第4章英语语言结构（I）
课后习题详解
Check your understanding.
State whether each of the following statements is True or False.
(1) Word order plays an important role in the organization of English sentences. 【答案】T
(2) All ambiguous sentences result from our failure to use proper organization. 【答案】F
(3) With transformations, we can organize a sentence the way we like.
【答案】F
(4) Like English, modern Chinese is a SVO language.
【答案】T
In-Class Activities
1. Natural language is said to differ from animals’ communication systems along many lines. For example, it is characterized by its recursive property; in other words, there is no limit to the potential length of sentences, and the set of sentences of any language is infinite. There are a variety of means that enable recursion. Here are the illustrations for some of them in English:
a. Jane visited John’s brother’s wife’s mother’s father’s cousin’s friend’s
store. (NP recursion)
b. The very seedy battered rundown old red wooden shack fell down. (AP recursion)
c. Jane wants to begin to try to learn to write novels in English. (VP recursion)
d. John likes the brightness of the coloring of the lettering on the cover of Jane’s report. (PP recursion)
Ask
(1) Can you think of other modes of recursion?
Key: Relative-clause recursion.
(2) Give one example of VP recursion.
Key: Begin planning to learn to swim.
2. The sentence Jane made John a good husband because she made him a good wife looks interesting because the two parts of the sentence linked by “because”seem to share the same surface structure but differ in their deep or underlying structure.
Ask
(1) Paraphrase the two parts of the sentence before and after “because”.
Key: Under Jane’s influence, John became a good husband.
She serves as a good wife for John.
(2) Which sentence patterns do the two parts belong to?
Key: VOC; VOO
(3) Can you find more verbs like “make” in English?
Key: Leave, allow, etc.
3. Like “make”, “leave” is another potent verb in English because it can be used in different sentence patterns. Look at the public sign below.
(1) Is the sign ambiguous? If so, use paraphrases to show the different readings.
Key: a. Do not let such situation happen that no one attends the valuables.
b. Do not go away from the valuables that are not attended.
(2) Is the ambiguity involved the same kind as that in “The mother of the boy and the girl arrived”?
Key: No. Ambiguity in the latter case arises from coordination as shown by the use of “and”.
(3) Newspaper headlines and advertisements often deliberately employ ambiguity
to attract customers or readers. How are the following ambiguous?
1) A New Model for Getting Rich Online
2) Two Philippine Ships Collido-One Dies.
3) Eye Drops off Shelf.
4) Wanted: A man to Wash Dishes and Two Young Waitresses.
Key: (a) A New Model For Getting Rich Online. “Online” may modify both “model” and “getting rich”.
(b) Two Philippine ships collide-one dies. “One” may refer to both passengers and one of the ships.
(c) Eye drops off shelf.
a. An eye of somebody’s drops off shelf.
b. Eye drops (as a kind of medicine) are off shelf (i.e., out of sale).
(d) Wanted: A man to wash dishes and two young waitresses.
a. Wasted: a man to wash both dishes and two young waitresses.
b. Wanted: two young waitresses and a man whose job is to wash dishes.
(4) Is the following public sign ambiguous?
Key: No. “Dog Free Park” means “a park where dogs are not allowed”.
4. In the text, seven basic sentence patterns, were introduced in English. Now consider the following sentences:
a. There will be a discussion this afternoon.
b. It is surprising that you should arrive so late.
Ask
(1) Are these sentence patterns found in English but not in Chinese?
Key: Yes. English employs some formal subject like “there” and “it”. Chinese may allow subject less sentences.
(2) Can you think of any other sentence patterns in English that are not shared by Chinese?
Key: Fancy meeting you here!
No wonder you were so angry.
5. There are many sorts of discontinuous organization in English. For instance, in the sentence “I want to see with my own eyes the new changes that have taken place there”, the object of “see” is delayed by “with my own eyes”. Another type of discontinuous structuring results from what is called particle movement. For example, we may say both “look up a word” and “look a word up”, in which “up” is a particle rather than a preposition. In “look a word up”, “up”is moved away from the verb and becomes discontinuous. Note that particle movement is obligatory in some special condition in English. Look at the following data:
a. John wrote down the number. /John wrote the number down.
