《新编简明英语语言学教程》Word下载.docx

1、 刘润清，（1995），西方语言学流派，外语教学与研究出版社。 Fromkin,V. & R. Rodman, （1998）, An Introduction to Language the sixth edition, Orlando, Florida: Holt, Ranehart & Winston, Inc.Chapter 1. Introduction1. What is language?Language can mean what a person says （e.g. bad language, expressions） the way of speaking or writi

2、ng （e.g. Shakespeares language, Luxuns language） a particular variety or level of speech or writing （e.g. language for special purpose, colloquial language） the abstract system underlying the totality of the speech/writing behavior of a community （e.g. Chinese language, first language） the common fe

3、atures of all human languages （e.g. He studies language） a tool for human communication. （social function） a set of rules. （rule-governed） Sapirs definition （1921） “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced sym

4、bols.”Halls definition （1968） Language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.”Chomskys definition （1957） “From now on I will consider language to be a set of （finite or infinite） sentences, each finite

5、in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.”Language can be generally defined asa system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.Language is a system Systematic- rule-governed, elements in it are arranged according to certain rules; cant be combined at will. e.g. *bkli

6、, *I apple eat.Language is arbitrary Arbitrary- no intrinsic connection between the word and the thing it denotes, e.g. “pen” by any other name is the thing we use to write with.Language is symbolic in nature Symbolic- words are associated with objects, actions ideas by convention. “A rose by any ot

7、her name would smell as sweet”-Shakespeare Language is primarily vocal Vocal- the primary medium is sound for all languages; writing system came much later than spoken form. Language is human-specific Human-specific- different from the communication systems other forms of life possess, e.g. bird son

8、gs, bee dance, animal cries.The design/defining features of human language（Charles Hockett） Arbitrariness Productivity/Creativity Duality Displacement Cultural transmissionArbitrariness -No logical （motivated or intrinsic） connection between sounds and meanings. Onomatopoeic words （which imitate nat

9、ural sounds） are somewhat motivated （ English: rumble, crackle, bang, . Chinese: putong, shasha, dingdang ） Some compound words are not entirely arbitrary, e.g. type-writer, shoe-maker, air-conditioner, photocopyProductivity/creativity -Peculiar to human languages，users of language can understand an

10、d produce sentences they have never heard before, e.g. we can understand sentence like “ A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the hotel bed”, though it does not describe a common happening in the world. A gibbon call system is not productive for gibbon draw all their calls from a fixed repertoire which

11、 is rapidly exhausted, making any novelty impossible. The bee dance does have a limited productivity, as it is used to communicate about food sources in any direction. But food sources are the only kind of messages that can be sent through the bee dance; bees do not “talk” about themselves, the hive

12、s, or wind, let alone about people, animals, hopes or desires Duality （double articulation） Lower level-sounds （meaningless） Higher level-meaning （larger units of meaning） A communication system with duality is considered more flexible than one without it, for a far greater number of messages can be

13、 sent. A small number of sounds can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning （words）, and the units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences. （we make dictionary of a language, but we cannot make a dictionary of sentences of that language

14、.Displacement -Language can be used to refer to things, which are not present: real or imagined matters in the past, present or future, or in far-away places. A gibbon never utters a call about something he ate last year There is something special about the bee dance though. Bees communicate with ot

15、her bees about the food sources they have found when they are no longer in the presence of the food. In this sense, the bee dance has a component of displacement. But this component is very insignificant. For the bees must communicate about the food immediately on returning to the hive. They do not

16、dance about the food they discovered last month nor do they speculate about future discoveries.Cultural transmission-Language is culturally transmitted （through teaching and learning; rather than by instinct）. Animal call systems are genetically transmitted. All cats, gibbons and bees have systems w

17、hich are almost identical to those of all other cats, gibbons and bees. A Chinese speaker and an English speaker are not mutually intelligible. This shows that language is culturally transmitted. That is, it is pass on from one generation to the next by teaching and learning, rather than by instinct

18、. The story of a wolf child, a pig child shows that a human being brought up in isolation simply does not acquire human language. Functions of language Phatic: establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact. Directive: get the hearer to do something. Informative: give information about fac

19、ts. Interrogative: get information from others. Expressive: express feelings and attitudes of the speaker. Evocative: create certain feelings in the hearer （amuse, startle, soothe, worry or please） Performative: language is used to do things, to perform actions. The origin of language The divine-ori

20、gin theory- Language is a gift of God to mankind. The invention theory- imitative, cries of nature, the grunts of men working together. The evolutionary theory- the result of physical and psychological development.许国璋先生认为把语言定义成交际工具不够科学,至少不够严谨.他对语言的定义做了如下概括:语言是一种符号系统. 当它作用于人与人之间的关系的时候,它是表达相互反应的中介; 当它

21、作用于人与客观世界的关系的时候,它是认知事物的工具; 当它作用于文化的时候,它是文化的载体.2. What is linguistics? -Linguistics is the scientific study of language. -A person who studies linguistics is known as a linguist. Four principles of linguistic studies Exhaustiveness/adequacy Consistency Economy Objectivity The scope or major branches

22、of linguistics Theoretical linguistics Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Use of linguistics Applied linguistics Sociolinguistics Psycholinguistics Theoretical linguistics Phonetics-speech sound （description, classification, transcription）: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, au

23、ditory phonetics. Phonology-sound patterns of languages Morphology-the form of words Syntax-the rules governing the combination of words into sentence. Semantics-the meaning of language （when the meaning of language is conducted in the context of language use-Pragmatics）Use of linguistics Applied li

24、nguistics-linguistics and language teaching Sociolinguistics- social factors （e.g. class, education） affect language use Psycholinguistics-linguistic behavior and psychological process Stylistics-linguistic and literature Some other applications Anthropological linguistics Neurolinguistics Computati

25、onal linguistics （e.g. machine translation）Some important distinctions in linguistics Descriptive vs prescriptive Descriptive - describe/analyze linguistic facts observed or language people actually use （modern linguistic） Prescriptive -lay down rules for “correct” linguistic behavior in using langu

26、age （traditional grammar）Synchronic vs diachronic Synchronic study- description of a language at some point of time （modern linguistics） Diachronic study- description of a language through time （historical development of language over a period of time）Speech vs writing Speech - primary medium of lan

27、guage Writing - later developedLangue vs parole （F. de Saussure） Langue - the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of the speech community. Parole - the realization of langue in actual use. Saussure takes a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conv

28、entions.Competence and performance （Chomsky） Competence - the ideal users knowledge of the rules of his language Performance - the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the

29、mind of each individual.Traditional grammar vs modern linguistics Traditional grammar - prescriptive, written, Latin-based framework Modern linguistics - descriptive, spoken, not necessarily Latin-based framework Chapter 2 Phonology Language is primarily vocal. The primary medium of human language is sound. Linguists are not interested in all sounds, but in speech sound