1.pdf

Chapter 1

The Nature of Language and Linguistics

Exercise 1.1: The Nature of Signs

1. Identify the following nonlinguistic signs as iconic, indexical, or

symbolic, or as a combination of any two.

(a) a wave of the hand (for goodbye)

(b) a picture of a cigarette with a red circle around it and a diagonal

slash through it

(d) a stop sign

(e) the footprints of an animal in the mud

(f) a jack-o’-lantern

(g) thunder

(h) the human ﬁgure depicted on the washroom door

(i) skull and crossbones (as a sign for poison)

(j) the smell of a skunk

2. All of the following linguistic signs (underlined), as well as being

arbitrary, are in part either iconic or indexical. Say which they are.

(a) The balloon rose higher and higher into the sky.

(b) Here is your coat.

(d) This pan is bi g, but I need the biggest pan that you have.

(e) The building was h-u-u-ge .

(f) He sneered and snickered .

(g) To the left is a picture by Michelangelo.

(i) We were awakened by the cock-a-doodle-doo of the rooster.

3. Say whether the order of the clauses in each of the following is iconic

Exercise 1.1

Laurel J. Brinton The Structure of Modern English

Workbook, Page 1

or arbitrary.

(a) (i) Close all ofthe windows before you go.

(ii) Before you go, close all of the windows.

(b) (i) Before I saw Helene, she had eaten lunch.

(ii) Helene had eaten lunch before I saw her.

4. Say whether the word order in the following is iconic or arbitrary.

(a) (i) I adore strawberries.

(ii) Strawberries I adore.

(b) (i) The bike is near the house.

(ii) The house is near the bike.

Exercise 1.1

Laurel J. Brinton The Structure of Modern English

Workbook, Page 2

Exercise 1.2: Grammatical Rules and Grammaticality

1. Say whether the following sentences are grammatical (acceptable) or

ungrammatical by the rules ofEnglish.

(a) That car must have been driven by a madman.

(b) Sally is easy to talk to.

(d) Alana sent New York a present.

(e) Alana sent Marna a present.

(f) The FBI surveilled the criminal.

(g) Who is the author Jane told Krista Harold had hoped to talk to?

(h) It was chained to the door that I saw the dog.

(i) It was in front of the store that I met my friend.

(j) What classes did you sleep through?

(k) What classes did they meet between?

(l) The British aggressed against the Americans in the

Revolutionary War.

2. (a) Which ofthe following would be possible words ofEnglish? Of

the possible forms, if they were nouns, would they take an “ez”,

“s”, or “z” plural?

shwem

runba

paynk

melch

mansd

fwist

(b) Which ofthe following would be possible words ofEnglish? Of

the possible forms, if they were verbs, would they take an “ed”,

“d”, or “t” past tense?

pwing

aspt

gwit

rast

ﬁemp

neyz

3. Which ofthe following sentences violate prescriptive (regulatory)

rules and which violate descriptive (constitutive) rules ofEnglish? In

other words, would such a sentence be judged to be not a sentence of

English or simply nonstandard or uneducated?

Exercise 1.2

Laurel J. Brinton The Structure of Modern English

Workbook, Page 3

(a) You should have saw that movie.

(b) I forced that he leave.

(d) She was laying in the sun all day.

(e) Have ﬁnished your homework when I get home.

(f) Do you feel badly about the outcome?

(g) I saw the man coming from the bank get robbed.

(h) We thought for him to win.

(i) There’s too many people in the elevator.

(j) We cleaned up it.

(k) Abe has invited you and I to come to dinner.

(l) Wearing nothing but a sweater, the cold wind chilled me.

(m) When the bone stuck in his throat, he stopped to breathe.

(n) The wet campers tried to quickly light the ﬁre.

Exercise 1.2

Laurel J. Brinton The Structure of Modern English

Workbook, Page 4

Answer to Exercise 1.1

1. (a) symbolic

(f) symbolic and indexical

(b) iconic and symbolic

(g) indexical

(h) iconic and arbitrary

(d) symbolic

(i) iconic and arbitrary

(e) indexical and iconic

(j) indexical

2. (a) iconic

(e) iconic

(b) indexical

(f) iconic

(g) indexical

(d) iconic

(h) iconic

3. (a) The order of clauses in (i) corresponds to the order of the

actions, so is iconic.

(b) The order of clauses in (ii) is iconic.

4. (a) In (ii) the most important element, “strawberries”, is placed

ﬁrst, an order which can be seen as iconic.

(b) In (i) the “ﬁgure” is noted before the “ground”, an order which

can be seen as iconic. Note the oddness of (ii).

Answer to Exercise 1.1

Laurel J. Brinton The Structure of Modern English

Workbook, Page 5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: