语言学.doc

1. What is linguistics?Linguistics is the scientific study of language.2. Give a brief talk about the history of linguistics.1Ancient timesChinese linguistic and philosophical scholarship dates back to more than 2000 years, when linguistic study was termed 小学, with three branches graphology, phonology, and text-based semantics. Shuowen Jiezi, complied by Xu Shen, was the earliest dictionary in the world, published in around 100 A.D.The Indians were the first to study grammar, and the topics in modern linguistics like grammar, phonetics, phonology and semantics were treated in the Indian tradition. Between 600 B.C. and 300 B.C., linguist Pnini wrote a grammar of Sanskrit, an ancient language in India. It is believed to be the earliest grammar book in the world.In Greece, philosophers were interested in the nature and origins of language, or to be more specific, the distinction between what exists “by nature” and what exists “by convention”. The first formal grammar of Greek, Art of Grammar, was attributed to Dionysius Thrax.The Romans basically followed the Greek tradition, and used the Greek terminologies and categories with little change. The most famous Latin grammarian was Marcus Terentius Varro, author of the book On the Latin Language. Priscian, another well-known grammarian, wrote Grammatical Foundations, which was the standard textbook for Latin study during the Middle Ages.2The Middle AgesMedieval scholars used, wrote in, and studied Latin, a language dominant in administration, education, and religion throughout Europe during that period of time. During this period, grammar was seen as the foundation for the whole of learning.3RenaissanceGrammarians began to show interest in languages other than Latin, like vernacular in Europe. This period also witnessed the launching of major dictionary projects in many languages.4The 18th CenturyIt is generally agreed that the most outstanding achievement of linguistic scholarship in this period was the development of the comparative method, which involved a set of principles whereby languages could be systematically compared in their sound systems, grammatical structure, and vocabulary and shown to be “genealogically” related.5The 19th CenturyThe most important view of language was represented in von Humbolts thoughts: despite differences between languages in vocabulary, pronunciation, and idiom, they share a basic structure which reflects universal characteristics of human thought.6The first half of the 20th Century: structuralismThe discussion of modern linguistics or structuralism wouldnt be complete without reference to Ferdinand de Saussure, a linguist from Geneva. Structuralism believes that language is a more or less coherent and integrated system, and emphasizes the structural uniqueness of individual languages.7The second half of the 20th CenturyIn 1957, Syntactic Structure was published. Its author, Norm Chomsky, a 29-year-old faculty member at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, criticized the structuralist concern with discovery procedures. Chomskys theory, commonly known as the generative grammar, has gone through several stages: Standard Theory, Extended Standard Theory, Government and Binding, and the latest Minimalism. His aim is to develop a theory of language that can generate all and only the grammatical sentences in a language.3. Define the following linguistic terms1 Langue and paroleLangue: an abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech communityParole: the actual realization of language as it is being used in each individual2 Competence and performanceCompetence: Competence refers to the general linguistic ability or the ideal users knowledge of the rules of his language.Performance: Performance is the actual realization of the knowledge in linguistic communication, or language use; it is individual language use.3 Synchronic and diachronicSynchronic: Synchronic refers to a state fixed in time.Diachronic: Diachronic refers to the changing states of a language in different time periods.4. Briefly talk about the branches of theoretical linguistics (or the core theoretical areas to linguistics)1Phonetics concerns the phonetic aspect of speech, or the sounds of all languages. It studies the concrete articulatory, acoustic and auditory characteristics of all the possible sounds of human languages: how the sounds are pronounced, transmitted and perceived.2Phonology is also related to the sound, but different from phonetics, it is concerned with the patterning of speech sounds in individual languages and across languages. In other words, it studies how speech sounds are organized in a particular language. 3Morphology is the branch of linguistics on the internal structure of words. Words, for instance, is composed of two parts: word and plural s. 4Syntax deals with the way words are combined to form sentences. There are certain rules that govern the formation of grammatically acceptable sentences, and syntax concerns itself with these rules.5Semantics is the philosophical and scientific study of meaning, a sub-discipline of linguistics concerned with the analysis and description of the meaning of linguistic expressions. 6Pragmatics studies meaning in context. Simply put, it deals with the relationship between language expressions and their uses in specific situations.5. Make a short introduction to interdisciplinary branches studies.1 Applied linguisticsIt is a product of the application of general linguistics. Narrowly put, it is the study of second and foreign language learning and teaching. On the other hand, it covers the following branches, all of which address issues related to language.2 SociolinguisticsSociolinguistics, a scientific discipline developed in the mid 20th century from the cooperation of linguistics and sociology, is the empirical study of language use in society, with great significance attached to the interaction of language and society. It is more interested in language issues in context.3 PsycholinguisticsPsycholinguistics is a field devoted to the relationship between linguistic behavior and the underlying psychological processes. This study exams the effects of psychological constraints on the use of language.4 Cognitive linguisticsCognitive linguistics argues that language is governed by general cognitive principles. To be more specific, Cognitive linguistics exams cognitive or mental structure and organization by analyzing cognitive strategies used by humans in thinking, storing information, comprehending and producing language.5NeurolinguisticsNeurolinguistics combines neurology with linguistics. It is composed of two areas of study: the relationship between language and the brain on the one hand, and language disorders, sometimes called aphasiology, on the other.6Computational linguisticsComputational l