John wrote down it.
b. Jane stood up John. /Jane stood John up.
Jane stood up him.
c. John kicked out Jane. /John kicked Jane out.
John kicked out her.
Ask:
(1) What similarities do those sentences in the second category share?
Key: The object is pronominal.
(2) What is the special condition that necessitates particle movement?
Key: When the verb phrase takes a pronoun as its object, particle movement is a must. Thus, we must say “look it up” instead of “look up it”.
6. In the early version of Chomsky’s TG Grammar, it was claimed that transformation does not result in any change of the meaning of the sentence. However, this may not be true. Often, transformation is motivated rather than arbitrary. Compare the following pairs of sentences that are transformationally related:
A. a. John did not sell many books.
b. Many books were not sold by John.
B. a. Jane kissed John.
b. John Jane kissed.
(1) Is there any difference in meaning between the sentences in the first pair?
Key: (a) It is possible that only a small numbers of books were sold out.
(b) It is likely that a large number of books were sold out, although John did
英语语言学试题（1） I. Directions: Read each of the following statements carefully. Decide which one of the four choices best completes the statement and put the letter A, B, C or D in the brackets. (2%×10=20%) 1、As modern linguistics aims to describe and analyze the language people actually use, and not to lay down rules for "correct" linguistic behavior, it is said to be ___. A、prescriptive B、sociolinguistic C、descriptive D、psycholinguistic 2、Of all the speech organs, the ___ is/are the most flexible. A、mouth B、lips C、tongue D、vocal cords 3、The morpheme "vision" in the common word "television" is a(n) ___. A、bound morpheme B、bound form C、inflectional morpheme D、free morpheme 4、A ___ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory word that introduces the embedded clause. A、coordinator B、particle C、preposition D、subordinator 5、"Can I borrow your bike?" _____ "You have a bike." A、is synonymous with B、is inconsistent with C、entails D、presupposes 6、The branch of linguistics that studies how context influences the way speakers interpret sentences is called ___. A、semantics B、pragmatics C、sociolinguistics D、psycholinguistics 7、Grammatical changes may be explained, in part, as analogic changes, which are ___ or generalization. A、elaboration B、simplification C、external borrowing D、internal borrowing 8、___ refers to a marginal language of few lexical items and straightforward grammatical rules, used as a medium of communication. A、Lingua franca B、Creole C、Pidgin D、Standard language 9、Psychologists, neurologists and linguists have concluded that, in addition to the motor area which is responsible for physical articulation of utterances, three areas of the left brain are vital to language, namely, ___ . A、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and the angular gyrus B、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and cerebral cortex C、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and neurons D、Broca's area, Wernicke's area and Exner's area 10、According to Krashen, ___ refers to the gradual and subconscious development of ability in the first language by using it naturally in daily communicative situations. A、learning B、competence C、performance D、acquisition II. Directions: Fill in the blank in each of the following statements with one word, the first letter of which is already given as a clue. Note that you are to fill in One word only, and you are not allowed to change the letter given. (1%×10=10%) 11、Chomsky defines "competence" as the ideal user's k_______ of the rules of his language. 12、The four sounds /p/,/b/,/m/ and /w/have one feature in common, i.e, they are all b______ . 13、M_______ is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed. 14、A s______ is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to form a complete statement, question or command. 15、Synonyms that are mutually substitutable under all circumstances are called c______ synonyms. 16、The illocutionary point of r_____ is to commit the speaker to something's being the case, to the truth of what has been said. 17、Words are created outright to fit some purpose. Such a method of enlarging the vocabulary is known as word c______.
