Chapter 1 ：Introduction
Personal Information
Lecturer & MA (in future) in Linguistics Foreign Languages Department Bengbu College Contact Information: Phone: 13705523215
E-mail: joylover215@163.com language_2010@163.com (密码：bbxywyx)
About This Course Textbooks：
戴炜栋 《新编简明英语语言学教程》 上海外语教育出版社 2006 Further Reading
胡壮麟 《语言学教程》（修订版）
北京大学出版社 2005 H.G. Widdowson Linguistics (《语言学》) 上海外语教育出版社 2000 Content:
1.to read, understand and remember the basic rules, concepts and theories.
2.to discuss and try to solve some questions according to the exercises in the textbooks.
3.to read more sentences and articles about language and linguistics.
4.to do some simple researches
Objectives:
--mastery of some linguistic concepts and theories in order to understand how language is constructed, how language operates, how language is used to do things, how language is acquired or learnt, how language changes over time and varies according to the situation, etc.
--improvement of English proficiency in general and enhancement of the awareness of patterns and regularities in the English language
--preparation for further study and research about language --mastery of skills and methods of scientific research
Assessment:
1 your performance in class and homework (attendance; discussion; PPT) (30﹪)
2 quizzes in class (20﹪) 3 final examination (50﹪)
1.1 Why study language? 1. A tool for communication
2. An integral part of our life and humanity
3. If we are not fully aware of the nature and mechanism of our language, we will be ignorant of what constitutes our essential humanity.
“语言是存在的寓所”（海德格尔）：
在远处的意义上，“语言”就不是简单或低级的表达工具，而是“存在”的呈现途径……海德格尔通过对原初含义的追寻，使“语言”成为呈现“存在”的“地域”即“寓所”。……“存在”被置于“语言”途径去考察，这对割裂“存在”与“语言”的传统存在观、以及把“语言”仅仅视为“工具”的经典语言观，都是有力的挑战。它至少提醒人们，存在离不开阐释，而阐释就是语言性的，在这时，语言不只是表达现成存在的工具，而是构成存在的必要条件。“语言“被赋予神奇的功效。这种功效在于，“语言”并不是描述“世界“得简单工具，而是”世界“本身的显示。
1.2 What is language? Some important definitions:
According to E. Sapir (1921: 8): “Language is purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.” [emphasize the communicative function]
B. Bloch & G. L. Trager (1942: 5):
“A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group co-operates.”
[brings in the property of arbitrariness and explicitly restricts
language to spoken language]
R. H. Robins (1979: 9-14):
He notes that languages are “symbol systems…almost wholly based on pure or arbitrary convention”, but lays special emphasis on their flexibility and adaptability. “Languages are adaptable and modifiable according to the changing needs and conditions of speakers.”
[So, a language is a system; it’s conventional and arbitrary]
N. Chomsky (1957: 13):
“From now on I will consider a language to be a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.”
[It says nothing about the communicative function, neither does it say anything about the symbolic nature of the elements or sequences of them.]
R. A. Hall (1968: 158):
Language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.”
[Both communication and interaction are introduced into the definition“oral-auditory” makes reference to the hearer as well as to the speaker; “habitually used”: the behaviorists’
stimulus-response language-acquisition.]
theory of language-use and
Other important definitions: 索绪尔(de Saussure, 1916):
但语言是什么呢？在我们看来，语言和言语活动不能混为一谈：它只是言语活动的一个确定的部分，而且当然是一个主要的部分。它既是言语机能的社会产物，又是社会集团为了使个人有可能行使这机能所采用的一整套必不可少的规约。整个来看，言语活动是多方面的、性质复杂的，同时跨着物理、生理和心理几个领域，它还属于个人的领域和社会的领域。我们没法把它归入任何一个人文事实的范畴，因为不知道怎样去理出它的统一体。
相反，语言本身就是一个整体、一个分类的原则。我们一旦在言语活动的事实中给以首要的地位，就在一个不容许作其他任何分类的整体中引入一种自然的秩序。
《中国大百科全书》：
语言（1anguage）：人类特有的一种符号系统。当作用于人与人的关系的时侯，它是表达相互反应的中介；当作用于人和客观世界的关系的时候，它是认知事物的工具；当作用于文化的时候，它是文化信息的载体。
Webster?s New World Dictionary: [1] (a) human speech;