英语语言学导论课后答案

语言学教学提示
Unit 1 Some Preliminaries about Language
[Check your understanding]
State whether each of the following statements is True or False.
(1) There is universal agreement about the origin of language. F
(2) Pet dogs can speak human languages. F
(3) All human infants can speak some language. F
Note: All normal human infants can learn to speak some language.
(4) By creativity we mean the creative use of language as often practiced by poets. F
Note: By creativity we mean that we can always create and understand new sentences never used before.
(5) With different cultures there will be different languages. F
Note: Some cultures can share the same language.
(6) Not all uses of language are meant to convey new information. T
Note: Example: language used for phatic communion is not meant to convey new information.

■ In-Class Activities
1. ASK:
(1) What does “language” mean in each of the contexts?
a. a natural language; language in particular.
b. a human-specific tool for communication; language in general.
c. individual style of language use.
d. a metaphorical way of referring to bees’ system of communication.
(2) Is there any other context in which the use of the word means something else?
Yes. Example: language for the computer like C+

2. ASK:
(1) What if there were no language?
Omit.
(2) What if there were only one language the world over?
Omit.
(3) What can we learn from this Bible story?
Language is powerful as a tool of human communication.

3. ASK:
(1) Do you think the two statements are equally probable, and if not, why not?
(a) is more likely than (b), because the word as the basic unit of meaning that can occur independently in language is finite in number, whereas the sentence as composed of words, though almost infinite in number, is made possible by our knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. We can always produce and understand sentences that we never come across before. In that sense, no sentence is really new.
(2) In what context do we make the second statement?
When we focus our attention on the meaning of a sentence or when we are concerned with the form of a sentence as found in a language class.

4. ASK:
(1) Are there onomatopoeic words in Chinese?
Yes. e.g. “哗啦”、“扑通”、“喀嚓”.
(2) Does the existence of onomatopoeic words overthrow the claim that language is arbitrary?
No. Onomatopoeic words account for a very limited percentage in the vocabulary of a language.

5. ASK:
(1) Can one really invent a language of one’s own?
No.
(2) If not, why?
A language comes into being and use by convention or agreement among its speakers.

6. ASK:
(1) Is there any basic flaw in this experiment?
The process is not strictly controlled. There may have been some coincidence. The sample size is too small for the experiment to be valid.
(2) Do you think we really can answer the question about the beginning of lang

uage?
No, at least in the present condition where/when we cannot perform experiments on the human brain, the key organ of speech.

7. ASK:
(1) Can you identify the most likely order (from least to most advanced) of these samples?
C→B→A
(2) What features in each child’s utterances can you use as evidence to support your ordering?
Child A: good syntax except for improper question form.
Child B: visible development of syntax; overgeneralization
Child C: Not much syntax; two-word utterances; telegraphic sentences (sentences that contain only content words but lack function words)

8. ASK:
(1) It is often assumed that children imitate adults in the course of language acquisition. Can imitation account for the above production on the part of the child?
Not wholly. There is counter evidence against the assumption, like the overgeneralization “go-ed” for “went”.
(2) What distinguishes the child’s production from that of the adult?
Overgeneralization of “-ed” for the past tense as shown by “holded”.

9. ASK:
(1) How do adults reinforce the process of children’s acquisition as exemplified here?
They use explicit correction.
(2) Do children know what they are doing wrongly?
Not exactly.
(3) Do the adults succeed in their reinforcement?
Not always, at least.
(4) How should we treat the “mistakes” that children make while acquiring their mother tongue?
We may ignore them sometimes, although some amount of reinforcement may turn out to be helpful.

10. ASK:
(1) Do children learn through structured or simplified input, as suggested?
Not always. There is evidence for both sides.
(2) Can you offer some examples illustrating, representing the way adults talk to infants?
Omit.
Note: Motherese is characterized by shorter sentences, higher pitch, exaggerated intonation, higher proportion of content words to function words, simple syntax, more interrogatives and imperatives, more repetitions. Yet it is not syntactically simpler. Rather, it may include syntactically complex sentences such as questions: Do you want your juice now? Embedded sentences: Mommy thinks you should sleep now. Imperatives: Pat the dog gently! Negatives with tag questions: We don’t want to hurt him, do we? Indeed, it is fortunate that motherese is not syntactically restricted. If it were, children might not have sufficient information to extract the rules of their language.

11. ASK
(1) What measures do you suggest for protecting dialects as well as languages?
Omit.
(2) Do you think that someday people all over the world will speak only one language, or someday no dialect will exist?
Omit.

12. ASK:
Are there any universals that you think all languages share but are not mentioned here?
E.g. All languages have internal structures.
All languages have numericals.

■ Exercises
Task 3: Study Questions
1. What do you think is essential to the emergence of language?

The existence of social activities; the need to express diverse ideas, emotions, etc.; the need to communicate ideas to distant places; etc.

2. Can our pets learn human languages? Why or why not?
No. They are genetically not endowed with the capacity.

3. What role does body language play in language communication?
Omit.

4. Naturally occurring “experiments” with so-called “wolf-children”, “bear-children”, “Mowgli” or “monkey-children” and other such feral youngsters have been widely reported for hundreds of years. None of these children could speak or understand speech and, indeed, most efforts to teach them language ended in failure. How would you account for the failure?
The language acquisition device has to be triggered before a certain age (that of puberty). Sufficient expose to a language environment at the right time is essential to language acquisition.

5. The following are some instances of using English for communication. What specific function does each use of English serve in the following pictures?
Informative (in the form of commanding)
Directive (Advertising in the form of requesting)
Directive (Persuading in the form of threatening)
Directive (Recruiting)
6．Iconicity of language is an aspect of language where form echoes meaning. Onomatopoeia, also known as “sound symbolism”, is one type of iconicity. Some researchers have found other evidence of iconicity. For example, words beginning with the sound combination sl- in English often have an unpleasant sense, as in slithering, slimy, slugs. Here are some questions:
a. Is the “unpleasant” sense actually true of all, or even most, words beginning with sl- in English?
No. e.g. slight.
b. Are there any other sounds or sound combinations that you associate with particular meanings?
Gliding: slide, slip, slippery;
Rolling: tumble, crumble, stumble
c. How about the vowel sounds in words that identify near-to-speaker concepts (this, near, here) versus far-from-speaker concepts (that, far, there)? What is the difference? Is it a general pattern distinguishing terms for things that are near versus far in English? What about the case in Chinese?
Front vowels for near-speaker concepts; central or back vowels for far-from-speaker concepts. There seems to be a similar kind of pattern in Chinese. C.f. 近 jin /远 yuan；这 zhe /那 na

7. In many of the world’s languages there are so-called nursery names for parents. In English, for example, corresponding to the word mother is the nursery name mama, and for father one finds dada and papa. There is remarkable similarity across different languages in the form of these nursery names for parents. For example, in Chinese and Navajo ma corresponds to English mama. Why do you think that this is the case?
Bilabials are learned and produced first because they are the easiest.

