语言学-chapter 1 introduction.doc

Linguistics2014/22014/7Chapter 1 Introduction1.1 What is linguistics?1.1.1 Definition: Linguistics is the scientific study of language.Language and languages: l Language is the system of human communication which consists of the structured arrangement of sounds (or their written representation) into larger units, e.g. morphemes, words, sentences, utterances.l Languages are particular systems of human communication, e.g. the French language, the Hindi language.language in general, not any particular language, e.g. English, Chinese, Arabic, and Latin.1.1.2 The Scope of linguisticsA）general linguistics The study of language as a whole is often called general linguistics.basic concepts: language; sentence; wordstheories: descriptions: models: methods applicable in any linguistic study:B)main branches of linguisticsLanguage study focuses on Meaning and Form.i) Form:soundphoneticsphonology writtenmorphology syntax ii) Meaning: semantics pragmatics iii) introduction to the main branches1) Phonetics The study of sounds used in linguistic communication.2) Phonology The study of the way in which the sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication.3) MorphologyThe study of the way in which the symbols are arranged and combined to form words .4) SyntaxThe study of rules which govern the combination of words to form grammatically permissible sentences in languages.5) Semantics: meaning in languageThe study of meaning is known as semantics.6) Pragmatics: meaning in contextWhen the study of meaning is conducted, not in isolation, but in the context of language use, it becomes another branch of linguistic study called pragmatics.C) MacrolinguisticsLinguistics is not the only field concerned with language. Other disciplines such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, artificial intelligence, medicine and education etc. are also preoccupied with language.1) Sociolinguistics The study of the social aspects of language and its relation with society forms the core of the branch called sociolinguistics.2) Psycholinguistics It relates the study of language to psychology. It investigates the interrelation of language and mind, in processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition.e.g. to study language development in children, such as the theories of language acquisition;3) Applied linguistics a) the study of second and foreign language learning and teaching.b) the study of language and linguistics in relation to practical problems. It uses information from sociology, psychology, anthropology and information theory as well as linguistics in order to develop its own theoretical models of language and language use, and then uses this information and theory in practical areas. 1.1.3 Linguistics as a Science Three adequaciesHow can we appraise the extent of success in scientific study? There are three levels to consider, namely observation, description, and explanation. What a linguist seeks for can be summarized as three adequacies correspondingly. a) observational adequacyA successful research is expected to be adequate in observation at first. It is characterized by correctly specifying what is observed to be phonologically, morphologically, syntactically, semantically, or pragmatically well-formed or ill-formed. b) descriptive adequacyProper description is based on adequate observation, and a piece of scientific work is descriptively adequate if it provides a principled account of the native speakers intuitions about the structure of the linguistic phenomenon observed. c) explanatory adequacyExplanatory adequacy is the ultimate goal of any scientific exploration. In linguistics, a theory attains explanatory adequacy just in case it provides a descriptively adequate grammar for every natural language, and does so in terms of a maximally constrained set of universal principles which represent psychologically plausible natural principles of mental computation.121.2 What is language? 1.2.1 Design featuresDesign features refer to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication.The framework of the design features was proposed by the American linguist Charles Hockett.1) ArbitrarinessArbitrariness means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds.Why?a) different languages may have different sounds to represent the same object that exists in society.b) the same sound may express different meaningsexception: onomatopoeia: based on the natural voices. 2)DualityDEFINITION: Language is a system, which consists of two sets of structures, or two levels. At the lower or the basic level there is a structure of sounds, which are meaningless by themselves. But the sounds of language can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning, which are found at the higher level of the system. 3) Productivity DEFINITION: Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its paring with animal communication systemse.g. an experiment on bee dance: Bee communication regarding location has a fixed set signals, all of which relate to horizontal distance. The bee cannot manipulate its communicating system to create a “new” message indicating vertical distance.4) Displacement DEFINITION：Language can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future, or in far-away places. Animals are under “immediate stimulus control”. Human language is, unlike animal communication systems, stimulus free. 5) Cultural transmission Language cultural transmission means that language is culturally transmitted. It is passed on from one generation to the next through teaching and learning, rather than by instinct. 1.2.2 Definitions of language Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. Language is a system elements of language are combined according to rules. a) rules of sound system b) rules of written system Language is arbitrary and symbolic Language is vocala) the primary medium for all languages is sound.b) writing systems came into being much later than the spoken forms.c) some language only have sound systems and no writing systems Language is human-specific communication vs information1.2.3 Knowledge of language: endowed or conventional?TIME-HONORED PROBLEMS WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGE? WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?Aristotle (384-322 B.C.):Language is arrived at by convention and agreement of the speakers of a given language.BEHAVIORISMEMPIRICISM Our brain was blank when we were born. Language is a social, empirical entity.B.F. Skinner: the American psychologist and a famous Harvard behaviouristThe famous quotation “language is behaviour ”Verbal behaviour is the same as any other fundamental respect of non-verbal behaviour.The occurrence of behaviours is dependent upon three crucial elements: a stimulus, which serves to elicit behaviour;a response triggered by a stimulus;reinforcement, which serves to mark the response as being appropriate (or inappropriate) and encourages the repetition (or suppression) of the response in the future.Verbal behaviour:the stimulus as what is taught (language input),the response as the learners reaction to the stimulus,the reinforcement as the approval or praise (or discouragement) of the teacher or fellow students.Argument for“poverty of the stimulus”l a) The childs linguistic experience (stimulus) is not sufficient to justify the adult grammar.l b) As far as a child is concerned, an utterance containing a mistake is just another piece of linguistic experience to be treated on a par with error-free utterance. But they still know the correct grammar.l c) A child and a chimpanzee both live in the same language environment, only the child can learn the language. Plato (427?-347 B.C.)There is a universally correct and acceptable logic of language for man to follow in expressing his ideas.NATIVISMMENTALISM There is a biological, physiological entity inside our brain which decides that we speak.Language faculty/(LAD=Language Acquisition Device): Human beings do have an inborn knowledge of language which must be universally correct and acceptable, the location of such innate knowledge just in our genes.Experience of LLFGrammar of LChomskys epistemology of the knowledge of languagel The initial state of human language faculty is called UG(Universal Grammar).l UG(universal grammar): Every speaker knows a set of principles which apply to all languages and also a set of (binary) parameters that can vary from one language to another.principles: all human languages have the subject, verb, and object.reflexible pronoun principle: the reflexible pronoun should take the noun in the same clause as antecedent.parameters:binary parameter:the position of the wh-element in the sentencel Due to the effect of later experience, our brain/mind develops from the initial state into the steady state, which corresponds to the competence of speaking a human language. experienceUG-PG (Particular Grammar) PG=a.UG1.3 Some important distinctions in linguistics1.3.1 Prescriptive vs. descriptivePrescriptive and descriptive represent two different types of linguistic study.Prescriptive study: If a linguistic study aims to lay down rules for “correct and standard” behavior in using language, it is said to be prescriptive.Descriptive study: If a linguistic study aims to describes and analyze the language people actually use, it is said to be descriptive.1.3.2 Synchronic vs. diachronic -by Ferdinand de Saussure.synchronic study: the description of a language at some point of time in history. diachronic study: the description of a language as it changes through time. A diachronic study of language is a historical study; it studies the historical development of language over a period of time.1.3.3 Speech and writingSpeech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication.The spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of human language.1) speech is prior to writing: (from the point of view of linguistic evolution)2)Speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue, and writing is learned and taught later when he goes to school.3) Spoken language reveals many true features of human speech while written language is only the “revised” record of speech.4) In everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed.1.3.4 Langue and parole The distinction between langue and parole was made by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure.1) definitionA) langue: a) the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community (a social code); b) the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to abide by; c) abstract, it is not the language people actually use.d) relatively stable, it does not change frequently.B) parole: a) the realization of langue in actual use.b) the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules.c) concrete, it refers to the naturally occurring language events.d) varies from person to person, and from situation to situation.2) The significances of the distinction: a) it is convenient in that it delimits an area of enquiry which is manageable: that area is langueb) the concept of langue can be said to capture the central and determining aspect of language itself. 