新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版第1-3章练习题参考答案Chapter1IntroductionP131.Howdoyouinterpretthefollowingdefinitionoflinguistics:Linguisticsisthescientificstudyoflanguage答：Linguisticsisbasedonthesystematicinvestigationoflinguisticdata,conductedwithreferencetosomegeneraltheoryoflanguagestructure.Inordertodiscoverthenatureandrulesoftheunderlyinglanguagesystem,thelinguistshastocollectandobservelanguagefactsfirst,whicharefoundtodisplaysomesimilarities,andgeneralizationsaremadeaboutthem;thenheformulatessomehypothesesaboutthelanguagestructure.Thehypothesesthusformedhavetobecheckedrepeatedlyagainsttheobservedfactstofullyprovetheirvalidity.Inlinguistics,asinanyotherdiscipline,dataandtheorystandinadialecticalcomplementation,thatis,atheorywithoutthesupportofdatacanhardlyclaimvalidity,anddatawithoutbeingexplainedbysometheoryremainamuddledmassofthings.2.WhatarethemajorbranchesoflinguisticsWhatdoeseachofthemstudy答：Themajorbranchesoflinguisticsare:(1)phonetics:itstudiesthesoundsusedinlinguisticcommunication;(2)phonology:itstudieshowsoundsareputtogetherandusedtoconveymeaningincommunication;(3)morphology:itstudiesthewayinwhichlinguisticsymbolsrepresentingsoundsarearrangedandcombinedtoformwords;(4)syntax:itstudiestheruleswhichgovernhowwordsarecombinedtoformgrammaticallypermissiblesentencesinlanguages;(5)semantics:itstudiesmeaningconveyedbylanguage;(6)pragmatics:itstudiesthemeaninginthecontextoflanguageuse.3.Inwhatbasicwaysdoesmodernlinguisticsdifferfromtraditionalgrammar答：Thegeneralapproachthustraditionallyformedtothestudyoflanguageovertheyearsisroughlyreferredtoas“traditionalgrammar.”Modernlinguisticsdiffersfromtraditionalgrammarinseveralbasicways.Firstly,linguisticsisdescriptivewhiletraditionalgrammarisprescriptive.Second,modemlinguisticsregardsthespokenlanguageasprimary,notthewritten.Traditionalgrammarians,ontheotherhand,tendedtoemphasize,maybeover-emphasize,theimportanceofthewrittenword,partlybecauseofitspermanence.Then,modemlinguisticsdiffersfromtraditionalgrammaralsointhatitdoesnotforcelanguagesintoaLatin-basedframework.4.IsmodernlinguisticsmainlysynchronicordiachronicWhy答：Inmodemlinguistics,asynchronicapproachseemstoenjoypriorityoveradiachronicone.Becausepeoplebelievedthatunlessthevariousstatesofalanguageindifferenthistoricalperiodsaresuccessfullystudied,itwouldbedifficulttodescribethechangesthathavetakenplaceinitshistoricaldevelopment.5.Forwhatreasonsdoesmodernlinguisticsgiveprioritytospeechratherthantowriting答：Speechandwritingarethetwomajormediaoflinguisticcommunication.Modemlinguisticsregardsthespokenlanguageasthenaturalortheprimarymediumofhumanlanguageforsomeobviousreasons.Fromthepointofviewoflinguisticevolution,speechispriortowriting.Thewritingsystemofanylanguageisalways“invented”byitsuserstorecordspeechwhentheneedarises.Evenintoday'sworldtherearestillmanylanguagesthatcanonlybespokenbutnotwritten.Thenineverydaycommunication,speechplaysagreaterrolethanwritingintermsoftheamountofinformationconveyed.Andalso,speechisalwaysthewayinwhicheverynativespeakeracquireshismothertongue,andwritingislearnedandtaughtlaterwhenhegoestoschool.Formodernlinguists,spokenlanguagerevealsmanytruefeaturesofhumanspeechwhilewrittenlanguageisonlythe“revised”recordofspeech.Thustheirdataforinvestigationandanalysisaremostlydrawnfromeverydayspeech,whichtheyregardasauthentic.6.HowisSaussure'sd...
