英语语言学教程胡壮麟版.docx
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英语语言学教程胡壮麟版
英语语言学教程〔胡壮麟版〕
Chapterone.InvitationtoLinguistic.
1.Whatislanguage?
“Languageissystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumanmunication.Itisasystem,sincelinguisticelementsarearrangedsystematically,ratherthanrandomly.Arbitrary,inthesensethatthereisusuallynointrinsicconnectionbetweenawork(like“book〞)andtheobjectitrefersto.Thisexplainsandisexplainedbythefactthatdifferentlanguageshavedifferent“books〞:
“book〞inEnglish,“livre〞inFrench,“shu〞inChinese.Itissymbolic,becausewordsareassociatedwithobjects,actions,ideasetc.bynothingbutconvention.Namely,peopleusethesoundsorvocalformstosymbolizewhattheywishtoreferto.Itisvocal,becausesoundorspeechistheprimarymediumforallhumanlanguages.Writingsystemscamemuchlaterthanthespokenforms.Thefactthatsmallchildrenlearnandcanonlylearntospeak(andlisten)beforetheywrite(andread)alsoindicatesthatlanguageisprimarilyvocal,ratherthanwritten.Theterm“human〞inthedefinitionismeanttospecifythatlanguageishumanspecific.
2.DesignFeaturesofLanguage.
“Designfeatures〞hererefertothedefiningpropertiesofhumanlanguagethattellthedifferencebetweenhumanlanguageandanysystemofanimalmunication.Theyarearbitrariness,duality,productivity,displacement,culturaltransmissionandinterchangeability
(1)Arbitrariness:
By“arbitrariness〞,wemeanthereisnologicalconnectionbetweenmeaningsandsounds.
(2)Duality:
Thepropertyofhavingtwolevelsofstructures(phonologicalandgrammatical),unitsoftheprimarylevelbeingposedofelementsofthesecondarylevelandeachlevelhavingitsownprinciplesoforganization.
(3)Productivity:
Productivityreferstotheabilitytotheabilitytoconstructandunderstandanindefinitelylargenumberofsentencesinone’snativelanguage,includingthosethathasneverheardbefore,butthatareappropriatetothespeakingsituation.Thepropertythatenablesnativespeakerstoconstructandunderstandanindefinitelylargenumberofutterances,includingutterancesthattheyhaveneverpreviouslyencountered.
(4)Displacement:
“Displacement〞,asoneofthedesignfeaturesofthehumanlanguage,referstothefactthatonecantalkaboutthingsthatarenotpresent,aseasilyashedoesthingspresent.Inotherwords,onecanrefertorealandunrealthings,thingsofthepast,ofthepresent,ofthefuture.Languageitselfcanbetalkedabouttoo.
(5)Culturaltransmission:
Thismeansthatlanguageisnotbiologicallytransmittedfromgenerationtogeneration,butthatthedetailsofthelinguisticsystemmustbelearnedanewbyeachspeaker.
(6)Interchangeability:
Interchangeabilitymeansthatanyhumanbeingcanbebothaproducerandareceiverofmessages.
3.FunctionsofLanguage.
Languagehasatleastsevenfunctions:
phatic,directive,Informative,interrogative,expressive,evocativeandperformative.
(1)Phaticfunction:
The“phaticfunction〞referstolanguagebeingusedforsettingupacertainatmosphereormaintainingsocialcontacts(ratherthanforexchanginginformationorideas).Greetings,farewells,andmentsontheweatherinEnglishandonclothinginChineseallservethisfunction.
(2)Directivefunction:
The“directivefunction〞meansthatlanguagemaybeusedtogetthehearertodosomething.Mostimperativesentencesperformthisfunction,e.g.,“Tellmetheresultwhenyoufinish.〞
(3)Informativefunction:
Languageservesan“informationalfunction〞whenusedtotellsomething,characterizedbytheuseofdeclarativesentences.Informativestatementsareoftenlabeledastrue(truth)orfalse(falsehood).
(4)Interrogativefunction:
Whenlanguageisusedtoobtaininformation,itservesan“interrogativefunction〞.Thisincludesallquestionsthatexpectreplies,statements,imperativesetc.
(5)Expressivefunction:
The“expressivefunction〞istheuseoflanguagetorevealsomethingaboutthefeelingsorattitudesofthespeaker.
(6)Evocativefunction:
The“evocativefunction〞istheuseoflanguagetocreatecertainfeelingsinthehearer.Itsaimis,forexample,toamuse,startle,antagonize,soothe,worryorplease.
(7)Performativefunction:
Thismeanspeoplespeakto“dothings〞orperformactions.
4.Whatislinguistic?
“Linguistics〞isthescientificstudyoflanguage.Itstudiesnotjustonelanguageofanyonesociety,butthelanguageofallhumanbeings.Inshort,linguisticsstudiesthegeneralprincipleswhereuponallhumanlanguagesareconstructedandoperateassystemsofmunicationintheirsocietiesormunities.
5.Mainbranchesoflinguistics.
Thestudyoflanguageasawholeisoftencalledgenerallinguistics.Butalinguistsometimesisabletodealwithonlyoneaspectoflanguageatatime,thustheariseofvariousbranches:
phonetics,phonology,morphology,syntax,semantics,pragmatics,sociolinguistics,appliedlinguistics,psycholinguisticsetc.
