语言学笔记 Lecture1
英语语言学笔记
英语语言学笔记Chapter one 学点语言学语言学是对语言的系统研究，对于一个学习英语的人来说，应该懂一点语言学的知识，它可以在理论上对学习语言有指导作用，有助于更好的学习语言。
The Goals for this CourseTo get a scientific view on language;To understand some basic theories on linguistics;To understand the applications of the linguistic theories, especially in the fields of language teaching & learning (SLA or TEFL), cross-cultural communication……;To prepare for the future research work.The Requirements for this courseClass attendanceClassroom discussionFulfillment of the assignmentExaminationReference Books戴炜栋，何兆熊，(2002)，《新编简明英语语言学教程》，上海外语教育出版社。
胡壮麟，(2001)，《语言学教程》，北京大学出版社。
胡壮麟，李战子，《语言学简明教程》，北京大学出版社刘润清，(1995)，《西方语言学流派》，外语教学与研究出版社。
Fromkin,V. & R. Rodman, (1998), An Introduction to Language the sixth edition, Orlando, Florida: Holt, Ranehart & Winston, Inc.许国璋先生认为把语言定义成交际工具不够科学,至少不够严谨.他对语言的定义做了如下概括:语言是一种符号系统.当它作用于人与人之间的关系的时候,它是表达相互反应的中介;当它作用于人与客观世界的关系的时候,它是认知事物的工具;当它作用于文化的时候,它是文化的载体.Teaching aims: let the students have the general idea about language and linguistics.Teaching difficulties: design features of language; some important distinctions in linguisticsWhy do we study language?A tool for communicationAn integral part of our life and humanityIf we are not fully aware of the nature and mechanism of our language, we will be ignorant of what constitutes our essential humanity.What can language mean?Language can meanwhat a person says (e.g. bad language, expressions)the way of speaking or writi ng (e.g. Shakespeare‘s language, Luxun‘s language)a particular variety or level of speech or writing (e.g. language for special purpose, colloquial language)the abstract system underlying the totality of the speech/writing behavior of a community (e.g.Chinese language, first language)the common features of all human languages (e.g. He studies language)a tool for human communication. (social function)a set of rules. (rule-governed)The origins of language---the myth of languageThe Biblical accountLan guage was God‘s gift to human beings.The bow-wow theoryLanguage was an imitation of natural sounds, such as the cries of animals, like quack, cuckoo. The pooh-pooh theory Language arose from instinctive emotional cries, expressive of pain or joy.The yo-he-ho theoryLanguage arose from the noises made by a group of people engaged in joint labour or effort –lifting a huge hunted game, moving a rock, etc.The evolution theoryLanguage originated in the process of labour and answered the call of social need.Functions of language – three meta-functions by HallidayThe ideational functionTo identify things, to think, or to record information.The interpersonal functionTo get along in a community.The textual functionTo form a text.Functions of languagePhatic: establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact.Directive: get the hearer to do something.Informative: give information about facts.Interrogative: get information from others.Expressive: express feelings and attitudes of the speaker.Evocative: create certain feelings in the hearer (amuse, startle, soothe, worry or please) Performative: language is used to do things, to perform actions.What is LanguageLanguage is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used forhuman communication.What is communication?A process in which information is transmitted from a source (sender or speaker) to a goal (receiver or listener).A system----elements in it are arranged according to certain rules. They cannot be arranged at will.e.g. He the table cleaned. (×) bkli (×)Arbitrary----there is no intrinsic (logic) connection between a linguistic form and its meaning. Symbols----words are just the symbols associated with objects, actions, and ideas by convention. V ocal--------the primary medium for all languages is sound, no matter how well developed theirwriting systems are.Writing systems came into being much later than the spoken forms.People with little or no literacy can also be competent language users.Human ----language is human-specific.Human beings have different kinds of brains and vocal capacity.“Language Acquisition Device‖(LAD)Design features of language 语言的结构特征Design features refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication.a. arbitrariness----the form of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. The link between them is a matter of convention.E.g. ―house‖ uchi (Japanese)Mansion (French)房子(Chinese)conventionality----It means that in any language there are certain sequences of sounds that have a conventionally accepted meaning. Those words are customarily used by all speakers with the same intended meaning and understood by all listeners in the same way.There are two different schools of belief concerning arbitrariness. Most people, especially structural linguists believe that language is arbitrary by nature. Other people, however, hold that language is iconic, that is, there is a direct relation or correspondence between sound and meaning, such as onomatopoeia.(cuckoo; crash)For the majority of animal signals, there does appear to be a clear connection between the conveyed message and the signal used to convey it, And for them, the sets of signals used in communication is finite.b. duality----language is simultaneously organized at two levels or layers, namely, the level of sounds and that of meaning.the higher level ----words which are meaningfulthe lower or the basic level----sounds which are meaningless, but can be grouped and regrouped into words.Dog: woof (but not ―w-oo-f ‖ )This duality of levels is, in fact, one of the most economical features of human language, since with a limited set of distinct sounds we are capable of producing a very large number of sound combinations (e.g. words) which are distinct in meaning.The principle of economyc. Creativity----language is resourceful. It makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users.(novel utterances are continually being created.)non-human signals ,on the other hand, appears to have little flexibility.e.g. an experiment of bee communication:The worker bee, normally able to communicate the location of a nectar source , will fail to do so if the location is really ?new‘. In one exper iment, a hive of bees was placed at the foot of a radio tower and a food source at the top. Ten bees were taken to the top, shown the food source, and sentoff to tell the rest of the hive about their find. The message was conveyed via a bee dance and the whole gang buzzed off to get the free food. Theyflow around in all directions, but couldn‘t locate the food. The problem may be that bee communication regarding location has a fixed set of signals, all of which related to horizontal distance. The bee cann ot create a ?new ‘ message indicating vertical distance.d. Displacement----human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present at the moment of communication.Bee communication:When a worker bee finds a source of nectar and returns to the hive, it can perform a complex dance routine to communicate to the other bees the location of this nectar. Depending on the type of dance (round dance for nearby and tail-wagging dance, with variable tempo, for further away and how far), The other bees can work put where this newly discovered feast can be found. Bee communication has displacement in an extremely limited form. However, it must be the most recent food source.e. Cultural transmission----genetic transmissionYou acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from parental genes.The process whereby language is passed on from one generation to the next is described as cultural transmission.f. interchangeability: it means that individuals who use a language can both send and receive any permissible message within that communication system. Human beings can be a producer as well as receiver of messages.What is Linguistics(语言学)Linguistics is a scientific study of language .It is a major branch of social science.Linguistics studies not just one language of any society, but the language of all human society, language in general.A scientific study is one which is based on the systematic investigation of data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure.Process of linguistic study:①Certain linguistic facts are observed, generalization are formed;②Hypotheses are formulated;③Hypotheses are tested by further observations;④A linguistic theory is cons tructed.observation------generalization-----hypothesis------tested by further observation------theoryPerson who studies linguistics is known as a linguist.The Scope of LinguisticsGeneral linguistics is the study of language as a whole.Internal branches: intra-disciplinary divisions (micro-linguistics)Phonetics(语音学) is the branch of linguistics which studiesthe characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription.Phonology(音韵学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the sound patterns of languages. Morphology(词法) is the branch of linguistics which studies the form of words.Syntax(句法) is the branch of linguistics which studies the rules governing the combination of words into sentences.Semantics(语义学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the meaning of language. Pragmatics(语用学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the meaning of language in use.External branches: inter-disciplinary divisions (macro-linguistics)Applied linguistics(应用语言学) is the study of the teaching of foreign and second languages. Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society. Psycholinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and the mind.Historical Linguistics(历史语言学) is the study of language changes.Anthropological linguistics(人文语言学) uses the theories and methods of anthropology to study language variation and language use in relation to the cultural patterns and beliefs of man. Neurolinguistics(神经语言学) studies the neurological basis of language development and use in human beings.Mathematical linguistics(数学语言学) studies the mathematical features of language, often employing models and concepts of mathematics.Computational linguistics(计算语言学) is an approach to linguistics in which mathematical techniques and concepts(概念) are applied, often with the aid of a computer.Features of linguisticsDescriptiveDealing with spoken languageSynchronicSome Basic Distinctions(区分) in Linguistics1. Speech and WritingOne general principle(原则) of linguistic analysis is the primacy of speech over writing. Writing gives language new scope(范畴) and uses that speech does not have.2. Descriptive(描述性) or Prescriptive(说明性)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.3. Synchronic(共时) and Diachronic(历时) StudiesThe description of a language at some point in time is a synchronic study and The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study.4. Langue(语言) and Parole(言语)This is a distinction made by the Swiss linguist F.De Saussure (索绪尔）early last century. langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community and parole refers to the actualized(实际的) language, or realization of langue.5. Competence(能力)and Performance(行为)Competence is the ideal language user's knowledge of the rules of his language. Performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances(发声).6. Potential and Behavior: English linguist Halliday makes another similar distinction in the 1960s, namely the distinction between linguistic potential and linguistic behavior. He approaches language from a functional view and concentratesprimarily on what speakers do with languagewhich led to the distinction between linguistic potential (what speakers can do with language) and behavior (what speakers actually do with language). In H alliday‘s distinction between potential and behavior, potential is similar to Saussure‘s ―langue‖ and Chomsky‘s competence, and behavior is similar to Saussure‘s ―parole‖ and Chomsky‘s performance.7. Modern linguistics started with the publication of F. d e Saussure‘ s book ―Course in General Linguistics‖ in the early 20th century. So Saussure is often described as ―father of modern linguistics‖.The general approach traditionally formed to the study of language before that is roughly referred to as ―traditional grammar.‖ They differ in several basic ways:Firstly, linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive. A linguist is interested in what is said, not in what he thinks ought to be said. He describes language in all its aspects, but does not prescribe rules of ―correctness‖.Secondly, modern linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tend to emphasize, may be over-emphasize, the importance of the written word, partly because of its permanence.Then, modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework. To modern linguists ,it is unthinkable to judge one language by standards of another. They are trying to set up a universal framework, but that would be based on the features shared by most of the languages used by mankind.Chapter I IntroductionI. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.2.Linguistics studies particular language, not languages in general.3. A scientific study of language is based on what the linguist thinks.4. In the study of linguistics, hypotheses formed should be based on language facts and checked against the observed facts.5. General linguistics is generally the study of language as a whole.6. General linguistics, which relates itself to the research of other areas, studies the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods applicable in any linguistic study.7. Phonetics is different from phonology in that the latter studies the combinations of the sounds to convey meaning in communication.8. Morphology studies how words can be formed to produce meaningful sentences.9. The study of the ways in which morphemes can be combined to form words is called morphology.10. Syntax is different from morphology in that the former not only studies the morphemes, but also the combination of morphemes into words and words into sentences.11. The study of meaning in language is known as semantics.12. Both semantics and pragmatics study meanings.13. Pragmatics is different from semantics in that pragmatics studies meaning not in isolation, but in context.14.Social changes can often bring about language changes.15. Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society.16. Modern linguistics is mostly prescriptive, but sometimes descriptive.17. Modern linguistics is different from traditional grammar.18. A diachronic study of language is the description of language at some point in time.19 Modern linguistics regards the written language as primary, not the written language.20. The distinction between competence and performance was proposed by F. de Saussure.II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:21. Chomsky defines ― competence‖ as the ideal user's k__________ of the rules of his language./doc/4215996376.html,ngue refers to the a__________ linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community while the parole is the concrete use of the conventions and application of the rules. 23.D_________ is one of the design features of human language which refers to the phenomenon that language consists of two levels: a lower level of meaningless individual sounds and a higher level of meaningful units./doc/4215996376.html,nguage is a system of a_________ vocal symbols used for human communication.25. The discipline that studies the rules governing the formation of words into permissible sentences in languages is called s________.26. Human capacity for language has a g ____ basis, but the details of language have to be taught and learned.27. P ____ refers to the realization of langue in actual use.28. Findings in linguistic studies can often be applied to the settlement of some practical problems. The study of such applications is generally known as a________ linguistics./doc/4215996376.html,nguage is p___________ in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. In other words, they can produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences which they have never heard before.30. Linguistics is generally defined as the s ____ study of language.III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement.31. If a linguistic study describes and analyzes the language people actually use, it is said to be ______________.A. prescriptiveB. analyticC. descriptiveD. linguistic32.Which of the following is not a design feature of human language?A. ArbitrarinessB. DisplacementC. DualityD. Meaningfulness33. Modern linguistics regards the written language as ____________.A. primaryB. correctC. secondary34. In modern linguistics, speech is regarded as more basic than writing, because ___________.A. in linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writingB. speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed.C. speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongueD. All of the above35. A historical study of language is a ____ study of language.A. synchronicB. diachronicC. prescriptiveD. comparative36.Saussure took a (n)__________ view of language, while Chomsky looks at language from a ________ point of view.A. sociological…psychologicalB. psychological…sociologicalC. applied… pragmaticD.semantic and linguistic37. According to F. de Saussure, ____ refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community.A. paroleB. performanceC. langueD. Language38. Language is said to be arbitrary because there is no logical connection between _________ and meanings.A. senseC. objectsD. ideas39. Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. This feature is called_________,A. displacementB. dualityC. flexibilityD. cultural transmission40. The details of any language system is passed on from one generation to the next through ____ , rather than by instinct.A. learningB. teachingC. booksD. both A and BChapter 2 PhonologyLanguage is primarily vocal. The primary medium of human language is sound. Linguists are not interested in all sounds, but in speech sounds----sounds that convey meaning in human communication.Phonetics----A branch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription, e.g. [p] bilabial, stop.Three branches of phoneticsArticulatory phonetics----from the speakers‘ point of view, ―how speakers produce speech sounds‖the production of speech sounds. It is of our major concernAuditory phonetics----from the hearers‘ point ofview, ―how sounds are perceived‖the perceptive mechanism of speech soundsAcoustic phonetics----from the physical way or means by which sounds are transmitted from one to another.the physical properties of speech soundsThe speech organsWhere does the air stream come from?From the lungWhat is the function of vocal cords?Controlling the air streamWhat are the three cavities?Pharyngeal cavity ---- the throat;The oral cavity ---- the mouth;Nasal cavity ---- the nose.Transcription of speech soundsA standardized and internationally accepted system of phonetic transcription is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The basic principle of the IPA is using one letter to represent one speech sound.The IPA attempts to represent each sound of human speech with a single symbol and the symbols are enclosed in brackets [ ] to distinguish phonetic transcriptions from the spelling system of a language.In more detailed transcription (narrow transcription) a sound may be transcribed with a symbol to which a smaller is added in order to mark the finer distinctions.Broad transcription ---- used in dictionary and textbook for general purpose, without diacritics, e.g. ], [ pit ] ?clear [ Narrow transcription ---- used by phonetician for careful study, with diacritics, e.g. dark [ l ], aspirated [ p ]Some major articulatory variables ---- dimensions on which speech sounds may vary:V oicing---- voiced & voiceless (Two consonants sharing the same place and manner of articulation become a pair, which is distinguished by voiceless or voiced. )Nasality ---- nasal & non-nasalAspiration ----- aspirated & unaspiratedClassification of English speech sounds---- English speech sounds are generally classified into two large categories: Vowels and ConsonantsNote: The essential difference between these two classes is that in the production of the former the airstream meets with no obstruction of any kind in the throat, the nose or the mouth, while in that of the latter it is somehow obstructed.Classification of consonants---- English consonants may be classified according to two dimensions:The manner of articulationThe place of articulationThe manner of articulationstops/plosives: [p],? , [t], [d], [k], [g];],?], [v], [s], [z], [? fricatives: [? ], [h];?], [?], [?