内容预览
第一部分 课后练习
第1章 语言的起源
1. What is the basicidea behind the “yo-heave-ho” theory?
Key: The sounds producedby humans when exerting physical effort (grunts), especially when co-operatingwith other humans, may be the origins of speech sounds (“yo-heave-ho”).
2. What specific type ofclaim is made by the “oral-gesture” theory?
Key: The patterns ofmovement in articulation (of tongue, lips) would be the same as gesturalmovement (of hands); hence waving tongue would develop from waving hand.
3. What specificfeatures of human teeth and lips make them useful in the production of speechsounds?
Key: Human teeth areupright and roughly even in height; human lips are very flexible because oftheir intricate muscle interlacing.
4. What exactly happenedwith the larynx and why was it a disadvantage?
Key: The larynx movedlower, making it easier for the human (unlike a monkey) to choke on pieces offood.
5. What are the twomajor functions of language, and how do they deferrer?
Key: They are “interactional”,which is mainly a social function of language, and “transactional”, which ismainly a function involving the communication of knowledge and information.
第2章 书写文字的形成
1. Where will you findthe writing system with the longest history of continuous use?
Key: China
2. What is the namegiven to the writing system used for Russian?
Key: The Cyrillic alphabet
3. Which modern languageuses a partially syllabic writing system?
Key: Japanese
4. What are thedisadvantages of a logographic writing system?
Key: An extremely largenumber of separate symbols are involved, so there are problems in learning allthe symbols and also in remembering them.
5. What is the processknown as Rebus writing?
Key: Rebus writinginvolves a process whereby the symbol used for an entity comes to be used forthe sound of the spoken word used for that entity.
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