etc. are all closed-class words.34. Morphological rule: It is the rule that governs which affix can be added to what type ofbase to form a new word, e.g. –ly can be added to a noun to form an adjective.V.Omit.VI.37.(1) c (2) a (3) e (4) d (5) bChapter 4 SyntaxI. Choose the best answer. (20%)1. The sentence structure is ________.A. only linearB. only hierarchicalC. complexD. both linear and hierarchical2. The syntactic rules of any language are ____ in number.A. largeB. smallC. finiteD. infinite3. The ________ rules are the rules that group words and phrases to form grammatical sentences.A. lexicalB. morphologicalC. linguisticD. combinational4. A sentence is considered ____ when it does not conform to the grammati?cal knowledge in the mind of native speakers.A. rightB. wrongC. grammaticalD. ungrammatical5. A __________ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory word that introduces the embedded clause.D. subordinatorC. preposition B. particle A. coordinator6. Phrase structure rules have ____ properties.A. recursiveB. grammaticalC. socialD. functional7. Phrase structure rules allow us to better understand _____________.A. how words and phrases form sentences.B. what constitutes the grammaticality of strings of wordsC. how people produce and recognize possible sentencesD. all of the above.8. The head of the phrase “the city Rome”is __________.A. the cityB. RomeC. cityD. the city Rome9. The phrase “on the shelf”belongs to __________ construction.A. endocentricB. exocentricC. subordinateD. coordinate10. The sentence “They were wanted to remain quiet and not to expose themselves.”is a__________ sentence.A. simpleB. coordinateC. compoundD. complexII. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)11. Universally found in the grammars of all human languages, syntactic rules that comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledge of a language speaker are known as linguistic competence.12. The syntactic rules of any language are finite in number, but there is no limit to the number of sentences native speakers of that language are able to produce and comprehend.13. In a complex sentence, the two clauses hold unequal status, one subordinating the other.14. Constituents that can be substituted for one another without loss of grammaticality belong to the same syntactic category.15. Minor lexical categories are open because these categories are not fixed and new members are allowed for.16. In English syntactic analysis, four phrasal categories are commonly recognized and discussed, namely, noun phrase, verb phrase, infinitive phrase, and auxiliary phrase.17. In English the subject usually precedes the verb and the direct object usually follows the verb.18. What is actually internalized in the mind of a native speaker is a complete list of words and phrases rather than grammatical knowledge.19. A noun phrase must contain a noun, but other elements are optional.20. It is believed that phrase structure rules, with the insertion of the lexicon, generate sentences at the level of D-structure.III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)21. A __________ sentence consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence.22. A __________ is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to form a complete statement, question or command.23. A __________ may be a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence that usually precedes the predicate.24. The part of a sentence which comprises a finite verb or a verb phrase and which says something about the subject is grammatically called __________.25. A __________ sentence contains two, or more, clauses, one of which is incorporated into the other.26. In the complex sentence, the incorporated or subordinate clause is normally called an__________ clause.27. Major lexical categories are __________ categories in the sense that new words are constantly added.28. __________ condition on case assignment states that a case assignor and a case recipient should stay adjacent to each other.29. __________ are syntactic options of UG that allow general principles to operate in oneway or another and contribute to significant linguistic variations between and amongnatural languages.30. The theory of __________ condition explains the fact that noun phrases appear only in subject and object positions.IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)31. Syntax32. IC analysis33. Hierarchical structure34. Trace theoryV. Answer the following questions. (20%)35. What are endocentric construction and exocentric construction? （武汉大学，2004）36. Distinguish the two possible meanings of “more beautiful flowers”by means of IC analysis. （北京第二外国语大学，2004）VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)37. Draw a tree diagram according to the PS rules to show the deep structure of the sentence:The student wrote a letter yesterday.Key:I.1~5 DCDDD 6~10 ADDBAII.11~15 TTTTF 16~20 FTFTTIII.21. simple 22. sentence23. subject 24. predicate25. complex 26. embedded28. Adjacency27. open29. Parameters 30. CaseIV.31. Syntax: Syntax refers to the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences ina language, or simply, the study of the formation of sentences.32. IC analysis: Immediate constituent analysis, IC analysis for short, refers to the analysis of a sentence in terms of its immediate constituents –word groups (phrases), which are in turn analyzed into the immediate constituents of their own, and the process goes on until the ultimate sake of convenience.33. Hierarchical structure: It is the sentence structure that groups words into structural constituents and shows the syntactic category of each structural constituent, such as NP, VP and PP.34. Trace theory: After the movement of an element in a sentence there will be a trace left in the original position. This is the notion trace in T-G grammar. It's suggested that if we have the notion trace, all the necessary information for semantic interpretation may come from the surface structure.E.g. The passive Dams are built by beavers. differs from the active Beavers built dams. in implying that all dams are built by beavers. If we add a trace element represented by the letter t after built in the passive as Dams are built t by beavers, then the deep structure information that the word dams was originally the object of built is also captured by the surface structure. Trace theory proves to be not only theoretically significant but also empirically valid.V.35.An endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent, or approaching equivalence, to one of its constituents, which serves as the center, or head, of the whole. A typical example is the three small children with children as its head. The exocentric construction, oppositeto the first type, is defined negatively as a construction whose distribution is not functionally equivalent to any of its constituents. Prepositional phrasal like on the shelf are typical examples ofthis type.36.(1) more | beautiful flowers(2) more beautiful | flowersChapter 5 Meaning[Mainly taken from lxm1000w's exercises. –icywarmtea]I. Choose the best answer. (20%)1. The naming theory is advanced by ________.A. PlatoB. BloomfieldC. Geoffrey LeechD. Firth2. “We shall know a word by the company it keeps.”This statement represents _______.A. the conceptualist viewB. contexutalismC. the naming theoryD. behaviorism3. Which of the following is NOT true?A. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.B. Sense is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form.C. Sense is abstract and decontextualized.D. Sense is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are not interested in.4. “Can I borrow your bike?”_______ “You have a bike.”A. is synonymous withB. is inconsistent withC. entailsD. presupposes5. ___________ is a way in which the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features.A. Predication analysisB. Componential analysisC. Phonemic analysisD. Grammatical analysis6. “Alive”and “dead”are ______________.A. gradable antonymsB. relational antonymsC. complementary antonymsD. None of the above7. _________ deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience.A. ReferenceB. ConceptC. SemanticsD. Sense8. ___________ refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form.A. PolysemyB. SynonymyC. HomonymyD. Hyponymy9. Words that are close in meaning are called ______________.A. homonymsB. polysemiesC. hyponymsD. synonyms10. The grammaticality of a sentence is governed by _______.A. grammatical rulesB. selectional restrictionsC. semantic rulesD. semantic features。
英语语言学(江西师范大学)智慧树知到课后章节答案2023年下江西师范大学
英语语言学（江西师范大学）智慧树知到课后章节答案2023年下江西师范大学江西师范大学第一章测试1.Linguistics studies particular language, not languages in general.答案:错2.Modern linguistics is mostly prescriptive, but sometimes descriptive.答案:错nguage is used to record the facts, which is the informative function oflanguage, also called ideational function in the framework of functionalgrammar.答案:对4.Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society.答案:对5.If a linguistic study describes and analyzes the language people actually use,it is said to be _______.答案:descriptive6.Which of the following is not a design feature of human language?答案:Meaningfulnessnguage is said to be arbitrary because there is no logical connectionbetween _______ and meanings.答案:sounds8.Saussure took a(n) _______ view of language, while Chomsky looks at languagefrom a ________ point of view.答案:sociological…psychological9.According to Jakobson, ___________ are the functions of language?答案:referential;conative;metalingual10.Which of the following belongs to the main branches of linguistics?答案:Morphology;phonetics;Semantics第二章测试1.Phonology is concerned with how the sounds can be classified into differentcategories.答案:错2.Distinctive features of sound segments can be found running over a sequenceof two or more phonemic segments.答案:对3.What is the difference between the fields of phonetics and phonology?答案:Phonetics is concerned with the physical and physiological aspects ofsounds, while phonology is concerned with sounds as parts of language.4.Question: Which of the following sounds is velar ?答案:A.g5.Which of the following sounds is not alveolar?答案:f6.Would it be useful to compare German and English when trying to establishhow English was spoken in the past?答案:Yes, because English and German are related and each may have a more conservative pronunciation in some points.7.In German, the word 'Kind' (child) has the plural form Kind-er. In the letter dis actually pronounced as [t], but in the plural form one pronounces it as a [d].Which phonological feature is involved in this alternation?答案:Voice8.English and German have relatively large vowel inventories. What reasondoes the discussion provide for this?答案:These languages tend to have a simpler syllable structure than otherlanguages, and need more differences between vowels.9.How do features help us understand and explain the path of languageacquisition?答案:Children try to find out how speech sounds can be built up offeatures.;Children do not acquire sounds, but rather features.;Children become gradually aware of features.10.Which three of the following parameters are relevant for consonant sounds?Please check all that apply.答案:Voicing;Manner of articulation;Place of articulation第三章测试1.Nouns, verbs and adjectives can be classified as ____.答案:lexical words2.Morphemes that represent tense, number, gender and case are called _____morpheme.答案:inflectional3.______ is a way in which new words may be formed from already existingwords by subtracting an affix which is thought to be part of the old word.答案:back-formation4.The stem of the word “disagreements” is ________.答案:disagreement5.All of them are meaningful except for ________.答案:phoneme6.“Fore” in “foretell”is both a prefix and a bound morpheme.答案:错7.The words “whimper”, “whisper”and “whistle”are formed in the way ofonomatopoeia.答案:对8.In most cases, the number of syllables of a word corresponds to thenumber of morphemes.答案:错9.Back-formation is a productive way of word-formation.答案:错10.Inflection is a particular way of word-formation.答案:对第四章测试1.Prase structure rules have ______ properties.答案:recursive2.The syntactic rules of any language are ____ in number.答案:finite3.The ________ rules are the rules that group words and phrases to formgrammatical sentences.答案:combinational4. A sentence is considered ____ when it does not conform to thegrammatical knowledge in the mind of native speakers.答案:ungrammatical5. A __________ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory wordthat introduces the embedded clause.答案:subordinator6.An ________ can further be divided into two types: subordination andcoordination.答案:endocentric construction7.What is the construction of the sentence “The boy smiled”?答案:Exocentric8.The head of the phrase “behind the door”is __________.答案:none9.The phrase “on the shelf”belongs to __________ construction.答案:exocentric10.The sentence “They were wanted to remain quiet and not to exposethemselves.”is a __________ sentence.答案:simple第五章测试1.Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references indifferent situations.答案:对2.In semantics, meaning of language is considered as the intrinsic and inherentrelation to the physical world of experience.答案:错3.The meaning of a sentence is the sum total of the meanings of all itscomponents.答案:错4.Most languages have sets of lexical items similar in meaning but rankeddifferently according to their degree of formality.答案:对5.________ is not one of seven types of meaning advanced by Geoffrey Leech.答案:derogatory meaning6.Words that are close in meaning are called ______________.答案:synonyms7.___________ is a way in which the meaning of a word can be dissected intomeaning components, called semantic features.答案:Componential analysis8.“teacher” and “student” are ______________.答案:converse antonyms9._________ deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and thenon-linguistic world of experience.答案:Reference10.“John killed Bill”_______ “Bill didn’t die.”答案:is inconsistent with第六章测试1.It would be impossible to give an adequate description of meaning if thecontext of language use was left unconsidered.答案:对2.What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in thestudy of meaning the context of use is considered.答案:对3.Utterances always take the form of complete sentences.答案:错4.Speech act theory was originated with the British philosopher John Searle.答案:错5.Perlocutionary act is the act of expressing the speaker’s intention.答案:错6.The meaning of language was considered as something _______ in traditionalsemantics.答案:intrinsic7. A sentence is a _________ concept, and the meaning of a sentence is oftenstudied in isolation.答案:grammatical8.__________ is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is theconsequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance.答案:A perlocutionary act9.__________ is advanced by Paul Grice.答案:Cooperative Principle10.When any of the maxims under the cooperative principle is flouted, _______might arise.答案:conversational implicatures第七章测试1.Halliday is hailed as the father of modern linguistics.（）答案:错。
语言学教程各章节练习及答案
