现代语言学.doc

A Detailed Note for Modern Linguistics
Chapter 1: Introduction
1. Define the following terms:
1). Linguistics: It is generally defined as the scientific study of language.
2). General linguistics: The study of language as a whole is called general linguistics.
3). Applied linguistics: In a narrow sense, applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistic principles and theories to language teaching and learning, especially the teaching of foreign and second languages. In a broad sense, it refers to the application of linguistic findings to the solution of practical problems such as the recovery of speech ability.
4). Synchronic study: The study of a language at some point in time. e.g. A study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare’s time is a synchronic study.
5). Diachronic study: The study of a language as it changes through time. A diachronic study of language is a historical study, which studies the historical development of language over a period of time. e.g. a study of the changes English has undergone since Shakespeare’s time is a diachronic study.
6). Language competence: The ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language. A transformational-generative grammar（转化生成语法）is a model of language competence.
7). Language performance: performance is the actual realization of the ideal language user’s knowledge of the rules in linguistic communication.
8). Langue : Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community; Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to follow; Langue is relatively stable, it does not change frequently.
9). Parole: Parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use; parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules; parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation.
10). Language: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.
11). Arbitrariness: It is one of the design features of language. It means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. A good example is the fact that different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different languages.
12). Productivity: Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users.
13). Duality: Language is a system, which consists of two sets of structure, or two levels, one of sounds at the lower or basic level, and the other of meanings at the higher level.
14). Displacement: language can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future, or in far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker.
15). Cultural transmission: While we are born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.
2. Explain the following definition of linguistics: Linguistics is the scientific study of language.
Linguistics investigates not any particular language, but languages in general.
Linguistic study is scientific because it is based on the systematic investigation of authentic(可靠的，真实的) language data. No serious linguistic conclusion is reached until after the linguist has done the following three things: observing the way language is actually used, formulating some hypotheses, and testing these hypotheses against linguistic facts to prove their validity.
3. What are the branches of linguistics? What does each of them study? (语言学的主要分支是什么。每个分支的研究对象是什么？)
Linguistics mainly involves the following branches:
1) General linguistics, which is the study of language as a whole and which deals with the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods applicable in any linguistic study
2) Phonetics, which studies the sounds that are used in linguistic communication
3) Phonology, which studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication
4) Morphology, which studies the way in which morphemes are arranged to form words
5) Syntax, which studies how morphemes and words are combined to form sentences
6) Semantics, which is the study of meaning in language.
7) Pragmatics, which is the study of meaning not in isolation, but in the context of use
8) Sociolinguistics, which is the study of language with reference to society
9) Psycholinguistics, which is the study of language with reference to the workings of mind.
10) Applied linguistics, which is concerned about the application of linguistic findings in linguistic studies; in a narrow sense, applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistic principles and theories to language teaching, especially the teaching of foreign and second languages.
11) Other related branches are anthropological linguistics(人类语言学), neurological linguistics（神经语言学）, mathematical linguistics（数学语言学）, and computational linguistics（计算机语言学）.
4. What makes modern linguistics different from traditional grammar? (现代语言学与传统语法有什么区别？)
Traditional grammar is prescriptive（规定性）; it is based on "high "(religious, literary) written language. It sets models for language users to follow. But Modern linguistics is descriptive（描述性）; its investigations are based on authentic and mainly spoken language data. It is supposed to be scientific and objective and the task of linguists is supposed to describe the language people actually use, whether it is "correct" or not.
5. Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic（共时性） or diachronic（历时性）? Why?
(The description of language at some point in time is a synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study.)
Modern linguistics is mainly synchronic, focusing on the present-day language. Unless the various states of a language are successfully studied it will not be possible to describe language from a diachronic point of view.
6. Which enjoys priority in modern linguistics, speech or writing? Why?
Modern linguistics gives priority to the spoken language for the following reasons:
First, speech precedes writing. The writing system is always a later invention used to record the speech. There are still some languages that only have the spoken form.
Then, a larger amount of communication is carried out in speech than in writing.
Third, speech is the form in which infants acquire their native language.
7. Saussure 是如何区分语言langue和言语parole的？
(The distinction between langue and parole was made by the famous Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure early this century. Langue and parole are French words.)
Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to follow while parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules. Langue is abstract; it is not the language people actually use, but parole is concrete; it refers to the naturally occurring language events. Langue is relatively stable, it does not change frequently; while parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation.
8. Chomsky的语言能力competence和语言使用performance各指什么？
(American linguist N. Chomsky in the late 1950’s proposed the distinction between competence and performance.)
Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language. This internalized set of rules enables the language user to produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences and recognize sentences that are ungrammatical and ambiguous. According to Chomsky, performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. Although the speaker’s knowledge of his mother tongue is perfect, his performances may have mistakes because of social and psychological factors such as stress, embarrassment, etc… Chomsky believes that what linguists should study is the competence, which is systematic, not the performance, which is too haphazard (偶然的).
9. How is Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance? And what is their difference?
Both Saussure and Chomsky make the distinction between the abstract language system and the actual use of language. Their purpose is to single out one aspect of language for serious study.
They differ in that Saussure takes a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.
10. What characteristics of language do you think should be included in a good, comprehensive definition of language?
Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.
First of all, language is a system, i.e. elements of language are combined according to rules.
Second, language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between the word and the thing it refers to.
Third, language is vocal because the primary medium is sound for all languages.
The term “human” is meant to specify that language is human-specific.
11. What features of human language have been specified by Charles Hockett to show that it is essentially different from any animal communication system? 人类语言的甄别性特征是什么？
1. Arbitrariness（任意性）: (课本答案：a sign of sophistication only humans are capable of) It means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. Although language is arbitrary by nature, it is not entirely arbitrary. Non-arbitrary words make up only a small percentage of the total number. The arbitrary nature of language is a sign of sophistication and it makes it possible for language to have an unlimited source of expressions.
2. Productivity（创造性）: （课本答案：creativity: animals are quite limited in the messages they are able to send）Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of an infinitely large number of sentences, including those they have never said or heard before.
3. Duality（二重性）: （课本答案：a feature totally lacking in any animal communication）It means that language is a system, which consists of two sets of structure, or two levels, one of sounds at the lower level and the other of meanings at the higher level. At the lower or the basic level, there is the structure of individual and meaningless sounds, which can be grouped into meaningful units at the higher level. This duality of structure or double articulation of language enables its users to talk about anything within their knowledge.
4. Displacement（移位性）: （课本答案：no animal can “talk” about things removed from the immediate situation）Language can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future, or far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker.
5. Cultural transmission（文化传递性）： （课本答案：details of human language system are taught and learned while animals are born with the capacity to send out certain signals as a means of limited communication）While we are born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.
12. Do you think human language is entirely arbitrary? Why?
Language is arbitrary in nature, it is not entirely arbitrary, because there are a limited number of words whose connections between forms and meanings can be logically explained to a certain extent, for example, the onomatopoeia, words which are coined on the basis of imitation of sounds by sounds such as bang, crash, etc.. Take compounds for another example. The two elements “photo” and “copy” in “photocopy” are non-motivated, but the compound is not arbitrary.

Chapter 2: Phonology
1. Define the terms:
1). phonetics: Phonetics is defined as the study of the phonic medium of language; it is concerned with all the sounds that occur in the world’ s languages
2). auditory phonetics: It studies the speech sounds from the hearer’s point of view. It studies how the sounds are perceived by the hearer.
3). acoustic phonetics: It studies the speech sounds by looking at the sound waves. It studies the physical means by which speech sounds are transmitted through the air from one person to another.
4). international phonetic alphabet [IPA]: It is a standardized and internationally accepted system of phonetic transcription.
5). Broad transcription: the transcription with letter-symbols only, i.e. one letter-symbol for one sound. This is the transcription normally used in dictionaries and teaching textbooks.
6). Narrow transcription: is the transcription with letter-symbols together with the diacritics. This is the transcription used by the phoneticians in their study of speech sounds.
7). diacritics: is a set of symbols which can be added to the letter-symbols to make finer distinctions than the letters alone make possible.
8). Voiceless（清音）: when the vocal cords are drawn wide apart, letting air go through without causing vibration, the sounds produced in such a condition are called voiceless sounds.
9). Voicing （浊音）: Sounds produced while the vocal cords are vibrating are called voiced sounds.
10). Vowel: the sounds in production of which no articulators come very close together and the air stream passes through the vocal tract without obstruction are called vowels.
11). Consonants: the sounds in the production of which there is an obstruction of the air stream at some point of the vocal tract are called consonants.
12). phonology: Phonology studies the system of sounds of a particular language; it aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.
13). phone: Phones can be simply defined as the speech sounds we use when speaking a language. A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. It does not necessarily distinguish meaning.
14). phoneme: a collection of abstract phonetic features, it is a basic unit in phonology. It is represented or realized as a certain phone by a certain phonetic context.
15). allophone: The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophones of that phoneme. For example [l] and [l]
16). phonemic contrast: Phonemic contrast refers to the relation between two phonemes. If two phonemes can occur in the same environment and distinguish meaning, they are in phonemic contrast.
17). Complementary distribution: refers to the relation between two similar phones