语言学概论-语言学课后习题答案

P73.Discusstherelationofarbitrarinessandrules?

Wordsarearbitraryinform,buttheyarenotrandomintheiruse.Althoughthelink

betweenformandmeaningisarbitrary,thereexistedcertainrelationshipbetweenthem,which

canbecalledrules.Theindividualdoesnothavethepowertochangeasigninanywayonce

ithasbecomeestablishedinthelinguisticcommunity.

P123.PIeaseexplaintheprimacyofhumanlanguageoveranimal

communication.

Humanlanguageisprimaryoveranimalcommunicationinthefollowingaspects:

1)Humanhastheabilitytorefertothingsfarremoteintimeandspace.Incontrast,itmaybe

impossibleforananimaltoconveysuchability.

2)Humanhastheabilitytoproduceandunderstandanindefinitenumberofnovelutterances,

butnoanimalcancommunicatecreativelywithanotheranimal.

3)Learningismuchmoreimportantasafactorinhumanlanguagethaninanimal

communication.

4)Humanlanguagestructureandlanguageusearevastlymorecomplexthananyanimal

communicationsystem.

5)Animalcommunicationsystemsareclosed-ended,whereashumanlanguagesare

open-ended.

P181.Identifythefunctionsofthefollowingsentences.

a)Ilikeyourhouseverymuch.b)Inowdeclarethemeetingclosed.

c)Nicetomeetyoud)ImetMaryinthelibrarythismorning,

a.Physiologicalfunctionb.Performativefunctionc.Phaticfunctiond.Informative

function

P242.PleaselistfiveChineseonomatopoeticwords

轰隆、乒乓、叽叽嘎嘎、叽里咕噜、汪汪

3.Whatarethefunctionsofonomatopoeticwords?

Onomatopoeticwordsareimitationsofthesoundsofnature,andemotionalejaculations

ofpain,fear,surprise,pleasure,anger,etc.Accordingtotheinventiontheory,onomatopoetic

wordsformthebasisoflanguage,oratleastthecoreofthebasicvocabulary.

P283.Whatistherealobjectoflinguistics?

Therealobjectoflinguisticsistofindoutfundamentalrulesthatunderlieallthe

languagesintheworld.Weneedtolookintothecommonfeaturesofalllanguages,therange

ofvariationsamonglanguages,thedifferenceofhumanlanguagesfromanimal

communication,thechangeandevolutionoflanguage,therelationoflanguagetomindand

society,andsoon.

P581.Whatisaphoneme?Andwhatisanallophone?

Phonemeistheminimumphonemicunitthatisnotfurtheranalyzableintosmaller

unitssusceptibleofconcomitantoccurrence.Inotherwords,aphonemeisablockthat

cannotbebrokendownintosmallerparts;itisthesmallestelementrelevanttophonemic

analysis.Allophoneisthephoneticvariantofaphoneme.

P621.Whatdoestheword'distinctive'meaninthetermdistinctivefeatures*?

Distinctivefeaturescanbeusedtodistinguishonephonemefromanotheroronegroup

ofsoundsfromanothergroup.Thus,"distinctive“meansservingtoidentify,distinguishing.

P65X.Whatdoescomplementarydistributionmean?

Whentwoormoresoundsneveroccurinanidenticalphonemiccontextor

environment,theyaresaidtobeincomplementarydistribution.Thatistosay,

complementarydistributionreferstothecaseinwhichoneoftwoormoresounds

occurinacontexttotheexclusionofothersound(s),i.e.inacontextinwhichthe

othersound(s)neveroccur(s).

P692.WhatistheimportanceofstressinEnglish?

StressinEnglishisveryimportant.Englishisastresslanguage.Therhythmofspoken

Englishistoaverylargeextentdeterminedbystrongbeatsfallingonthestressedsyllables

ofwords.Thus,atypicalspokenutteranceofEnglishwillconsistofanumberofrhythmic

units.Eachunitisdominatedbythebeatofthestressedsyllable.Inverse,thewordingis

characteristicallyanddeliberatelyorganizedtoyieldaregularrhythm,andtheunitsofthis

rhythmarecommonlycalled'feet'.Thiskindofrhythmputsacharacteristicstamponthe

natureofspokenEnglish.