8.
a. What are some of the changes which appear to have taken place in the child’s ability to use

English during that period?
Like the basically proper use of interrogatives and the correct use of inflection.
b. What do these changes suggest about the order of language acquisition?
Complete sentences are acquired later than elliptical ones. Inflection is acquired at a late stage.


Unit 2 The Sounds of English
[Check your understanding]
State whether each of the following statements is True or False.
1. [i:] and [i] are allophones of the same phoneme. F
2. Not all English phonemes have allophones. T
Note: /?/ and /j/ occur in one single position and therefore do not have allophones.
3. The same set of vowels is used in all languages. F
4. All syllables must contain at least one vowel. F
Note: Some syllables may contain no vowels. They may, instead, employ some syllabic consonant, as in people and muscle.
5. The marking of word stress is arbitrary for the most part in English. F
6. English is a tone language. F
Note: Chinese is a tone language.

■ In-Class Activities
1. ASK:
(1) What is the phonetic environment of [t] in [pit]?
[i_#]
(2) Are the following pairs of words minimal pairs?
(a) desk vs. task No.
(b) leave vs. Leak Yes. ( li:v vs. li:k )

2. ASK:
(1) Characterize how the allophones of the phoneme /k/ are complementarily distributed.
[kh ] in initial position; [k]after /s/; [k?] in final position.
(2) Is there any other way of charactering the complementary distribution of clear [l] and dark [?]?
[l] before vowels; [?] elsewhere.

3. ASK:
(1) What distinctive feature makes /f/ and /v/ different?
[voiced]
(2) Can you specify the distinctive features for the following phonemes?
(a) /?/ [fricative] + [voiceless] + [palatal]
(b) /k/ [velar]+[voiceless]+[plosive]
(c) /n/ [nasal]+[voiced] +[alveolar]

4. ASK:
(1) Are [r] and [l] in complementary distribution? In what environment does each occur?
Yes. [r] occurs before vowels; [l] occurs after vowels.
(2) Do they occur in any minimal pairs?
No.
(3) Suppose [r] and [l] are allophones of one phoneme. State the rule that can derive the allophonic forms.
[r] is lateralized when it occurs after vowels.

5. ASK:
(1) Can you give more examples of assimilation?
compatriot, sing
(2) Can you find any exceptions?
input, unbeatable, Canberra
(3) What phonetic segments condition this change?
The consonant immediately after the vowel.
[Note] 2) [tai] should be [tay].

6. ASK:
(1) Can you give more examples of free variation?
advertisement [?d?v?:tism?nt] [?d?v?:tizm?nt]
association [??s?usi?ei??n] [??s?u?i?ei??n]
(2) Why do you think such a phenomenon exists in a language like English?
Individual variation is responsible for this phenomenon.

7. ASK:
(1) Which sound is deleted in “sign”, “design”, and “resign”?
[g]
(2) Can you offer other examples of deletion?
paradigm (atic), condemn(ation)
(3) Can you give some words that involve tot

al deletion?
plumb, plumber; climb, climbing
(4) Are there any other types of deletion in English?
debt, know

8. ASK:
(1) Can you think of a phonetic description of the regular pattern in these expressions?
They all start with a front, high vowel and follow up with a mid or low vowel.
(2) Can you think of any possible explanation for the observed pattern?
[i] involves the least degree of mouth opening while the mid or low vowels necessitate bigger opening. There is an increase of mouth opening in pronouncing the whole word, which is symbolic in meaning.

9. ASK:
(1) What are likely positive effects of using alliteration? Use one of the poetic examples to illustrate.
Coherence, connectedness, smoothness, consistency. Take “I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance” for example. The double alliteration involved helps to create a picture of smooth and coherent dance.
(2) Is there a similar use of alliteration in Chinese?
Yes, though less often. 花好月圆 is a good example.

10. ASK:
(1) What is the stylistic effect of rhyming?
echoing, agreement, correspondence, etc.
(2) Can you find more proverbs that involve internal rhyming?
First thrive and then wive.
Fancy passes beauty.

■ Exercises
Task 3: Study Questions
1.
a. Does the string of sounds mean anything to you?
If we want to talk really good, we’ll have to invent vowels.
b. What does the picture suggest to you about the role of consonants and vowels in English?
Consonants are the backbones of syllables and words.

2. Some phonetic transcriptions below are English words, some are not existing words but are possible words or nonsense words, and others are definitely “foreign” or impossible because they violate English sequential constraints. Specify each of the a-e cases as illustrated.
Word Possible Foreign Reason
Example:
[pa:k]
[tif]
[lkib]
a. [?a:f] ? [?] must occur after a vowel.
b. [ski:] ski
c.[knait] ?
d.[meij] ? [?] must occur initially before a vowel.
e.[blaft] ?

3. In English, the /i/ vowel becomes almost as long as /i:/ under certain conditions (written as /i:/ for convenience). Consider the examples listed below:
a. List the phonemes that condition the change.
voiced consonants
b. State the rule that seems involved.
[i] is lengthened before a voiced] consonant.
Note: Start with the fact that the /i/ is basic and that short /i/ becomes long /i:/. The change from short /i/ to long /i:/ is phonologically determined; that is, the lengthening takes place in the presence of certain phonemes. A good strategy is to first list the phonemes to the right of long /i:/, then list those to the left. As an answer to (a), then, one would propose that /i/ become /i:/ whenever the phonemes to the ri

ght (/d, m, l, b, z, j, ?/) occur immediately after that vowel. This hypothesis looks promising because, in fact, the short variant /i/ never occurs before these segments. The next question is, what is it about the phonemes on the right that unify them as a class? One may find that these phonemes are all voiced ([+voice]), and, in fact, the short /i/ never lengthens before voiceless segments. Thus the answer to (b) is that the vowel /i/ is lengthened before (the natural class of) voiced consonants.

