现代语言学 简答整理

3.What are the branches of linguistics? What does each of them study? (语言学的主要分支是什么。

每个分支的研究对象是什么？)Linguistics mainly involves the following branches:1)General linguistics, which is the study of language as a whole and which deals with the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods applicable in any linguistic study2)Phonetics, which studies the sounds that are used in linguistic communication3)Phonology, which studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication4)Morphology, which studies the way in which morphemes are arranged to form words5)Syntax, which studies how morphemes and words are combined to form sentences6)Semantics, which is the study of meaning in language.7)Pragmatics, which is the study of meaning not in isolation, but in the context of use8)Sociolinguistics, which is the study of language with reference to society9)Psycholinguistics, which is the study of language with reference to the workings of mind.10)Applied linguistics, which is concerned about the application of linguistic findings in linguistic studies; in a narrow sense, applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistic principles and theories to language teaching, especially the teaching of foreign and second languages.11)Other related branches are anthropological linguistics(人类语言学), neurological linguistics（神经语言学）, mathematical linguistics （数学语言学）, and computational linguistics（计算机语言学）.4.What makes modern linguistics different from traditional grammar? (现代语言学与传统语法有什么区别？)Traditional grammar is prescriptive（规定性）; it is based on "high "(religious, literary) written language. It sets models for language users to follow. But Modern linguistics is descriptive（描述性）; its investigations are based on authentic and mainly spoken language data. It is supposed to be scientific and objective and the task of linguists is supposed to describe the language people actually use, whether it is "correct" or not.5.Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic（共时性）or diachronic（历时性）? Why?(The description of language at some point in time is a synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study.)Modern linguistics is mainly synchronic, focusing on the present-day language. Unless the various states of a language are successfully studied, it will not be possible to describe language from a diachronic point of view.6.Which enjoys priority in modern linguistics, speech or writing? Why?在现代语言学里说话或写作哪一个有优先权？为什么呢？Modern linguistics gives priority to the spoken language for the following reasons:First, speech precedes writing. The writing system is always a later invention used to record the speech. There are still some languages that only have the spoken form.Then, a larger amount of communication is carried out in speech than in writing.Third, speech is the form in which infants acquire their native language.7.Saussure 是如何区分语言langue和言语parole的？(The distinction between langue and parole was made by the famous Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure early this century. Langue and parole are French words.)Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to follow while parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules. Langue is abstract; it is not the language people actually use, but parole is concrete; it refers to the naturally occurring language events. Langue is relatively stable, it does not change frequently; while parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation.8.Chomsky的语言能力competence和语言使用performance各指什么？(American linguist N. Chomsky in the late 1950’s proposed the distinction between competence and performance.)Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language. This internalized set of rules enables the language user to produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences and recognize sentences that are ungrammatical and ambiguous. According to Chomsky, performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. Although the speaker’s knowledge of his mother tongue is perfect, his performances may have mistakes because of social and psychological factors such as stress, embarrassment, etc… Chomsky believes that what linguists should study is the competence, which is systematic, not the performance, which is too haphazard (偶然的).9.How is Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance? And what is their difference?索绪尔是如何区分语言和言语类似乔姆斯基的区分能力和表现？和它们的区别是什么？Both Saussure and Chomsky make the distinction between the abstract language system and the actual use of language. Their purpose is to single out one aspect of language for serious study. They differ in that Saussure takes a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual. 10.What characteristics of language do you think should be included in a good, comprehensive definition of language?你认为应该怎样用一个良好的，全面的定义来总结语言的特征？Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.First of all, language is a system, i.e. elements of language are combined according to rules.Second, language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between the word and the thing it refers to.Third, language is vocal because the primary medium is sound for all languages.The term “human” is meant to specify that language is human-specific.11.What features of human language have been specified by Charles Hockett to show that it is essentially different from any animal communication system? 人类语言的甄别性特征是什么？1.Arbitrariness（任意性）: (课本答案：a sign of sophistication only humans are capable of) It means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. Although language is arbitrary by nature, it is not entirely arbitrary. Non-arbitrary words make up only a small percentage of the total number. The arbitrary nature of language is a sign of sophistication and it makes it possible for language to have an unlimited source of expressions.2.Productivity（创造性）: （课本答案：creativity: animals are quite limited in the messages they are able to send）Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the con¬struction and interpretation of an infinitely large number of sentences, including those they have never said or heard before.3.Duality（二重性）: （课本答案：a feature totally lacking in any animal communication）It means that language is a system, which consists of two sets of structure, or two levels, one of sounds at the lower level and the other of meanings at the higher level. At the lower or the basic level, there is the structure of individual and meaningless sounds, which can be grouped into meaningful units at the higher level. This duality of structure or dou¬ble articulation of language enables its users to talk about anything within their knowledge.4.Displacement（移位性）: （课本答案：no animal can “talk” about things removed from the immediate situation）Language can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future, or far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker.5. Cultural transmission（文化传递性）：（课本答案：details of human language system are taught and learned while animals are born with the capacity to send out certain signals as a means of limited communication）While we are born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.12.Do you think human language is entirely arbitrary? Why?人类的语言是否是完全任意的？为什么？Language is arbitrary in nature, it is not entirely arbitrary, because there are a limited number of words whose connections between forms and meanings can be logically explained to a certain extent, for example, the onomatopoeia, words which are coined on the basis of imitation of sounds by sounds such as bang, crash, etc.. Take compounds for another example. The two elements “photo” and “copy” in “photocopy” are non-motivated, but the compound is not arbitrary.2.What are the two major media of communication? Of the two, which one is primary and why? 语言交际的两大媒介是什么？哪一个是基本的交际媒介？为什么？Speech and writing are the major media of communication. Speech is considered primary over writing. The reasons are: speech is prior to writing in language evolution, speech plays a greater role in daily communications, and speech is the way in which people acquire their native language.3.What are the three branches of phonetics? How do they contribute to the study of speech sounds? 语音学的三个分支是什么。