新编语言学教程课后答案.doc

练习参考答案说 明应许多教师和学生的要求，我们编写了本教科书每章后面的习题答案。但是，有两点必须说明一下。第一，对术语的定义或解释，多是以本书相关章节为依据，所以会有些局限性。好在目前市场上有多种语言学词典，大家可参考其他定义和解释。第二，对开放式问答题的回答，多为提示性的，而且也是基于本书内容做的基本回答，往往显得过于简略。一方面，本书是入门性的教程，对诸多问题的讨论仍欠深入；另一方面，每章后面附的参考书，可以告诉读者到哪里去查找相关信息，加深对某个问题的了解。总之， 这里提供的答案是参考性的，绝不是唯一的，更不是穷尽一切的。充其量，它只能给教师和同学提供一点点方便而已。如发现不当之处，敬请指教。编者11. Define the following terms briefly.(1) linguistics: the scientific or systematic study of language.(2) language: a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.(3) arbitrariness: the absence of similarity between the form of a linguistic signand what it relates to in reality, e.g. the word dog does not look like a dog.(4) duality: the way meaningless elements of language at one level (sounds andletters) combine to form meaningful units (words) at another level.(5) competence: knowledge of the grammar of a language as a formal abstractionand distinct from the behavior of actual language use, i.e. performance.(6) performance: Chomskys term for actual language behavior as distinct fromthe knowledge that underlies it, or competence.(7) stylistics: the study of how literary effects can be related to linguistic features.(8) phatic communion: Language is used to establish an atmosphere or maintainsocial contact between the speaker and the hearer.(9) functionalism: the study of the forms of language in reference to their socialfunction in communication.(10) formalism: the study of the abstract forms of language and their internal relations.(11) synchronic linguistics: the study of language and speech as they are used at agiven moment and not in terms of how they have evolved over time.(12) diachronic linguistics: the study of linguistic change over time in contrast tolooking at language as it is used at a given moment.2. No, language is human-specific. Human language has seven design features, includingarbitrariness, duality, productivity, interchangeability, displacement, specializationand cultural transmission. These features are found utterly lacking indogs or pigs noises and thus set human language apart from animal cry systems.3. Arbitrariness refers to the fact that there is no logical or intrinsic connection be-Chapter 1Introduction2tween a particular sound and the meaning it is associated with. For example, forthe same animal dog, in English we call it /d0g/, in Chinese as “gou”, but “yilu” inJapanese; it barks wow wow in English but wang wang in Chinese. Of course, onomatopoeticwords such as “quack-quack” and “bang” are exceptions, but wordslike these are relatively few compared with the total number of words in a language.4. A human baby does not speak any language at birth. What language the baby isgoing to speak is determined by the culture he is born into. A Chinese baby bornand brought up in London by an English family will speak English, while an Englishchild brought up in Beijing by a Chinese aunt will speak Chinese. That is tosay, language cannot be transmitted through heredity. It is culturally transmitted.5. Firstly, linguistics describes languages and does not lay down rules of correctnesswhile traditional grammar emphasizes correctness. Secondly, linguistics regardsthe spoken language as primary, while traditional grammar emphasizes the priorityof the written language. Thirdly, traditional grammar is based on Latin and ittries to impose the Latin categories and structures on other languages, while linguisticsdescribes each language on its own merits.6. A descriptive approach attempts to tell what is in the language while the prescriptiveapproach tells people what should be in the language. Most modern linguisticsis descriptive, whereas traditional grammars are prescriptive.7. Synchronic linguistics studies language at one particular time while diachroniclinguistics studies language developments through time. Synchronic linguisticsfocuses on the state of language at any point in history while diachronic linguisticsfocuses on the differences in two or more than two states of language overdecades or centuries.8. No, human language has the design feature of specialization. It refers to the factthat man does not have a total physical involvement in the act of communication.For example, a mother can tell a story to her child while slicing up a cake. However,wolves can only respond to a stimulus and is totally involved physically in thecommunication process. Thus, a wolf cannot have a language similar to mans,even though it could express a thousand different emotions. Besides, the aspect ofproductivity also distinguishes human language from wolf s postures.3Chapter 2The Sounds of Language1. Define each of the following terms briefly.