新编简明英语语言学教程第二版 练习题 参考答案.docx

新编简明英语语言学教程第二版 练习题 参考答案.docx

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新编简明英语语言学教程第二版练习题参考答案

《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