Linguistics2语言学练习及答案
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Chapter Two Linguistics1. Define the following terms.1)syntagmatic relation vs paradigmatic relation2)langue vs parole3)competence vs performance4)descriptive linguistics vs historical linguistics5)theoretical linguistics vs applied linguistics6)deccriptive linguistics vs prescriptive linguistics7)synchronic vs diachronic linguistics8)macrolinguistics vs microlinguistics9)Comparative historical linguistics vs contrastive linguistics2. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).1)( ) Prescriptive linguistics is more popular than descriptive linguisticsbecause it can tell us how to speak correct language.2)( ) C ompetencce and performance refer respectively to a language user’sunderlying knowledge about the system of rules and the actual use of language in concrete situations.3)( ) The antithesis of langue and parole was created by Chomsky.4)( ) Cockoo in English is onomatopoeia.5)( ) Synchronic linguistics is concerned with the study of languagedevelopment through time.6)( ) Prescriptive linguists are concerned with how languages work, not withhow they can be improved.7)( ) Linguistics tries to answer the basic questions” what is a language”and “How does a language work”.8)( ) Onomatopoetic words are found in almost all human languages, which showsthe arbitrary nature of languages.9)( ) Each language contains two systems rather than one, a system of soundand a system of meaning.10)( ) Cultural transmission refers to the fact that the details of thelinguistic system must be learned a new by each speaker.11)( ) Phatic function refers to language used to exchange information andideas.12)( ) Speakers of all languages are capable of producing and comprehendingan infinite set of sentences, which accounts for syntactic universality.13)( ) Hall iday’s linguistic potential is similar to the notions of paroleand performance14)( ) By diachronie study we mean to study the changes and development oflanguage.15)( ) Langue is relatively stable and systematic while parole is subject topersonal and situational constraints.16)( ) In language classrooms nowadavs the grammar taught to students isbasically descriptive, and more attention is paid to the developing learners ‘ communicative skills.17)( ) Saussure’s exposition of synchronic analysis led to the school ofhistorical linguistics18)( ) Applied linguistics is the application of linguistic principles andtheories to language teaching and learning.19)( ) Semantics is the study of the meaning of words and sentences.20)( ) A diachronic study is concerned with the historical development of alanguage over a period of time.21)( ) A paradigmatic relation is a relation between a linguistic element inan utterance and linguistic elements outside that utterance, but belongingto the same sub-system of the language.22)( ) General linguistics aims at developing a theory that describes the rulesof a particular language.23)( ) English linguistics is a kind of descriptive linguistics.24)( ) Competence is more concrete than performance.25)( ) Descriptive linguistics attempts to establish a theory which accountsfor the rules of language in general.26)( ) Langue is more abstract than parole and therefore is not directlyobservable.27)( ) General linguistics deals with the whole human language.28)( ) All the English words are not symbolic.29)( ) All sounds produced by human speech organs are linguistic symbols.30)( ) Descriptive linguistics studies one specific language.31)( ) Morphological knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition about how asentence is formed.32)( ) Phonetics is the science that deals with the sound system.33)( ) A diachronic study of a language is concerned with a state of a languageat a particular point of time.3. Multiple Choice1) ______ made the distinction between competence and performance.A. SaussureB. Chomsky C Bloomfiled D. Sapir2) Findings in linguistic studies can often be applied to the solution of somepractical problems, the study of such applications is knowns as ________.A. anthropological linguisticsB. computational linguisticsC. applied linguisticsD. mathematical linguistics3) _______ refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the membersof speech community.A. ParoleB. langue C speech D. writing4) Which of the following is not the major brach of linguisticsA. phonologyB. pragmaticsC. syntax D speech5) ________ deals with language application to other fields, particularly education.A. Linguistic geographyB. SociolinguisticsC. Applied linguisticsD. Comparative linguistics6) Which branch of linguistics studies the similarities and differences amonglanguagesA. Diachronic linguistics.B. Synchronic linguistics.C. Prescriptive linguistics.D. Comparative linguistics.7) ________ has been widely accepted as the forefather of modern linguistics.A. ChomskyB. SaussureC. BloomfieldD. John Lyons8) The study of language as a whole is often called ---.A. general linguisticsB. sociolingyusticsC. psycholinguisticsD. applied linguistics9) The study of language meaning is called--.A. syntaxB. semantics C morphology D. pragmatics10) The description of a language at some point in time is a – study.A synchronic B. diachronic C descriptive D. prescriptive4. Fill in the blanks with appropriate words:1) refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members ofa speech community.2) is the actual realization of one’s linguistic knowledge inutterances.3) Modem linguistic is in the sense that the linguist tries to discover whatlanguage is rather than lay down some rules for people to observe.4) The description of a language as it changes through time is a study.5) Saussure put forward two important concepts, refers to the abstractlinguistic system shared by all members of a speech community.6) Linguistic potential is similar to Saussure’ s langue and Chomsky’ s .7) The four principles in the linguistic study are (1) (2)(3) (4)8) Morphology is the branch of linguistics which studies the form of words.9) The branch of general linguistics which is named studies the internalstructure of sentences.10) In Saussure’s view, the relationship between signifier (sound image) andsignified (concept) is .11) is an umbrella term which covers a variety of different interestsin language and society, including the social functions of language and thesocial characteristics of its users.12) The distinction between langue and parole is made by the Swiss linguist F.de Saussure. The distinction between competence and performance is made bythe American linguist .13) The writing English is. known as the sound writing system while that ofJapanese as ___writing system.14) According to John Lyons, ___ linguistics_ deals with language in generaland _ linguistics is concerned with one particular language.15) In de Saussure’s term, _____ refers to the system of language and _____refers to the speaker’s speech.16) _____ is the science that deals with the sound system.17) Syntax studies two kinds of rules: _____ rules and rules18) Langue or competence is ______ and not directly observed, while parole orperformance is _____ and directly observable.19) A ________ relation refers to the sequential characteristic of speech.20) ___ ___ knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition about the sounds and soundpatterns of his language.21) ______ knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition about how a word is formed.22) ______ knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition about whether a sentenceis grammatical or not.23) ______ knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition about the meaning oflanguage, including meaning of words and meaning of sentences.24) ______ is the study of speech sounds of all human languages.25) ______ examines word formation and the internal structure of words.5. Answer the following questions.1) What is the difference between general linguistics and descriptive linguistics2) What is the difference between synchronic and diachronic linguistics Is iteasy to draw a sharp line between them if we look at language closely3) What distinguish prescriptive studies of language from descriptive studiesof language Comment on the merits and weaknesses of descriptive grammar and prescriptive grammar.4) What are the four principles for the scientific analysis of language5) Point out three ways in which linguistics differs from traditional grammar.6) What are the main differences between “competence” and “performance”7) What is the major difference between Saussure’s distinction of langue andparole and Chomsky’s distinction of competence and performance what should be studies in linguistics in your opinion and why8) Explain “speech and writing”, and cite two ormore examples.Key to Chapter Two1. Define the following terms.1)syntagmatic relation vs paradigmatic relationEssentially the relations between linguistic elements are of two dimensions, usually syntagmatic and paradigmatic. syntagmatic or sequential relations are those holding between elements forming serial structure, or “strings’ as they are sometimes called. In syntax, the horizontal relationship between elements shows how a form (X) combines with others (W + X + Y) in a serial combination.It refers to the linear ordering of the words and the phrases within a sentence.Paradigmatic relations are those holding between comparable elements at particular places in structures. The vertical or substitutional relationship shows how other different forms (Xa, Xb, Xc) can function in the same place in structure in a paradigmatic relation.2) langue vs paroleSaussure refers “langue” to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community and refers” parole” to the actual or actualized language, or the realization of langue. Langue is abstract, parole specific to the speaking situation; langue not actually spoken by an individual, parole always a naturally occurring event; langue relatively stable and systematic, parole subject to personal and situational constraints. For Saussure, parole is a mass of confused facts, thus not suitable for systematic investigation. What a linguist ought to do, according to Saussure, is to abstract langue from instances of parole, ., to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole andmake them the subject of linguistics. The langue-parole distinction is of great importance, which casts great influence on laterlinguists.3) competence vs performance(1)According to N. Chomsky, “competence” is the ideal language user’s knowledge of the rules of his language, and “performance” is the arctual realization of this knowledge in utterances. The former enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker’s competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speaker’s performance does not always match or equal his supposed competence.(2)Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rather than performance. In other words, they should discover what an ideal speaker knows of his native language.(3) Chomsky’s competence-performance distinction is not exactly the same as, t hough similar to, F. de Saussure’s language parole distinction. Langue is a social product and a set of conventions for a community, while competence is deemed as a property of the mind of each individual. Saussure looks at language more from a sociological or sociolinguistic point of view than N. Chomsky since the latter deals with his issues psychologically or psycholinguistically.4) descriptive linguistics vs historical linguisticsLinguistic study can be divided into descriptive linguistics (synchronic linguistic study) and historical linguistics (diachronic linguistic study). The former refers to the description of a language at a particular point of time in history while the latter, a diachronic study of language, studies the historical development of language over a period of time.5) theoretical linguistics vs applied linguisticsA third dichotomy is that which holds between theoretical and applied linguistics. The former copes with language and languages with a view toestablishing a theory of their structure and functions and without regard to any practical applications that the investigation of language and languages might have, whereas the latter is chiefly concerned with the application of the concepts and findings of linguistics to all sorts of practical tasks, including language teaching.6) deccriptive linguistics vs prescriptive linguisticsA linguistic study is descriptive if it only describes and analyzes the facts of language, and it is prescriptive if it tries to lay down rules for “correct” language behavior. Linguistic studies before 20th century were largely prescriptive because many early grammars were based on “high” (literary or religious) written records. Modem linguistics is mostly descriptive, however, which believes that whatever occurs in natural speech (hesitation, incomplete utterance, misunderstanding, etc.) should be described in the analysis, and not be marked as incorrect, abnormal, corrupt, or lousy. These, with changes inlvocabulary and structures, need to be explained distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things are. To say that linguistics is a descriptive science is to say that the linguist tries to discover and record the rules to which the members of a language-community actually conform and does not seek to impose upon them other rules, or norms, of correctness, which are in the scope of prescriptive linguistics.7) synchronic vs diachronic linguisticsSynchronic linguistics takes a fixed instant (usually, but not necessarily, the present) as its point of observation. In contrast, diachronie linguistics is the study of a language through the Course of itshistory; therefore, it is also called historical linguistics.The description of a languageat some point of time (as if it stopped developing) is a synchronic study (synchrony). The description of a languageas it changes through timeis a diachronic study (diachrony). An essay entitled” On the Use of THE”, for example, may be synchronic, if the author does not recall the past of THE, and it may also be diachronic if he claims to cover a large range or period of time wherein THE has undergone tremendous alteration.8) macrolinguistics vs microlinguisticsMacrolinguistics falls on the verge of linguistics. It includes the following disciplines: philosophical linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, etc. Lyons has the same distinction.Microlinguistics concentrates on the study of all the interior aspects ofa language system. Traditional linguistic study describes language system fromtwo aspects —lexicon and grammar. Dictionaries and grammar books are products of such researches and studies.9)Comparative historical linguistics vs contrastive linguisticsComparative historical linguistics draws on the special historical comparison in linguistics to study the historical development of some related languages (languages originating from a uniform ancestry). It is in fact a special part of historical linguistics. Thanks to the development of historical comparative linguistics in 19th century, linguistics comes to be an independent discipline. Contrastive linguistics focuses on structural similarities and differences of two or more languages (relevant or unrelated) by means of comparison and contrastive study. This study belongs to descriptive linguistics. It can help people have a deep understanding of the properties and universal characteristics of different languages and thus exerts great influence on foreign language teaching.2. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).1)(F) Prescriptive linguistics is more popular than descriptivelinguistics because it can tell us how to speak correct language.2)(T) Competencce and performance refer respectively to a languageuser’s underlying knowledge ab out the system of rules and the actualuse of language in concrete situations.3)(F) The antithesis of langue and parole was created by Chomsky. (中国矿业大学,2004)4)(T) Cockoo in English is onomatopoeia. (中国矿业大学,2004)5)(F) Synchronic linguistics is concerned with the study of languagedevelopment through time. (中国矿业大学,2004)6)(T) Prescriptive linguists are concerned with how languages work, notwith how they can be improved. (中国矿业大学,2004)7)(T) Linguistics tries to answer the basic questions” what is alanguage” and “How does a language work”. (南京师范大学,2002)8)(F) Onomatopoetic words are found in almost all human languages, whichshows the arbitrary nature of languages. (中国矿业大学,2002)9)(T) Each language contains two systems rather than one, a system of soundand a system of meaning. (中国矿业大学,2002)10)(T) Cultural transmission refers to the fact that the details of thelinguistic system must be learned a new by each speaker. (中国矿业大学,2002)11)(F) Phatic function refers to language used to exchange information andideas. (中国矿业大学,2002)12)(F) Speakers of all languages are capable of producing and comprehendingan infinite set of sentences, which accounts for syntactic universality.