语言学导论答案.docx

Chapter 1 How do you interpret the following definition of linguistics: linguistics is the scientific study of language? To understand this definition, we should focus on three words in this sentence: scientific, study and language. First of all, scientific here means a study which is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. The linguist studies it to discover the nature and rules of the underlying language system. Secondly, the word study here refers to investigation or examination. Thirdly, Language here is general term. It refers to any human language, Chinese spoken by the Chinese, English by the English people, German by the Germans, or even Esperanto, an artificial language. Language here also means the dialects or variants of a common language such as Cantonese, a variant of Mandarin. Therefore, this whole sentence can be interpreted that linguistics is a language study through the systematic investigation of linguistic data and some general theory of language structure. 2. What are the major branches of linguistics? What does each of them study? Phonetics: the study of sounds used in linguistic communication.It describes individual speech sounds and indicates their physical or phonetic properties. Phonology: it studies the ways in which these sounds form patterns and systems and how they work to convey meaning in the system of language. Morphology: a field of linguistics focused on the study of the forms and formation of words in a language Syntax: A set of rules that govern how words are combined to form phrases and sentences. Pragmatics: the study of the use of language in a social context. In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar? ① Linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive ② Modern linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. ③ Modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar also