语言学笔记.doc

I Introduction1. What is linguistics?Linguistics is the systematic/scientific study of language.What is the relationship between data & theory? In linguistics, as in any other discipline, data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation; that is, a theory without the support of data is hardly valid; data without being explained by some theory remain a muddled mass of things. The process of study may be as follows: 1) Certain linguistics facts are found to display some similarities, so generalizations are made about them. 2) On the basis of these generalizations hypotheses are formulated to account for the facts. These hypotheses are tested by further observations. 3) A theory is constructed about how language works.2. What is a linguist? What is the main task for him? A person who studies linguistics. He does not need to be able to use a large number of languages for communication purposes, but he should have a wide experience of different types of languages. His task is not to learn to use any particular language, but to study how each language is constructed, how it is used by its speakers, and how it is related to other languages. He is also concerned with how a language varies from dialect to dialect, from one social class to another, how it changes from one historical period to the next, and how children acquire their mother tongue. To sum up, his task is basically to study and understand the general principles upon which all languages are built. 3. What are the scopes of linguistics?Phonetics: the study of human speech soundPhonology: the sound patteringMorphology: the study of the internal structure of words, and the rules by which words are formed Syntax: the arrangement of sentencesSemantics: the study of meaningPragmatics: the study of how speakers use sentences to effect successful communicationPsycholinguistics: the relationship between language & the mindHistoric linguistics: the study of language changeSociolinguistics: the relationship between language & societyApplied linguistics: the application of linguistic theories & principles to language teaching( narrow sense)Anthropological linguisticsNeurological linguisticsMathematical linguisticsComputational linguistics4. What are some important distinctions in linguistics?(重要区别) Synchronic linguistics (共时语言学):the study of a language system at one particular point in time .Diachronic linguistics (历时语言学):an approach to linguistics which studies how a language changes over a period time.In modern linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic one.e.g. The sound system of Modern British EnglishPrescriptive vs. descriptive( 规定性与描写性)The distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things actually are. Do/ dont say X. (Prescriptive)People do/ dont say X. (descriptive)Speech & writingLangue & paroleWho made the distinction between langue and parole? And when?F. de Saussure ( a Swiss linguist) in the early 20th century.Competence & performance(语言能力与语言应用)1) Who proposed the distinction between them?N. Chomsky ( American linguist); Aspects of the theory of Syntax句法理论的若干问题2）What is competence & what is performance?Competence : the ideal users knowledge of the rules of his language (语言使用者关于语言系统规则的基本理解)Performance: the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication (指在具体场景中语言的真实使用)What are the differences between Saussures and Chomskys distinction?Saussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of language is a matter of social convention and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.For the students of English, competence needs to be nurtured in the process of enhancing performance, but competence calls for more efforts at the beginning stage while success in performance may motivate the acquisition of competence.Modern linguistics & traditional grammarWhat are the differences between them? 1. Linguistics is descriptive not prescriptive.2. Linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written.3. Linguistics does not force language into a Latin-based or universal framework.What is language? Definition: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. What are the main features of language?1) language must be a system.2) language is arbitrary.3) symbolic nature :words are associated with objects, actions, ideas by convention.4) language is vocal for spoken language came much earlier than written language.5) language is human-specific.语言对人类至关重要,但很难具体阐述是什么使我们的语言优于动物的”语言”。Bird sings and bee dances它们也是在使用语言吗？实际上不是。罗素( Bertrand Russell)曾经说过：不管一只狗可以多么流利地bark，它无法告诉你它的父母贫穷但诚实。那么，是什么是它区别与其他物种所使用的“语言”？-即人类语言性质的特征是什么？What are the defining properties(design features识别特征) of human language? Who put forward them? (American linguist: Charles Hockett)1).Productivity（多产性）: the ability to construct and understand an indefinitely large number of sentences in our native language, including the sentences that we have never heard before, but that are appropriate to the situation in which they are uttered.Why is language productive?2) Duality（ 二重性）. Because of duality the 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. 3) Arbitrariness（任意性）: the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. There is no logical relationship between meanings and sounds.What is the link between a linguistic sign & its meaning?Arbitrariness of language makes it potentially creative. That is, it allows language to change. On the contrary, the other side of arbitrariness-conventionality（ 约定性）makes learning a language laborious. For learners of foreign language, it is the conventionality of a language that is more worth noticing than its arbitrariness.