老二-西格尔
The Nature of Language and Linguistics
Exercise 1.1: The Nature of Signs
1.
Identify
the
following
nonlinguistic
signs
as
iconic,
indexical,
or
symbolic,
or
as
a
combination of any two.
(a)
a wave of the hand (for
goodbye)
(b)
a picture of a
cigarette with a red circle around it and a
diagonal slash through it
(c)
a road map
(d)
a
stop sign
(e)
the footprints
of an animal in the mud
(f)
a jack-o'-lantern
(g)
thunder
(h)
the
human figure depicted on the washroom door
(i)
skull and crossbones (as
a sign for poison)
(j)
the
smell of a skunk
2.
All of the following linguistic signs
(underlined), as well as being arbitrary, are in
part either
iconic or indexical. Say
which they are.
(a)
The balloon rose higher and higher into
the sky.
(b)
Here is your
coat.
(c)
Do you want a
fizzy drink?
(d)
This pan is
big, but I need the biggest pan that you have.
(e)
The building was h-u-u-
ge.
(f)
He sneered and
snickered.
(g)
To the left
is a picture by Michelangelo.
(h)
We were awakened by the cock-a-doodle-
doo of the rooster.
3.
Say whether the order of the clauses in
each of the following is iconic or arbitrary.
(a)
(i)
Close all of the windows before you go.
(ii)
Before you go, close
all of the windows.
(b)
(i)
Before I saw Helene, she had eaten
lunch.
(ii)
Helene had eaten
lunch before I saw her.
The Nature of
Language and Linguistics
Exercise 1.2:
Principles and Parameters
1. Look at
the following statements. Decide whether they
represent
principles
(universal features of languages in general) or
parameters
(the
differences
in
the
syntax
of
specific
languages)?
(a)
(b)
In
statements, the subject precedes the verb.
There
are
question
words
that
request
information
about
who
,
what
,
when
, etc.
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
(k)
There
exists a system for negation.
Questions
are
formed
by
inverting
the
subject
and
verb.
A sentence contains a subject, though
it may not be
overtly expressed.
Adjectives precede the noun that they
modify.
The basic word order of a
sentence is SuVO.
In statements, the
subject must be overtly expressed.
Tense is indicated by adverbials.
Nouns refer to people, places, or
things.
There is a means of expressing
number.
The Nature of Language and
Linguistics
Exercise 1.3: Grammatical
Rules and
Grammaticality
1.
Using your intuitions about grammaticality in
English, decide
whether
the
following
sentences
are
grammatical
(acceptable)
or
ungrammatical
by
the
rules
of
English.
Note
that
there
may
be
some
borderline
cases
or
some
structures
that
while
once
ungrammatical
are gaining
acceptance as the language changes.
(
a)
(
b)
(
c)
(
d)
(
e)
(
f)
(
g)
(
h)
(
That car must have been
driven by a madman.
Sally is easy to
talk to.
Sally is eager to talk to.
Alana sent New York a present.
Alana sent Marna a present.
We gifted them a bottle of wine.
Who
is
the
author
Jane
told
Krista
Harold
had
hoped
to talk to?
It was chained to the door that I saw
the dog.
It
was
in
front
of
the
store
that
I
met
my
friend.
i)
(
j)
(
k)
(
l)
What classes
did you sleep through?
What classes did
they meet between?
The
British
aggressed
against
the
Americans
in
the
Revolutionary War.
2.
(a)
Using
your intuition about possible sound combinations
in
English, decide which of the
following nonsense words would
be
possible
in
English
and
which
would
not.
Hint:
See
if
there
are other words in English which have
the same sound
combinations.
shwem
runba
paynk
melch
mansd
fwist
pwing
aspt
gwit
rast
fiemp
neyz
(b)
Imagine
that
the
above
possible
nonsense
words
are
nouns.
What
would their
plural
sound
like
–
would
it end in
an
cats
), a
dogs
), or an
bushes
). Hint: If
feber
were a noun,
its plural would end in the
(c)
Imagine
that
the
possible
nonsense
words
above
are
verbs.
