【精品】语言学材料

精品精品 语言学材料语言学材料 英语考研语言学重难点提示1 What is language Language is system of arbitrary vocalsymbols used for humanmunication It is a system since linguisticelements arearranged systematically rather thanrandomly Arbitrary in thesense that there is usually nointrinsic connection between awork like book and theobject itrefers to This explainsand isexplained by the fact that differentlanguages havedifferent books book in English livre in French shu in Chinese It issymbolic because words are associatedwith objects actions ideas etc by nothingbut convention Namely people usethe soundsor vocalforms to symbolize whatthey wishto refer to It isvocal because soundor speechis theprimary mediumfor all human languages Writing systemscame muchlater thanthe spoken forms The factthat smallchildren learn and canonly learn to speak and listen before theywrite and read also indicatesthat language is primarilyvocal rather thanwritten The term human in thedefinition ismeant tospecify that language ishuman specific 2 What aredesign featuresof language Design features here referto thedefining properties of human language thattell the difference betweenhuman language and anysystem of animal munication They arearbitrariness duality productivity displacement cultural transmission and interchangeability3 What is arbitrariness By arbitrariness we meanthere is no logicalconnectionbetweenmeanings and sounds A dogmight bea pigif onlythe firstperson orgroup ofpersons hadused itfor apig Language is therefore largelyarbitrary But language is notabsolutely seemto besome sound meaning association if wethink ofecho words like bang crash roar which aremotivated in a certainsense Secondly some pounds words poundedto be one word are notentirely arbitraryeither Type and write are opaqueor unmotivatedwords while type writer is lessso or moretransparent ormotivated thanthe wordsthat makeit So wecan say arbitrariness is amatter ofdegree 4 What isduality Linguists refer duality of structure to the factthatin alllanguages sofar investigated one findstwo levelsof structureor patterning At the first higher level language is analyzed in terms ofbinations of meaningful units such asmorphemes words etc atthesecond lower level it isseen as a sequenceof segmentswhich lackany meaningin themselves but whichbine to form units of meaning Aording toHu Zhangli al languageis a system of twosets ofstructures one ofsounds and the otherof meaning This is important for the workingsof language A smallnumber ofsemantic units words and theseunitsofmeaning can be arrangedand rearrangedinto aninfinite number of sentences note thatwe havedictionaries of words but nodictionary of sentences Duality makesit possiblefor a person totalk aboutanything withinhis knowledge No animalmunication systemenjoys thisduality 5 What isproductivity Productivity refers to the ability to theabilityto constructand understand an indefinitelylarge numberof sentences in one s native language including thosethat hasnever heardbefore but that are appropriateto thespeaking situation No onehas eversaid orheard A red eyed elephantis dancingon thesmall hotelbed withan Africangibbon but he can sayit whennecessary and he can understand it inright register Different from artistic creativity though productivity nevergoes outsidethe language thus alsocalled rule bound creativity by N Chomsky 6 What isdisplacement Displacement as oneof thedesign featuresof thehuman language refers to thefactthat one can talkabout thingsthat arenot present as easilyas hedoes thingspresent In otherwords onecanrefertoreal andunreal things things of the past of thepresent of thefuture Language itselfcan betalked about too When aman for example is cryingto a woman about something it might be somethingthat hadourred or somethingthat isourring or somethingthat is to our When adog is barking however you candecide it is barkingfor somethingor atsomeone thatexists nowand there It couldn tbebow wowing sorrowfullyfor abone to be lost The bee ssystem noheless has asmall shareof displacement but it is anunspeakable tinyshare 7 What iscultural transmission This means that languageis notbiologically transmittedfrom generation to generation but that the detailsof the linguistic systemmust belearned anewby eachspeaker It istrue thatthe capacityfor languagein human beings N Chomsky calledit language acquisitiondevice or LAD has ageic basis but theparticular languagea person learns to speak is a culturalone otherthan ageic onelike thedog sbarkingsystem If