Chapter one 学点语言学
语言学是对语言的系统研究，对于一个学习英语的人来说，应该懂一点语言学的知识，它可以在理论上对学习语言有指导作用，有助于更好的学习语言。 The Goals for this Course
To get a scientific view on language;
To understand some basic theories on linguistics;
To understand the applications of the linguistic theories, especially in the fields of language teaching & learning (SLA or TEFL), cross-cultural communication……; To prepare for the future research work.
The Requirements for this course Class attendance Classroom discussion
Fulfillment of the assignment Examination Reference Books
戴炜栋，何兆熊，(2002)，《新编简明英语语言学教程》，上海外语教育出版社。 胡壮麟，(2001)，《语言学教程》，北京大学出版社。 胡壮麟，李战子，《语言学简明教程》，北京大学出版社 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.
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.
Teaching aims: let the students have the general idea about language and linguistics.
Teaching difficulties: design features of language; some important distinctions in linguistics
Why do we study language? A tool for communication
An integral part of our life and humanity
If we are not fully aware of the nature and mechanism of our language, we will be ignorant of what constitutes our essential humanity. What can language mean? Language can mean
what a person says (e.g. bad language, expressions)
the way of speaking or writing (e.g. Shakespeare‘s language, Luxun‘s 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 features of all human languages (e.g. He studies language) a tool for human communication. (social function) a set of rules. (rule-governed)
The origins of language---the myth of language The Biblical account
Language was God‘s gift to human beings. The bow-wow theory
Language was an imitation of natural sounds, such as the cries of animals, like quack, cuckoo. The pooh-pooh theory
Language arose from instinctive emotional cries, expressive of pain or joy. The yo-he-ho theory
Language arose from the noises made by a group of people engaged in joint labour or effort – lifting a huge hunted game, moving a rock, etc. The evolution theory
Language originated in the process of labour and answered the call of social need. Functions of language – three meta-functions by Halliday The ideational function
To identify things, to think, or to record information. The interpersonal function To get along in a community. The textual function To form a text.
Functions of language
Phatic: establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact. Directive: get the hearer to do something. Informative: give information about facts. 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.
What is Language
Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. What is communication?
A process in which information is transmitted from a source (sender or speaker) to a goal (receiver or listener).
A system----elements in it are arranged according to certain rules. They cannot be arranged at will. e.g. He the table cleaned. (×) bkli (×)
Arbitrary----there is no intrinsic (logic) connection between a linguistic form and its meaning. Symbols----words are just the symbols associated with objects, actions, and ideas by convention. Vocal--------the primary medium for all languages is sound, no matter how well developed their
writing systems are.
Writing systems came into being much later than the spoken forms. People with little or no literacy can also be competent language users. Human ----language is human-specific.
Human beings have different kinds of brains and vocal capacity. “Language Acquisition Device‖(LAD)
Design features of language 语言的结构特征
Design features refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication.
a. arbitrariness----the form of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. The link between them is a matter of convention. E.g. ―house‖ uchi (Japanese)
Mansion (French) 房子(Chinese)
conventionality----It means that in any language there are certain sequences of sounds that have a conventionally accepted meaning. Those words are customarily used by all speakers with the same intended meaning and understood by all listeners in the same way.
There are two different schools of belief concerning arbitrariness. Most people, especially structural linguists believe that language is arbitrary by nature. Other people, however, hold that language is iconic, that is, there is a direct relation or correspondence between sound and meaning, such as onomatopoeia.(cuckoo; crash)
For the majority of animal signals, there does appear to be a clear connection between the conveyed message and the signal used to convey it, And for them, the sets of signals used in communication is finite.
b. duality----language is simultaneously organized at two levels or layers, namely, the level of sounds and that of meaning.
the higher level ----words which are meaningful
the lower or the basic level----sounds which are meaningless, but can be grouped and regrouped into words.
