英语语言学讲义25页.docx
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英语语言学讲义25页
●Finalexamination(60%)
Homework(viaemail)andattendance(40%)
●36classes,9weeks,9Sundaymornings,basically4classeseverytwoweeks,8weeksforclasses,1weekforquestion-discussion,16lectures
●Syllabus:
Unit1Language:
apreview(1lectures)
Unit2Syntax(4lectures)
Unit3Phonetics(3lectures)
Unit4Phonology(3lectures)
Unit5Morphology(1lectures)
Unit6Semantics(2lecture)
Unit7Firstandsecondlanguageacquisition(2lectures)
Unit1Language:
apreview
•TeachingObjects:
Makethestudentsunderstandthepropertiesoflanguage.
Makethestudentsinterestedinlinguistics.
•Difficulty:
thecreativityoflanguage
Universalgrammar
thebiologicalpropertyoflanguage
•Whatislinguistics?
thedisciplinethatstudies(thenatureanduse)oflanguage.
•Whatislanguage?
(askthestudentstofindoutsomeanswerstothisquestions)
Asystemofcommunication?
Amediumforthought?
Avehicleforliteraryexpression?
Amatterforpoliticalcontroversy?
Acatalystfornationbuilding?
•Istherelanguageinotheranimalsthanhumanbeings?
Canotheranimalsthanhumanbeingscancreatetools?
◆Languageisacreativesystem:
languagecanenableustoproduceandunderstandnewwords,phrases,andsentencesastheneedarises.
•Examples:
(p.2)
1)tocreateverbsfromnouns,e.g.:
(1)JuliasummeredinParis.
(2)HarrywinteredinMexico.
(3)HarryandJuliahoneymoonedinHawaii.
constraint:
(4)*Jeromemidnightedinthestreets.
(5)*Andreanoonedattherestaurant.
•Theexamplesshowthatwhenaverbiscreatedfromatimeexpression,itmustbegivenaveryspecificinterpretation----roughlyparaphrasableas“tobesomewherefortheperiodoftimeX”.Thus,“tosummerinParis”is“tobeinParisforthesummer”.Since“noon”and“midnight”expresspointsintimeratherthanextendedperiodsoftime,theycannotbeusedtocreatenewverbsofthistype.
2)Askthestudentstofindanotherexampletoshowthecreativityoflanguages.(hint:
embedding)
1.Grammar:
Whyislanguageacreativesystem?
WhatarecharacteristicsofGrammar?
•GrammarandLinguisticcompetence
•Speakerofalanguageareabletoproduceandunderstandanunlimitednumberofutterances,includingmanythatarenovelandunfamiliar(creativity).Thisability,whichisoftencalledlinguisticcompetence,constitutesthecentralsubjectmatteroflinguistics.
•Ininvestigatinglinguisticcompetence,linguistsfocusonthementalsystemthatallowshumanbeingstoformandinterpretthewordsandsentencesoftheirlanguage.Thissystemiscalledagrammar.
•Thegrammarcanbedividedintothefollowingcomponents:
ComponentDomain
Phoneticsthearticulationandperceptionofspeechsounds
Phonologythepatterningofspeechsounds
Morphologywordformation
Syntaxsentenceformation
Semanticstheinterpretationofwordsandsentences
1.1Generality:
alllanguageshaveagrammar
•Ifalanguageisspoken,itmusthaveaphoneticandphonologicalsystem;sinceithaswordsandsentences,itmustalsohaveamorphologyandasyntax;andsincethesewordsandsentenceshavesystematicmeanings,theremustobviouslybesemanticprinciplesaswell.
Syntacticexamples:
(6)Thetwodogsnowseeseveralkangaroos.
(7)Dogstwonowseekangaroosseveral.
(8)Seenowkangaroosseveraldogstwo.
(9)Kangaroosseveralnowdogstwosee.
(10)Kangaroosseveralnowseedogstwo.
(6)couldbetranslatedbytheequivalentofanyofsentencesin((7-10)).
Phonologicalexamples:
•AskthestudentstogiveanexampletoshowthegrammarofEnglishsounds(hint:
spr-)
2.2Equality:
allgrammarsareequal
•Fromthepointofviewofmodernlinguistics,itmakesnomoresensetosaythatonevarietyofEnglishisbetterthananotherthanitdoestosaythatthegrammarofEnglishisbetter(orworse)thanthegrammarofThai.
•
Why?
•Alllanguagesandallvarietiesofaparticularlanguagehavegrammarsthatenabletheirspeakerstoexpressanypropositionthatthehumanmindcanproduce.Allvarietiesoflangueareabsolutelyequalasinstrumentsofcommunicationandthought.
•Linguisticsisdescriptive,notprescriptive.Thismeansthatlinguistsseektodescribehumanlinguisticabilityandknowledge,nottoprescribeonewayofspeakinginpreferencetoanother.
•Thewaytodeterminewhetheraconstructionis“grammatical”istofindpeoplewhospeakthelanguageandaskthem.
1.2Changeabiligy:
Grammarschangeovertime
•Thegrammarsoflanguagesareconstantlychanging.
•Someofthemarerelativelyminorandoccurquickly(e.g.,theadditionofnewwords:
Internet,e-mail…totheEnglishvocabulary)
•Otherchangeshaveamoredramaticeffectontheoverallformofthelanguageandtypicallytakeplaceoveralongperiodoftime.E.g.,theformationofnegativestructuresinEnglishhasundergonethistypeofchange.
