新编简明英语语言学知识点汇总.doc

精品新编简明英语语言学知识点汇总1 Introduction1.1 What is linguistics?Scientific study of language.Interpretation:try to answer the basic questions and probe into various problems related to language;linguistics studies not any particular language but language in general;scientific study because based on systematic investigation of linguistic data.1.1.2 The scope of linguisticsThe study of language as a whole is often called general linguistic.phoneticsStudy the sounds used in linguistic studyphonologyHow sounds put together and convey meaningmorphologyThe way symbols representing sounds are arranged and combined to form wordssyntaxRules governing the combination of wordssemanticsThe study of meaningpragmaticsStudy the meaning in contextAbove are major or core branches of linguistics;Following are linguistics link with other disciplines.sociolinguisticslanguage and societypsycholinguisticsHow infant acquire mother tongue,process information（language and brain）Applied linguisticsApplied to the recovery of language,language acquisition1.1.3 Some important distinctions in linguisticsprescriptivedescriptiveAims to lay down rules for “correct & standard”;i.e.to tell people what they should say or notDescribe and analyze the language actually use(modern linguists believe that whatever occurs in the language people use should be described and analyzed)synchronicdiachronicThe description of a language at some point of time The description of a language as it changes through timeModern linguistics are most synchronic:Difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development;Synchronic description are often thought of as being descriptions of a language in its current existence.speechwritingSpeech is prior to writing:writing system is always “invented”by the users to record the speech when the need arises;speech plays a greater role in terms of amount of conveying information;speech is always the way native speaker acquire their mother tongue while writing is learn and taught in school;spoken language reveals more feature of human speech,which is authentic while written language is only the revised record of speech.Langue 语言Parole 言语Abstract linguistic system;Relatively stableThe realization of language in actual use; Concrete;Vary from person to person & situation to situationProposed by Swiss linguist F.de Saussure in the early 20th century:parole is a mass of linguistic facts,to abstract langue from petenceperformanceThe ideal users knowledge of the rules of his languageThe actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic posed by American linguist N.Chomsky ,Similar to Saussure,what linguists should study is the ideal speakers competence,not the performance.Difference:Saussure took sociological view of language and hi s notion of langue is a matter of social convention;while Chomsky looks at psychological point and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.Traditional grammarModern linguisticsPrescriptive;written language is primary;Force language into a Latin-based framework;Descriptive;Spoken language is primary;Trying to set up a universal frameworkModern linguistics begin from the publication of F.de Sassures book course in general linguistics1.2 What is language1.2.1 Definitions of languageLanguage is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.Characteristics:language is system,elements of language are combined according to the rules;language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between a linguistic symbol and what it stands for, A rose by any other name would smell as well;language is vocal because the primary medium for all language is sound;language is human -specific,different from animal communication.1.2.2 Design features of languageProposed by American linguist Charles Hockett:comparing the animal & human communication systems.Following are five major design features of human language:arbitrarinessNo logical connection between meaning and sounds(except onomatopoetic and compound words)productivityIt makes to possible to construction and interpretation of new signal by its users.dualityLanguage is a system which consists of two structures. At the lower level there is a structure of sounds,which are meaningless by themselves.But the sounds can grouped or regrouped together into a larger numbers of units of meaning such as morpheme or words,which are found at the higher level of system(carp & park).Then the higher level can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite numbers of sentences;DisplacementLanguage can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speakers;cultural transmissionWhile human capacity for language has a genetic basis,the details of any language systems are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.(language is cultural transmittedlanguage not mutually intelligible while animal call system is genetically transmitted)1.2.3 Functions of languageThree main functions of language which distinct from each other but actually overlapping to some degree:descriptive functionThe primary function of language;The function to convey factual information, which can be asserted or denial, and in some case even verified.e.g: The Sichuan earthquake is the most serious one China has ever suffered.expressive functionSupply information about the users feeling,preference,prejudices and value,etc.I will never come to this coffee shop again.social functionServes to establish and maintain social relations between people. How can I help you, Sir?Others:Russian-born structural linguist Roman Jakobson：six elemens (function)of a speech:Addresser-emotive (动机) addressee-conative(意动) context-referential message-poetic contact-phatic communioncode-metalinguisticBritish linguistic M.A.K Halliday:ideational function(语篇功能)included descriptive & expressive functin is to organize the speakers experience of the real or imaginary erpersonal function is to indicate ,establish,or maintain social relationship between people.social functiontextual function is to organize written or spoken texts to cohere within themselves and fit to the particular situation in which they are used.2.Phonology2.1 The phonic medium of languageSpeech sounds produced by human speech organTwo major media of communication:speech and writing;2.2phonetics2.2.1 what is phonetics?The study of phonic medium of language;it is concerned with all the sounds that occurs in the worlds language.Longest history Articulatory phonetics(发音语言学)Three branches Auditory phonetics(听觉语言学) Acoustic phonetics(声学语言学)2.2.2 organs of speech Pharyngeal cavity(咽喉) Nasal cavity（鼻腔） Oral cavity（口腔）Voicing:vibration of the vocal cords 2.2.3 orthgraphic representation of speech sounds :broad & narrowInternational phonetic alphabet:lettersoundsBroad(used in textbook):letter symbols pNarrow: letter symbols + diacritics(变音符)phit spit haspiration phonetician more interested in2.2.4 classification of English speech sounds classification of English consonantTotal obstructionPassing outBilabial（双唇音）Labio-dental（唇齿音）Dental（齿音）Alveloar（齿龈音）Palatal（腭音）Velar（软腭）Glottal（喉音）StopsPartial obstruction(闭塞音)VLpftkVDbvdgFricativeComplete at firstRelease slowly with partial obstruction（摩擦音）VLosfhVDdzgAffricates（塞擦音）VLtftfVDdgdgNasals（鼻音）VDmnnLiquids（流音）VDL,rGlides（滑音）VDwj classification of English vowelsMonophthongs：frontcentralbackcloseI: IU: uSemi-closeee:Semi-openeC:openae aD a:2.3 phonology2.3.1 phonology & phonetics2.3.2 phone phoneme allophoneDifferent phones representing a phoneme in different phonetic environmentPhonological unitPhonetic unit Pill bill hillDark l & clear lpb2.3.3 phonemic contrast complementary distribution minimal pair 2.3.4 some rules in phonologyTo tell us when a sound is to be deleted although it is orthographically represented.Assimilate one sound to another by copying a feature of sequential phoneme,making two phones similarI.e. Mianbao-miannaoGovern the combination of sounds,I.e. Word begin with a l or r,next sound must be a vowelSequential rules assimilation rule deletion rule 2.3.5 suprasegmental features(phonemic features that occur above the level of segments) Stress : N & vTone： 四声Intonation： different may convey different meaning even the sentences unchanged 3. Morphology Grammar that is concerned with word formation and word structure Word: the smallest free form found in language Morpheme: the smallest unit of meaningRoot stem baseRoot: believeStem: believable (除掉所有的语法成份,留下词根和派生成份)Base：unbelievable (un的词基)Derivational morpheme:change category grammatical class of wordsPrefix:change meaningSuffix: change meaning an