语言学概论教案.doc

语言学概论教案Chapter One Invitations to LinguisticsFocus and Difficulties：1. Design Features of Language2. Functions of Language3. Important Distinctions in Linguistics4. Design Features of Language5. Functions of Language6. Important Distinctions in LinguisticsTeaching Contents：I. Why Study Language? 1.1 Some myths about languagenLanguage is only a means of communication.nLanguage has a form-meaning correspondence.nThe function of language is to exchange information.nEnglish is more difficult to learn than Chinese.nBlack English is not standard and should be reformed.1.2 Some fundamental views about LnChildren learn their native language swiftly, efficiently and without instruction.nLanguage operates by rules.nAll languages have three major components: a sound system, a system of lexicogrammar and a system of semantics.nEveryone speaks a dialect.nLanguage slowly changes.nSpeakers of all languages employ a range of styles and a set of jargons.nLanguages are intimately related to the societies and individuals who use them.nWriting is derivative of speech.II. What Is Language? Language “is not to be confused with human speech, of which it is only a definite part, though certainly an essential one. It is both a social product of the faculty of speech and a collection of necessary conventions that have been adopted by a social body to permit individuals to exercise that faculty”.-Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913): Course in General Linguistics (1916)“Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.”-Edward Sapir (1884-1939):Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech (1921)“A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group co-operates.”-Bernard Bloch (1907-1965) & George Trager (1906-1992): Outline of Linguistic Analysis (1942)“A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which the members of a society interact in terms of their total culture.”-George Trager: The Field of Linguistics (1949)“From now on I will consider language to be a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.”-Noam Chomsky (1928- ): Syntactic Structures (1957)Language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.”-Robert A. Hall (1911-1997): Introductory Linguistics (1964)“Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.”-Ronald Wardhaugh: Introduction to Linguistics (1977)“The question What is language? is comparable with - and, some would say, hardly less profound than - What is life?, the presuppositions of which circumscribe and unify the biological sciences. it is not so much the question itself as the particular interpretation that the biologist puts upon it and the unravelling of its more detailed implications within some currently accepted theoretical framework that nourish the biologists day-to-day speculations and research. So it is for the linguist in relation to the question What is language?”-John Lyons (1932- ): Language and Linguistics (1981) “Language is a means of verbal communication.”nIt is instrumental in that communicating by speaking or writing is a purposeful act. nIt is social and conventional in that language is a social semiotic and communication can only take place effectively if all the users share a broad understanding of human interaction including such associated factors as nonverbal cues, motivation, and socio-cultural roles. - Our textbook (2006)III. Design Features of Language nLanguage distinguishes human beings from animals in that it is far more sophisticated than any animal communication system. 3.1 Arbitrarines Saussure: the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning nArbitrariness at the syntactic level: language is not arbitrary at the syntactic level. nHe came in and sat down.nHe sat down and came in.nHe sat down after he came in.nnThe link between a linguistic sign and its meaning is a matter of convention.语言符号的任意性和规约性 从词的本身来看，语言符号音义之间并没有什么必然、本质的联系，什么音与什么义结合完全是任意的、不可论证的，是由不同社会集团约定俗成的。比如汉语中的”马”，普通话用”MA”，说不出道理，不同方言用不同的声音表示同一个词义等，都无从考证，只能从语言的任意性去解释。但是这种任意性并不是可以任意地更改语言符号的音义关系。相反，一个符号在语言集体中确立以后，个人是不能对它有任何改变的，具有规约性，即强制的不变性。例如”玫瑰花”而不说成”玫瑰草”，是约定俗成的，不可更改的。这两种特性是一个矛盾体的两个方面。 辜正坤先生指出：音义关系既有任意性，又有必然性，二者衍变的程度与历史进程的关系是：音义关系的必然性程度与历史进程呈反比；音义关系的任意性程度与历史进程呈正比。即：越是远古期，音义之间的必然性越强；越是近现代，音义之间的任意性越强。