[];??], [?? affricates: [?liquids:? ];?[l](lateral), [];?], [?], [? nasals: [?].?glides/semivowels: [w], [The place of articulationbilabial: [p], ], [w];?, [], [v];?? labiodental: [ ?];?], [? dental: [alveolar: [t], [d], [s], [z], [n], [l],? [r];];??], [ ??], [??], [?], [? palatal: [?velar: [k],? ?];?[g], [glottal: [h].?The place of articulation1. Bilabial;2. Labiodental;3. Dental or interdental;4. Alveolar;5. Palatoalveolar;6. Palatal;7. Velar;8. Uvular;9. Glottal.The description of English consonants Page 20 (textbook)Classification of vowelsDifferent vowels are determined by the position of the tongue and the relative opening of the lips.The criteria of vowel description1. the part of the tongue that is raised---front, center or back2. the opening of the mouth----close, semi-close, semi-open, open3. the shape of the lips---rounded, unrounded4. the length of the sound---tense, lax (紧，松)Monophthongs or pure/single vowels?Diphthongs or gliding vowelsMonophthongs or pure/single vowels----According to which part of the tongue is held highest in the process of production, the vowels can be distinguished as: front? ?]?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [??vowels: [],?], [?? central vowels: [? ];?[].??], [?], [??], [?], [?? back vowels: [?According to the openness of the mouth].?], [??], [?], [?? Close: [?];??], [?Semi-close: [];?], [? Semi-open: [?],? Open: [? ];?], [??], [?], [?[According to the shape of the lips or the degree of lip rounding ];?], [??], [?], [?? rounded: [?].??], [?], [?], [??], [?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [??unrounded: [According to the length of the vowels],??], [?? long: [? ]??], [??], [??[],?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [? short: [? ].?[Diphthongs/gliding vowels?],??], [??], [?? [? ].??], [??], [??], [??], [??[Exercises: underline the words that begin with a sound as required.A bilabial consonant: mad sad bad cad pad? had ladA velar consonant: nod god cod pod rod?Labiodental consonant: rat fat sat mat chat vat patAn alveolar? consonant: nick lick sick tick kick quickA palato-alveolar? consonant: sip ship tip chip lip zipA dental consonant: lie buy? thigh thy tie ryeA glide: one war yolk rush?Underline the words that end with a sound as required:A fricative?pay horse tough rice breath push sing wreathe hang cave messageA nasal?train bang leaf limbA stop?drill pipe fit crab fog ride laugh rack through tipAn affricate: rack such ridge booze?Underline the words that contain the sound as required:A central vowel:?mad lot but boot wordA front vowel:?reed pad load fate bit bed cookA rounded vowel:?who he bus her hit true boss bar walkA back vowel:?paid reap fool top good fatherDescribe the underlined consonants according to three dimensions:vd/vl place mannerLetterBrotherSunnyHopperItchingLodgerCallingSingingRobberEitherPhonologyPhonology studies the patterning of speech sounds, that is, the ways in which speech sounds form systems and patterns in human languages.Phonology and phonetics are two studies different inperspectives, which are concerned with the study of speech sounds.Phonology focuses on three fundamental questions.What sounds make up the list of sounds that can distinguish meaning in a particular language? What sounds vary in what ways in what context?What sounds can appear together in a sequence in a particular language?Phonetics & phonologyBoth are concerned with the same aspect of language----the speech sounds. But they differ in their approach and focus.Phonetics is of general nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages; it aims to answer questions like: how they are produced, how they differ from each other, what phonetic features they have, how they can be classified, etc.Phonology aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.Phone, phoneme, allophonePhone: the different versions of the abstract unit – phoneme Phoneme: the mean-distinguishing sound in a language, placed in slash marksAllophone: a set of phones, all of which are versions of one phonemePhoneA phone---- a phonetic unit or segment. The? speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. Phones do not necessarily distinguish meaning, some do, some don‘t, e.g. t ]??[ b & t]?t ], [sp?[ b & t].?[spPhonemeA? phoneme---- is a phonological unit; it is a unit of distinctive value; an abstract unit, not a particular sound, but it is represented by a certain phone in certain phonetic context, e.g. the phoneme /p/ can be represented differently t].?p] and [sp?t], [t?in [pAllophoneAllophones ---- the phones? that can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments.Phonemic contrast, complementary distribution and minimal pair.Phonemic? contrast----different or distinctive phonemes are in phonemic contrast, e.g. t].?t ] and [p? /b/ and /p/ in [ b Complementary? distribution----allophones of the same phoneme are in complementary distribution. They do not distinguish meaning. They occur in different phonetic contexts, e.g.dark [l] & clear [l], aspirated [p] & unaspirated [p].Minimal pairMinimal pair----when two different forms? are identical (the same) in every way except for one sound segment which occurs in the same place in the strings, the two sound combinations are said to form a minimal pair, e.g.beat, bit, bet, bat, boot, but, bait, bite, boat.Some rules of phonologySequential rules?Assimilation ruleDeletion rule?Sequential rules ---- the rules that govern the combination of sound s in a particular language, e.g. in English, ―k b i I‖ might possibly form blik, klib, bilk, kilb.。
语言学笔记 Lecture1
语言学笔记陈银2014/2/28Teaching Goal of This Course⏹To get a scientific view on language;⏹To understand some basic theories on linguistics;⏹To understand the applications of the linguistic theories, especially in the fields oflanguage teaching & learning (SLA or TEFL), cross-cultural communication……;⏹To prepare for the future research work.Teaching Plan Introduction:⏹18-week academic term (including a 2-week holiday, one week revision )⏹Each week: 2-hour teaching⏹Main teaching material《语言学教程》第四版胡壮麟北京大学出版社⏹Auxiliary teaching materials《语言学概论》蓝纯外语教学与研究出版社PPT & handoutsDistribution of Grades⏹10 % Attendance⏹10 % Classroom Behavior⏹10 % Assignment and oral presentation⏹70 % Examination⏹The final examination paper will cover all the materials used and all works done duringclass time and after class time.Requirements:⏹Attendance is a “must”for every student.⏹Complete all the tasks required.⏹Self-discipline is necessary.⏹Be attentive and interactive in classroom discussion and presentation.⏹Self-study is desirable.⏹Preview and review the lessons or do some further reading.Group WorkGroup work requirements:1.Oral English (30%)2.PPT design (30%)3.Key points coverage (40%)Lecture 1Objectives:Students are to know the following:1.Why study language2.What is language3.Design features of language1. 1 Why study languageSome myths about language⏹Language is only a means of communication.⏹Language has a form-meaning correspondence.⏹The function of language is to exchange information.⏹English is more difficult to learn than Chinese.⏹Black English is not standard and should be reformed.⏹Children learn their native language swiftly, efficiently and without instruction.⏹Language operates by rules.⏹All languages have three major components: a sound system, a system oflexicogrammar and a system of semantics.⏹Everyone speaks a dialect.⏹Language slowly changes⏹Speakers of all languages employ a range of styles and a set of jargons.⏹Languages are intimately related to the societies and individuals who use them.⏹Writing is derivative of speech.1. Why study language⏹People know very little about language❑Stereotypical opinions about language⏹“English is for commerce, German for warfare, French for women,Italian for friends, Spanish for worship of God.”(Charles V, theSpanish Emperor)⏹Language A is superior to language B.❑Superstitions about language: curses and swears❑People know perfectly where and when and how to say what⏹Language is an integral part of our life and humanity.Yet we know little or even have wrong ideas about it.Where does language come from? How? When?Why is language human-specific?Why can a child learn his/her mother tongue so easily?How can we say one thing but mean another?Language has a form-meaning correspondence.The function of language is to exchange information.Future Career Goals may include:In the field of Academia:⏹Research and Teaching specializing in one or more of the many inter-disciplinary fields ofLinguisticsIn the field of education:❑Curriculum design and planning❑Language and literacy policies❑Museum exhibitions & educational programs❑Teaching:⏹languages⏹TESOL(teaching English to speakers of other languages)⏹literacyIn business:⏹Technical Writing⏹Toy Industry⏹Literacy in the Workplace⏹Advertising⏹Telephone CompaniesIn the field of health:⏹Socio/Psycho-linguistic Research⏹Speech pathology⏹Speech Analysis/Forensic LinguisticsIn government:❑Foreign affairs❑Justice (e.g. courtroom interpreting)❑Immigration❑First Nation affairs❑Forensic linguisticsIn the field of Artificial Intelligence:⏹Computational Linguists/Linguists working in areas such as:⏹Speech recognition programming⏹Language recognition programming⏹Lexicography/semantic variation⏹Multilingual programming⏹Natural Language ResearchThe importance of language study1，Language plays a central role in our lives as individuals and social beings.2，If we are not fully aware of the nature and mechanism of our language, we will be ignorant of what constitutes our essential humanity.Language can mean⏹what a person says (e.g. bad language, expressions)⏹the way of speaking or writing (e.g. Shakespeare’s language, Luxun’s language)⏹ a particular variety or level of speech or writing (e.g. language for special purpose,colloquial language)⏹the abstract system underlying the totality of the speech/writing behavior of a community(e.g. Chinese language, first language)⏹the common features of all human languages (e.g. He studies language)⏹ a tool for human communication. (social function)⏹ a set of rules. (rule-governed)1.2 What is language?Different sensesPoor languageShakespeare’s language Business languageThe English language A student of language CompetenceIdiolectVarietyAbstract system Universal system2. What is Language?Language “is not to be confused with human speech, of which it is only a definite part, though certainly an essential one. It is both a social product of the faculty of speech and a collection of necessary conventions that have been adopted by a social body to permit individuals to exercise that faculty”.--Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913): Course in General Linguistics (1916)译：“语言”是言语功能的社会产物，也是社团成员所能够接受的允许个人使用言语功能的必要规则的集合。