a human beingis broughtup inisolation hecannot acquirelanguage The WolfChild rearedby thepack ofwolves turnedouttospeak thewolf s roaring tongue when hewas saved He learnedthereafter with nosmall difficulty the ABCof a certain humanlanguage 8 What isinterchangeability Interchangeability meansthat anyhumanbeingcan beboth aproducer and a receiverof messages Though some people suggestthat thereis sexdifferentiation in the actuallanguage use in otherwords men andwomen maysay differentthings yet inprinciple thereisnosound or word or sentencethat aman canutter and awomancannot or viceversa On the other hand apersoncan be the speakerwhile theother personis the listener and as theturn movesonto the listener hecan be the speaker and thefirstspeaker isto listen It isturn taking thatmakes socialmunication possibleand aeptable Some malebirds however utter somecalls whichfemales do not or cannot When adog barks all theneighboring dogsbark Then peoplearound canhardly tellwhich dog dogs is are speaking and whichlistening 9 Why dolinguists saylanguageishuman specific First of all humanlanguage has six design features which animalmunication systemsdo nothave at leastnot in the truesense of them Secondly linguists havedone a lot tryingto teachanimals such as chimpanzeestospeaka humanlanguage buthave achievednothing inspiring Washoe a femalechimpanzee was broughtup likea humanchild byBeatnice andAlan Gardner She wastaught American signLanguage and learneda littlethat madethe teachershappy butdid motmake thelinguistics circlehappy for fewbelieved inteaching chimpanzees Thirdly a humanchild rearedamong animalscannot speakahumanlanguage not evenwhen heis takenback andtaught to do so 10 What functionsdoes languagehave Language has at leastseven functions phatic directive Informative interrogative expres sive evocative andperformative Aording toWang Gang 1988 p 11 languagehasthree mainfunctions a toolof munication a toolwhereby peoplelearn about the world andatool bywhich peoplelearn about the world andatool bywhich peoplecreate art M A K Halliday representative of the Londonschool recognizes three Macro Functions ideational interpersonal andtextual 11 What is the phatic function The phaticfunction refers tolanguage beingusedforsetting upa certainatmosphere ormaintaining socialcontacts rather thanfor exchanginginformation orideas Greetings farewells and mentson theweather inEnglish andon clothingin Chineseall servethis function Much of the phaticlanguage e g How areyou Fine thanks is insincereif takenliterally but it isimportant If you don t say Hello to afriend youmeet or ifyoudon t answerhis Hi you ruinyour friendship 12 What is the directive function The directivefunction meansthatlanguage may be usedto getthe hearerto dosomething Most imperativesentences performthis function e g Tell methe resultwhen youfinish Other syntacticstructures orsentences ofother sortscan aording toJ Austin andJ Searle s Indirect speechact theory at least serve thepurpose ofdirection too e g If Iwere you I wouldhave blushedto thebottom ofmy ears 13 What is the informative function Language servesan informational function when usedto tellsomething characterized by the use of declarativesentences Informative statementsare oftenlabelled astrue truth or false falsehood Aording toP Grice s Cooperative Principle one oughtnot toviolate the Maxim ofQuality when heis informingat all 14 What is the interrogative function When languageis usedto obtaininformation it servesan interrogativefunction This includesall questionsthat expectreplies statements imperatives etc aording to the indirect speechact theory may havethis functionas well e g I d liketo knowyou better This maybring forthalotof personalinformation Note thatrhetorical questionsmake anexception since theydemand noanswer at leastnot thereader s listener s answer 15 What is the expressive function The expressive function is theuse of language toreveal somethingaboutthefeelings or attitudes of the speaker Subconscious emotionalejaculations aregood examples like Good heavens My God Sentences like I m sorryaboutthedelay can serveas goodexamples too though ina subtleway While languageis usedfor theinformativefunctionto passjudgment onthe truthor falsehoodof statements language usedfor the expressivefunctionevaluates appraises orasserts thespeaker s ownattitudes 16 What is the evocative function The evocativefunction is theuseof language to create certainfeelings in the hearer Its aimis for example to amuse startle antagonize