4. The use of plural –s in English has three different, but very regular, phonological alternatives.
a. Can you work out the set of sounds which regularly precedes each of these alternatives?
/s/ to words like ship, bat, book and cough;
voiceless plosives [voiceless]
/z/ to words like cab, lad, cave, rag and thing;
after voiced consonants [voiced]
/?z/ to words like bus, bush, judge, church and maze.
after /s/, /?/, /d?/, /z/
b. What features does each of these sets have in common?
[palatal] or [alveolar]+[fricative]
c. Is there any pattern regarding the different pronunciations of the past tense marker?
[t] after voiceless consonants except [t]; [d] after voiced consonants except [d]; [id] after [t] or [d].
d. Do you think that one of these phonological forms for –ed is more basic, with the others being derived from it in a regular way? Which, and how?
[d] is more basic. [t] after devoicing. [id] after epenthesis (i.e. addition of a sound).

5. Below are three columns of words with different patterns of stress:
a. How is stress distributed in each column?
penultimate for A; last syllable for B; on the last syllable.
b. In Column B, what kinds of vowels appear in the last syllable? How does the syllabic structure of Column C differ from A and B?
In Column B, long vowels or diphthongs appear in the last syllable.
The last syllable of the words in C ends in consonant clusters.
[Note] For “usurp”, “r” may be pronounced as in /ju(:)?z?(r)p/.

6. The following is a list of words that are spelt in a similar way:
fuddy-duddy hocus-pocus namby-pamby
fuzzy-wuzzy hurly-burly razzle-dazzle
hanky-panky lovey-dovey roly-poly
helter-skelter mumbo-jumbo super-duper
a. What similarity can you spot among the words listed?
All pairs are the same except the initial consonants.
b. What effects may such words have in common when they are put into use?
Redundancy, repetitiveness, etc.

7. Write the phonetic transcription for each of the following words.
Omit.

8. Read the following words or phrases and point out the phonological processes that yield assimilation.
(a) pat /p?t/ pan /p?n/ sat /s?t/ Sam /s?m/
Nasalization rule: [-nasal] ? [+nasal] /_____ [+nasal]
(b) since /sins/ sink /si?k/ hint /hint/ dink /di?k/
Velarization rule: [-velarl] ? [+velar] /_____ [+velar]
(c) five pits /faifpits/ love to /l?ft? /
Devoicing rule: [+voiced ? [-voiceless]

/_____ [-voiceless]

9.
a. Comment on the use of rhyme, alliteration, and assonance (that is, use of syllables with a common vowel, as in “come” - “love”) in this poem. How are they used to stress the sense of superficiality and lack of meaning the poet is trying to convey here? (Note especially the role of rhyming pairs of monosyllables and their effect on meter.)
assonance: [ri:t?] [skri:n] [spi:t?]
[?ud] [huk] [buk]
The ryhmed words, all monosyllabic and stressed, are semantically unrelated and separated. Alliteration is only sporadically used. Assonance suggests apparent connection but actual disconnectedness.
b. Comment more carefully on meter in the first two stanzas. How does it contribute to the meaning? How and where does it work against our expectations?
Lack of regularity and thus unpredictability.

10. Collect some data to show that English advertisements, newspaper headlines, English songs, and presidential addressee sometimes make use of alliteration and rhyming.
Omit.

11. What interesting things do speech errors tell us about language and its use? Collect a few cases of slips of tongue from daily conversations.
Speech errors are often explainable, often semantically motivated.

Unit 3 The Units of English
[Check your understanding]
State whether each of the following statements is True or False.
1. All words in English have a hierarchical structure. F
Note: Mon-morphemic words do not.
2. Clipping is one of the three most important devices of word-formation in English. F
Note: The three most important devices are affixation, compounding (or composition) and conversion (or functional shift).
3. Idioms in English are modifiable in some grammatical ways. T
4. The presence of constructions is unique to English. F
5. Every English sentence has a subject. F
Note: Imperative sentences do not have any subject.

■ In-Class Activities
1．ASK:
(1) What is the infix used in the above language data?
“-um-“
(2) What is the verb form in Bontoc for “to be poor”, given that pusi means “poor”?
“pumusi”

2. ASK:
(1) What is the Samoan for: (a) “they travel” (b) “he sings” respectively?
(a) savavali (b) pese
(2) Formulate a morphological rule regarding how to form the plural verb form from the singular verb form in Samoan.
Duplicate the penultimate syllable.

3. ASK:
(1) Which other affixes are there in English that function as markers of negation?
dis-, non-, a-, in-, il-, im-, ir-
(2) What pattern underlies the use of un- in the data above?
Positive terms can have negative morphemes added to them, as in “happy-unhappy”, but semantically negative ones rarely do, because un- is deprecatory as well as negative.
(3) Why are “ungood” and “unbig” not found in English, although George Orwell coined “ungood” in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four? Do you think they are accidental gaps in the lexicon of English?

There already exist words that correspond to “ungood” and “unbig”. It is not accidental. This is what is technically called lexical blocking.
(4) Read the following extract from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass. How do you think Humpty Dumpty would explain the word “un-birthday” to Alice?
“Un-birthday” means some day that is not one’s birthday.
(5) The fact that un- can be both a verb prefix and an adjective prefix may explain the occurrence of the ambiguous word “unlockable”. Can you imagine two situations corresponding to the two senses of the word?? Can you give more examples like “unlockable”?
Imagine you are inside a room and you want some privacy. You would be unhappy to find the door is unlockable – “not able to be locked.” Now imagine you are inside a locked room trying to get out. You would be very relieved to find that the door is unlockable – “able to be unlocked.” These two meanings correspond to two different structures, as follows:

Adjective Adjective

un- Adjective Verb -able

Verb -able un- Verb

lock lock

In the first structure the verb “lock” combines with the suffix –able to form the adjective lockable (“able to be locked”). Then the prefix un-, meaning “not,” combines with the derived adjective to form a new adjective unlockable (“not able to be locked”). In the second case, the prefix un- combines with the verb lock to form a derived verb, unlock. Then the derived verb combines with the suffix –able to form unlockable, “able to be unlocked.”
Other examples are unbuttonalbe, unzippable, and unlatchable.