6.Importantdistinctionsinlinguistic.
(1)synchronicstudyvs.diachronicstudy
Thedescriptionofalanguageatsomepointoftime(asifitstoppeddeveloping)isasynchronystudy(synchrony).Thedescriptionofalanguageasitchangesthroughtimeisadiachronicstudy(diachronic).
(2)Speechvs.writing
Speechisprimary,becauseitexistedlongbeforewritingsystemscameintobeing.Geneticallychildrenlearntospeakbeforelearningtowrite.Secondly,writtenformsjustrepresentinthiswayorthatthespeechsounds:
individualsounds,asinEnglishandFrenchasinJapanese.Incontrasttospeech,spokenformoflanguage,writingaswrittencodes,giveslanguagenewscopeandusethatspeechdoesnothave.Mostmodernlinguisticanalysisisfocusedonspeech,differentfromgrammariansofthelastcenturyandtheretofore.
(3)Descriptivevs.prescriptive
Alinguisticstudyis“descriptive〞ifitonlydescribesandanalysesthefactsoflanguage,and“prescriptive〞ifittriestolaydownrulesfor“correct〞languagebehavior.Linguisticstudiesbeforethiscenturywerelargelyprescriptivebecausemanyearlygrammarswerelargelyprescriptivebecausemanyearlygrammarswerebasedon“high〞(literaryorreligious)writtenrecords.Modernlinguisticsismostlydescriptive.
(4).languevs.parole
F.deSaussurerefers“langue〞totheabstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyallthemembersofaspeechmunityandrefers“parole〞totheactualoractualizedlanguage,ortherealizationoflangue.Langueisabstract,parolespecifictothespeakingsituation;languenotactuallyspokenbyanindividual,parolealwaysanaturallyoccurringevent;languerelativelystableandsystematic,paroleisamassofconfusedfacts,thusnotsuitableforsystematicinvestigation.Whatalinguistoughttodo,accordingtoSaussure,istoabstractlanguefrominstancesofparole,i.e.todiscovertheregularitiesgoverningallinstancesofparoleandmakethanthesubjectoflinguistics.Thelangue-paroledistinctionisofgreatimportance,whichcastsgreatinfluenceonlaterlinguists.(5).petencevs.performance
AccordingtoN.Chomsky,“petence〞istheideallanguageuser’sknowledgeoftherulesofhislanguage,and“performance〞istheactualrealizationofthisknowledgeinutterances.Theformerenablesaspeakertoproduceandunderstandanindefinitenumberofsentencesandtorecognizegrammaticalmistakesandambiguities.Aspeaker’spetenceisstablewhilehisperformanceisofteninfluencedbypsychologicalandsocialfactors.Soaspeaker’sperformancedoesnotalwaysmatchorequalhissupposedpetence.Chomskybelievesthatlinguistsoughttostudypetence,ratherthanperformance.
(6).linguisticpotentialvs.linguisticbehavior
Thesetwoterms,orthepotential-behaviordistinction,weremadebyM.A.K.Hallidayinthe1960s,fromafunctionalpointofview.Thereisawiderangeofthingsaspeakercandoinhisculture,andsimilarlytherearemanythingshecansay,forexample,tomanypeople,onmanytopics.Whatheactuallysays(i.e.his“actuallinguisticbehavior〞)onacertainoccasiontoacertainpersoniswhathehaschosenfrommanypossibleinjusticeitems,eachofwhichhecouldhavesaid(linguisticpotential).Chapter2Phonetics1.Whatisphonetics?
“Phonetics〞isthesciencewhichstudiesthecharacteristicsofhumansound-making,especiallythosesoundsusedinspeech,andprovidesmethodsfortheirdescription,classificationandtranscription,speechsoundsmaybestudiedindifferentways,thusbythreedifferentbranchesofphonetics.
(1)Articulatoryphonetics;thebranchofphoneticsthatexaminesthewayinwhichaspeechsoundisproducedtodiscoverwhichvocalorgansareinvolvedandhowtheycoordinateintheprocess.
(2)Auditoryphonetics,thebranchofphoneticresearchfromthehearer’spointofview,lookingintotheimpressionwhichaspeechsoundmakesonthehearerasmediatedbytheear,theauditorynerveandthebrain.
(3)Acousticphonetics:
thestudyofthephysicalpropertiesofspeechsounds,astransmittedbetweenmouthandear.Mostphoneticians,however,areinterestedinarticulatoryphonetics.
2.TheIPA
TheIPA,abbreviationof“InternationalPhoneticAlphabet〞,isapromisesystemmakinguseofsymbolsofallsources,includingdiacriticsindicatinglength,stressandintonation,indicatingphoneticvariation.Eversinceitwasdevelopedin1888,IPAhasundergoneanumberofrevisions.
3.Placeofarticulation
Itreferstotheplaceinthemouthwhere,forexample,theobstructionoccurs,resultingintheutteranceofaconsonant.
4.Mannerofarticulation
The“mannerofarticulation〞literallymeansthewayasoundisarticulated.
5.Phonology
“Phonology〞isthestudyofsoundsystems-theinventionofdistinctivespeechsoundsthatoccurinalanguageandt