Which of the following forms a minimal pair? A.fear, pear B.tip, pit C.food, foot D.beat, bit 答案:D The word "realization" consists of _____ syllables as against _____ morphemes. A.five/five B.five/four C.four/three D.four/four 答案:C Which of the following best describes the relations between “Alice is a vegetarian” and “Alice prefers eating steak”? A.The former is synonymous with the latter. B.The former is inconsistent with the latter. C.The former entails the latter. D.The former presupposes the latter. 答案:B Which of the following underlined parts is a free morpheme? A.understandable B.eastward C.otherwise D.without 答案:D Which of the following is a directive? A.Your money or your life! B.You are fired! C.The earth is round. D.Thank you very much. 答案:A How many arguments are there in “I’m not feeling very well”? A.no B.one C.three D.five 答案:B The word “boatel” is a(n) ____. A.acronym B.blend C.clipped word D.coined word 答案:B ‘Parent’ and ‘child’ are ___. A.gradable antonyms B.ungradable opposites C.relational opposites https://www.doczj.com/doc/4c9004327.html,plementary synonyms 答案:C Which of the following is the head of the phrase ‘often read science fictions’? A.often B.read C.science D.fictions 答案:B ‘That is a box’ is a ___-place predication. A.no B.one C.two D.three 答案:B The word “DINK” is a(n) ____. A.acronym B.blend C.clipped word D.coined word 答案:A Around the time of their second birthday, children begin to produce ____ utterances. A.one-word B.two-word C.three-word D.four-word 答案:B Which of the following underlined parts is NOT an inflectional morpheme? A.teeth B.speaking C.taken D.chaos 答案:D The design features of human language include the following features EXCEPT____. A.duality of structure B.genetic feature C.arbitrariness D.displacement 答案:B ‘Like’ and ‘dislike’ are ___. A.gradable antonyms B.ungradable opposites C.relational opposites https://www.doczj.com/doc/4c9004327.html,plementary synonyms 答案:A Which of the following is an expressive? A.The earth is a globe. B.Your money or your life! C.I’m very grateful for your help. D.I fire you. 答案:C ‘Slim’ and‘skinny’ are ___. A.dialectal synonyms B.collocational synonyms C.stylistic synonyms D.synonyms that differ in their emotive meaning 答案:D Which of the following best explains the relationship between “I like Beijing opera” and “I dislike Beijing opera”? A.inconsistency B.anomaly C.contradiction D.entailment 答案:A The chief exponent of the behaviorist view of language acquisition is ____. A.Bloomfield
《新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版练习题参考答案 Chapter 1 Introduction 1. How do you interpret the following definition of linguistics: Linguistics is the scientific study of language. 答：Linguistics is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. In order to discover the nature and rules of the underlying language system, the linguists has to collect and observe language facts first, which are found to display some similarities, and generalizations are made about them; then he formulates some hypotheses about the language structure. The hypotheses thus formed have to be checked repeatedly against the observed facts to fully prove their validity. In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation, that is, a theory without the support of data can hardly claim validity, and data without being explained by some theory remain a muddled mass of things. 2. What are the major branches of linguistics? What does each of them study? 答：The major branches of linguistics are: (1) phonetics: it studies the sounds used in linguistic communication; (2) phonology: it studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication; (3) morphology: it studies the way in which linguistic symbols representing sounds are arranged and combined to form words; (4) syntax: it studies the rules which govern how words are combined to form grammatically permissible sentences in languages;
英语语言学练习题 Ⅰ. Matching Match each of the following terms in Column A with one of the appropriate definitions in Column B. Column A 1.displacement https://www.doczj.com/doc/4c9004327.html,ngue 3.suprasegmental feature 4.deep structure 5.predication analysis 6.idiolect 7.pidgin 8.mistakes 9.interlanguage 10.motivation 11.arbitrariness https://www.doczj.com/doc/4c9004327.html,petence 13.broad transcription 14.morphology 15.category 16.errors https://www.doczj.com/doc/4c9004327.html,ponential analysis 18.context 19.blending 20.culture 21.learning strategies 22.selectional restrictions 23.phrase structure rules 24.culture diffusion Column B A.Learners’ independent system of the second language, which is of neither the native language nor the second language, but a continuum or approximation from his native language to the target language. 9 B.Learner’s attitudes and affective state or learning drive, having a strong impact on his efforts n learning a second language. 21 C.The rules that specify the constituents of syntactic categories. 23 D.Through communication, some elements of culture A enter culture B and become part of culture B. 24 E. A personal dialect of an individual speaker that combines elements regarding regional, social, gender, and age variations. 