英语语言学笔记(DOC)
第一章Chapter 1 Invitations to LinguisticsTeaching aims: let the students have the general idea about language and linguistics.Teaching difficulties: design features of language ; some important distinctions in linguistics Teaching procedures1. language1.1 Why study language?为什么学习语言A tool for communication交流的工具An integral part of our life and humanity 人类生活和人性中不可或缺的一部分.If we are not fully aware of the nature and mechanism of our language, we will be ignorant of what constitutes our essential humanity.如果不能完全理解语言的本质和结构,我们就会对人类的本质一无所知.1.2 What is language?什么是语言1.2.1 different senses of language 语言的不同意义1. what a person says( concrete act of speech)a person’s consistent way of speaking or writinga particular level of speaking or writing e.g. colloquial languagean abstract system2. A webster’s New Dictionrary offers a frequently used sense of the word “language”:a. human speech 人类的言语b. the ability to communicate by this means 通过言语来交流的能力c. a system of vocal sounds and combinations of such sounds to which meaning is attributed,used for the expression or communication of thoughts and feelings; 用来表达或交流思想和感觉的一套声音及这些声音互相结合的系统d. the written representation of such a system 系统的文字表达3. the barest of definition, language is a means of verbal communication.最简洁的定义:语言是言语交流的一种方式.Language is instrumental in that communicating by speaking or writing is a purposeful act. It is social and conventional in that language is a social semiostic and communication canonly take place effectively if all the users share a broad understanding of human interactionincluding such associated factors as nonverbal cues, motivation, and socio-cultural roles.Language distinguishes us from animals.因为说和写的交流方式是一种有目的的行为,所以语言是实用性的;因为语言是社会符号,语言的交流只能在所有参与者广泛理解了人类的那些非言语的暗示,动机,社会文化角色等等互相关联的因素之后才能有效进行,因此语言又是社会的,约定俗成的.语言使人类区别于动物.1.2.2 definitionsLanguage is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.What is communication?A process in which information is transmitted from a source (sender or speaker) to a goal (receiveror listener).A system----since elements in it are arranged according to certain rules systematically, rather thanrandomly. They cannot be arranged at will. e.g. He the table cleaned. (×) bkli (×) Why do we say language is arbitrary?Arbitrary----there is no intrinsic (logic) connection between a linguistic form and its meaning, between the sounds that people use and the objects to which these sounds refer. Thisexplains and is explained by the fact that different language have different words for thesame object, it is good illustration of the arbitrary nature of language . it is only our tacitagreement of utterance and concept at work and not any innate relationship bound upin the utterance. A typical example to illustrate the arbitrary of language is a famousquotati on from shakepeare’s play:” Romeo and Juliet: A rose by any other name wouldsmell as sweet.一朵玫瑰不管它叫什么名字,闻起来都是一样香的.Symbols----words are just the symbols associated with objects, actions, and ideas by nothing but convention. Namely, people use the sounds or voval forms to symbolize what they wishto refer to.Vocal-------- the primary medium for all languages is sound, no matter how well developed their writing systems are. Writing systems came much later than the spoken forms. The factthat small children learn and can only learn to speak and listen before they write or readalso indicates that language is primarily vocal, rather than written.Writing systems came into being much later than the spoken forms.People with little or no literacy can also be competent language users.Human ----language is human-specific.Human beings have different kinds of brains and vocal capacity.“Language Acquisition Device”(LAD)二.What characteristics of langauge do you think should be included in a good ,comprenhensive definition of language?Language is a rule-governed system; langauge is basically vocal; langauge is arbitrary ; langague is used for human communication.1.3 Design features of language 语言的结构特征Design features------ refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication. They are arbitrariness, duality, creativity/ productivity, displacement, clutural transmission and interchangeability.Design features----- are features that define our human languages,such as arbitrariness,duality,creativity,displacement,cultural transmission,etc.(指决定了人类语言性质的特征.例如任意性,二重性,创造性,移位性,文化转移性等.)The American linguist Charles Hockett specified twelve design features.What is arbitrariness?任意性a. arbitrariness【'ɑːbɪtrərɪnɪs】----arbitrariness(任意性): one design feature of humanlanguage,which refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no naturalrelationship to their meaning.(人类语言的本质特征之一,指语言符号的形式与意义之间没有自然的联系.)It was discussed by Saussure first.The link between them is a matter of convention.E.g. “house” uchi (Japanese)Mansion (French)房子(Chinese)(1) arbitrary between the sound of a morpheme and its meaning语言的音和义之间的任意性a. By “arbitrary”, we mean there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. 语言的意义和语音之间没有逻辑关系。
语言学讲义第一章
Chapter 2Speech Sounds2.1 Phonetics and PhonologyWe can analyze speech sounds from various perspectives and the two major areas of study are phonetics and phonology•Phonetics studies how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived. •Phonology is the study of the sound patterns and sound systems of languages.Major branches of phonetics：1. Acoustic phonetics (发音语音学): the study of the physical properties of the speech sounds.2. Auditory phonetics (声学语音学): the study of the way listeners perceive these speech sounds.3. Articulatory phonetics (听觉语音学): the study of how the vocal tract produces the sounds of language.•Phonology is the study of the sound patterns and sound systems of languages.–It aims to ‗discover the principles that govern the way sounds are organized in languages, and to explain the variations that occur‘.–In phonology we normally begin by analyzing an individual language, say English, in order to determine its phonological structure, i.e. which sound units are used and how they are put together.–Then we compare the properties of sound systems in different languages in order to make hypotheses about the rules that underlie the use of sounds in them,–and ultimately we aim to discover the rules that underlie the sound patterns of all languages. Differences Between Phonology and Phonetics2.2 Speech organsPositions of vocal folder( 声带)•V oiceless: [p, s, t] 声带分开，气流无阻碍•V oiced: [b, z, d] 声带相连，气流受阻•Glottal stop(喉塞音): [?] 声带紧闭，无气流通过•Nasals: [m, n, ŋ] 双唇紧闭，鼻腔发音2.3 Segments, divergences and phonetic transcription•Segment音段：there are 4 sound segments in pronouncing “above” (a-b-o-v)•Divergence偏差：ghoti → enough [f] →women [i] →[f i∫] fishnation [∫]→•phonetic transcription音标The IPA→International Phonetic AssociationInternational Phonetic Alphabet•In 1886, the Phonetic Te achers‘ Association was inaugurated by a small group of language teachers in France who had found the practice of phonetics useful in their teaching and wished to popularize their methods. It was changed to its present title of the International Phonetic Association (IPA) in 1897. The first version of the International Phonetic Alphabet (the IPA chart) was published in August 1888.2.4 Consonants and vowels•Consonants The sounds in the production of which there is an obstruction of the air-stream at some point of the vocal tract.•Vowel The sounds in the production of which no vocal organs come very close together and the air-stream passes through the vocal tract without obstruction.In what ways consonants differ from vowels?•Air-stream in Articulation--consonants: the flow of air comes out with some obstructions.--vowels: the flow of air comes out freely2) Function:--consonants are used to separate the vowels.--vowels are used to help the speech organs to get from one consonant position to the next.Categories of consonants:(according to manner of articulation & place of articulation)According to manner of articulation•Stop/plosive 爆破音Oral stop 口腔爆破[ b, p, t, d, k, g]Nasal stop 鼻腔爆破[ m, n, ŋ]•Fricative 摩擦音[ f, v, θ, ð, s, z ʃ, ʒ, h]•(median) Approximant 无摩擦延续音[w, ɹ, j]•Lateral (Approximant)舌边音[ l ]•Affricate (stop + fricative) 塞擦音[ tʃ, dʒ]•others: trill颤音tap一次性接触音flap闪音[r]According to places of articulation•Bilabial 双唇音[b, p, m]•Labiodental 唇齿音[f, v]•Dental 齿音[θ, ð ]•Alveolar 齿龈音[ t, d, n, s, z, ɹ, l ]•Postalveolar / palatal-alveolar颚齿龈音[ ʃ, ʒ]•Retroflex 卷舌音[ r ]•Palatal舌面中音[ j ]•Velar 软颚音[ k, g, ŋ]•Uvular 小舌音（法语中）•Pharyngeal 咽头音（阿拉伯语中）•Glottal 喉音[ h ]Table of English ConsonantsDescription of English consonants•The consonants of English can be described in the following manner:[p] voiceless bilabial stop[b] voiced bilabial stop[s] voiceless alveolar fricative[z] voiced alveolar fricativeV owels•English vowels P52V owel glides•Pure/ monophthong vowels [a] [i]•V owel glidesDiphthongs [ai] [ei]Triphthong [aie] [aue]Description of English vowels•The description of English vowels needs to fulfill four basic requirements:–the height of tongue raising (high, mid, low);–the position of the highest part of the tongue (front, central, back);–the length or tenseness of the vowel (tense vs. lax or long vs. short), and–lip-rounding (rounded vs. unrounded).