4. ASK:
(1) How are the verbs in Column A different from those in Column B?
Verbs in Column A are transitive while those in Column B are generally intransitive.
(2) Can we use “able to be X-ed” to paraphrase “perishable”?
No. “Perish” is intransitive.
(3) A further complication with -able is that in words like “unthinkable”, the suffix means more than “able to be X-ed”. Why? Can you think of more words of this type?
unbreakable, presentable, readable, questionable, payable, washable.
(4) Now, let’s look at another complication. None of the following words are permitted. What does this suggest about the use of the suffix “-able”?
“-able” are not attached to nouns, adjectives, or prepositions.

5. ASK:
(1) Note the contrast between list A and List B. Can you think of any reason that can explain why the set of words on List B are impossible words in English?
Verbs on List B are intransitive.
(2) How are the re- words on List C and List D different from those on List A?
Words on List C are made up of re- +adjectives. In the words on List D, “re-” mea

ns “back” instead of “again”.
(3) Some re- prefixed words may mean more than the simple addition of the meaning of re- and the meaning of its base. For example, “rewrite” means “write something again, especially in a different or improved form”. Can you give more examples like “rewrite”?
rebuild, rethink, retry, retell, reorganize, reconsider, reform, etc.

6. ASK:
(1) Can you give some examples that you consider to be chunks?
Omit.
(2) Read the following spoken data of a Chinese student. Can you point out the chunks used in it? Can you classify them into some types?
It is the most unforgettable birthday um … that I … and I can not forget it for forever. Um … it it was when I was a freshman. It is the first year um … I left my family and spend my birthday alone. Um … I remember clearly um … that day I strode gloomily at campus along for a long time um. And um … um … I I felt very … I I felt …I felt very gloomy because no one, um no one except my parents um remember my birthday and, and, wan and wanted to um … and wanted to stay with me for my birthday. Um … um … I did, I did not went back I did not go back to the dormitory um … until um … until seven o’clock in the evening. Um … the light, the light in the dormitory was off. Obviously, um there was no … there was nobody staying in the dormitory. Um …but now um … it may … it … it … seemed um … it seemed that it doesn’t matter. Um … And I open the door um … and I found except darkness there was nothing. Suddenly a song “Happy birthday to you” sound. I felt, I felt very astonished. Then, the light was turned on. Some familiar faces um … um full of full of sweet smiles towards me. Um they were my dorm they were my dorm mates … Yes, they still remembered um …my birthday, my birthday. And in fact they have … they indeed prepared for it two years ago. They bought er … a very beautiful cake for me, and that night um … we sang, we danced and … and had that delicious cake. I felt very happy, and and later I … I made a call to my parents that told them that I has spent a very unforgettable birthday with my roommates.
verbal: went/go back; turn(ed) on; prepare for; make a call to
adjectival: full of
prepositional: at campus (it should be “on campus”, though); for a long time; in the evening; in fact
clausal: it seemed that ….; it doesn’t matter

7. The notion of subject may be classified into three types: grammatical subject (the major nominal part corresponding to the predicate), logical subject (the doer or executor of the action concerned), and psychological subject (the first major component of the sentence, like a nominal phrase, an adverbial phrase, or a prepositional phrase). For instance,
a. John (grammatical subject, psychological subject, logical subject) robbed the City Bank last night.
b. The City Bank (grammatical subject, psychological subject) was robbed by John (logi

cal subject) last night.
c. Last night (psychological subject) John (grammatical subject, logical subject) robbed the City Bank.
Analyze the following newspaper headlines from the Washington Post (July 21-24, 2006) in terms of the effect of subject type selection.
(a) In Iraq, Military Forgot Lessons of Vietnam (psychological)
(b) Evacuation Rules Separate N.Va. Friends (grammatical)
(c) Woods Is Closely Followed At British (logical, grammatical)

8. ASK:
(1) Can you write the public signs in complete forms?
You may push the button and wait for the signal of walk.
You must use caution when the ground is wet.
(2) What rules are there when we write elliptical English newspaper headlines?
a. Omit auxiliary or linking verb BE;
b. Omit determiners;
c. Omit indefinite nouns of person.
d. Omit There Be.

Task 3: Study Questions
1. Point out the word-formation process that applies to each of the following words:
Affixation: worsen endearment
Conversion: dust (v.) plane (v.)
Compounding: laptop airsick daughter-in-law
Back-formation: edit televise peddle swindle (swindler)
Shortening: tec (detective) prof (professor) bike (bicycle)
Blending: brunch urinalysis (urine + analysis) fantabulous (fantasy + fabulous)
Initialism: WTO (World Trade Organization)
Acronym: laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association)
Coinage (in the forms of invention and eponym—words derived from proper names): Xerox nylon jumbo (name of an elephant brought to the United States by P. T. Barnum)

2. How are the open-class words and the closed-class words different from each other?
Open-class words:
(1) large in number;
(2) easy to expand;
(3) mainly nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Closed-class words:
(1) small in number;
(2) stable;
(3) basically pronouns, prepositions, function words, etc.

3. What are the inflectional morphemes in the following phrases?
(a) the government’s policies ’s; -s
(b) the latest news -est
(c) Isn’t it snowing! -ing
(d) two frightened cows -ed; -s

4. Suppose a speaker of English invents the following italicized English words as a joke: “they’re always causing a commotion. I tell them not to commote, but they insist on being big commoters.” What process of word creation does this example illustrate, and why? What do the new words mean?
It is a process of back-formation. “Commote” means the act of causing disorder and “commoter” means someone who causes disorder.


5. Count the function words in the following passage excerpted from Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage (p.1).
The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors. It cast its eyes upon the roads,

which were growing from long troughs of liquid mud to proper thoroughfares. A river, amber- tinted in the shadow of its banks, purled at the army's feet; and at night, when the stream had become of a sorrowful blackness, one could see across it the red, eyelike gleam of hostile campfires set in the low brows of distant hills.
Note: Function words are those that have little semantic content of their own and chiefly indicate grammatical relationships. Common function words include prepositions, conjunctions, articles, etc. They are also called “form words” or “functors”.

