《语言学概论》笔记.docx

1、语言学概论笔记语言学概论笔记1.1.Whatislanguage?“Languageissystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.Itisasystem,sincelinguisticelementsarearrangedsystematically,ratherthanrandomly.Arbitrary,inthesensethatthereisusuallynointrinsicconnectionbetweenawork(like“book”)andtheobjectitrefersto.Thisexplainsand

2、isexplainedbythefactthatdifferentlanguageshavedifferent“books”:“book”inEnglish,“livre”inFrench,inJapanese,inChinese,“check”inKorean.Itissymbolic,becausewordsareassociatedwithobjects,actions,ideasetc.bynothingbutconvention.Namely,peopleusethesoundsorvocalformstosymbolizewhattheywishtoreferto.Itisvoca

3、l,becausesoundorspeechistheprimarymediumforallhumanlanguages,developedor“new”.Writingsystemscamemuchlaterthanthespokenforms.Thefactthatsmallchildrenlearnandcanonlylearntospeak(andlisten)beforetheywrite(andread)alsoindicatesthatlanguageisprimarilyvocal,ratherthanwritten.Theterm“human”inthedefinitioni

4、smeanttospecifythatlanguageishumanspecific.1.2.Whataredesignfeaturesoflanguage?“Designfeatures”hererefertothedefiningpropertiesofhumanlanguagethattellthedifferencebetweenhumanlanguageandanysystemofanimalcommunication.Theyarearbitrariness,duality,productivity,displacement,culturaltransmissionandinter

5、changeability1.3.Whatisarbitrariness?By“arbitrariness”,wemeanthereisnologicalconnectionbetweenmeaningsandsounds(seeI.1).Adogmightbeapigifonlythefirstpersonorgroupofpersonshaduseditforapig.Languageisthereforelargelyarbitrary.Butlanguageisnotabsolutelyseemtobesomesound-meaningassociation,ifwethinkofec

6、howords,like“bang”,“crash”,“roar”,whicharemotivatedinacertainsense.Secondly,somecompounds(wordscompoundedtobeoneword)arenotentirelyarbitraryeither.“Type”and“write”areopaqueorunmotivatedwords,while“type-writer”islessso,ormoretransparentormotivatedthanthewordsthatmakeit.Sowecansay“arbitrariness”isamat

7、terofdegree.1.4.Whatisduality?Linguistsrefer“duality”(ofstructure)tothefactthatinalllanguagessofarinvestigated,onefindstwolevelsofstructureorpatterning.Atthefirst,higherlevel,languageisanalyzedintermsofcombinationsofmeaningfulunits(suchasmorphemes,wordsetc.);atthesecond,lowerlevel,itisseenasasequenc

8、eofsegmentswhichlackanymeaninginthemselves,butwhichcombinetoformunitsofmeaning.AccordingtoHuZhanglinetal.(p.6),languageisasystemoftwosetsofstructures,oneofsoundsandtheotherofmeaning.Thisisimportantfortheworkingsoflanguage.Asmallnumberofsemanticunits(words),andtheseunitsofmeaningcanbearrangedandrearr

9、angedintoaninfinitenumberofsentences(notethatwehavedictionariesofwords,butnodictionaryofsentences!).Dualitymakesitpossibleforapersontotalkaboutanythingwithinhisknowledge.Noanimalcommunicationsystemenjoysthisduality,orevenapproachesthishonor.1.5.Whatisproductivity?Productivityreferstotheabilitytothea

10、bilitytoconstructandunderstandanindefinitelylargenumberofsentencesinonesnativelanguage,includingthosethathasneverheardbefore,butthatareappropriatetothespeakingsituation.Noonehaseversaidorheard“Ared-eyedelephantisdancingonthesmallhotelbedwithanAfricangibbon”,buthecansayitwhennecessary,andhecanunderst

11、anditinrightregister.Differentfromartisticcreativity,though,productivitynevergoesoutsidethelanguage,thusalsocalled“rule-boundcreativity”(byN.Chomsky).1.6.Whatisdisplacement?“Displacement”,asoneofthedesignfeaturesofthehumanlanguage,referstothefactthatonecantalkaboutthingsthatarenotpresent,aseasilyash

12、edoesthingspresent.Inotherwords,onecanrefertorealandunrealthings,thingsofthepast,ofthepresent,ofthefuture.Languageitselfcanbetalkedabouttoo.Whenaman,forexample,iscryingtoawoman,aboutsomething,itmightbesomethingthathadoccurred,orsomethingthatisoccurring,orsomethingthatistooccur.Whenadogisbarking,howe

13、ver,youcandecideitisbarkingforsomethingoratsomeonethatexistsnowandthere.Itcouldntbebowwowingsorrowfullyfordomelostloveorabonetobelost.Thebeessystem,nonetheless,hasasmallshareof“displacement”,butitisanunspeakabletinyshare.1.7.Whatisculturaltransmission?Thismeansthatlanguageisnotbiologicallytransmitte

14、dfromgenerationtogeneration,butthatthedetailsofthelinguisticsystemmustbelearnedanewbyeachspeaker.Itistruethatthecapacityforlanguageinhumanbeings(N.Chomskycalledit“languageacquisitiondevice”,orLAD)hasageneticbasis,buttheparticularlanguageapersonlearnstospeakisaculturaloneotherthanageneticonelikethedo