•We can now describe the English vowels in this way:–[♓] high front tense unrounded vowel–[✞] high back lax rounded vowel–[ ] mid central lax unrounded vowel–[✈] low back lax rounded vowelEnglish vowels2.5 Coarticulation and Phonetic Transcription•2.5.1 Coarticulation•Sounds continually show the influence of their neighbors. For example, map, lamb. When such simultaneous or overlapping articulations are involved, we call the process coarticulation.–If the sound becomes more like the following sound, as in the case of lamb, it is known as anticipatory coarticulation.–If the sound shows the influence of the preceding sound, it is perseverative coarticulation, as is the case of map.2.5.2 Narrow and Broad Phonetic Transcription•◆Broad transcription: omit some details, not necessarily phonological, used in most dictionaries and language textbooks, often in square brackets [ ]◆Narrow transcription: phonological in character, differentiate speech sounds in more detail with the help of the diacritics, enclosed in slant brackets / /•[p] is aspirated in peak and unaspirated in speak.–This aspirated voiceless bilabial stop is thus indicated by the diacritic h, as [p h], whereas the unaspirated counterpart is transcribed as [p].2.6 Phonological AnalysisDefinition of Phonology•Yule‘s book, P54―Phonology is essentially the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language.‖ It studies speech as a purposeful human activity; it views speech as a sys tematically organized activity, intended– under normal circumstances—to convey meaning.Some Key Concepts of PhonologyPhone and Phoneme•A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. It does not necessarily distinguish meaning; some do, some don’t. e.g. [tin] → [t] [i] [n]•A phoneme can be defined as a minimal unit of sound capable of distinguishing words of different meanings. E.g. [tin] [din] → /t/ /d/–In English, the distinction between aspirated [p h] and unaspirated [p] is not phonemic.–In Chinese, however, the distinction between /p/ and /p h/ is phonemic.Differences Between Phone & Phoneme2.6.1 Phonemes and Allophones•Minimal Pairs•§Minimal pairs: When two words such as ―pat‖ and ―bat‖ are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme, occurring in the same position, the two words are described as a minimal pair.Allophones•Allophone: the phonetic variants of a phoneme, or, a set of different forms of a phoneme. e.g. the 2 allophones of the same phoneme /p/ are [pʰ] as in pin and [p] in spin.Complementary distribution•In this case the allophones are said to be in complementary distribution because they never occur in the same context:–[p] occurs after [s] while [p h] occurs in other places./p/ [p] / [s] _____[p h] elsewhere•This phenomenon of variation in the pronunciation of phonemes in different positions is called allophony or allophonic variation.•Phonetic similarity: the allophones of a phoneme must bear some phonetic resemblance•Free Variants and Free Variation (P59)Apart from complementary distribution, a phoneme may sometimes have free variants. For example, cup→[kʰɅpʰ] or [kʰɅpɅ] (the diacritic ― Ʌ‖ indicates no audible release in IPA symbols) The difference may be caused by dialect, habit or individual preference, instead of by any diatribution rule, such phenomenon is called free variation.2.6.2 Phonological processesAssimilationDefinition ---When two phonemes occur in sequence and some aspect of one phoneme is taken or ―copied‖ by the other, the process is known as assimilation, which is also often used synonymously with coarticulation.Types ---•Regressive assimilation /anticipatory coarticulation ( a following sound influences a preceding sound, e.g lamb);•Progressive assimilation /perseverative coarticulation (a preceding sound influences a following sound ,e.g ?to meet you )•Note: assimilation is also happened between words,e.g. sun glass /ŋ/, you can keep them. /ŋ/2.6.3 phonological rules•Nasalization rule (鼻音化):[-nasal] → [+nasal] / ____ [+nasal]→stands for “becomes”/ refers to “in the environment of ”___ “ focus bar” refers to “ the location of the change”/æ/→[æ̃] /____+nasal,+ consonant.e.g. lamb → [læ̃m b] can → [cãn]•Dentalization rule（齿音化）:[-dental] → [+dental] / ____ [+dental]e.g. tent [tɛnt] tenth [tɛṋθ]/n/ is dentalized before a dental fractive /θ/•Velarization rule（颚音化）:[-velar] → [+velar] / ____ [+velar]e.g. since [siṋθ] sink [siŋk]the alveolar nasal /n/ becomes the velar nasal /ŋ/ before the velar stop /k/. (They are all instances of assimilation.)Aspiration rule•V oiceless stop →aspirated/ word initially and initially in stressed syllable•V oiceless stop →unaspireted /#s __ (#:word boundary)voiceless stops are aspirated when they are the initial of a stressed syllable; and are unaspirated after /s/.e. g. “pin” for the first case, and “spin” for the latter one.Lengthening rule•V →V___C# voiced•(V owels are lengthened preceding voiced consonant)Flapping rule•Alveolar stop →voiced flap/V__V unstressed•(/t/,/d/ become [D] between two vowels, the second of which is unstressed)G lottalization rule•Stop voiceless →[?]/__σor /__nasal (σ:syllable boundary)•(/p/, /t/, /k/, especially /t/. Are glottalized when syllable-final or before nasals).Deletion rule•§Under certain circumstances some sounds disappear. Some preceding fricatives and affricates will be influenced by the following sound, which is a devoicing process, namely, the voiced sound will become voiceless.•[+voiced] →[+voiceless]/__ [+voiceless]•(f, v, s, and others)•( love to →[ lΛvtə] [lΛftə] ;•(For more examples please refer to P 61)The English pluralsEnglish Past Tense form•The regular past tense form in English is pronounced as [t] when the word ends with a voiceless consonant, [d] when it ends with a voiced sound, and [ɪd] when it ends with [t] or [d]. e.g. •stopped, walked, coughed, kissed, leashed, reached•stabbed, wagged, achieved, buzzed, soothed, bridged•steamed, stunned, pulled•played, flowed, studied•wanted, located, decided, guided2.7 Distinctive FeaturesThe idea of Distinctive Features was first developed by Roman Jacobson (1896-1982) in the 1940s as a means of working out a set of phonological contrasts or oppositions to capture particular aspects of language sounds. Since then several versions have been suggested.Definition: A particular characteristic which distinguishes one distinctive sound of a language (phoneme) from another or one group of sounds from another group.•[+voiced]& [+nasal] are distinctive features.•Some of the major distinctions include [consonantal], [nasal] and [voiced].–The feature [consonantal] can distinguish between consonants and vowels, so all consonants are [+consonantal] and all vowels [–consonantal].–[nasal] and [voiced] of course distinguish nasal (including nasalized) sounds and voiced sounds respectively•These are known as binary features because we can group them into two categories: one with this feature and the other without.–Binary features have two values or specificati ons denoted by ‗ + ‘ and ‗–‘ so voiced obstruents are marked [+voiced] and voiceless obstruents are marked [–voiced].•The place features are not binary features – they are divided up into four values:–[PLACE: Labial]–[PLACE: Coronal]–[PLACE: Dorsal]–[PLACE: Radical]•They are often written in shorthand forms. P672.8 Syllables•Suprasegmentals•Suprasegmental features are those aspects of speech that involve more than single sound segments.•The principal suprasegmentals are:2.8.1 the Syllable Structure•Syllable•Words can be cut up into units called syllables. A unit in speech which is often longer than one sound and smaller than a whole word.•Onset: the beginning sounds of the syllable; the ones preceding the nucleus. These are always consonants in English.•Rhyme( or rime): the rest of the syllable, after the onset. The rhyme can also be divided up: rhyme=nucleus + coda•Nucleus: the core or essential part of a syllable.•Coda: the final sounds of a syllable; the ones following the nucleus. These are consonants in English2.8.2 The syllable structureσO(nset) R(hyme)N(ucleus ) Co(da)k r æ k t •Monosyllabic word: a word with one syllable, like cat and dog,•Polysyllabic word: a word with more than one syllable, like transplant or festival•Open syllable: bar, tie•Closed syllable: bard, tied•Maximal Onset Principle (MOP)–When there is a choice as to where to place a consonant, it is put into the onset rather than the coda. /k∧ntri/2.9 Stress•Stress refers to the degree of force used in producing a syllable. In transcription, a raised vertical line [│] is often used just before the syllable it relates to.–A basic distinction is made between stressed and unstressed syllables, the former being more prominent than the latter.–Types: primary ~; secondary ~Changing English Stress PatternBecoming norm •inTEGral •coMMUNal •forMIDable •conTROVersyVerb •conVICT •inSULT •proDUCE •reBEL•BLACKboard•BLACKbird。
语言学知识Lecture 1
[2] • (a) any means of expressing or communicating, as gestures, signs, or animal sounds; • (b) a special set of symbols, letters, numerals, rules etc. used for the transmission of information, as in a computer;… Though we use the word in its various senses, we focus here on its primary sense, namely, [1] (a) (b) (c) (d).
Textbook
• 戴炜栋 何兆熊，2002，新编简明英语语言 学教程，上海外语教育出版社
Reference Books
Strongly recommended: 胡壮麟主编，2006，语言学教程，北京大学出版社 Yule, George. 2000. The Study of Language. Beijing: FLTRP.
Questions
• Do animals have language? • Can they learn language? • Or do they communicate in a way similar to ours?
