新編簡明英語語言學(xué)教程第二版-練習(xí)題-參考答案精品資料

1、新編簡明英語語言學(xué)教程第二版練習(xí)題參考答案Chapter 1Introduction1. 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, conductedwithreference to some general theory of language structure. I

2、n order to discover the nature and rulesof 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 heformulates some hypotheses about the language structure. The hypothes

3、es thus formed have tobe checked repeatedly against the observed facts to fully prove their validity. In linguistics, as inany other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation,that is, a theorywithout the support of data can hardly claim validity, and data without being expla

4、ined by sometheory 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

5、to convey meaning incommunication;(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

6、 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 isroughly referred to as

7、“ 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 ha

8、nd, 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?

9、 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 h

10、istorical development.5. For what reasons does modern linguistics give priority to speech rather than to writing?答：Speech and writingare the twomajormedia of linguisticcommunication.Modemlinguistics regards the spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of human language for some obvious r

11、easons. From the point of view of linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing.The writing system of any language is always“ invented” by its users to record speech when theneed arises. Even in today's world there are still many languages that can only be spoken but not written. Then in ever

12、yday 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 langu

13、age reveals 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 from everyday speech, which they regard as authentic.6. How is Saussure's distinction between langue and parole similar t

14、o 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 a

15、 psychological 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, i.e., elements of language are combined according

16、 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 t

17、he 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) Arb

18、itrarinessLanguage 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.Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and

19、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.Language consists of two sets of structures, or two levels. At the lower or the basic level there is a structure of sounds

20、, 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.Language can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, pr

21、esent, 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, i.e., we were all born with theab

22、ility 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 functionsare oftenrecognized of language: the descriptive fun

23、ction,theexpressive function, and the social function.The descriptive function is the function to convey factual information, which can be asserted ordenied, and in some cases even verified.For example: “ Chinais a large country with a longhistory.”The expressive function supplies information about

24、the userand values. For example:“ I will never go-shoppingwindow with her.The social functionserves to establish and maintainsocial relationsexample:“ We are your firm supporters.” s feelings, preferences, prejudices,”betweenpeople. . ForChapter 2Speech Sounds1. What are the two major media of lingu

25、istic 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 voicin

26、g and how is it caused?答：Voicing is a quality of speech sounds and a feature of all vowels and some consonants inEnglish. It is caused by the vibration of the vocal cords.3. Explain with examples how broad transcription and narrow transcription differ?答：Thetranscription with letter-symbolsonly is ca

27、lledbroadtranscription.This is thetranscriptionnormally used in dictionaries andteaching textbooksforgeneralpurposes. Thelatter,i.e. thetranscription with letter-symbolstogetherwiththediacriticsiscallednarrowtranscription.This is the transcriptionneededand used by thephoneticiansin theirstudy ofspee

28、ch sounds. With the help of the diacritics they can faithfully represent as much of the finedetails 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 hel . As a matter of fact, the sound l

29、in all these four soundcombinations differs slightly. The l in li:f, occurring before a vowel, is called a dear l, and nodiacritic is needed to indicate it; the 1 in fi:land bild,occurring at theend of a word orbefore anotherconsonant, is pronounceddifferentlyfromtheclear1as in“ leaf It”is. calledda

30、rk ? andinnarrow transcriptionthediacritic ?is usedtoindicateit. Then inthe soundcombination hel , the sound l is followed by the English dental sound , its pronunciatisomewhat affected by the dental sound that follows it. It is thus called a dental l, and in narrow transcription the diacritic 、 is

31、used to indicate it. It is transcribed as hel .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

32、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 ph?t and spit is transcribed as sp?t.4. How are th

33、e English consonants classified?答：English consonants can be classified in two ways: one is in terms of manner of articulationand the other is in terms of place of articulation. In terms of manner of articulation the Englishconsonants can be classified into the following types: stops, fricatives, aff

34、ricates, liquids, nasalsand glides. In terms of place of articulation,it can be classified into followingtypes: 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, andback accordi

35、ng to whichpart of thetongue is held highest. To further distinguish members of each group, we need to apply anothercriterion, i.e. 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 criteriontha

36、t isoften used in the classification of vowels is the shape of the lips. In English, all the front vowelsand 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 pro

37、nounced 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 stop1) t 2) l 3) ?4) w5) ?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,