新编简明英语语言学教程何兆熊第五章笔记和习题
Chapter 5 Semantics
?Semantics----the study of language meaning.
?Semantics is defined as the study of meaning. However, it is not the only linguistic discipline that studies
meaning.
?Semantics answers the question “what does this sentence mean”. In other w ords, it is the analysis of
conventional meanings in words and sentences out of context.
?Meaning is central to the study of communication.
?Classification of lexical meanings. Here are G. Leech’s seven types of meaning. ( British linguist)
? 1. Conceptual meaning (also called denotative or cognitive meaning) is the essential and inextricable part of
what language is, and is widely regarded as the central factor in verbal communication. It means that the meaning of words may be discussed in terms of what they denote or refer to.
? 2. Connotative meaning – the communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, embraces
the properties of the referent, peripheral
? 3. Social meaning (stylistic meaning) –what is conveyed about the social circumstances of the use of a
linguistic expression
? 4. Affective meaning (affected meaning)– what is communicated of the feeling or attitude of the speaker/writer
towards what is referred to
? 5. Reflected meaning – what is communicated through association with another sense of the same expression ?Taboos
? 6. Collocative meaning – the associated meaning a word acquires in line with the meaning of words which
tend to co-occur with it
?(2, 3, 4, 5, 6 can be together called associative meaning–meaning that hinges on referential meaning, less
stable, more culture-specific )
7. Thematic meaning—what is communicated by the way in which the message is organized in terms of order
?What is meaning?---- Scholars under different scientific backgrounds have different understandings of language meaning.
Some views concerning the study of meaning
?Naming theory (Plato)
?The conceptualist view
?Contextualism (Bloomfield)
?Behaviorism
Naming theory (Plato): Words are names or labels for things.
The linguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they stand for; words are just names or labels for things
?Limitations:
1) Applicable to nouns only.
2) There are nouns which denote things that do not exist in the real world, e.g. ghost, dragon, unicorn, phenix…
3) There are nouns that do not refer to physical objects but abstract notions, e.g. joy, impulse, hatred…
The conceptualist view
?The conceptualist view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i.e. between language and the real world); rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.
?
?The referent refers to the object in the world of experience;
?Thought or reference refers to concept.
?The symbol or a word signifies things by virtue of the concept associated with the form of the word in the minds of the speaker; and the concept looked at from this point of view is the meaning of the word.
?Meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context—elements closely linked with language behavior. Two types of contexts are recognized:
?Situational context: spatiotemporal situation
?Linguistic context: the probability of a word’s c o-occurrence or collocation.
?For example, “black” in black hair& black coffee,or black sheep differs in meaning; “The president of the United States” can mean either the president or presidency in different situation.
calls forth in the hearer
?Behaviorists attempted to define meaning as “the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer”.
?The story of Jack and Jill:
Jill Jack
S_________r--------s_________R
Lexical meaning
?Sense and reference are both concerned with the study of word meaning. They are two related but different aspects of meaning.
?Sense---- is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de-contextualized. It is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are interested in.
?Reference----what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the
linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience.
?Linguistic expressions stand in a relation to the world. There are two aspects of meaning.
?Reference is the relation by which a word picks out or identifies an entity in the world. But the referential
theory fails to account for certain kinds of linguistic expression.
?Some words are meaningful, but they identify no entities in the real world, such as the words dragon, phoenix,
unicorn, and mermaid.
?It is not possible for some words to find referent in the world, such as the words but, and, of, however, the, etc.
?Speakers of English understand the meaning of a round triangle although there is no such graph.
?Sense is the relation by which words stand in human mind. It is mental representation, the association with
something in t he speaker’s or hearer’s mind. The study of meaning from the perspective of sense is called the representational approach.
Note:
?Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations; on the other hand, there are also occasions, when linguistic forms with the same reference might differ in sense, e.g. the morning star and the evening star, rising sun in the morning and the sunset at dusk.
Major sense relations
?Synonymy, Antonymy, Polysemy, Homonymy, Hyponymy
Synonymy
?Synonymy refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning. Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms.
1) Dialectal synonyms---- synonyms used in different regional dialects, e.g. autumn - fall, biscuit - cracker, petrol –gasoline，lift/elevator, flat/apartment…
2) Stylistic synonyms----synonyms differing in style, e.g. kid, child, offspring; start, begin, commence; gentleman/guy…
3) Synonyms that differ in their emotive or evaluative meaning, e.g.collaborator- accomplice, attract/seduce
4) Collocational synonyms, e.g. accuse…of, charge…with, rebuke…for; …
5) Semantically different synonyms, e.g. amaze, astound,…
◆Synonyms are frequently used in speaking and writing as a cohesive device. In order to avoid
repetition the writer/speaker needs to use a synonym to replace a word in the previous co-text when
he/she wants to continue to address that idea. The synonyms together function to create cohesion of
the text.
Antonymy
◆Antonyms are words which are opposite in meaning.
?Gradable antonyms----there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair, e.g. old-young, hot-cold, tall-short, …
?Complementary antonyms----the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other, e.g. alive-dead, male-female, …
?Relational/ Reversal opposites----exhibits the reversal of the relationship between the two items, e.g. husband-wife, father-son, doctor-patient, buy-sell, let-rent, employer-employee, give-receive, above-below, … Gradable antonyms
?Gradable antonyms ----there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair, e.g. old-young, hot-cold, tall-short, …
Complementary antonyms
?Complementary antonyms ----the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other, e.g. alive-dead, male-female, …
?Antonymy is frequently utilized as a rhetorical resource in language use. Oxymoron and antithesis based on
antonymy. Gradable antonyms may give rise to fuzziness.
Polysemy
?Polysemy----the same one word may have more than one meaning, e.g. “table” may mean:
?A piece of furniture
?All the people seated at a table
?The food that is put on a table
?A thin flat piece of stone, metal wood, etc.
?Orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc.
Homonymy
?Homonymy---- the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form, e.g. different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both.
?Homophone ---- when two words are identical in sound, e.g. rain-reign, night/knight, …
?Homogragh ---- when two words are identical in spelling, e.g. tear(n.)-tear(v.), lead(n.)-lead(v.), …
?Complete/full homonym---- when two words are identical in both sound and spelling, e.g. ball, bank, watch, scale, fast, …
?Note: Rhetorically, homonyms are often used as puns.
?A polysemic word is the result of the evolution of the primary meaning of the word (the etymology of the word); while complete homonyms are often brought into being by coincidence.
Hyponymy
?Hyponymy----the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific word.
?Superordinate: the word which is more general in meaning.
?Hyponyms: the word which is more specific in meaning.
?Co-hyponyms: hyponyms of the same superordinate.
Hyponymy
?Superordinate: flower
?Hyponyms: rose, tulip, lily, chrysanthemum, peony, narcissus, …
?Superordinate: furniture
?Hyponyms: bed, table, desk, dresser, wardrobe, sofa, …
?This kind of vertical semantic relation links words in a hierarchical work.
Sense relations between sentences
?(1) X is synonymous with Y
?(2) X is inconsistent with Y
?(3) X entails Y
?(4) X presupposes Y
?(5) X is a contradiction
?(6) X is semantically anomalous
X is synonymous with Y
?X: He was a bachelor all his life.
Y: He never got married all his life.
?X: The boy killed the cat.
Y: The cat was killed by the boy.
?If X is true, Y is true; if X is false, Y is false.
X is inconsistent with Y
?X: He is single.
?Y: He has a wife.
?X: This is my first visit to Beijing.
?Y: I have been to Beijing twice.
?If X is true, Y is false; if X is false, Y is true.
X entails Y
?X: John married a blond heiress.
?Y: John married a blond.
?X: Marry has been to Beijing.
?Y: Marry has been to China.
?Entailment is a relation of inclusion. If X entails Y, then the meaning of X is included in Y.
?If X is true, Y is necessarily true; if X is false, Y may be true or false.