6. Which of the following contain verb phrase idioms? For each idiom, provide a paraphrase with one word instead of the idiom.
(1) a. John went in for stamp collecting. [like]
b. Jane went in for a check-up.
(2) a. John came down with the guns.
b. Jane came down with the flu. [contracted]
(3) a. John came up with the guns.
b. Jane came up with a brilliant idea. [got]
(4) a. That music doesn’t exactly turn me on. [excited]
b. Jane didn’t turn on the tap.
(5) a. John passed over the house.
b. The president passed over the peace proposal. [disregarded]
(6) a. John ran after dinner.
b. John ran after Jane. [pursued]

7. In English, some intransitive verbs can be converted into a special type of transitive verbs called causative verbs. Here are some examples. Can you give more examples?
halt, alter, end

8. The distinction between auxiliary verbs and main verbs is a basic one in English. Auxiliary verbs are fronted to form questions whereas main verbs cannot be fronted in this fashion. The following sentences illustrate three additional differences between main verbs and auxiliary verbs. What are these differences?
placement of “not”; contraction possible; tag questions; etc.

9. Count the number of clauses in the following paragraphs and categorize them into different types.
The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities. Others lose heart at the first signs of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we react both chemically and physically. In fact we make choice between “flight and fight” and in more primitive days the choices made the difference between life and death. The crises we meet today are unlikely to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it involves the same response. It is when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes endangered. Such serious conditions as high blood pressure and heart diseases have established links with stress. Since we cannot remove stress from our lives (it would be unwise to do so even if we could), we need to find ways to deal with it.

(1) a person can withstand
(2) The amount of stress depends very much on the individual
(3) Some people are not afraid of stress
(

4) such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities
(5) Others lose heart at the first signs of unusual difficulties
(6) When exposed to stress
(7) (When exposed to stress,) in whatever form
(8) we react both chemically and physically
(9) In fact we make choice between “flight and fight”
(10) in more primitive days the choices made the difference between life and death
(11) we meet today
(12) The crises are unlikely to be so extreme
(13) however little the stress
(14) it involves the same response
(15) when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress
(16) It is …. that….
(17) health becomes endangered
(18) Such serious conditions as high blood pressure and heart diseases have established links with stress
(19) Since we cannot remove stress from our lives
(20) it would be unwise to do so
(21) even if we could
(22) we need to find ways to deal with it
(6), (7), (13), (19), and (21) are adverbial clauses (of time, reason, concession, supposition, etc.); (1) and (11) are attributive clauses; (15) is a predicative clause. Others are either independent clauses like (3), (4), (5), (9), (10), and (18), or the main clauses in the complex sentences, like (2), (8), (12), (20), and (22).

10. The following is an excerpt from James Joyce’s Ulysses. What has been deleted in many of its sentences? What effect does Joyce achieve by using this deletion?
No, not like that. A barren land, bare waste. Vulcanic lake, the dead sea: no fish, weedless, sunk deep in the earth. No wind would lift those waves, grey metal, poisonous foggy waters. Brimstone they called it raining down: the cities of the plain: Sodom. Gomorrah. Edom. All dead names. A dead sea in a dead land, grey and old. Old now. It bore the oldest, the first race. A bent hag crossed from Cassidy’s clutching a naggin bottle by the neck. The oldest people. Wandered far away over all the earth, captivity to captivity, multiplying, dying, being born everywhere. It lay there now. now it could bear no more. Dead.
The deletion gives people the impression that the thoughts of the character are not smooth, coherent, complete, etc.


Unit 4 The Structures of English (I)
[Check your understanding]
1. Word order plays an important role in the organization of English sentences. T
2. All ambiguous sentences result from our failure to use proper organization. F
Note: We can consciously avoid ambiguity, though.
3. With transformations, we can organize a sentence the way we like. F
Note: Transformations are rule governed and constrained.
4. Like English, modern Chinese is a SVO language. T
Note: But Chinese also employs theme-theme organization a lot, e.g. 他的话我没听见。

■ In-Class Activities
1．ASK:
(1) Can you think of other modes of recursion?
Relative-clause recursion.
(2) Give one example of VP recursion.
Omit.

2. ASK:
(1) Paraphrase the two parts of the sentence before and after “bec

ause”.
Under Jane’s influence, John became a good husband.
She serves as a good wife for John.
(2) Which sentence patterns do the two parts belong to?
VOC; VOO
(3) Can you find more verbs like “make” in English?
leave, allow, etc.

3. ASK:
(1) Is the sign ambiguous? If so, use paraphrases to show the different readings.
a. Do not let such situation happen that no one attends the valuables.
b. Do not go away from the valuables that are not attended.
(2) Is the ambiguity involved the same kind as that in The mother of the boy and the girl arrived?
No. Ambiguity in the latter case arises from coordination as shown by the use of “and”.
(3) Newspaper headlines and advertisements often deliberately employ ambiguity to attract customers or readers. How are the following ambiguous?
(a) A New Model For Getting Rich Online
“Online” may modify both “model” and “getting rich”.
(b) Two Philippine ships collide--one dies.
“One” may refer to both passengers and one of the ships.
(c) Eye drops off shelf.
a. An eye of somebody’s drops off shelf.
b. Eye drops (as a kind of medicine) are off shelf (i.e., out of sale).
(d) Wanted: A man to wash dishes and two young waitresses.
a. Wasted: a man to wash both dishes and two young waitresses.
b. Wanted: two young waitresses and a man whose job is to wash dishes.
(4) Is the following public sign ambiguous?
No. “Dog Free Park” means “a park where dogs are not allowed”.

4. ASK:
(1) Are these sentence patterns found in English but not in Chinese?
Yes. English employs some formal subject like “there” and “it”. Chinese may allow subjectless sentences.
(2) Can you think of any other sentence patterns in English that are not shared by Chinese?
Fancy meeting you here!
No wonder you were so angry.