By1400orthereabouts,notornawttypicallyoccurredbyitselfaftertheverb.
(11)a.Iseyenotthewordes.
b.Wesawnawttheknyghtes.
ItwasnotuntilseveralcenturieslaterthatEnglishadopteditscurrentpracticeofallowingnottooccurafteronlycertaintypesofverbs(suchasdo,have,will,andsoon).
(12)a.Iwillnotsaythewords.
(versus*Iwillsaynotthewords.)
b.Hedidn’tnotseetheknights.
(versus*Hesawnottheknights.)
Thesemodificationsillustratetheextenttowhichgrammarscanchangeovertime.Thestructuresexemplifiedin11)arearchaicbytoday'sstandards.
•Throughthecenturies,individualsandorganizationswhobelievethatcertainvarietiesoflanguagearebetterthanothershavefrequentlyexpressedconcernoverwhattheyperceivetobethedeteriorationofEnglish.In1710,forexample,thewriterJonathanSwift(authorofGulliver'sTravels)lamented"thecontinualCorruptionofourEnglishTongue."AmongthecorruptionstowhichSwiftobjectedwerecontractionssuchashe'sforheis,althoughhehadnoobjectiontoTisforItis.
•Inthenineteenthcentury,EdwardS.Gould,acolumnistfortheNewYorkEveningPost,publishedabookentitledGoodEnglish;or,PopularErrorsinLanguage,inwhichheaccusednewspaperwritersandauthorsof"sensationnovels"ofruiningthelanguagebyintroducing"spuriouswords"likejeopardizeandunderhanded.
•Linguistsrejecttheviewthatlanguagesattainastateofperfectionatsomepointintheirhistoryandthatsubsequentchangesleadtodeteriorationandcorruption.Asnotedabove,therearesimplynogroundsforclaimingthatonewayofspeakingissomehowsuperiortoanother.ThereisthereforenoreasontothinkthatlanguagechangecanorwillunderminetheadequacyofEnglish(oranyotherlanguage)asamediumofcommunication.
2.4University:
grammarsarealikeinbasicways
•Therearemanydifferencesamonglanguages,asevenasuperficialexaminationoftheirsoundpatterns,vocabularies,andwordorderreveals.Butthisdoesnotmeanthattherearenolimitsonthetypeofgrammarsthathumanbeingscanacquireanduse.Quitetothecontrary,currentresearchsuggeststhatthereareimportantgrammaticalprinciplesandtendenciessharedbyallhumanlanguages.
•(NoamChomsky’sfamousUniversalGrammar)
•Onesuchuniversalprincipleinvolvesthemannerinwhichsentencesarenegated.Withunlimitedvariation,onewouldexpect'negators'(theequivalentofEnglishnot)tooccurindifferentpositionswithinthesentenceindifferentlanguages.Thus,wemightpredictthateachofthefollowingpossibilitiesshouldoccurwithroughlyequalfrequency.
13)
a.NotPatishere.
b.Patnotishere.
c.Patisnothere.
d.Patisherenot.
Asithappens,thefirstandfourthpatternsareveryrare.Invirtuallyalllanguages,negativeelementssuchasnoteitherimmediatelyprecedeorimmediatelyfollowtheverb.
•Therelativeorderingofotherelementsisalsosubjecttoconstraints.Toseethis,weneedonlyconsiderthesixlogicallypossibleordersforasimplethree-wordstatementsuchasCanadianslikehockey.
14)
a.Canadianslikehockey.
b.Canadianshockeylike.
c.LikeCanadianshockey.
d.LikehockeyCanadians.
e.HockeylikeCanadians.
f.HockeyCanadianslike.
Interestingly,morethan95percentoftheworld'slanguagesadoptoneofthefirstthreeordersforbasicstatements.Onlyahandfuloflanguagesuseanyofthelastthreeordersasbasic.Thisonceagainreflectstheexistenceofconstraintsandpreferencesthatlimitvariationamonglanguages.
•Thesearenotisolatedexamples.Aslaterchapterswillshow,somegrammaticalcategoriesandprinciplesareuniversal.Andwherethereisvariation(asinthecaseofwordorder),thereistypicallyaverylimitedsetofoptions.Contrarytofirstappearances,thesetofgrammarslearnedandusedbyhumanbeingsislimitedinsignificantways.
2.5Tacitness:
Grammaticalknowledgeissubconscious
•Askthestudentstosayoutthedifferencebetweenthefollowingtwoexpressions:
*人来了。
有人来了。
*一个人来了。
•Becausetheuseoflanguagetocommunicatepresupposesagrammar,itfollowsthatallspeakersofalanguagemusthaveknowledgeofitsgrammar.However,thisknowledgediffersfromknowledgeofarithmetic,trafficrules,andothersubjectsthataretaughtathomeorinschool.Unliketheseothertypesofknowledge,grammaticalknowledgeisacquiredwithoutthehelpofinstructionwhenoneisstillachildanditremainslargelysubconsciousthroughoutlife.
•Asanotherexampleofthis,consideryourpronunciationofthepasttenseendingwrittenasedinthefollowingwords.
15)
a.hunted
b.slipped
c.buzzed
Noticethatwhereasyousayidinhunted,yousaytinslippedanddinbuzzed.Moreover,ifyouheardthenewverbflib,youwouldformthepastten