1.第一章作业答案

1.第一章作业答案Language1.Fillintheblankswiththeproperwords.（1）Performativefunctionmeanslanguagecanbeusedto“do”things.（2）Emotive/expressivefunctionmeanstheuseoflanguagetorevealsomethingaboutthefeelingsandattitudesofthespeaker.（3）Mostimperativesentencesareassociatedwithconative/directivefunction.（4）Thesentence“What’sitlike?”showsinterrogativefunction.（5）Greetingsshowsphaticfunction.（6）“Wearemostgratefulforthis.”showsexpressivefunction.（7）Propagandashowsevocative/recreationalfunction.（8）Displacementreferstocontextsremovedfromtheimmediateofthespeaker.（9）Halliday’smetafunctionsincludeIdeational,InterpersonalandTextualfunctions.（10）Linguisticsshouldincludeatleastfiveparameters:_phonological,morphological,syntactic,semanticandpragmatic.2.Trueorfalsequestions(Ifitisfalsecorrectit)（1）Languagedistinguishesusfromanimalsbecauseitisfarmoresophisticatedthananyanimalcommunicationsystem.T（2）Thereisnotacertaindegreeofcorrespondencebetweenthesequenceofclausesandtheactualhappenings.FTheorderofclausesarealwaysmatchingtheactualsequenceofhappenings.（3）Thetheoriesdiscussedinthetextbookabouttheoriginsoflanguagearenotatmostaspeculation猜测.F（4）Thedefinition,“Languageisatoolforhumancommunication.”hasnoproblem.(F)Thedefinitionjustfocusesonthefunctionoflanguage,whichdoesnotincludethenatureandfeaturesoflanguage.（5）Thedefinition,“languageisasetofrules”,tellsnothingaboutitsfunctions.TLinguistics1.Explainthefollowingdefinitionoflinguistics:Linguisticsisthescientificstudyoflanguage.Theword“language”precededbythezeroarticleinEnglishimpliesthatlinguisticsstudiesnotanyparticularlanguage,butlanguagesingeneral.Theword‘study’doesnotmean‘learning’,but‘investigation’or‘examination’.Theword‘scientific’referstothewayinwhichlanguageisstudied.Ascientificstudyisonebasedonthesystematicinvestigationofdata,conductedwithreferencetosomegeneraltheoryoflanguagestructure.Theprocessoflinguisticstudycanbesummarizedasfollows:First,certainlinguisticfactsareobserved,whicharefoundtodisplaysomesimilarities,andgeneralizationsaremadeaboutthem;next,basedonthesegeneralizations,hypothesesareformulatedtoaccountforthesefacts;then,thehypothesesaretestedbyfurtherobservations;finallyalinguistictheoryisconstructedaboutwhatlanguageisandhowitworks.2.Whatarethemajorbranchesoflinguistics?Whatdoeseachofthemstudy?Whatmakesmodernlinguisticsdifferentfromtraditionalgrammar?Pointoutthreeaspects.ThemajorbranchesoflinguisticsandtheirstudyonPP.17-20.ItisgenerallybelievedthatthebeginningofmodernlinguisticswasmarkedbythepublicationofF.deSaussure’sCourseinGeneralLinguisticsin1919.Beforethatlanguagehadbeenstudiedforcenturies,called“traditionalgrammar”.Modernlinguisticsdiffersfromtraditionalgrammarinseveralbasicways:Firstly,modernlinguisticsisdescriptivewhiletraditionalgrammarisprescriptive.(PP.23-24)Second,modernlinguisticsregardsthespokenlanguageasprimary,notthewritten.Traditionalgrammartendedtoemphasizetheimportanceofthewrittenword.Beforetheinventionofsoundrecording,itwasdifficultforpeopletodealwithutteranceswhichexistedonlyforseconds.Thirdly,modernlinguisticsdiffersfromtraditionalgrammaralsointhatitdoesnotforcelanguagesintoaLatin-basedframework.Inthepast,itwasassumedthatLatinprovidesauniversalframeworkintoalllanguagesfit.Asaresult,otherlanguageswereforcedtofitintotheLatinpatternsandcategories.Modernlinguisticstrytosetupauniversalgrammarbasedonthefeaturessharedbymostofthelanguagesusedbyhumanbeings.3.Ismodernlinguisticsmainlysynchronicordiachronic?Why?AfterSaussure’sdistinctionbetweensynchronicanddiachronicstudy,asynchronicapproachseemstoenjoypriorityoveradiachronicstudy.Saussurepostulatedthepriorityofsynchrony:noknowledgeofthehistoricaldevelopmentofalanguageisnecessarytoexamineitspresentsystem.Hearrivedatthisradicalviewpointduetohisconvictionthatlinguisticresearchmustconcentrateonthestructureoflanguage.4.Whichenjoyspriorityinmodernlinguistics,speechorwriting?Why?Speechandwritingaretwomajormediaoflinguisticcommunication.Modernlinguisticsregardsspeechastheprimaryoneforsomereasons.Fromthepointofviewoflinguisticevolution,speechispriortowriting.Thewritingsystemistorecordspeech.Eventoday,therearesometribeswithoutwritingsystem.Fromtheviewofchildren’sdevelopment,childrenacquirehismothertonguebeforetheylearntowrite.5.HowisSaussure’sdistinctionbetweenlangueandparolesimilartoChomsky’sdistinctionbetweencompetenceandperformance?Themeaningoflangueandparole(PP.24-25)Themeaningofcompetenceandperformance(PP.25-26)Amongthetwopairsofdistinction,paroleandperformancehavealotincommon;theyarealltheactualizationorrealizationoftheabstractlanguagesystemorknowledge.Butlangueandcompetencearesimilarinoneaspect,thatis,theyallrefertotheconstantwhichunderliestheutterancesthatconstituteparoleorperformance.Theirdifferencesareobvious.Langueisasocialpropertywhilecompetenceisamentalone;langueisasetofconventionswhilecompetenceisaformof‘knowing’.6.Whatcharacteristicsoflanguagedoyouthinkshouldbeincludedinagood,comprehensivedefinitionoflanguage?Agoodandcomprehensivedefinitionoflanguageshouldatleastincludethefollowingpoints:thestructuresoflanguage,thefeaturesoflanguageandthefunctionsoflanguage.(cf.exercisesinChapterone)7.WhatfeaturesofhumanlanguagehavebeenspecifiedbyC.Hocketttoshowthatitisessentiallydifferentfromanyanimalcommunicationsystem?8.Whatisthemaintaskforalinguist?Statetheimportanceoflinguistics.Themaintaskofalinguististodiscoverthenatureoftheunderlyinglanguagesystem,suchashoweachlanguageisconducted,howitisusedbyitsspeakers,andhowitisrelatedtootherlanguages,etc.Accordingtoyourunderstanding,illustratetheimportanceofthesubject.9.Whyis“duality”regardedasanimportantfeatureofhumanlanguage?AccordingtoLyons(1982:20),bydualityismeantthepropertyofhavingtwolevelsofstructures,suchthatunitsoftheprimarylevelarecomposedofelementsofthesecondarylevelandeachofthetwolevelshasitsownprinciplesoforganization.Thefeatureimpliesthatalargenumberofmeaningfulelementsaremadeupofaconvenientlysmallnumberofmeaninglessbutmessage-differentiatingelements,forinstance,asmallnumberofsoundscanbegroupedandregroupedintoalargenumberofunitsofmeaningandtheunitsofmeaningcanbearrangedandrearrangedintoaninfinitenumberofsentences.Itisthefeatureofdualitythatmakeslanguageproductiveorcreative.Dualityalsoimpliesthatlanguageishierarchical(PP.6-7).10.Fillintherightwordaccordingtotheexplanations.（1）Linguisticsisthescientificstudyoflanguage.（2）Sensestudyisthestudyoftheinterlinguisticrelationshipsamongdifferentlinguisticelementsoflanguage.（3）Universalgrammaristhestudyofuniversalfeaturesoflanguage（4）Synchronicstudyisthestudyofaparticularlanguageattheparticularpointoftime.（5）Syntax_isthestudyofthestructureandboththesyntacticandsemanticrulesofalanguage（6）Prescriptivestudy isthestudyoftherulesorprinciplesprescribedforpeopletofollowwhentheyusealanguage.（7）Macrolinguisticsisthestudyoflanguageisrelationtoothersciences（8）Transformational-Generativegrammar isthestudyofthenatureofhumanlanguageandthehumanmindthroughthestudyoftheU.G.11．Trueorfalsequestions（1）SociolinguisticsrelatesthestudyoflanguagetoPsychology.F（2）Inmodernlinguistics,synchronicstudyseemstoenjoypriorityoverdiachronicstudy.T（3）Inthepast,traditionalgrammarianstendedtoover-emphasizetheimportanceofthewrittenword.T（4）Paroleisrelativelystableandsystematicwhilelangueissubjecttopersonalandsituationalconstraints.F（5）Performanceistheactualrealizationofthisknowledgeinlinguisticcommunication.T（6）Saussure’sdistinctiontookasociologicalviewoflanguageandhisnotionoflangueisamatterofsocialconventions.T（7）Earlygrammarswerebasedon“high”（religious,literary）writtenlanguage.T（8）Thestudyoflanguageasawholeisoftencalledappliedlinguistics.F（9）Toexplainwhatlanguageisseemstobeanaïveandsimplequestion.F（10）Languagebearscertainfeaturesdistinguishingitfrommeansofcommunicationotherformsoflifemaypossess,suchasbirdsongsandbeedances.T(11）Competenceandperformancereferrespectivelytoalanguageuser’sunderlyingknowledgeaboutthesystemofrulesandtheactualuseoflanguageinconcretesituations.T(12)Languageisproductiveinthatitmakespossibletheconstructionandinterpretationofnewsignalsbyitsusers.T(13)CompetenceandperformancewereproposedbythefamouslinguistSaussure.F(14)Syntaxisabranchoflinguisticsthatstudieshowwordsarecombinedtoformsentencesandtherulesthatgoverntheformationofsentences.T(15)Ifalinguisticstudyaimstodescribeandanalyzethelanguagepeopleactuallyuse,itissaidtobeprescriptive.F(16)LangueandparolewereproposedbythefamouslinguistSaussure.T(17)Designfeaturesrefertothedefiningpropertiesofhumanlanguagethatdistinguishitfromanyanimalsystemofcommunication.T(18)Onomatopoeiaindicatesanon-arbitraryrelationshipbetweenformandmeaning.T