soothe worry orplease Jokes not practicaljokes though are supposedto amuseor entertain thelistener advertising tourge customersto purchasecertain modities propaganda toinfluence publicopinion Obviously theexpressiveand theevocative functionsoften gotogether i e you mayexpress for example your personalfeelings abouta politicalissue butend upby evokingthe samefeeling in or imposingit on your listener That s alsothe casewith theother wayround 17 What is the performativefunction This meanspeople speakto do things or performactions On certain oasions the utterance itselfas anaction ismore importantthan whatwords or sounds constitutethe utteredsentence The judge s imprisonmentsentence the president s waror independencedeclaration etc are performatives 18 What islinguistics Linguistics is thescientific study of language It studiesnot justone language of anyone society but the languageof all humanbeings A linguist though does nothave to know and use alarge numberof languages but toinvestigate howeach languageis constructed He is also concernedwith how a languagevaries fromdialect todialect from classto class how it changes fromcentury tocentury how childrenacquire theirmother tongue and perhapshowapersonlearnsor shouldlearna foreign language In short linguistics studies the generalprinciples whereuponallhumanlanguages areconstructed andoperate assystems ofmunication in their societiesor munities 19 What makeslinguistics ascience Since linguisticsis thescientific studyof language it ought to baseitself uponthe systematic investigation of language datawhich aimsat discoveringthe truenature of language andits underlyingsystem To makesense of the data a linguistusually hasconceived somehypotheses aboutthelanguagestructure to bechecked againstthe observedor observablefacts In orderto makehis analysisscientific a linguistisusuallyguided byfour principles exhaustiveness consistency and objectivity Exhaustiveness meanshe shouldgather all the materialsrelevant to the studyand givethem anadequate explanation in spiteof theplicatedness He isto leaveno linguistic stone unturned Consistency meansthere should be nocontradiction betweendifferent partsof thetotal statement Economy meansa linguistshould pursuebrevity in the analysiswhen itis possible Objectivity impliesthat sincesomepeoplemay besubjective in the study a linguistshould be orsoundat least objective matter of face faithful toreality so thathis workconstitutes part of thelinguistics research 20 What are the majorbranches of linguistics The studyoflanguage as awhole is often calledgeneral linguistics But alinguist sometimesis ableto dealwith onlyone aspectoflanguage atatime thus thearise ofvarious branches phoics phonology morphology syntax semantics pragm atics sociolinguistics applied linguistics psycholinguistics etc 21 What aresynchronic anddiachronic studies The descriptionof a languageatsome point of time as if it stoppeddeveloping is asynchrony study synchrony The descriptionof alanguageasitchangesthrough timeis adiachronic study diachronic An essayentitled On theUse of THE for example may besynchronic if theauthor does not recall the pastofTHE anditmay alsobe diachronicif heclaims tocover alarge rangeor periodof timewherein THEhas undergoremendous alteration 22 What isspeech and what iswriting No oneneeds therepetition of the generalprinciple oflinguistic analysis namely the primacyof speechover writing Speech isprimary because itexisted longlong beforewriting systemscame into being Geically childrenlearntospeak beforelearning towrite Secondly written formsjust representin thisway orthatthe speech sounds individual sounds as inEnglish andFrench asin Japanese In contrastto speech spokenformoflanguage writing aswritten codes gives languagenew scopeandusethat speechdoes nothave Firstly messages canbe carried through spaceso thatpeople canwrite toeach other Secondly messages canbe carriedthrough time thereby so thatpeople ofour timecanbecarriedthroughtimethereby so thatpeople ofour timecan readBeowulf Samuel Johnson and EdgarA Poe Thirdly oral messagesare readilysubject todistortion either intentionalor unintentional while writtenmessages allowand encouragerepeated unalterablereading Most modernlinguistic analysisis focusedon speech different fromgrammarians of the lastcentury and theretofore 23 What are the differencesbetween thedescriptive and the prescriptiveapproaches A linguisticstudy is descriptive if itonly describesand analysesthe factsoflanguage and prescriptive