(中国矿业大学,2002)13)(F) Halliday’s linguistic potential is similar to the notions of paroleand performance14)(T) By diachronie study we mean to study the changes and developmentof language.15)(T) Langue is relatively stable and systematic while parole is subjectto personal and situational constraints.16)(T) In language classrooms nowadavs the grammar taught to students isbasically descriptive, and more attention is paid to the developing learners ‘ communicative skills.17)(F) Saussure’s exposition of synchronic analysis led to the school ofhistorical linguistics.18)(T) Applied linguistics is the application of linguistic principles andtheories to language teaching and learning.19)(F) Semantics is the study of the meaning of words and sentences.20)(T) A diachronic study is concerned with the historical developmentof a language over a period of time.21)(F) A paradigmatic relation is a relation between a linguistic elementin an utterance and linguistic elements outside that utterance, but belonging to the same sub-system of the language.22)(F) General linguistics aims at developing a theory that describesthe rules of a particular language.23)( T) English linguistics is a kind of descriptive linguistics.24)(F) Competence is more concrete than performance.25)(F) Descriptive linguistics attempts to establish a theory whichaccounts for the rules of language in general.26)(T) Langue is more abstract than parole and therefore is notdirectly observable.27)(T) General linguistics deals with the whole human language.28)(T) All the English words are not symbolic.29)(F) All sounds produced by human speech organs are linguistic symbols.30)(T) Descriptive linguistics studies one specific language.31)(F) Morphological knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition abouthow a sentence is formed.32)(F) Phonetics is the science that deals with the sound system.33)(F) A diachronic study of a language is concerned with a state ofa language at a particular point of time.3. Multiple choice1) – 5): BCBDC 6) – 10): DBABA4. Word completion1) Langue 2) Performance3) descriptive 4) diachronic5) langue 6) competence7) (1) consistency (2) economy (3) objectivity (4) exhaustiveness8) Morphology 9) syntax10) arbitrary 11) socialinguistics12) Chomsky 13) syllabic14) general, descriptive 15) langue, parole16) Phonology 17) phrase structure, transformational18) abstract; concrete 19) syntagmatic20) Phonological 21) Morphological22) Syntactic 23) Semantic24) Phonetics 25) Morphology5. Answer the following questions.1) What is thedifference between general linguistics and descriptive linguisticsThe former deals with language in general, . the whole human language whereas the latter is concerned with one particular language. The former aims at developing a theory that describes the rules of human language in general while the latter attempts to establish a model that describes the rules of one particular language, such as Chinese, English, French, etc. General Linguistics and descriptive linguistics are dependent on each other. In the first place, general linguistics provides descriptive linguistics with a general framework in which any particular language can be described, studied and analyzed. Very often, it may supply several different frameworks for descriptive linguists to choose from. Depending on their different views on language, they may follow one model exclusively or combine two or more models. In the second, the resulting descriptions of particular languages, in turn, supply empirical evidence which may confirm or refute the model(s) put forward by general linguistics. In other words, general linguistics and descriptive linguistics are complementary to each other despite their different objects of study and different goals.2) What is the difference between diachronic linguistics Is it easy to drawa sharp line between them if we look at language closely(1) Synchronic linguistics takes a fixed instant (usually, but notnecessarily, the present) as its point of observation. In contrast, diachronie linguistics is the study of a language through the Course of itshistory;therefore, it is also called historical linguistics.(2) Synchronic/diachronic perspective toward language is one of Saussure’smost central ideas expressed in the form of pairs of Concepts. The former sees languageas a living whole; existing as a “‘state” at a particular moment in time; the latter sees it as a continually changing medium. In this view, it is always necessary to carry out some degree of synchronic work before making a diachronic study: before we can say how a language has changed from state X to state Y, we need to about X and Y. Correspondingly, a synchronic analysis can be made without referring to history. This can be illustrated as Sanssure did using an analogy with a game of chess. A state of the set of chessmen is like a state of language. “The respective value of the pieces depends on their position on the chessboard just as each linguistic term derives its value from its opposition to all the other terms.” On the o ther hand, the value of each piece also;depends on the convention--the set of rules that exists before the game begins. This is like the set of rules that exists in language. A state of the game of chess is momentary just like a state of language change. When one piece is moved, the game passes from one state of equilibrium to the next. This corresponds closely to the situation of language between states. To study this static state is called synchronic linguistics. The moving of one piece is like one type of change in language. The consequence of one move can be very big or small; the same is true with language changes. The player of a chess game is solely concerned with the momentary positions of the pieces; he does not need to remember the previous moves so as to decide the next move. A player who knows the history of the game does not necessarily have more to say about the next move than a man who has just come to the game, ignorant of what has happened before. Similarly, a speaker of a language can learn the languagewell without knowing its historical statesl We can describe a state of a game without bothering the techniques both players have used to bring about the state. Likewise, we can describe the state of a language without knowing its history,3) What distinguish prescriptive studies of language from descriptive studiesof language Comment on the merits and weaknesses of descriptive grammar and prescriptive grammar.(1) The distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things actually are. The essence of prescriptivism is the notion that one variety of languages has an inherently higher value than others, and that this ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech community. Although prescriptivismis still with :us, descriptivism wins more and more understanding. It proposes that the task of the grammarian is to describe, not prescribe——to record the facts of. linguistic diversity, and not to attempt the impossible tasks of being language police and trying to. stop language from changing, or imposing on members of a language community the so-called norms of correctness.(2) Weakness of prescriptive grammar (Merits of descriptive grammar). ①The reason why present-day linguists are so insistent about the distinction between the two is simply that traditional grammar was very strongly normativein character, . “you should never use a double-negative”;“you should not split the infinitive” etc. People realize nowadays the facts of usage count more than the authority, stipulated “standards!’. We can appeal neither to logic nor to Latin granunar when it comes to deciding whether something is oris not correct in English. ② Prescriptivism is an individual attitude. The related social attitude that goes to the extreme of prescriptivism is purism, which is something we should guard against. Pure prescriptive grammar will leadto artificial claims that are hard to maintain in light of the facts. While prescriptivists would prefer the use of the past subjunctive after if (If I were you, etc.), it is very difficult to claim that everyone who uses “was” is wrong, especially are the majority in spoken language. While there are still traditionalist grammarians claiming that they are right and half the populationis wrong, most have modified their approach and talk of this form as preferable, or describe it as formal register. ③ The prescriptive attitude seems to ignore the fact that English has evolved over the centuries into what it is today whereas the descriptive attitude seems to be more sensitive to anything that goes on to a certain extent. A language is a living creature. There is no fixed form for any language. No one speaks Shakespearean medieval English today. However, no one says the British today speaks the incorrect English. It will and should change over time.4) What are the four principles for the scientific analysis of languageThe four principles to make a scientific study of language are exhaustiveness, consistency, economy, and objectivity.(1) Exhaustiveness: the linguist should gather all the materials relevant to his investigation and give them an adequate explanation. Language is extremely complex; he cannot attempt to describe all aspects of language at once, but to examine one aspect at a time.(2) Consistency: there should be no contradiction between different parts of the total statement.(3) Economy: other things being equal, a shorter statement or analysis is preferred to a longer or more involved one. The best statements are the shortest possible, which can account most fully for all facts.(4) Objectivity: a linguist should be as objective as possible in his description and analysis’of data, allowing no prejudice to influence his generalizations. He should not omit any linguistic facts because he himself considers there to be “inelegant” or “substandard”. Nor should he conceal facts that do not conform to his generalizations. His aim should be to present his analysis in such a way that every part of it can be tested and verified; not only by himself, but by anyone else who makes a description of different。
Exercises to Linguistics外语系黄永亮Chapter 1 Invitation to Linguistics1.Define the following terms:Langue: Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members ofa speech community.Parole:parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use.Prescriptive: Prescriptive and descriptive represent two different types of linguistic study. if the linguistic study aims to lay down rules for “correct andstandard”behaviour in using language, i.e. to tell people what they shouldday and what they should not say, it is said to be prescriptive.Descriptive: Prescriptive and descriptive represent two different types of linguistic study. If a linguistic study aims to describe and analyze the language peopleactually use, it is said to be descriptive;competence: Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language.Performance: Chomsky defines performance the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication.Synchronic: The description of a language at some point of time in history is a synchronic study;Diachronic: The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study.Linguistics:Linguistics may be defined as the systematic (or scientific) study of language.language: Language is a form of human communication by means of a system of symbols principally transmitted by vocal sounds.”2.Does the traffic light system have duality, why?No. No discrete units on the first level that can be combined freely in the second level to form meaning. There is only simple one to one relationship between signs and meaning, namely, re-stop, green-go and yellow-get ready to go or stop.munication can take many forms, such as sign, speech, body language and facialexpression. Do body language and facial expression share or lack the distinctive properties of human language?Less arbitrary, lack duality, less creative, limited repertoire, emotional-oriented.4.Why is competence and performance an important distinction in linguistics?According to Chomsky, a language user’s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called his linguistic competence. And performance refers to the actual enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite numbers of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker’s competence is stable but his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. Thus, Chomsky proposed that linguists should focus on the study of competence, not performance. The distinction of the two terms “competence and performance”represents the orientation of linguistic study. So we can say competence and performance is an important distinction in linguistics.5.In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar?Modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar in the following basic ways: Firstly, priority is given, as mentioned earlier, to spoken language. Secondly, focus is on synchronic study of language, rather than on diachronic study of language. Thirdly, modern linguistics is descriptive rather than prescriptive in nature. Linguists endeavor to state objectively the regularities of a language. They aim at finding out how a language is spoken: they do not attempt to tell people how it should be spoken. Fourthly, modern linguistics is theoretically rather than pedagogically oriented. Modern linguists strive to construct theories of language that can account for language in general. These features distinguished modern linguistics from traditional grammar. The two are complementary. Not contradictory. Knowledge of both is necessary for a language teacher: knowledge of the latter is necessary for a language learner.Chapter 2 Phonetics1. Give the description of the following sound segments in English1)[❆] voiced dental fricative2)[☞] voiceless alveolar fricative3)[☠] velar nasal4)[♎] voiced alveolar stop5)[☐] voiceless bilabial stop6)[ ] voiceless velar stop7)[●] (alveolar) lateral8)[♓] high front lax unrounded vowel9)[◆:] high back tense rounded vowel10)[ ] low back lax rounded vowel2. How is the description of consonants different from that of vowels?Consonants are described according to manner and place of articulation while vowels are described with four criteria: part of the tongue that is raised; extent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the palate; kind of opening made at the lips; position of soft palate.3. Which sound may be described asa voiced bilabial plosive [♌]a voiced labio-dental fricative [ ]a voiceless velar plosive [ ]4. Why might a photographer ask the person she is photographing to say cheese?The vowel of the word cheese [♓:] is produced with the lips spread, this resemblinga smile.5.Account for the difference in articulation in each of the following pairs of words:coast ghost; ghost boastboast most; ghost mist;The words coast and ghost are distinguished by the fact that the initial segment is voiceless in the case of the former and voiced in the case of the latter.The word ghost and boast are distinguished by the place of articulation of the initial segment, [♑] being velar while [♌] is bilabial.Boast and most are distinguished by the manner of articulation of the initial segment, [❍] being nasal.Most and mist are distinguished by the fact that the former has a rounded back vowel shile the latter has a spread front vowel.Chapter 3 Phonology1.Define the following termsPhonology: Phonology is concerned with the sound system of languages. It is concerned with which sounds a language uses and how the contribution of sounds to thetask of communication.Phone: A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phonesPhoneme: Phoneme is the abstract element of sound, identified as being distinctive ina particular language.Allophone: Allophone refers any of the different forms of a phoneme is an allophone of it in English. Compare the words peak and speak, for instance. The /☐/ in peak is aspirated; phonetically transcribed as [☐♒] while the /☐/ in speak is unaspirated, phonetically [☐= ]. [☐,☐♒] are two different phones and are variants of the phoneme /☐/. Such variants of a phoneme are called Allophone of the same phoneme.Suprasegmental features:.The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segment are called Suprasegmental features. Suprasegmental features include: stress, tone and intonation.2.Transcribe the realization of the past tense morpheme for each of the following words:Waited waved wiped waded. account for the differences.[id] in “waited”and “waded”follows another alveolar plosive. [d] in “waved”follows voiced consonants.[t] in “wiped” follows voiceless consonants, there being voicing assimilation. 