语言学导论－辅导课程

辅导课程二ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

Thischapterintroducesyoutothenatureoflanguage,thescopeoflinguisticsandsomebasicnotionsortechnicaltermsinlinguistics.1

Whatislanguage?

1.1Atentativedefinition(P3)**

Languageis,inessence,asystemofsignsdesignedforthepurposeofhumancommunication.

Notes:Thenumbersinbracketsindicatethecorrespondingpagesinourtextbook,wherethediscussionofthetopicsinquestioncanbefound.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

1.2Thedesignfeaturesoflanguage(P3-9)

Thefeaturesthatdefinehumanlanguagesasagainstanimalcommunicationaregenerallycalleddesignfeatures.Thefollowingarethefrequentlydiscussedones.Researchesshowthatsomeanimalcommunicationsmay,tocertaindegrees,havesomeofthesefeatures,butnocommunicationsystemotherthanhumanlanguagepossessesallofthem.Thatiswhywecansaylanguageisuniquetohumans.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

1.2.1Arbitrariness(P4)

SincethetimeofSaussure,ithasbeenacceptedthatlanguageisarbitrary.Byarbitrarinesswemeanthatthereisnonaturalorlogicalrelationshipbetweentheformsoflinguisticsigns(i.e.words)andtheirmeaning.TakethecaseoftheEnglishwordhorseforexample.Thereisclearlynonecessaryrelationshipbetweenthestringofsoundsmakingupthiswordandtheanimalcalledhorse.Otherwise,itwouldbeverydifficulttoexplainthatweChineserefertothesameanimalbyusingma.Ofcourse,onomatopoeicwords,suchasquack-quack,bang,andwowwowintheEnglishlanguage,areexceptions,buttherearerelativelyfewofthesecomparedwiththetotalnumberofwordsinonelanguage.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

1.2.2Duality(P6)

Duality

(二重性)referstothefactlanguagehastwolevelsofstructures:themeaninglesssoundsegmentsatthelowerlevelcombinetoformunitsofmeaningattheupperlevel.1.2.3Creativity(P7-8)

Bycreativity,wemeanlanguageisresourcefulbecauseofitsdualityanditsrecursivenessandhasthepotentialtocreateinfinitenumberof

sentences,includingthosewehaveneverheardorreadbefore.Creativityissometimesusedtorefertotheabilitythatlanguageusersallhavetoconstructandunderstandanindefinitelynumberofsentencesinournativelanguage,includingsentencesthatwehaveneverheardbefore,butthatareappropriatetothesituationinwhichtheyareuttered.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

1.2.4Displacement(P8)

Displacement(移位)meansthathumanlanguagescanbeusedbytheiruserstocommunicatethingsthatarepresentaswellasthosethatareabsentintimeandspace.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

1.3Functionsoflanguage(P10-16):

Languageservesaninformativefunctionwhenusedtotellsomething,characterizedbytheuseofdeclarativesentences.Informativestatementsareoftenlabeledastrueorfalse.Theinterpersonalfunctionisthemostimportantsociologicaluseoflanguage,bywhichpeopleestablishandmaintaintheirstatusinsociety.Theperformativefunctionmeanspeoplespeakto"dothings"ortoperformactions.Oncertainoccasionstheutteranceitselfasanactionismoreimportantthanwhatwordsorsoundsconstitutetheutteredsentence.Thepresident'swardeclaration,forexample,isaperformative.DetaileddiscussionofthiscanbefoundinChapterSix.Theemotivefunctionistheuseoflanguagetocreatecertainfeelingsinthehearer,ortorevealsomethingaboutthefeelingsorattitudesofthespeaker.Itsaimis,toamuse,startle,soothe,or

pleasethehearer,

toevaluate,orassertsomething,etc.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

1.3

Functionsoflanguage(P10-16):

Thedirectivefunctionmeansthatlanguagemaybeusedtogetthehearertodosomething.Thephaticfunctionoflanguageorphaticcommunionreferslanguagebeingusedforsettingupacertainatmosphereormaintainingsocialcontacts(ratherthanforexchanginginformationorideas).Greetings,farewells,andcommentsontheweatherinEnglishandontheclothinginChineseallservethisfunction.Therecreationalfunctionoflanguagereferstotheuseoflanguageforthesheerjoyofusingit,suchasababy'sbabblingorachanter's(吟唱者)chanting.Themetalingualfunctionoflanguagereferstotheuseoflanguagetotalkaboutlanguageitself.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

2Branchesoflinguistics2.1 Majorbranchesofgenerallinguistics(P17-20)Thestudyoflanguageitselfasawholeiscalledgenerallinguisticsormicrolinguistics.Thebranchesofgenerallinguisticsstudydifferentaspectsoflanguageitself.

Languagecanbeapproachedatthreelevelssound,form,andmeaning.Withrespecttoeachleveltherearetwobranchesoflinguisticstudy.

