国际语言学练习四

1、Syntax I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False.1.Syntax is a subfield of linguistics that studies the sentence structure of language， including the combination of morphemes into words. 2. Grammatical sentences are formed following a set of syntactic rules. 3.Sentence

2、s are composed of sequence of words arranged in a simple linear order， with one adding onto another following a simple arithmetic logic.4.Universally found in the grammars of all human languages， syntactic rules that comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledge of a language speaker are

3、known as linguistic competence. 5.The syntactic rules of any language are finite in number， but there is no limit to the number of sentences native speakers of that language are able to produce and comprehend. 6.In a complex sentence， the two clauses hold unequal status， one subordinating the other.

4、 7. Constituents that can be substituted for one another without loss of grammaticality belong to the same syntactic category.8. Minor lexical categories are open because these categories are not fixed and new members are allowed for.9.In English syntactic analysis， four phrasal categories are commo

5、nly recognized and discussed， namely， noun phrase， verb phrase， infinitive phrase， and auxiliary phrase. 10. In English the subject usually precedes the verb and the direct object usually follows the verb.11. What is actually internalized in the mind of a native speaker is a complete list of words a

6、nd phrases rather than grammatical knowledge.12.A noun phrase must contain a noun， but other elements are optional.13.It is believed that phrase structure rules， with the insertion of the lexicon， generate sentences at the level of D-structure. 14.WH-movement is obligatory in English which changes a

7、 sentence from affirmative to interrogative. II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given.15.A s_ sentence consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence. 16.A s_ is a structurally independen

8、t unit that usually comprises a number of words to form a complete statement， question or command. 17.A s_ may be a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence that usually precedes the predicate.18.The part of a sentence which comprises a finite verb or a verb phrase and which says something about the subj

9、ect is grammatically called p_.19.A c_ sentence contains two， or more， clauses， one of which is incorporated into the other.20.In the complex sentence， the incorporated or subordinate clause is normally called an e_ clause.21. Major lexical categories are o_ categories in the sense that new words ar

10、e constantly added.22. A _ Condition on case assignment states that a case assignor and a case recipient should stay adjacent to each other.23. P_ are syntactic options of UG that allow general principles to operate in one way or another and contribute to significant linguistic variations between an

11、d among natural languages.24. The theory of C_ condition explains the fact that noun phrases appear only in subject and object positions. III. There are four given choices for each statement below. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement.25. A sentence is considered _ when it does

12、not conform to the grammatical knowledge in the mind of native speakers. A. rightB. wrongC. grammaticalD. ungrammatical26. A _ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory word that introduces the embedded clause. A. coordinatorB. particleC. prepositionD. subordinator27. Phrase structure rules

13、have _ properties. A. recursiveB. grammaticalC. socialD. functional28. Phrase structure rules allow us to better understand _. A. how words and phrases form sentencesB. what constitutes the grammaticality of strings of wordsC. how people produce and recognize possible sentencesD. All of the above.29

14、. Syntactic movement is dictated by rules traditionally called _. A. transformational rulesB. generative rulesC. phrase structure rulesD. x-bar theory30. The theory of case condition accounts for the fact that _. A. noun phrases appear only in subject and object positionsB. noun phrases can be used

15、to modify another noun phraseC. noun phrase can be used in adverbial positionsD. noun phrase can be moved to any place if necessary31. The sentence structure is _. A. only linearB. Only hierarchicalC. complexD. both linear and hierarchical32 The syntactic rules of any language are _ in number. A. la

16、rgeB. smallC. finiteD. infinite33. The _ rules are the rules that group words and phrases to form grammatical sentences.A. lexicalB. morphologicalC. linguisticD. combinational34._ rules may change the syntactic representation of a sentence. A. GenerativeB. TransformationalC. X-barD. Phrase structure

17、 IV. Define the following terms.Syntax： Syntax is a subfield of linguistics. It studies thesentence structure of language. It consists of a set of abstract rules that allow words to be combined with other words to form grammatical sentences. Sentence： A sentence is a structurally independent un

18、it that usually comprises a number of words to form a complete statement， question or command. Normally， a sentence consists of at least asubject and a predicate which contains a finite verb or a verb phrase. Coordinate sentence： A coordinate sentence contains two clauses joined by a linking word ca

19、lled coordinating conjunction， such as "and"， "but"， "or". Syntactic categories： Apart from sentences and clauses， a syntactic category usually refers to a word （called a lexical category） or a phrase （called a phrasal category） that performs a particular grammatical fu

20、nction. Grammatical relations： The structural and logical functional relations of constituents are called grammatical relations. The grammatical relations of a sentence concern the way each noun phrase in the sentence relates to the verb. In many cases， grammatical relations in fact refer to who doe

21、s what to whom.Linguistic competence： Universally found in the grammars of all human languages， syntactic rules comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledge of a language speaker known as linguistic competence.Transformational rules： Transformational rules are the rules that transform on

22、e sentence type into another type.D-structure： D-structure is the level of syntactic representation that exists before movement takes place. Phrase structure rules， with the insertion of the lexicon， generate sentences at the level of D-structure. V. Answer the following questions. 43. What are

23、 the basic components of a sentence？Normally， a sentence consists of at least a subject and its predicate which contains a finite verb or a verb phrase. 44.What are the major types of sentences？ Illustrate them with examples. Traditionally， there are three major types of sentences. They are simple s

24、entence， coordinate （compound） sentence， and complex sentence.A simple sentence consists of a singleclause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence， for example： John reads extensively. A coordinate sentence contains two clauses joined by a linking word that is c

25、alled coordinating conjunction， such as "and"， "but"， "or". For example： John is reading a linguistic book， and Mary is preparing for her history exam. A complex sentence contains two， or more， clauses， one of which is incorporated into the other. The two clauses in a c

26、omplex sentence do not have equal status， one is subordinate to the other. For example：Before John gave her a lecture， Mary showed no interest in linguistics. 45.Are the elements in a sentence linearly structured？ Why？No. Language is both linearly and hierarchically structured. When a sentence is ut

27、tered or written down， the words of the sentence are produced one after another in a sequence. A closer examination of a sentence shows that a sentence is not composed of sequence of words arranged in a simple linear order with one adding onto another following a simple arithmetic logic. In fact， se

28、ntences are also hierarchically structured. They are organized by grouping together words of the same syntactic category， such as noun phrase （NP） or verb phrase （VP）， as can be seen from the following tree diagram： S NPVP DetNVtNP DetN The boylikes the music. 46. What are the advantages of using tr

29、ee diagrams in the analysis of sentence structures？The tree diagram can not only reveal a linear order， but also a hierarchical structure that groups words into structural constituents. It can， in addition， show the syntactic category of each structural constituent， thus it is believed to most truth

30、fully illustrate the constituent relationship among linguistic elements. 47. What is NP movement？ Illustrate it with examples. NP movement involves the movement of a noun phrase. NP movement occurs when， for example， a sentence changes from the active voice to the passive voice：（A）The man beat the c

31、hild.（B）The child was beaten by the man. B is the result of the movement of the noun phrases "the man" and "the child" from their original positions in （A） to new positions. That is， "the man" is postposed to the right and "the child" is preposed to the left. Not all instances of NP-movement， however， are related to changing a sentence from the active voice to the passive voice. For example：（C） It seems they are quite fit for the job. （D）