1、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 scientificstudy of language.答： Linguistics is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data, conductedwith reference to some general theory of language structur
2、e. In order to discover the natureand rules of the underlying language system, the linguists has to collect and observelanguage facts first, which are found to display some similarities, and generalizations aremade about them; then he formulates some hypotheses about the language structure. Thehypot
3、heses thus formed have to be checked repeatedly against the observed facts to fullyprove their validity. In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in adialectical complementation, that is, a theory without the support of data can hardly claimvalidity, and data without being e
4、xplained by some theory remain a muddled mass ofthings. 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
5、 used to convey meaning incommunication;(3) morphology: it studies the way in which linguistic symbols representing sounds arearranged and combined to form words;(4) syntax: it studies the rules which govern how words are combined to formgrammatically permissible sentences in languages;(5) semantics
6、: 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 theyears is roughly referred t
7、o as “traditional grammar.” Modern linguistics differs fromtraditional 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 h
8、and, 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 forcelanguages into a Latin-based framework. 4. Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic?
9、 Why?答： In modem linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoy priority over adiachronic one. Because people believed that unless the various states of a language indifferent historical periods are successfully studied, it would be difficult to describe thechanges that have taken place in its hi
10、storical development.5. For what reasons does modern linguistics give priority to speech rather than to writing?答： Speech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication. Modemlinguistics regards the spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of humanlanguage for some obvio
11、us reasons. From the point of view of linguistic evolution, speechis prior to writing. The writing system of any language is always “invented” by its users torecord speech when the need arises. Even in todays world there are still many languagesthat can only be spoken but not written. Then in everyd
12、ay communication, speech plays agreater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed. And also, speechis always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue, and writing islearned and taught later when he goes to school. For modern linguists, spoken languagere
13、veals many true features of human speech while written language is only the “revised”record of speech. Thus their data for investigation and analysis are mostly drawn fromeveryday speech, which they regard as authentic.6. How is Saussures distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomskysdist
14、inction between competence and performance?答： Saussures distinction and Chomskys are very similar, they differ at least in thatSaussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of socialconventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and
15、 tohim 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, i.e., elements of language are combined accordingto rules.Second, language is arbi
16、trary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between alinguistic 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 communicationsystems other forms
17、of life possess.8. What are the main features of human language that have been specified by C. Hockett toshow 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 m
18、eans that there is no logical connection betweenmeanings and sounds. A good example is the fact that different sounds are used to refer tothe same object in different languages.2) ProductivityLanguage is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction andinterpretation of new signa
19、ls by its users. This is why they can produce and understand aninfinitely 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 basiclevel there is a structure of sounds, which are meanin
20、gless by themselves. But the soundsof language can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning, whichare found at the higher level of the system. 4) DisplacementLanguage can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real orimagined matters in the past, present
21、, or future, or in far-away places. In other words,language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of thespeaker. This is what “displacement” means. 5) Cultural transmissionWhile human capacity for language has a genetic basis, i.e., we were all born withthe ability t
22、o acquire language, the details of any language system are not geneticallytransmitted, 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 functio
23、n, theexpressive function, and the social function.The descriptive function is the function to convey factual information, which can beasserted or denied, and in some cases even verified. For example: “China is a large countrywith a long history.”The expressive function supplies information about th
24、e users 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. . Forexample: “We are your firm supporters.”Chapter 2 Speech Sounds1. What are the two major media of l
25、inguistic communication? Of the two, which one isprimary 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 voi
26、cing and how is it caused?答： Voicing is a quality of speech sounds and a feature of all vowels and someconsonants 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 onl