Animal communication
• Can animals communicate? Dogs, cats, horses… Ants, birds… • How do they communicate? All animals use some perceivable media to convey messages Media: sounds, postures, smells… Messages: membership, danger, aggression
语言学复习资料
Lecture 11. Why do linguists tend to be so critical to traditional grammar?Traditional Grammar---broadly refers to the study of language covering the period from ancient times to the end of the 18th century .Linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive. Linguistics regarded the spoken language as primary, not the written. It lacked autonomy. It was modeled on ancient Greek, Latin grammar. It was based on logical concepts from meaning to form, not from form to meaning. Emphasis was laid on written language. The attitude was prescriptive not descriptive.2. What is the difference between the descriptive and the prescriptive approach to the investigation of language? Which is to be preferred and why?Descriptive grammar refers to the structure of a language as it is actually used by speakers and writers. Prescriptive grammar refers to the structure of a language as certain people think it should be used. Both kinds of grammar are concerned with rules--but in different ways. Specialists in descriptive grammar study the rules or patterns that underlie our use of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. On the other hand, prescriptive grammarians lay out rules about what they believe to be the “correct” or “incorrect” use of language. Descriptive grammarians generally advise us not to be overly concerned with matters of correctness: language, they say, isn't good or bad; it simply is. As the history of the glamorous word grammar demonstrates, the English language is a living system of communication, a continually evolving affair. Within a generation or two, words and phrases come into fashion and fall out again. Over centuries, word endings and entire sentence structures can change or disappear.3. What are features of modern linguistics?Linguistics is descriptive not prescriptive. Priority of spoken language. Priority of synchronic description. The linguist is interested in all languages.Lecture 21. What branches does general linguistics include? What these branches study?Phonetics: it studies speech sounds, including the production of speech, that is how speech sounds are actually made, transmitted and received, the sound of speech, the description and classification of speech sounds, words and connected speech.Phonology: it studies the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables.Morphology: it is concerned with the internal organization of words it studies the minimal units of meaning—morphemes and word-formation processed. Syntax: it is about principles of forming and understanding correct English sentences.Semitics: it examines how meaning is encoded in a language.Pragmatic s: it is the study of meaning in context. it deals with particular utterance in particular situation and is especially concerned with the various ways in which the many social contexts of language performance can influence interpretation.3. (1)Langue vs. parole Langue was considered to be the totality of a language. It was a “storehouse”, the sum of word-images stored in the minds of individuals. We may put it loosely in a formula like:In Saussure's theory, parole refers to the individual side of speech, i.e. speaking is psychophysical, it being the actual, concrete act of speaking on the part of an individual. Parole is thus not a collective instrument; its manifestations are individual and momentary. Langue is code, parole is messag e Langue and parole are closely connected, each dependent on the other: the langue of a community can be arrived at only by a consideration of a large number of paroles, whereas parole can only be intelligible with langue in the minds of all the community members. To a linguist, langue is of primary importance as he wants to make statements which apply, not just to the speech of individuals but to the language as a whole.(2)Synchronic vs. Diachronic linguistics.Synchronic study of language---- refers to the study of language as a whole and the description of a particular state of a language at a given point of time in the development of language without considering its evolution and change in history.Diachronic study of language ---- refers to the study of the process of evolution of language at various histories (historical). A diachronic description of a language traces the historical development of the language and records the changes that have taken place in it between successive points in time.(3)Microlinguistics vs. MacrolinguisticsMicrolinguistics ---- refers to the study of the structure and systems of language, including the various subjects of study of the internal structures of language, such fields as phonology, morphology, syntax.Macrolinguistics ---- refers to the study of language from a broad angle in variou s interdisciplinary subjects, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, anthropological linguistics, mathematical linguistics, and computational linguisticsLecture 31. Define language. How can you understand it?To give the definition, language is a means of verbal communication .it is instrumental in that communicating by speaking or writing is a purposeful act. It is social and conventional in that language is a social semiotic and communication can only take effectively if all the users share a broad understanding of human interaction including such associated factors as nonverbal cues, motivation, and socio-cultural roles. Language learning and use are determined by the intervention of biological, cognitive, psychosocial and environmental factors .in short ,language distinguishes us from animals because it is far more sophisticated than any animal communication system.2. Illustrate the differences between human language and animal communication system in terms of displacement and cultural transmission.Displacement means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of communication. With language, we can recall the past or anticipate the future. For example, we can refer to the first has been dead for over 2500 years .Most animals respond communicatively as soon as they are stimulated by some occurrence of communal interest. For instance, a warning cry of a bird instantly announces danger. Such animals are under “immediate stimulus control”. Human language is, unlike animal communication systems, stimulus free. What we talk about need not be triggered by any external stimulus in the world or any internal state.Cultural transmission ---- refers to the fact that the details of the linguistic system must be learned anew by each speaker. They are not biologically transmitted from generation to generation. Though the capacity for language in human being has a genetic basis, the particular language a human being learns is a cultural fact, not a genetic one. Simply, while you may inherit brown eyes and dark hair from your parents, you do not inherit their language. You acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from parental genes. e.g. An infant born to Korean parents, who is adopted and brought up from birth by English speakers in the U.S, may have physical characteristics inherited from its natural parents, but it will inevitably speak English. And if the child is isolated from the society, he can’t acquire the language successfully. So language is acquired in a socio-cultural context.3. Why is language human specific?Firstly, human language has “design features” which animal communication system do not have, at least not in the true sense of them. Secondly, linguistshave done a lot trying to teach animals such as chimpanzees to speak a human language but have achieved nothing inspiring. Washoe, a female chimpanzee, was brought up like a human child by Beatnice and Alan Gardner. She was taught “American sign Language”, and learned a little that made the teachers happy but did mot make the linguistics circle happy, for few believed in teaching chimpanzees. Thirdly, a human child reared among animals cannot speak a human language, not even when he is taken back and taught to do so4. List basic functions of language and define each of them by their aimsReferential Function whenever we ask people for information or tell others about our circumstances and things alike, we are using language in an attempt to share what we know and exchange what we have in our minds. This is often called "referential", or "ideational".Interpersonal Function is concerned with interaction between the addresser and addressee in a discourse situation and the addresser's attitude toward what he speaks or writes about.Textual Function relates our abilities to construct texts out of our utterances and writings.The performative function is primarily to change the social status of persons; the performative function can extend to the control of reality as on some magical or religious occasions.Emotive function is a means of getting rid of our nervous energy when we are under stress.For example, swear words, obscenities are probably the commonest signals to be used in this way, especially when we are in an angry or frustrated state.Phatic Communion language can serve the function of creating or maintaining social relationship between speakers.Identifying function Our use of language can tell our listener or reader a great deal about ourselves, in particular, about our regional origins, social background, and level of education, occupation, age, sex, and personality.The recreational function of a language is often overlooked because it seems restrictive in purpose and supposedly limited in usefulness. However, no one will deny the use of language for the sheer joy of using it.5. Arbitrariness, Duality of structure, Displacement,Discreteness, Cultural transmission.Arbitrariness refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. Take the case of the English word “man”. In Chinese “rén”Duality refers to the property of having two levels of structures, units of the primary level being composed of elements of the secondary level and each level having its own principles of organization.For instance, tens of thousands of words out of a small set of sounds, around 48 in the case of the English language.Creativity----the speaker is able to combine the basic linguistic units to form an infinite set of sentences, most of which are never produced or heard before. Creativity is a universal property of human language. For example, we can write a sentence like the following and go on endlessly:This is the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Tom built.Lecture 41. How do phonetics and phonology differ from each other? And how are they related to each other?Phonetics-- general, descriptive, and classificatory. It studies speech sounds as they are.Phonology-- concerned with the sound system of language, studies the functioning of the speech sounds. Phonetics provides the means for describing speech sounds; phonology studies the ways in which speech sounds form system and patterns. Phonetics is of general nature; it is the branch of linguistics ,studying the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description ,classification , and transcription without reference to the function of speech sounds in a