5. ASK:
(1) What similarities do those sentences in the second category share?
The object is pronominal.
(2) What is the special condition that necessitates particle movement?
When the verb phrase takes a pronoun as its object, particle movement is a must. Thus, we must say “look it up” instead of “look up it”.
VP VP VP

V Particle NP V NP Particle V NP Particle

Pron

6. ASK:
(1) Is there any difference in meaning between the sentences in the first pair?
(a) It is possible that only a small numbers of books were sold out.
(b) It is likely that a large number of books were sold out, although John did not sell many.
(2) How are the sentences in the second pair different from each other?
(b) is more emphatic than (a) now that it deviates from the normal way of sentence organization, resulting in what we call foregrounding.

7. ASK:
(1) Can you write out four different phrases in English illustrating each of the VP types?
a. read

b. read a novel
c. take the book off the desk
d. think that life is difficult
(2) Can you use the abbreviatory convention above to integrate the following sets of rules into a single rule?
a. A →( B) C
b. W → (X) Y( Z)

8. ASK:
(1) How many sentence types are covered by the data?
(1) Mexico Vote Tally Gives Free-Trader A Narrow Victory [ SVOO]
(2) Israeli Tanks Meet Fierce Resistance [SVO ]
(3) Ruling Keeps DeLay on Ballot [ SVOC]
(4) Favoritism Trial Hurts Chicago Mayor [SVO ]
(5) Discovery Docks With Space Station [ SVO]
(6) Russia's Signal to Stations Is Clear: Cut U.S. Radio [ SVC]
(7) Mayor's Stadium Proposal Advances [SV ]
(8) Dumfries Regrets Raid on Homeless [SVO ]
(9) A Driven President Faces a World of Crises [SVO ]
(10) Consultant Breached FBI's Computers [ SVO]
(2) Which type occurs most frequently?
SVO

Task 3: Study Questions
1. It is important that the rules of syntax specify all and only the grammatical sentences of the language. Why is it important to say “only”? That is, what would be wrong with a grammar that specified as grammatical sentences all of the truly grammatical ones plus a few that were not grammatical?
The grammatical rules will become invalid because we will not know which sentences are grammatical.

2. Analyze how the following sentences are incorrect according to English grammar.
a. Snowing outside.
“It is/was” cannot be deleted.
b. Jane loves John, she calls him every day.
This is a run-on sentence. The sentence contains two independent sentences.
c. There are two boys play football on the ground.
The sentence contains two finite verbs.
d. Jane is very kind to John, for example, she prepares dinner for him whenever she can.
This is a run-on sentence. “For example” is not a conjunction and thus cannot link two clauses into a complex sentence.
e. Diligent is very important to succeed.
“Diligent” cannot function as the subject because it is an adjective. In English, the subject as well as the object must be nominal.
f. John find the two book very interesting.
There is a lack of grammatical concord in number between the subject and the predicate verb.
g. John is a great leader, however, he is sometimes too strict.
This is a run-on sentence. “However” is not a conjunction and thus cannot link two clauses into a complex sentence.
h. Although Jane loves John, but she never says “I love you” to him.
In English, “although” and “but” do not co-occur.
i. The reason Jane loves John is because he is kind to her.
In English, we say “the reason (….) is that ….
j. – Have you seen John lately, Jane?
-- Not seen.
When answering a question, one repeats the auxiliary verb, rather than the main verb.
k. Finish the job in two days is impossible.
In English, the subject as well as the object must be nominal. “Finish the job” is verbal rather than nominal.
l. Why Jane didn’t go to Beijing with John?
There must

be the movement (or addition) of the auxiliary when forming an interrogative sentence in English. The correct form is Why didn’t Jane go to Beijing with John?

3. Paraphrase each of the following sentences in two different ways to show that you understand the ambiguity involved:
(1) Smoking grass can be nauseating.
a. To smoke grass can be nauseating.
b. Grass for smoking can be nauseating.
(2) John finally decided on the boat.
a. On the boat John finally made a decision.
b. John finally decided to use (buy, etc.) the boat.
(3) Jane’s appointment was shocking.
a. Jane’s appointment of someone was shocking.
b. Jane’s being appointed by someone was shocking.
(4) Old men and women are hard to live with.
a. Both old men and old women are hard to live with.
b. Women and old men and are hard to live with.
(5) The governor is a dirty street fighter.
a. The governor is a fighter against dirty street.
b. The governor is a street fighter who is mean and corrupt.
(6) I cannot recommend him too highly.
a. I cannot recommend him too highly because he is not so good.
b. I can recommend him as highly as I can because he is so good.

4. Questions typically come from a first-person speaker and are addressed to a second-person hearer. Can you relate this use of questions to the fact that you is deleted from abbreviated questions? Can any subject be deleted from abbreviated questions as long as use and context make the deletion recoverable?
Like the book?
Fancy meeting John Here?
Want to have a cigarette?
When questions are used to make an offer, seek information, etc., the understood “you” can be deleted.

5. Give the passive version of the following sentences.
(1) Phil watered the garden too much.
The garden was too much watered by Phil.
(2) Bill expected me to leave soon.
I was expected to leave soon by Bill.
(3) The doctor expected the technician to develop the X-rays fast.
a. The technician was expected by the doctor to develop the X-rays fast.
b. The doctor expected the X-rays to be developed fast by the technician.
c. The X-rays were expected by the doctor to be developed fast by the technician.

6. Study the following sentences and analyze them in terms of sentence patterns.
a. John seems happy. [SVC]
b. The girls sing quite often. [SV]
c. They elected Bush president again. [SVOC]
d. Chasing cats is fun for dogs. [SVC]
e. Jane sent John a bunch of roses. [SVOO]
f. John never keeps his room clean. [SVOC]
g. The film lasted two hours. [SVA]
h. John let Jane out. [SVOC]



Unit 4 The Structures of English (I)
[Check your understanding]
1. Word order plays an important role in the organization of English sentences. T
2. All ambiguous sentences result from our failure to use proper organization. F
Note: We can consciously avoid ambiguity, though.
3. With transformations, we can organize a sentence the way we like. F
Note: Transformations are rule g

overned and constrained.
4. Like English, modern Chinese is a SVO language. T
Note: But Chinese also employs theme-theme organization a lot, e.g. 他的话我没听见。

■ In-Class Activities
1．ASK:
(1) Can you think of other modes of recursion?
Relative-clause recursion.
(2) Give one example of VP recursion.
Omit.

2. ASK:
(1) Paraphrase the two parts of the sentence before and after “because”.
Under Jane’s influence, John became a good husband.
She serves as a good wife for John.
(2) Which sentence patterns do the two parts belong to?
VOC; VOO
(3) Can you find more verbs like “make” in English?
leave, allow, etc.

3. ASK:
(1) Is the sign ambiguous? If so, use paraphrases to show the different readings.
a. Do not let such situation happen that no one attends the valuables.
b. Do not go away from the valuables that are not attended.
(2) Is the ambiguity involved the same kind as that in The mother of the boy and the girl arrived?
No. Ambiguity in the latter case arises from coordination as shown by the use of “and”.
(3) Newspaper headlines and advertisements often deliberately employ ambiguity to attract customers or readers. How are the following ambiguous?
(a) A New Model For Getting Rich Online
“Online” may modify both “model” and “getting rich”.
(b) Two Philippine ships collide--one dies.
“One” may refer to both passengers and one of the ships.
(c) Eye drops off shelf.
a. An eye of somebody’s drops off shelf.
b. Eye drops (as a kind of medicine) are off shelf (i.e., out of sale).
(d) Wanted: A man to wash dishes and two young waitresses.
a. Wasted: a man to wash both dishes and two young waitresses.
b. Wanted: two young waitresses and a man whose job is to wash dishes.
(4) Is the following public sign ambiguous?
No. “Dog Free Park” means “a park where dogs are not allowed”.

4. ASK:
(1) Are these sentence patterns found in English but not in Chinese?
Yes. English employs some formal subject like “there” and “it”. Chinese may allow subjectless sentences.
(2) Can you think of any other sentence patterns in English that are not shared by Chinese?
Fancy meeting you here!
No wonder you were so angry.

5. ASK:
(1) What similarities do those sentences in the second category share?
The object is pronominal.
(2) What is the special condition that necessitates particle movement?
When the verb phrase takes a pronoun as its object, particle movement is a must. Thus, we must say “look it up” instead of “look up it”.
VP VP VP

V Particle NP V NP Particle V NP Particle

Pron

6. ASK:
(1) Is there any difference in meaning between the sentences in the first pair?
(a) It is possible that only a small numbers of books were sold out.
(b) It is

likely that a large number of books were sold out, although John did not sell many.
(2) How are the sentences in the second pair different from each other?
(b) is more emphatic than (a) now that it deviates from the normal way of sentence organization, resulting in what we call foregrounding.

7. ASK:
(1) Can you write out four different phrases in English illustrating each of the VP types?
a. read
b. read a novel
c. take the book off the desk
d. think that life is difficult
(2) Can you use the abbreviatory convention above to integrate the following sets of rules into a single rule?
a. A →( B) C
b. W → (X) Y( Z)

8. ASK:
(1) How many sentence types are covered by the data?
(1) Mexico Vote Tally Gives Free-Trader A Narrow Victory [ SVOO]
(2) Israeli Tanks Meet Fierce Resistance [SVO ]
(3) Ruling Keeps DeLay on Ballot [ SVOC]
(4) Favoritism Trial Hurts Chicago Mayor [SVO ]
(5) Discovery Docks With Space Station [ SVO]
(6) Russia's Signal to Stations Is Clear: Cut U.S. Radio [ SVC]
(7) Mayor's Stadium Proposal Advances [SV ]
(8) Dumfries Regrets Raid on Homeless [SVO ]
(9) A Driven President Faces a World of Crises [SVO ]
(10) Consultant Breached FBI's Computers [ SVO]
(2) Which type occurs most frequently?
SVO

Task 3: Study Questions
1. It is important that the rules of syntax specify all and only the grammatical sentences of the language. Why is it important to say “only”? That is, what would be wrong with a grammar that specified as grammatical sentences all of the truly grammatical ones plus a few that were not grammatical?
The grammatical rules will become invalid because we will not know which sentences are grammatical.

2. Analyze how the following sentences are incorrect according to English grammar.
a. Snowing outside.
“It is/was” cannot be deleted.
b. Jane loves John, she calls him every day.
This is a run-on sentence. The sentence contains two independent sentences.
c. There are two boys play football on the ground.
The sentence contains two finite verbs.
d. Jane is very kind to John, for example, she prepares dinner for him whenever she can.
This is a run-on sentence. “For example” is not a conjunction and thus cannot link two clauses into a complex sentence.
e. Diligent is very important to succeed.
“Diligent” cannot function as the subject because it is an adjective. In English, the subject as well as the object must be nominal.
f. John find the two book very interesting.
There is a lack of grammatical concord in number between the subject and the predicate verb.
g. John is a great leader, however, he is sometimes too strict.
This is a run-on sentence. “However” is not a conjunction and thus cannot link two clauses into a complex sentence.
h. Although Jane loves John, but she never says “I love you” to him.
In English, “although” and “but” do not co-occur.
i. The reason Jane loves John is because he is kind to her.

In English, we say “the reason (….) is that ….
j. – Have you seen John lately, Jane?
-- Not seen.
When answering a question, one repeats the auxiliary verb, rather than the main verb.
k. Finish the job in two days is impossible.
In English, the subject as well as the object must be nominal. “Finish the job” is verbal rather than nominal.
l. Why Jane didn’t go to Beijing with John?
There must be the movement (or addition) of the auxiliary when forming an interrogative sentence in English. The correct form is Why didn’t Jane go to Beijing with John?

3. Paraphrase each of the following sentences in two different ways to show that you understand the ambiguity involved:
(1) Smoking grass can be nauseating.
a. To smoke grass can be nauseating.
b. Grass for smoking can be nauseating.
(2) John finally decided on the boat.
a. On the boat John finally made a decision.
b. John finally decided to use (buy, etc.) the boat.
(3) Jane’s appointment was shocking.
a. Jane’s appointment of someone was shocking.
b. Jane’s being appointed by someone was shocking.
(4) Old men and women are hard to live with.
a. Both old men and old women are hard to live with.
b. Women and old men and are hard to live with.
(5) The governor is a dirty street fighter.
a. The governor is a fighter against dirty street.
b. The governor is a street fighter who is mean and corrupt.
(6) I cannot recommend him too highly.
a. I cannot recommend him too highly because he is not so good.
b. I can recommend him as highly as I can because he is so good.