(1) articulator: the tongue, lips, and velum, which change the shape of the vocaltract to produce different speech sounds.(2) assimilation: a phonological process whereby a sound becomes phoneticallysimilar (or identical) to a neighboring sound, e.g. a vowel becomes +nasalwhen followed by a +nasal consonant.(3) consonant: a speech sound produced by partial or complete closure of partof the vocal tract, thus obstructing the airflow and creating audible friction.Consonants are described in terms of voicing, place of articulation, andmanner of articulation.(4) elision: the leaving out of a sound or sounds in speech.(5) intonation: the variation in pitch and stress which gives beat and rhythm tothe tune the voice plays in ordinary speech.(6) phoneme: the abstract element of a sound, identified as being distinctive in aparticular language.(7) phonetics: the study of linguistic speech sounds, how they are produced,how they are perceived, and their physical properties.(8) phonology: the study of the abstract systems underlying the sounds of language.(9) stress: the prominence given to certain sounds in speech.(10) voicing: the vibration in the larynx caused by air from the lungs passingthrough the vocal cords when they are partly closed; speech sounds are saidto be either voiced or voiceless.(11) voiceless: When the vocal cords are spread apart, the airstream from thelungs is not obstructed at the space between vocal cords and passes freely.The sounds produced in this way are described as voiceless sounds.(12) vowel: a speech sound produced without significant constriction of the airflowing through the oral cavity.2. Minimal pair test or substitution test.Minimal pair test or substitution test is to see whether substituting one sound for4another results in a different word. If it does, the two sounds represent differentphonemes. For example, as to the English word bear, if we substitute p for b, weget the word pear, the two are different words. Then /b/ and /p/ represent differentphonemes. Other examples are chunk/junk, ban/bin, bet/beat, fine/vine, side/site, etc.3. Take the word big for example, in the word big /big/, /b/ is the onset, /i/ is thenucleus and /g/ is the coda. The difference between open syllables and closed syllablesis whether the words have codas. If there are codas, they are closed syllables,such as pig, hat and at; if not, they are open syllables, such as do, I, tea and key.4. (1) stop, consonant(2) back, rounded, vowel5. (1) voiceless / voiced(2) bilabial / labiodental(3) close / semi-open(4) stop / nasal(5) alveolar / palatal(6) alveolar / dental(1) kit/git, bucker/bugger, bag/back(2) mark/nark, smack/snack, sum/sun(3) best/vest, ober/over, lib/live(4) bore/more, abate/amate, mob/mom(5) pat/fat, apt/aft (AmE), harp (BrE)/half7. (1) The stresses are placed on the second syllable except for “promise”. We mayeasily conclude that the verbs usually are stressed on the second syllable.(2) Syllable representations of the words:collide k2#laid elect i#lekt consider k2n#sid2Chapter 3Morphology1. Define the following terms briefly.(1) morphology: the study of the structure of words.5(2) morpheme: the smallest unit of language that carries meaning or serves agrammatical function.(3) free morpheme: a morpheme that can stand alone as a word.(4) bound morpheme: a morpheme that can not stand alone as a word, e.g.-ment (as in establishment), and -er (as in painter).(5) morph: the smallest meaningful phonetic segments of an utterance on thelevel of parole.(6) allomorph: a phonetic form in which a morpheme is realized, e.g. -s, -es, and-en are all allomorphs (in writing) of the plural morpheme.(7) derivation: the formation of new words by adding affixes to other words ormorphemes in morphology and word formation.(8) clipping: the process by which parts of a word of more than one syllable havebeen cut off, and reduced to a shorter form.(9) acronym: words which are composed of the first letter of a series of wordsand are pronounced as single words. Examples: NATO, radar and yuppy.