新编语言学教程第2版第4章答案

《新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版 第4章 练习题 参考答案 Chapter 4 Syntax 1. What is syntax? Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences. 2. What is phrase structure rule? The grammatical mechanism that regulates the arrangement of elements (i.e. specifiers, heads, and complements) that make up a phrase is called a phrase structure rule. The phrase structural rule for NP, VP, AP, and PP can be written as follows: NP → (Det) N (PP) ... VP → (Qual) V (NP) ... AP → (Deg) A (PP) ... PP → (Deg) P (NP) ... We can formulate a single general phrasal structural rule in which X stands for the head N, V, A or P. The XP rule: XP → (specifier) X (complement)   3. What is category? How to determine a word's category? Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb. To determine a word's category, three criteria are usually employed, namely meaning, inflection and distribution.  若详细回答，则要加上： Word categories often bear some relationship with its meaning. The meanings associated with nouns and verbs can be elaborated in various ways. The property or attribute of the entities denoted by nouns can be elaborated by adjectives. For example, when we say that pretty lady, we are attributing the property ‘pretty’ to the lady designated by the noun. Similarly, the properties and attributes of the actions, sensations and states designated by verbs can typically be denoted by adverbs. For example, in Jenny left quietly the adverb quietly indicates the manner of Jenny's leaving. The second criterion to determine a word's category is inflection. Words of different categories take different inflections.  Such nouns as boy and desk take the plural affix -s. Verbs such as work and help take past tense affix -ed and progressive affix -ing. And adjectives like quiet and clever take comparative affix -er and superlative affix -est. Although inflection is very helpful in determining a word's category, it does not always suffice. Some words do not take inflections. For example, nouns like moisture, fog, do not usually take plural suffix -s and adjectives like frequent, intelligent do not take comparative and superlative affixes -er and -est. The last and more reliable criterion of determining a word's category is its distribution. That is what type of elements can co-occur with a certain word. For example, nouns can typically appear with a determiner like the girl and a card, verbs with an auxiliary such as should stay and will go, and adjectives with a degree word such as very cool and too bright. A word's distributional facts together with information about its meaning and inflectional capabilities help identify its syntactic category. 4. What is coordinate structure and what properties does it have? The structure formed by joining two or more elements of the same type with the help of a conjunction is called coordinate structures. It has (或写Conjunction exhibits) four important properties: 1) There is no limit on the number of coordinated categories that can appear prior to the conjunction. 2) A category at any level (a head or an entire XP) can be coordinated. 3) Coordinated categories must be of the same type. 4) The category type of the coordinate phrase is identical to the category type of the elements being conjoined. 5. What elements does a phrase contain and what role does each element play? A phrase usually contains the following elements: head, specifier and complement. Sometimes it also contains another kind of element termed modifier. The role each element can play: Head: Head is the word around which a phrase is formed. Specifier: Specifier has both special semantic and syntactic roles. Semantically, it helps to make more precise the meaning of the head. Syntactically, it typically marks a phrase boundary. Complement: Complements are themselves phrases and provide information about entities and locations whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head. Modifier: Modifiers specify optionally expressible properties of the heads. 6. What is deep structure and what is surface structure? There are two levels of syntactic structure. The first, formed by the XP rule in accordance with the head's subcategorization properties, is called deep structure (or D-structure). The second, corresponding to the final syntactic form of the sentence which results from appropriate transformations, is called surface structure (or S-structure).