语言学导论第章练习及答案

Semantics

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False.

tal synonyms

can often be

found in different regional dialects such as

British

English and American English but cannot be found within the variety itself

，

for example

，

within British English or American English.

is

concerned

with

the

relationship

between

the

linguistic

element

and

the

non- linguistic world of experience

，

while the reference deals with the inherent meaning of

the linguistic form.

stic

forms

having

the

same

sense

may

have

different

references

in

different

situations.

semantics

，

meaning of language is considered as the intrinsic and inherent relation

to the physical world of experience.

tualism

is

based

on

the

presumption

that

one

can

derive

meaning

from

or

reduce meaning to observable contexts.

orists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as the situation in

which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.

meaning of a sentence is the sum total of the meanings of all its components.

languages have sets of lexical items similar in meaning but ranked differently

according to their degree of formality.

9.“it is hot.” is a no

-place predication because it contains no argument.

grammatical analysis

，

the sentence is taken to be the basic unit

，

but in semantic

analysis of a sentence

，

the basic unit is predication

，

which is the abstraction of the meaning

of a sentence.

II.

Fill

in

each

of

the

following

blanks

with

one

word

which

begins

with

the

letter given.

11.S________ can be defined as the study of meaning.

conceptualist view holds that there is no d______ link between a linguistic form

and what it refers to.

13.R______ means what a linguistic form refers to in the real

，

physical world

；

it deals

with

the

relationship

between

the

linguistic

element

and

the

non-linguistic

world

of

experience.

that are close in meaning are called s________.

two words are identical in sound

，

but different in spelling and meaning

，

they

are called h__________.

16.R_________ opposites are pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relationship

between the two items.

17.C____ analysis is based upon the belief that the meaning of a word can be divided into

meaning components.

r a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called s________

restrictions

，

which are constraints on what lexical items can go with what others.

1

/

7

a________

is

a

logical

participant

in

a

predication

，

largely

identical

with

the

nominal element

（

s

）

in a sentence.

ing to the n____ theory of meaning

，

the words in a language are taken to be

labels of the objects they stand for.

III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can

best complete the statement.

21. The naming theory is advanced by ________.

A. Plato

C. Geoffrey Leech

B. Bloomfield

D. Firth

22.

“We

shall

know

a

word

by

the

company

it

keeps.”

This

statement

re

presents

_______.

A. the conceptualist view

C. the naming theory

B. contexutalism

D. behaviorism

23. Which of the following is not true

？

A. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.

B. Sense is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form.

C. Sense is abstract and de- contextualized.

D. Sense is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are not interested in.

24. “Can I borrow your bike

？

” _______ “You have a bike.”

A. is synonymous with

C. entails

B. is inconsistent with

D. presupposes

25. ___________ is a way in which the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning

components

，

called semantic features.

A. Predication analysis

C. Phonemic analysis

B. Componential analysis

D. Grammatical analysis

26. “alive” and “dead” are ______________.

A. gradable antonyms

C. complementary antonyms

B. relational opposites

D. None of the above

27.

_________

deals

with

the

relationship

between

the

linguistic

element

and

the

non-linguistic world of experience.

A. Reference

C. Semantics

B. Concept

D. Sense

28. ___________ refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have

the same form.

A. Polysemy

C. Homonymy

B. Synonymy

D. Hyponymy

that are close in meaning are called ______________.

A. homonyms

C. hyponyms

B. polysemy

D. synonyms

grammaticality of a sentence is governed by _______.

2

/

7

A. grammatical rules

C. semantic rules

B. selectional restrictions

D. semantic features

IV. Define the following terms.

31.

semantics

32.

sense

34.

synonymy

33.

reference

35.

polysemy

36.

homonymy

39.

complete

homonyms

37.

homophones

38.

Homographs

40.

hyponymy

41.

antonymy

42.

componential

analysis

43.

grammatical

meaning

46.

predicate

44.

predication

45.

Argument

47.

Two-place

predication

V. Answer the following questions.

31.

Why do we say that a meaning of a sentence is not the sum total of the meanings of

all its components

？

is componential analysis

？

Illustrate it with examples.

do

you

distinguish

between

entailment

and

presupposition

in

terms

of

truth

values

？

do

you

account

for

such

sense

relations

between

sentences

as

synonymous

relation

，

inconsistent relation in terms of truth values

？

ing to the way synonyms differ

，

how many groups can we classify synonyms

into

？

Illustrate them with examples.

are the major views concerning the study of meaning

？

How they differ

？

Suggested Answers

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False.

l.F

II.

Fill

in

each

of

the

following

blanks

with

one

word

which

begins

with

the

letter given.

2.F

3.T

4.F

5.T

6.T

7.F

8.T

9.T

10.T

3

/

7