3.2 Duality nThe property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization:nPrimary units words (meaningful) consist of secondary units sounds (meaningless).nHierarchy of language: stratification as the infinite use of finite means.nSounds syllables morphemes words phrases clauses sentences/utterances texts/discourses3.3 Creativity nLanguage is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. We can use it to create new meanings. nWords can be used in new ways to mean new things, and can be instantly understood by people who have never come across that usage before. nBirds, bees, crabs, spiders, and most other creatures communicate in some way, but the information imparted is severely limited and confined to a small set of messages. nBecause of duality the human 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. nThe recursive nature of language provides a potential to create an infinite number of sentences. For instance:nHe bought a book which was written by a teacher who taught in a school which was known for its graduates who .3.4 Displacement nHuman languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of communication. nThus, we can refer to Confucius, or the North Pole, even though the first has been dead for over 2550 years and the second is situated far away from us. nAnimal communication is normally under “immediate stimulus control”. For instance, a warning cry of a bird instantly announces danger. nHuman language is stimulus-free. What we are talking about need not be triggered by any external stimulus in the world or any internal state. nDisplacement benefits human beings by giving us the power to handle generalizations and abstractions. Once we can talk about physically distant thing, we acquire the ability to understand concepts which denote “non-things”, such as truth and beauty. IV. Origin of Language The “divine-origin” theory “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Gospel, John 1: 1)“And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” (Genesis, 11: 6)n創10:32這些都是挪亞三個兒子的宗族，各隨他們的支派立國，洪水以後，他們在地上分為邦國。n創11:1那時，天下人的口音言語，都是一樣。n創11:2他們往東邊遷移的時候，在示拿地遇見一片平原，就住在那裡。n創11:3他們彼此商量說：來罷，我們要作磚，把磚燒透了。他們就拿磚當石頭，又拿石漆當灰泥。n創11:4他們說：來罷，我們要建造一座城，和一座塔，塔頂通天，為要傳揚我們的名，免得我們分散在全地上。n創11:5耶和華降臨要看看世人所建造的城和塔。n創11:6耶和華說：看哪，他們成為一樣的人民，都是一樣的言語，如今既作起這事來，以後他們所要作的事，就沒有不成就的了。n創11:7我們下去，在那裡變亂他們的口音，使他們的言語，彼此不通。n創11:8於是耶和華使他們從那裡分散在全地上，他們就停工，不造那城了。n創11:9因為耶和華在那裡變亂天下人的言語，使眾人分散在全地上，所以那城名叫巴別。就是變亂的意思B. The “bow-wow” theorynIn primitive times people imitated the sounds of the animal calls in the wild environment they lived and speech developed from that. nOnomatopoeic words seem to be a convenient evidence for this theory. But they are very different in the degree of resemblance they express with the natural sounds. nThis theory lacks supportive evidence. C. The “pooh-pooh” theory nIn the hard life of our primitive ancestors, they utter instinctive sounds of pain, anger and joy. As for evidence, we can only cite the universal use of sounds as interjections. nWhat makes the theory problematic is that there is only a limited number of interjections in almost all languages. nBesides, interjections such as Oh, Ah, Oops bear little relationship with the sound system of a language and therefore are not good evidence. D. The “yo-he-ho” theorynAs primitive people worked together, they produced some rhythmic grunts which gradually developed into chants and then into language. nWe do have prosodic use of rhythms in languages, but rhythmic grunts are far different from language in its present sense. The theory is again at most a speculation.V. Functions of Language A. Informative nLanguage is the instrument of thought and people often feel need to speak their thoughts aloud. The use of language to record the facts is a prerequisite of social development. The informative function is indeed a crucial function of language. nIt is also called ideational function in the framework of functional grammar. B. Interpersonal nBy far the most important sociological use of language, and by which people establish and maintain their status in a society.nIn the framework of functional grammar, the interpersonal function is concerned with interaction between the addresser and addressee in the discourse situation and the addressers attitude toward what he speaks or writes about. C. Performative nThis concept originates from the philosophical study of language represented by Austin and Searle, whose theory now forms the back-bone of pragmatics (Chapter 8). For example, nI now declare the meeting open. nI bet you two pounds it will rain tomorrow. D. Emotive nThe emotive function of language is one of the most powerful uses of language because it is crucial in changing the emotional status of an audience for or against someone or something. nIt is a means of getting rid of our nervous energy when we are under stress, e.g. swear words, obscenities, involuntary verbal reactions to a piece of art or scenery; conventional words/phrases, e.g. nGod, My, Damn it, What a sight, Wow, Ugh, Oh. E. Phatic nPhatic communion refers to the social interaction of language, originating from Malinowskis study of the functions of language performed