3. which of the following would be phonologically acceptable as English words?Thlite grawl dlesher shlink tritch sruck stwondle“grawl” and “tritch”4.Why can we not use the sequence [☠kl] in twinkle as an example of a consonant cluster?The sequence [☠kl] bridges two syllables.5.For each of the following pairs compare the position of the stress. Comment.Economy/economic wonder/wonderfulBeauty/beautiful acid/acidicIn adjectives ending in –ic the stress moves to the following syllable, in adjectives ending in –ful it does not.6.Explain why somebody might choose to stress the following utterances as indicated bythe bold type:a) John want ed to do this today. b) John wanted to do this today. c) John wantedto do this to day.The first utterance implies that John was unable to do what he wanted.The second implies that he was only able to do something else.The third implies that he was only able to do it some other day.Chapter 4 Morphology1.Define the following terms:Morpheme: the smallest unit of language in terms of relationship between expression and content, a unit that can not be divided into further small units without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical.Compound:Polymorphemic words which consist wholly of free morphemes, such as classroom, blackboard, snowwhite, etc.Allomorph: any of the different form of a morpheme. For example, in English the plural morpheme -‘s but it is pronounced differently in different environments as /s/ in cats, as /z/ in dogs and as /iz/ in classes. So /s/, /z/, and /iz/ are all allomorphs of the plural morpheme.Bound morpheme: an element of meaning which is structurally dependent on the word it is added to, e.g. the plural morpheme in “dogs”.Free morpheme: an element of meaning which takes the form of an independent word.plete the words with suitable negative prefixesa. ir removable g. in humanb. in formal h. ir relevantc. im practicable i. un evitabled. in sensible j. im mobilee. in tangible k. il legalf. il logical l. in discreet3. “Morpheme” is defined as the smallest unit in terms of relationshipbetween expression and content. Then is morpheme a grammatical conceptor a semantic one? What is its relation to phoneme?Since morpheme is defined as the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expression and content, it at the same time covers the grammatical and semantic aspect of linguistic unit. A morpheme may overlap with a phoneme, such as I, but usually not, as in pig, in which the morpheme is the whole word, i.e. and independent, free morpheme, but the phonemes are /p/, /i/ and /g/.4. Identify in the following sentence four bound morphemes. State the function ofeach and say whether each is derivational or inflectional.The teacher’s brother considered the project impossible.The –er and the –‘s of teacher’s are bound morphemes, the former being derivational, as it produces a lexeme that denotes the person who does an action, the latter being an inflectional morpheme, as it indicates possession.The –ed of considered is inflectional, indicating that the action took place in the past. The im- of impossible is derivational, producing a new lexeme that denotes the opposite of possible.Chapter 5 Syntax1.Define the following terms:Category: parts of speech and functions, such as the classification of words in terms of parts of speech, the identification of functions of words in term of subject,predicate, etc.Concord:also known as agreement, is the requirement that the forms of two or more wordsin a syntactic relationship should agree with each other in terms of somecategoriesSyntagmatic relation:. Syntagmatic relation is a relation between one item and others in a sequence, or between elements which are all present. Paradigmatic relation: a relation holding between elements replaceable with each other at a particular place in a structure, or between one element presentand the others absent.Deep structure: is defined as the abstract representation of the syntactic properties of a construction, i. e. the underlying level of structural relationsbetween its different constituentsSurface structure: is the final stage in the syntactic derivation of a construction, which closely corresponds to the structural organization of aconstruction people actually produce and receive.Theme: The Theme is the first constituent of the clause.Rheme: All the rest of the clause is simply labeled the Rheme.2.Why is it important to know the relations a sign has with others, such as syntaxgmaticand paradigmatic relations?As the relation between a signifier and signified is arbitrary, the value of a sign can not be determined by itself. To know the identity of a sign, the linguist will have to know the signs it is used together with and those it is substitutable for.The former relation is known as syntagmatic and the latter paradigmatic.3.In what ways is IC analysis better than traditional parsing?In traditional parsing, a sentence is mainly seen as a sequence of individual words, as if it has only a linear structure. IC analysis, however, emphasizes the hierarchical structure of a sentence, seeing it as consisting of word groups first.In this way the internal of structure of a sentence is shown more clearly, hence the reason of some ambiguities may be revealed.4.What are the problems in IC analysis?There are some technical problems caused by the binary division and discontinuous constituents. But the main problem is that there are structures whose ambiguities cannot be revealed by IC analysis, e.g. the love of God. In terms of both the treediagram and the label, there is only one structure, but the word God is in two different relations with love, i.e. either as subject or object.5.Clarify the ambiguity in the following sentence by tree diagrams:Old teachers and priests fear blackbirds.SNP VPAdj. NP V NOld fear blackbirds.N Conj. Nteachers and priestsSNP VPNP Conj. N V NAdj. N and priests fear blackbirds.Old teachersChapter 6 Semantics1. defining the following terms:semantics: The subject concerning the study of meaning is called semantics. More specifically, semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistics units,words and sentences in particular.Denotation: the core sense of a word or a phrase that relates it to phenomena in the real world.Connotation: a term in a contrast with denotation, meaning the properties of the entitya word denotes.Sense: the literal meaning of a word or an expression, independent of situational context.Reference: the use of language to express a proposition, i.e. to talk about things in context.Synonymy: is the technical name for the sameness relation.Antonymy: is the name for oppositeness relation:hyponymy: a relation between two words, in which the meaning of one word (the superordinate) is included in the meaning of another word (the hyponym) semantic component: a distinguishable element of meaning in a word with two values,e.g. [+human].2. Some people maintain that there are no true synonyms. If two words mean really thesame, one of them will definitely die out. An example often quoted is the disuse of the word “wireless”, which has been replaced by “radio”. Do you agree? In general what type of meaning we are talking about when we say two words aresynonymous with each other?It is true that there are no absolute synonyms. When we say two words are synonymous with each other, we usually mean they have the same conceptual meaning.3. For each of the following pairs of words, state the principal reason why they maynot be considered to be synonyms:man boy toilet loo determined stubbornpavement sidewalk walk runThe words man and boy are principally distinguished be age, the words walk and run by speed. The principal distinction between the words toilet and loo is one of social register. Determined and stubborn are largely distinguished by attitude—a person reluctant to give up is described as determined by those who sympathize and as stubborn by those who do not. The difference between the words pavement and sidewalkis a matter of geography, the former being used in Britain and the latter in America.Chapter 7 Pragmantics1. defining the following terms:Performative:an utterance by which a speaker does something does something,as apposed toa constative, by which makes a statement which may be true or false. Constative:an utterance by which a speaker expresses a proposition which may be true or false.Locutuonary act: the act of saying something; it’s an act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon, and phonology. Namely, the utterance of asentence with determinate sense and reference.Illocutuonary act: the act performed in saying something; its force is identical with the speaker’s intention.Perlocutionary act: the act performed by or resulting from saying something, it’s the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance. Cooperative principle:in making conversation, there is, as Grice holds, a general principle which all participants are expected to observe. He calls this guidingprinciple the Cooperative Principle, CP for short.. It runs as follows:"make your conversational contribution such as is required, at thestage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of thetalk exchange in which you are engaged.”Conversational implicature: the extra meaning not contained in the literal utterances,understandable to the listener only when he shares the speaker’sknowledge or knows why and how he violates intentionally one ofthe four maxims of the Cooperative Principle (CP)2. Consider the following dialogue between a man and his daughter. Try to explain the illocutionary force in each of the utterances.[The daughter walks into the kitchen and takes so e popcorn.]Father: I thought you were practicing your violin.Daughter: I need to get the violin stand.Father: Is it under the popcorn?The illocutionary force of “I thought you were practicing your violin”is a criticism of the daughter for her not practicing the violin. That of the daughter’s answer is a defense for herself—I’m going to do that. And that of the father’s retort is a denial of the daughter’s excuse.3.If you ask somebody “Can you open the door?”he answered “Yes”but does not actuallydo it, what would be your reaction? Why? Try to see it in the light of speech act theory.I would be angry with him. “Can you open the door”is normally a request of the hearer to do it rather than a question about his ability. The fact that he answers “Yes” but does not actually do it shows that he declines my request.4. A is reading the newspaper. When B asks “What’s on television tonight?” he answers “Nothing.” What does A mean in normal situations? Think of two situations in which this interpretation of “Nothing” will be cancelled.Normally “Nothing” here means “Nothing interesting”. If A adds after “Nothing” “The workers are on strike today” or “There’s going to be a blackout tonight”, then the interpretation of “Nothing interesting’ will be cancelled.。
新编简明英语语言学教程第二版练习试题参考答案解析(总26页)--本页仅作为文档封面,使用时请直接删除即可----内页可以根据需求调整合适字体及大小--《新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版练习题参考答案Chapter 1 Introduction1. 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;(5) semantics: it studies meaning conveyed by language;(6) pragmatics: it studies the meaning in the context of language use.3. In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar?答: The general approach thus traditionally formed to the study of language over the years is roughly referred to as “traditional grammar.” Modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar in several basic ways.Firstly, linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive. Second, modem linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tended to emphasize, maybe over-emphasize, the importance of the written word, partly because of its permanence.Then, modem linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework.4. Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic Why答: In modem linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic one. Because people believed that unless the various states of a language in different historical periods are successfully studied, it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development.5. For what reasons does modern linguistics give priority to speech rather thanto writing?答: Speech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication. Modem linguistics regards the spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of human language for some obvious reasons. From the point of viewof linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any language is always “invented” by its users to record speech when the need arises. Even in today's world there are still many languages that can only be spoken but not written. Then in everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed. And also, speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue, and writing is learned and taught later when he goes to school. For modern linguists, spoken language reveals many true features of human speech while written language is only the “revised” record of speech. Thus their data for invest igation and analysis are mostly drawn from everyday speech, which they regard as authentic.6. How is Saussure's distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky's distinction between competence and performance?答: Saussure's distinction and Chomsky's are very similar, they differ at least in that Saussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from apsychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.7. What characteristics of language do you think should be included in a good, comprehensive definition of language?答: First of all, language is a system, ., elements of language are combined according to rules.Second, language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between a linguistic symbol and what the symbol stands for.Third, language is vocal because the primary medium for all languages is sound.Fourth, language is human-specific, i. e., it is very different from the communication systems other forms of life possess.8. What are the main features of human language that have been specified by C. Hockett to show that it is essentially different from animal communication system?答:The main features of human language are termed design features. They include:1) ArbitrarinessLanguage is arbitrary. This means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. A good example is the fact that different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different languages.2) ProductivityLanguage is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. This is why they can produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences, including sentences they have never heard before.3) DualityLanguage consists of two sets of structures, or two levels. At the lower or the basic level there is a structure of sounds, which are meaningless by themselves. But the sounds of language can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning, which are found at the higher level of the system.4) DisplacementLanguage can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future, or in far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. This is what “displacement” means.5) Cultural transmissionWhile human capacity for language has a genetic basis, ., we were all born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.9. What are the major functions of language Think of your own examples for illustration.答: Three main functions are often recognized of language: the descriptive function, the expressive function, and the social function.The descriptive function is the function to convey factual information, which can be asserted or denied, and in some cases even verified. For example: “China is a large country with a long history.”The expressive function supplies information about the user’s feelings, preferences, prejudices, and values. For example: “I will never go window-shopping with her.”The social function serves to establish and maintain social relations between people. . For example: “We are your firm supporters.”Chapter 2 Speech Sounds1. What are the two major media of linguistic communication Of the two, which one is primary and why答: Speech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication.Of the two media of language, speech is more primary than writing, for reasons, please refer to the answer to the fifth problem in the last chapter.2. What is voicing and how is it caused?答: Voicing is a quality of speech sounds and a feature of all vowels and some consonants in English. It is caused by the vibration of the vocal cords.3. Explain with examples how broad transcription and narrow transcription differ?答: The transcription with letter-symbols only is called broad transcription. This is the transcription normally used in dictionaries and teaching textbooks for general purposes. The latter, . the transcription with letter-symbols together withthe diacritics is called narrow transcription. This is the transcription needed and used by the phoneticians in their study of speech sounds. With the help of the diacritics they can faithfully represent as much of the fine details as it is necessary for their purpose.In broad transcription, the symbol [l] is used for the sounds [l] in the four words leaf [li:f], feel [fi:l], build [bild], and health [helθ]. As a matter of fact, the sound [l] in all these four sound combinations differs slightly. The [l] in [li:f], occurring before a vowel, is called a dear [l], and no diacritic is needed to indicate it; the [1] in [fi:l] and [bild], occurring at the end of a word or before another consonant, is pronounced diff erently from the clear [1] as in “leaf”. It is called dark [] and in narrow transcription the diacritic [] is used to indicate it. Then in the sound combination [helθ], the sound [l] is followed by the English dental sound [θ], its pronunciation is somewha t affected by the dental sound that follows it. It is thus called a dental [l], and in narrow transcription the diacritic [、] is used to indicate it. It is transcribed as [helθ].Another example is the consonant [p]. We all know that [p] is pronounced differently in the two words pit and spit. In the word pit, the sound [p] is pronounced with a strong puff of air, but in spit the puff of air is withheld to some extent. In the case of pit, the [p] sound is said to be aspirated and in the case of spit, the [p] sound is unaspirated. This difference is not shown in broad transcription, but in narrow transcription, a small raised “h” is used to show aspiration, thus pit is transcribed as [pht] and spit is transcribed as [spt].4. How are the English consonants classified答: English consonants can be classified in two ways: one is in terms of manner of articulation and the other is in terms of place of articulation. In terms of manner of articulation the English consonants can be classified into the following types: stops, fricatives, affricates, liquids, nasals and glides. In terms of place of articulation, it can be classified into following types: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, palatal, velar and glottal.5. What criteria are used to classify the English vowels?