英语语言学lecture two.docx

英语语言学lecture two.docx

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英语语言学lecturetwo

Takelanguageasatoolforaccesstosomeotherfieldsratherthanstudyitasasubject

Languagedistinguishesusfromanimalsbecauseitisfarmoresophisticatedthananyanimalcommunicationsystem.

Whatislanguage?

Itisverydifficulttogiveasatisfactorydefinition.Wemaysay“Languageisatoolforhumancommunication”.Butthatdoesnotsayanythingaboutitsdefiningproperties,onlyaboutitsfunction.Therearemanyothersystems（secretcodes,trafficsignals）performingthesamefunction.

Wemaysay“Languageisasetofrules.”;againthatsaysnothingaboutitsfunction,andthereareothersystemscontainingsetsofrules.

Atentativedefinitionisgivenlikethefollowing:

Languageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.

Languagemustbeasystem,sinceelementsinitarearrangedaccordingtocertainrules.Andtheycannotbecombinedatwill.

Languageisarbitraryinthesensethatthereisnointrinsicconnectionbetweenthewordpenandthethingweusetowritewith.Thatfactthatdifferentlanguageshavedifferentwordsforitspeaksforthearbitrarynatureoflanguage.

Wesaylanguageisvocalbecausetheprimarymediumissoundforalllanguage,nomatterhowwelldevelopedaretheirwritingsystems.Allevidenceshowsthatwritingsystemscamemuchlaterthanthespokenforms.Thefactthatchildrenacquirespokenlanguagefirstbeforetheycanreadorwritealsoindicatesthatlanguageisprimarilyvocal.

Theterm“human”inthedefinitionismeanttospecifythatlanguageisverydifferentfromthecommunicationsystemsotherformsoflifepossess（suchasbirdsongsandanimalcries.）

Step1.Designfeaturesoflanguage

Whatmakesourlanguageadvantageousoveranimal“languages”/distinctivefromlanguagesusedbyotherspecies/complicatedandflexible?

1.Arbitrariness

@Theformsoflinguisticsigns/morphemebearnonaturalrelationshiptotheirmeaningandobjects.Wecannotexplainwhyabookiscalleda/buk/inEnglishbuta书inChinese.

@Whatisthelinkbetweenalinguisticsignanditsmeaning?

Itisamatterofconvention.

@Thereisnologicalconnectionbetweenmeaningsandsounds.However,languageisnotentirelyarbitraryHowaboutonomatopoeia,wordsthatsoundlikethesoundstheydescribe.;therearecaseswherethereseemstobesomeassociationbetweensoundsandmeaning.

Theonomatopoeicwordsarecertainwordsineverylanguagewhichimitatenaturalsounds,suchasbang,crashinEnglishorputong,dingdanginChinese.Butindifferentlanguages,totallydifferentwordsareusedtodescribethesound.Forexample,thedogbarkswowwowinEnglishbutwangwanginChinese.

Somecompoundwordsarenotentirelyarbitrary;thereisacertainconnectionbetweentheirsoundsandmeaning.Forexample,themachinewetypeourpapersoniscalled“typewriter”.

@Therearedifferentlevelsofarbitrariness.Thatistosay,syntaxislessarbitrarythanwords.Asweknow,theorderofelementsinasentencefollowscertainrules,andthereisacertaindegreeofcorrespondencebetweenthesequenceofclausesandtherealhappenings.

（a）Hecameinandsatdown.

（b）Hesatdownandcamein.

（c）Hesatdownafterhecamein.

Arbitraryrelationshipbetweenthesoundofamorphemeanditsmeaning

“Itisonlywhenyouknowthemeaningthatyouinferthattheformisappropriate.”（Widdowson,1996）.

@Thearbitrarynatureoflanguageisasignofsophisticationandthismakesitpossibleforlanguagetohaveunlimitedsourcesofexpression.

2.Duality

@“Bydualityismeantthepropertyofhavingtwolevelsofstructures,suchthatunitsoftheprimarylevelarecomposedofelementsofthesecondarylevelandeachofthetowlevelshasitsownprinciplesoforganization.”（Lyons,1982）

Thepropertyofdualitythenonlyexistsinsuchasystem,namely,withbothelementsandunits.Manyanimalscommunicatewithspecialcalls,whichhavecorrespondingmeanings.Thatis,theprimaryunitshavemeaningsbutcannotbefurtherdividedintoelements.

@Languageishierarchical.Thelowestlevelconsistsofdozensofbitsofmeaninglesssounds.Thesoundsoccurinchumpstoformsyllablewhichisthesmallestunit.（etc.monosyllabiclikecat,dogandpolysyllabicliketransplant,）Scoresofsyllablesbecomesthecarriersofhundredsofmeaningfulsegmentsofwordsthatarecalledmorphemes,suchastheprefixtrans-.Morphemescomposethousandsofword.Outofthehugenumberofwords,therecanbeendlessnumberofsentences,whichinturncanformunlimitednumberoftextsanddiscourses.

Stratification----thisorganizationoflevelsonlevels----isthephysicalmanifestationofthe“infiniteuseoffinitemeans”,thetraitthatmostdistinguisheshumancommunicationfromanimal.

