语言学Chapter4课后练习答案

Chap ter 4 Revisi on Exercises

1. What is syn tax

Syn tax is a branch of lin guistics that studies how words are comb ined to form senten ces and the rules that gover n the formati on of senten ces.

2. What is p hrase structure rule

The grammatical mecha nism that regulates the arran geme nt of eleme nts . sp ecifiers, heads, and compi eme nts) that make up a p hrase is called a p hrase structure rule.

The p hrase structural rule for NP, VP, AP, and PP can be writte n as follows: Ni (Det) N (PP) ... Vi (Qual) V (NP) ... Ai (Deg) A (PP) ... PP^ (Deg) P (NP) ...

We can formulate a si ngle gen eral p hrasal structural rule in which X sta nds for the head N, V, A or P

The XP rule: XP> (sp ecifier) X (co mp leme nt)

3. What is category How to determine a word ' s category

Category refers to a group of lin guistic items which fulfill the same or similar fun cti ons in a p articular Ian guage such as a senten ce, a noun p hrase or a verb.

To determ ine a word's category, three criteria are usually empio yed, n amely meaning, inflection and distribution. The most reliable of determining a word s category is its distributio n.

there is no limit on the nu mber of coord in ated categories that can app ear p rior to the

conjun cti on.

a category at any level a head or an en tire XP can be coord in ated. coord in ated categories must be of the same type.

the category type of the coord in ate p hrase is ide ntical to the category type of the eleme

nts being conj oin ed.

5. What eleme nts does a p hrase contain and what role does each eleme nt p lay

A p hrase usually contains the followi ng eleme nts: head, sp ecifier and comp leme nt. Sometimes it also contains ano ther ki nd of eleme nt termed modifier.

The role each eleme nt can play: Head:

4. What is coord in ate structure and what prop erties does it have

The structure formed by joining two or more eleme nts of the same type with the help of a conjun cti on is called coord in ate structure.

It has four imp orta nt prop erties: 1)

2) 3) 4)

Head is the word around which a p hrase is formed. Sp ecifier:

Sp ecifier has both sp ecial sema ntic and syn tactic roles. Sema ntically, it helps to make more p recise the meaning of the head. Syn tactically, it typ ically marks a p hrase boun dary. Comp leme nt:

Comp leme nts are themselves p hrases and pro vide in formatio n about en tities and locati ons whose existe nee is imp lied by the meaning of the head. Modifier:

Modifiers sp ecify op ti on ally exp ressible prop erties of the heads.

6. What is dee p structure and what is surface structure

There are two levels of syn tactic structure. The first, formed by the XP rule in accorda nee with the head's subcategorizati on prop erties, is calledJee p structure (or D-structure). The sec ond, corres ponding to the final syn tactic form of the sentence which results from approp riate tran sformati on s, is called surface structure (or S-structure).

7. In dicate the category of each word in the follow ing senten ces. a) The old lady got off the bus carefully. I H I I \ \ \ Det

A N

V

P

Det N

Adv

b) The car sudde niy crashed onto the river bank.

Det N Adv V P Det N c) The blindi ng sno

wstorm might dglay the ope

ning of the

schools. Det A

d) This cloth feels quite soft.

Det N V Deg A

8. The follow ing p hrases in clude a head, a comp leme nt, and a sp ecifier. Draw the approp riate tree structure for each p hrase.

a) rich in min erals

1 〒丁r

N Aux V Det N P Det N