语言学第一章课件

Linguistics

●Why study linguistics?

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. (Lyons,1968).

the process of linguistic study

1st : O bserving & questioning

2nd: Formulating hypotheses

3rd: Verifying the hypotheses

4th: Proposing a theory

Four principles in linguistics study:

●exhaustiveness

●consistency

●economy

●objectivity

(大连外语考研)

●Language and Linguistics

Linguistics:

a brilliant and fascinating exploration of the basic weapon by which man has advanced from savagery to civilization.

-----Mario Pei马里奥·佩

●“We sometimes overlook the fact that th ere is much that we can know

and need to know about our universe and ourselves. By the same token, we are too prone to reject knowledge for which we cannot find an immediate practical application.”

Chapter 1

When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the “human essence”, the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man. (Noam Chomsky, 1972, Language and Mind)

●乔姆斯基（Noam Chomsky, 1928--）

●“Chomsky is currently among the most-cited writers in all of the humanities

(behind only Marx, Lenin, Shakespeare, Aristotle, Plato, and Freud) and the only living number of the top ten.” (Pinker,1994)

● 1. What is Language?

●Definitions of Language:

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

Key words:

Language as system

Sound

< Phonology 音韵学

Structure

meaning

●Definitions of Language:

●Language is a means of verbal communication.

It is instrumental; it is social and conventional.(P3)

2.Origin of language

●The …Divine? origin:

●The “bow-wow” theory “汪汪理论”

●Imitation of the sounds of the animal

●Onomatopoeic

Problematic (P9)

●The “pooh-pooh” theory噗噗理论

●instinctive sounds of pain, anger and joy.

●interjections

●Problematic (P9)

●The “yo-he-ho” theory“哟-嗬-哟理论”

rhythmic grunts

●Problematic (P9)

● 3. Design Features of Language

●Design features (本质特征) refer to the defining properties of human language

that distinguish it from any animal system of communication. (P4)

●Language distinguishes human beings from animals in that it is far more

sophisticated than any animal communication system.

● 2.Design features

2.1 Arbitrariness

2.2 Duality

2.3 Creativity

2.4 Displacement

● 1. Arbitrariness

●--Ferdinand de Saussure 索绪尔(Swiss)

●the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural (logical, intrinsic)

relationship to their meaning

●At lexical level:词汇层面

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

---Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet

Can onomatopoeia change the arbitrary nature of language?

●at the syntactic level

●language is not arbitrary at the syntactic level.

●(a) He came in and sat down.

●(b) He sat down and came in.

●(c) He sat down after he came in.

Arbitrariness and convention

●Duality(双重性)

●Duality means that language has two levels of structure, the primary level

and the secondary level.

●At secondary level are elements which have no meaning but which combine to

form units at primary level which do have meaning.

●Secondary level is made up of meaningless sounds, and primary level of

meaningful words.

●Does the traffic light system have duality?

Creativity （创造性）

Recursiveness （递归性）means that one sentence can expand into endless possible sentences in a way of recurring.

Displacement （移位性）

●Displacement enables us to talk about a wide range of things.

Unlike animal communication systems, human language is （）（电子科大2003考研）(p8)

A.Stimulus free

B.Stimulus bound

C.Under immediate stimulus control

D.Stimulated by some occurrence of communal interest

4. Functions of language

1 Informative(信息功能)

2 Interpersonal function(人际功能)

It embodies the use of language to express, establish and maintain social relations. The ways you talk to different people show your social status.

3 Performativ e (施为功能)

It means that language is also used to “do things”, to perform actions.

It is primarily to change the social status of a person, or the state of a thing.

4 Emotive function(感情功能)

It is the use of language to reveal some feelings and attitudes of the speaker.

5 Phatic communion (寒暄功能)

It refers to language used for maintaining social contact rather than exchanging information or ideas.

6 Recreational function (娱乐功能)

It refers to the use of language for the sheer joy of using it.

7. Metalingual function (元语言功能)

The metalingual function is used to clarify meanings or what the other person

has said.

5. Important Distinctions

1 Descriptive vs. prescriptive

2 Synchronic vs. diachronic

3 Langue vs. parole

4 Competence vs. performance

1 Descriptive vs. Prescriptive (描写式和规定式)

A linguistic study is descriptive if it describes and analyses facts observed; it is prescriptive if it tries to lay down rules for correct behavior.

The description of a language at any one time is a synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study.

__________ studies a particular state of language;

__________ studies the historical development of a language.

Parole refers to the realization of langue.

_______: abstract

_______: specific

_______: stable and systematic

_______: subject to personal and situational constraints

As a social product, langue is a set of conventions that members of a speech community seem to abide by. Parole, on the other hand, is the concrete use of the conventions.

Competence is the language user’s intuitive knowledge of his language.

Performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances.

A speaker’s competence is s_____, but his performance is often influenced by p___________ factors.

Where does the knowledge of language come from?

Chomsky’s solution is to invoke the innate properties of the mind.

What is the difference between these two pairs of distinction?

Similarity:

Difference:

Saussure looks at language from a ___________ point of view;

Chomsky looks at it more from a _____________ point of view.

According to Saussure and Chomsky, which should be studied, the abstract knowledge or the actual speech?

The significance of these two distinctions lies in defining the task of linguistics, which is to discover langue from instances of parole, to discover the language knowledge of the speaker from his performances.