1Lecture One Orientation to Linguistics.ppt

1、1,Orientation to Linguistics,2,What is linguistics?,The scientific study of language,1) linguistic facts observed;,2) generalizations made about the linguistic facts;,3) hypotheses formulated to account for the linguistic facts;,4) the hypotheses tested by further observations;,5) linguistic theorie

2、s of language constructed.,3,Outline of the Course,Linguistics,Phonetics,Phonology,Morphology,Syntax,Semantics,Language Acquisition,Language,Pragmatics,Sociolinguistics,4,Why Study Linguistics?,Some knowledge of linguistics can be of great help in developing your ability to communicate in English.,F

3、or learners of a foreign language, to study linguistics is to reflect on the language we are learning and to think about the context and process by which we are learning it. After all, you do not want to be an unthinking learner who simply drifts along following others. The best language learners ar

4、e those who take an active role in directing their own learning and who explore the language on their own terms. Linguistics can give you the tools to do this.,5,Language,What is language?,Communication: transferring or conveying a message from its source to a recipient.,Language is a system of arbi

5、trary vocal symbols used for human communication. (functionalism),Not only for communication, but also for thinking.,6,SEMIOTICS Auditory-Vocal Visual Tactile Olfactory Gustatory Speech Sign languages Deaf-blind language Physiological vocal reflexes Writing codes Muscle effects Kinesics(身势) Proxemic

6、s(空间关系) Voice qualities “Body language” (Non-verbal communication),7,Two distinct types of communication,“Communication systems” when referring to communication in animals and inanimate things (e.g. dolphins, plants, viruses and computers),In general, “language” is the term used to describe the comm

7、unication system that humans use.,“Language” in the case of communication in human beings.,8,Communication in Animals and nature,Some plants use colored petals to attract insects to their pollen so that their seeds will be propagated, other in tropical locations use color and scent to deceive insect

8、s into thinking that they are safe, and then they trap the unsuspecting insects into petals in sticky juices and proceed to slowly digest the insects.,9,Bees “dance” giving directions to other bees to tell them where to find nectar. The dolphin seems to be able to communicate with other dolphins eff

9、ectively by a combination of whistles and clicks.,In the 1960s Washoe, a chimpanzee, was taught in captivity from birth to communicate with humans using American sign language. She eventually learnt 160 different word signs and was able to combine signs creatively, which suggested to researchers tha

10、t she possessed a sense of imagination and originality. Further research with chimps has shown similarly interesting results.,10,The Uniqueness of Human language,When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the “human essence,” the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so

11、far as we know, unique to man. Noam Chomsky,Charles Hockett, an American linguist, defines human spoken language against other forms of non-human communication systems. He takes into account a total of 13 “design features”, which distinguish language from any animal system of communication. They are

12、 listed here:,No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor but honest. Bertrand Russell,11,1. The auditory-vocal channel,The primary medium of language is sound, no matter how well developed the writing system is. Writing is based on speaking.,2. Arbitrarine

13、ss: There is no logic connection between sounds and their referents.,A good example is the fact that different sounds are used to the same object in different languages.,However, language is not entirely arbitrary. There are onomatopoeic words, such as bang, crush in English. Besides some compound w

14、ords are also not entirely arbitrary (bookstore).,12,3. Displacement: It is possible to talk about events through space and time. There is no limitation on the here and now.,Language can be used to refer to things that are present, past or future, real or imagined, here or far away. No animal commun

15、ication system possesses this feature.Animal calls are mainly uttered in response to immediate changes of situation.,4. Productivity: There exists an infinite creative capacity to express and understand meaning, by using old sentence elements to produce new sentences.,This is why we can produce and

16、understand an infinitely large number of of sentences, including sentences we have never heard before.,13,5. Duality of patterning (or double articulation):,Language consists of two sets, or two levels, of structures: one of sounds and the other of meaning.,The sounds are basically meaningless. But

17、they can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning such as morphemes and words.,For example, the grouping of the three sounds /k/, /a:/, and /p/ can mean either carp or park.,No animal communication system has this kind of duality, or nor does it come near to possessing it.,14

18、,6. Cultural transmission:,Language is passed on from one generation to the other through a process of teaching and learning.,It is not genetic, although linguistics accept that the underlying capacity for language in humans is genetically passed on from one generation to the next.,A Chinese speaker

19、 and an English speaker are mutually unintelligible shows that details of language are culturally transmitted.,What about the children of Chinese American? They tend to speak English or Chinese?,15,7. Discreteness: Speech uses a small set of sound elements that clearly contrast with each other.,8. B