15、gsbarkingsystem.Ifahumanbeingisbroughtupinisolationhecannotacquirelanguage.TheWolfChildrearedbythepackofwolvesturnedouttospeakthewolfsroaring“tongue”whenhewassaved.Helearnedthereafter,withnosmalldifficulty,theABCofacertainhumanlanguage.1.8.Whatisinterchangeability?(1)Interchangeabilitymeansthatanyhu

16、manbeingcanbebothaproducerandareceiverofmessages.Wecansay,andonotheroccasionscanreceiveandunderstand,forexample,“Pleasedosomethingtomakemehappy.”Thoughsomepeople(includingme)suggestthatthereissexdifferentiationintheactuallanguageuse,inotherwords,menandwomenmaysaydifferentthings,yetinprinciplethereis

17、nosound,orwordorsentencethatamancanutterandawomancannot,orviceversa.Ontheotherhand,apersoncanbethespeakerwhiletheotherpersonisthelistenerandastheturnmovesontothelistener,hecanbethespeakerandthefirstspeakeristolisten.Itisturn-takingthatmakessocialcommunicationpossibleandacceptable.(2)Somemalebirds,ho

18、wever,uttersomecalls,whichfemalesdonot(orcannot?),andcertainkindsoffishhavesimilarhapsmentionable.Whenadogbarks,alltheneighboringdogsbark.Thenpeoplearoundcanhardlytellwhichdog(dogs)is(are0“speaking”andwhichlistening.1.9.Whydolinguistssaylanguageishumanspecific?Firstofall,humanlanguagehassix“designfe

19、atures”whichanimalcommunicationsystemsdonothave,atleastnotinthetruesenseofthem(seeI.2-8).LetsborrowC.F.HocketsChartthatcompareshumanlanguagewithsomeanimalssystems,fromWangGang(1998,p.8).Secondly,linguistshavedonealottryingtoteachanimalssuchaschimpanzeestospeakahumanlanguagebuthaveachievednothinginsp

20、iring.BeatniceandAlanGardnerbroughtupWashoe,afemalechimpanzee,likeahumanchild.Shewastaught“AmericansignLanguage”,andlearnedalittlethatmadetheteachershappybutdidmotmakethelinguisticscirclehappy,forfewbelievedinteachingchimpanzees.Thirdly,ahumanchildrearedamonganimalscannotspeakahumanlanguage,notevenw

21、henheistakenbackandtaughttolotoso(seethe“WolfChild”inI.7)1.10.Whatfunctionsdoeslanguagehave?Languagehasatleastsevenfunctions:phatic,directive,Informative,interrogative,expressive,evocativeandperformative.AccordingtoWangGang(1988,p.11),languagehasthreemainfunctions:atoolofcommunication,atoolwherebype

22、oplelearnabouttheworld,andatoolbywhichpeoplelearnabouttheworld,andatoolbywhichpeoplecreateart.M.A.K.Halliday,representativeoftheLondonschool,recognizesthree“Macro-Functions”:ideational,interpersonalandtextual(see!11-17;seeHUZhuanglinetal.,pp10-13,pp394-396).1.11Whatisthephaticfunction?The“phaticfunc

23、tion”referstolanguagebeingusedforsettingupacertainatmosphereormaintainingsocialcontacts(ratherthanforexchanginginformationorideas).Greetings,farewells,andcommentsontheweatherinEnglishandonclothinginChineseallservethisfunction.Muchofthephaticlanguage(e.g.“Howareyou?”“Fine,thanks.”)Isinsincereiftakenl

24、iterally,butitisimportant.Ifyoudontsay“Hello”toafriendyoumeet,orifyoudontanswerhis“Hi”,youruinyourfriendship.1.12.Whatisthedirectivefunction?The“directivefunction”meansthatlanguagemaybeusedtogetthehearertodosomething.Mostimperativesentencesperformthisfunction,e.g.,“Tellmetheresultwhenyoufinish.”Othe

25、rsyntacticstructuresorsentencesofothersortscan,accordingtoJ.AustinandJ.Searles“indirectspeechacttheory”(seeHuZhuanglinetal.,pp271-278)atleast,servethepurposeofdirectiontoo,e.g.,“IfIwereyou,Iwouldhaveblushedtothebottomofmyears!”1.13.Whatistheinformativefunction?Languageservesan“informationalfunction”

26、whenusedtotellsomething,characterizedbytheuseofdeclarativesentences.Informativestatementsareoftenlabeledastrue(truth)orfalse(falsehood).AccordingtoP.Grices“CooperativePrinciple”(seeHuZhuanglinetal.,pp282-283),oneoughtnottoviolatethe“MaximofQuality”,whenheisinformingatall.1.14.Whatistheinterrogativef

27、unction?Whenlanguageisusedtoobtaininformation,itservesan“interrogativefunction”.Thisincludesallquestionsthatexpectreplies,statements,imperativesetc.,accordingtothe“indirectspeechacttheory”,mayhavethisfunctionaswell,e.g.,“Idliketoknowyoubetter.”Thismaybringforthalotofpersonalinformation.Notethatrhetoricalquestionsmakeanexception,sincetheydemandnoanswer,atleastnotthereaders/listenersanswer.1.15.Whatistheexpressivefunction?The“expressivefunction”istheuseoflan