chapter 1 课后答案

chapter1课后答案新编语言学chapter 1课后答案Introduction1.Definethefollowingtermsbriefly.(1)Linguistics:thescientificorsystematicstudyoflanguage.(2)Language:asystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.(3)Arbitrariness:theabsenceofsimilaritybetweentheformofalinguisticsignandwhatitrelatestoinreality,e.g.theworddogdoesnotlooklikeadog.(4)Duality:thewaymeaninglesselementsoflanguageatonelevel(soundsandletters)combinetoformmeaningfulunits(words)atanotherlevel.(5)Competence:knowledgeofthegrammarofalanguageasaformalabstractionanddistinctfromthebehaviorofactuallanguageuse,i.e.performance.(6)Performance:Chomsky’stermforactuallanguagebehaviorasdistinctfromtheknowledgethatunderliesit,orcompetence.(7)Stylistics:thestudyofhowliteraryeffectscanberelatedtolinguisticfeatures.(8)Apheticcommunion:Languageisusedtoestablishanatmosphereormaintainsocialcontactbetweenthespeakerandthehearer.(9)Functionalism:thestudyoftheformsoflanguageinreferencetotheirsocialfunctionincommunication.(10)Formalism:thestudyoftheabstractformsoflanguageandtheirinternalrelations.(11)Synchroniclinguistics:thestudyoflanguageandspeechastheyareusedatagivenmomentandnotintermsofhowtheyhaveevolvedovertime.(12)Diachroniclinguistics:thestudyoflinguisticchangeovertimeincontrasttolookingatlanguageasitisusedatagivenmoment.2.No,languageishuman-specific.Humanlanguagehassevendesignfeatures,includingarbitrariness,duality,productivity,interchangeability,displacement,specializationandculturaltransmission.Thesefeaturesarefoundutterlylackingindogs’orpigs’noisesandthussethumanlanguageapartfromanimalcrysystems.3.Arbitrarinessreferstothefactthatthereisnologicalorintrinsicconnectionbetweenaparticularsoundandthemeaningitisassociatedwith.Forexample,forthesameanimaldog,inEnglishwecallit/dog/,inChineseas“gou”,but“yilu”inJapanese;itbarkswowwowinEnglishbutwangwanginChinese.Ofcourse,onomatopoeticwordssuchas“quack-quack”and“bang”areexceptions,butwordslikethesearerelativelyfewcomparedwiththetotalnumberofwordsinalanguage.4.Ahumanbabydoesnotspeakanylanguageatbirth.Whatlanguagethebabyisgoingtospeakisdeterminedbythecultureheisborninto.AChinesebabybornandbroughtupinLondonbyanEnglishfamilywillspeakEnglish,whileanEnglishchildbroughtupinBeijingbyaChineseauntwillspeakChinese.Thatistosay,languagecannotbetransmittedthroughheredity.Itisculturallytransmitted.5.Firstly,linguisticsdescribeslanguagesanddoesnotlaydownrulesofcorrectnesswhiletraditionalgrammaremphasizescorrectness.Secondly,linguisticsregardsthespokenlanguageasprimary,whiletraditionalgrammaremphasizesthepriorityofthewrittenlanguage.Thirdly,traditionalgrammarisbasedonLatinandittriestoimposetheLatincategoriesandstructuresonotherlanguages,whilelinguisticsdescribeseachlanguageonitsownmerits.6.Adescriptiveapproachattemptstotellwhatisinthelanguagewhiletheprescriptiveapproachtellspeoplewhatshouldbeinthelanguage.Mostmodernlinguisticsisdescriptive,whereastraditionalgrammarsareprescriptive.7.Synchroniclinguisticsstudieslanguageatoneparticulartimewhilediachroniclinguisticsstudieslanguagedevelopmentsthroughtime.Synchroniclinguisticsfocusesonthestateoflanguageatanypointinhistorywhilediachroniclinguisticsfocusesonthedifferencesintwoormorethantwostatesoflanguageoverdecadesorcenturies.8.No,humanlanguagehasthedesignfeatureofspecialization.Itreferstothefactthatmandoesnothaveatotalphysicalinvolvementintheactofcommunication.Forexample,amothercantellastorytoherchildwhileslicingupacake.However,wolvescanonlyrespondtoastimulusandistotallyinvolvedphysicallyinthecommunicationprocess.Thus,awolfcannothavealanguagesimilartomen,eventhoughitcouldexpressathousanddifferentemotions.Besides,theaspectofproductivityalsodistinguisheshumanlanguagefromwolf’spostures.