6 F. A special language variety that mixes or blends languages and it is used by people who speak different languages for restricted purposes such as trading. 7 G.The kind of analysis which involves the breaking down of predications into their constituents- ---- arguments and predicates. 5 H.They refer to constraints on what lexical items can go with what others. 22 I.The structure formed by the XP rule in accordance with the head’s subcategorization properties. 4 J.The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments. 3 K.The study of the internal structure of words, and the rules that govern the rule of word formation. 14 L.The abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community. 2 https://www.doczj.com/doc/4c9004327.html,nguage can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. It is one of the distinctive features of human language. 1 N.Learner’s conscious, goal-oriented and problem-solving based efforts to achieve learning efficiency. 10 O.The total way of life of a people, including the patterns of belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques, and language that characterizes the life of the human community. 20 P.The common knowledge shared by both the speaker and hearer. 18
英语语言学 Ⅰ.Directions：Read each of the following statements carefully，Decide which of the four choices completes the statement and put the letter A,B,C or D in the brackets. 1.There are ( )main areas of phonetic study. A.2 B.3 C.4 D.5 ANSWER:B 2.The term( )linguistics may be defined as a way of referring to the approach which studies language change over various periods of time and at various historical stages. A.synchronic B.diachronic https://www.doczj.com/doc/4c9004327.html,parative D.historical comparative ANSWER:B 3.Foreign language learning always contain ( ) A language historical process learning B.input and language learning C inter language in language learning D.grammar and language learning ANSWER:BCD 4.The way in which people address each other depends on their age, sex, social group, and personal relationship. The English system of address forms frequently used includes first name, last name, title+ last name, ( )and kin term. A title+ first name B title+ title
英语语言学试题（2） 一、单项选择题(在每小题的四个备选答案中，选出一个正确答案，并将正确答案的序号填在题干的括号内。每小题2分，共20分) 1. The pair of words “lend”and “borrow” are ___. A. gradable opposites B. relational opposites C. co-hyponyms D. synonyms 2. The discovery of Indo-European language family began with the work of the British scholar____ . A. Jacob Grimm B. Rasmus Rask C. Franz Bopp D. Sir William Jones 3. A linguist regards the changes in language and language use as ___. A. unusual B. something to be feared C. abnormal D. natural 4. ___produce fast and fluent speech with good intonation and pronunciation but the content of their speech ranges from mildly inappropriate to complete nonsense, often as unintelligible. A. Broca's aphasic B. The linguistic deprivation C. The damage on the angular gyrus D. Wernicke's aphasic 5. Some Southern learners of English in China tend to say “night” as “light”. This shows:___ A. They cannot pronounce/n/ B. Interlangue interference because there is not the sound /n/in their mother tongue C. The teachers do not have a good teaching method D. They do not like to pronounce nasal sounds 6. A word with several meanings is called __word. A. a polysemous B. a synonymous C. an abnormal D. a multiple 7. The function of the sentence “A nice day, isn't it?” is __. A. informative B. phatic C. directive D. performative 8. The most recognizable differences between American English and British English are in __ and vocabulary. A. usage B. grammar C. pronunciation D. structure 9.__deals with the way in which a language varies through geographical space. A. Linguistic geography B. Lexicology C. Lexicography D. Sociolinguistics 10.The semantic c omponents of the word “gentleman” can be expressed as __. A. +animate, +male, +human,-adult B. +animate, +male, +human, +adult C. +animate, -male, +human,-adult D. +animate,-male,+ human, +adult 二、填空题(每空1分，共10分) 11. A sentence is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of w________ to form a complete statement, q ________or command. 12. In sociolinguistic studies, speakers are treated as members of s____ g________. 13. Utterance is based on ________ ________ ;it is the realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation of communication, or simply in a context. 14. To many people, a linguist is the same as a ________, one who can speak several languages fluently. 15. Consonant sounds can be either v ________or v____, while all vowel sounds are v________. 三、判断说明题(判断下列各小题，正确的在题后括号内写“T”，错的写“F”，并说明理由。每小题2分，共20分) 16. All words may be said to contain a root morpheme.( ) 17. Tense and reference are two terms often encountered in the study of meaning.( ) 18. Linguistics is the course of language.( ) 19. The part of a sentence which comprises an infinite verb or a verb phrase is grammatically called