任意性赋予语言潜在的创造力，而语言的约定性又使语言学习变得费力。约定性比任意性更值得注意。4) Displacement（移位性）: one of the properties of language which means that language can be used to refer to things which are not present: real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future or in faraway places.5) Cultural transmission（文化传递）: while human capacity for language has a genetic basis (we were all born with the ability to acquire language), the details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned. An English speaker and a Chinese speaker are both able to use a language, but they are not mutually intelligible. It is passed on from one generation to the next through teaching and learning, rather by instinct.Functions of language( added): 1. Phatic function(应酬功能) : language used for establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact rather than for exchanging information or ideas. “How are you?” “Nice day, isnt it?”A term used by the British-Polish anthropologist Malinowski to refer to communication between people which is not intended to seek or convey information but has the social function of establishing or maintaining social contact. 2. Directive function(指示功能): language used to get the hearer to do something . Shut the door. I advise you not to do it. (a suggestion) Have a seat. ( an offer) Do come in, please. ( an invitation)3. Informative function (信息功能): language used to tell what the speaker believes, to give information about facts, or to reason things out. Water boils at 212 degree Fahrenheit.4. Interrogative function(疑问功能): language used to get information from others. When did you arrive? What do you think of it? How do you feel now? Rhetorical questions（反意疑问句）, however, do not have such function, as they do not expect answer.5. Expressive function(表达功能): language used to reveal something about the feelings and attitudes of the speaker( evaluation; appraisement; assertion; etc. ). Good heavens! My God! Im extremely sorry about6. Evocative function(召唤功能): language used to create certain feelings in the hearer. Its aim is to amuse, startle, anger, soothe, worry or please. (Jokes; advertising; propaganda; etc.)7. Performative function(施为功能): language used to perform actions, to “ do things”. I declare the meeting open. I declare the war upon . I sentence you ten years of hard labor.II. Phonology1.What are the speech sounds (语音)?Speech sounds are sounds that convey meaning in human linguistic communication.2.What is phonetics?It is the study of the phonic medium of language.3. What are the three branches of phonetics? Articulatory phonetics (发音语音学):studies the human speech organs, and the way in which the speech sounds are produced.Acoustic phonetics （声学语音学）:deals with the physical properties of the speech sounds; it studies the sound waves through the use of such machines as a spectrograph(光谱仪).Auditory phonetics （听觉语音学）: the study of the perception of sounds by the human ear.4. Narrow & broad transcriptions IPA: International Phonetic Alphabet(国际音标): a system of symbols for representing the pronunciation of words in any language according to the principles of the International Phonetic Association. The symbols consist of letters and diacritics. Diacritic(变音符号): a mark placed over, under, or through a letter to show that it has a sound value different from that of the same letter without the mark. E.g. ; ; Narrow transcription/ phonetic notation: the phonetic transcription with diacritics( 严式音标/语音注音法)Broad transcription/ phonemic notation: generally used in dictionaries and language textbooks(without diacritics)宽式音标/音位注音法5. Phone, phoneme, allophone 1) Phone: a phonetic unit or segment. Phones do not necessarily distinguish meaning. Phones are placed within square brackets p . 音素2) Phoneme: an abstract and phonological unit that is of distinctive value Phonemes are placed in slashes / p /. 音位3) Allophone: the different phones that can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments 音位变体(在不同的语音环境中表征同一音位的不同音素)6. Phonemic contrast, complementary distribution & minimal pair音位对立；互补分布；最小对立体Phonemic contrast: two distinctive phonemes / p/ /b/pin-bin pit-bit2) Complementary distribution: phonologically similar sounds which do not distinguish meaning but complement each other in distribution. l : lamp light like : old apple table3). Minimal pair: two different forms are identical in every way except one sound segment which occur in the same place in the strings. pillbill pilltill till drill kill- gill 7. Some rules of phonology1) Sequential rules(序列规则): ( phonological pattering is rule-governed) rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language.2) Assimilation rule(同化规则): assimilates one sound to another by copying a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones more similar3) Deletion rule(省略规则): tells us when a sound is to be deleted although it is orthographically represented8. Suprasegmental features(超切分特征) : phonemic features that occur above the level of the segment Segment(语段): any linguistic unit in a sequence which may be isolated from the rest of the sequence, e.g. a sound in an utterance or a letter in a written text.Stress（ 重音）: including both word stress and sentence stress. The location of stress distinguishes meaning in Tones（音调）: pitch variations which are caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords and can distinguish meaning. Chinese is a typical tone language with four tones: level; rise; fall-rise; Intonation（语调）: When pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as intonation. English