X presupposes Y
?X: His bike needs repairing.
?Y: He has a bike.
?Paul has given up smoking.
?Paul once smoked.
?If X is true, Y must be true; If X is false, Y is still true.
X is a contradiction
?*My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor.
?*The orphan’s parents are pretty well-off.
X is semantically anomalous
?*The man is pregnant.
?*The table has bad intentions.
?*Sincerity shakes hands with the black apple.
?Analysis of meaning :
?Componential analysis
?Predication analysis
?
Componential analysis
?Componential analysis---- a way to analyze lexical meaning. The approach is based on the belief that the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features. For example,
?Man: [+HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALE]
?Boy: [+HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALE]
?Woman: [+HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALE]
?Girl: [+HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALE]
?Father: +HUMAN +MALE +ADULT →PARENT
?Daughter: +HUMAN –MALE 0ADULT ←PARENT
Predication analysis
?1) The meaning of a sentence is not to be worked out by adding up all the meanings of its component words, e.g “The dog bites the man”is semantically different from “The man bites the dog” though their components are exactly the same.
?2) There are two aspects to sentence meaning: grammatical meaning and semantic meaning, e.g.
?*Green clouds are sleeping furiously.
?*Sincerity shook hands with the black apple.
?Whether a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called selectional restrictions.
?Predication analysis---- a way to analyze sentence meaning (British G. Leech).
?Predication----the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence. A predication consists of argument(s) and predicate.
?An argument is a logical participant in a predication, largely identical with the nominal elements in a sentence. ?A predicate is something said about an argument or it states the logical relation linking the arguments in a sentence.
?According to the number of arguments contained in a predication, we may classify the predications into the following types:
?One-place predication: smoke, grow, rise, run, …
?Two-place predication: like, love, save, bite, beat,…
?Three-place predication: give, sent, promise, call, …
?No-place predication: It is hot.
Predication analysis
?Tom smokes.→ TOM (SMOKE)
?The tree grows well.→ TREE (GROW)
?The kids like apples.→ KIDS (LIKE) APPLE
?I sent him a letter.→ I (SEND) HIM LETTER
Supplementary Exercises to Chapter 5 Semantics
I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:
1. Dialectal synonyms can often be found in different regional dialects such as British English and American English but cannot be found within the variety itself, for example, within British English or American English.
2. Sense is concerned with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience, while the reference deals with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.
3. Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations.
4. In semantics, meaning of language is considered as the intrinsic and inherent relation to the physical world of experience.
5. Contextualism is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from or reduce meaning to observable contexts.
6. Behaviourists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.
7. The meaning of a sentence is the sum total of the meanings of all its components.
8. Most languages have sets of lexical items similar in meaning but ranked differently according to their degree of formality.
9. “it is hot.” is a no-place predication because it contains no argument.
10. In grammatical analysis, the sentence is taken to be the basic unit, but in semantic analysis of a sentence, the basic unit is predication, which is the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence.
II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:
11. S________ can be defined as the study of meaning.
12. The conceptualist view holds that there is no d______ link between a linguistic form and what it refers to.
13. R______ means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience.
14. Words that are close in meaning are called s________.
15. When two words are identical in sound, but different in spelling and meaning, they are called h__________.
16.R_________ opposites are pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between the two items.
17. C ____ analysis is based upon the belief that the meaning of a word can be divided into meaning components.
18. Whether a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called s________ restrictions, which are constraints on what lexical items can go with what others.
19. An a________ is a logical participant in a predication, largely identical with the nominal element(s) in a sentence.
20. According to the n ____ theory of meaning, the words in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they stand for.
III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:
21. The naming theory is advanced by ________.
A. Plato
B. Bloomfield
C. Geoffrey Leech
D. Firth
22. “We shall know a word by the company it keeps.” This statement represents _______.
A. the conceptualist view
B. contexutalism
C. the naming theory
D.behaviourism
23. Which of the following is not true?
A. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.