P753.Howcanyouidentifythemeaningofaword?

Apartfromtheconceptualmeaning(alsocalled"denotative","logical"or

"cognitive"meaning),awordnormallyhasvariousassociatedmeanings,includingthe

connotativemeaning,socialmeaning,affectivemeaning,reflectedmeaning,and

collocativemeaning.Wecanturntothedictionaryforitsconceptualmeaning.Asfor

itsvariousassociatedmeanings,however,wehavetorelatethewordwithitscontext,

includingthelinguisticcontextaswellasthecontextofsituationandthecontextof

culture.

P821.Dividethefollowingwordsintomorphemesbyplacingabetween

eachmorphemeandthenext.

1)unbearable2)watchful3)personification4)unexceptionally

5)uneducated6)inspiring7)soft-hearted8)horsemanship

1.1)un-+bear+-able2)watch+-ful3)person+-ify(i)+-cation

4)un-+except+tion+-al+-ly5)un-+educate+-(e)d6)inspir(e)+-ing

7)soft+heart+-ed8)horse+man+-ship

3.Howmanyallomorphsdoesthepluralformshave?

Thepluralshas3phonologically-conditionedallomorphs...and5

morphologically-conditionedallomorphs:(1)-(e)s,asin"catsM,''matches";(2)-(r)en:

asin"oxen11,"children";(3)-e-:asin"men","women”；(4)-ee-,asin"feet',,nteethn;

and(5)zero,asin”sheep"，"deer”.

P932.Whatisthedifferencebetweenlexemeandword?

Alexemereferstothesmallestunitinthemeaningsystemofalanguagethatcan

bedistinguishedfromothersmallerunitswhereasawordreferstothesmallestform

ofalanguagethatcanoccurbyitself.Alexememaybeormaynotbeidenticalwitha

word.Forexample,thedefinitearticle"the"isbothalexemeandaword.However,

thelexeme“pulupwith'*hasthreedifferentwords.

P1001.Isimmediateconstituentanalysiseffectivetoexplaindiscontinuous

constituents?

No.Immediateconstituentanalysisissolelyconcernedwiththesurfacestructuresof

language,whichonlyshowsthephysicalmanifestationofthelanguage,forexample,

linearorderofasentence.Oneapproachtoexplainsentenceswithdiscontinuous

constituentsistorepresentthembytwophrasemarkers,whichwillbestructurallyrelated.

Onephrasemarkerisderivedfromanother.Bytransformationalgrammar,the

discontinuousconstituentscanbeaccountedforeffectively.Transformationalrulesare

responsibleforthegenerationofinfinitelymanyphrasemarkersnotgenerateddirectlyby

thephrase-structurerules.

2.Diagramtheconstituentstructureofeachofthefollowing.

(a)averyoldwoodenhousedownthelane

(b)Hisoldfriendarrivedyesterday.

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P115Exercises:

Whatistherelationshipbetweensurfacestructureanddeepstructure?

Surfacestructurecanbederivedfromdeepstructure.Asurfacestructuremaybe

representedbymorethanonephrasemarker,whichinsenseisthesametoasingle

phrasemarker.Thisonesinglephrasemarkerissaidtobethedeepstructure.Inthe

operationfromdeepstructuretosurfacestructure,phrasestructurerulesand

modificationsareneededtoadd,delete,orpermuteconstituents.Therelationsbetween

deepandsurfacestrucluresareloberevealedthroughtransformationalrules.Inthis

process,theorderorhierarchicrelationshipoftheconstituentsistobechanged.The

actualpronunciationisbasedonthesurfacestructure

P1201.Theformationofmanysentencesinvolvestheoperationofsyntactic

movement.Showthedeepstructuresforeachoffollowingsentences.

(a)Thebossofthebuscompanywasseverelycriticizedbythepublic.

(b)Thewomanthrewtherakeawayintheyard.

(c)Willthenewschoolmasterhireher?

(a)Therelevantpartsforthepassivetransformationalruleoftheabovesentencearethe

subjectNP(herethepublic),theobjectNP(heretheboss,whichwillchangepositionswith

thepublic),theV(criticize)andAUX,andthenabe+enauxiliarywillbeinserted.Thedeep

structureshouldbeitscorrespondingactivevariant,whichisThepubliccriticizedthebossof

thebuscompanyseverely.