has four basic types of intonation, known as the four tones: the falling tone: a statement of a fact. the rising tone: an uncertainty of what is said. the fall-rise tone: an implied message in what is said. the rise-fall tone: a shock or a surprise III. Morphology1. What is morphology?Morphology is the study of the structure of words-the study of rules governing the formation of words in a language.2. Open class words & closed class wordsOpen class words: a group of words which contains unlimited number of items. Nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives are open class to which new words can be added .Closed class words: the word classes conjunctions, prepositions & pronouns consist of relatively few words, and new words are not usually added to them.3. Types of Morphemes 词素A morpheme is the minimal unit of meaning/ the most basic element of meaning / the smallest unit of speech that has semantic or grammatical meaning/ the smallest meaningful unit in a languageFree morpheme (free form): a morpheme which can be used alone. e.g. Betty, horse, red, love 自由词素Bound morpheme(bound form): a morpheme which is never used alone but must be used with another morpheme.粘着词素Derivational morpheme: a morpheme which is conjoined to other morpheme/word to form a new word.(suffixes & prefixes)派生词素 carefulness: care+ful+nessInflectional morpheme: a morpheme which is added to a word according to the rules of grammar.屈折词素 -(e)s; (e)d; -ing; -er; -est; -s4. Morphological rules of word formationWhat is morphological rules(词素音位规则)? The ways words are formed. They determine how morphemes combine to form words. There are rules that govern which affix can be added to what type of stem to form a new word, but they are not to be used at random.Un-: unhappy; unfortunate; unseemlyincorrect; improper; disagreeable5. CompoundsCompounds are formed by string words together. Words of various parts of speech can be combined to form compounds. The most common types include:1) noun+noun: handbook; bellboy2) adjective+noun: highway; deadline3) adjective+noun+-ed: white-haired4) verb+noun: pickpocket; makewater5) adverb+noun: downtown; upgrade6) noun+verb: snowfall; toothpick7) verb+adverb: follow-up; kick-off8) noun+adjective: lifelong; homesick9) -ing+ noun: dinging-roomIV Syntax1. What is syntax?Syntax is the study of how sentences are structured or in other words, it tries to state what words can be combined with others to form sentences and in what order.2. What is Category? It refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb.3. Whats the division of word level categories?Major categories: noun; verb; adjective; prepositionMinor categories: determiner; degree word; auxiliary; conjunction4. Deep & surface structure:Surface structure: the syntactic structure of the sentence which a person speaks, hears, reads or writesDeep structure: all the units and relationships that are necessary for interpreting the meaning of the sentence. Its much more abstract and is considered to be in the speakers, writers, hearers or readers mind.V. Semantics1. What is semantics? The study of meaning in language.2. Why do linguists find it difficult to define “meaning”?Because 1) they doubt whether meaning can be studied as objectively and rigorously as grammar and phonology;2) they have also realized that the problem of meaning does not concern only with linguistics, but also with logic, psychology, sociology, etc.3. Some views concerning the study of meaning1) The naming theory ( Plato)2) The conceptualist view Semantic triangle (Ogden & Richards)3) Contextualism (J.R. Firth, the leading British linguist: We shall know a word by the company it keeps.)4) Behaviorism (Bloomfield)A theory of psychology which states that human and animal behavior can and should be studied in terms of physical processes only. It led to theories of learning which explained how an external event ( a stimulus) caused a change in the behavior of an individual ( a response) without using concepts like “ mind ” or “ ideas” , or any kind of mental behavior.4. Sense & Reference 意义与指称1) Whats the distinction between sense & reference?Sense: concerned with the inherent meaning of a linguistic form.Reference: the relationship between the linguistic elements (words, sentences, etc.) and the linguistic world of experience.Distinction: Sense deals with semantic structure or intra-linguistic relationships while reference deals with meaning in terms of our experience outside language or non-linguistic entities.morning star & evening star:Is the morning star the morning star?( The first morning star is the star that appears in the morning while the second morning star is the Venus.)The morning star is the evening star.(The star that appears in the morning is the Venus; and the star that appears in the evening is also Venus.)5. Five types of synonyms1) Dialectal synonyms; autumn-fall2) Stylistic synonyms; kid-child3) Synonyms differing in their emotive or evaluative meaning; statesman-politician4) Collocational synonyms; accuseof-rebuke.for5)Semantically different synonyms; disaster-catastrophe6. Polysemy; homonymy; hyponymy; antonymyPolysemy（一词多义）: a word with a set of different meaningsHomonymy（同音/形异义）: two or more meanings associated with the same linguistic form.homograph: lead(metal)/lead(dogs)homophone: site/sight; meat/ meetcomplete homonyms: fast adj./ fast v.Hyponymy（下义关系）：the sense relation between a more general , more inclusive word and a more specific word.Hyponyms (下义词)其意义包含在另一个词义之中的词Superordinate （上坐标词）：意义较概括的词bird ( superordinate) eagle owl nightingale parr