B. Sense is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form.
C. Sense is abstract and de-contextualized.
D. Sense is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are not interested in.
24. “Can I borrow your bike?” _______ “ You have a bike.”
A. is synonymous with
B. is inconsistent with
C. entails
D. presupposes
25. ___________ is a way in which the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features.
A. Predication analysis
B. Componential analysis
C. Phonemic analysis
D. Grammatical analysis
26. “alive” and “dead” are ______________.
A. gradable antonyms
B. relational opposites
C. complementary antonyms
D. None of the above
27. _________ deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of
experience.
A. Reference
B. Concept
C. Semantics
D. Sense
28. ___________ refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form.
A. Polysemy
B. Synonymy
C. Homonymy
D. Hyponymy
29. Words that are close in meaning are called ______________.
A. homonyms
B. polysemy
C. hyponyms
D. synonyms
30. The grammaticality of a sentence is governed by _______.
A. grammatical rules
B. selectional restrictions
C. semantic rules
D. semantic features
IV. Define the following terms:
31. semantics 32. sense 33 . reference 34. synonymy
35. polysemy 36. homonymy 37. homophones 38. Homographs
39. complete homonyms 40. hyponymy 41.antonymy 42 componential analysis
43.grammatical meaning 44. predication
45. Argument 46. predicate
47. Two-place predication
V. Answer the following questions:
48. Why do we say that a meaning of a sentence is not the sum total of the meanings of all its components?
49. What is componential analysis? Illustrate it with examples.
50. How do you distinguish between entailment and presupposition in terms of truth values?
51. How do you account for such sense relations between sentences as synonymous relation, inconsistent relation in terms of truth values?
52. According to the way synonyms differ, how many groups can we classify synonyms into? Illustrate them with examples.
53. What are the major views concerning the study of meaning? How they differ?
Suggested answers to supplementary exercises:
IV. Define the following terms:
31. Semantics: Semantics can be simply defined as the study of meaning in language.
32. Sense: Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de -contextualised.
33. Reference: Reference means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience
34. Synonymy :Synonymy refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning.
35. Polysemy :Polysemy refers to the fact that the same one word may have more than one meaning.
36. Homonymy :Homonymy refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form,
i.e. , different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both.
37. homophones :When two words are identical in sound, they are called homophones
38. homographs :When two words are identical in spelling, they are homographs.
39. complete homonyms.:When two words are identical in both sound and spelling, they are called complete homonyms.
40.Hyponymy :Hyponymy refers to the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific word.
41. Antonymy :Antonymy refers to the relation of oppositeness of meaning.
42. Componential analysis : Componential analysis is a way to analyze word meaning. It was proposed by structural semanticists. The approach is based on the belief that the meaning of a -word can be divided into
meaning components, which are called semantic features.
43.The grammatical meaning : The grammatical meaning of a sentence refers to its grammaticality, i.e. , its grammatical well-formedness . The grammaticality of a sentence is governed by the grammatical rules of the language.
44. predication :The predication is the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence.
45. argument : An argument is a logical participant in a predication. It is generally identical with the nominal element (s) in a sentence.
46. predicate : A predicate is something that is said about an argument or it states the logical relation linking the arguments in a sentence.
47. two-place predication : A two-place predication is one which contains two arguments.
Answer the following questions:
48. Why do we say that a meaning of a sentence is not the sum total of the meanings of all its components?
The meaning of a sentence is not the sum total of the meanings of all its components because it cannot be worked out by adding up all the meanings of its constituent words. For example;
(A) The dog bit the man. (B) The man bit the dog.
If the meaning of a sentence were the sum total of the meanings of all its components, then the above two sentences would have the same meaning. In fact they are different in meanings.
As we know, there are two aspects to sentence meaning: grammatical meaning and semantic meaning. The grammatical meanings of “the dog” and “the man” in (A) are different from the grammatical meanings of “the dog” and “the man” in (B). The meaning of a sentence is the product of both lexical and grammatical meaning. It is the product of the meaning of the constituent words and of the grammatical constructions that relate one word syntagmatically to another.