答: Vowels may be distinguished as front, central, and back according to which part of the tongue is held highest. To further distinguish members of each group, we need to apply another criterion, . the openness of the mouth. Accordingly, we classify the vowels into four groups: close vowels, semi-close vowels, semi-open vowels, and open vowels. A third criterion that is often used in the classification of vowels is the shape of the lips. In English, all the front vowels and the central vowels are unfounded vowels, i. e., without rounding the lips, and all the back vowels, with the exception of [a:], are rounded. It should be noted that some front vowels can be pronounced with rounded lips.6. A. Give the phonetic symbol for each of the following sound descriptions:1) voiced palatal affricate2) voiceless labiodental fricative3) voiced alveolar stop4) front, close, short5) back, semi-open, long6) voiceless bilabial stopB. Give the phonetic features of each of the following sounds:1) [ t ] 2) [ l ] 3) [] 4) [w] 5) [] 6) []答:A. (1) [] (2) [ f ] (3) [d ] (4) [ ] (5) [ :] (6) [p]B. (1) voiceless alveolar stop (2) voiced alveolar liquid(3) voiceless palatal affricate (4) voiced bilabial glide(5) back, close, short (6) front, open7. How do phonetics and phonology differ in their focus of study Who do you think will be more interested in the difference between, say, [l] and [], [ph] and [p], a phonetician or a phonologist Why答: (1) Both phonology and phonetics are concerned with the same aspect of language –– the speech sounds. But while both are related to the study of sounds,, they differ in their approach and focus. Phonetics is of a general nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages: how they are produced, how they differ from each other, what phonetic features they possess, how they can be classified, etc. Phonology, on the other hand, aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.(2) A phonologist will be more interested in it. Because one of the tasks of the phonologists is to find out rule that governs the distribution of [l] and [], [ph] and [p].8. What is a phone How is it different from a phoneme How are allophones related to a phoneme答: A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. A phoneme is not any particular sound, but rather it is represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context. The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophones of that phoneme. For example, the phoneme /l/ in English can be realized as dark [], clear [l], etc. which are allophones of the phoneme /l/.9. Explain with examples the sequential rule, the assimilation rule, and the deletion rule.答: Rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language are called sequential rules.There are many such sequential rules in English. For example, if a word begins with a [l] or a [r], then the next sound must be a vowel. That is why [lbik] [lkbi] are impossible combinations in English. They have violated the restrictions on the sequencing of phonemes.The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to another by “copying” a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones similar. Assimilation of neighbouring sounds is, for the most part, caused by articulatory or physiological processes. When we speak, we tend to increase the ease ofarticulation. This “sloppy” tendency may become regularized as rules of language.We all know that nasalization is not a phonological feature in English, ., it does not distinguish meaning. But this does not mean that vowels in English are never nasalized in actual pronunciation; in fact they are nasalized in certain phonetic contexts. For example, the [i:] sound is nasalized in words like bean, green, team, and scream. This is because in all these sound combinations the [i:] sound is followed by a nasal [n] or [m].The assimilation rule also accounts for the varying pronunciation of the alveolar nasal [n] in some sound combinations. The rule is that within a word, the nasal [n] assumes the same place of articulation as the consonant that follows it. We know that in English the prefix in- can be added to ma adjectiveto make the meaning of the word negative, . discreet – indiscreet, correct –incorrect. But the [n] sound in the prefix in- is not always pronounced as an alveolar nasal. It is so in the word indiscreet because the consonant that follows it, . [d], is an alveolar stop, but the [n] sound in the word incorrect is actually pronounced as a velar nasal, . []; this is because the consonant that follows it is [k], which is a velar stop. So we can see that while pronouncing the sound [n], we are “copying” a feature of the consonant that follows it.Deletion rule tells us when a sound is to be deleted although it is orthographically represented. We have noticed that in the pronunciation of such words as sign, design, and paradigm, there is no [g] sound although it isrepresented in spelling by the letter g. But in their corresponding forms signature, designation, and paradigmatic, the [g] represented by the letter g is pronounced. The rule can be stated as: Delete a [g] when it occurs before a final nasal consonant. Given the rule, the phonemic representation of the stems in sign – signature, resign – resignation, phlegm – phlegmatic, paradigm –paradigmatic will include the phoneme /g/, which will be deleted according to the regular rule if no suffix is added.10. What are suprasegmental features How do the major suprasegmental features of English function in conveying meaning答: The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are called suprasegmental features. The main suprasegmental features include stress, intonation, and tone. The location of stress in English distinguishes meaning. There are two kinds of stress: word stress and sentence stress. For example, a shift of stress may change the part of speech of a word from a noun, to a verb although its spelling remains unchanged. Tones are pitch variations which can distinguish meaning just like phonemes.Intonation plays an important role in the conveyance of meaning in almost every language, especially in a language like English. When spoken in different tones, the same sequence of words may have different meanings.Chapter 3 Morphology1. Divide the following words into their separate morphemes by placing a “+”between each morpheme and the next:a. microfile e. telecommunicationb. bedraggled f. forefatherc. announcement g. psychophysicsd. predigestion h. mechanist答:a. micro + file b. be + draggle + edc. announce + mentd. pre + digest + ione. tele + communicate + ionf. fore + fatherg. psycho + physics h. mechan + ist2. Think of three morpheme suffixes, give their meaning, and specify the types ofstem they may be suffixed to. Give at least two examples of each.Model: -orsuffix: -ormeaning: the person or thing performing the actionstem type: added to verbsexamples: actor, “one who acts in stage plays, motion pictures, etc.”translator, “one who translates”答:(1) suffix: -ablemeaning: something can be done or is possiblestem type: added to verbsexamples: acceptable, “can be accepted”respectable, “can be respected”(2) suffix: -lymeaning: functionalstem type: added to adjectivesexamples: freely. “adverbial form of ‘free’ ”quickly, “adverbial form of 'quick' ”.(3) suffix: -eemeaning: the person receiving the actionstem type: added to verbsexamples: employee, “one who works in a company”interviewee, “one who is interviewed”3. Think of three morpheme prefixes, give their meaning, and specify the types of stem they may be prefixed to. Give at least two examples of each.Model: a-prefix: a-meaning: “without; not”stem type: added to adjectivesexamples: asymmetric, “lacking symmetry” asexual, “without sex or sex organs”答:(1) prefix: dis-meaning: showing an oppositestem type: added to verbs or nounsexamples : disapprove, “do not approve”dishonesty, “lack of honesty”.(2) prefix: anti-meaning: against, opposed tostem type: added to nouns or adjectivesexamples : antinuclear, “opposing the use of atomic weapons and power”a ntisocial, “opposed or harmful to the laws and customs of an organized community. ”(3) prefix: counter-meaning: the opposite ofstem type: added to nouns or adjectives.examples: counterproductive, “producing results oppo site to those intended”counteract, “act against and reduce the force or effect of (sth.) ”4. The italicized part in each of the following sentences is an inflectional morpheme. Study each inflectional morpheme carefully and point out its grammatical meaning.Sue moves in high-society circles in London.A traffic warden asked John to move his car.The club has moved to Friday, February 22nd.The branches of the trees are moving back and forth.答:(1) the third person singular(2) the past tense(3) the present perfect(4) the present progressive5. Determine whether the words in each of the following groups are related to one another by processes of inflection or derivation.a) go, goes, going, goneb) discover, discovery, discoverer, discoverable, discoverabilityc) inventor, inventor’s, inventors, inventors’d) democracy, democrat, democratic, democratize答:(略)6. The following sentences contain both derivational and inflectional affixes. Underline all of the derivational affixes and circle the inflectional affixes.a) The farmer’s cows escaped.b) It was raining.c) Those socks are inexpensive.d) Jim needs the newer copy.e) The strongest rower continued.f) She quickly closed the book.g) The alphabetization went well.答:(略)Chapter 4 Syntax1. What is syntax?Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences.2. What is phrase structure rule?The grammatical mechanism that regulates the arrangement of elements . specifiers, heads, and complements) that make up a phrase is called a phrase structure rule.The phrase structural rule for NP, VP, AP, and PP can be written as follows:NP → (Det) N (PP) ...VP → (Qual) V (NP) ...AP → (Deg) A (PP) ...PP → (Deg) P (NP) ...The general phrasal structural rule ( X stands for the head N, V, A or P):The XP rule: XP → (specifier) X (complement)3. What is category How to determine a word's categoryCategory refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb. To determine a word's category, three criteria are usually employed, namely meaning, inflection and distribution. A word's distributional facts together withinformation about its meaning and inflectional capabilities help identify its syntactic category.4. What is coordinate structure and what properties does it have?The structure formed by joining two or more elements of the same type with the help of a conjunction is called coordinate structures.Conjunction exhibits four important properties:1) There is no limit on the number of coordinated categories that can appear prior to the conjunction.2) A category at any level (a head or an entire XP) can be coordinated.3) Coordinated categories must be of the same type.4) The category type of the coordinate phrase is identical to the category type of the elements being conjoined.5. What elements does a phrase contain and what role does each element play?A phrase usually contains the following elements: head, specifier and complement. Sometimes it also contains another kind of element termed modifier.The role of each elementHead:Head is the word around which a phrase is formed.Specifier:Specifier has both special semantic and syntactic roles. Semantically, it helps to make more precise the meaning of the head. Syntactically, it typically marks a phrase boundary.Complement:Complements are themselves phrases and provide information about entities and locations whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head. Modifier:Modifiers specify optionally expressible properties of the heads.6. What is deep structure and what is surface structure?There are two levels of syntactic structure. The first, formed by the XP rule in accordance with the head's subcategorization properties, is called deep structure (or D-structure). The second, corresponding to the final syntactic form of the sentence which results from appropriate transformations, is called surface structure (or S-structure).7. Indicate the category of each word in the following sentences. a) The old lady got off the bus carefully.Det A N V P Det N Advb) The car suddenly crashed onto the river bank.Det N Adv V P Det Nc) The blinding snowstorm might delay the opening of the schools.Det A N Aux V Det N P Det Nd) This cloth feels quite soft.Det N V Deg A(以下8-12题只作初步的的成分划分,未画树形图, 仅供参考)8. The following phrases include a head, a complement, and a specifier. Draw the appropriate tree structure for each.a) rich in mineralsXP(AP) → head (rich) A + complement (in minerals) PPb) often read detective storiesXP(VP) → specifier (often) Qual + head (read) V + complement (detective stories) NPc) the argument against the proposalsXP(NP) → specifier (the) Det + head (argument) N + complement (against the proposals) PPd) already above the windowXP(VP) → specifier (already) Deg + head (above) P + complement (the window) NP9. The following sentences contain modifiers of various types. For each sentence, first identify the modifier(s), then draw the tree structures.(划底线的为动词的修饰语,斜体的为名词的修饰语)a) A crippled passenger landed the airplane with extreme caution.b) A huge moon hung in the black sky.c) The man examined his car carefully yesterday.d) A wooden hut near the lake collapsed in the storm.10. The following sentences all contain conjoined categories. Draw a tree structure for each of the sentences. (划底线的为并列的范畴)a) Jim has washed the dirty shirts and pants.b) Helen put on her clothes and went out.c) Mary is fond of literature but tired of statistics.11. The following sentences all contain embedded clauses that function as complements of a verb, an adjective, a preposition or a noun. Draw a tree structure for each sentence. (划底线的为补语从句)a) You know that I hate war.b) Gerry believes the fact that Anna flunked the English exam.c) Chris was happy that his father bought him a Rolls-Royce.d) The children argued over whether bats had wings.12. Each of the following sentences contains a relative clause. Draw the deep structure and the surface structure trees for each of these sentences. (划底线的为关系从句)a) The essay that he wrote was excellent.b) Herbert bought a house that she lovedc) The girl whom he adores majors in linguistics.13. The derivations of the following sentences involve the inversion transformation. Give the deep structure and the surface structure of each of these sentences.a) Would you come tomorrow (surface structure)you would come tomorrow (deep structure)b) What did Helen bring to the party (surface structure)Helen brought what to the party (deep structure)c) Who broke the window (surface structure)who broke the window (deep structure)Chapter 5 Semantics1. What are the major views concerning the study of meaning?答:(1) The naming theory proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. According to this theory, the linguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are simply labels of the objects they stand for. So words are just names or labels for things.(2) The conceptualist view has been held by some philosophers and linguists from ancient times. This view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i. e., between language and the real world); rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.(3) The contextualist view held that meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context –– elements closely linked with language behaviour. The representative of this approach was . Firth, famous British linguist.(4) Behaviorists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as the “situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in thehearer.” This theory, somewhat clos e to contextualism, is linked with psychological interest.2. What are the major types of synonyms in English?答: The major types of synonyms are dialectal synonyms, stylistic synonyms, emotive or evaluative synonyms, collocational synonyms, and semantically different synonyms.Examples(略)3. Explain with examples “homonymy”, “polysemy”, and “hyponymy”.答:(1) Homonymy refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form, ., different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both.When two words are identical in sound, they are homophones.When two words are identical in spelling, they are homographs.When two words are identical in both sound and spelling, they are complete homonyms(2) While different words may have the same or similar meaning, the same one word may have more than one meaning. This is what we call polysemy, and such a word is called a polysemic word. There are many polysemic words in English, The fact is the more commonly used a word is, the more likely it has acquired more than one meaning.(3) Hyponymy refers to the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific word. The word which is more general in。
I . Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Lin guistics is gen erally defi ned as the scie ntific study of lan guage.2. Lin guistics studies particular lan guage, not lan guages in gen eral.3. A scie ntific study of lan guage is based on what the lin guist thi nks.4. In the study of lin guistics, hypotheses formed should be based on lan guage facts and checked aga inst the observed facts.5. Gen eral li nguistics is gen erally the study of lan guage as a whole.6. Gen eral li nguistics, which relates itself to the research of other are as, studies the basic con cepts, theories, descripti ons, models and me thods applicable in any lin guistic study.7. Pho netics is differe nt from pho no logy in that the latter studies the comb in ati ons of the sounds to con vey meaning in com muni cati on.8. Morphology studies how words can be formed to produce meaning ful senten ces.9. The study of the ways in which morphemes can be comb ined to fo rm words is called morphology.10. Syn tax is differe nt from morphology in that the former not only st udies the morphemes, but also the comb in ati on of morphemes into words and words into senten ces.11. The study of meaning in lan guage is known as sema ntics.12. Both sema ntics and pragmatics study meanin gs.13. Pragmatics is differe nt from sema ntics in that pragmatics studiesmeaning not in isolati on, but in con text.14. Social cha nges can ofte n bring about lan guage cha nges.15. Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society.16. Modern linguistics is mostly prescriptive, but sometimes descriptive.17. Moder n lin guistics is differe nt from traditi onal grammar.18. A diachro nic study of lan guage is the descripti on of lan guage at s ome point in time.19. Moder n lin guistics regards the writte n lan guage as primary, not the writte n lan guage.20. The disti ncti on betwee n compete nee and performa nee was propo sed by F. de Saussure.n . Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter give n:21. Chomsky defi nes “ compete nee as the ideal user ' ___________of the rules of his lan guage.22. Lan gue refers to the a ________ lin guistic system shared by allthe members of a speech commu nity while the parole is the con crete use of the conven ti ons and applicati on of the rules.23. D ________ is one of the desig n features of huma n lan guage which refers to the phe nomenon that lan guage con sists of two levels: alower level of mea nin gless in dividual sounds and a higher level of me anin gful un its.24. Lan guage is a system of a ________ v ocal symbols used for human com muni cati on.25. The discipli ne that studies the rules gover ning the formati on of w ords into permissible senten ces in lan guages is called s ______ .26. Huma n capacity for lan guage has a g ____ basis, but the details of lan guage have to be taught and lear ned.27. P ______ refers to the realizati on of lan gue in actual use.28. Findings in lin guistic studies can ofte n be applied to the settlement of some practical problems. The study of such applicati ons is gene rally known as a __________ lin guistics.29. Lan guage is p _________ in that it makes possible the con struction and in terpretati on of new sig nals by its users .In other words, th ey can produce and un dersta nd an infin itely large nu mber of sentenc es which they have n ever heard before.30. Lin guistics is gen erally defi ned as the s _____ study of lan guage.ID . There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the stateme nt:31. If a lin guistic study describes and an alyzes the lan guage people a ctually use, it is said to be _______ .A. prescriptiveB. an alyticC. descriptiveD. li nguistic32. Which of the follow ing is not a desig n feature of huma n lan guage ?A. Arbitrari nessB. Displaceme ntC. DualityD. Meaningfuln ess33. Moder n lin guistics regards the writte n lan guage as ____ .A. primaryB. correctC. sec on daryD. stable34. In modern linguistics, speech is regarded as more basic than writi ng, because _______ .A. in linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writingB. speech plays a greater role tha n writ ing in terms of the amount ofin formati on con veyedC. speech is always the way in which every n ative speaker acquires h ismother ton gueD. All of the above35. A historical study of Ian guage is a ______ study of Ian guage.A. syn chro nicB. diachro nicC. prescriptiveD. comparative36. Saussure took a(n) ______ view of Ian guage, while Chomsky lo oks at Ian guage from a ______ point of view.A. sociological …psychologicalB. psychological …sociologicalC. applied …pragmaticD. semantic …linguistic37. Accord ing to F. de Saussure, ______ refers to the abstract lingui stic system shared by all the mem- bers of a speech com muni ty.A. paroleB. performa neeC. la ngueD. Language38. Lan guage is said to be arbitrary because there is no logical conne eti on betwee n _____ and meanin gs.A. senseB. soundsC. objectsD. ideas39. Lan guage can be used to refer to con texts removed from the im mediate situati ons of the speaker. This feature is called ______ ,A. displaceme ntB. dualityC. flexibilityD. cultural tran smissi on40. The details of any lan guage system is passed on from one gener ati on to the n ext through _____ , rather tha n by in st in ct.A. learni ngB. teachi ngC. booksD. both A and BIV . Define the following terms:41. Lin guistics42. Phon ology43. Syntax44. Pragmatics45. Psycholi nguistics46. Language47. Pho netics48. Morphology49. Sema ntics50. Socioli nguistics51. Applied Lin guistics52. Arbitrari ness53. Productivity54. Displaceme nt55. Duality56. Desig n Features57. Compete nee58. Performa nee59. Lan gue60. ParoleSuggested an swers to suppleme ntary exercises:I . Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:I. T 2. F 3. F 4. T 5. T 6. F 7. T 8. F 9. T 10. FII. T 12. T 13. T 14. T 15. T 16. F 17. T 18. F 19. F 20. Fn . Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter give n:21. kno wledge 22. abstract 23. Duality 24. arbitrary 25. syn tax26. genetic 27. Parole 28. applied 29. productive 30. scientific (or sy stematic)ID . There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the stateme nt.31. C 32. D 33. C 34. D 35. B 36. A 37. C 38. B 39. A 40. DIV . Define the following terms:41. Lin guistics: Lin guistics is gen erally defi ned as the scie ntific study of lan guage.42. Phono logy: The study of how sounds are put together and used i n com muni cati on is called pho no logy.43. Syn tax: The study of how morphemes and words are comb ined t o form senten ces is called syn tax.44. Pragmatics: The study of meaning in con text of use is called prag matics.45. Psycholi nguistics: The study of Ian guage with reference to the wo rkings of mind is called psycholi nguistics.46. Lan guage: Lan guage is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for huma n com muni cati on.47. Phonetics: The study of sounds which are used in linguistic comm uni cati on is called phon etics.48. Morphology: The study of the way in which morphemes are arra n ged to form words is called morphology.49. Sema ntics: The study of meaning in lan guage is called sema ntics.50. Socioli nguistics: The study of lan guage with reference to society i s called socioli nguistics.51. Applied lin guistics: In a n arrow sen se, applied lin guistics refers to the applicati on of lin guistic prin ciples and theories to lan guage teach ing and lear ning, especially the teach ing of foreig n and sec ond langu ages. In a broad sen se, it refers to the applicati on of lin guistic finding s to the soluti on of practical problems such as the recovery of speech ability.52. arbitrari ness: It is one of the desig n features of lan guage. It mea ns that there is no logical conn ecti on betwee n meanings and sounds53. Productivity: Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the con-structi on and in terpretati on of new sig nals by its users.54. Displaceme nt: Displaceme nt means that lan guage can be used to refer to thi ngs which are prese nt or not prese nt, real or imag ined m atters in the past, prese nt, or future, or in far-away places. In other words, la nguage can be used to refer to con texts removed from the i mmediate situati ons of the speaker55. Duality: The duality n ature of lan guage means that lan guage is a system, which con sists of two sets of structure, or two levels, one of sounds and the other of meanin gs.56. Design features: Design features refer to the defining properties of huma n lan guage that dist in guish it from any ani mal system of com muni cati on57. Compete nee: Chomsky defi nes compete nee as the ideal user 'n owledge of the rules of his lan guage,58. Performanee: performanee is the actual realization of the knowledge of the rules in lin guistic com muni cati on.59. la ngue: Lan gue refers to the abstract lin guistic system shared by all the members of a speech com muni ty; Lan gue is the set of conven tions and rules which lan guage users all have to follow; Lan gue is relatively stable, it does not cha nge freque ntly60. Parole: Parole refers to the realizati on of lan gue in actual use; pa role is the con crete use of the conven ti ons and the applicati on of the rules; parole varies from pers on to pers on, and from situati on to situ atio n.。
I . Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Lin guistics is gen erally defi ned as the scie ntific study of lan guage.2. Lin guistics studies particular lan guage, not lan guages in gen eral.3. A scie ntific study of lan guage is based on what the lin guist thi nks.4. In the study of lin guistics, hypotheses formed should be based on lan guage facts and checked aga inst the observed facts.5. Gen eral li nguistics is gen erally the study of lan guage as a whole.6. Gen eral li nguistics, which relates itself to the research of other are as, studies the basic con cepts, theories, descripti ons, models and me thods applicable in any lin guistic study.7. Pho netics is differe nt from pho no logy in that the latter studies the comb in ati ons of the sounds to con vey meaning in com muni cati on.8. Morphology studies how words can be formed to produce meaning ful senten ces.9. The study of the ways in which morphemes can be comb ined to fo rm words is called morphology.10. Syn tax is differe nt from morphology in that the former not only st udies the morphemes, but also the comb in ati on of morphemes into words and words into senten ces.11. The study of meaning in lan guage is known as sema ntics.12. Both sema ntics and pragmatics study meanin gs.13. Pragmatics is differe nt from sema ntics in that pragmatics studiesmeaning not in isolati on, but in con text.14. Social cha nges can ofte n bring about lan guage cha nges.15. Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society.16. Modern linguistics is mostly prescriptive, but sometimes descriptive.17. Moder n lin guistics is differe nt from traditi onal grammar.18. A diachro nic study of lan guage is the descripti on of lan guage at s ome point in time.19. Moder n lin guistics regards the writte n lan guage as primary, not the writte n lan guage.20. The disti ncti on betwee n compete nee and performa nee was propo sed by F. de Saussure.n . Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter give n:21. Chomsky defi nes “ compete nee as the ideal user ' ___________of the rules of his lan guage.22. Lan gue refers to the a ________ lin guistic system shared by allthe members of a speech commu nity while the parole is the con crete use of the conven ti ons and applicati on of the rules.23. D ________ is one of the desig n features of huma n lan guage which refers to the phe nomenon that lan guage con sists of two levels: alower level of mea nin gless in dividual sounds and a higher level of me anin gful un its.24. Lan guage is a system of a ________ v ocal symbols used for human com muni cati on.25. The discipli ne that studies the rules gover ning the formati on of w ords into permissible senten ces in lan guages is called s ______ .26. Huma n capacity for lan guage has a g ____ basis, but the details of lan guage have to be taught and lear ned.27. P ______ refers to the realizati on of lan gue in actual use.28. Findings in lin guistic studies can ofte n be applied to the settlement of some practical problems. The study of such applicati ons is gene rally known as a __________ lin guistics.29. Lan guage is p _________ in that it makes possible the con struction and in terpretati on of new sig nals by its users .In other words, th ey can produce and un dersta nd an infin itely large nu mber of sentenc es which they have n ever heard before.30. Lin guistics is gen erally defi ned as the s _____ study of lan guage.ID . There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the stateme nt:31. If a lin guistic study describes and an alyzes the lan guage people a ctually use, it is said to be _______ .A. prescriptiveB. an alyticC. descriptiveD. li nguistic32. Which of the follow ing is not a desig n feature of huma n lan guage ?A. Arbitrari nessB. Displaceme ntC. DualityD. Meaningfuln ess33. Moder n lin guistics regards the writte n lan guage as ____ .A. primaryB. correctC. sec on daryD. stable34. In modern linguistics, speech is regarded as more basic than writi ng, because _______ .A. in linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writingB. speech plays a greater role tha n writ ing in terms of the amount ofin formati on con veyedC. speech is always the way in which every n ative speaker acquires h ismother ton gueD. All of the above35. A historical study of Ian guage is a ______ study of Ian guage.A. syn chro nicB. diachro nicC. prescriptiveD. comparative36. Saussure took a(n) ______ view of Ian guage, while Chomsky lo oks at Ian guage from a ______ point of view.A. sociological …psychologicalB. psychological …sociologicalC. applied …pragmaticD. semantic …linguistic37. Accord ing to F. de Saussure, ______ refers to the abstract lingui stic system shared by all the mem- bers of a speech com muni ty.A. paroleB. performa neeC. la ngueD. Language38. Lan guage is said to be arbitrary because there is no logical conne eti on betwee n _____ and meanin gs.A. senseB. soundsC. objectsD. ideas39. Lan guage can be used to refer to con texts removed from the im mediate situati ons of the speaker. This feature is called ______ ,A. displaceme ntB. dualityC. flexibilityD. cultural tran smissi on40. The details of any lan guage system is passed on from one gener ati on to the n ext through _____ , rather tha n by in st in ct.A. learni ngB. teachi ngC. booksD. both A and BIV . Define the following terms:41. Lin guistics42. Phon ology43. Syntax44. Pragmatics45. Psycholi nguistics46. Language47. Pho netics48. Morphology49. Sema ntics50. Socioli nguistics51. Applied Lin guistics52. Arbitrari ness53. Productivity54. Displaceme nt55. Duality56. Desig n Features57. Compete nee58. Performa nee59. Lan gue60. ParoleSuggested an swers to suppleme ntary exercises:I . Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:I. T 2. F 3. F 4. T 5. T 6. F 7. T 8. F 9. T 10. FII. T 12. T 13. T 14. T 15. T 16. F 17. T 18. F 19. F 20. Fn . Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter give n:21. kno wledge 22. abstract 23. Duality 24. arbitrary 25. syn tax26. genetic 27. Parole 28. applied 29. productive 30. scientific (or sy stematic)ID . There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the stateme nt.31. C 32. D 33. C 34. D 35. B 36. A 37. C 38. B 39. A 40. DIV . Define the following terms:41. Lin guistics: Lin guistics is gen erally defi ned as the scie ntific study of lan guage.42. Phono logy: The study of how sounds are put together and used i n com muni cati on is called pho no logy.43. Syn tax: The study of how morphemes and words are comb ined t o form senten ces is called syn tax.44. Pragmatics: The study of meaning in con text of use is called prag matics.45. Psycholi nguistics: The study of Ian guage with reference to the wo rkings of mind is called psycholi nguistics.46. Lan guage: Lan guage is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for huma n com muni cati on.47. Phonetics: The study of sounds which are used in linguistic comm uni cati on is called phon etics.48. Morphology: The study of the way in which morphemes are arra n ged to form words is called morphology.49. Sema ntics: The study of meaning in lan guage is called sema ntics.50. Socioli nguistics: The study of lan guage with reference to society i s called socioli nguistics.51. Applied lin guistics: In a n arrow sen se, applied lin guistics refers to the applicati on of lin guistic prin ciples and theories to lan guage teach ing and lear ning, especially the teach ing of foreig n and sec ond langu ages. In a broad sen se, it refers to the applicati on of lin guistic finding s to the soluti on of practical problems such as the recovery of speech ability.52. arbitrari ness: It is one of the desig n features of lan guage. It mea ns that there is no logical conn ecti on betwee n meanings and sounds53. Productivity: Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the con-structi on and in terpretati on of new sig nals by its users.54. Displaceme nt: Displaceme nt means that lan guage can be used to refer to thi ngs which are prese nt or not prese nt, real or imag ined m atters in the past, prese nt, or future, or in far-away places. In other words, la nguage can be used to refer to con texts removed from the i mmediate situati ons of the speaker55. Duality: The duality n ature of lan guage means that lan guage is a system, which con sists of two sets of structure, or two levels, one of sounds and the other of meanin gs.56. Design features: Design features refer to the defining properties of huma n lan guage that dist in guish it from any ani mal system of com muni cati on57. Compete nee: Chomsky defi nes compete nee as the ideal user 'n owledge of the rules of his lan guage,58. Performanee: performanee is the actual realization of the knowledge of the rules in lin guistic com muni cati on.59. la ngue: Lan gue refers to the abstract lin guistic system shared by all the members of a speech com muni ty; Lan gue is the set of conven tions and rules which lan guage users all have to follow; Lan gue is relatively stable, it does not cha nge freque ntly60. Parole: Parole refers to the realizati on of lan gue in actual use; pa role is the con crete use of the conven ti ons and the applicati on of the rules; parole varies from pers on to pers on, and from situati on to situ atio n.。
