英语语言学第1-3章课后练习题答案Word格式文档下载.doc

英语语言学第1-3章课后练习题答案Word格式文档下载.doc

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Linguisticsisthescientificstudyoflanguage？

答：

Linguisticsisbasedonthesystematicinvestigationoflinguisticdata,conductedwithreferencetosomegeneraltheoryoflanguagestructure.Inordertodiscoverthenatureandrulesoftheunderlyinglanguagesystem,thelinguistshastocollectandobservelanguagefactsfirst,whicharefoundtodisplaysomesimilarities,andgeneralizationsaremadeaboutthem;

thenheformulatessomehypothesesaboutthelanguagestructure.Thehypothesesthusformedhavetobecheckedrepeatedlyagainsttheobservedfactstofullyprovetheirvalidity.Inlinguistics,asinanyotherdiscipline,dataandtheorystandinadialecticalcomplementation,thatis,atheorywithoutthesupportofdatacanhardlyclaimvalidity,anddatawithoutbeingexplainedbysometheoryremainamuddledmassofthings.

2.Whatarethemajorbranchesoflinguistics?

Whatdoeseachofthemstudy?

Themajorbranchesoflinguisticsare:

（1）phonetics:

itstudiesthesoundsusedinlinguisticcommunication;

（2）phonology:

itstudieshowsoundsareputtogetherandusedtoconveymeaningincommunication;

（3）morphology:

itstudiesthewayinwhichlinguisticsymbolsrepresentingsoundsarearrangedandcombinedtoformwords;

（4）syntax:

itstudiestheruleswhichgovernhowwordsarecombinedtoformgrammaticallypermissiblesentencesinlanguages;

（5）semantics:

itstudiesmeaningconveyedbylanguage;

（6）pragmatics:

itstudiesthemeaninginthecontextoflanguageuse.

3.Inwhatbasicwaysdoesmodernlinguisticsdifferfromtraditionalgrammar?

Thegeneralapproachthustraditionallyformedtothestudyoflanguageovertheyearsisroughlyreferredtoas“traditionalgrammar.”Modernlinguisticsdiffersfromtraditionalgrammarinseveralbasicways.

Firstly,linguisticsisdescriptivewhiletraditionalgrammarisprescriptive.

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

Then,modemlinguisticsdiffersfromtraditionalgrammaralsointhatitdoesnotforcelanguagesintoaLatin-basedframework.

4.Ismodernlinguisticsmainlysynchronicordiachronic?

Why?

Inmodemlinguistics,asynchronicapproachseemstoenjoypriorityoveradiachronicone.Becausepeoplebelievedthatunlessthevariousstatesofalanguageindifferenthistoricalperiodsaresuccessfullystudied,itwouldbedifficulttodescribethechangesthathavetakenplaceinitshistoricaldevelopment.

5.Forwhatreasonsdoesmodernlinguisticsgiveprioritytospeechratherthantowriting?

Speechandwritingarethetwomajormediaoflinguisticcommunication.Modemlinguisticsregardsthespokenlanguageasthenaturalortheprimarymediumofhumanlanguageforsomeobviousreasons.Fromthepointofviewoflinguisticevolution,speechispriortowriting.Thewritingsystemofanylanguageisalways“invented”byitsuserstorecordspeechwhentheneedarises.Evenintoday'

sworldtherearestillmanylanguagesthatcanonlybespokenbutnotwritten.Thenineverydaycommunication,speechplaysagreaterrolethanwritingintermsoftheamountofinformationconveyed.Andalso,speechisalwaysthewayinwhicheverynativespeakeracquireshismothertongue,andwritingislearnedandtaughtlaterwhenhegoestoschool.Formodernlinguists,spokenlanguagerevealsmanytruefeaturesofhumanspeechwhilewrittenlanguageisonlythe“revised”recordofspeech.Thustheirdataforinvestigationandanalysisaremostlydrawnfromeverydayspeech,whichtheyregardasauthentic.

6.HowisSaussure'

sdistinctionbetweenlangueandparolesimilartoChomsky'

sdistinctionbetweencompetenceandperformance?

Saussure'

sdistinctionandChomsky'

sareverysimilar,theydifferatleastinthatSaussuretookasociologicalviewoflanguageandhisnotionoflangueisamatterofsocialconventions,andChomskylooksatlanguagefromapsychologicalpointofviewandtohimcompetenceisapropertyofthemindofeachindividual.

7.Whatcharacteristicsoflanguagedoyouthinkshouldbeincludedinagood,comprehensivedefinitionoflanguage?

Firstofall,languageisasystem,i.e.,elementsoflanguagearecombinedaccordingtorules.

Second,languageisarbitraryinthesensethatthereisnointrinsicconnectionbetweenalinguisticsymbolandwhatthesymbolstandsfor.

Third,languageisvocalbecausetheprimarymediumforalllanguagesissound.

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

8.Whatarethemainfeaturesofhu