(10) initialism: Some new words are composed of the first letters of a series ofwords and pronounced by saying each letter in them. Such words are calledinitialism.(11) blending: A single new word can be formed by combining two separateforms. Typically, blending is finished by taking only the beginning of oneword and joining it to the end of another word. For example, brunch isformed by the shortened forms of breakfast and lunch.(12) root: the morpheme that remains when all affixes are stripped from a complexword, e.g. system from un- + system + atic + ally.(13) stem: the base to which one or more affixes are attached to create a morecomplex form that may be another stem or a word. For example, book is thestem of bookish.(14) prefix: Affixes can be joined to the beginning of the root or stem, in whichcase they are called prefixes.(15) suffix: Affixes can be joined to the end of the root or stem, in which case theyare called suffixes.2. (3), (5), (7)3. (1) simple: fly tree suite6(2) bound morpheme rootfly / flyreuse re- usespiteful -ful spitepreplan pre- plandesks -s desktriumphed -ed triumphsuite / suiteoptionality -ality optionuntie un- tiedelight de- lightfastest -est fastprettier -ier prettytree / treejustly -ly justdeform de- formmistreat mis- treatdislike dis- likepayment -ment paydisobey dis- obeypremature pre- mature4. (1) Column I: ablaut (vowel modification)Column II: suppletionColumn III: stress modification(2) The process in the Column I is finished by changing the vowel of each word,while in Column II, the process is finished by changing vowel and consonantof each word.(3) Column I: awake/awoke bear/bore arise/aroseblow/blew bite/bit hide/hidlie/lay know/knew foot/feetgoose/geese tooth/teeth louse/liceColumn II: bad/worse are/were many/moreColumn III: #combine/com#bine #compress/com#press7#conduct/con#duct #insert/in#sert#insult/in#sult #intern/in#tern5. (1) Omitted.(2) Other examples:#rerun (n.) re#run (v.) #contrast (n.) con#trast (v.)#convert (n.) con#vert (v.) #desert (n.) de#sert (v.)#export (n.) ex#port (v.) #increase (n.) in#crease (v.)#conduct (n.) con#duct (v.) #object (n.) ob#ject (v.)#content (n.) con#tent (v.) #protest (n.) pro#test (v.)#insult (n.) in#sult (v.) #produce (n.) pro#duce (v.)When a word belongs to different word classes, the stress of the word will besometimes placed on different syllables. When all the words above are stressed onthe first syllables, they are nouns, but if they have the second syllables stressed, thewords become verbs.6. (1) It means “the inhabitant of”.(2) It means “the person who does”.(3) The morphological rule working here is “n. + -er n.”, and the last phonemeof the noun, which the suffix -er is added to, should be a consonant.(4) The rule in (3) doesnt work in the word discoverer because the last phonemeof discoverer is a vowel /2/.7. (1) inflection (2) derivation (3) inflection (4) inflection (5) derivationChapter 4Syntax1. Define the following terms briefly.(1) syntax: the term used to refer to the structure of sentences and to the studyof sentence structure.(2) word class: a group of words which are similar in function; words which aregrouped into word classes according to how they combine with other words,how they change their forms, etc.(3) prescriptive approach: This view regards grammar as a set of rules for the8“proper” use of a language, thats to say, it tries to lay down rules to tell peoplehow to use a language.(4) descriptive approach: the approach of linguistic studies, with which linguistscollect samples of the language they are interested in and attempt to describethe regular structures of the language as they are used, not according to someview of how they should be used.(5) IC analysis: the approach to divide the sentence up into its immediate constituentsby using binary cutting until obtaining its ultimate constituents.For example, the immediate constituents of “The man bought a car” are theman and bought a car. The immediate constituents of the man are the andman, and so on until no further cuts can be made. The ultimate constituentsof “The man bought a car” at the word level are the, man, bought, a, and car.(6) structural analysis: a type of descriptive approach to study the distribution oflinguistic forms in a language through such methods as the use of “test frames”.(7) immediate constituent: Linguistic units can be divided into small constituents,which can be further analyzed into smaller constituents. This processcontinues until no further divisions are possible. The first division or unitsare known as immediate constituents.(8) ultimate constituent: Linguistic units can be divided into small constituents,which can be further analyzed into smaller constituents. This process continuesuntil no further divisions are possible. The final division or units areknown as ultimate constituents.(9) constituent structural grammar: It refers to a grammar which analyzes sentencesusing only the idea of constituency, which reveals a hierarchy of structurallevels.(10) transformational grammar: a type of grammar which attempts to define anddescribe by a set of rules or principles all the grammatical sentences (withoutungrammatical ones) of a language.(11) ideational function: the use of language as a means of giving structure to ourexperience of the real or imaginary world.(12) interpersonal function: the use of language for maintaining social roles andinteracting with others.(13) textual function: to create written or spoken texts which cohere within themselvesand which fit the particular situation in which they are used.2. Yes. As we know, morphology is the study of the internal structure, forms and9classes of words, while syntax focuses on the structure and ordering of componentswithin a sentence. The major distinction between morphology and syntaxis that the former is concerned with the internal composition of a word, while thelatter is concerned with the combination of words.3. (2) Instead of using the form “suggest somebody to do something”, we usuallyuse “suggest + that-clause” or “suggest doing”, here wed better substitute“advise” for “suggest”(4) The word “request” is a transitive verb which should take an object directly,so the word “for” should be omitted.(6) The word “donate” cannot be followed by double objects as “donate somebodysomething”. Instead we always use “donate something to somebody”.(10) The subject of the verb “write” is usually a human; an “article” cannot writeitself. In this case the passive construction is normally used: The article wasvery well writen.(11) Usually we dont use “be bored of something/somebody”, but “be bored withsomething/somebody” which means losing interest in somebody/something.(13) Here “myself” is a reflexive pronoun, which cant be used as subject, and itshould be replaced by “I”.(14) The word “surprise” is usually used as a transitive verb, so the expression“surprise for you” is ungrammatical, and it can be replaced by “surprisesomebody (with something)” or “I was surprised by your getting married.”(15) The word “sleep” is usually used as an intransitive verb, which cant take anobject. The cases of “sleep” being used as a transitive verb are semanticallylimited, as in “to sleep a good sleep” or “the room can sleep 3 people”.4. Its ungrammatical, because “us” is the objective case which cant serve as the subject,while “she” is the subjective case which cant serve as the object. The sentenceshould be “We visit her on Sundays”. The personal pronouns “you” and “it” havethe same form whether used as the subject or object.5. (1) NP: A Guns “N” Roses concert, an arena, some 2500 fans, a full-fledged riot,A Guns “N” Roses concert at an arena , A Guns “N” Roses concert at an arenanear ST. Louis ,The trouble, venue security, a camera, the front, the stage, thefront of the stage. PP: at an arena, at an arena near ST. Louis, near ST. Louis,in disaster, near the front, of the stage, near the front of the stage. VP: stageda full-fledged riot, asked venue security, confiscate a camera.(2) N: Guns, Roses, concert, arena, ST. Louis, disaster, fans, riot, trouble, Axl10Rose, venue, security, camera, front, stage. Prep: at, near, in, of. V: end, stage,start, ask, confiscate, see.6. (1) You mustnt end a sentence with a preposition.You mustnt split infinitives.7. (i)(ii)8. (1) a. Terry loves his wife and I love his wife, too.b. I love my wife as well as Terry loves his wife.(2) a. Its yesterday that they said she would go.b. She would go yesterday as they said.(3) a. The governor is a street fighter who is dirty.b. The governor is a fighter in