Exercises to Linguistics外语系黄永亮Chapter 1 Invitation to Linguistics1.Define the following terms:Langue:Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community.Parole:parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use.Prescriptive: Prescriptive and descriptive represent two different types of linguistic study. if the linguistic study aims to lay down rules for “correct and standard”behaviour in usinglanguage, i.e. to tell people what they should day and what they should not say, it is saidto be prescriptive.Descriptive: Prescriptive and descriptive represent two different types of linguistic study. If a linguistic study aims to describe and analyze the language people actually use, it is saidto be descriptive;competence: Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language.Performance: Chomsky defines performance the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication.Synchronic: The description of a language at some point of time in history is a synchronic study;Diachronic: The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study.Linguistics：Linguistics may be defined as the systematic (or scientific) study of language.language：Language is a form of human communication by means of a system of symbols principally transmitted by vocal sounds.”2.Does the traffic light system have duality, why?No. No discrete units on the first level that can be combined freely in the second level to form meaning.There is only simple one to one relationship between signs and meaning, namely, re-stop, green-go and yellow-get ready to go or stop.munication can take many forms, such as sign, speech, body language and facial expression. Dobody language and facial expression share or lack the distinctive properties of human language?Less arbitrary, lack duality, less creative, limited repertoire, emotional-oriented.4.Why is competence and performance an important distinction in linguistics?According to Chomsky, a language user’s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called his linguistic competence. And performance refers to the actual enables a speaker to produce andunderstand an indefinite numbers of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities.A speaker’s competence is stable but his performance is often influenced by psychological and socialfactors. Thus, Chomsky proposed that linguists should focus on the study of competence, not performance. The distinction of the two terms “competence and performance”represents the orientation of linguistic study. So we can say competence and performance is an important distinction in linguistics.5.In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar?Modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar in the following basic ways:Firstly, priority is given, as mentioned earlier, to spoken language. Secondly, focus is on synchronic study of language, rather than on diachronic study of language. Thirdly, modern linguistics is descriptive rather than prescriptive in nature. Linguists endeavor to state objectively the regularities of a language. They aim at finding out how a language is spoken: they do not attempt to tell people how it should be spoken. Fourthly, modern linguistics is theoretically rather than pedagogically oriented. Modern linguists strive to construct theories of language that can account for language in general. These features distinguished modern linguistics from traditional grammar. The two are complementary. Not contradictory. Knowledge of both is necessary for a language teacher: knowledge of the latter is necessary for a language learner.Chapter 2 Phonetics1. Give the description of the following sound segments in English1)[❆] voiced dental fricative2)[☞] voiceless alveolar fricative3)[☠] velar nasal4)[♎] voiced alveolar stop5)[☐] voiceless bilabial stop6)[ ] voiceless velar stop7)[●] (alveolar) lateral8)[♓] high front lax unrounded vowel9)[◆:] high back tense rounded vowel10)[ ] low back lax rounded vowel2. How is the description of consonants different from that of vowels?Consonants are described according to manner and place of articulation while vowels are described with four criteria: part of the tongue that is raised; extent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the palate; kind of opening made at the lips; position of soft palate.3. Which sound may be described asa voiced bilabial plosive [♌]a voiced labio-dental fricative [❖]a voiceless velar plosive [ ]4. Why might a photographer ask the person she is photographing to say cheese?The vowel of the word cheese [♓:] is produced with the lips spread, this resembling a smile.5.Account for the difference in articulation in each of the following pairs of words:coast ghost; ghost boastboast most; ghost mist;The words coast and ghost are distinguished by the fact that the initial segment is voiceless in the case of the former and voiced in the case of the latter.The word ghost and boast are distinguished by the place of articulation of the initial segment, [♑] being velar while [♌] is bilabial.Boast and most are distinguished by the manner of articulation of the initial segment, [❍] being nasal.Most and mist are distinguished by the fact that the former has a rounded back vowel shile the latter has a spread front vowel.Chapter 3 Phonology1.Define the following termsPhonology: Phonology is concerned with the sound system of languages. It is concerned with which sounds a language uses and how the contribution of sounds to the task of communication.Phone: A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phonesPhoneme: Phoneme is the abstract element of sound, identified as being distinctive in a particular language.Allophone: Allophone refers any of the different forms of a phoneme is an allophone of it in English.Compare the words peak and speak, for instance. The /☐/ in peak is aspirated; phonetically transcribed as [☐♒] while the /☐/ in speak is unaspirated, phonetically [☐＝]. [☐,☐♒] are two different phones and are variants of the phoneme /☐/. Such variants of a phoneme are called Allophone of the same phoneme.Suprasegmental features:. The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segment are called Suprasegmental features. Suprasegmental features include: stress, tone and intonation.2.Transcribe the realization of the past tense morpheme for each of the following words:Waited waved wiped waded. account for the differences.[id] in “waited”and “waded”follows another alveolar plosive. [d] in “waved”follows voiced consonants.[t] in “wiped” follows voiceless consonants, there being voicing assimilation.3. which of the following would be phonologically acceptable as English words?Thlite grawl dlesher shlink tritch sruck stwondle“grawl” and “tritch”4.Why can we not use the sequence [☠kl] in twinkle as an example of a consonant cluster?The sequence [☠kl] bridges two syllables.5.For each of the following pairs compare the position of the stress. Comment.Economy/economic wonder/wonderfulBeauty/beautiful acid/acidicIn adjectives ending in –ic the stress moves to the following syllable, in adjectives ending in –ful it does not.6.Explain why somebody might choose to stress the following utterances as indicated by the boldtype:a) John want ed to do this today. b) John wanted to do this today. c) John wanted to do thisto day.The first utterance implies that John was unable to do what he wanted.The second implies that he was only able to do something else.The third implies that he was only able to do it some other day.Chapter 4 Morphology1.Define the following terms:Morpheme: the smallest unit of language in terms of relationship between expression and content, a unit that can not be divided into further small units without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical.Compound:Polymorphemic words which consist wholly of free morphemes, such as classroom, blackboard, snowwhite, etc.Allomorph: any of the different form of a morpheme. For example, in English the plural morpheme -‘s but it is pronounced differently in different environments as /s/ in cats,as /z/ in dogs and as /iz/ in classes. So /s/, /z/, and /iz/ are all allomorphs of the plural morpheme.Bound morpheme: an element of meaning which is structurally dependent on the word it is added to,e.g. the plural morpheme in “dogs”.Free morpheme: an element of meaning which takes the form of an independent word.plete the words with suitable negative prefixesa. ir removable g. in humanb. in formal h. ir relevantc. im practicable i. un evitabled. in sensible j. im mobilee. in tangible k. il legalf. il logical l. in discreet3. “Morpheme” is defined as the smallest unit in terms of relationship betweenexpression and content. Then is morpheme a grammatical concept or asemantic one? What is its relation to phoneme?Since morpheme is defined as the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expression and content, it at the same time covers the grammatical and semantic aspect of linguistic unit. A morpheme may overlap with a phoneme, such as I, but usually not, as in pig, in which the morpheme is the whole word, i.e. and independent, free morpheme, but the phonemes are /p/, /i/ and /g/.4. Identify in the following