3) The relation between the langue and parole a) Langue comes from parole. b) Parole is guided by langue. 1.3.5 competence and performanceProposed by the American linguist Noam Chomsky. 1) definitionCompetence: the ideal users knowledge of the rules of his language.Performance: the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication.2) The relation between the competence and performance a) competence is essential and primary; performance is the residual category of secondary phenomena, incidental, and peripheral.b) competence and performance are quite different phenomena and you cannot directly infer one from the other.3) The difference between the two pairs of concepts: langue vs parole and competence vs performance i) similarities:a) It represents a similar dichotomy of knowledge and behaviour.b) It represents a similar demarcation of the scope of linguistic enquiry.c) They are both be glossed in terms of abstract knowledge ii) differences:a) the nature of knowledge is conceived of in very different ways. -Saussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions. -Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual. b) the different study interest-Langue, the focus of attention will be in what makes each language different. -Competence, the focus of attention will be in what makes languages alike. 1.3.6 Traditional grammar and modern linguistics 1) definition:Modern linguistics: The beginning of modern linguistics was marked by the publication of F. de Saussures book Course in General Linguistics in the early 20th century.Traditional grammar: The general approach traditionally formed to the study of language over the years, before the book “Course in General Linguistics” was published.2) differences between traditional grammar and modern linguistics:a) modern linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive.b)modern linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the writing. Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tended to emphasize, the importance of the written word.c) traditional grammar forces languages into a Latin-based framework, but modern linguistics does notReading recommendationBeginner-friendly:S. C. Poole: An Introduction to Linguistics. Macmillan Publishers Ltd, 1999; 外语教学与研究出版社 2000 （刘润清导读）。H.G. Widdowson: Linguistics. Oxford University Press 1996；上海外语教育出版社，2001。胡壮麟、姜旺琪：语言学教程（修订版）。北京大学出版社，2001。More challenging:V. Fromkin, et al : An Introduction to Language (the 7th edition). Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc. 2002；北京大学出版社，2004。D Crystal: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge University Press, 1995，2003; 外语教学与研究出版社 2002（王克非等导读）。Chapter 1 IntroductionExercise I: Among the following research questions, could you tell which belongs to which branch of linguistics or which belongs to which interdisciplinary domain of macrolinguistics?l 1) What determines whether a string of words in a language is a sentence or simply a string of unrelated words?l 2) How do people use language within a context and why do they use it in particular ways?l 3) What are words like?l 4) What are speech sounds? What is their physical nature?l 5) How do sounds behave in languages?l 6) Why does one set of words mean one thing and a similar set mean something very different?l l 7) When do two different sentences mean the same thing? How can one sentence mean more than one thing?l 8) How similar are the process of listening and reading?l 9) What are the major features of the English language as it is used by women native speakers?Chapter 1 IntroductionExercise II:1. Which of the following statements about language is NOT true?A. Language is a system. B. Language is symbolic.C. Language should have a written form. D. Language is arbitrary.2. Which of the following features is NOT one of the design features of language?A. Symbolic. B. Dual. C. Productive. D. Arbitrary.3. What are the dual structures of language?A. Sounds and letters. B. Sounds and meaning.C. Letters and meaning. D. Sounds and symbols.4. Which of the following statements can be used to describe displacement， one of the unique properties of language?A. We can easily teach our children to learn a certain language.B. We can use both shu and tree to describe the same thing.C. We can use language to refer to something not present.D. We can produce sentences that have never been heard before.5. Which of the following is one of the core branches of linguistics? A. Phonology. B. Psycho-linguistics. C. Socio-linguistics.D. Anthropology.6. Which of the following branches of linguistics takes the inner structure of word as its main object of study?A. Phonetics. B. Semantics. C. Morphology. D. Syntax.7. Which of the following modes of study emphasizes on the standards of language?A. Prescriptive. B. Descriptive. C. Synchronic. D. Diachronic.8. Who put forward the distinction between Langue and ParoleA. Saussure B. Chomsky C. HallidayD. Anonymous9. The distinction between competence and performance is proposed by .A. Saussure B. Halliday C. Chomsky D. the Prague School10. According to Chomsky, is the ideal users internalized knowledge of his language.Acompetence B. parole C. performance D. langue11. _ is a design feature of human language that enables speakers to talk about a wide range of things, free from barriers caused by separation in time and space. A. Displacement B. Arbitrariness C. Duality D. Producti