49. What is componential analysis? Illustrate it with examples.
Componential analysis, proposed by structural semanticists, is a way to analyze word meaning. The approach is based on the belief that the meaning of a word can be divided into meaning components, which are called semantic features. Plus and minus signs are used to indicate whether a certain semantic feature is present or absent in the meaning of a word, and these feature symbols are usually written in capitalized letters. For example, the word “man” is ana lyzed as consisting of the semantic features of [+ HUMAN, + ADULT, + ANIMATE, +MALE]
50. How do you distinguish between entailment and presupposition in terms of truth values?
Entailment is a relation of inclusion. Suppose there are two sentences X and Y:
X: He has been to France.
Y: He has been to Europe.
In terms of truth values, if X is true, Y is necessarily true, e.g. If he has been to France, he must have been to Europe.
If X is false, Y may be true or false, e. g. If he has not been to France, he may still have been to Europe or he has not been to Europe. If Y is true, X may be true or false, e.g. If he has been to Europe, he may or may not have been to France.
If Y is false, X is false, e.g. If he has not been to Europe, he cannot have been to France.
Therefore we conclude that X entails Y or Y is an entailment of X.
The truth conditions that we use to judge presupposition is as follows:
Suppose there are two sentences X and Y
X: John' s bike needs repairing.
Y: John has a bike.
If X is true, Y must be true, e.g. If John' s bike needs repairing, John must have a bike.
If X is false, Y is still true, e. g. If John' s bike does not need repairing, John still has a bike. If Y is true, X is either true or false, e.g. If John has a bike, it may or may not need repairing. If Y is false, no truth value can be said about X, e.g. If John does not have a bike, nothing can be said about whether his bike needs repairing or not. Therefore, X presupposes Y, or Y is a presupposition of X.
51. How do you account for such sense relations between sentences as synonymous relation, inconsistent relation in terms of truth values?
In terms of truth condition, of the two sentences X and Y, if X is true, Y is true; if X is false, Y is false, therefore
X is synonymous with Y
e.g. X; He was a bachelor all his life.
Y: He never married all his life.
Of the two sentences X and Y, if X is true, Y is false; if X is false, Y is true, then we can say A is inconsistent with Y
e.g. X: John is married.
Y: John is a bachelor.
52. According to the ways synonyms differ, how many groups can we classify synonyms into? Illustrate them with examples.
According to the ways synonyms differ, synonyms can be divided into the following groups.
i. Dialectal synonyms
They are synonyms which are used in different regional dialects. British English and American English are the two major geographical varieties of the English language. For examples:
British English American English
autumn fall
lift elevator
Then dialectal synonyms can also be found within British, or American English itself. For example, "girl" is called "lass" or "lassie" in Scottish dialect, and "liquor" is called "whisky" in Irish dialect.
ii. Stylistic synonyms
They are synonyms which differ in style or degree of formality. Some of the stylistic synonyms tend to be more formal, others tend to be casual, and still others are neutral in style. For example:
old man, daddy, dad, father, male parent
chap, pal, friend, companion
iii. Synonyms that differ in their emotive or evaluative meaning
They are the words that have the same meaning but express different emotions of the user. The emotions of the user indicate the attitude or bias of the user toward what he is talking about . For example, “collaborator”and “accomplice”are synonymous, sharing the meaning of "a person who helps another", but they are different in their evaluative meaning. The former means that a person who helps another in doing something good, while the latter refers to a person who helps another in a criminal act.
iv. Collocational synonyms
They are synonyms which differ in their collocation. For example, we can use accuse, charge, rebuke to say that someone has done something wrong or even criminal, but they are used with different prepositions accuse. . . of, charge. . . with, rebuke. . .for. v. V. Semantically different synonyms
Semantically different synonyms refer to the synonyms that differ slightly in what they mean. For example, "amaze" and "astound" are very close in meaning to the word "surprise," but they have very subtle differences in meaning. While amaze suggests confusion and bewilderment, " astound" implies difficulty in believing. "
53. What are the major views concerning the study of meaning? How do they differ?
One of the oldest was the naming theory, proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato, who believed that the words used in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they stand for. The conceptualist view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to. The form and the meaning are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind. Contextualism is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from or reduce meaning to observable contexts. Two kinds of context are recognized; the situational context and the linguistic context.