sentence four bound morphemes. State the function ofeach and say whether each is derivational or inflectional.The teacher’s brother considered the project impossible.The –er and the –‘s of teacher’s are bound morphemes, the former being derivational, as it produces a lexeme that denotes the person who does an action, the latter being an inflectional morpheme, as it indicates possession.The –ed of considered is inflectional, indicating that the action took place in the past. The im- of impossible is derivational, producing a new lexeme that denotes the opposite of possible.Chapter 5 Syntax1.Define the following terms:Category: parts of speech and functions, such as the classification of words in terms of parts of speech, the identification of functions of words in term of subject, predicate, etc.Concord:also known as agreement, is the requirement that the forms of two or more words in a syntactic relationship should agree with each other in terms of some categories Syntagmatic relation:. Syntagmatic relation is a relation between one item and others in a sequence, or between elements which are all present.Paradigmatic relation: a relation holding between elements replaceable with each other at a particular place in a structure, or between one element present and the others absent. Deep structure: is defined as the abstract representation of the syntactic properties of a construction, i.e. the underlying level of structural relations between its different constituents Surface structure: is the final stage in the syntactic derivation of a construction, which closely corresponds to the structural organization of a construction people actually produceand receive.Theme: The Theme is the first constituent of the clause.Rheme: All the rest of the clause is simply labeled the Rheme.2.Why is it important to know the relations a sign has with others, such as syntaxgmatic andparadigmatic relations?As the relation between a signifier and signified is arbitrary, the value of a sign can not be determined by itself. To know the identity of a sign, the linguist will have to know the signs it is used together with and those it is substitutable for. The former relation is known as syntagmatic and the latter paradigmatic.3.In what ways is IC analysis better than traditional parsing?In traditional parsing, a sentence is mainly seen as a sequence of individual words, as if it has onlya linear structure. IC analysis, however, emphasizes the hierarchical structure of a sentence,seeing it as consisting of word groups first. In this way the internal of structure of a sentence is shown more clearly, hence the reason of some ambiguities may be revealed.4.What are the problems in IC analysis?There are some technical problems caused by the binary division and discontinuous constituents.But the main problem is that there are structures whose ambiguities cannot be revealed by IC analysis, e.g. the love of God. In terms of both the tree diagram and the label, there is only one structure, but the word God is in two different relations with love, i.e. either as subject or object.5.Clarify the ambiguity in the following sentence by tree diagrams:Old teachers and priests fear blackbirds.SNP VPAdj. NP V NOld fear blackbirds.N Conj. Nteachers and priestsSNP VPNP Conj. N V NAdj. N and priests fear blackbirds.Old teachersChapter 6 Semantics1. defining the following terms:semantics: The subject concerning the study of meaning is called semantics. More specifically, semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistics units, words and sentences inparticular.Denotation: the core sense of a word or a phrase that relates it to phenomena in the real world. Connotation: a term in a contrast with denotation, meaning the properties of the entity a word denotes.Sense: the literal meaning of a word or an expression, independent of situational context. Reference: the use of language to express a proposition, i.e. to talk about things in context. Synonymy: is the technical name for the sameness relation.Antonymy: is the name for oppositeness relation:hyponymy: a relation between two words, in which the meaning of one word (the superordinate) is included in the meaning of another word (the hyponym)semantic component: a distinguishable element of meaning in a word with two values, e.g.[+human].2. Some people maintain that there are no true synonyms. If two words mean really the same,one of them will definitely die out. An example often quoted is the disuse of the word “wireless”, which has been replaced by “radio”. Do you agree? In general what type of meaning we are talking about when we say two words are synonymous with each other?It is true that there are no absolute synonyms. When we say two words are synonymous with each other, we usually mean they have the same conceptual meaning.3. For each of the following pairs of words, state the principal reason why they may not beconsidered to be synonyms:man boy toilet loo determined stubbornpavement sidewalk walk runThe words man and boy are principally distinguished be age, the words walk and run by speed.The principal distinction between the words toilet and loo is one of social register. Determined and stubborn are largely distinguished by attitude—a person reluctant to give up is described as determined by those who sympathize and as stubborn by those who do not. The difference between the words pavement and sidewalk is a matter of geography, the former being used in Britain and the latter in America.Chapter 7 Pragmantics1. defining the following terms:Performative:an utterance by which a speaker does something does something,as apposed to a constative, by which makes a statement which may be true or false.Constative:an utterance by which a speaker expresses a proposition which may be true or false. Locutuonary act: the act of saying something; it’s an act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon, and phonology. Namely, the utterance of a sentence with determinatesense and reference.Illocutuonary act:the act performed in saying something; its force is identical with the speaker’s intention.Perlocutionary act: the act performed by or resulting from saying something, it’s the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance.Cooperative principle:in making conversation, there is, as Grice holds, a general principle which all participants are expected to observe. He calls this guiding principle theCooperative Principle, CP for short.. It runs as follows: "make yourconversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, bythe accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.”Conversational implicature: the extra meaning not contained in the literal utterances, understandable tothe listener only when he shares the speaker’s knowledge or knows why andhow he violates intentionally one of the four maxims of the CooperativePrinciple (CP)2. Consider the following dialogue between a man and his daughter. Try to explain the illocutionary force in each of the utterances.[The daughter walks into the kitchen and takes so e popcorn.]Father: I thought you were practicing your violin.Daughter: I need to get the violin stand.Father: Is it under the popcorn?The illocutionary force of “I thought you were practicing your violin” is a criticism of the daughter for her not practicing the violin. That of the daughter’s answer is a defense for herself—I’m going to do that. And that of the father’s retort is a denial of the daughter’s excuse.3.If you ask somebody “Can you open the door?” he answered “Yes” but does not actually do it, what would be your reaction? Why? Try to see it in the light of speech act theory.I would be angry with him. “Can you open the door” is normally a request of the hearer to do it rather than a question about his ability. The fact that he answers “Yes” but does not actually do it shows that he declines my request.4. A is reading the newspaper. When B asks “What’s on television tonight?” he answers “Nothing.”What does A mean in normal situations? Think of two situations in which this interpretation of “Nothing” will be cancelled.Normally “Nothing” here means “Nothing interesting”. If A adds after “Nothing” “The workers are on strike today” or “There’s going to be a blackout tonight”, then the interpretation of “Nothing interesting’will be cancelled.11。