I. Fill in the blanks. 1. The features that define our human languages can be call ed ______ features. (北二外2006研) 2. Linguistics is usually defined as the ______study of language. (北二外2003研) 3. Language, broadly speaking, is a means of______ communication. 4. In any language words can be used in new ways to mean new things and can be combined into innumerable sentences based on limited rules. This feature is usually ter med______ 5. Linguistics is the scientific study of______. 6. Modern linguistic is______ in the sense that the linguist tries to discover what language is rather than lay down some rules for people to observe. 7. One general principle of linguistic analysis is the primacy of ______ over writing. 8. The branch of linguistics which studies the sound patterns of a language is called ______. (北二外2003研) 9. The branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words is called______ . (北二外2004研) 10. ______mainly studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription. (北二外2005研) 11. Semantics and ______investigate different aspects of linguistic meaning. (北二外2007研) 12. In linguistics, ______ refers to the study of the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences in a language, or simply, the study of the formation as sentence. (中山大学2008研) 13. ______can be defined as the study of language in use. Sociolinguistics, on the other hand, attempts to show the relationship between language and society. 14. The branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of sentence is called _______. (北二外2008研) 15. Saussure distinguished the linguistic competence of the speaker and the actual ph enomena or data of linguistics (utterances) as and . The former refers to the abstract linguistic linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and the latter is the concrete manifestation of language either through speech or through writing. (人大2006研) 16. The description of a language as it changes through time is a ______ study. 17. Linguistic potential is similar to Saussure’s langue and Chomsky’s______. 18. One of the important distinctions in linguistics is ______ and parole. The former is the French word for “language”,which is the abstract knowledge necessary for s peaking，listening， writing and reading. The latter is concerned about the actual use of language by peop le in speech or writing. Parole is more variable and may change according to contextu al factors. 19. One of the important distinctions in linguistics is and performance. (人大2006研) 20. Chomsky initiated the distinction between ______ and performances. (北二外2007研) II. Multiple Choice 1.Which of the following is NOT a frequently discussed design feature? (大连外国语学院 2008研) A. Arbitrariness B. Convention C. Duality of the following words is entirely arbitrary? (西安交大2008研) A. tree B. crash C. typewriter D. bang
Chapter 1 Introductions to Linguistics I. Choose the best answer. (20%) 1. Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human __________ A. contact B. communication C. relation D. community 2. Which of the following words is entirely arbitrary? A. tree B. typewriter C. crash D. bang 3. The function of the sentence “Water boils at 100 degrees Centigrade.”is __________. A. interrogative B. directive C. informative D. performative 4. In Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate the host or the people present are likely to say“碎碎（岁岁）平安”as a means of controlling the forces which they believes feel might affect their lives. Which functions does it perform? A. Interpersonal B. Emotive C. Performative D. Recreational 5. Which of the following property of language enables language users to overcome the barriers caused by time and place, due to this feature of language, speakers of a language are free to talk about anything in any situation? A. Transferability B. Duality C. Displacement D. Arbitrariness 6. Study the following dialogue. What function does it play according to the functions of language? — A nice day, isn’t it? —Right! I really enjoy the sunlight. A. Emotive B. Phatic C. Performative D. Interpersonal 7. __________ refers to the actual realization of the ideal language user’s knowledge of the rules of his language in utterances. A. Performance B. Competence C. Langue D. Parole 8. When a dog is barking, you assume it is barking for something or at someone that exists hear and now. It couldn’t be sorrowful for some lost love or lost bone. This indicates the design feature of __________. A. cultural transmission B. productivity C. displacement D. duality 9. __________ answers such questions as how we as infants acquire our first language. A. Psycholinguistics B.Anthropological linguistics C. Sociolinguistics D. Applied linguistics 10. __________ deals with language application to other fields, particularly education. A. Linguistic theory B. Practical linguistics C. Applied linguistics D. Comparative linguistics II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%) 11. Language is a means of verbal communication. Therefore, the communication way used by the deaf-mute is not language. 12. Language change is universal, ongoing and arbitrary. 13. Speaking is the quickest and most efficient way of the human communication systems. 14. Language is written because writing is the primary medium for all languages. 15. We were all born with the ability to acquire language, which means the details of any