英语语言学笔记.docx

1、英语语言学笔记第一章1.What is language?Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication2.Design features of languageArbitrariness(任意性)refers to the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. (sounds and meanings)Duality（二层性）:The property of having two

2、levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization.Productivity/creativity(创造性）:Language is productive in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signal

3、s by its users. Displacement(移位性):Human Languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at moment of communication. (p7)3.Functions of language Informative(信息功能): to give information about facts. (ideational) Interpersonal(人际功能): to es

4、tablish and maintain social status in a society.(age, sex, language, background, accent, status) Performative(施为功能) : language is used to do things, to perform certain actions. (name, promise, apologize, sorry, declare). Emotive/Expressive (情感功能): to express feelings and attitudes of the speaker. Ph

5、atic communion(寒暄交流) : to use small and meaningless expressions to establish a comfortable relationship or maintain social contact between people without any factual content. (health, weather) Recreational function(娱乐): the use of language for sheer joy. (lyrics, poetry)Metalingual function(元语言功能):

6、to talk about language itself.4. What is linguistics?Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.5. Important distinctions in linguisticsDescriptive & prescriptiveSynchronic & diachronicLangue & parole Competence & performance6.Descriptive(描写/述性)describe and analyze linguist

7、ic facts or the language people actually use (modern linguistic)Prescriptive(规定性)lay down rules for “correct and standard” linguistic behavior in using language (traditional grammar: “never use a double negative”)7.Synchronic study (共时)description of a language at some point of time (modern linguist

8、ics) Diachronic study (历时) description of a language as it changes through time (historical development of language over a period of time) 第四章1What is Syntax （句法）?Syntax is the study of the rules governing the ways different constituents are combined to form sentences.句法就是研究语言的不同成分组成句子的规则2Four Appro

9、aches :The traditional approach传统语言观 (Parts of speech、Syntactic Function不考、Category范畴、Concord and government一致关系和支配关系)、The structural approach结构语言观、The generative approach、The functional approach功能语言观3The traditional grammar regards sentences as a sequence of words , so it pays great attention to th

10、e study of words, such as the classification of words in terms of parts of speech, the identification of function of words in terms of subject, predicate , etc.4. Parts of speechTraditional grammar defines 8 parts of speech: nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and

11、 interjections.5The term Category范畴 in some approaches refers to word classes and functions in its narrow sense,范畴这一术语狭义上是指词类和功能 eg. Noun, Verb, Subject, Predicate. More specifically, it refers to the defining properties of these general units: the categories of the noun名词的范畴, include number, gender

12、, case and countability（case）; the categories of the verb动词的范畴: tense, aspect, voice, etc.6Number is mostly a category of the noun and pronoun名词和不可数名词.Two terms of number in nouns: singular and plural单数和复数Number is also reflected in the inflections of pronouns and verbs7. Gender is also mostly a cat

13、egory of the noun and pronoun.In English, the gender distinctions are on the whole natural, determined by the biological gender of the creature.8. Case is used in the analysis of word classes to identify the syntactic relationship between words in a sentence.在词类分析中，格范畴用来辨别句子中词之间的句法关系In English, pron

14、ouns have three cases of nominative主格, accusative受格, and genitive与格. Nouns have two of general and genitive所有格In English, the case of noun is realised in three channels:(a) inflection(b) following a preposition(c) word order9. Tense时态: the absolute location of an event or action on time. It is marke

15、d by an inflection of the verb. As a result, there are only two tenses recognized now: past and present.Since the future time does not involve any inflection of the verb, we do not refer to a “future tense”, even though in many different ways we can talk about the future.10. Aspect体: It has nothing

16、with time, and it tells us whether an action is ongoing or completed.Perfective（完成体） and Imperfective（进行体）Perfective and Progressive (in English)11. Voice语态: describe the relationship between verb and subject Passive被动语态 and active主动语态12. Concord and government Concord (一致关系) refers to agreement between words, especially between a verband the subject of a sentence.