语言学第二章练习题

Chapter2Phonology1.Whatarethetwomajormediaofcommunication?Ofthetwo,whichoneisprimaryandwhy?Twomajormediaofcommunicationarespeechandwriting,Ofthetwo,speechisprimary.Thereasonsareasfollows.1)Fromthepointofviewoflinguisticevolution,speechispriortowriting.Thewritingsystemofanylanguageisalways“invented’byitsuserstorecordspeechwhentheneedarises.2)Ineverydaycommunication,speechplaysagreaterrolethanwritingintermsoftheamountofinformationconveyed.3)Speechisalwaysthewayinwhicheverynativespeakeracquireshismothertongue,andwritingislearnedandtaughtlaterwhenhegoestoschool.4)Formodernlinguists,spokenlanguagerevealsmoretruefeaturesofhumanspeechwhilewrittenlanguageisonlythe“revised”recordofspeech.2.Whatisvoicingandhowisitcaused?Voicingisaqualityofspeechsounds.Itiscausedbythevibrationofthevocalcords.3.Explainwithexampleshowbroadtranscriptionandnarrowtranscriptiondiffer.Whenweuseasimplesetofsymbolsinourtranscription,itiscalledbroadtranscription.Narrowtranscriptionistheuseofmorespecificsymbolstoshowphoneticdetails.Inbroadtranscription,thesymbol[l]isusedforthesound[l]inwordsleaf[li:f]andfeel[fi:l].The[l]in[li:f],occurringbeforeavowel,iscalledclear[l].The[l]in[fi:l]occurringintheendofawordorbeforeanotherconsonant,iscalleddark[l].Andinnarrowtranscriptionthediacritictilde[~]isusedtoindicateit.4．HowaretheEnglishconsonantsclassified?Englishconsonantscanbeclassifiedintwoways:oneisintermsofmannerofarticulationandtheotherisintermsofplaceofarticulation.Intermsofmannerofarticulation,itcanbeclassifiedintostops,fricatives,affricates,liquids,glidesandnasals.Intermsofplaceofarticulation,itcanbeclassifiedintobilabial,labiodental,dental,alveolar,palatal,velarandglottal.5.WhatcriteriaareusedtoclassifytheEnglishvowels?Accordingtotheplaceofthetongue,vowelscanbedistinguishedasfront,centralandback.Accordingtotheopennessofthemouth,vowelscanbeclassifiedintofourgroups:closevowels,semi-closevowels.,semi-openvowelsandopenvowels.Accordingtotheshapeofthelips,allthefrontvowelsandthecentralvowelcanareunroundedvowelsandallthebackvowelsareroundedvowels.6.Givethephoneticsymbolforeachofthefollowingsounddescriptions:1)voicedpalatalaffricative[dʒ]2)voicelesslabiodentalfricative[f]3)voicedalveolarstop[g]4)frontcloseshort[i]5)backsemi-openlong[ɔ:]6)voicelessbilabialstop[p]Givethephoneticfeaturesofeachofthefollowingsounds1)[d]voicedalveolarstop2)[l]voicedalveolarliquid3)[tʃ]voicelesspalatalaffricate4)[w]voicedbilabialglide5)[u]backcloseshort6)[ae]frontopen7.Howdophoneticsandphonologydifferintheirfocusofstudy?Whodoyouthinkwillbemoreinterestedinthedifferencebetween,say,clear[l]anddark[l],aspirated[p]andunaspirated[p],aphoneticianoraphonologist?why?Phonologyandphoneticsdifferintheirapproachandfocus.Phonologyaimsatdiscoverhowspeechsoundsinalanguageformpatternsandhowthesesoundsareusedtoconveymeaninginlinguisticcommunication.Phoneticsisofageneralnatureanditisinterestedinallthespeechsoundsusedinallhumanlanguages.Thedifferencebetweenclear[l]anddark[l]iswhatthephoneticiansareinterestedin.Forthephonologists,thesetwosoundsarefundamentallythesame,sincetheyhaveoneandthesamefunctionincommunication,indistinguishingbetweenwordsandmeaningsdespitetheirdifferenceinpronunciation.8.Whatisaphone?Howisitdifferentfromaphoneme？Howareallophonesrelatedtoaphoneme?Aphoneisaphoneticunitorsegment.Aphonemeisaphonologicalunit.Itisaunitthatisdistinctive,abstractanditisthesmallestunit.Thedifferentphoneswhichcanrepresentaphonemeindifferentphoneticenvironmentsarecalledtheallophonesofthatphoneme.Forexample,inthewordleaf[li:f]andtheworddeal[di:l],/l/isonephonemeandthe[l]in[li:f]isclear,the[l]in[di:l]isdark.Theyareallallophonesofthephoneme/l/.9.Explainwithexamplesthesequentialrule,theassimilationrule,andthedeletionrule.Sequentialrulesaretherulesthatgovernthecombinationofsoundsinaparticularlanguage.Forexample,ifawordbeginswitha[l]or[i],thenthenextsoundmustbeavowel.Thus,[lbik][ilkb]areimpossibleinEnglish.TheyhaveviolatedtherestrictionsonthesequencingofphonemesTheassimilationruleassimilatesonesoundtoanotherby“copying’afeatureofasequentialphoneme,thusmakingthetwophonessimilar.Forexample,the[i:]soundisnasalizedinwordslikebean,greenandteam.Thisisbecauseinallthesesoundcombinationthe[i:]soundisfollowedbyanasal[n]or[m].Thedeletionruletellsuswhenasoundistobedeletedalthoughitisorthographicallyrepresented.Forexample,inthepronunciationofsuchwordssign,design,thereisno[g]soundalthoughitisrepresentedinspellingbytheletterg10.Whatarethesuprasegmentalfeatures?HowdothemajorsuprasegmentalfeaturesofEnglishfunctioninconveyingmeaning?Thephonemicfeaturesthatoccurabovethelevelofthesegmentsarecalledsuprasegmentalfeatures.Themainsuprasementalfeaturesincludestress,intonationandtone.ThelocationofstressinEnglishdistinguishesmeaning.Tonesarepitchvariations,whicharecausedbythedifferingratesofvibrationofvocalcords.Intonationplaysanimportantroleintheconveyanceofmeaninginalmosteverylanguage,especiallyinalanguagelikeEnglish.Intonationhasfourtones.:thefallingtone,therisingtone,thefall-risetone,therise-falltone.Whenspokenindifferenttones,thesam