汇总1.docx

汇总1.docx

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汇总1

Chapter1LanguageandLinguistics

Lecture1-2

Whatislanguage?

⏹Languageisapurelyhumanandnon-instinctivemethodofcommunicatingideas,emotionsanddesiresbymeansofvoluntarilyproducedsymbols.（Sapir,1921）

⏹FromnowonIwillconsideralanguagetobeaset（finiteorinfinite）ofsentences,eachfiniteinlengthandconstructedoutofafinitesetofelements.（Chomsky,1957）

⏹Languageis“theinstitutionwherebyhumanscommunicateandinteractwitheachotherbymeansofhabituallyusedoral-auditoryarbitrarysymbols.”（Hall,1968）

⏹Languageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication（Dai,2002）andinteraction（Miao,2010:

2）.

⏹1.languageisasystem

⏹2.languageisarbitrary

⏹3.languageisvocal

⏹4.languageishuman-specific

Whatislanguage?

⏹Webster’sNewWorldDictionary

[1]a.humanspeech;

b.theabilitytocommunicatebythismeans;

c.asystemofvocalsoundsandcombinationsofsuchsoundstowhichmeaningisattributed,usedfortheexpressionorcommunicationofthoughtsandfeelings;

d.thewrittenrepresentationofsuchasystem.

Thedesignfeatures/definingpropertiesoflanguage

⏹Arbitrariness

⏹Duality

⏹Creativity

⏹Displacement

⏹Culturaltransmission

Arbitrariness

⏹Thereisnointrinsicrelation（logicalconnection）betweenmeaningandsounds.

⏹Thesoundofamorphemeanditsmeaningisarbitrary;theformsoflinguisticsignsbearnonaturalrelationshiptotheirmeaning.

⏹E.g.,mǎ/horse/cheval;桌子/desk

⏹Exceptions:

叮咚,轰隆,叽里咕噜,quack-quack,bang,cuckoo,wowwow,etc.onomatopoeicwords

Arbitrarinessandconvention（Hu,5-6）

⏹Whatthenisthelinkbetweenalinguisticsignanditsmeaning?

Itisamatterofconvention.

⏹Theothersideofthecoinofarbitrariness–conventionality.Arbitrarinessoflanguagemakesitpotentiallycreative,andconventionalityoflanguagemakeslearningalanguagelaborious.Theconventionalityofalanguageismoreworthnoticingthanitsarbitrariness.

Dualityofstructure/doublearticulation

⏹Bydualityismeantthepropertyofhavingtwolevelsofstructures,suchthatunitsoftheprimarylevelandcomposedofelementsofthesecondarylevelandeachofthetwolevelshasitsownprinciplesoforganization.（Lyons,1982:

20）（fromHu,p6）

⏹Atthefirst,higherlevel,languageisanalyzedintermsofcombinationsofmeaningfulunits（suchasmorphemes,words）;atthesecond,lowerlevel,itisseenasasequenceofsegmentswhichlackanymeaninginthemselves,butwhichcombinetoformunitsofmeaning.

⏹E.g.,Hegoestoschool.

⏹/h/+/i/he;etc.

Creativity/Productivity

⏹Creativityreferstotheabilitythatweallhavetoconstructandunderstandanindefinitelylargenumberofsentencesinournativelanguage,includingsentencesthatwehaveneverheardbefore,butthatareappropriatetothesituationinwhichtheyareuttered.

⏹Foronething,wordscanbeusedinnewwaystomeannewthings.E.g.,给力、萌、非诚勿扰、神马都是浮云、犀利哥、轻熟女，Etc.

⏹Foranotherthing,languagehasthepotentialtocreateendlesssentences.E.g.,Heboughtabookwhichwaswrittenbyateacherwhotaughtinaschoolwhichwasknownforitsgraduateswho….

Displacement

⏹Displacementmeansthathumanlanguagesenabletheiruserstosymbolizeobjects,eventsandconceptswhicharenotpresent（intimeandspace）atthemomentofcommunication.（Hu,p8）

⏹Itmeansthathumanbeingscantalkaboutobjectsoreventswhichdonotbelongtotheimmediatesettinginspaceandtime.Humanlanguagecanbeusedtorefertothingswhicharepresentornotpresent,realorimaginedmattersinthepast,present,orfuture,orinfar-awayplaces.Itcanevenbeusedtotalkaboutlanguageitself.

Culturaltransmission

⏹Thisfeaturereferstothefactthatthedetailsofthelinguisticsystemmustbelearnedanewbyeachspeaker.Theyarenottransmittedfromgenerationtogeneration.

⏹Ahumanbeingbroughtupinisolationsimplydoesn’tacquirelanguage.

Originoflanguage（Miao,4-5）

⏹Thedivine-origin

⏹Theinventiontheory

1）Thebow-wowtheory:

Inprimitivetimespeopleimitatedthesoundsoftheanimalcallsinthewildenvironmenttheylivedandspeechdevelopedfromthat.Thetheorylackssupportiveevidence.

2）Thepooh-poohtheory:

Inthehardlifeofourprimitiveancestors,theyutterinstinctivesoundsofpain,angerandjoy.E.g.,Oh,Ah,aiyo,etc.

3）The‘yo-he-yo’theory:

Asprimitivepeopleworkedtogether,theyproducedsomerhythmicgruntswhichgraduallydevelopedintochantsandthenintolanguage.

4）Thela-latheory

5）Theding-dongtheory

⏹Theevolutiontheory

Functionsoflanguage（Hu,p10-16）

⏹Informative

⏹Interpersonal

⏹Performative（施为功能）

⏹Emotive

⏹Phaticcommunion（寒暄功能）

⏹Recreational

⏹Metalingualfunction

Whatislinguistics?