Chapter Two Linguistics1. Define the following terms.1)syntagmatic relation vs paradigmatic relation2)langue vs parole3)competence vs performance4)descriptive linguistics vs historical linguistics5)theoretical linguistics vs applied linguistics6)deccriptive linguistics vs prescriptive linguistics7)synchronic vs diachronic linguistics8)macrolinguistics vs microlinguistics9)Comparative historical linguistics vs contrastive linguistics2. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).1)( ) Prescriptive linguistics is more popular than descriptive linguisticsbecause it can tell us how to speak correct language.2)( ) C ompetencce and performance refer respectively to a language user’sunderlying knowledge about the system of rules and the actual use of language in concrete situations.3)( ) The antithesis of langue and parole was created by Chomsky.4)( ) Cockoo in English is onomatopoeia.5)( ) Synchronic linguistics is concerned with the study of languagedevelopment through time.6)( ) Prescriptive linguists are concerned with how languages work, not withhow they can be improved.7)( ) Linguistics tries to answer the basic questions” what is a language”and “How does a language work”.8)( ) Onomatopoetic words are found in almost all human languages, which showsthe arbitrary nature of languages.9)( ) Each language contains two systems rather than one, a system of soundand a system of meaning.10)( ) Cultural transmission refers to the fact that the details of thelinguistic system must be learned a new by each speaker.11)( ) Phatic function refers to language used to exchange information andideas.12)( ) Speakers of all languages are capable of producing and comprehendingan infinite set of sentences, which accounts for syntactic universality.13)( ) Hall iday’s linguistic potential is similar to the notions of paroleand performance14)( ) By diachronie study we mean to study the changes and development oflanguage.15)( ) Langue is relatively stable and systematic while parole is subject topersonal and situational constraints.16)( ) In language classrooms nowadavs the grammar taught to students isbasically descriptive, and more attention is paid to the developing learners ‘ communicative skills.17)( ) Saussure’s exposition of synchronic analysis led to the school ofhistorical linguistics18)( ) Applied linguistics is the application of linguistic principles andtheories to language teaching and learning.19)( ) Semantics is the study of the meaning of words and sentences.20)( ) A diachronic study is concerned with the historical development of alanguage over a period of time.21)( ) A paradigmatic relation is a relation between a linguistic element inan utterance and linguistic elements outside that utterance, but belongingto the same sub-system of the language.22)( ) General linguistics aims at developing a theory that describes the rulesof a particular language.23)( ) English linguistics is a kind of descriptive linguistics.24)( ) Competence is more concrete than performance.25)( ) Descriptive linguistics attempts to establish a theory which accountsfor the rules of language in general.26)( ) Langue is more abstract than parole and therefore is not directlyobservable.27)( ) General linguistics deals with the whole human language.28)( ) All the English words are not symbolic.29)( ) All sounds produced by human speech organs are linguistic symbols.30)( ) Descriptive linguistics studies one specific language.31)( ) Morphological knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition about how asentence is formed.32)( ) Phonetics is the science that deals with the sound system.33)( ) A diachronic study of a language is concerned with a state of a languageat a particular point of time.3. Multiple Choice1) ______ made the distinction between competence and performance.A. SaussureB. Chomsky C Bloomfiled D. Sapir2) Findings in linguistic studies can often be applied to the solution of somepractical problems, the study of such applications is knowns as ________.A. anthropological linguisticsB. computational linguisticsC. applied linguisticsD. mathematical linguistics3) _______ refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the membersof speech community.A. ParoleB. langue C speech D. writing4) Which of the following is not the major brach of linguisticsA. phonologyB. pragmaticsC. syntax D speech5) ________ deals with language application to other fields, particularly education.A. Linguistic geographyB. SociolinguisticsC. Applied linguisticsD. Comparative linguistics6) Which branch of linguistics studies the similarities and differences amonglanguagesA. Diachronic linguistics.B. Synchronic linguistics.C. Prescriptive linguistics.D. Comparative linguistics.7) ________ has been widely accepted as the forefather of modern linguistics.A. ChomskyB. SaussureC. BloomfieldD. John Lyons8) The study of language as a whole is often called ---.A. general linguisticsB. sociolingyusticsC. psycholinguisticsD. applied linguistics9) The study of language meaning is called--.A. syntaxB. semantics C morphology D. pragmatics10) The description of a language at some point in time is a – study.A synchronic B. diachronic C descriptive D. prescriptive4. Fill in the blanks with appropriate words:1) refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members ofa speech community.2) is the actual realization of one’s linguistic knowledge inutterances.3) Modem linguistic is in the sense that the linguist tries to discover whatlanguage is rather than lay down some rules for people to observe.4) The description of a language as it changes through time is a study.5) Saussure put forward two important concepts, refers to the abstractlinguistic system shared by all members of a speech community.6) Linguistic potential is similar to Saussure’ s langue and Chomsky’ s .7) The four principles in the linguistic study are (1) (2)(3) (4)8) Morphology is the branch of linguistics which studies the form of words.9) The branch of general linguistics which is named studies the internalstructure of sentences.10) In Saussure’s view, the relationship between signifier (sound image) andsignified (concept) is .11) is an umbrella term which covers a variety of different interestsin language and society, including the social functions of language and thesocial characteristics of its users.12) The distinction between langue and parole is made by the Swiss linguist F.de Saussure. The distinction between competence and performance is made bythe American linguist .13) The writing English is. known as the sound writing system while that ofJapanese as ___writing system.14) According to John Lyons, ___ linguistics_ deals with language in generaland _ linguistics is concerned with one particular language.15) In de Saussure’s term, _____ refers to the system of language and _____refers to the speaker’s speech.16) _____ is the science that deals with the sound system.17) Syntax studies two kinds of rules: _____ rules and rules18) Langue or competence is ______ and not directly observed, while parole orperformance is _____ and directly observable.19) A ________ relation refers to the sequential characteristic of speech.20) ___ ___ knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition about the sounds and soundpatterns of his language.21) ______ knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition about how a word is formed.22) ______ knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition about whether a sentenceis grammatical or not.23) ______ knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition about the meaning oflanguage, including meaning of words and meaning of sentences.24) ______ is the study of speech sounds of all human languages.25) ______ examines word formation and the internal structure of words.5. Answer the following questions.1) What is the difference between general linguistics and descriptive linguistics2) What is the difference between synchronic and diachronic linguistics Is iteasy to draw a sharp line between them if we look at language closely3) What distinguish prescriptive studies of language from descriptive studiesof language Comment on the merits and weaknesses of descriptive grammar and prescriptive grammar.4) What are the four principles for the scientific analysis of language5) Point out three ways in which linguistics differs from traditional grammar.6) What are the main differences between “competence” and “performance”7) What is the major difference between Saussure’s distinction of langue andparole and Chomsky’s distinction of competence and performance what should be studies in linguistics in your opinion and why8) Explain “speech and writing”, and cite two ormore examples.Key to Chapter Two1. Define the following terms.1)syntagmatic relation vs paradigmatic relationEssentially the relations between linguistic elements are of two dimensions, usually syntagmatic and paradigmatic. syntagmatic or sequential relations are those holding between elements forming serial structure, or “strings’ as they are sometimes called. In syntax, the horizontal relationship between elements shows how a form (X) combines with others (W + X + Y) in a serial combination.It refers to the linear ordering of the words and the phrases within a sentence.Paradigmatic relations are those holding between comparable elements at particular places in structures. The vertical or substitutional relationship shows how other different forms (Xa, Xb, Xc) can function in the same place in structure in a paradigmatic relation.2) langue vs paroleSaussure refers “langue” to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community and refers” parole” to the actual or actualized language, or the realization of langue. Langue is abstract, parole specific to the speaking situation; langue not actually spoken by an individual, parole always a naturally occurring event; langue relatively stable and systematic, parole subject to personal and situational constraints. For Saussure, parole is a mass of confused facts, thus not suitable for systematic investigation. What a linguist ought to do, according to Saussure, is to abstract langue from instances of parole, ., to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole andmake them the subject of linguistics. The langue-parole distinction is of great importance, which casts great influence on laterlinguists.3) competence vs performance(1)According to N. Chomsky, “competence” is the ideal language user’s knowledge of the rules of his language, and “performance” is the arctual realization of this knowledge in utterances. The former enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker’s competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speaker’s performance does not always match or equal his supposed competence.(2)Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rather than performance. In other words, they should discover what an ideal speaker knows of his native language.(3) Chomsky’s competence-performance distinction is not exactly the same as, t hough similar to, F. de Saussure’s language parole distinction. Langue is a social product and a set of conventions for a community, while competence is deemed as a property of the mind of each individual. Saussure looks at language more from a sociological or sociolinguistic point of view than N. Chomsky since the latter deals with his issues psychologically or psycholinguistically.4) descriptive linguistics vs historical linguisticsLinguistic study can be divided into descriptive linguistics (synchronic linguistic study) and historical linguistics (diachronic linguistic study). The former refers to the description of a language at a particular point of time in history while the latter, a diachronic study of language, studies the historical development of language over a period of time.5) theoretical linguistics vs applied linguisticsA third dichotomy is that which holds between theoretical and applied linguistics. The former copes with language and languages with a view toestablishing a theory of their structure and functions and without regard to any practical applications that the investigation of language and languages might have, whereas the latter is chiefly concerned with the application of the concepts and findings of linguistics to all sorts of practical tasks, including language teaching.6) deccriptive linguistics vs prescriptive linguisticsA linguistic study is descriptive if it only describes and analyzes the facts of language, and it is prescriptive if it tries to lay down rules for “correct” language behavior. Linguistic studies before 20th century were largely prescriptive because many early grammars were based on “high” (literary or religious) written records. Modem linguistics is mostly descriptive, however, which believes that whatever occurs in natural speech (hesitation, incomplete utterance, misunderstanding, etc.) should be described in the analysis, and not be marked as incorrect, abnormal, corrupt, or lousy. These, with changes inlvocabulary and structures, need to be explained distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things are. To say that linguistics is a descriptive science is to say that the linguist tries to discover and record the rules to which the members of a language-community actually conform and does not seek to impose upon them other rules, or norms, of correctness, which are in the scope of prescriptive linguistics.7) synchronic vs diachronic linguisticsSynchronic linguistics takes a fixed instant (usually, but not necessarily, the present) as its point of observation. In contrast, diachronie linguistics is the study of a language through the Course of itshistory; therefore, it is also called historical linguistics.The description of a languageat some point of time (as if it stopped developing) is a synchronic study (synchrony). The description of a languageas it changes through timeis a diachronic study (diachrony). An essay entitled” On the Use of THE”, for example, may be synchronic, if the author does not recall the past of THE, and it may also be diachronic if he claims to cover a large range or period of time wherein THE has undergone tremendous alteration.8) macrolinguistics vs microlinguisticsMacrolinguistics falls on the verge of linguistics. It includes the following disciplines: philosophical linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, etc. Lyons has the same distinction.Microlinguistics concentrates on the study of all the interior aspects ofa language system. Traditional linguistic study describes language system fromtwo aspects —lexicon and grammar. Dictionaries and grammar books are products of such researches and studies.9)Comparative historical linguistics vs contrastive linguisticsComparative historical linguistics draws on the special historical comparison in linguistics to study the historical development of some related languages (languages originating from a uniform ancestry). It is in fact a special part of historical linguistics. Thanks to the development of historical comparative linguistics in 19th century, linguistics comes to be an independent discipline. Contrastive linguistics focuses on structural similarities and differences of two or more languages (relevant or unrelated) by means of comparison and contrastive study. This study belongs to descriptive linguistics. It can help people have a deep understanding of the properties and universal characteristics of different languages and thus exerts great influence on foreign language teaching.2. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).1)(F) Prescriptive linguistics is more popular than descriptivelinguistics because it can tell us how to speak correct language.2)(T) Competencce and performance refer respectively to a languageuser’s underlying knowledge ab out the system of rules and the actualuse of language in concrete situations.3)(F) The antithesis of langue and parole was created by Chomsky. (中国矿业大学,2004)4)(T) Cockoo in English is onomatopoeia. (中国矿业大学,2004)5)(F) Synchronic linguistics is concerned with the study of languagedevelopment through time. (中国矿业大学,2004)6)(T) Prescriptive linguists are concerned with how languages work, notwith how they can be improved. (中国矿业大学,2004)7)(T) Linguistics tries to answer the basic questions” what is alanguage” and “How does a language work”. (南京师范大学,2002)8)(F) Onomatopoetic words are found in almost all human languages, whichshows the arbitrary nature of languages. (中国矿业大学,2002)9)(T) Each language contains two systems rather than one, a system of soundand a system of meaning. (中国矿业大学,2002)10)(T) Cultural transmission refers to the fact that the details of thelinguistic system must be learned a new by each speaker. (中国矿业大学,2002)11)(F) Phatic function refers to language used to exchange information andideas. (中国矿业大学,2002)12)(F) Speakers of all languages are capable of producing and comprehendingan infinite set of sentences, which accounts for syntactic universality.