(b)InthederivationofThewomanthrewtherakeawayintheyard.,theunderlyingstructure,

Thewomanthrewawaytherakeintheyard,isalsothedeepstructure.Itisgeneratedbythe

phrase-structurerules,includingtherulewhichstatesthataV(verb)consistsofaVprt(verbs

thatcancombinewithverbalparticles)andaPrt(verbalparticles).Inthesurfacestructure,a

newphrasemarkerisproducedinwhichtheparticleismovedtotherightoftheNP.

(c)Thequestionruleformulatesthatinordertoformayes-noquestionfromthedeclarative

sentence,movethefirstauxiliaryverbofthemainsentence(inthiscase,will)immediately

beforethefirstNPofthatsentence(here,thenewschoolmaster).So,thedeepstructureofthe

questionshouldbeitsdeclarativevariant,whichisThenewschoolmasterwillhireher.

2.Pleasedisplaythetransformationalrulesinvolvedinthefollowing

sentences.

(a)Whatcanthecomputerprogramdoforus?

Awhinterrogativesentenceisderivedbyamovementrulefromadeepstructuresimilar

tothatofthedeclarativecounterpart.So,thesentencelikeWhatcanthecomputerprogramdo

forus?wouldderivefromadeepstructureintheformofThecomputerprogramcando

“what"forus?.Thewh-elementoccursinitiallyandisfollowedbytenseandanauxiliary.In

thissentence,theobjectisfronted.First,theinterrogativetransformationwhichswitches

roundtheauxiliaryverbcanandthesubjectthecomputerprogram-knownasI*(inflexion)

movement,andinthesecondstep,a'wh'transformation-knownas'wh'movement-that

movesthenounphrasewhat-"thecontent",tothefrontofthesentence,seethefollowing

diagram.

(b)ThewindowwasbrokenbyJack.

Thissentenceistraditionallycalledthe"passive"sentence,anditsvariantis"active',.

Thispairisbroadlyspeakingthesameinmeaning.Theformulationsofthepassiverulesmust

capturethefactthattheactivesentenceandthepassivesentencehavetheirNP's(herethe

windowandJack)inreverseorder,andthatbothabe+enauxiliaryandtheprepositionby

occurinthepassivesentencesandnotintheactiveones.AUXreferstopasttenseinthis

sentence.

(c)Theygavethedooragentlepush.

AcorrespondingsentencetothesentenceisTheygaveagentlepushtothedoor.Bothof

whichhavethesamebasicmeaning,anddifferintheorderofNP'sintheVP.Inthe

correspondingsentencewefindNP1+to+NP2,intheabovegivensentence.Yet,inthe

sentenceTheygavethedooragentlepush.,wehavereversedNP*s.Transformationalrules

capturethesefactsbyviewingthesentence,Theygavethedooragentlepush.asderived

fromthesentence,Theygaveagentlepushtothedoor.,bydeletingtoandreversestheorder

of(i.e.,permutes)thetwoNP's.Aphrasemarkerischangedintoanewone.

P133Exercise2:

2.Whatisthedifferencebetweensentencemeaningandutterancemeaning?

Sentencemeaningreferstotheconventionalcontentorliteralmeaningofa

sentence.Itisthecontext-independentmeaning.Utterancemeaningreferstothe

meaningofanutteranceinthecontext.Inotherwords,itisthemeaning

dependentonthecontext.Insomecases,thesentencemeaningcoincideswiththe

utterancemeaning.Butinmanysituations,theutterancemeaningdiffersfromthe

sentencemeaning.

P140Exercise1&3：

1、Pleaseexplainwhytherearenottruesynonyms.

Truesynonymsarerare.Theso-called"synonyms”arealwaysdifferenteitherin

theirorigin,intheshadeofmeaning,intheaffectiveorstylisticmeaning,orin

collocationanddistribution.

3、Whatcategoryofantonymdoeseachofthefollowingpairofwords

belongto?

a.black,whiteb.buy,sellc.big,smalld.parent,childe.upstairs,

downstairsf.polite,rude

•a)black,white:complementaryantonyms;b)buy,sell:relationalantonyms;

c)big,small:gradableantonyms;d)parent,child:relationalantonyms;

f)polite,rude:complementaryantonyms.

