语言学.docx

语言学.docx

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语言学

TermsofGeneralLinguistics

1.Language

Languageisaformofhumancommunicationbymeansofasystemofsymbolsprincipallytransmittedbyvocalsounds

2.Arbitrarinessoflanguage

Itisoneofthedesignfeaturesbywhichhumanlanguageisdistinguishedfromanimalsounds.Itreferstothefactthattheformsoflinguisticsignsbearnonaturalrelationshiptotheirmeaning.Forexample,weusedifferentsoundstoaddressthesameentityintheworldindifferentlanguagesordifferentdialectsofthesamelanguage.Forinstance,abookiscalled/buk/inEnglish,while‘书’inChinese.Thisisthearbitrarinessatthelexicallevel.

Atthesyntacticlevel,thesequencesofwordsoccurindifferentordersindifferentlanguages.Butthearbitrarinessatthislevelisnotsoobviousasitatthelexicallevel.

3.Dualityoflanguage

Thepropertyofhavingtwolevelsofstructures,suchthatunitsoftheprimarylevelarecomposedofelementsofthesecondarylevelandeachofthetwolevelshasitsownprinciplesoforganization:

Primaryunits‘words’（meaningful）consistofsecondaryunits‘sounds’（meaningless）.

4.Creativityoflanguage

Languageisresourcefulbecauseofitsdualityanditsrecursiveness.Wecanuseittocreatenewmeanings.Wordscanbeusedinnewwaystomeannewthings,andcanbeinstantlyunderstoodbypeoplewhohavenevercomeacrossthatusagebefore.

5.Displacementoflanguage

Displacementistheabilityoflanguagetorefertocontextsremovedfromthespeaker’simmediatesituation.Itmeansthathumanlanguagesenabletheiruserstosymobizeobjects,eventsandconcepts,whicharenotpresent（intimeandspace）atthemomentofcommunication.

6.Informativefunction

Languageistheinstrumentofthoughtandpeopleoftenfeelneedtospeaktheirthoughtsaloud.Theuseoflanguagetorecordthefactsisaprerequisiteofsocialdevelopment.Theinformativefunctionisindeedacrucialfunctionoflanguage.Itisalsocalledideationalfunctionintheframeworkoffunctionalgrammar.

7.Interpersonalfunction

Byfarthemostimportantsociologicaluseoflanguage,andbywhichpeopleestablishandmaintaintheirstatusinasociety.Intheframeworkoffunctionalgrammar,theinterpersonalfunctionisconcernedwithinteractionbetweentheaddresserandaddresseeinthediscoursesituationandtheaddresser'sattitudetowardwhathespeaksorwritesabout.

8.Performativefunction

Theperformativefunctionoflanguageisprimarilytochangethesocialstatusofpersons,asinmarriageceremonies,thesentencingofcriminals,theblessingofchildren,thenamingofashipatalaunchingceremony,andthecursingofenemies.Thekindoflanguageemployedinperformativeverbalactsisusuallyquiteformalandevenritualized.

9.Emotivefunction

Theemotivefunctionoflanguageisoneofthemostpowerfulusesoflanguagebecauseitiscrucialinchangingtheemotionalstatusofanaudiencefororagainstsomeoneorsomething.Itisameansofgettingridofournervousenergywhenweareunderstress,e.g.swearwords,obscenities,involuntaryverbalreactionstoapieceofartorscenery;conventionalwords/phrases,e.g.God,My,Damnit,Whatasight,Wow,Ugh,Oh.

10.Phaticfunction

Broadlyspeaking,thisfunctionreferstoexpressionsthathelpdefineandmaintaininterpersonalrelations,suchasslang,jokes,jargons,ritualisticexchanges,switchestosocialandregionaldialects.Wehavetolearnalargerepertoireofsuchusagesifwearetointeractcomfortablywithdifferentpeople.

11.Recreationalfunction

Therecreationalfunctionofalanguageisoftenoverlookedbecauseitseemssorestrictiveinpurposeandsupposedlysolimitedinusefulness.However,noonewilldenytheuseoflanguageforthesheerjoyofusingit,suchasababy'sbabblingorachanter'schanting

12.Metalingualfunction

Ourlanguagecanbeusedtotalkaboutitself.Toorganizeanywrittentextintoacoherentwhole,writersemploycertainexpressionstokeeptheirreadersinformedaboutwheretheyareandwheretheyaregoing.

13.Phonetics

studiesspeechsounds,includingtheproductionofspeech,thatishowspeechsoundsareactuallymade,transmittedandreceived,thedescriptionandclassificationofspeechsounds,wordsandconnectedspeech,etc.

14.Phonology

studiestherulesgoverningthestructure,distribution,andsequencingofspeechsoundsandtheshapeofsyllables.Itdealswiththesoundsystemofalanguagebytreatingphonemeasthepointofdeparture.

Aphonemeisthesmallestlinguisticunitofsoundthatcansignaladifferenceinmeaning

15.Morphology

isconcernedwiththeinternalorganizationofwords.Itstudiestheminimalunitsofmeaning—morphemesandword-formationprocesses.

Althoughmanypeoplethinkofwordsasthebasicmeaningfulelementsofalanguage，manywordscanbebrokendownintostillsmallerunits,calledmorphemes.

