《新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版课后练习题答案.docx

《新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版课后练习题答案.docx

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《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

Chapter1Introduction

1.Howdoyouinterpretthefollowingdefinitionoflinguistics:

Linguisticsisthescientificstudyoflanguage.

答：

Linguisticsisbasedonthesystematicinvestigationoflinguisticdata,conductedwithreferencetosomegeneraltheoryoflanguagestructure.Inordertodiscoverthenatureandrulesoftheunderlyinglanguagesystem,thelinguistshastocollectandobservelanguagefactsfirst,whicharefoundtodisplaysomesimilarities,andgeneralizationsaremadeaboutthem;thenheformulatessomehypothesesaboutthelanguagestructure.Thehypothesesthusformedhavetobecheckedrepeatedlyagainsttheobservedfactstofullyprovetheirvalidity.Inlinguistics,asinanyotherdiscipline,dataandtheorystandinadialecticalcomplementation,thatis,atheorywithoutthesupportofdatacanhardlyclaimvalidity,anddatawithoutbeingexplainedbysometheoryremainamuddledmassofthings.

2.Whatarethemajorbranchesoflinguistics?

Whatdoeseachofthemstudy?

答：

Themajorbranchesoflinguisticsare:

（1）phonetics:

itstudiesthesoundsusedinlinguisticcommunication;

（2）phonology:

itstudieshowsoundsareputtogetherandusedtoconveymeaningincommunication;

（3）morphology:

itstudiesthewayinwhichlinguisticsymbolsrepresentingsoundsarearrangedandcombinedtoformwords;

（4）syntax:

itstudiestheruleswhichgovernhowwordsarecombinedtoformgrammaticallypermissiblesentencesinlanguages;

（5）semantics:

itstudiesmeaningconveyedbylanguage;

（6）pragmatics:

itstudiesthemeaninginthecontextoflanguageuse.

3.Inwhatbasicwaysdoesmodernlinguisticsdifferfromtraditionalgrammar?

答：

Thegeneralapproachthustraditionallyformedtothestudyoflanguageovertheyearsisroughlyreferredtoas“traditionalgrammar.”Modernlinguisticsdiffersfromtraditionalgrammarinseveralbasicways.

Firstly,linguisticsisdescriptivewhiletraditionalgrammarisprescriptive.

Second,modemlinguisticsregardsthespokenlanguageasprimary,notthewritten.Traditionalgrammarians,ontheotherhand,tendedtoemphasize,maybeover-emphasize,theimportanceofthewrittenword,partlybecauseofitspermanence.

Then,modemlinguisticsdiffersfromtraditionalgrammaralsointhatitdoesnotforcelanguagesintoaLatin-basedframework.

4.Ismodernlinguisticsmainlysynchronicordiachronic?

Why?

答：

Inmodemlinguistics,asynchronicapproachseemstoenjoypriorityoveradiachronicone.Becausepeoplebelievedthatunlessthevariousstatesofalanguageindifferenthistoricalperiodsaresuccessfullystudied,itwouldbedifficulttodescribethechangesthathavetakenplaceinitshistoricaldevelopment.

5.Forwhatreasonsdoesmodernlinguisticsgiveprioritytospeechratherthantowriting?

答：

Speechandwritingarethetwomajormediaoflinguisticcommunication.Modemlinguisticsregardsthespokenlanguageasthenaturalortheprimarymediumofhumanlanguageforsomeobviousreasons.Fromthepointofviewoflinguisticevolution,speechispriortowriting.Thewritingsystemofanylanguageisalways“invented”byitsuserstorecordspeechwhentheneedarises.Evenintoday'sworldtherearestillmanylanguagesthatcanonlybespokenbutnotwritten.Thenineverydaycommunication,speechplaysagreaterrolethanwritingintermsoftheamountofinformationconveyed.Andalso,speechisalwaysthewayinwhicheverynativespeakeracquireshismothertongue,andwritingislearnedandtaughtlaterwhenhegoestoschool.Formodernlinguists,spokenlanguagerevealsmanytruefeaturesofhumanspeechwhilewrittenlanguageisonlythe“revised”recordofspeech.Thustheirdataforinvestigationandanalysisaremostlydrawnfromeverydayspeech,whichtheyregardasauthentic.

6.HowisSaussure'sdistinctionbetweenlangueandparolesimilartoChomsky'sdistinctionbetweencompetenceandperformance?

答：

Saussure'sdistinctionandChomsky'sareverysimilar,theydifferatleastinthatSaussuretookasociologicalviewoflanguageandhisnotionoflangueisamatterofsocialconventions,andChomskylooksatlanguagefromapsychologicalpointofviewandtohimcompetenceisapropertyofthemindofeachindividual.

7.Whatcharacteristicsoflanguagedoyouthinkshouldbeincludedinagood,comprehensivedefinitionoflanguage?

答：

Firstofall,languageisasystem,i.e.,elementsoflanguagearecombinedaccordingtorules.

Second,languageisarbitraryinthesensethatthereisnointrinsicconnectionbetweenalinguisticsymbolandwhatthesymbolstandsfor.

Third,languageisvocalbecausetheprimarymediumforalllanguagesissound.

Fourth,languageishuman-specific,i.e.,itisverydifferentfromthecommunicationsystemsotherformsoflifepossess.