particular language ,while phonology is language specific . It deals with speech sounds within the context of a particular language; it is concerned with the working and functioning of speech sounds in a language. Phonologist studies what he believes are meaningful sounds related with their semantic features, morphological features, and the way they are conceived and printed in the depth of the mind. Phonological knowledge permits a speaker to produce sounds which form meaningful utterances, to recognize a foreign “accent”, to make up new words, to add the appropriate phonetic segments to form plurals and past tenses, to know what is and what is not a sound in one’s language.2 Illustrate phone, phoneme and allophone by examples. How is a phone different from a phoneme?A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. But phones do not necessarily distinguish meaning.When we hear the following words produced: pit, spit, tip, feel, leaf, the phones we have heard are [ph] (as in pit), [p] (as in spit), [p¬] (as in tip), [s], [t], [f], [i:], [i], [l].A phoneme is a phonological unit; it is a unit that is of distinctive value. So a phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish two words. It is an abstract unit. It is not any particular sound but rather it is represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context. We use slant lines “/ /” pan and ban differ only in their initial sounds /p/ and /b/.Allophone: the different phones that represent or are derived from one phoneme are called the allophones of that phoneme. For example: /p/ is a phoneme, but it may be pronounced as phones [ph], [p], [p¬] .So [ph], [p], [p¬] are the allophones of the same phoneme /p/.3. Explain the sequential rules, assimilation rules and deletion rule by examples.Assimilation rule It assimilates one segment to another by “copying” a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones more similar. When a phoneme is realized differently in actual connected speech from what it usually is, as a result of being near some other phonemes belonging to a neighboring word, assimilation takes place “in” may be pronounced differently as [in], or [i?] or [im], when occurring in different phonetic contexts: indiscrete alveolar [in], inconceivable velar [i?] ,input bilabial [im]The deletion rule It tells us when a sound is to be deleted although it is orthographically represented. e.g. “g” is mute in “sign”, “design”. It is pronounced in their corresponding derivat ives “signature”, “designation”. The rule is: delete a [g] when it occurs before a final nasal consonant.4 Minimal pairsWhen two different forms are identical in every way except for one sound segment which occurs in the same place in the string, the two words are said to have formed a minimal pair.Lecture 51 What does morphology study?It studies morphemes and their different forms and the way they combine in word formation (the study of the internal structure of words, and the rules by which words are formed).2 What are the main features of morpheme?(1) Morphemes cannot be broken down any further into recognizable or meaningful parts. In other words, a morpheme can’t be divided without altering or destroying its meaning.(2) A word may consist of one morpheme or more than one morpheme, while a morpheme may not necessarily represent a word.(3) Morpheme is also a two-fact language unit, which possesses both sound and meaning.(4) Morpheme is not identical with a syllable for syllable has nothing to do with meaning.3 Free morpheme, Bound morphemeFree morpheme, if a morpheme can constitute a word (free form) by itself, it is called a free morpheme.Bound morpheme, If a morpheme has meaning only when connected with at least another morpheme, it is bound. Traditionally, these prefix and suffix morphemes have been called bound morphemes.Lecture 61 Do you think that morphology and syntax should be treated as separate areas of study? Give your views and support them with reasons.Morphology & Syntax(1) A principle distinction between morphology and syntax, is that the former is concerned with the internal composition of a word, whereas the latter is concerned with combinations of words(2) From a nineteen-century linguistic perspective,morphology is the science of the forms of language and more abstractly, of the formatives(构形成分) that give form to words.Syntax, by contrast, is concerned not with formation or forms or formatives but with comparatively insubstantial notions of order or arrangement, in keeping with the etymology of the term. Syntax is thus outside the scope of linguistic morphology, because of the abstract nature of the elements whose arrangement it deals with.(3) Morphology is considered to be part of syntax, both may be grouped together as grammar.(4) Since sentence is usually regarded as the largest grammatical unit of a language, syntax has long been the center of grammatical study.(5) Different linguistics theories differ in their treatment of sentence structure. Conclusion: There are arguments in favor of morpheme-based grammar and there are arguments against it. The same is true of the more traditionalword-based grammar.2. Explain and exemplify IC analysis.IC analysis is one of the structuralist grammars. It is a major feature of Bloomfieldian descriptivism.This approach works through the different levels of structure within a sentence in a series of steps.At each level, a construction is divided into its major constituents, which are termed immediate constituents, and the process continues until no further divisions can be made. The constituents in the last step are called ultimate constituents. In general, the division is binary. IC analysis can be represented in different ways.3. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationsSyntagmatic: a linear relationship between the signs present in the sentence. (the relation between one item and others in a sequence) .Paradigmatic is a particular one in that it denotes a relationship between a sign in a sentence and a sign not in a sentence. (A word may be said to have paradigmatic relations with words that could be substituted for it in the sentence.)4. Rheme vs. ThemeRheme refers to information that is new. The nucleus, or the core of the utterance ---- what the speaker states about, or in regard to the starting point of the utteranceTheme the known (or given) information --- information that is not new to the reader or listener.5. TG-grammar in1957 in Syntactic Structures, which has transformed linguistics from a relatively obscure discipline of interest mainly to language teachers and future missionaries into a major social science of direct relevance to psychologists, sociologists, philosophers and others.Lecture 71. What are the major views concerning the study of meaning? (1). Referential theory of meaning (the naming theory) .The meaning of an expression is what it refers to, or stands for. Expressions or words are "names" or "labels" for things. E.g. man, furniture, fish, China --- whose main function is precisely that of naming or labeling. They are meaningful in that they each refer to an individual or a collection of living beings or objects existing in the reality. There is a one-to-one correspondence between name and object.(2). Mentalist theory of meaning, There has been a tendency to adopt a mentalist approach in their treatment of meaning by a group of modern linguists headed by Chomsky since 1960's. They view the primary function of language as the communication of ideas and have adopted the assumption, as a working basis for linguistic inquiry, that the data needed about language can be supplied by direct resort to intuition. It states that the meaning of an expression is the idea, or concept associated with it in the mind of anyone who knows it. It attempts to explain the meaning of words in terms of the image in the speaker's / hearer's mind. Two of the best-known theories of it are the “sign " theory of Saussure and the semiotic triangle of Ogden and Richards. According to Saussure's sign theory, a linguistic sign consists of a signifier and a signified. They can be more strictly regarded as a sound image (signifier) and a concept (signified) , which are linked by a psychological associative bond, that is, both the noise we make and the objects of world we talk about are mirrored in some way by conceptual entities. Two of the best-known theories of it are the “sign " theory of de Saussure and the semiotic triangle of Ogden and Richards.When we hear a sound, e. g. dog, the image or concept of the dog will be mirrored in our mind, and the image will be the meaning of the expression(3)Behaviorist theory of meaning. This theory was very popular during the 1920's to 1960's. It has great influence in the fields of psychology, philosophy and linguistics. Its representat ive is L. Bloomfield of America. This theory states that the meaning of an expression is either the stimulus that evokes it or the response that it evokes, or a combination of both, on particular occasions of utterance. He illustrated his views with a famous account of Jack and Jill, trying to define meaning in terms of the behaviorist point of view ---stimulus-and-response point of view. E.g. Jill is hungry. She sees an apple and gets Jack to fetch it for her by speaking to him. He interpreted this in terms of stimulus and response with the diagram.Jill JackS------------r~~~~~s----------RHere S means practical events (physical) which precede the act of speech, i.e. Jill's hunger. It is termed as a stimulus. And r refers to a linguistic response of Jill to this stimulus. Jill expresses this response by speaking to Jack. The sound waves reaching Jack result in creating a linguistic stimulus in him, which is indicated by a small letter s. R refers to the eventual physical response Jack makes in getting the apple for Jill. Thus, Bloomfield argued that meaning consists in the relation between speech (which is shown by r----- s) and the practical events S and R that precede and follow it. In this way, he wanted to contrast his theory with the mentalistic theories which involve thoughts, concepts, images, etc.But to interpret meaning in terms of the relation between speech and physical entities and events needs to know other 'predisposing factors' concerning thespeaker and hearer. This is a task Bloomfield found too difficult to accomplish and thus he did not pursue.(4)Contextual theory of meaning. The Operational theory or Meaning-is-use Theory of meaning. Representatives--- L. Wittgenstein, S. Chase and J. R. Firth. Explains that the meaning of an expression is determined by, if not identical with, its use in language. The famous English linguists Chase and Firth advocated that the true meaning of a word is to be found by observing what a man does with it, not what he says about it. The German philosopher Wittgenstein goes a step further. He boldly asserted that the meaning of a word is its use.2. How do you understand ambiguity?Ambiguity refers to the linguistic phenomenon in which one linguistic expression allows more than one understandings or interpretations. E.g. the office of the president is vacant.Basically, ambiguity can be classified into two types: A. Lexical ambiguity:1) words with more than one sense. She can’t bear children. 