《新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版课后练习题答案
《新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版练习题参考答案Chapter 1 Introduction1. How do you interpret the following definition of linguistics: Linguistics is the scientific study of language.答：Linguistics is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. In order to discover the nature and rules of the underlying language system, the linguists has to collect and observe language facts first, which are found to display some similarities, and generalizations are made about them; then he formulates some hypotheses about the language structure. The hypotheses thus formed have to be checked repeatedly against the observed facts to fully prove their validity. In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation, that is, a theory without the support of data can hardly claim validity, and data without being explained by some theory remain a muddled mass of things.2. What are the major branches of linguistics? What does each of them study?答：The major branches of linguistics are:(1) phonetics: it studies the sounds used in linguistic communication;(2) phonology: it studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication;(3) morphology: it studies the way in which linguistic symbols representing sounds are arranged and combined to form words;(4) syntax: it studies the rules which govern how words are combined to form grammatically permissible sentences in languages;(5) semantics: it studies meaning conveyed by language;(6) pragmatics: it studies the meaning in the context of language use.3. In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar?答：The general approach thus traditionally formed to the study of language over the years is roughly referred to as “traditional grammar.”Modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar in several basic ways.Firstly, linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive.Second, modem linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tended to emphasize, maybe over-emphasize, the importance of the written word, partly because of its permanence.Then, modem linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework.4. Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic? Why?答：In modem linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic one. Because people believed that unless the various states of a language in different historical periods are successfully studied, it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development.5. For what reasons does modern linguistics give priority to speech rather than to writing? 答：Speech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication. Modem linguistics regards the spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of human language for some obvious reasons. From the point of view of linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any language is always “invented”by its users to record speech when the need arises. Even in today's world there are still many languagesthat can only be spoken but not written. Then in everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed. And also, speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue, and writing is learned and taught later when he goes to school. For modern linguists, spoken language reveals many true features of human speech while written language is only the “revised”record of speech. Thus their data for investigation and analysis are mostly drawn from everyday speech, which they regard as authentic.6. How is Saussure's distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky's distinction between competence and performance?答：Saussure's distinction and Chomsky's are very similar, they differ at least in that Saussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.7. What characteristics of language do you think should be included in a good, comprehensive definition of language?答：First of all, language is a system, i.e., elements of language are combined according to rules.Second, language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between a linguistic symbol and what the symbol stands for.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 toshow that it is essentially different from animal communication system?答：The main features of human language are termed design features. They include:1) ArbitrarinessLanguage 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) ProductivityLanguage 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) DualityLanguage 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) DisplacementLanguage 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 transmissionWhile 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 geneticallytransmitted, 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 Sounds1. 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：V oicing 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 thetranscription 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 [?] 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].Another example is the consonant [p]. We all know that [p] is pronounced differently in the two words pit and spit. In the word pit, the sound [p] is pronounced with a strong puff of air, but in spit the puff of air is withheld to some extent. In the case of pit, the [p] sound is said to be aspirated and in the case of spit, the [p] sound is unaspirated. This difference is not shown in broad transcription, but in narrow transcription, a small raised “h”is used to show aspiration, thus pit is transcribed as [ph?t] and spit is transcribed as [sp?t].4. How are the English consonants classified?答：English consonants can be classified in two ways: one is in terms of manner of articulation and the other is in terms of place of articulation. In terms of manner of articulation the English consonants can be classified into the following types: stops, fricatives, affricates, liquids, nasals and glides. In terms of place of articulation, it can be classified into following types: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, palatal, velar and glottal.5. What criteria are used to classify the English vowels?答：V owels may be distinguished as front, central, and back according to which part of the tongue is held highest. To further distinguish members of each group, we need to apply another criterion, i.e. the openness of the mouth. Accordingly, we classify the vowels into four groups: close vowels, semi-close vowels, semi-open vowels, and open vowels. A third criterion that is often used in the classification of vowels is the shape of the lips. In English, all the front vowels and the central vowels are unfounded vowels, i. e., without rounding the lips, and all the back vowels, with the exception of [a:], are rounded. It should be noted that some front vowels can be pronounced with rounded lips.6. A. Give the phonetic symbol for each of the following sound descriptions:1) voiced palatal affricate2) voiceless labiodental fricative3) voiced alveolar stop4) front, close, short5) back, semi-open, long6) voiceless bilabial stopB. Give the phonetic features of each of the following sounds:1) [ t ] 2) [ l ] 3) [?] 4) [w] 5) [?] 6) [?]答：A. (1) [?] (2) [ f ] (3) [d ] (4) [ ? ] (5) [ ?:] (6) [p]B. (1) voiceless alveolar stop (2) voiced alveolar liquid(3) voiceless palatal affricate (4) voiced bilabial glide(5) back, close, short (6) front, open7. How do phonetics and phonology differ in their focus of study? Who do you think will be more interested in the difference between, say, [l] and [?], [ph] and [p], a phonetician or a phonologist? Why?答：(1) Both phonology and phonetics are concerned with the same aspect of language ––the speech sounds. But while both are related to the study of sounds,, they differ in their approach and focus. Phonetics is of a general nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages: how they are produced, how they differ from each other, what phonetic features they possess, how they can be classified, etc. Phonology, on the other hand, aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.