语言学概论-课后参考答案--杨信彰

Charpter1
1.1.1
1. a. This sentence may have three interpretations: 1) He rolled from side to side in his grave. 2) He returned his grave. 3) He handed in his grave.
b. There are two interpretations to this sentence: 1) They gave preference to both young men and young women. 2) They gave preference to women and young men.
2. Units that have reference: I, saw, Mary, went, the library.
Units that indicate structure: when, to.
3. a. This sentence is grammatical, but is nonsensical.
b. This sentence is ungrammatical and nonsensical.
c. This is a good sentence.
d. This is a good sentenc
e.
1.1.2
1. a. This sign is a symbol. It means we will have good luck. I know it from my cultural background, because the Chinese character "福" means "luck" and the color red symbolizes "goodness". The Chinese meaning of "upside down" is "倒", which has the similar pronunciation of "到(arrive)". Thus, when the character "福" is put upside down, it means that luck arrives.
b. This sign is an icon. It means no smoking, and I know it from the picture.
c. This sign is a mixture of a symbol and a icon. It means that "parking" is only allowed for disabled people.
2. I think the house is on fire because smoke is a index of fire.
3. To the physician, it means that the man has got a fever.
4. I think so, but not exactly, because the difference of the consonants does not mean the bird in different places cries differently.
1.1.3
1. according to the arbitrariness theory, the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural resemblance to their meaning. The link between them is a matter of convention. Thus, the name Xiao Long is just a label for the son. However, in Chinese culture dragon was the symbol for the emperor. Thus, the name may have certain associative meanings.
2. No. The speaker of a language, based upon the convention established in the speech community, associates linguistic signs with things and concepts. In people's mind, "pig" stands for foolishness and laziness. If I name it Pig Hair Shampoo, no one will buy it.
3. Words are arbitrary in form, but they are not random in their use. Although the link between form and meaning is arbitrary, there existed certain relationship between them, which can be called rules. The individual does not have the power to change a sign in any way once it has become established in the linguistic community.
1.1.4
1. I prefer to use the spoken language. In a supermarket, the spoken language is much more convenient for people to communicate with each other. People do not have the time and necessity to use written language in communication.
2. I think listening and speaking should come first. The primary medium of language is sound, and language is primarily vocal. What's more, children can learn to listen and speak a foreign language more quickly than they read and write.
1.1.5
1. No, I don't agree with this point of view. Language is human specific, so humans and dogs can not communicate with each other.
2. A parrot only can say what it is taught. It can not form an infinite set of utterances from a finite use of units. So, a parrot talking can not be equated with human language.
3. That is only the result of the stimulus-response training.
4. Human language is primary over animal communication in the following aspects:
1) Human has the ability to refer to things far remote in time and space. In contrast, it may be impossible for an animal to convey such ability.
2) Human has the ability to produce and understand an indefinite number of novel utterances, but no animal can communicate creatively with another animal.
3) Learning is much more important as a factor in human language than in animal communication.
4) Human language structure and language use are vastly more complex than any animal communication system.
5) Animal communication systems are closed-ended, whereas human languages are open-ended.
1.1.6
1. The advanced technology such as telephones and the Internet makes human communication become much more convenient and frequent. People can communicate with others in remote places freely.
2. There may exist several causes:
1) The sender can not express himself or herself clearly.
2) The receiver can not understand what the sender said.
3) The receiver is unwilling to communicate with the sender.
4) There exists misunderstanding because of the different cultural background of the sender and the receiver.
3. We must pay key attention to learning the knowledge of the ways of thinking, acting and speaking of a language, for differences in this kind of knowledge may cause trouble in intercultural communication.
1.2.1
1. a. Physiological function
b. Performative function
c. Phatic function
d. Informative function
2. People like poetry because people can enjoy the rhythm and the melody of certain combinations of sounds in the poetry. And most creative uses of language in the poetry can provide people considerable pleasure through the generation of puns, paradoxes, ambiguities and metaphors.
3. I may not say anything, but move the desk away.
1.2.2
1. General functions refer to the particular individual uses of language whilst metafunctions refer to the larger, more general purposes underlying language use.
2. No. According to Halliday, every sentence in a text is multifunctional and has three metafunctions simultaneously: ideational, interpersonal and textual functions.
3. Halliday's functional theory emphasizes the relationship between language structure and the language functions in social life, while the traditional grammar emphasizes the forms of the sentence.
1.3.1
1. I agree to the evolutionary theory which tends to believe that man evolved from lower forms of life, and so did language. This is a scientific approach to the origin of language as it is based on a wide range of studies over years by biologists, anthropologists, psychologists, neurologists, primatologists and linguists. With many significant changes since its early introduction, the evolutionary theory shows us the origin of language from various aspects, such as the organic evolution, environmental factors.
2. 轰隆、乒乓、叽叽嘎嘎、叽里咕噜、汪汪
3. Onomatopoetic words are imitations of the sounds of nature, and emotional ejaculations of pain, fear, surprise, pleasure, anger, etc. According to the invention theory, onomatopoetic words form the basis of language, or at least the core of the basic vocabulary.
1.3.2
1. Usually, there are two main ways of classifying languages: the genetic (or genealogical) and the typological. The historical classification is based on the assumption that languages have diverged from a common ancestor. This criteria is to research into the history and relatedness of languages. On the other hand, the typological classification is based on a comparison of the formal similarities which exist between languages.。