英语语言学知识整理DOC.docx

1、英语语言学知识整理DOCChapter 1 Introduction语言学的定义：Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.问题：How do you interpret the following definition of linguistics: Linguistics is the scientific study of language?It is a scientific study because it is based on the systematic investigation

2、of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure.What the linguist has to do “first, then, but”:to observe and collect language facts and generalizations are made about them.to formulate some hypotheses about the language structure.to check the hypotheses thu

3、s formed repeatedly against the observed facts to fully prove their validity.The study of language as a whole is often called general linguistics. (普通语言学)问题: What are the major branches of linguistics? What does each of them study?phonetics（语音学）the study of soundsphonology（音位学）study how sounds are p

4、ut together and used to convey meaningmorphology（形态学）study the way in which symbols or morphemes are arranged and combined to form words.syntax（句法学）the study of rules of forming sentencessemantics（语义学）the study of meaningpragmatics（语用学） the context of language useSociolinguistics（社会语言学）：The studies

5、of all these social aspects of language and its relation with society form the core of the branch.Psycholinguistics（语言心理学）：Relate the study of language to psychologyApplied linguistics（应用语言学）：In a narrow sense it refers to the application of linguistic theories and principles to language teaching, e

6、specially the teaching of foreign and second languages. Some important distinctions in linguistics:prescriptive（规定性）/descriptive（描写性）synchronic（共时）/diachronic（历时）speech（口语）/writing（书面语）langue（语言）/parole（言语）（the Swiss linguist F. de SaussureCourse in General Linguistics）competence（语言能力）/performance（语

7、言应用）（the American linguist N. Chomsky）traditional grammar （传统语法）/modern linguistics（现代语言学）问题：in what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar?linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive.modern linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not

8、the written.modern linguistics does not force languages into a Latin-based framework.问题：Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic? Why? In modern linguistics, a synchronic (不考虑历史演进的, 限于一时的) approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic (探求现象变化的, 历时的) one. Because it is believed that

9、 unless the various states of a language in different historical periods are successfully studied, it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development. Synchronic descriptions are often thought of as being descriptions of language in its current existenc

10、e, and most linguistic studies are of this type.问题：For what reasons does modern linguistics give priority to speech rather than to writing?From the point of view of linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any language is always “invented” by its users to record speech

11、 when the need arises. Even in todays world there are still many languages that can only be spoken but not written. Then in everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed.Spoken language reveals more true features of human speech while

12、 written language is only the “revised” record of speech. And linguists data for investigation and analysis are mostly drawn from everyday speech, which they regarded as authentic.语言的定义：Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.Design features of language（7个识别特征）ar

13、bitrariness 任意性 （at the syntactic level）productivity 能产性，创造性 Secondary units（底层结构 sounds）duality 双层性 Primary units （上层结构 units of meaning）displacement 不受时空限制性（handle generalization and abstraction）cultural transmission 文化传递性interchangeability 互换性convention 约定性Functions of language：三大主要功能：The descrip

14、tive functionThe expressive functionThe social functionRoman Jacobson（6种首要因素，结构主义语言学家）speaker addresseremotive 感情功能addresseeconative 意动功能contextreferential所指功能messagepoetic 诗学功能contactphatic communion交感功能codemetalinguistic 元语言功能Other functions:phatic function 问候功能informative f. 信息功能interrogative f.

15、询问功能expressive f. 表达功能evocative f. 感染功能directive f. 指令功能performative f. 行使（权力）功能M.A.K. Hallidayideationalinterpersonal（indicate/establish/maintain/social relationships）textual问题：How is Saussures distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomskys distinction between competence and performance?