What would their past tense sound like
–
would it end
in
an
sound
(as
in
paid
),
a
sound
(as
in
pushed
),
or
an
sound
(as
in
rated
).
Hint:
If
fep
were
a
verb,
its past tense would
end in the
3. Which of the
following sentences violate descriptive
(constitutive)
rules
and
which
violate
prescriptive
(regulatory)
rules
of
English?
In
other
words,
would
such
a
sentence
be
judged
to be a non-sentence
of English or simply nonstandard or
uneducated?
(
a)
(
b)
You should
have saw that movie.
I forced that he
leave.
(
c)
(
d)
(
e)
(
f)
(
g)
(
h)
(
i)
(
j)
(
k)
(
l)
(
m)
(
n)
The data is
not conclusive.
She was laying in the
sun all day.
Have finished your
homework when I get home.
Do you feel
badly about the outcome?
I saw the man
coming from the bank get robbed.
We
thought for him to win.
There's too
many people in the elevator.
We cleaned
up it.
Abe has invited you and I to
come to dinner.
Wearing
nothing
but
a
sweater,
the
cold
wind
chilled me.
When the bone stuck in his throat, he
stopped to
breathe.
The wet
campers tried to quickly light the fire.
English Consonants and
V
owels
Exercise 2.1: English
Spelling
The original (Old) English
writing system (of about 1000 A.D.) had a very
good correspondence
between
sound
and
written
symbol.
However,
following
the
Norman
Conquest
of
1066,
French-
speaking
scribes
began
writing
English;
they
introduced
French
spelling
conventions
as
well as hundreds of French words which
did not follow the English sound/symbol
correspondence.
For example, in Old
English, the sound /s/ was always spelled s, but
in French it could also be
spelled c as
in circle (and note the c could also represent the
/k/ sound in native words like catch).
Furthermore, spelling conventions were
quite fluid, and spelling varied according to
region and
even
individual
scribe.
Spelling
became
fixed
after
the
introduction
of
the
printing
press
to
England
in
the
late
fifteenth
century,
when
it
became
necessary
to
have
a
consistent
system
of
spelling
to
use
in
printed
books
that
would
be
disseminated
throughout
the
country
and
hence
must be decipherable
by all. The disadvantage of fixed spelling,
however, is that sound changes
that
occur
subsequent
to
the
fixing
of
the
spelling
are
not
recorded
in
the
orthography.
For
example, the loss of
in
night occurred after the fifteenth century, so
that the now silent consonants are preserved in
the
spelling; the coalescing of
different short vowels before
?
/), as in bird, turn,
serve, or the
split of
?
/ or cut
/
?
/ also occurred after the
fifteenth century, so
that either the
same sounds are spelled differently or different
sounds are spelled the same. More
importantly,
a
major
change
–
called
the
Great
V
owel
Shift
–
affected
all
of
the
long
stressed
vowels in English from the beginning in
the fifteenth century; this change ultimately
altered the
pronunciation of the sounds
represented orthographically by i (as in time), e
(as in meet), o (as in
noon), a (as in
name), and others, so that these letters are no
longer pronounced in English as they
are in the other European languages.
There was also a deliberate
respelling of certain words in the Renaissance to
reflect their Latin and
Greek origins.
This introduced letters into words which are not
pronounced, as with the h in honor
and
hour or the b in debt and doubt. Look the
following words up in a dictionary (which includes
etymologies).
Compare
their
earlier
form
(given
in
the etymological
section)
with
their
modern
spelling. What change(s) have been made
in the spelling? In some cases we now pronounce
the
added
letter
using
a
pronunciation
where
words
are
pronounced
as
they
are
spelled
rather than as they should be according
to their historical development, for example,
pronouncing
the t in often or the h in
host and habit. This of course has the effect of
bringing the orthography
more in line
with the pronunciation. Indicate these cases.
1.
asthma
2.
subtle
3.
herb
4.
nephew
5.
authentic
6.
orthography
7.
arctic
8.
verdict
9.
receipt
10.
bankrupt
English Consonants
and Vowels
Exercise 2.2: English
Consonants
1. Give a complete
description of the consonant sound represented
by the symbol and then supply an
English word containing the
sound.