P142Exercise2:

2.Whatisthesemanticrelationbetweenthewordsinthefollowingpairs.

1)hand,foot2)rose,narcissus3)tree,willow4)bottle,cork

1)hand,foot:Thesetwowordsarehyponyms(or^subordinates"),eachdenotinga

partofthehumanbody.

2)rose,narcissus:Thesetwowordsareinthesemanticrelationofhyponymy;

theyareboththesubordinatesofthewordflower.

3)tree,willow:Thesetwowordsareinthesemanticrelationofhyponymy:treeis

thehypernym(or"superordinate**)andwillowisthehyponym(or^subordinate).

Inotherwords,awillowisakindoftree.

4)bottle,cork:Thesetwowordsareinthesemanticrelationofmyronymy."cork"

ispartofabottle.

P146Exercise3:

3.Whatisthedifferencebetweenpolysemyandhomonymy?

Whenalexemehasamultiplicityofmeanings,itispolysemic.Polysemyisthe

resultfromthechangeofmeaningandthereforesemanticrelationsofonekindor

anothercanbeidentifiedbetweenthevariousmeaningsofthelexeme.Incontrast,

althoughhomonymssharethesamephonologicalform,theyhavenocommon

semanticfeaturesandinmanycaseshavedifferentwrittenforms.Theyare

normallyofdifferentetymologicaloriginandaretreatedindictionariesas

differententries.

P150Exercise1&2：

1.Trytoidentifythepresuppositionsthatliebehindeachofthefollowing

utterances:

a)Johnhasstoppedsmoking.b)Sheregrettedhavingtoldhimthesecret,

c)Theboyopenedthedoorhimself.d)Thepaperturnedredwhenit

wasdippedintotheliquid.

a)Johnhasstoppedsmoking.fJohnhadbeensmoking.

b)Sheregrettedhavingtoldhimthesecret.—Shehadtoldhimthesecret,

c)Theboyopenedthedoorhimself.fThedoorhadbeenclosed.

d)Thepaperturnedredwhenitwasdippedintotheliquid.fThepaper

wasdippedintotheliquid

2.Whatdoeseachofthefollowingutterancesentail?

a)Helosthisbikeyesterday.b)TheywenttotheGreatWall.

c)Mary*scomputeristerrific,d)Wemettwoofourfriendsattheparty.

a)Helosthisbikeyesterday.fHisbikeismissingnow.

b)TheywenttotheGreatWall.fTheyarenothereatpresent.

c)Mary'scomputeristerrific,fMary'scomputerisgood.

d)Wemettwoofourfriendsattheparty,fTwoofourfriendswereatthe

party.

P154Exercise2:

2.Whataretheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofcomponentialanalysis?

Componentialanalysishasanumberofadvantagesovertraditional

approachestolexicalmeanings.Firstly,itthrowsnewlightonsemanticrelations

suchassynonymy,antonymy,hyponymyandmetaphor.Secondly,componential

analysiscanbetterexplainthevalidityofsyntagmaticcombinationofwordsand

phrasesthanthepurelysyntacticapproach.Thirdly,componentialanalysisgivesa

betteraccountfbrtheformationofthemeaningofaphraseorasentence.The

componentialanalysishasthreedisadvantages.Firstly,itisoftendifficultto

determinewhatsemanticfeaturesareessentialtodefineaword,andhowmany

aresufficientforthespecification.Secondly,whenfacedwithtwoequally

plausiblefeatures,itisoftendifficulttodeterminewhichoneweshouldspecify.

Thirdly,componentialanalysisseemstobedifficulttobeapplytofunctionwords,

suchasthe,of,and,andah,fbrtheyseemtohavenosemanticfeatures.

P156Exercise1:

1.Pleaseidentifythetypesofpredicateineachoftheverbsinthefollowing

sentences.

a)Hegavemethebook.b)Itwassnowinghard.

c)Thecomputerisworkingproperly.d)Someoneinventedthestory.

a)Thissentencehasathree-placepredicategave,whichgovernsthree

arguments,thesubjectHe,theindirectobjectmeandthedirectobject(the)

book.

b)Thissentencehasano-placepredicate(was)snowing,whichgovernsno

argument.NotethatthesubjectIthereisanemptyword