(2) A phonologist will be more interested in it. Because one of the tasks of the phonologists is to find out rule that governs the distribution of [l] and [?], [ph] and [p].8. What is a phone? How is it different from a phoneme? How are allophones related to a phoneme?答：A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. A phoneme is not any particular sound, but rather it is represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context. The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments arecalled the allophones of that phoneme. For example, the phoneme /l/ in English can be realized as dark [?], clear [l], etc. which are allophones of the phoneme /l/.9. Explain with examples the sequential rule, the assimilation rule, and the deletion rule. 答：Rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language are called sequential rules.There are many such sequential rules in English. For example, if a word begins with a [l] or a [r], then the next sound must be a vowel. That is why [lbik] [lkbi] are impossible combinations in English. They have violated the restrictions on the sequencing of phonemes.The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to another by “copying”a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones similar. Assimilation of neighbouring sounds is, for the most part, caused by articulatory or physiological processes. When we speak, we tend to increase the ease of articulation. This “sloppy”tendency may become regularized as rules of language.We all know that nasalization is not a phonological feature in English, i.e., it does not distinguish meaning. But this does not mean that vowels in English are never nasalized in actual pronunciation; in fact they are nasalized in certain phonetic contexts. For example, the [i:] sound is nasalized in words like bean, green, team, and scream. This is because in all these sound combinations the [i:] sound is followed by a nasal [n] or [m].The assimilation rule also accounts for the varying pronunciation of the alveolar nasal [n] in some sound combinations. The rule is that within a word, the nasal [n] assumes the same place of articulation as the consonant that follows it. We know that in English the prefix in- can be added to ma adjective to make the meaning of the word negative, e.g.discreet –indiscreet, correct –incorrect. But the [n] sound in the prefix in- is not always pronounced as an alveolar nasal. It is so in the word indiscreet because the consonant that follows it, i.e. [d], is an alveolar stop, but the [n] sound in the word incorrect is actually pronounced as a velar nasal, i.e. [?]; this is because the consonant that follows it is [k], which is a velar stop. So we can see that while pronouncing the sound [n], we are “copying”a feature of the consonant that follows it.Deletion rule tells us when a sound is to be deleted although it is orthographically represented. We have noticed that in the pronunciation of such words as sign, design, and paradigm, there is no [g] sound although it is represented in spelling by the letter g. But in their corresponding forms signature, designation, and paradigmatic, the [g] represented by the letter g is pronounced. The rule can be stated as: Delete a [g] when it occurs before a final nasal consonant. Given the rule, the phonemic representation of the stems in sign –signature, resign –resignation, phlegm –phlegmatic, paradigm –paradigmatic will include the phoneme /g/, which will be deleted according to the regular rule if no suffix is added.10. What are suprasegmental features? How do the major suprasegmental features of English function in conveying meaning?答：The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are called suprasegmental features. The main suprasegmental features include stress, intonation, and tone. The location of stress in English distinguishes meaning. There are two kinds of stress: word stress and sentence stress. For example, a shift of stress may change the part of speech of a word from a noun, to a verb although its spelling remains unchanged. Tones are pitch variations which can distinguish meaning just like phonemes.Intonation plays an important role in the conveyance of meaning in almost every language, especially in a language like English. When spoken in different tones, the same sequence of words may have different meanings.Chapter 3 Morphology1. Divide the following words into their separate morphemes by placing a “+”between each morpheme and the next:a. microfile e. telecommunicationb. bedraggled f. forefatherc. announcement g. psychophysicsd. predigestion h. mechanist答：a. micro + file b. be + draggle + edc. announce + mentd. pre + digest + ione. tele + communicate + ionf. fore + fatherg. psycho + physics h. mechan + ist2. Think of three morpheme suffixes, give their meaning, and specify the types of stem they may be suffixed to. Give at least two examples of each.Model: -orsuffix: -ormeaning: the person or thing performing the actionstem type: added to verbsexamples: actor, “one who acts in stage plays, motion pictures, etc.”translator, “one who translates”答：(1) suffix: -ablemeaning: something can be done or is possiblestem type: added to verbsexamples: acceptable, “can be accepted”respectable, “can be respected”(2) suffix: -lymeaning: functionalstem type: added to adjectivesexamples: freely. “adverbial form of ‘free’”quickly, “adverbial form of 'quick' ”.(3) suffix: -eemeaning: the person receiving the actionstem type: added to verbsexamples: employee, “one who works in a company”interviewee, “one who is interviewed”3. Think of three morpheme prefixes, give their meaning, and specify the types of stem they may be prefixed to. Give at least two examples of each.Model: a-prefix: a-meaning: “without; not”stem type: added to adjectivesexamples: asymmetric, “lacking symmetry”asexual, “without sex or sexorgans”答：(1) prefix: dis-meaning: showing an oppositestem type: added to verbs or nounsexamples : disapprove, “do not approve”dishonesty, “lack of honesty”.(2) prefix: anti-meaning: against, opposed tostem type: added to nouns or adjectivesexamples : antinuclear, “opposing the use of atomic weapons and power”antisocial, “opposed or harmful to the laws and customs of an organized community. ”(3) prefix: counter-meaning: the opposite ofstem type: added to nouns or adjectives.examples: counterproductive, “producing results opposite to those intended”counteract, “act against and reduce the force or effect of (sth.) ”4. The italicized part in each of the following sentences is an inflectional morpheme. Study each inflectional morpheme carefully and point out its grammatical meaning.Sue moves in high-society circles in London.A traffic warden asked John to move his car.The club has moved to Friday, February 22nd.The branches of the trees are moving back and forth.答：(1) the third person singular(2) the past tense(3) the present perfect(4) the present progressive5. Determine whether the words in each of the following groups are related to one another by processes of inflection or derivation.a) go, goes, going, goneb) discover, discovery, discoverer, discoverable, discoverabilityc) inventor, inventor’s, inventors, inventors’d) democracy, democrat, democratic, democratize答：(略)6. The following sentences contain both derivational and inflectional affixes. Underline all of the derivational affixes and circle the inflectional affixes.a) The farmer’s cows escaped.b) It was raining.c) Those socks are inexpensive.d) Jim needs the newer copy.e) The strongest rower continued.f) She quickly closed the book.g) The alphabetization went well.答：(略)Chapter 4 Syntax1. What is syntax?Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences.2. What is phrase structure rule?The grammatical mechanism that regulates the arrangement of elements (i.e. specifiers, heads, and complements) that make up a phrase is called a phrase structure rule.The phrase structural rule for NP, VP, AP, and PP can be written as follows:NP →(Det) N (PP) ...VP →(Qual) V (NP) ...AP →(Deg) A (PP) ...PP →(Deg) P (NP) ...The general phrasal structural rule ( X stands for the head N, V, A or P):The XP rule: XP →(specifier) X (complement)3. What is category? How to determine a word's category?Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb.To determine a word's category, three criteria are usually employed, namely meaning, inflection and distribution. A word's distributional facts together with information about its meaning and inflectional capabilities help identify its syntactic category.4. What is coordinate structure and what properties does it have?The structure formed by joining two or more elements of the same type with the help of a conjunction is called coordinate structures.Conjunction exhibits four important properties:1) There is no limit on the number of coordinated categories that can appear prior to the conjunction.2) A category at any level (a head or an entire XP) can be coordinated.3) Coordinated categories must be of the same type.4) The category type of the coordinate phrase is identical to the category type of the elements being conjoined.5. What elements does a phrase contain and what role does each element play?A phrase usually contains the following elements: head, specifier and complement. Sometimes it also contains another kind of element termed modifier.The role of each elementHead:Head is the word around which a phrase is formed.Specifier:Specifier has both special semantic and syntactic roles. Semantically, it helps to make more precise the meaning of the head. Syntactically, it typically marks a phrase boundary. Complement:Complements are themselves phrases and provide information about entities and locations whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head.Modifier:Modifiers specify optionally expressible properties of the heads.6. What is deep structure and what is surface structure?There are two levels of syntactic structure. The first, formed by the XP rule in accordancewith the head's subcategorization properties, is called deep structure (or D-structure). The second, corresponding to the final syntactic form of the sentence which results from appropriate transformations, is called surface structure (or S-structure).7. Indicate the category of each word in the following sentences. a) The old lady got off the bus carefully.Det A N V P Det N Advb) The car suddenly crashed onto the river bank.Det N Adv V P Det Nc) The blinding snowstorm might delay the opening of the schools.Det A N Aux V Det N P Det Nd) This cloth feels quite soft.Det N V Deg A（以下8-12题只作初步的的成分划分，未画树形图, 仅供参考）8. The following phrases include a head, a complement, and a specifier. Draw the appropriate tree structure for each.a) rich in mineralsXP(AP) →head (rich) A + complement (in minerals) PPb) often read detective storiesXP(VP) →specifier (often) Qual + head (read) V + complement (detective stories) NPc) the argument against the proposalsXP(NP) →specifier (the) Det + head (argument) N + complement (against the proposals) PPd) already above the windowXP(VP) →specifier (already) Deg + head (above) P + complement (the window) NP9. The following sentences contain modifiers of various types. For each sentence, first identify the modifier(s), then draw the tree structures.（划底线的为动词的修饰语，斜体的为名词的修饰语）a) A crippled passenger landed the airplane with extreme caution.b) A huge moon hung in the black sky.c) The man examined his car carefully yesterday.d) A wooden hut near the lake collapsed in the storm.10. The following sentences all contain conjoined categories. Draw a tree structure for each of the sentences. （划底线的为并列的范畴）a) Jim has washed the dirty shirts and pants.b) Helen put on her clothes and went out.c) Mary is fond of literature but tired of statistics.11. The following sentences all contain embedded clauses that function as complements ofa verb, an adjective, a preposition or a noun. Draw a tree structure for each sentence. （划底线的为补语从句）a) You know that I hate war.b) Gerry believes the fact that Anna flunked the English exam.c) Chris was happy that his father bought him a Rolls-Royce.d) The children argued over whether bats had wings.12. Each of the following sentences contains a relative clause. Draw the deep structure and the surface structure trees for each of these sentences. （划底线的为关系从句）a) The essay that he wrote was excellent.b) Herbert bought a house that she lovedc) The girl whom he adores majors in linguistics.13. The derivations of the following sentences involve the inversion transformation. Give the deep structure and the surface structure of each of these sentences.a) Would you come tomorrow? (surface structure)you would come tomorrow (deep structure)b) What did Helen bring to the party? (surface structure)Helen brought what to the party (deep structure)c) Who broke the window? (surface structure)who broke the window (deep structure)Chapter 5 Semantics1. What are the major views concerning the study of meaning?答：(1) The naming theory proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. According to this theory, the linguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are simply labels of the objects they stand for. So words are just names or labels for things.(2) The conceptualist view has been held by some philosophers and linguists from ancient times. This view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i. e., between language and the real world); rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.(3) The contextualist view held that meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context ––elements closely linked with language behaviour. The representative ofthis approach was J.R. Firth, famous British linguist.(4) Behaviorists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as the “situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.”This theory, somewhat close to contextualism, is linked with psychological interest.2. What are the major types of synonyms in English?答：The major types of synonyms are dialectal synonyms, stylistic synonyms, emotive or evaluative synonyms, collocational synonyms, and semantically different synonyms.Examples（略）3. Explain with examples “homonymy”, “polysemy”, and “hyponymy”.答：(1) Homonymy refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form, i.e., different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both.When two words are identical in sound, they are homophones.When two words are identical in spelling, they are homographs.When two words are identical in both sound and spelling, they are complete homonyms (2) While different words may have the same or similar meaning, the same one word may have more than one meaning. This is what we call polysemy, and such a word is called a polysemic word. There are many polysemic words in English, The fact is the more commonly used a word is, the more likely it has acquired more than one meaning.(3) Hyponymy refers to the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific word. The word which is more general in meaning is called the superordinate, and the more specific words are called its hyponyms. Hyponyms of the same superordinate are co-hyponyms to each other. Hyponymy is a relation of inclusion; in terms of meaning, the superordinate includes all its hyponyms.。
英语语言学第章课后练习题答案
