语言学笔记.doc

I Introduction1. What is linguistics?Linguistics is the systematic/scientific study of language.study: investigate, examine, not learnscientific: based on the systematic investigation of data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure, the way in which it is studied.language(zero article): It implies that it studies not any particular language, but languages in general. What is the relationship between data & theory? In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation; that is, a theory without the support of data is hardly valid; data without being explained by some theory remain a muddled mass of things. The process of study may be as follows: 1) Certain linguistics facts are found to display some similarities, so generalizations are made about them. 2) On the basis of these generalizations hypotheses are formulated to account for the facts. These hypotheses are tested by further observations. 3) A theory is constructed about how language works.2. What is a linguist? What is the main task for him? A person who studies linguistics. He does not need to be able to use a large number of languages for communication purposes, but he should have a wide experience of different types of languages. His task is not to learn to use any particular language, but to study how each language is constructed, how it is used by its speakers, and how it is related to other languages. He is also concerned with how a language varies from dialect to dialect, from one social class to another, how it changes from one historical period to the next, and how children acquire their mother tongue. To sum up, his task is basically to study and understand the general principles upon which all languages are built. To make his analysis as scientific as possible, he is usually guided by 4 principles.Consistency (一致性): there should be no contradiction between different parts of the total statement.Economy (经济性) : other things being equal, a shorter statement or analysis is preferred to a long or more involved one. The best statements are the shortest possible ones which can account most fully for all facts.Objectivity(客观性): a linguist should be as objective as possible in his description and analysis of data, allowing no prejudice to influence his generalization.Exhaustiveness(穷尽性): to gather all the materials relevant to ones investigation and give them an adequate explanation.3. What are the scopes of linguistics?Phonetics: the study of human speech soundPhonology: the sound patteringMorphology: the study of the internal structure of words, and the rules by which words are formed Syntax: the arrangement of sentencesSemantics: the study of meaningPragmatics: the study of how speakers use sentences to effect successful communicationPsycholinguistics: the relationship between language & the mindHistoric linguistics: the study of language changeSociolinguistics: the relationship between language & societyApplied linguistics: the application of linguistic theories & principles to language teaching( narrow sense)Anthropological linguisticsNeurological linguisticsMathematical linguisticsComputational linguistics4. What are some important distinctions in linguistics?(重要区别) Synchronic linguistics (共时语言学):the study of a language system at one particular point in time （研究特定时间的语言体系）Diachronic (historical)linguistics (历时语言学):an approach to linguistics which studies how a language changes over a period time（研究语言在一段时期内怎样变化）In modern linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic one.e.g. The sound system of Modern British EnglishPrescriptive vs. descriptive( 规定性与描写性)The distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things actually are. Do/Dont say X. (prescriptive)People do/ dont say X. (descriptive)Look at the following pairs of sentences:It is I. It is me.Who did you speak to? Whom did you speak to?I havent done anything.I havent done nothing.Speech & writing5. Why do modern linguistics regard the spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of human language?1) linguistic evolution; ( historically)2) daily communication; (function)3)acquisition of the mother tongue; ( genetically)4) features of human speech (authentic)Langue & parole(语言与言语)Who made the distinction between langue and parole? And when?F. de Saussure ( a Swiss linguist) in the early 20th century.