Example:
/t
?
/
Answer:
voiceless alveolopalatal affricate
Word:
(
cherry
/
(
/
a)
(
b)
(
c)
(
d)
θ
/
/
?
/
/
?
/
[
?
]
e)
(
f)
(
g)
r/
/
j/
/
g/
2. Give the phonetic symbol
representing the consonant sound
described and then supply an English
word containing the sound.
(
a)
(
b)
(
c)
(
d)
(
e)
(
f)
(
g)
3. Of the sounds in questions (1) and
(2)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
Which never occur word
initially in English?
Which sound is
replaced by a labiovelar glide by many speakers?
Which occurs only word or syllable
initially before a stressed vowel?
Which sound replaces /t/ or /d/ between
vowels for most North American
speakers?
Which occurs only
before dental sounds?
Which involves
labialization?
Which sound can also be
analyzed as a complex sound?
Which
sound is produced only following vowels?
Which are sibilants?
Which
never occur word finally in English?
voiced alveolopalatal affricate
aspirated voiceless bilabial stop
alveolar flap
dentalized
alveolar nasal
voiceless labiovelar
fricative
voiceless labiodental
fricative
voiceless
glottal
fricative
or
voiceless
vowel
4. Give the phonetic symbol for the
initial consonant sound(s) in
each of
the following words.
(a)
rhetoric
(f)
(b)
one
(c)
know
(e)
sure
(g)
(h)
(j)
cereal
(k)
jaguar
(l)
unity
theme
(m)
(o)
pheasant
(n)
psalm
(p)
chorus
(q)
chaste
(r)
charade (s)
shave
(t)
gnat
wrong
zero
ghost
science
(d)
Thomas
(i)
5.
Give the phonetic symbol for the medial consonant
sound(s) in
each of the following words.
(a)
toughen
(f)
away
(k)
listen
(p)
plumber
(q)
cupboar
(r)
d
soften
(s)
measure
(t)
author
lather
psyche
future
lawyer
(b)
visage
(g)
errand
(l)
(c)
alloy
(h)
ocean
(m)
(d)
descent
(i)
adjourn
(n)
(e)
azure
(j)
aghast
(o)
6.
Give the phonetic symbol for the final consonant
sound(s) in each
of the following
words.
(a)
froth
(f)
(b)
miss
(g)
(c)
stomach
(h)
(d)
indict
(i)
(e)
ledge
(j)
itch
sign
niche
(k)
(l)
(m)
phase
(p)
lathe
(q)
tongu
(r)
e
comb
(s)
brogu
(t)
e
mall
rough
beige
hopped
solemn
hiccough
(n)
ooze
(o)
7.
For the words
–
anger, finger,
wringer
, as opposed to
hanger, ringer,
singer
–
can you see a rule at work
which determines whether the
-
g
is
pronounced
or not? (Hint: Are the
–
er
's the same in
all of the words?)
8.
(a) In
which of the following words is one of the stops
likely to be
unreleased?
right
leap
accent
carry
scepter
backpack
(b)
In which of the following words is the /t/ or /d/
likely to be
flapped in North American
English?
plotter
filter
muddy
hidden
middle
middle pattern
(c)
In which of the following words is nasal or
lateral release likely
to occur?
madness
maudlin
sideline
ignore
tippler
madly
(d)
In which of the following words is the /l/ likely
to be
(velarized)?
alive
Carl
pal
kill
play
loom
English Consonants and Vowels
Exercise 2.3: English Vowels
1. Give a complete description of the
vowel sound represented by the
symbol
and then supply an English word containing the
sound.
(
a)
(
b)
(
c)
(
d)
(
e)
/u/
/
?
/
/
?
/
/
?
?
/
/a
?
/
2. Give
the
phonetic
symbol
representing
the
vowel
sound
described
and
then supply an English word containing
the sound.
(
a)
(
b)
(
c)
(
d)
(
e)
low front
monophthong
lower mid back monophthong
high
front
(lax)
to
high
back
(tense)
diphthong
(upper)
mid
front
to
high
front
(lax)
diphthong
upper mid central monophthong
3. Of the vowel sounds in
questions (1) and (2)