Soundphonetics,phonology

Formmorphology,syntax

Meaningsemantics,pragmatics**Note:Scholarshavedifferentopinionsaboutwhetherpragmaticsshouldbetreatedasadisciplineparalleltotheotherfivebranchesofgenerallinguistics.Iprefertotreatitasabranchofmacrolinguistics.DetaileddiscussionaboutthispointistobefoundinChapterSix.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

2.2Somebranchesofmacrolinguistics(P20-23)

Macrolinguisticsreferstothestudyoflanguageinrelationtootherdisciplines,suchaspsychology,sociology,etc.2.2.1Psycholinguistics

Psycholinguisticsisthestudyofa)thementalprocessesthatapersonusesinproducingandunderstandinglanguage,andb)howhumanlearnlanguage.Itcoversthestudyofspeechperception,theroleofmemory,conceptsandotherprocessesinlanguageuse,andhowsocialandpsychologicalfactorsaffecttheuseoflanguage.2.2.2SociolinguisticsFordetail,seePartTwoinChapterSeven.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

2.2.3

Anthropologicallinguistics(人文／类语言学)

Anthropologicallinguisticsusesthetheoriesandmethodsofanthropologytostudylanguagevariationandlanguageuseinrelationtotheculturalpatternsandbeliefsofman.2.2.4 Computationallinguistics

Fordetail,seeChapterEight.2.2.5 Appliedlinguistics(P352-353)

Initsnarrowsense,appliedlinguisticsisthestudyofsecondandforeignlanguageteachingandlearning,whichemploysthetheoriesandfindingsoflinguistics.However,appliedlinguisticsalsohasabroadermeaning:thestudyoflinguisticsandothertheoriesinrelationtoanylanguage-relatedproblems.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

3Importantdistinctionsinlinguistics3.1Descriptivevs.prescriptive(P23)Alinguisticstudyis"descriptive"ifitonlydescribesandanalysesthefactsoflanguage,and"prescriptive"ifittriestolaydownrulesfor"correct"languagebehavior.Linguisticstudiesbeforethiscenturywerelargelyprescrip0tivebecausemanyearlygrammarswerebasedon"high"(literaryorreligious)writtenrecords.Modernlinguisticsismostlydescriptive,however.Itbelievesthatwhateveroccursinnaturalspeechshouldbedescribedintheanalysis,andnotbemarkedasincorrect,abnormal,corrupt,orlousy.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

3.2Synchronicvs.diachronic(P24)Asynchronicstudyreferstothestudyofalanguageatsomepointoftime.Thedescriptionofalanguageasitchangesthroughtimeisadiachronicstudy.Anessayentitled"OntheUseofTHE",forexample,maybesynchronic,iftheauthordoesnotrecallthepastofTHE,anditmayalsobediachronicifheclaimstocoveralargerangeorperiodoftimewhereinTHEhasundergonetremendousalteration.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

3.3LangueandparoleThisisadistinctionmadebytheSwisslinguistF.deSaussure(thefatherofmodernlinguistics)earlythiscentury.Languereferstotheabstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyallthemembersofaspeechcommunityandparolereferstotherealizationoflangue.Languecanbethoughtofasthegeneralizedrulesofthelanguage,whileparoleistheconcreteapplicationoftherules.Wecancomparethemalongthefollowingdimensions.First,langueisabstract;paroleisspecifictothesituationinwhichitoccurs.Second,langueisnotactuallyspokenbyanyone;paroleisalwaysanaturallyoccurringevent.Third,langueisrelativelystableandsystematic;paroleissubjecttopersonalandsituationalconstraints.ForSaussure,paroleisamassofconfusedfactsandnotsuitableforsystematicinvestigation.Whatthelinguisthastodoistodiscovertheregularitiesgoverningallinstancesofparoleandmakethemthesubjectoflinguistics.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

3.4Competenceandperformance(P25-26)ThisisthedistinctionmadebytheAmericanlinguist,NoamChomsky.Accordingtohim,competenceistheideallanguageuser'sknowledgeoftherulesofhislanguage,andperformanceistheactualrealizationofthisknowledgeinutterances.Theformerenablesaspeakertoproduceandunderstandanindefinitenumberofsentencesandtorecognizegrammaticalmistakesandambiguities.Aspeaker'scompetenceisstablewhilehisperformanceisofteninfluencedbypsychologicalandsocialfactors.soaspeaker'sperformancedoesnotalwaysmatchorequalhissupposedcompetence.Chomskybelievesthatlinguistsoughttostudycompetence,ratherthanperformance.Besideshiscompetence-performancedistinctionisnotexactlythesameas,thoughsimilarto,F.deSaussure'slangue-paroledistinction.Langueisasocialproduct,andasetofconventionsforacommunity,whilecompetenceisdeemedasapropertyofthemindofeachindividual.

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguistics

3.5SpeechandwritingWhilespeechisthevocal/spokenformoflanguage,writingisthewrittenformoflanguage.Theybelongtodifferentsystemsthoughtheymayoverlap.Thatspeechisprimaryoverwritingisageneralprincipleoflinguisticanalysis.First,speechexistedlongbeforewritingsystemscameintobeing.Second,writtenformsjustrepresentinthiswayorthatthespeechsounds.Third,geneticallychildrenlearntospeakbeforelearningtowrite.

However,emphasizingtheprimacyofspeechisbynomeanstodenytheimportanceofwriting,whichgiveslanguagenewscopeandusesthatspeechdoesnothave.First,withwriting,messagescanbecarriedthroughspaceandtime.Second,oralmessagearesubjecttodistortion,eitherintentionalorotherwise,causingmisunderstanding,whilewrittenmessagesremainexactlythesamewhetherreadathousandyearslaterortenthousandmilesaway.Everythingconsidered,speechisbelievedtomorerepresentativeofhumanlanguagethanwriting.Mostmodernlinguisticanalysisisthusfocusedonspeech,differentfromtraditionalgrammarofthe19thcenturyandtherebefore.

ChapterOne