新编语言学教程课后答案.doc

练习参考答案 说 明 应许多教师和学生的要求，我们编写了本教科书每章后面的习题答案。 但是，有两点必须说明一下。第一，对术语的定义或解释，多是以本书相关章 节为依据，所以会有些局限性。好在目前市场上有多种语言学词典，大家可参 考其他定义和解释。第二，对开放式问答题的回答，多为提示性的，而且也是 基于本书内容做的基本回答，往往显得过于简略。一方面，本书是入门性的教 程，对诸多问题的讨论仍欠深入；另一方面，每章后面附的参考书，可以告诉 读者到哪里去查找相关信息，加深对某个问题的了解。总之， 这里提供的答 案是参考性的，绝不是唯一的，更不是穷尽一切的。充其量，它只能给教师和 同学提供一点点方便而已。如发现不当之处，敬请指教。 编者 1 1. Define the following terms briefly. (1) linguistics: the scientific or systematic study of language. (2) language: a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. (3) arbitrariness: the absence of similarity between the form of a linguistic sign and what it relates to in reality, e.g. the word dog does not look like a dog. (4) duality: the way meaningless elements of language at one level (sounds and letters) combine to form meaningful units (words) at another level. (5) competence: knowledge of the grammar of a language as a formal abstraction and distinct from the behavior of actual language use, i.e. performance. (6) performance: Chomsky’s term for actual language behavior as distinct from the knowledge that underlies it, or competence. (7) stylistics: the study of how literary effects can be related to linguistic features. (8) phatic communion: Language is used to establish an atmosphere or maintain social contact between the speaker and the hearer. (9) functionalism: the study of the forms of language in reference to their social function in communication. (10) formalism: the study of the abstract forms of language and their internal relations. (11) synchronic linguistics: the study of language and speech as they are used at a given moment and not in terms of how they have evolved over time. (12) diachronic linguistics: the study of linguistic change over time in contrast to looking at language as it is used at a given moment. 2. No, language is human-specific. Human language has seven design features, including arbitrariness, duality, productivity, interchangeability, displacement, specialization and cultural transmission. The