第二讲 what is language.ppt

Lecture2:WhatisLanguage?,Aimsforthislecture,1.Definitionsforlanguage2.Featuresoflanguage3.Originsoflanguage4.FormsofLanguage5.Functionsoflanguage,Questions:1.Whatifwehadnolanguage?2.Whatislanguage?3.Islanguageimportant?Isitmoreimportantthan(lessimportant,asimportantas)oureyes,hands,earsorlegs?,1.Definitions,辞海（1989年版，第446页）人类最重要的交际工具。它同思维有密切的联系，是人类思维和表达思想的手段，也是人类社会最基本的信息载体。人们借助语言保存和传递人类文明的成果。语言是人区别于其他动物的本质特征之一。共同的语言又常是民族的特征。语言是以语音为物质外壳，以语词为建筑材料，以语法为结构规律而构成的符号体系。,语言是一种特殊的社会现象，它随着社会的产生而产生，发展而发展。语言没有阶级性，一视同仁地为社会各阶层服务。社会各阶级，阶层或社会集群也会影响到语言，因而造成语言在使用上的不同特点或差异。,Language“isnottobeconfusedwithhumanspeech,ofwhichitisonlyadefinitepart,thoughcertainlyanessentialone.Itisbothasocialproductofthefacultyofspeechandacollectionofnecessaryconventionsthathavebeenadoptedbyasocialbodytopermitindividualstoexercisethatfaculty”.(FerdinanddeSaussure1857-1913),Languageisasetof(finiteorinfinite)sentences,eachinfiniteinlengthandconstructedoutofafinitesetofelements.(Chomsky,1957),Languageisapurelyhumanandnon-instinctivemethodofcommunicatingideas,emotionsanddesiresbymeansofvoluntarilyproducedsymbols.(Sapir,1921),Alanguageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsbymeansofwhichasocialgroupco-operates.”-BernardBloch(1907-1965)onlyforagerssendmessages.Noraresongsofmanybirds;onlyroosterscrow.,Reflexivity,Humanlanguagescanbeusedtodescribethemselves.Thelanguageusedtotalkaboutlanguageiscalledmetalanguage.e.g.,Whatdoyoumean?Imean.word,sentence,this,that.,Linguistshaveobservedothercharacteristics,buttheonesdiscussedabovearemorestriking,particularlythefeaturesofdualityandcreativity.Theseareuniversalfeaturespossessedbyallhumanlanguages.,Althoughsomeanimalcommunicationsystemspossess,toaverylimiteddegree,oneoranotherofthesefeaturesexceptcreativityandduality,noneisfoundtohaveallthefeatures.Languagedistinguisheshumanbeingsfromanimalsinthatitisfarmoresophisticatedthananyanimalcommunicationsystem.,Onthisbasislinguiststendtoconcludethathumanlanguagesarequalitativelydifferentfromanimalcommunicationsystems.Humanlanguageisauniqueformofcommunication.,Question:Wouldothercreaturesbeabletounderstandandproducethisspecializedhumanmodeofexpression?,Humanlanguage:uniqueformofcommunicationOthercreaturescannotdevelopanunderstandingofhumanmodeofexpressionStimulus-responseofanimals:RiderssayWHOASayHeeltodogsCircusanimalsgoUp,Down,Rollover,etc,Difficulttoconceiveanimals“understanding”humanlanguage,evenlesslikelytoproducehumanlanguageOnespeciesofanimalsdonotproducethesignalsofanotherspecies.HorsewillnotlearntoproduceMooamongcows;Puppyandbabygrowingtogether,ChimpanzeesandLanguage,99%basicgeneticsincommonwithhuman1930s,2scientists(LuellaandWithropKellogg)raisedchimpwiththeirsonandcouldunderstand100words,butcouldnotproduce1940s,(CatherineandKeithHayes)chimpVikilivinglikeahumanchild,shapinghermouth,itmanagedtoproducesomewords:mama,papa,cupRemarkableachievementsinceotherprimatesdonotpossessthehumanvocaltractsuitableforproducinghumanspeechsounds,Wehaveansweredsomequestions,butnotall.Westilldonothaveanuncontroversialdefinitionof“usinglanguage”.Butgiventhemassofevidnecefromthestudies,wemightsuggestthatthelinguistNoamChomskyshouldrevisehisclaimthat“acquisitionofeventhebarestrudimentsoflanguageisquitebeyondthecapacitiesofanotherwiseintelligibleape”.Chimpanzeeshaveobviouscapacitytocopewiththe“barestrudimentsoflangauge”wecertainlyhave.,3.Originoflanguage,Question:Whatistheoriginoflanguage?Spokenformoflanguage-writtenformoflanguage-noevidencerelatingtothespeech-speculations,TheDivineorigin神授说,Inmostreligions,thereappearstobeadivinesourcewhoprovideshumanswithlanguage.,Christianbelief,GodcreatedAdamand“whatsoeverAdamcalledeverylivingcreature,thatwasthenamethereof”(Genesis2:19),Afewexperimentshavebeencarriedout,withratherconflictingresults.Thebasichypothesisseemstohavebeenthat,ifinfantswereallowedtogrowupwithouthearinganylanguage,thentheywouldspontaneouslybeginusingtheoriginalGod-givenlanguage.,TheConclusion1)Itisunfortunatethatallothercasesofchildrenwhohavebeendiscoveredlivinginisolation,withoutcomingintocontactwithhumanspeech,tendnottoconfirmtheresultsofeitherofthese“divine-source”experiments.2)Childrenlivingwithoutaccesstohumanspeechintheirearlyyearsgrowupwithnolanguageatall.,The“bow-wow”theory(Thenatural-soundsource),1)ImitatingnaturalsoundsInprimitivetimespeopleimitatedthesoundsoftheanimalcallsinthewildenvironmentandspeechdevelopedfromthat.Onomatopoeicwordsseemtobeaconvenientevidenceforthistheory.Buttheyareverydifferentinthedegreeofresemblancetheyexpresswiththenaturalsounds.Thistheorylackssupportiveevidence.,2)The“pooh-pooh”theoryInthehardlifeofourprimitiveancestors,theyutterinstinctivesoundsofpain,angerandjoy.Asforevidence,wecanonlycitetheuniversaluseofsoundsasinterjections.Whatmakesthetheoryproblematicisthatthereisonlyalimitednumberofinterjectionsinalmostalllanguages.,3)The“yo-heave-ho”theoryAsprimitivepeopleworkedtogether,theyproducedsomerhythmicgruntswhichgraduallydevelopedintochantsandthenintolanguage.Wedohaveprosodicuseofrhythmsinlanguages,butrhythmicgruntsarefardifferentfromlanguageinitspresentsense.,Theoral-gesturesource,1)Onesuggestionregardingtheoriginsofthesoundsoflanguageinvolvesalinkbetweenphysicalgestureandorallyproducedsounds.2)The“oral-gesture”theoryproposesanextremelyspecificconnectionbetweenphysicalandoralgesture.,Glossogenetics言语遗传学,1)Glossogeneticsfocusesmainlyonthebiologicalbasisoftheformationanddevelopmentofhumanlanguage.2)Thereisaconcentrationonsomeofthephysicalaspectsofhumansthatarenotsharedwithanyothercreatures,inthisapproach.,Physiologicaladaptation生理顺应,Teeth,lips,mouth,tonguelarynx,pharynx.ThehumanBrain,Theby-nowfruitlesssearchfortheoriginoflanguagesreflectspeoplesconcernwiththeoriginofhumanityandmaycomeupwithenlighteningfindingsinfuture.Onethingwecansayforcertainisthatlanguageevolveswithinspecifichistorical,socialandculturalcontexts.,4.Formsoflanguage,Verylargenumberoflanguagesusedinspokenform;Developmentofwritingarecentthing;Cavedrawings20,000yearsago;Claytokens10,000yearsago;Alphabeticscriptinscriptions3,000yearsago.Ancientwritingsystemfoundonstoneortabletsinruinedcities.,Thedevelopmentofwriting,1)Pictogramsandideograms（象形和表意）2)Logograms（语标书写法）3)Rebuswriting（字谜书写法）4)Syllabicwriting（音节书写法）5)Alphabeticwriting（字母书写法）,1)Pictogramsandideograms,Whensomeofthe“pictures”(ofcavedrawings)cametorepresentparticularimagesinaconsistentway,wecanbegintodescribetheproductasaformofpicture-writing,orpictogramsIdeogrammeansideapictureorideawriting.Inordertoexpresstheattributeofanobjectorconceptsassociatedwithit,thepictogramsmeaninghadtobeextended.Forinstance,apictureofthesundoesnotnecessarilyrepresenttheobjectitself,butconnotates“warmth”,“heat”,“light”,“daytime”,etc.,2)Logograms,AgoodexampleoflogographicwritingisthatusedbytheSumerians,inthesouthernpartofmodernIraq,between5,000and6,000yearsago.Becauseoftheparticularshapesusedintheirsymbols,theseinscriptionsaremoregenerallydescribedascuneiformwriting.Theterm“cuneiform”means“wedge-shaped”.Theformofthissymbolreallygivesnocluetowhattypeofentityisbeingreferredto.Therelationshipbetweenthewrittenformandtheobjectitrepresentshasbecomearbitrary.,TheearliestknownwritingsystemChinesewrittensymbolsorcharacters.Theadvantageandthedisadvantage.,3)Rebuswriting,OnewayofusingexistingsymbolstorepresentthesoundsoflanguageisviaaprocessknownasRebuswriting.Inthisprocess,thesymbolsforoneentityistakenoverasthesymbolforthesoundofthespokenwordusedtorefertothatentity.Thatsymbolthencomestobeusedwheneverthatsoundoccursinanywords.,4)Syllabicwriting,Whenawritingsystememploysasetofsymbolswhichrepresentthepronunciationsofsyllables,itisdescribedassyllabicwriting.Therearenopurelysyllabicwritingsystemsinusetoday,butmodernJapanesecanbewrittenwithasetofsinglesymbolswhichrepresentspokensyllablesandisconsequentlyoftendescribedashavinga(partially)syllabicwritingsystem,orasyllabary.,5)Alphabeticwriting,Analphabetisessentiallyasetofwrittensymbolswhicheachrepresentasingletypeofsound.ItistheGreekswhoshouldbegivencreditfortakingtheinherentlysyllabicsystemfromthePhoenicians,andcreatingawritingsysteminwhichthesingle-symboltosingle-soundcorrespondencewasfullyrealized.,WrittenEnglish,Iftheoriginsofthealphabeticwritingsystemwerebasedonacorrespondencebetweensinglesymbolandsinglesoundtype,thenwhythereissuchafrequentmismatchbetweentheformsofwrittenEnglishandthesoundsofspokenEnglish?,Printingwasintroducedin15thCenturyConventionsregardingwrittenrepresentationofwordsderivedfromLatinandFrenchEarlyprinters:DutchSince15thcentury,thepronunciationhasundergonesubstantialchangesLargenumberofwordswere“recreated”in16thcentury,5.Functionsoflanguage,1.Whatdowedowithlanguage?2.Whatkindofthingscanlanguagedo?,Functionisgenerallyusedinlinguisticstorefertotheroleslanguageplaysinourlifeorinsociety.Eveninthissense,functionmayrefertospecificrolesorgeneralroles.,Thespecificroleslanguageplaysfulfillanindividualspurposeofcommunicationintermsofusinglanguagetochat,tothink,tobuyandsell,toreadandwrite,togreet,praiseandcondemnpeople,etc.,Linguiststalkaboutthefunctionsoflanguageinanabstractsense.Theysummarizethesepracticalfunctionsandattemptsomebroadclassificationsofthebasicfunctionsoflanguage.Butthelistishardlyexhaustive.,Generalfunctionsoflanguage,ReferentialfunctionPerformativeFunctionEmotiveFunctionPhaticCommunionRecreationalFunctionMeta-lingualFunction,ReferentialfunctionThetransmissionofinformationisthefirstthingwethinkofwhenweconsiderthefunctionsoflanguage.Informationalorreferentialorideationalfunctionisassociatedwithwhatobjectsandideasarecalledandhoweventsaredescribed.,PerformativeFunctionTheperformativefunctionoflanguageisprimarilytochangethesocialstatusofpersons,asinmarriageceremonies,thesentencingofcriminals,theblessingofchildren,thenamingofashipatalaunchingceremony,andthecursingofenemies.Thekindoflanguageemployedinperformativeverbalactsisusuallyquiteformalandevenritualized.,Thepriest:NowIdeclareyoumanandwife.Thejudge:NowIsentenceyoutotenyearsinprison.,Forexample,whenwesaytoafriend:“今晚到我们这儿吃顿便饭”。weperformthefollowingacts.,Producingnoises.ProducingnoisesinsuchawaytheybecomeChinesesounds.ProducingsoundsinsuchawaytheybecomeChinesewords.PuttingChinesewordsinsuchawaytheybecomeameaningfulutterance.,Whatwedoisissuinganinvitation.ThepurposeofdoingthisistobepoliteOrtoreinforcethefriendshipAndetc.,EmotiveFunctionTheemotivefunctionoflanguageisoneofthemostpowerfulusesoflanguagebecauseitissocrucialinchangingtheemotionalstatusofanaudiencefororagainstsomeoneorsomething.AccordingtoDavidCrystal(1992:17),theemotivefunctionisameansofgettingridofournervousenergywhenweareunderstress.,Forexample,swearwords,obscenities,involuntaryverbalreactionstobeautifulartorscenery;conventionalwords/phrases,like“God”,“My”,“Damnit”,“Whatasight”,“Wow”,etc.,PhaticCommunionItreferstothesocialinteractionoflanguage,e.g.Goodmorning!Niceday!,RecreationalFunctionTherecreationalfunctionofalanguageisoftenoverlookedbecauseitseemsrestrictiveinpurposeandsupposedlylimitedinusefulness.Forexample,poetrywritinggivesthemthepleasu