英语语言学第章课后练习题答案英语语言学第章课后练习题答案文件管理序列号：[K8UY-K9IO69-O6M243-OL889-F88688]《新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版第1-3章练习题参考答案Chapter 1 IntroductionP131. How do you interpret the following definition of linguistics:Linguistics is the scientific study of language？答： Linguistics is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. In order to discover the nature and rules of the underlying language system, the linguists has to collect and observe language facts first, which are found to display some similarities, and generalizations are made about them; then he formulates some hypotheses about the language structure. The hypotheses thus formed have to be checked repeatedly against the observed facts to fully prove their validity. In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation, that is, a theory without the support of data can hardly claim validity, and data without being explained by some theory remain a muddled mass of things.2. What are the major branches of linguistics What does each of them study答： The major branches of linguistics are:(1) phonetics: it studies the sounds used in linguistic communication;(2) phonology: it studies how sounds are put together and used toconvey meaning in communication;(3) morphology: it studies the way in which linguistic symbolsrepresenting sounds are arranged and combined to form words;(4) syntax: it studies the rules which govern how words are combinedto form grammatically permissible sentences in languages;(5) semantics: it studies meaning conveyed by language;(6) pragmatics: it studies the meaning in the context of language use.3. In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar答： The general approach thus traditionally formed to the study of language over the years is roughly referred to as “t raditionalgramma r.” Modern linguistics differs from tradi tional g rammar inseveral basic ways.Firstly, linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive.Second, modem linguistics regards the spoken language as primary,not the written. Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tended to emphasize, maybe over-emphasize, the importance of the written word, partly because of its permanence.Then, modem linguistics differs from traditional grammar also inthat it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework.4. Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic Why答： In modem linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoypriority over a diachronic one. Because people believed that unless the various states of a language in different historical periods are successfully studied, it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development.5. For what reasons does modern linguistics give priority to speech rather than to writing答： Speech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication. Modem linguistics regards the spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of human language for some obvious reasons. From the point of view of linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any langu age is alway s “invented” byits users to record speech when the need arises. Even in today's world there are still many languages that can only be spoken but not written. Then in everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed. And also, speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue, and writing is learned and taught later when he goes to school. For modern linguists, spoken language reveals many true features of human s peech while written language is only the “revised” record of spe ech.Thus their data for investigation and analysis are mostly drawn from everyday speech, which they regard as authentic.6. How is Saussure's distinction between langue and parole similar toChomsky's distinction between competence and performance答：Saussure's distinction and Chomsky's are very similar, they differ at least in that Saussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.7. What characteristics of language do you think should be included ina good, comprehensive definition of language答：First of all, language is a system, i.e., elements of language are combined according to rules.Second, language is arbitrary in the sense that there is nointrinsic connection between a linguistic symbol and what the symbol stands for.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 beenspecified by C. Hockett to show that it is essentially different from animal communication system（2．2语言的识别性特征）美国语言学家C. Hockett提出了人类语言的12种识别性特征，其中最重要的识别性特种有5种：即语言的任意性、创造性、二重性、移位性和文化传递性。
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《新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版第1-3章练习题参考答案Chapter 1 IntroductionP131. How do you interpret the following definition of linguistics: Linguistics is the scientific study of language？答：Linguistics is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. In order to discover the nature and rules of the underlying language system, the linguists has to collect and observe language facts first, which are found to display some similarities, and generalizations are made about them; then he formulates some hypotheses about the language structure. The hypotheses thus formed have to be checked repeatedly against the observed facts to fully prove their validity. In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation, that is, a theory without the support of data can hardly claim validity, and data without being explained by some theory remain a muddled mass of things.2. What are the major branches of linguistics What does each of them study答：The major branches of linguistics are:(1) phonetics: it studies the sounds used in linguistic communication;(2) phonology: it studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication;(3) morphology: it studies the way in which linguistic symbols representing sounds are arranged and combined to form words;(4) syntax: it studies the rules which govern how words are combined to form grammatically permissible sentences inlanguages;(5) semantics: it studies meaning conveyed by language;(6) pragmatics: it studies the meaning in the context of language use.3. In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar答：The general approach thus traditionally formed to the study of language over the years is roughly referred to as “t raditional gramma r.” Modern linguistics differs from traditional g rammar in several basic ways.Firstly, linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive.Second, modem linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tended to emphasize, maybe over-emphasize, the importance of the written word, partly because of its permanence.Then, modem linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework.4. Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic Why答：In modem linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic one. Because people believed that unless the various states of a language in different historical periods are successfully studied, it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development.5. For what reasons does modern linguistics give priority to speech rather than to writing答：Speech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication. Modem linguistics regards the spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of human language for some obvious reasons. From the point of view of linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any langu age is always “invented” by its users to record spee ch when the need arises. Even in today's world there are still many languages that can only be spoken but not written. Then in everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed. And also, speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue, and writing is learned and taught later when he goes to school. For modern linguists, spoken language reveals many true features of human speech while written language is only the “revised” record of spe ech. Thus their data for investigation and analysis are mostly drawn from everyday speech, which they regard as authentic.6. How is Saussure's distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky's distinction between competence and performance答：Saussure's distinction and Chomsky's are very similar, they differ at least in that Saussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.7. What characteristics of language do you think should be included in a good, comprehensive definition of language答：First of all, language is a system, i.e., elements of language are combined according to rules.Second, language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between a linguistic symbol and what the symbol stands for.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（2．2语言的识别性特征）美国语言学家C. Hockett提出了人类语言的12种识别性特征，其中最重要的识别性特种有5种：即语言的任意性、创造性、二重性、移位性和文化传递性。