(中国矿业大学,2002)13)(F) Halliday’s linguistic potential is similar to the notions of paroleand performance14)(T) By diachronie study we mean to study the changes and developmentof language.15)(T) Langue is relatively stable and systematic while parole is subjectto personal and situational constraints.16)(T) In language classrooms nowadavs the grammar taught to students isbasically descriptive, and more attention is paid to the developing learners ‘ communicative skills.17)(F) Saussure’s exposition of synchronic analysis led to the school ofhistorical linguistics.18)(T) Applied linguistics is the application of linguistic principles andtheories to language teaching and learning.19)(F) Semantics is the study of the meaning of words and sentences.20)(T) A diachronic study is concerned with the historical developmentof a language over a period of time.21)(F) A paradigmatic relation is a relation between a linguistic elementin an utterance and linguistic elements outside that utterance, but belonging to the same sub-system of the language.22)(F) General linguistics aims at developing a theory that describesthe rules of a particular language.23)( T) English linguistics is a kind of descriptive linguistics.24)(F) Competence is more concrete than performance.25)(F) Descriptive linguistics attempts to establish a theory whichaccounts for the rules of language in general.26)(T) Langue is more abstract than parole and therefore is notdirectly observable.27)(T) General linguistics deals with the whole human language.28)(T) All the English words are not symbolic.29)(F) All sounds produced by human speech organs are linguistic symbols.30)(T) Descriptive linguistics studies one specific language.31)(F) Morphological knowledge is a native speaker’s intuition abouthow a sentence is formed.32)(F) Phonetics is the science that deals with the sound system.33)(F) A diachronic study of a language is concerned with a state ofa language at a particular point of time.3. Multiple choice1) – 5): BCBDC 6) – 10): DBABA4. Word completion1) Langue 2) Performance3) descriptive 4) diachronic5) langue 6) competence7) (1) consistency (2) economy (3) objectivity (4) exhaustiveness8) Morphology 9) syntax10) arbitrary 11) socialinguistics12) Chomsky 13) syllabic14) general, descriptive 15) langue, parole16) Phonology 17) phrase structure, transformational18) abstract; concrete 19) syntagmatic20) Phonological 21) Morphological22) Syntactic 23) Semantic24) Phonetics 25) Morphology5. Answer the following questions.1) What is thedifference between general linguistics and descriptive linguisticsThe former deals with language in general, . the whole human language whereas the latter is concerned with one particular language. The former aims at developing a theory that describes the rules of human language in general while the latter attempts to establish a model that describes the rules of one particular language, such as Chinese, English, French, etc. General Linguistics and descriptive linguistics are dependent on each other. In the first place, general linguistics provides descriptive linguistics with a general framework in which any particular language can be described, studied and analyzed. Very often, it may supply several different frameworks for descriptive linguists to choose from. Depending on their different views on language, they may follow one model exclusively or combine two or more models. In the second, the resulting descriptions of particular languages, in turn, supply empirical evidence which may confirm or refute the model(s) put forward by general linguistics. In other words, general linguistics and descriptive linguistics are complementary to each other despite their different objects of study and different goals.2) What is the difference between diachronic linguistics Is it easy to drawa sharp line between them if we look at language closely(1) Synchronic linguistics takes a fixed instant (usually, but notnecessarily, the present) as its point of observation. In contrast, diachronie linguistics is the study of a language through the Course of itshistory;therefore, it is also called historical linguistics.(2) Synchronic/diachronic perspective toward language is one of Saussure’smost central ideas expressed in the form of pairs of Concepts. The former sees languageas a living whole; existing as a “‘state” at a particular moment in time; the latter sees it as a continually changing medium. In this view, it is always necessary to carry out some degree of synchronic work before making a diachronic study: before we can say how a language has changed from state X to state Y, we need to about X and Y. Correspondingly, a synchronic analysis can be made without referring to history. This can be illustrated as Sanssure did using an analogy with a game of chess. A state of the set of chessmen is like a state of language. “The respective value of the pieces depends on their position on the chessboard just as each linguistic term derives its value from its opposition to all the other terms.” On the o ther hand, the value of each piece also;depends on the convention--the set of rules that exists before the game begins. This is like the set of rules that exists in language. A state of the game of chess is momentary just like a state of language change. When one piece is moved, the game passes from one state of equilibrium to the next. This corresponds closely to the situation of language between states. To study this static state is called synchronic linguistics. The moving of one piece is like one type of change in language. The consequence of one move can be very big or small; the same is true with language changes. The player of a chess game is solely concerned with the momentary positions of the pieces; he does not need to remember the previous moves so as to decide the next move. A player who knows the history of the game does not necessarily have more to say about the next move than a man who has just come to the game, ignorant of what has happened before. Similarly, a speaker of a language can learn the languagewell without knowing its historical statesl We can describe a state of a game without bothering the techniques both players have used to bring about the state. Likewise, we can describe the state of a language without knowing its history,3) What distinguish prescriptive studies of language from descriptive studiesof language Comment on the merits and weaknesses of descriptive grammar and prescriptive grammar.(1) The distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things actually are. The essence of prescriptivism is the notion that one variety of languages has an inherently higher value than others, and that this ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech community. Although prescriptivismis still with :us, descriptivism wins more and more understanding. It proposes that the task of the grammarian is to describe, not prescribe——to record the facts of. linguistic diversity, and not to attempt the impossible tasks of being language police and trying to. stop language from changing, or imposing on members of a language community the so-called norms of correctness.(2) Weakness of prescriptive grammar (Merits of descriptive grammar). ①The reason why present-day linguists are so insistent about the distinction between the two is simply that traditional grammar was very strongly normativein character, . “you should never use a double-negative”;“you should not split the infinitive” etc. People realize nowadays the facts of usage count more than the authority, stipulated “standards!’. We can appeal neither to logic nor to Latin granunar when it comes to deciding whether something is oris not correct in English. ② Prescriptivism is an individual attitude. The related social attitude that goes to the extreme of prescriptivism is purism, which is something we should guard against. Pure prescriptive grammar will leadto artificial claims that are hard to maintain in light of the facts. While prescriptivists would prefer the use of the past subjunctive after if (If I were you, etc.), it is very difficult to claim that everyone who uses “was” is wrong, especially are the majority in spoken language. While there are still traditionalist grammarians claiming that they are right and half the populationis wrong, most have modified their approach and talk of this form as preferable, or describe it as formal register. ③ The prescriptive attitude seems to ignore the fact that English has evolved over the centuries into what it is today whereas the descriptive attitude seems to be more sensitive to anything that goes on to a certain extent. A language is a living creature. There is no fixed form for any language. No one speaks Shakespearean medieval English today. However, no one says the British today speaks the incorrect English. It will and should change over time.4) What are the four principles for the scientific analysis of languageThe four principles to make a scientific study of language are exhaustiveness, consistency, economy, and objectivity.(1) Exhaustiveness: the linguist should gather all the materials relevant to his investigation and give them an adequate explanation. Language is extremely complex; he cannot attempt to describe all aspects of language at once, but to examine one aspect at a time.(2) Consistency: there should be no contradiction between different parts of the total statement.(3) Economy: other things being equal, a shorter statement or analysis is preferred to a longer or more involved one. The best statements are the shortest possible, which can account most fully for all facts.(4) Objectivity: a linguist should be as objective as possible in his description and analysis’of data, allowing no prejudice to influence his generalizations. He should not omit any linguistic facts because he himself considers there to be “inelegant” or “substandard”. Nor should he conceal facts that do not conform to his generalizations. His aim should be to present his analysis in such a way that every part of it can be tested and verified; not only by himself, but by anyone else who makes a description of different。
Exercises to Linguistics外语系黄永亮Chapter 1 Invitation to Linguistics1.Define the following terms:Langue:Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community.Parole:parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use.Prescriptive: Prescriptive and descriptive represent two different types of linguistic study. if the linguistic study aims to lay down rules for “correct and standard”behaviour in usinglanguage, i.e. to tell people what they should day and what they should not say, it is saidto be prescriptive.Descriptive: Prescriptive and descriptive represent two different types of linguistic study. If a linguistic study aims to describe and analyze the language people actually use, it is saidto be descriptive;competence: Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language.Performance: Chomsky defines performance the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication.Synchronic: The description of a language at some point of time in history is a synchronic study;Diachronic: The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study.Linguistics:Linguistics may be defined as the systematic (or scientific) study of language.language:Language is a form of human communication by means of a system of symbols principally transmitted by vocal sounds.”2.Does the traffic light system have duality, why?No. No discrete units on the first level that can be combined freely in the second level to form meaning.There is only simple one to one relationship between signs and meaning, namely, re-stop, green-go and yellow-get ready to go or stop.munication can take many forms, such as sign, speech, body language and facial expression. Dobody language and facial expression share or lack the distinctive properties of human language?Less arbitrary, lack duality, less creative, limited repertoire, emotional-oriented.4.Why is competence and performance an important distinction in linguistics?According to Chomsky, a language user’s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called his linguistic competence. And performance refers to the actual enables a speaker to produce andunderstand an indefinite numbers of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities.A speaker’s competence is stable but his performance is often influenced by psychological and socialfactors. Thus, Chomsky proposed that linguists should focus on the study of competence, not performance. The distinction of the two terms “competence and performance”represents the orientation of linguistic study. So we can say competence and performance is an important distinction in linguistics.5.In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar?Modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar in the following basic ways:Firstly, priority is given, as mentioned earlier, to spoken language. Secondly, focus is on synchronic study of language, rather than on diachronic study of language. Thirdly, modern linguistics is descriptive rather than prescriptive in nature. Linguists endeavor to state objectively the regularities of a language. They aim at finding out how a language is spoken: they do not attempt to tell people how it should be spoken. Fourthly, modern linguistics is theoretically rather than pedagogically oriented. Modern linguists strive to construct theories of language that can account for language in general. These features distinguished modern linguistics from traditional grammar. The two are complementary. Not contradictory. Knowledge of both is necessary for a language teacher: knowledge of the latter is necessary for a language learner.Chapter 2 Phonetics1. Give the description of the following sound segments in English1)[❆] voiced dental fricative2)[☞] voiceless alveolar fricative3)[☠] velar nasal4)[♎] voiced alveolar stop5)[☐] voiceless bilabial stop6)[ ] voiceless velar stop7)[●] (alveolar) lateral8)[♓] high front lax unrounded vowel9)[◆:] high back tense rounded vowel10)[ ] low back lax rounded vowel2. How is the description of consonants different from that of vowels?Consonants are described according to manner and place of articulation while vowels are described with four criteria: part of the tongue that is raised; extent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the palate; kind of opening made at the lips; position of soft palate.3. Which sound may be described asa voiced bilabial plosive [♌]a voiced labio-dental fricative [❖]a voiceless velar plosive [ ]4. Why might a photographer ask the person she is photographing to say cheese?The vowel of the word cheese [♓:] is produced with the lips spread, this resembling a smile.5.Account for the difference in articulation in each of the following pairs of words:coast ghost; ghost boastboast most; ghost mist;The words coast and ghost are distinguished by the fact that the initial segment is voiceless in the case of the former and voiced in the case of the latter.The word ghost and boast are distinguished by the place of articulation of the initial segment, [♑] being velar while [♌] is bilabial.Boast and most are distinguished by the manner of articulation of the initial segment, [❍] being nasal.Most and mist are distinguished by the fact that the former has a rounded back vowel shile the latter has a spread front vowel.Chapter 3 Phonology1.Define the following termsPhonology: Phonology is concerned with the sound system of languages. It is concerned with which sounds a language uses and how the contribution of sounds to the task of communication.Phone: A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phonesPhoneme: Phoneme is the abstract element of sound, identified as being distinctive in a particular language.Allophone: Allophone refers any of the different forms of a phoneme is an allophone of it in English.Compare the words peak and speak, for instance. The /☐/ in peak is aspirated; phonetically transcribed as [☐♒] while the /☐/ in speak is unaspirated, phonetically [☐=]. [☐,☐♒] are two different phones and are variants of the phoneme /☐/. Such variants of a phoneme are called Allophone of the same phoneme.Suprasegmental features:. The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segment are called Suprasegmental features. Suprasegmental features include: stress, tone and intonation.2.Transcribe the realization of the past tense morpheme for each of the following words:Waited waved wiped waded. account for the differences.[id] in “waited”and “waded”follows another alveolar plosive. [d] in “waved”follows voiced consonants.[t] in “wiped” follows voiceless consonants, there being voicing assimilation.3. which of the following would be phonologically acceptable as English words?Thlite grawl dlesher shlink tritch sruck stwondle“grawl” and “tritch”4.Why can we not use the sequence [☠kl] in twinkle as an example of a consonant cluster?The sequence [☠kl] bridges two syllables.5.For each of the following pairs compare the position of the stress. Comment.Economy/economic wonder/wonderfulBeauty/beautiful acid/acidicIn adjectives ending in –ic the stress moves to the following syllable, in adjectives ending in –ful it does not.6.Explain why somebody might choose to stress the following utterances as indicated by the boldtype:a) John want ed to do this today. b) John wanted to do this today. c) John wanted to do thisto day.The first utterance implies that John was unable to do what he wanted.The second implies that he was only able to do something else.The third implies that he was only able to do it some other day.Chapter 4 Morphology1.Define the following terms:Morpheme: the smallest unit of language in terms of relationship between expression and content, a unit that can not be divided into further small units without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical.Compound:Polymorphemic words which consist wholly of free morphemes, such as classroom, blackboard, snowwhite, etc.Allomorph: any of the different form of a morpheme. For example, in English the plural morpheme -‘s but it is pronounced differently in different environments as /s/ in cats,as /z/ in dogs and as /iz/ in classes. So /s/, /z/, and /iz/ are all allomorphs of the plural morpheme.Bound morpheme: an element of meaning which is structurally dependent on the word it is added to,e.g. the plural morpheme in “dogs”.Free morpheme: an element of meaning which takes the form of an independent word.plete the words with suitable negative prefixesa. ir removable g. in humanb. in formal h. ir relevantc. im practicable i. un evitabled. in sensible j. im mobilee. in tangible k. il legalf. il logical l. in discreet3. “Morpheme” is defined as the smallest unit in terms of relationship betweenexpression and content. Then is morpheme a grammatical concept or asemantic one? What is its relation to phoneme?Since morpheme is defined as the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expression and content, it at the same time covers the grammatical and semantic aspect of linguistic unit. A morpheme may overlap with a phoneme, such as I, but usually not, as in pig, in which the morpheme is the whole word, i.e. and independent, free morpheme, but the phonemes are /p/, /i/ and /g/.4. Identify in the following sentence four bound morphemes. State the function ofeach and say whether each is derivational or inflectional.The teacher’s brother considered the project impossible.The –er and the –‘s of teacher’s are bound morphemes, the former being derivational, as it produces a lexeme that denotes the person who does an action, the latter being an inflectional morpheme, as it indicates possession.The –ed of considered is inflectional, indicating