16.Syntax

isaboutprinciplesofformingandunderstandingcorrectsentences.Theformorstructureofasentenceisgovernedbytherulesofsyntax,whichspecifywordorder,sentenceorganization,andtherelationshipsbetweenwords,wordclassesandothersentenceelements.

17.Semantics

examineshowmeaningisencodedinalanguage.Itisnotonlyconcernedwithmeaningsofwordsaslexicalitems,butalsowithlevelsoflanguagebelowthewordandaboveit,e.g.meaningofmorphemesandsentences.

18.Pragmatics

isthestudyofmeaningincontext.Itdealswithparticularutterancesinparticularsituationsandisespeciallyconcernedwiththevariouswaysinwhichthemanysocialcontextsoflanguageperformancecaninfluenceinterpretation.Inotherwords,pragmaticsisconcernedwiththewaylanguageisusedtocommunicateratherthanwiththewaylanguageisinternallystructured.

19.Psycholinguistics

investigatestheinterrelationoflanguageandmind,forexample,inprocessingandproducingutterancesandinlanguageacquisition.Italsostudieslanguagedevelopmentinthechild,suchasthetheoriesoflanguageacquisition,biologicalfoundationsoflanguage,andaprofoundaspect—therelationshipbetweenlanguageandcognition

20.Sociolinguistics

isthestudyofthecharacteristicsoflanguagevarieties,thecharacteristicsoftheirfunctions,andthecharacteristicsoftheirspeakersasthesethreeconstantlyinteractandchangewithinaspeechcommunity.

21.Anthropologicallinguistics

Anthropologyandlinguisticsbecamecloselyassociatedintheearlydaysofanthropologicalfieldworkwhenanthropologistsenlistedthehelpoflinguiststostudyunwrittenlanguages.Incontrastwithotherlinguists,then,anthropologicallinguistsareinterestedprimarilyinthehistoryandstructureofformerlyunwrittenlanguages.

22.Computationallinguistics

centersaroundtheuseofcomputerstoprocessorproducehumanlanguage（alsoknownas“naturallanguage”,todistinguishitfromcomputerlanguages）.Tothisfield,linguisticscontributesanunderstandingofthespecialpropertiesoflanguagedata,andprovidestheoriesanddescriptionsoflanguagestructureanduse.

23.Synchronicvs.diachronic

Asynchronicdescriptiontakesafixedinstant（usually,butnotnecessarily,thepresent）asitspointofobservation.Mostgrammarsareofthiskind.

Diachroniclinguisticsisthestudyofalanguagethroughthecourseofitshistory.

24.Langue&parole

Saussuredistinguishedthelinguisticcompetenceofthespeakerandtheactualphenomenaordataoflinguistics（utterances）aslangueandparole.

25.Competenceandperformance

ThisfundamentaldistinctionisdiscussedbyChomskyinhisAspectsoftheTheoryofSyntax（1965）.Alanguageuser'sunderlyingknowledgeaboutthesystemofrulesiscalledhislinguisticcompetence.Performancereferstotheactualuseoflanguageinconcretesituations.

26.Consonants&vowel

areproduced‘byaclosureinthevocaltract,orbyanarrowingwhichissomarkedthataircannotescapewithoutproducingaudiblefriction’.Bycontrast,avowelisproducedwithoutsuch‘stricture’sothat‘airescapesinarelativelyunimpededwaythroughthemouthornose’.

27.Stress

Stressreferstothedegreeofforceusedinproducingasyllable.Intranscription,araisedverticalline[│]isoftenusedjustbeforethesyllableitrelatesto.Abasicdistinctionismadebetweenstressedandunstressedsyllables,theformerbeingmoreprominentthanthelatter,whichmeansthatstressisarelativenotion.

28.Intonation

involvestheoccurrenceofrecurringfall-risepatterns,eachofwhichisusedwithasetofrelativelyconsistentmeanings,eitheronsinglewordsorongroupsofwordsofvaryinglength.Forexample,thefall-risetoneinEnglishtypicallyinvolvesthemeaningofacontrastwithinalimitedsetofitemsstatedexplicitlyorimplicitly.

29.Determiner:

allthearticles,demonstratives,andquantifiersthatappearbeforethenounanditsmodifiers.

30.Freevs.Boundmorphemes:

Freemorphemes:

thosethatmayconstitutewordsbythemselves,egboy,girl,table,nation.Boundmorphemes:

thosethatcannotoccuralone,eg-s,-ed,dis-,un-.

31.Subordination

referstotheprocessorresultoflinkinglinguisticunitssothattheyhavedifferentsyntacticstatus,onebeingdependentupontheother,andusuallyaconstituentoftheother.Thesubordinateconstituentsarewordswhichmodifythehead.Consequently,theycanbecalledmodifiers.

32.Coordination

isacommonsyntacticpatterninEnglishandotherlanguagesformedbygroupingtogethertwoormorecategoriesofthesametypewiththehelpofaconjunctionsuchasand,butandor.Thesetwoormorewordsorphrasesorclauseshaveequivalentsyntacticstatus,eachoftheseparateconstituentscanstandforthe