1-4单元《新编语言学教程》课后答案

Chapter 1

Introduction

1. Define the following terms briefly.

(1) linguistics语言学: the scientific or systematic study of language.

(2) language语言: a system of arbitrary vocal 任意的声音symbols used for human communication.用于人类交流的任意声音符号系统

(3) arbitrariness任意性: the absence of similarity between

the form of a linguistic sign and what it relates to in reality,

语言符号的形式与现实的关系缺乏相似性e.g. the word

dog does not look like a dog.

(4) duality双重性: the way meaningless elements of language

at one level (sounds and letters) combine to form

meaningful units (words) at another level.在一个层面上（语

言和字母）的无意义的语言元素结合在另一个层次上形

成有意义的单位（词）

(5) competence语言能力: knowledge of the grammar of a

language as a formal abstraction and distinct from the

behavior of actual language use作为一种形式抽象的语言

的语法知识，区别于实际语言使用的行为, i.e.

performance.

(6) performance语言运用: Chomsky’s term for actual

language behavior as distinct from the knowledge that

underlies it, or competence.乔姆斯基对实际语言行为的术

语不同于它的知识，或能力。

(8) phatic communion交际性谈话: Language is used to

establish an atmosphere or maintain social contact

between the speaker and the hearer.语言是用来建立一个气

氛或保持说话人和听话人之间的社会联系

(11) synchronic linguistics共时语言学: the study of

language and speech as they are used at a given moment and

not in terms of how they have evolved over time.语言和语

言的研究，因为它们是在一个给定的时刻使用，而不是

他们如何随着时间的推移演变

(12) diachronic linguistics历时语言学: the study of linguistic

change over time in contrast to looking at language as it is

used at a given moment.语言在时间上的变化与语言在特

定时刻使用的对比研究

2. No, language is human-specific. Human language has seven design features, including arbitrariness, duality, productivity, interchangeability, displacement, specialization and

cultural transmission. These features are found utterly lacking in dogs’ or pigs’ noises and thus set human language apart from animal cry systems.

3. Arbitrariness refers to the fact that there is no logical or intrinsic connection bet ween a particular sound and the meaning it is associated with. For example, for the same animal dog, in English we call it /d0g/, in Chinese as “gou”, but “yilu” in Japanese; it barks wow wow in English but wang wang in Chinese. Of course, onomatopoetic words such as “quack-quack” and “bang” are exceptions, but words like these are relatively few compared with the total number of words in a language.

4. A human baby does not speak any language at birth. What language the baby is going to speak is determined by the culture he is born into. A Chinese baby born and brought up in London by an English family will speak English, while an English child brought up in Beijing by a Chinese aunt will speak Chinese. That is to say, language cannot be transmitted through heredity. It is culturally transmitted.

5. Firstly, linguistics describes languages and does not lay down rules of correctness while traditional grammar emphasizes correctness. Secondly, linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, while traditional grammar emphasizes the priority of the