Dog: woof (but not ―w-oo-f ‖ )
This duality of levels is, in fact, one of the most economical features of human language, since with a limited set of distinct sounds we are capable of producing a very large number of sound combinations (e.g. words) which are distinct in meaning. The principle of economy
c. Creativity----language is resourceful. It makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users.(novel utterances are continually being created.) non-human signals ,on the other hand, appears to have little flexibility. e.g. an experiment of bee communication:
The worker bee, normally able to communicate the location of a nectar source , will fail to do so if the location is really ?new‘. In one experiment, a hive of bees was placed at the foot of a radio tower and a food source at the top. Ten bees were taken to the top, shown the food source, and sent
off to tell the rest of the hive about their find. The message was conveyed via a bee dance and the whole gang buzzed off to get the free food. They
flow around in all directions, but couldn‘t locate the food. The problem may be that bee communication regarding location has a fixed set of signals, all of which related to horizontal distance. The bee cannot create a ?new ‘ message indicating vertical distance.
d. Displacement----human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present at the moment of communication. Bee communication:
When a worker bee finds a source of nectar and returns to the hive, it can perform a complex dance routine to communicate to the other bees the location of this nectar. Depending on the type of dance (round dance for nearby and tail-wagging dance, with variable tempo, for further away and how far), The other bees can work put where this newly discovered feast can be found. Bee communication has displacement in an extremely limited form. However, it must be the most recent food source.
e. Cultural transmission----genetic transmission
You acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from parental genes.
The process whereby language is passed on from one generation to the next is described as cultural transmission.
f. interchangeability: it means that individuals who use a language can both send and receive any permissible message within that communication system. Human beings can be a producer as well as receiver of messages. What is Linguistics(语言学)
Linguistics is a scientific study of language .It is a major branch of social science.
Linguistics studies not just one language of any society, but the language of all human society, language in general.
A scientific study is one which is based on the systematic investigation of data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. Process of linguistic study:
① Certain linguistic facts are observed, generalization are formed; ② Hypotheses are formulated;
③ Hypotheses are tested by further observations; ④ A linguistic theory is constructed.
observation------generalization-----hypothesis------tested by further observation------theory
Person who studies linguistics is known as a linguist.
The Scope of Linguistics
General linguistics is the study of language as a whole.
Internal branches: intra-disciplinary divisions (micro-linguistics)
Phonetics(语音学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription.
Phonology(音韵学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the sound patterns of languages. Morphology(词法) is the branch of linguistics which studies the form of words.
Syntax(句法) is the branch of linguistics which studies the rules governing the combination of words into sentences.
Semantics(语义学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the meaning of language.
Pragmatics(语用学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the meaning of language in use.
External branches: inter-disciplinary divisions (macro-linguistics)
Applied linguistics(应用语言学) is the study of the teaching of foreign and second languages. Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society. Psycholinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and the mind. Historical Linguistics(历史语言学) is the study of language changes.
Anthropological linguistics(人文语言学) uses the theories and methods of anthropology to study language variation and language use in relation to the cultural patterns and beliefs of man.
Neurolinguistics(神经语言学) studies the neurological basis of language development and use in human beings.
Mathematical linguistics(数学语言学) studies the mathematical features of language, often employing models and concepts of mathematics.
Computational linguistics(计算语言学) is an approach to linguistics in which mathematical techniques and concepts(概念) are applied, often with the aid of a computer.
Features of linguistics Descriptive
Dealing with spoken language Synchronic
Some Basic Distinctions(区分) in Linguistics 1. Speech and Writing
One general principle(原则) of linguistic analysis is the primacy of speech over writing. Writing gives language new scope(范畴) and uses that speech does not have. 2. Descriptive(描述性) or Prescriptive(说明性)
A linguistic study is descriptive if it describes and analyses facts observed; it is prescriptive if it tries to lay down rules for \
3. Synchronic(共时) and Diachronic(历时) Studies
The description of a language at some point in time is a synchronic study and The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study. 4. Langue(语言) and Parole(言语)
This is a distinction made by the Swiss linguist F.De Saussure (索绪尔）early last century. langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community and parole refers to the actualized(实际的) language, or realization of langue. 5. Competence(能力)and Performance(行为)
Competence is the ideal language user's knowledge of the rules of his language. Performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances(发声).
6. Potential and Behavior: English linguist Halliday makes another similar distinction in the 1960s, namely the distinction between linguistic potential and linguistic behavior. He approaches language from a functional view and concentrates primarily on what speakers do with language