“ if we could embrace the sum of word-images stored in the minds of all individuals, we could identify the social bond that constitutes language (langue). It is a storehouse filled by the members of a given community through their active use of speaking (parole), a grammatical system that has a potential existence in each brain, or, more specifically, in the brains of a group of individuals. For language is not complete in any speaker; it exists perfectly only within a collectivity. In separating language( langue) from speaking (parole) we are at the same time separating (1) what is social from what is individual; and (2) what is essential from what is accessory and more or less accidental.( -Saussure 1959:13-14 )“如果我们能了解所有个人头脑中的语言形象，我们就能知道形成语言的社会因素。社会是一个储藏室，里面满是既定社团的各个成员，他们积极地使用语言这个语法系统，这个系统是存在于每个大脑中，或者，更具体地说，是在一群人的大脑中的潜力。每个说话者的语言都是不完整的；语言只有在集合中才是完整的。把语言从言语中分离出来的同时也就区分了（1）社会和个人；和（2） 主要的和次要的或者说是偶然的。” （索绪尔：普通语言学教程）Competence & performance(语言能力与语言应用)1) Who proposed the distinction between them?N. Chomsky ( American linguist); Aspects of the theory of Syntax句法理论的若干问题2）What is competence & what is performance?Competence : the ideal users knowledge of the rules of his language (语言使用者关于语言系统规则的基本理解)Performance: the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication (指在具体场景中语言的真实使用)What are the differences between Saussures and Chomskys distinction?Saussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of language is a matter of social convention and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.For the students of English, competence needs to be nurtured in the process of enhancing performance, but competence calls for more efforts at the beginning stage while success in performance may motivate the acquisition of competence.Modern linguistics & traditional grammarWhat are the differences between them? 1. Linguistics is descriptive not prescriptive.2. Linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written.3. Linguistics does not force language into a Latin-based or universal framework.What is language? Sapir , 1921 ( an American linguist):“Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols. ” (强调function; 缺乏properties)语言是人类独有的用任意创造出来的符号系统进行交流思想,感情和愿望的非本能的方法.Chomsky, 1957 (an American linguist):“ 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. ”(强调form; 缺乏function) Definition : Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. What are the main features of language?1) language must be a system.2) language is arbitrary.3) symbolic nature :words are associated with objects, actions, ideas by convention.4) language is vocal for spoken language came much earlier than written language.5) language is human-specific.语言对人类至关重要,但很难具体阐述是什么使我们的语言优于动物的”语言”。Bird sings and bee dances它们也是在使用语言吗？实际上不是。罗素( Bertrand Russell)曾经说过：不管一只狗可以多么流利地bark，它无法告诉你它的父母贫穷但诚实。那么，是什么是它区别与其他物种所使用的“语言”？-即人类语言性质的特征是什么？What are the defining properties(design features识别特征) of human language? Who put forward them? (American linguist: Charles Hockett)1.Productivity（多产性）: the ability to construct and understand an indefinitely large number of sentences in our native language, including the sentences that we have never heard before, but that are appropriate to the situation in which they are uttered.Why is language productive?1) Duality（ 二重性）. Because of duality the speaker is able to combine the basic linguistic units to form an infinite set of sentences, most of which are never before produced or heard. 2) Recursion（递归性）. The recursive nature of language provides a theoretical basis for its creativity. We can write a sentence like the following and go on endlessly: He bought a book which was written by a teacher who taught in a school which was known for its graduates who2. Arbitrariness（任意性）: the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. There is no logical relationship between meanings and sounds.由Saussure最先提出，已被人们广为接受。语言符号的形式与意义之间没有自然的联系。What is the link between a linguistic sign & its meaning?Arbitrariness of language makes it potentially creative. That is, it allows language to change. On the contrary, the other side of arbitrariness-conventionality（ 约定性）makes learning a language laborious. For learners of foreign language, it is the conventionality of a language that is more worth noticing than its arbitrariness.任意性赋予语言潜在的创造力，而语言的约定性又使语言学习变得费力。约定性比任意性更值得注意。3. Duality (double articulation): “Duality refers to the property of having two levels of structures, units of the level being composed of elements of the secondary level and each level having its own principles of organization.” (Lyons, 1981:20) “二重性指拥有两层结构的这种特性，底层结构是上层结构的组成部分，每层都有自身的组合规律。” （ 莱昂斯）Duality (double articulation): a distinctive characteristic of language which refers to the fact that languages are organized in terms of two levels. At one level, language consists of sequences of segments or units which do not themselves carry meaning (such as the letter “ g”, “ d” and “o”). However, when these units are combined in certain sequences, they form larger units and carry meaning (such as dog, god).