8.WhatarethemainfeaturesofhumanlanguagethathavebeenspecifiedbyC.Hocketttoshowthatitisessentiallydifferentfromanimalcommunicationsystem?

答：

Themainfeaturesofhumanlanguagearetermeddesignfeatures.Theyinclude:

1）Arbitrariness

Languageisarbitrary.Thismeansthatthereisnologicalconnectionbetweenmeaningsandsounds.Agoodexampleisthefactthatdifferentsoundsareusedtorefertothesameobjectindifferentlanguages.

2）Productivity

Languageisproductiveorcreativeinthatitmakespossibletheconstructionandinterpretationofnewsignalsbyitsusers.Thisiswhytheycanproduceandunderstandaninfinitelylargenumberofsentences,includingsentencestheyhaveneverheardbefore.

3）Duality

Languageconsistsoftwosetsofstructures,ortwolevels.Atthelowerorthebasiclevelthereisastructureofsounds,whicharemeaninglessbythemselves.Butthesoundsoflanguagecanbegroupedandregroupedintoalargenumberofunitsofmeaning,whicharefoundatthehigherlevelofthesystem.

4）Displacement

Languagecanbeusedtorefertothingswhicharepresentornotpresent,realorimaginedmattersinthepast,present,orfuture,orinfar-awayplaces.Inotherwords,languagecanbeusedtorefertocontextsremovedfromtheimmediatesituationsofthespeaker.Thisiswhat“displacement”means.

5）Culturaltransmission

Whilehumancapacityforlanguagehasageneticbasis,i.e.,wewereallbornwiththeabilitytoacquirelanguage,thedetailsofanylanguagesystemarenotgeneticallytransmitted,butinsteadhavetobetaughtandlearned.

9.Whatarethemajorfunctionsoflanguage?

Thinkofyourownexamplesforillustration.

答：

Threemainfunctionsareoftenrecognizedoflanguage:

thedescriptivefunction,theexpressivefunction,andthesocialfunction.

Thedescriptivefunctionisthefunctiontoconveyfactualinformation,whichcanbeassertedordenied,andinsomecasesevenverified.Forexample:

“Chinaisalargecountrywithalonghistory.”

Theexpressivefunctionsuppliesinformationabouttheuser’sfeelings,preferences,prejudices,andvalues.Forexample:

“Iwillnevergowindow-shoppingwithher.”

Thesocialfunctionservestoestablishandmaintainsocialrelationsbetweenpeople..Forexample:

“Weareyourfirmsupporters.”

Chapter2SpeechSounds

1.Whatarethetwomajormediaoflinguisticcommunication?

Ofthetwo,whichoneisprimaryandwhy?

答：

Speechandwritingarethetwomajormediaoflinguisticcommunication.

Ofthetwomediaoflanguage,speechismoreprimarythanwriting,forreasons,pleaserefertotheanswertothefifthprobleminthelastchapter.

2.Whatisvoicingandhowisitcaused?

答：

VoicingisaqualityofspeechsoundsandafeatureofallvowelsandsomeconsonantsinEnglish.Itiscausedbythevibrationofthevocalcords.

3.Explainwithexampleshowbroadtranscriptionandnarrowtranscriptiondiffer?

答：

Thetranscriptionwithletter-symbolsonlyiscalledbroadtranscription.Thisisthetranscriptionnormallyusedindictionariesandteachingtextbooksforgeneralpurposes.Thelatter,i.e.thetranscriptionwithletter-symbolstogetherwiththediacriticsiscallednarrowtranscription.Thisisthetranscriptionneededandusedbythephoneticiansintheirstudyofspeechsounds.Withthehelpofthediacriticstheycanfaithfullyrepresentasmuchofthefinedetailsasitisnecessaryfortheirpurpose.

Inbroadtranscription,thesymbol[l]isusedforthesounds[l]inthefourwordsleaf[li:

f],feel[fi:

l],build[bild],andhealth[helθ].Asamatteroffact,thesound[l]inallthesefoursoundcombinationsdiffersslightly.The[l]in[li:

f],occurringbeforeavowel,iscalledadear[l],andnodiacriticisneededtoindicateit;the[1]in[fi:

l]and[bild],occurringattheendofawordorbeforeanotherconsonant,ispronounceddifferentlyfromtheclear[1]asin“leaf”.Itiscalleddark[?

]andinnarrowtranscriptionthediacritic[?

]isusedtoindicateit.Theninthesoundcombination[helθ],thesound[l]isfollowedbytheEnglishdentalsound[θ],itspronunciationissomewhataffectedbythedentalsoundthatfollowsit.Itisthuscalledadental[l],andinnarrowtranscriptionthediacritic[、]isusedtoindicateit.Itistranscribedas[helθ].

Anotherexampleistheconsonant[p].Weallknowthat[p]ispronounceddifferentlyinthetwowordspitandspit.Inthewordpit,thesound[p]ispronouncedwithastrongpuffofair,butinspitthepuffofairiswithheldtosomeextent.Inthecaseofpit,the[p]soundissaidtobeaspiratedandinthecaseofspit,the[p]soundisunaspirated.Thisdifferenceisnotshowninbroadtranscription,butinnarrowtranscription,asmallraised“h”isusedtoshowaspiration,thuspitistranscribedas[ph?

t]andspitistranscribedas[sp?

t].

4.HowaretheEnglishconsonantsclassified?

答：

Englishcons