英语语言学实用教程课后习题答案参考

《英语语言学实用教程》教学提示Unit1SomePreliminariesaboutLanguage[Checkyourunderstanding]StatewhethereachofthefollowingstatementsisTrueorFalse.(1)Thereisuniversalagreementabouttheoriginoflanguage.F(2)Petdogscanspeakhumanlanguages.F(3)Allhumaninfantscanspeaksomelanguage.FNote:Allnormalhumaninfantscanlearntospeaksomelanguage.(4)Bycreativitywemeanthecreativeuseoflanguageasoftenpracticedbypoets.FNote:Bycreativitywemeanthatwecanalwayscreateandunderstandnewsentencesneverusedbefore.(5)Withdifferentculturestherewillbedifferentlanguages.FNote:Someculturescansharethesamelanguage.(6)Notallusesoflanguagearemeanttoconveynewinformation.TNote:Example:languageusedforphaticcommunionisnotmeanttoconveynewinformation.■In-ClassActivities1.ASK:(1)Whatdoes“language”meanineachofthecontexts?a.anaturallanguage;languageinparticular.b.ahuman-specifictoolforcommunication;languageingeneral.c.individualstyleoflanguageuse.d.ametaphoricalwayofreferringtobees’systemofcommunication.(2)Isthereanyothercontextinwhichtheuseofthewordmeanssomethingelse?Yes.Example:languageforthecomputerlikeC+2.ASK:(1)Whatiftherewerenolanguage?Omit.(2)Whatiftherewereonlyonelanguagetheworldover?Omit.(3)WhatcanwelearnfromthisBiblestory?Languageispowerfulasatoolofhumancommunication.3.ASK:(1)Doyouthinkthetwostatementsareequallyprobable,andifnot,whynot?(a)ismorelikelythan(b),becausethewordasthebasicunitofmeaningthatcanoccurindependentlyinlanguageisfiniteinnumber,whereasthesentenceascomposedofwords,thoughalmostinfiniteinnumber,ismadepossiblebyourknowledgeofvocabularyandgrammar.Wecanalwaysproduceandunderstandsentencesthatwenevercomeacrossbefore.Inthatsense,nosentenceisreallynew.(2)Inwhatcontextdowemakethesecondstatement?Whenwefocusourattentiononthemeaningofasentenceorwhenweareconcernedwiththeformofasentenceasfoundinalanguageclass.4.ASK:(1)ArethereonomatopoeicwordsinChinese?Yes.e.g.“哗啦”、“扑通”、“喀嚓”.(2)Doestheexistenceofonomatopoeicwordsoverthrowtheclaimthatlanguageisarbitrary?No.Onomatopoeicwordsaccountforaverylimitedpercentageinthevocabularyofalanguage.5.ASK:(1)Canonereallyinventalanguageofone’sown?No.(2)Ifnot,why?Alanguagecomesintobeingandusebyconventionoragreementamongitsspeakers.6.ASK:(1)Isthereanybasicflawinthisexperiment?Theprocessisnotstrictlycontrolled.Theremayhavebeensomecoincidence.Thesamplesizeistoosmallfortheexperimenttobevalid.(2)Doyouthinkwereallycananswerthequestionaboutthebeginningoflanguage?No,atleastinthepresentconditionwhere/whenwecannotperformexperimentsonthehumanbrain,thekeyorganofspeech.7.ASK:(1)Canyouidentifythemostlikelyorder(fromleasttomostadvanced)ofthesesamples?C→B→A(2)Whatfeaturesineachchild’sutterancescanyouuseasevidencetosupportyourordering?ChildA:goodsyntaxexceptforimproperquestionform.ChildB:visibledevelopmentofsyntax;overgeneralizationChildC:Notmuchsyntax;two-wordutterances;telegraphicsentences(sentencesthatcontainonlycontentwordsbutlackfunctionwords)8.ASK:(1)Itisoftenassumedthatchildrenimitateadultsinthecourseoflanguageacquisition.Canimitationaccountfortheaboveproductiononthepartofthechild?Notwholly.Thereiscounterevidenceagainsttheassumption,liketheovergeneralization“go-ed”for“went”.(2)Whatdistinguishesthechild’sproductionfromthatoftheadult?Overgeneralizationof“-ed”forthepasttenseasshownby“holded”.9.ASK:(1)Howdoadultsreinforcetheprocessofchildren’sacquisitionasexemplifiedhere?Theyuseexplicitcorrection.(2)Dochildrenknowwhattheyaredoingwrongly?Notexactly.(3)Dotheadultssucceedintheirreinforcement?Notalways,atleast.(4)Howshouldwetreatthe“mistakes”thatchildrenmakewhileacquiringtheirmothertongue?Wemayignorethemsometimes,althoughsomeamountofreinforcementmayturnouttobehelpful.10.ASK:(1)Dochildrenlearnthroughstructuredorsimplifiedinput,assuggested?Notalways.Thereisevidenceforbothsides.(2)Canyouoffersomeexamplesillustrating,representingthewayadultstalktoinfants?Omit.Note:Mothereseischaracterizedbyshortersentences,higherpitch,exaggeratedintonation,higherproportionofcontentwordstofunctionwords,simplesyntax,moreinterrogativesandimperatives,morerepetitions.Yetitisnotsyntacticallysimpler.Rather,itmayincludesyntacticallycomplexsentencessuchasquestions:Doyouwantyourjuicenow?Embeddedsentences:Mommythinksyoushouldsleepnow.Imperatives:Patthedoggently!Negativeswithtagquestions:Wedon’twanttohurthim,dowe?Indeed,itisfortunatethatmothereseisnotsyntacticallyrestricted.Ifitwere,childrenmightnothavesufficientinformationtoextracttherulesoftheirlanguage.11.ASK(1)Whatmeasuresdoyousuggestforprotectingdialectsaswellaslanguages?Omit.(2)Doyouthinkthatsomedaypeopleallovertheworldwillspeakonlyonelanguage,orsomedaynodialectwillexist?Omit.12.ASK:Arethereanyuniversalsthatyouthinkalllanguagessharebutarenotmentionedhere?E.g.Alllanguageshaveinternalstructures.Alllanguageshavenumericals.■ExercisesTask3:StudyQuestions1.Whatdoyouthinkisessentialtotheemergenceoflanguage?Theexistenceofsocialactivities;theneedtoexpressdiverseideas,emotions,etc.;theneedtocommunicateideastodistantplaces;etc.2.Canourpetslearnhumanlanguages?Whyorwhynot?No.Theyaregeneticallynotendowedwiththecapacity.3.Whatroledoesbodylanguage