16、The distinction between langue and parole was made by Saussure, langue is abstract; it is not the language people actually use. Parole is concrete; it refers to the naturally occurring language events. Langue is relatively stable; it does not change frequently, while parole varies from people to peo

17、ple, and from situation to situation.The distinction between competence and performance proposed by the American linguists Chomsky, competence is a deal users knowledge of the rules of his language, and the performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. Imperfec

18、t performance is caused by social and psychological factors.Saussure makes this distinction in order to single out one aspect of language for serious study. In his opinion, parole is simple a mass of linguistic facts, too varied confusing for systematic investigation, and that linguistics should do

19、is to abstract langue from parole, i.e., to discover the regularities governing the actual use of language and make them the subjects of study of linguistics.Similar to Saussure, Chomsky thinks what linguists should study is the ideal speakers competence, not his performance, which is too haphazard

20、to be studied. 问题：What are the main features of human language that have been specified by C. Hockett to show that it is essentially different from animal communication system?arbitrariness 任意性 （at the syntactic level）productivity 能产性，创造性 Secondary units（底层结构 sounds）duality 双层性 Primary units （上层结构 u

21、nits of meaning）displacement 不受时空限制性（handle generalization and abstraction）cultural transmission 文化传递性interchangeability 互换性convention 约定性Chapter 2 PhonologyPhonetics: （语音学）the study of the phonic medium of languagelook at speech sounds from 3 distinct but related points of view. study the sounds fr

22、om the speakers point of viewarticulatory phonetics（发音语音学） look at the sounds from the hearers point of viewauditory phonetics（听觉语音学） study the way sounds travel by looking at the sound wavesacoustic phonetics（声学语音学）study how sounds are produced, transmitted and perceived.Organs of speech:three impo

23、rtant areas1 The pharyngeal cavitythe throat the oral cavitythe mouth the nasal cavitythe nose The pharyngeal cavitywindpipe/glottis/larynx/vocal cords the oral cavitytongue/uvula/soft palate(velum)/hard palate/teeth ridge(alveolus) /teeth/lipsInternational Phonetic Alphabet （IPA）diacritics 附加符号broa

24、d transcription（宽式标音）the transcription with letter-symbols onlynarrow transcription（严式标音）the transcription with letter-symbols together with the diacriticsClassification of English speech soundstwo broad categories of speech sounds in English: Vowels/consonantstwo ways to classify the English conson

25、ants: In terms of manner of articulationIn terms of place of articulationIn terms of manner of articulation: Stops/fricatives/affricates/liquids/nasals/glidesIn terms of place of articulation: Bilabial/labiodental/dental/alveolar/palatal/velar/glottalbilabialLabio-dentaldentalalveolarpalatalvelarglo

26、ttalstopsVLptkVDbdgfricativesVLfshVDvzaffricatesVL(t)tVD(d)dnasalsVDmnliquidsVDl/rglidesVDwjClassification of English vowelscriteria :（monophthongs）单元音 The position of the tongue in the mouth: front/central/back The openness of the mouth: close vowels/semi-close vowels/semi-open vowels/open vowels T

27、he shape of the lips: unrounded/rounded The length of the vowels: tense/laxfrontcentralbackclose i:u: i uSemi-close e:Semi-open:open aa:diphthongs 双元音/ ei / / ai / au / u / i / i / u /Phonology 音韵学，语音体系Difference of phonology and phonetics:1 Phonetics is interested in all the speech sounds used in a

28、ll human languages.2 Phonology aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.Phone（音素）: A phone is a phonetic unit or segment.Phoneme（音位）: It is a phonological unit; it is a unit that is of distinctive value

29、. It is an abstract unit. It is not any particular sound, but rather it is represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context.Allophone（音位变体）: The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophones of that phoneme.Phonemi

30、c contrast（音位对立）Complementary distribution（音位变体的互补分布）Minimal pairs（最小对立体）：含音位的单词的全部音标Minimal set（最小对立集）：is used to find the important sounds in language.Phonological Analysis（音位分析）Principle: certain sounds cause changes in the meaning of a word or phase, whereas other sounds do not.Phonetically similar sounds: 描述音位关系Free variants: 音位的自由变体The difference of pronouncing a sound caused by dialect, habit, individual difference or regional differences instead of by any distribution rule.Some rules in phonology sequential rules: 序列规则If a word begins with a / l / or a / r /, then the