that the action took place in the past. The im- of impossible is derivational, producing a new lexeme that denotes the opposite of possible.Chapter 5 Syntax1.Define the following terms:Category: parts of speech and functions, such as the classification of words in terms of parts of speech, the identification of functions of words in term of subject, predicate, etc.Concord:also known as agreement, is the requirement that the forms of two or more words in a syntactic relationship should agree with each other in terms of some categories Syntagmatic relation:. Syntagmatic relation is a relation between one item and others in a sequence, or between elements which are all present.Paradigmatic relation: a relation holding between elements replaceable with each other at a particular place in a structure, or between one element present and the others absent. Deep structure: is defined as the abstract representation of the syntactic properties of a construction, i.e. the underlying level of structural relations between its different constituents Surface structure: is the final stage in the syntactic derivation of a construction, which closely corresponds to the structural organization of a construction people actually produceand receive.Theme: The Theme is the first constituent of the clause.Rheme: All the rest of the clause is simply labeled the Rheme.2.Why is it important to know the relations a sign has with others, such as syntaxgmatic andparadigmatic relations?As the relation between a signifier and signified is arbitrary, the value of a sign can not be determined by itself. To know the identity of a sign, the linguist will have to know the signs it is used together with and those it is substitutable for. The former relation is known as syntagmatic and the latter paradigmatic.3.In what ways is IC analysis better than traditional parsing?In traditional parsing, a sentence is mainly seen as a sequence of individual words, as if it has onlya linear structure. IC analysis, however, emphasizes the hierarchical structure of a sentence,seeing it as consisting of word groups first. In this way the internal of structure of a sentence is shown more clearly, hence the reason of some ambiguities may be revealed.4.What are the problems in IC analysis?There are some technical problems caused by the binary division and discontinuous constituents.But the main problem is that there are structures whose ambiguities cannot be revealed by IC analysis, e.g. the love of God. In terms of both the tree diagram and the label, there is only one structure, but the word God is in two different relations with love, i.e. either as subject or object.5.Clarify the ambiguity in the following sentence by tree diagrams:Old teachers and priests fear blackbirds.SNP VPAdj. NP V NOld fear blackbirds.N Conj. Nteachers and priestsSNP VPNP Conj. N V NAdj. N and priests fear blackbirds.Old teachersChapter 6 Semantics1. defining the following terms:semantics: The subject concerning the study of meaning is called semantics. More specifically, semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistics units, words and sentences inparticular.Denotation: the core sense of a word or a phrase that relates it to phenomena in the real world. Connotation: a term in a contrast with denotation, meaning the properties of the entity a word denotes.Sense: the literal meaning of a word or an expression, independent of situational context. Reference: the use of language to express a proposition, i.e. to talk about things in context. Synonymy: is the technical name for the sameness relation.Antonymy: is the name for oppositeness relation:hyponymy: a relation between two words, in which the meaning of one word (the superordinate) is included in the meaning of another word (the hyponym)semantic component: a distinguishable element of meaning in a word with two values, e.g.[+human].2. Some people maintain that there are no true synonyms. If two words mean really the same,one of them will definitely die out. An example often quoted is the disuse of the word “wireless”, which has been replaced by “radio”. Do you agree? In general what type of meaning we are talking about when we say two words are synonymous with each other?It is true that there are no absolute synonyms. When we say two words are synonymous with each other, we usually mean they have the same conceptual meaning.3. For each of the following pairs of words, state the principal reason why they may not beconsidered to be synonyms:man boy toilet loo determined stubbornpavement sidewalk walk runThe words man and boy are principally distinguished be age, the words walk and run by speed.The principal distinction between the words toilet and loo is one of social register. Determined and stubborn are largely distinguished by attitude—a person reluctant to give up is described as determined by those who sympathize and as stubborn by those who do not. The difference between the words pavement and sidewalk is a matter of geography, the former being used in Britain and the latter in America.Chapter 7 Pragmantics1. defining the following terms:Performative:an utterance by which a speaker does something does something,as apposed to a constative, by which makes a statement which may be true or false.Constative:an utterance by which a speaker expresses a proposition which may be true or false. Locutuonary act: the act of saying something; it’s an act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon, and phonology. Namely, the utterance of a sentence with determinatesense and reference.Illocutuonary act:the act performed in saying something; its force is identical with the speaker’s intention.Perlocutionary act: the act performed by or resulting from saying something, it’s the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance.Cooperative principle:in making conversation, there is, as Grice holds, a general principle which all participants are expected to observe. He calls this guiding principle theCooperative Principle, CP for short.. It runs as follows: "make yourconversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, bythe accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.”Conversational implicature: the extra meaning not contained in the literal utterances, understandable tothe listener only when he shares the speaker’s knowledge or knows why andhow he violates intentionally one of the four maxims of the CooperativePrinciple (CP)2. Consider the following dialogue between a man and his daughter. Try to explain the illocutionary force in each of the utterances.[The daughter walks into the kitchen and takes so e popcorn.]Father: I thought you were practicing your violin.Daughter: I need to get the violin stand.Father: Is it under the popcorn?The illocutionary force of “I thought you were practicing your violin” is a criticism of the daughter for her not practicing the violin. That of the daughter’s answer is a defense for herself—I’m going to do that. And that of the father’s retort is a denial of the daughter’s excuse.3.If you ask somebody “Can you open the door?” he answered “Yes” but does not actually do it, what would be your reaction? Why? Try to see it in the light of speech act theory.I would be angry with him. “Can you open the door” is normally a request of the hearer to do it rather than a question about his ability. The fact that he answers “Yes” but does not actually do it shows that he declines my request.4. A is reading the newspaper. When B asks “What’s on television tonight?” he answers “Nothing.”What does A mean in normal situations? Think of two situations in which this interpretation of “Nothing” will be cancelled.Normally “Nothing” here means “Nothing interesting”. If A adds after “Nothing” “The workers are on strike today” or “There’s going to be a blackout tonight”, then the interpretation of “Nothing interesting’will be cancelled.11。
Chapter oneI.选择题1.The famous quotation from Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet “A rose by anyother name would smell as sweet”” well illustrates_____.A.the arbitrary nature of languageB.the creative nature of languageC.the universality of languageD.the big difference between human language and animal communication2.The fact that different languages have different words for the same object is goodproof that human language is_____.A.ArbitraryB.Non-arbitraryC.LogicalD.Non-productive3.Linguistics is the scientific study of _____.A.A particular languageB.The English languageC.Human languages in generalD.The system of a particular language4.Chomsky uses the term ____ to refer to the actual realization of a language user’sknowledge of the rules of his language in linguistics communication.ngueB.ParolepetenceD.Performance5.The description of a language as it changes through time is a ____ study.parativeB.DiachronicC.Up-to-dateD.DescriptiveII.填空题1.In the course of time, the study of language has come to establish close links withother branches of s__ studies, such as sociology and psychology.nguage exists in time and changes through time. The description of a languageat some point of time is called a s___ study of language.3.As the first step of their scientific investigation of language, linguists have toobserve and collect linguistic f___ before they can do anything else.4.If a linguistic study describes and analyzes the language people actually use, it issaid to be d___.III.判断题1.In the history of any language, the writing system always came into being beforethe spoken form.2.Human capacity for language has a genetic basis, i.e. we are all born with theability to acquire language and the details of a language system are genetically transmitted.3.An important difference between traditional grammarians and modern linguists intheir study of language is that the former tended to over-emphasize the written form of language and encourage people to imitate the “best authors” for language use.4.The writing system of a language is always a later invention used to record speech;thus there are still many languages in today’s world that can only be spoken, but not written.5.Modern linguistics is mainly diachronic.。
Quiz of LinguisticsI. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False.1. Phonetics is different from phonology in that the latter studies the combinations of the sounds to convey meaning in communication. ( T )2. V oicing is a phonological feature that distinguishes meaning in both Chinese and English. ( T)3. A phone is a phonetic unit that distinguishes meaning. ( F )4. English is a tone language while Chinese is not. ( F )5. Of all the speech organs, the lips are the most flexible. ( F)6. A phoneme can be represented by different phones in specific phonetic contexts.( T )7. The four sounds /p/,/b/,/m/ and /w/ have one feature in common, i.e, they are all bilabial. ( F )8. When pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as intonation. ( T )9. In terms of the place of articulation, the following sounds [t][d][s][z][n] share the feature of palatal. ( T)10. In such sound combinations as /bi:p/, /geip/ and /su:p/, the voiceless stop /p/, occurring in the final position, is unaspirated, i.e. pronounced with the strong puff of air withheld to some extent. ( F )II. Multiple Choice Items1. Articulatory phonetics mainly studies___ABD__.A. the physical properties of the sounds produced in speechB. the perception of soundsC. the combination of soundsD. the production of sounds2. The distinction between vowels and consonants lies in __B_____A. the place of articulationB. the obstruction of airstreamC. the position of the tongueD. the shape of the lips3. What is the common factor of the three sounds: p, k, t? AA. voicelessB. spreadC. voicedD. nasal4. What phonetic feature distinguishes the /p/ in “please” and the /p/ in “speak”? BA. voicingB. aspirationC. roundnessD. nasality5. Which of the following is not a distinctive feature in English? CA. voicingB. nasalC. approximationD. aspiration6. The phonological features of the consonant /k/ are ___B_.A. voiced stopB. voiceless stopC. voiced fricativeD. voiceless fricative7. /p/ is different from /k/ in ______B__.A. the manner of articulationB. the shape of the lipsC. the vibration of the vocal cordsD. the place of articulation8. Vibration of the vocal cords results in ___D__.A. aspirationB. nasalityC. ObstructionD. V oicing9. Of the three branches of phonetics, the longest established, and until recently the most highly developed, is ___D__ phonetics.A. auditoryB. acousticC. articulatoryD. none of the above three10. In terms of the place of articulation, the following sounds [t][d][s][z][n] share the feature of ___A_.A. palatalB. alveolarC. bilabialD. dentalIII. Term Explanation1. phoneme A phoneme is a phonological unit; it is a unit that is of distinctive value.2. allophone The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophone.3. phonology Phonology aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.4. phonetic Phonetic is a general nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages.5. Supersegmental Features The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are called super segmental features.IV. Short-answer Questionspare and contrast phonetics and phonology.Both are concerned with the same aspect of language—the speech sound. But while both are related to the study of sounds, they differ in their approach and focus. Phonetic is a generl nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages. Phonology aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.2.What is a phone? How is it different from a phoneme? How are allophones relatedto a phoneme?A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phone.A phoneme is a phonological unit; it is a unit that is of distinctive value. It is an abstract unit. It is not any particular sounds, but rather it is presented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context.The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environment are called the allophones of that phoneme.。
Quiz of LinguisticsI. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False.1. Phonetics is different from phonology in that the latter studies the combinations of the sounds to convey meaning in communication. ( T )2. V oicing is a phonological feature that distinguishes meaning in both Chinese and English. ( T)3. A phone is a phonetic unit that distinguishes meaning. ( F )4. English is a tone language while Chinese is not. ( F )5. Of all the speech organs, the lips are the most flexible. ( F)6. A phoneme can be represented by different phones in specific phonetic contexts.( T )7. The four sounds /p/,/b/,/m/ and /w/ have one feature in common, i.e, they are all bilabial. ( F )8. When pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as intonation. ( T )9. In terms of the place of articulation, the following sounds [t][d][s][z][n] share the feature of palatal. ( T)10. In such sound combinations as /bi:p/, /geip/ and /su:p/, the voiceless stop /p/, occurring in the final position, is unaspirated, i.e. pronounced with the strong puff of air withheld to some extent. ( F )II. Multiple Choice Items1. Articulatory phonetics mainly studies___ABD__.A. the physical properties of the sounds produced in speechB. the perception of soundsC. the combination of soundsD. the production of sounds2. The distinction between vowels and consonants lies in __B_____A. the place of articulationB. the obstruction of airstreamC. the position of the tongueD. the shape of the lips3. What is the common factor of the three sounds: p, k, t? AA. voicelessB. spreadC. voicedD. nasal4. What phonetic feature distinguishes the /p/ in “please” and the /p/ in “speak”? BA. voicingB. aspirationC. roundnessD. nasality5. Which of the following is not a distinctive feature in English? CA. voicingB. nasalC. approximationD. aspiration6. The phonological features of the consonant /k/ are ___B_.A. voiced stopB. voiceless stopC. voiced fricativeD. voiceless fricative7. /p/ is different from /k/ in ______B__.A. the manner of articulationB. the shape of the lipsC. the vibration of the vocal cordsD. the place of articulation8. Vibration of the vocal cords results in ___D__.A. aspirationB. nasalityC. ObstructionD. V oicing9. Of the three branches of phonetics, the longest established, and until recently the most highly developed, is ___D__ phonetics.A. auditoryB. acousticC. articulatoryD. none of the above three10. In terms of the place of articulation, the following sounds [t][d][s][z][n] share the feature of ___A_.A. palatalB. alveolarC. bilabialD. dentalIII. Term Explanation1. phoneme A phoneme is a phonological unit; it is a unit that is of distinctive value.2. allophone The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophone.3. phonology Phonology aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.4. phonetic Phonetic is a general nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages.5. Supersegmental Features The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are called super segmental features.IV. Short-answer Questionspare and contrast phonetics and phonology.Both are concerned with the same aspect of language—the speech sound. But while both are related to the study of sounds, they differ in their approach and focus. Phonetic is a generl nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages. Phonology aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.2.What is a phone? How is it different from a phoneme? How are allophones relatedto a phoneme?A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phone.A phoneme is a phonological unit; it is a unit that is of distinctive value. It is an abstract unit. It is not any particular sounds, but rather it is presented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context.The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environment are called the allophones of that phoneme.。