by Trobriand Islanders. For example,nMrs. P sneezes violently. nMrs. Q: Bless you.nMrs. P: Thank you.F. Recreational nThe recreational function of a language is often overlooked because it seems so restrictive in purpose and supposedly so limited in usefulness. nHowever, no one will deny the use of language for the sheer joy of using it, such as a babys babbling or a chanters chanting. G. MetalingualnOur language can be used to talk about itself. nTo organize any written text into a coherent whole, writers employ certain expressions to keep their readers informed about where they are and where they are going. VI. What Is Linguistics? nThe scientific study of human languagenAims of linguistic theory:nWhat is knowledge of language? (Competence)nHow is knowledge of language acquired? (Acquisition)nHow is knowledge of language put to use? (Performance/language processing)VII. Main Branches of Linguistics A. Phonetics nPhonetics studies speech sounds, including the production of speech, that is how speech sounds are actually made, transmitted and received, the description and classification of speech sounds, words and connected speech, etc.B. Phonology nPhonology studies the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables. It deals with the sound system of a language by treating phoneme as the point of departure. nA phoneme is the smallest linguistic unit of sound that can signal a difference in meaning. C. Morphology nMorphology is concerned with the internal organization of words. It studies the minimal units of meaning morphemes and word-formation processes. nAlthough many people think of words as the basic meaningful elements of a language，many words can be broken down into still smaller units, called morphemes. D. Syntax nSyntax is about principles of forming and understanding correct sentences. nThe form or structure of a sentence is governed by the rules of syntax, which specify word order, sentence organization, and the relationships between words, word classes and other sentence elements. E. Semantics nSemantics examines how meaning is encoded in a language. nIt is not only concerned with meanings of words as lexical items, but also with levels of language below the word and above it, e.g. meaning of morphemes and sentences. F. Pragmatics nPragmatics is the study of meaning in context. It deals with particular utterances in particular situations and is especially concerned with the various ways in which the many social contexts of language performance can influence interpretation. nIn other words, pragmatics is concerned with the way language is used to communicate rather than with the way language is internally structured.G. Macrolinguistics nLinguistics is not the only field concerned with language. nOther disciplines such as psychology, sociology, ethnography, the science of law and artificial intelligence etc. are also preoccupied with language. H. Psycholinguistics nPsycholinguistics investigates the interrelation of language and mind, for example, in processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition. nIt also studies language development in the child, such as the theories of language acquisition, biological foundations of language, and a profound aspectthe relationship between language and cognition.I. Sociolinguistics nSociolinguistics is the study of the characteristics of language varieties, the characteristics of their functions, and the characteristics of their speakers as these three constantly interact and change within a speech community. nAn umbrella term which covers a variety of different interests in language and society, including the social functions of language and the social characteristics of its users. J. Anthropological linguistics nAnthropology and linguistics became closely associated in the early days of anthropological fieldwork when anthropologists enlisted the help of linguists to study unwritten languages. nIn contrast with other linguists, then, anthropological linguists are interested primarily in the history and structure of formerly unwritten languages. K. Computational linguistics nComputational linguistics centers around the use of computers to process or produce human language (also known as “natural language”, to distinguish it from computer languages). nTo this field, linguistics contributes an understanding of the special properties of language data, and provides theories and descriptions of language structure and use. VIII. Important Distinctions in Linguistics A. Descriptive vs. prescriptivenDont say X.nPeople dont say X.nnThe first is a prescriptive command, while the second is a descriptive statement. nThe distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and d