20、roadcast transmission and directional receptions: A signal can be heard by any auditory system within earshot, and can be located with the ears direction-finding ability.,9. Interchangeability: Speakers of a language can reproduce any linguistic message they can understand.,Any human being can be bo

21、th a producer and a receiver of messages.,Every spoken language includes discrete sound segments, like p, n, or a, that can all be defined by a finite set of sound properties and features.,16,10. Rapid fading: Auditory signals are transitory and do not wait for the hearers to be ready (unlike writin

22、g and animal tracks, for example).,11.Total feedback: Speakers can hear and reflect upon everything that they say.,12. Specialization: The sound waves of speech have no other function other than to signal meaning.,13. Semanticity: The elements of a signal convey meaning through its stable associatio

23、n with real-world situations.,17,18,19,The Origin of Language,20,The divine origin theory:,This theory maintains that language is a unique skill given to humanity by God or by the gods who also miraculously created humankind.,In the Judeo-Christian tradition, for example, the belief is that God gave

24、 the first man, Adam, language with which “the man named all the birds and all the animal”.,“In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.”,21,Besides the variety of language we hear today come from direct divine intervention:,“Then the Lord came down to see the cit

25、y and the tower which those men had built, and he said, “Now then, these are all one people and they speak one language; this is just the beginning of what they are going to do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want! Let us go down and mix up their language so that they will not understand

26、 one another.”,22,The bow-wow theory:,This theory is a number of related theories of language origin by the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen (1860-1943). This theory suggests that “speech arose through people imitating the sounds of the environment, especially animal calls. ”,The main evidence would b

27、e the use of onomatopoeic words, but as few of these exist in a language, and as languages vary so much in the way they represent natural sounds, the theory has little support.,23,The evolutionary theory:,This theory holds human speech developed naturally as humans themselves developed as a species

28、from lower animals.,Apes, the closest mammals to humans, according to the theory of evolution, are unable to speak like humans because their vocal tracts are underdeveloped.,By the time homo sapiens (i.e. The modern human) evolved the vocal tract had risen enough in the throat to enable a variety of

29、 distinguishable sounds to be formed by the compression, restriction and release of air by means of the various vocal organs, thus enabling language to develop.,The evolutionary theory still enjoys a lot of support today, and, to some extent, is probably the more widely accepted of the three theorie

30、s described here.,24,Carla Schick, states further that there are two fundamental functions of human language, namely the “expressive” and “communicative” functions:,Functions of Language,Traditional idea: communication(expression of ideas/thought).,In every linguistic act we immediately notice two a

31、spects of language which do not exist independently of each other; namely the need to freely express a thought or an idea, thus giving meaning to an otherwise empty and meaningless word, and the need to make oneself understood within the limited bounds of a given language system. (From Il Linguaggio

32、),25,Sociolinguistic view: perform acts,Roman Jackboson (Prague School),Factors involved in speech events Context (setting) Addresser Message Addressee Contact (channel) Code (language),“My God!” “How Im grateful for your help!”,(1) Emotive/Expressive function(情感功能): express ones emotions, addresser

33、 oriented.,26,“Open the door, please.” “Be seated, please.”,“How are you?” “Its a fine day, isnt it?”,(2) Conative/persuasive function (意动功能): make others do sth., addressee oriented.,(3) Phatic function(沟通功能): establish some channel, keep the channel going,“It is cold in Zhenjiang.” “China is the t

34、hird largest country in the world.”,(4) Informative function(信息功能):,I name this ship “Elizabeth.” “I declare the ceremony for 29th Olympic Games begin.”,(5) Performative function (施为功能),27,(5) Referential function (所指功能): related to context,(6) Poetic function (诗学功能): the form,(7) Metalinguistic fun

35、ction (元语言功能): the code,Halliday: three functions: ideational function (expressing the addressers experience); interpersonal function (expressing addressers attitudes, appraisal, and the relationship between communicators); textual function (organizing the text).,28,The organization of language into

36、 two levels, a lower level of sounds which combine into a higher level of large units is known as meaning . These two levels are sometimes referred to as duality . 1. A scientific study of language is on the basis of the systematic investigation of language facts. 2. Of all the design features of language, displacement is the most important. F 3. The arbitrary nature of language makes language have a limited source of expressions. (f, productive) Human languages use speech as the main medium of communication. A lingu