语言学课后习题答案

语言学课后习题答案

第

5

章

1.

(1) The naming theory proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. According to this theory,

the linguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are simply labels of

the objects they stand for. So words are just names or labels for things.

(2) The conceptualist view has been held by some philosophers and linguists from ancient

times. This view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i.

e., between language and the real world); rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked

through the mediation of concepts in the mind.

(3)

The

contextualist

view

held

that

meaning

should

be

studied

in

terms

of

situation,

use,

context

––

elements closely linked with language behaviour. The representative of this approach

was J.R. Firth, famous British linguist.

(4)

Behaviorists

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.‖

This theory, somewhat

close to contextualism, is linked with psychological interest.

2. The major types of synonyms are dialectal synonyms, stylistic synonyms, emotive or evaluative

synonyms, collocational synonyms, and semantically different synonyms.

3. (1) Homonymy refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same

form, i.e., different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both.

When two words are identical in sound, they are homophones.

When two words are identical in spelling, they are homographs.

When two words are identical in both sound and spelling, they are complete homonyms

(2) While different words may have the same or similar meaning, the same one word may have

more than one meaning. This is what we call polysemy, and such a word is called a polysemic

word. There are many polysemicwords in English, The fact is the more commonly used a word is,

the more likely it has acquired more than one meaning.

(3)

Hyponymy

refers

to

the

sense

relation

between

a

more

general,

more

inclusive

word

and

a

more specific word. The word which is more general in meaning is called the superordinate, and

the

more

specific

words

are

called

its

hyponyms.

Hyponyms

of

the

same

superordinate

are

co-hyponyms

to

each

other.

Hyponymy

is

a

relation

of

inclusion;

in

terms

of

meaning,

the

superordinate includes all its hyponyms.

4.

They can be gradable antonyms, complementary antonyms and relational opposite

Gradable antonyms: wide /narrow

poor/rich

Complementary antonyms: vacant/occupied

literate/illiterate

Relational opposite: north/south, doctor/patient, father/daughter, above/below

5.

―Tom's wife is pregnant‖ presupposes ―Tom has a wife.‖

―My sister will soon be divorced‖ presupposes ―My sister is a married woman.‖

―He likes seafood‖ is entailed by ―He likes crabs.‖

―They are going to have another baby‖ presupposes ―They have a child.‖

6.

They

both

base

on

the

belief

that

the

meaning

of

a

word

can

be

dissected

into

meaning

components.

7.

7.

Grammaticality refers to the grammatical well-formedness of a sentence. The violation of the

selectional restrictions, i.e., constrains on what lexical items can go with what others, might make

a grammatically meaningless.

8.

8. MAN, ICE-CREAM (SELL)

BABY (SLEEP)

(SNOW)

TREE (GROW)

第

6

章

1. Generally speaking, pragmatics is the study of meaning in the context. It studies meaning in a

dynamic

way

and

as

a

process.

In

order

to

have

a

successful

communication,

the

speaker

and

hearer must take the context into their consideration so as to affect the right meaning and intention.

The

development

and

establishment

pragmatics

in

1960s

and

1970s

resulted

mainly

from

the

expansion

of

the

study

semantics.

However,

it

is

different

from

the

traditional

semantics.

The

major difference between them lies in that pragmatics studies meaning in a dynamic way, while

semantics

studies

meaning

in

a

static

way.

Pragmatics

takes

context

into

consideration

while

semantics does not. Pragmatics takes care of the aspect of meaning that is not accounted for by

semantics.

2. The notion of context is essential to the pragmatic study of language. It is generally considered

as constituted by the knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer. Various continents of shared

knowledge have been identified, e.g. knowledge of the language they use, knowledge of what has

been said before, knowledge about the world in general, knowledge about the specific situation in

which

linguistic

communication

is

taking

place,

and

knowledge

about

each

other.

Context

determines the speaker's use of language and also the heater's interpretation of what is said to him.

3.

A

sentence

is

a

grammatical

concept,

and

the

meaning

of

a

sentence

is

often

studied

as

the

abstract,

intrinsic

property

of

the

sentence

itself

in

terms

of

predication.

But

if

we

think

of

a

sentence as what people actually utter in the course of communication, it becomes an utterance,

and

it

should

be

considered

in

the

situation

in

which

it

is

actually

uttered

(or

used).

So

it

is

impossible

to

tell

if

―The

dog

is

barking‖

is

a

sentence

or

an

utterance.

It

can

be

either.

It

all

depends on how we look at it and how we are going to analyze it. If we take it as a grammatical

unit and consider it as a self-contained unit in isolation from context, then we are treating it as a

sentence. If we take it as something a speaker utters in a certain situation with a certain purpose,

then we are treating it as an utterance.

5.

According to Austin's

new model, a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously

when speaking: locutionary act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary act. A locutionary act is the

act

of

uttering

words,

phrases,

clauses.

It

is

the

act

of

conveying

literal

meaning

by

means

of

syntax, lexicon and phonology. An illocutionary act is the act of ex

pressing the speaker’s intention;

it

is

the

act

performed

in

saying

something.