ifittries tolay downrules for correct language behavior Linguistic studiesbefore thiscentury were largely prescriptive because many early grammars werelargelyprescriptivebecausemanyearlygrammarswerebased on high literary orreligious written records Modern linguisticsis mostlydescriptive however It the latter believes thatwhatever ours in naturalspeech hesitation inplete utterance misunderstanding etc should bedescribed in the analysis and notbe markedas incorrect abnormal corrupt or lousy These with changesin vocabularyand structures need to be explainedalso 24 What is the difference between langueand parole F de Saussurerefers langue totheabstract linguisticsystem sharedby allthe membersofa speech munityand refers parole totheactual oractualized language or therealization oflangue Langue isabstract parole specifictothespeaking situation langue notactually spokenby anindividual parole alwaysa naturallyourring event langue relativelystable andsystematic parole isa massof confusedfacts thus notsuitable forsystematic investigation What alinguist oughttodo aording toSaussure isto abstract languefrom instances of parole i e to discoverthe regularitiesgoverning allinstancesofparole andmake thanthe subjectof linguistics The langue parole distinctionisof great importance which castsgreat influenceon laterlinguists 25 What isthedifferencebetween petence and performance Aording toN Chomsky petence istheideal languageuser s knowledgeof therules of his language and performance istheactual realizationof thisknowledge inutterances The formerenables aspeaker toproduce andunderstand anindefinite numberofsentencesand to recognize grammaticalmistakes andambiguities A speaker s petence is stablewhile his performance isoften influencedby psychologicaland socialfactors So aspeaker sperformancedoes notalways matchor equalhis supposedpetence Chomsky believesthat linguistsoughttostudy petence rather thanperformance In otherwords they shoulddiscover whatan ideal speaker knowsofhisnativelanguage Chomsky s petence performance distinctionis notexactly the same as though similarto F de Saussure s langue parole distinction Langue isa socialproduct andaset ofconventions fora munity while petenceis deemedasa property of the mindof eachindividual Sussure looksatlanguagemore froma sociologicalor sociolinguisticpointof view thanN Chomsky sincethe latterdeals withhis issuespsychologically orpsycholinguistically 26 What islinguistic potential What isactual linguisticbehaviour These twoterms orthepotential behavior distinction were madeby M A K Halliday inthe1960s fromafunctional pointof view There isa widerange ofthings aspeaker cando inhis culture and similarlythere aremany thingshecansay for example to manypeople on manytopics What heactually says i e his actual linguisticbehavior ona certainoasiontoacertain personis what he haschosen frommany possibleinjustice items each ofwhich hecould havesaid linguistic potential 27 In whatway dolanguage petence and linguistic potential agree In whatway dothey differ And theircounterparts Langue petenceandlinguistic potentialhave somesimilar features but they are innatelydifferent Langue isa socialproduct andaset ofspeaking conventions petenceisapropertyor attributeof eachidealspeaker s mind linguistic potentialis allthelinguistiorpus orrepertoire availablefrom whichthespeakerchooses itemsfor theactual utterancesituation In otherwords langue isinvisible butreliable abstractsystem Competence means knowing andlinguisticpotentialaset ofpossibilities for doing or performing actions They aresimilar inthat theyall refertotheconstant underlyingthe utterancesthat constitutewhat Saussure Chomsky andHalliday respectivelycalled parole performance andactual linguisticbehavior Parole performance andactual linguisticbehavior enjoymore similaritiesthan differences 28 What isphoics Phoics isthescience whichstudies thecharacteristics ofhuman sound making especially those sounds usedin speech and providesmethods for their description classification andtranscription speech soundsmay bestudied in different ways thus bythree differentbranches of phoics 1 Articulatory phoics the branch of phoicsthat examinesthe wayin which aspeech sound isproduced todiscover whichvocal organsare involvedand howthey coordinateintheprocess 2 Auditory phoics the branchofphoicresearch fromthe hearer s pointofview looking intothe impressionwhichaspeechsoundmakes onthe heareras mediatedbytheear the auditorynerve and the brain 3 Acoustic phoics the studyof the ph