For example, the meaning of the word "seal" in the sentence "The seal could not be found" can only be determined according to the context in which the sentence occurs:
The seal could not be found. The zoo keeper became worried.
(seal meaning an aquatic mammal)
The seal could not be found. The king became worried.
(seal meaning the king's stamp)
Behaviorism drew on behaviorist psychology when he tried to define the meaning of linguistic forms. Behaviorists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as " the situation in which the speaker utters it
and the response it calls forth in the hearer".
陈新仁《英语语言学实用教程》章节题库(含名校考研真题)-第8~11章【圣才出品】
第8章英语语言的应用（I） I. Fill in the blanks. 1. A perlocutionary act is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the _____ of, or the _____the utterance. （人大2004研） 【答案】consequence, change brought about by 【解析】言外行为指说话的效果。 2. When a teacher says “The exam this year is going to be really difficult”, the sentence would have an _____force. （清华2001研，清华2000研） 【答案】illocutionary 【解析】言外行为，表达说话人的意图。 3. _____ were sentences that did not state a fact or describe a state, and were not verifiable. 【答案】Performatives 【解析】施为句是用来做事的，既不陈述事实，也不描述情况，且不能验证其真假。 II. Multiple Choices. 1. The speech act theory was developed by _____.（对外经贸2006研) A. John Searle B. John Austin
C. Levinson D. G. Leech 【答案】B 【解析】言语行为理论是哲学家约翰·奥斯丁在他《如何以言行事》一文中提出的。它从哲学意义上对语言交际的本质进行解释，其目的在于回答”用语言干什么”这个问题。 2. Point out which item does not fall under the same category as the rest. (Focus on the type of illocutionary act) （南京大学2007研） A. threaten B. advise C. beseech D. urge 【答案】A 【解析】A为命令性言语行为，而其他三项为指示性言语行为。 3. _____ is using a sentence to perform a function. （西安外国语学院2006研） A. A perlocutionary act B. An illocutionary act C. A locutionary act D. Speech act 【答案】D 【解析】约翰·奥斯丁在他《如何以言行事》一文中提出言语行为理论, 此理论对语言交际的
“英语”语言学概论第六章笔记
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27037 本科自考英语语言学概论精心整理 Chapter 4 Phonology
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英语语言学概论笔记
Chapter 7 Historical Linguistics 历史语言学 1.The purpose and significance of the historical study of language 研究语言变化的目的和意义 The historical study of language is of great importance to our understanding of human languages and human linguistic competence. Researches in historical linguistics shed light on prehistoric development in the evolution of language and the connections of earlier and later variants of the same language, and provide valuable insights into the kinship patterns of different languages. The historical study of language also enables us to determine how non-linguistic factors, such as social, cultural and psychological factors, interact over time to trigger linguistic change. 研究语言变化对于理解人类语言和人类的语言能力极其重要。 