⏹Linguisticsmaybedefinedasthesystematicorscientificstudyoflanguage.

⏹Thetaskofalinguistisbasicallytostudyandunderstandthegeneralprinciplesuponwhichalllanguagesarebuilt.

Thescopeoflinguistics

Thescopeoflinguistics

⏹Phonetics&phonology（chapter2）

⏹Morphology（chapter3）

⏹Syntax（chapter4）

⏹Semantics（chapter5）

⏹Pragmatics（chapter6）

⏹Historicallinguistics（chapter8）

⏹Interculturallinguistics（chapter11）

⏹Sociolinguistics（chapter10）

SomeImportantdistinctionsinlinguistics1

⏹Prescriptivevs.descriptive

⏹Ifalinguisticstudyaimstodescribeandanalyzethelanguagepeopleactuallyuse,itissaidtobedescriptive;e.g.modernlinguistics

⏹Ifthelinguisticstudyaimstolaydownrulesfor“correctandstandard”behaviorinusinglanguage,i.e.totellpeoplewhattheyshouldsayandwhattheyshouldn’tsay,itissaidtobeprescriptive.E.g.traditionalgrammar

SomeImportantdistinctionsinlinguistics2

⏹Synchronicvs.diachronic

⏹Thedescriptionofalanguageatsomepointoftimeinhistoryisasynchronicstudy;thedescriptionofalanguageasitchangesthroughtimeisdiachronicstudy.Adiachronicstudyoflanguageisahistoricalone;itstudiesthehistoricaldevelopmentoflanguageoveraperiodoftime.

⏹Inmodernlinguistics,synchronicstudiesenjoypriorityoverdiachronicones.

SomeImportantdistinctionsinlinguistics3

⏹Speechandwriting

⏹Modernlinguisticsregardsthespokenlanguageasthenaturalorprimarymediumofhumanlanguage.

⏹Why?

.

⏹Fromthepointofviewoflinguisticevolution,speechispriortowriting

⏹Ineverydaycommunication,speechplaysagreaterrolethanwritingintermsoftheamountofinformationconveyed.

⏹Speechisalwaysthewayinwhicheverynativespeakeracquireshismothertongue,andwritingislearnedandtaughtwhenhegoestoschool.

SomeImportantdistinctionsinlinguistics4

⏹Langueandparole（Saussure）

⏹Languereferstotheabstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyallthemembersofaspeechcommunity,andparolereferstotherealizationoflangueinactualuse.

⏹Langueisabstract;itisnotthelanguagepeopleactuallyuse.Paroleisconcrete;itreferstothenaturallyoccurringlanguageevents.

⏹Langueisstable,itdoesn’tchangefrequently;whileparolevariesfrompersontoperson,andfromsituationtosituation.

SomeImportantdistinctionsinlinguistics5

⏹Competenceandperformance（Chomsky）

⏹SimilartoSaussure’sdistinctionbetweenlangueandparole

⏹Competence:

theidealuser’sknowledgeoftherulesofhislanguage

⏹Performance:

theactualrealizationofthisknowledgeinlinguisticcommunication.

Linguisticsvs.traditionalgrammar

⏹a）Linguisticsisdescriptive,notprescriptive

⏹Alinguistisinterestedinwhatissaid,notwhatoughttobesaid.Hedescribeslanguageinallitsaspects,butdoesnotprescriberulesof‘correctness’.Hewillregardthechangesinlanguageandlanguageuseastheresultofanaturalandcontinuousprocess,notsomethingtobefeared.

⏹Do/Don’tsayX.（prescriptive）

⏹Peopledo/don’tsayX.（descriptive）

⏹b）Linguisticsregardsthespokenlanguageasprimary,notthewritten.

⏹Linguistsgiveprioritytothespokenlanguage,becauseitprecedesthewrittenlanguageeverywhereintheworldandmostwritingsystemsarederivedfromthevocalsounds.

⏹c）LinguisticsdiffersfromtraditionalgrammarinthatitdoesnotforcelanguagesintoaLatin-basedframework.

⏹Inthepast,manytraditionaltextbookshaveassumedunquestionablythatLatinprovidesauniversalframeworkintowhichalllanguagesfit.

⏹Linguistsareopposedtothenotionthatanyonelanguagecanprovideanadequateframeworkforallotherlanguages.Theyaretryingtosetupauniversalframework,whichisbasedonthefeaturessharedbymostofthelanguagesusedbymankind.

Abriefhistoryoflinguistics

⏹1.Saussureasthefatherofmodernlinguistics

-becausethebookunderhisnameCourseinGeneralLinguisticsisthefirstsystematicelaborationonlinguistictheory.

⏹Signifiantandsignifié能指与所指

-Signifiant（signifier）referstothethingthatsignifies,andsignifié（signified）isthethingorconceptsignified.TherelationshipbetweenthemisseenbySaussureasarbitrary.

⏹Syntagmaticandparadigmaticrelations组合关系与聚合关系

-Whenthesignsareseenasalinearsequence,therelationshipbetweenthemissyntagmatic.Aparadigmatic（or“associative”）relationisarelationbetweenalinguisticsigninanutteranceandothersignsinthelanguage.E.g.,Heisaprettyhandsomeyoungman.

⏹2.Americanstructuralism

-TheAmericanlinguistictraditionchieflyoriginatesfromtheAmericananthropologists’concerntoestablishadequatedescriptionoftheAmericanIndianlanguagesandculturesonthebrinkofextinction.

-Americanstructuralismflourishedfromthe1920stothelate1950s.

-Representatives:

FranzBoasandEdwardSapir