2) Some words are ambiguous. He put it in the boot.3) A single word, with several different meanings which are not closed related. Mug-- He had a mug./ He had an ugly mug. 4) A word with several very closely related senses is ambiguous.B. Syntactic ambiguity. Structural ambiguity is concerned with the syntactic representation of sentences. It occurs when more than one syntactic structure can be associated with a sequence of words. E.g. 1) American history teacher 3. How would you describe the oddness of the following sentences, using semantic feature?A. The television drank my water.B. His dog writes poetry.4. synonymy, antonymy, polysemy, homonymy, hyponymy Polysemy: The same word may have two or more different meanings. This is known as polysemy; such a word is polysemic.Homonymy: Lexical items which have the phonological or spelling norm, but differ in meaning are called homonyms. Such a linguistic phenomenon, i.e. identity of form and diversity of meaning is referred to as homonymy.Hyponymy: It refers to the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a specific word. The word is more general in meaning is called the superordinate and the more specific words are called its hyponyms. Hyponyms of the same superordinate are co-hyponyms to each other. E.g flower-----rose, tulip, carnation, lily. Animal----dog, cat, tiger, lionAntonymy: The term antonymy is used for oppositeness of meaning. Words that are opposite in meaning are antonyms. Oppositeness can be found on different dimensions. Root contrast derivative contrast semantic contrast (1) gradable (2) complementary (3) converses~Synonymy---sameness of meaningStyle: the same cognitive meaning but different stylistic meaning.(1) cast (literary, biblical) .throw (general). Chuck (slang)Dialect---geographical variationRegister—varieties of a language according to their topic and context of use.E.g. you can’t cancel your room reservation. No cancellations can be accepted.Lecture 81. What does pragmatics study?P20How does pragmatics differ from semantics, and utterance meaning from sentence meaning? How are semantics and pragmatics different from each other? Traditional semantics studied meaning, but the meaning of language was considered as something intrinsic, and inherent, i.e. a property attached to language itself. Therefore, meanings of words, meanings of sentences were all studied in an isolated manner, detached from the context in which they were used. Pragmatics studies meaning not in isolation, but in context. The essential distinction between semantics and pragmatics is whether the context of use is considered in the study of meaning . If it is not considered, the study is restricted to the area of traditional semantics; if it is considered, the study is being carried out in the area of pragmatics.How does a sentence meaning differ from an utterance meaning? A sentence meaning is often considered as the intrinsic property of the sentence itself in terms of a predication. It is abstract and independent of context. The meaning of an utterance is concrete, and context-dependent. The utterance meaning is based on sentence meaning; it is realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation of communication, or simply in a context. For example, “There is a dog at the door”. The speaker could utter it as a matter- of- fact statement, telling the hearer that the dog is at the door. The speaker could use it as a warning, asking the hearer not to approach the door. There are other possibilities, too. So, t he understanding of the utterance meaning of “There is adog at the door” de pends on the context in which it is uttered and the purpose for which the speaker utters it.2. What are the five illocutionary speech acts Searle specifies? (1) Representatives(阐述类)---- stating or describing ,saying what the speaker believes to be true.The earth is flat.（2）directives (指令类)----trying to get the hearer to do somethingDon’t touch that.(3) commissives (承诺类) -----committing the speaker himself to some future course of actionE.g: I promise to come.(4) expressives ( 表达类) ----expressing feelings or attitude towards an existing state.e.g : I’m sorry for the mess I have made.(5) declaration ( 宣布类)---- bringing about immediate changes by saying somethingPriest: I now pronounce you husband and wife.Referee: you are out!Lecture 91. what contributions has sociolinguistics provided to the field of language teaching?。
《语言学教程》中文笔记(完整)
语言学教程笔记第一章语言学导论语言的定义特征：从本质上将人类语言与动物语言区分开的人类语言的区别性特点。
1.任意性：任意性是指语言符号的形式与所表示的意义没有天然的联系，任意性是语言的核心特征。
例如，我们无法解释为什么一本书读作a /buk/，一支钢笔读作a /pen/。
任意性具有不同层次：（1）语素音义关系的任意性。
（2）句法层面上的任意性。
（3）任意性和规约性。
2.二层性：二层性是指拥有两层结构的这种特性，上层结构的单位由底层结构的元素构成，每层都有自身的组合规则。
话语的组成元素是本身不传达意义的语音，语音的唯一作用就是相互组合构成有意义的单位，比如词。
因为底层单位是无意的，而上层单位有明确的意义，所以我们把语音叫做底层单位，与词等上层单位相对。
二层性使语言拥有了一种强大的能产性。
3.创造性：创造性指语言的能产性，指语言有制造无穷长句的潜力，这来源于语言的二层性和递归性。
利用二重性说话者可以通过组合基本语言单位，无止境地生成句子，大多数都是以前没有过的或没有听过的。
4.移位性：是指人类语言可以让使用者在交际时用语言符号代表时间上和空间上并不可及的物体、时间或观点。
因此我们可以提及孔子或北极，虽然前者已经去世两千五百五十多年而后者位置距我们非常之远。
语言使我们能够谈及已不存在或还未出现的事物。
移位性赋予人们的概括与抽象能力使人类受益无穷。
词在指称具体物体时，并不总是出现在即时、形象化的语境中。
他们通常为了体现指称含义而被使用。
5.文化传递性：语言不是靠遗传，而是通过文化传递的。
6.互换性：指人可以是信息的发出者，也可以是信息的接受者，即人作为说话者和听话者的角色是可以随意更换的。
元语言功能：我们的语言可以用来讨论语言本身。
比如说，我可以用“书”指代一本书，也可以用“书这个词”来指代“书”这个词本身。
这使语言具有无限的自我反身性：人类可以谈论“说话”，也可以思考“思考”。
所以只有人类才能提问：元语言功能对交际、思考及人类的意义是什么？语言学的一些重要区别1.“描写式”和“规范式”描写式：客观系统地记录一种语言的模式和用法或变化。
语言学笔记
语言学笔记一、语言学的定义和研究对象语言学是研究语言现象的学科，主要研究人类语言的性质、结构、发展及其在社会生活中的运用。
语言学的研究对象包括语言的语音、语法、语义、语用等方面。
二、语言的基本特征1. 符号性：语言是一种符号系统，符号包括能指和所指两个方面。
能指是符号的物质形式，所指是符号所代表的意义。
2. 任意性：语言符号的能指和所指之间的关系是任意的，没有必然的联系。
这种任意性是语言符号系统的基础。
3. 层次性：语言结构具有层次性，包括语音层、语法层、语义层和语用层等。
每个层次都有其独特的结构和规则。
4. 生成性：语言具有生成性，即有限的语言规则可以生成无限多的语言表达式。
这是语言创造力的重要体现。
5. 社会性：语言是一种社会现象，是社会交际的工具。
语言的运用受到社会文化、经济、政治等多种因素的影响。
三、语言学的主要分支1. 语音学：研究语言的语音系统，包括音位、音变、音系等方面的研究。
2. 音系学：研究语言的音节结构和音系规则，揭示语言的音节组成和音系演变规律。
3. 形态学：研究词的内部结构和构词规则，揭示词的形态变化和构词规律。
4. 句法学：研究句子的结构规则和组合规律，揭示句子的句法关系和语义关系。
5. 语义学：研究语言的意义系统，包括词义、句义、篇章意义等方面的研究。
6. 语用学：研究语言在实际运用中的功能和效果，包括语境、会话含义、言语行为等方面的研究。
四、语言学的研究方法1. 描述法：对语言现象进行客观描述和分析，揭示语言的本质特征和规律。
2. 比较法：通过对不同语言或同一语言不同方言的比较研究，揭示语言的共性和差异。
3. 实验法：通过实验手段对语言现象进行实证研究，验证语言学理论和假设。
4. 历史法：通过对语言历史演变的研究，揭示语言的发展规律和演变趋势。
5. 数学法：运用数学方法和模型对语言现象进行定量分析和模拟研究，揭示语言的数学模型和内在规律。
五、语言学的学习意义和价值1. 提高语言能力：通过学习语言学知识，可以更好地掌握和运用语言，提高听说读写译等语言能力。
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语言学笔记陈银2014/2/28Teaching Goal of This Course⏹To get a scientific view on language;⏹To understand some basic theories on linguistics;⏹To understand the applications of the linguistic theories, especially in the fields oflanguage teaching & learning (SLA or TEFL), cross-cultural communication……;⏹To prepare for the future research work.Teaching Plan Introduction:⏹18-week academic term (including a 2-week holiday, one week revision )⏹Each week: 2-hour teaching⏹Main teaching material《语言学教程》第四版胡壮麟北京大学出版社⏹Auxiliary teaching materials《语言学概论》蓝纯外语教学与研究出版社PPT & handoutsDistribution of Grades⏹10 % Attendance⏹10 % Classroom Behavior⏹10 % Assignment and oral presentation⏹70 % Examination⏹The final examination paper will cover all the materials used and all works done duringclass time and after class time.Requirements:⏹Attendance is a “must”for every student.⏹Complete all the tasks required.⏹Self-discipline is necessary.⏹Be attentive and interactive in classroom discussion and presentation.⏹Self-study is desirable.⏹Preview and review the lessons or do some further reading.Group WorkGroup work requirements:1.Oral English (30%)2.PPT design (30%)3.Key points coverage (40%)Lecture 1Objectives:Students are to know the following:1.Why study language2.What is language3.Design features of language1. 1 Why study languageSome myths about language⏹Language is only a means of communication.⏹Language has a form-meaning correspondence.⏹The function of language is to exchange information.⏹English is more difficult to learn than Chinese.⏹Black English is not standard and should be reformed.⏹Children learn their native language swiftly, efficiently and without instruction.⏹Language operates by rules.⏹All languages have three major components: a sound system, a system oflexicogrammar and a system of semantics.⏹Everyone speaks a dialect.⏹Language slowly changes⏹Speakers of all languages employ a range of styles and a set of jargons.⏹Languages are intimately related to the societies and individuals who use them.⏹Writing is derivative of speech.1. Why study language⏹People know very little about language❑Stereotypical opinions about language⏹“English is for commerce, German for warfare, French for women,Italian for friends, Spanish for worship of God.”(Charles V, theSpanish Emperor)⏹Language A is superior to language B.❑Superstitions about language: curses and swears❑People know perfectly where and when and how to say what⏹Language is an integral part of our life and humanity.Yet we know little or even have wrong ideas about it.Where does language come from? How? When?Why is language human-specific?Why can a child learn his/her mother tongue so easily?How can we say one thing but mean another?Language has a form-meaning correspondence.The function of language is to exchange information.Future Career Goals may include:In the field of Academia:⏹Research and Teaching specializing in one or more of the many inter-disciplinary fields ofLinguisticsIn the field of education:❑Curriculum design and planning❑Language and literacy policies❑Museum exhibitions & educational programs❑Teaching:⏹languages⏹TESOL(teaching English to speakers of other languages)⏹literacyIn business:⏹Technical Writing⏹Toy Industry⏹Literacy in the Workplace⏹Advertising⏹Telephone CompaniesIn the field of health:⏹Socio/Psycho-linguistic Research⏹Speech pathology⏹Speech Analysis/Forensic LinguisticsIn government:❑Foreign affairs❑Justice (e.g. courtroom interpreting)❑Immigration❑First Nation affairs❑Forensic linguisticsIn the field of Artificial Intelligence:⏹Computational Linguists/Linguists working in areas such as:⏹Speech recognition programming⏹Language recognition programming⏹Lexicography/semantic variation⏹Multilingual programming⏹Natural Language ResearchThe importance of language study1，Language plays a central role in our lives as individuals and social beings.2，If we are not fully aware of the nature and mechanism of our language, we will be ignorant of what constitutes our essential humanity.Language can mean⏹what a person says (e.g. bad language, expressions)⏹the way of speaking or writing (e.g. Shakespeare’s language, Luxun’s language)⏹ a particular variety or level of speech or writing (e.g. language for special purpose,colloquial language)⏹the abstract system underlying the totality of the speech/writing behavior of a community(e.g. Chinese language, first language)⏹the common features of all human languages (e.g. He studies language)⏹ a tool for human communication. (social function)⏹ a set of rules. (rule-governed)1.2 What is language?Different sensesPoor languageShakespeare’s language Business languageThe English language A student of language CompetenceIdiolectVarietyAbstract system Universal system2. What is Language?Language “is not to be confused with human speech, of which it is only a definite part, though certainly an essential one. It is both a social product of the faculty of speech and a collection of necessary conventions that have been adopted by a social body to permit individuals to exercise that faculty”.--Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913): Course in General Linguistics (1916)译：“语言”是言语功能的社会产物，也是社团成员所能够接受的允许个人使用言语功能的必要规则的集合。