《新编简明英语语言学教程》第二版 练习题 参考答案
Chapter 1  Introduction
1. How do you interpret the following definition of linguistics: Linguistics is the scientific study of language.
答：  Linguistics is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. In order to discover the nature and rules of the underlying language system, the linguists has to collect and observe language facts first, which are found to display some similarities, and generalizations are made about them; then he formulates some hypotheses about the language structure. The hypotheses thus formed have to be checked repeatedly against the observed facts to fully prove their validity. In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation, that is, a theory without the support of data can hardly claim validity, and data without being explained by some theory remain a muddled mass of things.
2. What are the major branches of linguistics? What does each of them study?
答： The major branches of linguistics are:
   (1) phonetics: it studies the sounds used in linguistic communication;
   (2) phonology: it studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication;
   (3) morphology: it studies the way in which linguistic symbols representing sounds are arranged and combined to form words;
   (4) syntax: it studies the rules which govern how words are combined to form grammatically permissible sentences in languages;
   (5) semantics: it studies meaning conveyed by language;
   (6) pragmatics: it studies the meaning in the context of language use.
3. In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar?
答：  The general approach thus traditionally formed to the study of language over the years is roughly referred to as “traditional grammar.” Modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar in several basic ways.
Firstly, linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive.
Second, modem linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tended to emphasize, maybe over-emphasize, the importance of the written word, partly because of its permanence.
Then, modem linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework.
4. Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic? Why?
答：  In modem linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic one. Because people believed that unless the various states of a language in different historical periods are successfully studied, it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development.
5. For what reasons does modern linguistics give priority to speech rather than to writing?
答：  Speech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication. Modem linguistics regards the spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of human language for some obvious reasons. From the point of view of linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any language is always “invented” by its users to record speech when the need arises. Even in today's world there are still many languages that can only be spoken but not written. Then in everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed. And also, speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue, and writing is learned and taught later when he goes to school. For modern linguists, spoken language reveals many true features of human speech while written language is only the “revised” record of speech. Thus their data for investigation and analysis are mostly drawn from everyday speech, which they regard as authentic.
6. How is Saussure's distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky's distinction between competence and performance?
答：  Saussure's distinction and Chomsky's are very similar, they differ at least in that Saussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.
7. What characteristics of language do you think should be included in a good, comprehensive definition of language?
答： First of all, language is a system, i.e., elements of language are combined according to rules.
Second, language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between a linguistic symbol and what the symbol stands for.