4. Questions typically come from a first-person speaker and are addressed to a second-person hearer. Can you relate this use of questions to the fact that you is deleted from abbreviated questions? Can any subject be deleted from abbreviated questions as long as use and context make the deletion recoverable?
Like the book?
Fancy meeting John Here?
Want to have a cigarette?
When questions are used to make an offer, seek information, etc., the understood “you” can be deleted.

5. Give the passive version of the following sentences.
(1) Phil watered the garden too much.
The garden was too much watered by Phil.
(2) Bill expected me to leave soon.
I was expected to leave soon by Bill.
(3) The doctor expected the technician to develop the X-rays fast.
a. The technician was expected by the doctor to develop the X-rays fast.
b. The doctor expected the X-rays to be developed fast by the technician.
c. The X-rays were expected by the doctor to be developed fast by the technician.

6. Study the following sentences and analyze them in terms of sentence patterns.
a. John seems happy. [SVC]
b. The girls sing quite often. [SV]
c. They elected Bush president again. [SVOC]
d. Chasing cats is fun for dogs. [SVC]
e. Jane sent John a bunch of roses. [SVOO]
f. John never keeps his room clean. [SVOC]
g. The film lasted two hours. [SVA]
h. John le

t Jane out. [SVOC]


Unit 5 The Structures of English (II)
[Check your understanding]
State whether each of the following statements is True or False.
1. Every English paragraph contains a topic sentence, supporting details and a summary sentence. F
2. One may tell a story when arguing for a thesis. T
3. In order for two neighboring sentences to be cohesive, one must use some explicit device to conjoin them. F
4. Since people take turns speaking, overlaps are unlikely in conversation. F

■ In-Class Activities
1. ASK:
a. What does “it” refer to?
MONEY
b. What is omitted in the sentence?
“WORK HARD” is omitted after “DOESN’T”.

2. ASK:
a. What components make up the public notice?
A heading (“City Hall Park”), a preface, major contents, and time of notice.
b. How is the public sign organized?
By listing.
c. How is it different from a similar sign in the Chinese context?
There is usually the sealed name of the issuer of the notice in the Chinese context.

3. ASK:
a. Is the conversation composed of adjacency pairs?
Not wholly.
b. If not, how would you characterize the conversation?
Two adjacency pairs are inserted within an otherwise adjacent pair. The inserted pairs are technically called insertion sequences.

4. ASK:
a. How would you describe a conversational repair?
The conversational repair here is composed of a trouble source from LI, the initiation of a repair from Li, the self repair from Zhang, and an optional follow-up from Li.
b. Are there other types of repair in daily conversation?
Apart from other initiation + self repair, we have other types: self-initiation + self-repair, other-initiation + other repair, and self-initiation + other-repair.
Repair can be classified according to the content repaired, too.

5. ASK:
a. What is the pattern for opening a telephone conversation in English?
First, we summaron by saying “hello” and (when hearing “hello” from the responder, we) identify ourselves by saying “This is xxx.” or “xxx speaking.” We come to business once we get the right receiver.
b. How is the pattern different from that of a Chinese telephone conversation?
In Chinese, we identify ourselves by saying “我是……。”
c. Are there any differences between English and Chinese in terms of closing a telephone conversation?
We Chinese often use concluding remarks like “就这样”and sometimes promise to recall again in the near future. These things are seldom found when telephone talks are closed in English.

6. ASK:
(1) Point out the cohesive devices used in the paragraph.








reference
Grammatical ellipsis
substitution
tense
conjunctions
Logical
conjuncts
repetition
Lexical reiteration
myronym

(2) Which type of cohesive device is used most often?
grammatical devices (esp. substitution “it” and “its” and

tense)

7. ASK:
(1) Does Chinese follow the topic-comment pattern? How can it be different from English in this respect?
Yes. More so than English. English attaches greater importance to the grammatical subject.
(2) Do we sometimes start a sentence with new information? Use an example to illustrate.
Yes, though not so often. E.g.
A: Do you know my cousin?
B: Jack is his name.

8. ASK:
(1) What characteristics does each mode of thematic progression have with regard to narrative effects?
Type 1: continuity, smooth flow.
Type 2: clear focus; yet some monotony.
Type 3: complexity and diversity.
(2) Analyze the earlier excerpt from Life on the Mississippi in terms of thematic progression.
Theme 1 Rheme 1
Type 2 Theme 1 Rheme 2
Theme 1 Rheme 3

9. ASK:
(1) What is the theme the poet seems to convey?
Lack of love between the couple.
(2) How does the layout of the poem best reveal the theme?
The whole poem (even some words) is divided into two halves with a vertical line in between.

■ Exercises
Task 3: Study Questions
1. What differences and similarities exist between conversation and written discourse (text)?
Similarities:
a. both are rule-governed and structured.
b. both are communicative by nature.
Differences:
CONVERSATION DISCOURSE/TEXT
a. often spontaneous and transient a. often involving much planning
b. involving two or more people b. monologic
c. often fraught with errors c. usu. error-free
d. often informal or colloquial d. generally formal

2. What is the typical global or macro structure of a data-driven MA thesis /a note of thanks / a resum??
The main body of an M.A thesis; Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Discussion, Conclusion.
A note of thanks includes terms of address, words of thanks, reason(s) for giving thanks, a promise of some reward, complimentary close, and signature.
A resum? generally includes the heading, name, correspondence address, educational background, occupational background, personals (such as age/date of birth, sex, marital status, etc.).
3. The following conversation is taken from Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party. What aspects of this fragment of conversational speech would you point to as characteristic features of this type of language-in-use?
A great deal of ellipsis; informal.
4. a. A story can be divided into orientation, evaluation, complicating action, and resolution. Analyze the texts in terms of these categories (not all of these will be present in all texts).
Note: Orientation identifies the participant(s) in the narrative and provides the necessary background information; evaluation is used when one wants to make clear the significance being attributed to the event(s) and shows the narrator’s personal judgment or attitude; by means of complicating action, the narrator builds the dramatic structu