3.Creativity

@Languageisafarmorecomplicatedentitythantrafficlightsisthatwecanuseittocreatenewmeanings.Wordscanbeusedinnewwaystomeannewthingsandcanbeunderstoodbypeoplewhohavenevercomeacrossthatwordbefore.

@Birdscanonlyconveyalimitedrangeofmessages.AsBertrandRussellonceobserved:

“Nomatterhoweloquentlyadogmaymark,hecannottellyouthathisparentswerepoorbuthonest.”

@Becauseofdualitythespeakerisabletocombinethebasiclinguisticunitstoformaninfinitesetofsentences.（dictionary）

4.Displacement（themovementfrominitialpositiontosubsequentposition）移位

@Displacementmeansthathumanlanguagesenabletheiruserstosymbolizeobjects,eventsandconceptswhicharenotpresent（intimeandspace）atthemomentofcommunication.

Languagecanbeusedtorefertothingswhicharenotpresent:

realorimaginedmattersinthepast,present,orfutureorinfarawayplaces.Inotherwords,languagecanrefertocontextsremovedfromtheimmediatesituationsofthespeaker.

@Someanimalsareunder“immediatestimuluscontrol”.Callsorcriesareproducedincontactoffood,inpresenceofdangerorinpain.Oncethedangerorpainisover,callsarestopped.Humanlanguageisstimulusfree.

@Theintellectualbenefitsofdisplacementtousisthatitmakesitpossibleforustotalkandthinkinabstractterms.

Step2.Originoflanguage

Sofarthereareonlyfruitlesssearchfortheoriginoflanguages.Theactionreflectspeople’sconcernwiththeoriginofhumanityandmaycomeupwithenlighteningfindingsinfuture.Andonethingwecansayforcertainisthatlanguageevolveswithinspecifichistorical,socialandculturalcontexts.

Step3.Functionsoflanguage

AbriefexplanationtoJakobson’sclassificationoffunctionsoflangugeP9

1Informativefunction（ideationalfunction/referentialfunction）

Languageservesaninformativefunctionwhenitisusedtotellwhatthespeakerbelieves,togiveinformationaboutfacts,ortoreasonthingsout.Languageservesfortheexpressionofcontent.Thisfunctionischaracterizedbytheuseofdeclarativesentences

Formostpeopletheinformativefunctionispredominantlythemajorroleoflanguage.

Languageistheinstrumentofthoughtandpeopleoftenfeelneedtospeaktheirthoughts.Theuseoflanguagetorecordthefactsisaprerequisiteofsocialdevelopment.

2.Interpersonalfunction人际功能

Byfarthemostimportantsociologicaluseoflanguageistheinterpersonalfunction,bywhichpeopleestablishandmaintaintheirstatusinasociety.Forexample,thewaysinwhichpeopleaddressothersandrefertothemselves（e.g.DearSir,DearProfessor,yours,yourobedientservant）indicatethevariousgradesofinterpersonalrelations.

Languagemarkspeople’sidentity.Forexample,thechantingofacrowdatafootballmatch,theshoutingofnamesorslogansatpublicmeetings,thestage-managedaudiencereactionstoTVgamesshowsallsignalwhoweareandwherewebelong.

Performativefunction言语行为功能

Theperformativefunctionoflanguageisprimarilytochangethesocialstatusofpersons.Thekindoflanguageemployedinperformativeverbalactsisusuallyquiteformalandevenritualized.

Languageisalsousedto“dothings”.,toperformactions.Thisiscalledtheperformativefunction.Oncertainoccasions,theutteringoftheappropriatewordsisthecentralcomponentintheperformanceoftheact.Atameeting,forexample,assoonasthechairmansays“Ideclarethemeetingopen”,themeetinghasstarted”.Ifthepresidentsays“Ideclarewar…”,warexistsbetweenthetwocountries.Inallthesecases,theactcannotbeperformedwithoutthesentencesbeinguttered.Thekindoflanguageemployedinperformativeverbalactsisusuallyquiteformalandevenritualized.

Emotivefunction（expressivefunction）

@Accordingtosomeinvestigations,thoughtheconveyingofinformationoccursinmostusesoflanguage,itprobablyrepresentsnotmorethan20percentofwhattakesplaceinverbalcommunication.Theemotivefunctionoflanguageisoneofthemostpowerfulusesoflangue.

Itisameansofgettingridofournervousenergywhenweareunderstress.

@Amanmaysayouch!

Afterstrikingafingernailwithahammer,orhemaymutterdamnwhenrealizingthathehasforgottenanappointment.ExclamationssuchasMan!

Oh,boy!

Andhurrah!

areusuallyutteredwithoutanypurposeofcommunicatingtoothers,butasessentiallyaverbalresponsetoaperson’sownfeelings.

@Theemotivefunctionistheuseoflanguagetorevealsomethingaboutthefeelingsandattitudesofthespeaker.Whileintheinformativefunctionlanguageisusedtopassjudgementonthetruthorfalsehoodofstatement,inemotivefunction,languageisusedtoevaluate,appraiseandassertthespeaker’sattitudes.

Phaticcommunion

Weallusesuchsmall,seeminglymeaninglessexpressionstomaintainacomfortablerelationshipbetweenpeoplewithoutinvolvinganyfactualcontent.Ritualexc