27、y is called broad transcription. This is thetranscription normally used in dictionaries and teaching textbooks for general purposes.The latter, i.e. the transcription with letter-symbols together with the diacritics is callednarrow transcription. This is the transcription needed and used by the phon
28、eticians in theirstudy of speech sounds. With the help of the diacritics they can faithfully represent asmuch 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 leafli:f, feel fi:l, build bild, and health hel. As a
29、 matter of fact, the sound l in all thesefour sound combinations differs slightly. The l in li:f, occurring before a vowel, iscalled 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 differently fromt
30、he clear 1 as in “leaf”. It is called dark ? and in narrow transcription the diacritic ? isused to indicate it. Then in the sound combination hel, the sound l is followed by theEnglish dental sound , its pronunciation is somewhat affected by the dental sound thatfollows it. It is thus called a denta
31、l l, and in narrow transcription the diacritic 、 is usedto indicate it. It is transcribed as hel.Another example is the consonant p. We all know that p is pronounceddifferently in the two words pit and spit. In the word pit, the sound p is pronounced witha strong puff of air, but in spit the puff of
32、 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 smallraised “h” is used to show aspiration, thus pit is transcribed as ph?t
33、and spit is transcribedas sp?t.4. How are the English consonants classified? 答： English consonants can be classified in two ways: one is in terms of manner ofarticulation and the other is in terms of place of articulation. In terms of manner ofarticulation the English consonants can be classified in
34、to the following types: stops,fricatives, affricates, liquids, nasals and glides. In terms of place of articulation, it can beclassified into following types: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, palatal, velar andglottal.5. What criteria are used to classify the English vowels?答： Vowels may be
35、distinguished as front, central, and back according to which part ofthe tongue is held highest. To further distinguish members of each group, we need to applyanother criterion, i.e. the openness of the mouth. Accordingly, we classify the vowels intofour groups: close vowels, semi-close vowels, semi-
36、open vowels, and open vowels. A thirdcriterion that is often used in the classification of vowels is the shape of the lips. InEnglish, all the front vowels and the central vowels are unfounded vowels, i. e., withoutrounding the lips, and all the back vowels, with the exception of a:, are rounded. It
37、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 bilabi
38、al 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) pB. (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
39、 phonetics and phonology differ in their focus of study? Who do you think willbe more interested in the difference between, say, l and ?, ph and p, a phonetician ora phonologist? Why?答： (1) Both phonology and phonetics are concerned with the same aspect of language the speech sounds. But while both
40、are related to the study of sounds, they differ in theirapproach and focus. Phonetics is of a general nature; it is interested in all the speechsounds used in all human languages: how they are produced, how they differ from eachother, what phonetic features they possess, how they can be classified,
41、etc. Phonology, onthe other hand, aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and howthese sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.(2) A phonologist will be more interested in it. Because one of the tasks of thephonologists is to find out rule that governs th
42、e distribution of l and ?, ph and p.8. What is a phone? How is it different from a phoneme? How are allophones related to aphoneme?答： A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produceduring linguistic communication are all phones. A phoneme is not any particular sound, but
43、rather it is represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context. Thedifferent phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments arecalled the allophones of that phoneme. For example, the phoneme /l/ in English can berealized as dark ?, clear l, etc. which
44、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 calledsequential rules.There are many such sequential rules in English. For example, if a word begi
45、ns witha l or a r, then the next sound must be a vowel. That is why lbik lkbi are impossiblecombinations in English. They have violated the restrictions on the sequencing ofphonemes.The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to another by “copying” a feature of asequential phoneme, thus making the
46、two phones similar. Assimilation of neighbouringsounds is, for the most part, caused by articulatory or physiological processes. When wespeak, we tend to increase the ease of articulation. This “sloppy” tendency may becomeregularized as rules of language.We all know that nasalization is not a phonol
47、ogical feature in English, i.e., it does notdistinguish meaning. But this does not mean that vowels in English are never nasalized inactual 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
48、is because inall 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 alveolarnasal n in some sound combinations. The rule is that within a word, the nasal n assumesthe same place of articulation as the consonant
49、 that follows it. We know that in English theprefix in- can be added to ma adjective to make the meaning of the word negative, e.g.discreet indiscreet, correct incorrect. But the n sound in the prefix in- is not alwayspronounced as an alveolar nasal. It is so in the word indiscreet because the consonant thatfollows it, i.e. d, is an alveolar stop, but the n sound in the word incorrect is actuallypronounced as a v