历史语言学的研究成果揭示语言变化的史前发展和同一语言早期和后期变体自己的联系，为不同语言的亲缘关系提供线索。 历史语言学的研究还可以使我们对非语言的因素，如社会文化和心理因素等在语言变化过程中所起的作用有更深的认识。 2.The nature of language change 语言变化的本质 All living languages change with time. Unless a language is no longer spoken by the general public of a society, such as Latin, its change is inevitable. As a general rule, language change is universal, continuous and, to a considerable degree, regular and systematic. Language change is extensive, taking place in virtually all aspects of the grammar. Although language change is universal, inevitable, and in some cases, vigorous, it is never an overnight occurrence. Language development may be regarded as linguistic evolution from one stage to another. 所有尚在使用的语言都随着时间的变化而变化。语言的变化是不可避免的。语言变化是普遍的、连续的，在一定程度上也是规则的和系统的。语言变化涉及语法系统的各大组成部分。在语言演变过程中，词汇和语法规则有的消亡了，有的诞生了，有的是外借的，有的则转化了其意义或功能。 尽管语言变化是普遍的，必然的，有时甚至是显著的，但语言的变化是一个缓慢的渐变过程，其变化是同代人所不易察觉的。 语言的发展可以看作是语言从一个阶段到另一个阶段的演化过程。 3.Major periods in the history of English 英语历史发展的主要阶段 a)Old English (450-1100) 古英语阶段 b)Middle English (1100-1500) 中古英语阶段 c)Modern English (1500-今) 现代英语阶段 Most Modern English speakers find Middle English only partially comprehensible, and Old English simply unintelligible, just like a foreign language hardly recognizable as the native language they speak. 大多数现代英语的使用者发现，对于他们来说，中古英语只能部分地被理解，古英语则如外语一般，简直不可理解。 Old English dates back to the mid-fifth century when Anglo-Saxons invaded the British Isles from northern Europe. Middle English began with the arrival of the Norman French invaders in England. Middle English had been deeply influenced by Norman French in vocabulary and grammar. Modern English is separated with Middle English with European renaissance movement.
胡壮麟《语言学教程》笔记1_3章
胡壮麟语言学重难点 Chapter 1 Invitations to Linguistics 常考考点：1. 语言: 语言的定义；语言的基本特征；语言的功能；语言的起源 2. 语言学：语言学的定义；现代语言学与传统语法学研究的三个显著区别；语言学研究的四个原则及简要说明；语言学中的几组重要区别；每组两个概念的含义、区分及其意义；普通语言学的主要分支学科及各自的研究范畴；宏观语言学及应用语言学的主要分支及各自的研究范畴。 1. 语言的定义特征 1.1. 任意性 1.2. 二重性 1.3. 创造性 1.4. 移位性 1.5. 文化传递性 1.6. 互换性 2. 语言的功能 1.1. 信息功能 1.2. 人际功能 1.3. 施为功能 1.4. 感情功能 1.5. 寒暄功能 1.6. 娱乐功能 1.7. 元语言功能
3. 微观语言学 3.1. 语音学 3.2. 音系学 3.3. 形态学 3.4. 句法学 3.5. 语义学 3.6. 语用学 4. 宏观语言学 4.1. 心理语言学 4.2. 社会语言学 4.3. 应用语言学 4.4. 计算语言学 4.5. 神经语言学 5. 重要概念及其区分 5.1. 描写式&规定式 5.2. 共时&历时 5.3. 语言&言语 5.4. 语言能力&语言应用 5.5. 唯素的&唯位的 5.6. 传统语法&现代语法 5.7. 语言潜势&实际语言行为 Chapter 2 Speech Sounds
常考考点：1. 语音学语音学的定义；发音器官的英文名称；英语辅音的定义；发音部位、发音方法和分类；英语元音的定义和分类；基本元音；发音语音学；听觉语音学；声学语音学；语音标记，国际音标；严式与宽式标音法 2. 音系学音系学的定义；音系学与语音学的联系与区别；音素、音位、音位变体、最小对立体、自由变体的定义；音位理论；自由变异；音位的对立分布于互补分布；语音的相似性；区别性特征；超语段音位学；音节；重音；音高和语调。 1. 语音学及其三大领域 1.1. 语音学定义 1.2. 语音学三大领域 ①发音语音学 ②声学语音学 ③听觉语音学 2. 辅音 2.1. 辅音定义 发音时，声道的某些部位受到压缩或阻碍后，使得气流在口腔里转向、受阻或完全被阻塞，由此产生的音叫做辅音。 2.2. 发音方式 发音方式是指发音器官之间的关系，以及气流经过声道的某些部位的方式 2.3. 发音部位 发音部位是指声道的哪些部位发生气流摩擦、狭窄化或阻碍。 3. 元音