A

perlocutionary

act

is

the

act

performed

by

or

resulting

from

saying

something;

it

is

the

consequence

of,

or

the

change

brought

about

by

the

utterance; it is the act performed by saying something.

6.

6.

(1) representatives: stating or describing, saying what the speaker believes to be true

(2) directives: trying to get the hearer to do something

(3) commissives: committing the speaker himself to some future course of action

(4) expressives: expressing feelings or attitude towards an existing

(5) declarations: bringing about immediate changes by saying something

The illocutionary point of the representatives is to commit the speaker to something's being

the case, to the truth of what has been said, in other words, when performing an illocutionary act

of

representative,

the

speaker

is

making

a

statement

or

giving

a

description

which

he

himself

believes to be true. Stating, believing, sweating, hypothesizing are among the most typical of the

representatives.

Directives

ate

attempts

by

the

speaker

to

get

the

hearer

to

do

some-

thing.

Inviting,

suggesting,

requesting,

advising,

wanting,

threatening

and

ordering

are

all

specific

instances

of

this class.

Commissives are those illocutionary acts whose point is to commit the speaker to some

future

course

of

action,

i.e.

when

speaking

the

speaker

puts

himself

under

a

certain

obligation.

Promising, undertaking, vowing are the most typical ones.

The

illocutionary

point

of

expressives

is

to

express

the psychological

state

specified

in

the utterance. The speaker is expressing his feelings or attitudes towards an existing state of affairs,

e.g. apologizing, thanking, congratulating.

The last class ―declarations‖ h

as the characteristic that the successful performance of an

act of this type brings about the correspondence between what is said and reality.

7.

Cooperative

Principle,

abbreviated

as

CP.

It

goes

as

follows:

Make

your

conversational

contribution such as required at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction

of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.

To be more specific, there are four maxims under this general principle:

(1) The maxim of quantity

(2) The maxim of quality

(3) The maxim of relation

(4) The maxim of manner

第

7

章

1.

a. size (< old French)

b. skill (< old Norse)

c. royal (< old French < Latin)

(

(

Church

Slavonic)

f. potato (< Spanish < Taino)

g. astronaut (< French)

h. emerald (< Middle English & old French)

i. pagoda (< Persian < Sanskrit)

j. khaki (< Hindi

k. bulldoze (< bull(Botany Bay Slang) < old English)

l. hoodlum (< German)

3. In modern English, these lines are more likely written as:

King: Where is Pelonius?

Hamlet: In heaven, send to see there. If your messenger cannot find him there, yourself seek

him at the other place. But indeed, if you cannot find him within this month, you shall notice him

as you go up the stairs into the lobby.

4. The statement means that when necessary, people will make use of available uses even if there

is no writers' efforts.

5. Keep the door closed.

第

8

章

1. There are many indications of the inter-relationship between language and society. One of them

is that while language is principally used to communicate meaning, it is also used to establish and

maintain

social

relationships.

This

social

function

of

language

is

embodied

in

the

use

of

such

utterances as ―Good morning!‖, ―Hi!‖, ―How's your family?‖, ―Nice day today, isn't it?‖

Another indication is that users of the same language in a sense all speak differently. The

kind of language each of them chooses to use is in part determined by his social background. And

language,

in

its

turn,

reveals

information

about

its

speaker.

When

we

speak,

we

cannot

avoid

giving clues to our listeners about ourselves.

Then

to

some

extent,

language,

especially

the

structure

of

its

lexicon,

reflects

both

the

physical and the social environments of a society.

For example while there is only one word in

English for ―snow‖, there are several in Eskimo. This is a reflection of the need for the Eskimos to

make distinctions between various kinds of snow in their snowy living environment.

As a social phenomenon language is closely related to the structure of the society in which

it is used, and the evaluation of a linguistic form is entirely social.

2.

To

a

linguist,

all

language

forms

and

accents

are

equally

good

as

far

as

they

can

fulfill

the

communicative

functions

they

are

expected

to

fulfill.

Therefore,

judgments

concerning

the

correctness and purity of linguistic varieties are social rather than linguistic. A case in point is the

use

of

thepostvocalic

[r].

While

in

English

accents

without

postvocalic

[r]

are

considered

to

be

more

correct

than

accents

with

it,

in

New

York

city,

accents

with

postvocalic

[r]

enjoys

more

prestige and are considered more correct than without it.

3.

3.

The main social dialects discussed in this chapter are regional dialect, sociolect, gender and age.

Idiolect is a personal dialect, of an individual speaker that combines elements regarding regional,

social, gender, and age variations. These factors jointly determine the way he/she talks. While the

language

system

provides

all

its

users

with

the

same

set

of

potentials,

the

realization

of

these

potentials is individualized by a number of social factors, resulting in idiolects.

4.

4. First of all, the standard dialect is based on a selected variety of the language, usually it is the

local speech of an area which is considered the nation's political and commercial center.

Second, the standard dialect is not dialect a child acquires naturally like his regional dialect. It is

a superimposed variety; it is a variety imposed from above over the range of regional dialects.

Then the standard dialect has some special functions. Also designated as the official or national

language

of

a

country,

the

standard

dialect

is

used

for

such

official

purposes

as

government

documents, education, news reporting; it is the language used on any formal occasions.