指语言的区别性特征。语言分两个层次来组织。其中一个层次，语言由分段序列或单位组成，这些单位本身没有意义(如字母“g”“d”“o”)。但如果把这些单位按一定的顺序集合起来，它们就构成较大的单位，也就具有意义了（如dog, god）. Roughly speaking, the elements of the spoken language are sounds which do not convey meaning in themselves. The only function of sounds is to combine with one another to form units that have meaning, such as words. We call sounds here secondary units as opposed to such primary units as words, since the secondary units are meaningless and the primary units have distinct and identifiable meaning. The property of duality then only exists in such a system, namely, with both elements (secondary units) and units. Many animals communicate with special calls, which have corresponding meanings. That is. Their primary units have meanings but cannot be further divided into elements or secondary units. So we say most animal communication systems do not have this design feature of human language- the property of duality. Consequently, the communicative power of animal language is highly limited. 粗略地说，语言的组成部分是那些自身不传达意义的语音，其唯一功能就是各自结合组成例如词之类的有意义的单位。既然底层单位无意义，而上层单位既有独特，确定的意义，我们在这里就称语音为底层单位，与词等上层单位相对立。这样，二重性就只是存在于一个包含元素和单位的系统之中。许多动物用特定的声音来交流，这种声音也有相应的意义，即底层意义，但却无法再进一步分解为更小的元素。所以，我们认为动物的交流系统不具有人类语言的这种结构特征二重性。动物语言的交流能力也因此受到很大的限制。我们能理解二重性的优势，它使语言拥有了一种强大的能产性。大量的各种各样的单位能从很少数量的成分中产生如，成千上万的词来自一套语音，在英语中48个音素。通过大量的词，产生无穷无尽的句子，形成无穷无尽的语篇。4. Displacement（移位性）: one of the properties of language which means that language can be used to refer to things which are not present: real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future or in faraway places.移位指人类语言可以让使用者来表示在说话时（时间和处所）并不存在的物体、事件和观点。它赋予人们概括和抽象能力，使之有可能在抽象的层面上说话和思考。Displacement means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present ( in time and space) at the moment of communication. Thus we can refer to Confucius , or the North Pole, even though the first has been dead over 2500 years and the second is situated far away from us. Most animals respond communicatively as soon as they are stimulated by some occurrence of communal interest. For instance, a warning cry of a bird instantly announces danger. Such animals are under “ immediate stimulus control（直接刺激控制）”. Human language is, unlike animal communication systems, stimulus free（不受刺激控制）. What we talk about need not be triggered by any external stimulus in the world or any internal state. Displacement benefits human beings by giving them the power to handle GENERALIZATIONS（概括）and ABSTRACTIONS （抽象）. Indeed words are often used not in such immediately physical context when they denote concrete objects. They are often used with a deference for referential application. Once we can talk about physically distant things, we acquire the ability to understand concepts which denote “no things” such as truth and beauty. In a word, the intellectual benefit of displacement to us is that it makes it possible for us to talk and think in abstract terms.( Fowler, 1974: 8) 5. Cultural transmission（文化传递）: while human capacity for language has a genetic basis (we were all born with the ability to acquire language), the details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned. An English speaker and a Chinese speaker are both able to use a language, but they are not mutually intelligible. It is passed on from one generation to the next through teaching and learning, rather by instinct.Functions of language( added): 1. Phatic function(应酬功能) : language used for establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact rather than for exchanging information or ideas. “How are you?” “Nice day, isnt it?”A term used by the British-Polish anthropologist Malinowski to refer to communication between people which is not intended to seek or convey information but has the social function of establishing or maintaining social contact. 2. Directive function(指示功能): language used to get the hearer to do something . Shut the door. I advise you not to do it. (a suggestion) Have a seat. ( an offer) Do come in, please. ( an invitation)3. Informative function (信息功能): language used to tell what the speaker believes, to give information about facts, or to reason things out. Water boils at 212 degree Fahrenheit.4. Interrogative function(疑问功能): language used to get information from others. When did you arrive? What do you think of it? How do you feel now? Rhetorical questions（反意疑问句）, however, do not have such function, as they do not expect answer.5. Expressive function(表达功能): language used to reveal something about the feelings and attitudes of the speaker( evaluation; appraisement; assertion; etc. ). Good heavens! My God! Im extremely sorry about6. Evocative function(召唤功能): language used to create