What is language
语言学PPT what is language
by creativity we mean language is resouceful owing to its duality and its recursiveness. Peculiar to human languages，users of language can understand and produce sentences they have never heard before. “ A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the hotel bed”
----Language can be used to refer to things, which are not present: real or imagined matters in the past, present or future, or in far-away places. Displacement enables people to handle generalizations and abstractions.
Systematic---- rule-governed, elements in it are arranged according to certain rules; can’t be combined at will. e.g. *bkli, *I apple eat.
Arbitrary---- no intrinsic connection between the word and the thing it denotes, e.g. “pen” by any other name is the thing we use to write with. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”----Shakespeare
7.8.language,culture_and_society 简明英语语言学 戴炜栋
Edward Sapir (1884 - 1939)
1884 1909 1925-31 1931-39
Born in Germany, Lauenberg PhD from Columbia University, University of Chicago Yale University
4. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Whorf are credited with developing the most relevant explanation outlining the relationship between thought and language, the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis.
立春、雨水、惊蛰、春分、清明、谷雨、立夏、小满、芒种、夏至、小暑、
大暑、立秋、处暑、白露、秋分、寒露、霜降、立冬、小雪、大雪、冬至、 小寒、大寒。
3. The relationship between language and culture
Conclusion: On the one hand, language as an integral part of human being, permeates his thinking and way of viewing the world, language both expresses and embodies cultural reality. On the other hand, language, as a product of culture, helps perpetuate the culture, and the changes in language uses reflect the cultural changes in return.
第二讲 what is language
Questions: 1. What is language 2. What if we had no language? 3. Is language important? Is it more important than (less important, as important as) our eyes, hands, ears or legs?
Duality
Language is organized at two levels or layers simultaneously. This property is called duality. Or „double articulation‟. At one level, we have distinct sounds, and, at another level, we have distinct meanings.
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Summary: Defined as such, language is seen as unique to human beings. In broad terms, linguists all agree to define language as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication (the primary function of language). Language is a social act.
Lecture 2 What is Language? ---- The nature of human language
Contents of this lecture
What is language什么是语言
• Language and culture are NOT fundamentally inseparable. At the most basic level, language is a method of expressing ideas. That is, language is communication; while usually verbal, language can also be visual (via signs and symbols), or semiotics (via hand or body gestures). Culture, on the other hand, is a specific set of ideas, practices, customs and beliefs which make up a functioning society as distinct.
• 2 Hofstede, G. (1984). National cultures and
corporate cultures. In L.A. Samovar & R.E. Porter (Eds.), Communication Between Cultures. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
"Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another." (p. 51).
The relationship of language and culture
Thanks for attention!
胡壮麟语言学教程u1(第一单元)提纲
5) any means of expressing or communicating, as gestures, signs, or animal sounds
6) a special set of symbols, letters, numerals, rules etc. used for the transmission of information, as in a computer
3)Creativity:By creativity we mean language is resourcefulbecause of its duality and its recursiveness.
●Words can be used in new ways to mean new things, and can be instantly understood by people who have never come across that usage before.(与其他动物的交流区别开来)
●Creativity partly originates from its duality, because of duality the speaker is able to combine the basic linguistic units to form an infinite set of sentences, most of which are never before produced or heard.
(eg: pin&bin; fish& dish)
Arbitrariness and convention.
语言学期末
语言学期末(这份是正确的)(总10页)-本页仅作为预览文档封面，使用时请删除本页-一. What is language?1. Language can be generally defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.Systematic---- rule-governed, elements in it are arranged according to certain rules; can’t be combined at will. . *bkli, *I apple eat.Arbitrary---- no intrinsic connection between the word and the thing it denotes, . “pen” by any other name is the thing we use to write with.Symbolic---- words are associated with objects, actions ideas by convention. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”----ShakespeareVocal---- the primary medium is sound for all languages; writing system came much later than spoken form.Human-specific---- different from the communication systems other forms of life possess, . bird songs, bee dance, animal cries.The design/defining /distinctive features of human language:Arbitrariness (任意性）Productivity/Creativity(创造性）Duality （二元性、二层性）Displacement （移位性）Cultural transmission（文化传递性）2.语言&言语Langue--- the language system shared by a community of speakersParole--- the concrete act of speaking in actual situations by an individual speaker.3. Synchronic vs. diachronicSynchronic (linguistics)---languages are studied at a theoretic point in time: one describes a ‘state’ of language, disregarding whatever changes might be taking place.Diachronic----languages are studied from point of view of their historical development – for example, the changes which have taken place between Old and Modern English could be described in phonological, grammatical and semantic terms.二．语音学（选择题）三．音位学 Phonology1.音位变体Allophones ---- the phones that can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments.同一音位在不同环境中表现出来的两个或多个语音上不同的音段. 例如，在英语里，音位/t/在tin里是送气的[th], 在stand里是不送气的[t]，在eighth里是齿化的[t],在cotton里是鼻除阻的[tn]，在bottle里是边除阻的[tl],在hit里则表现为声门化的[t]. 此外，随着说话人口音的不同，可能还会有其他的语音形式. 这样一套在说话人话语中的语音形式就是音位/t/的音位变体. 把两个音素划归成同一音位的两个音位变体必须满足语音相似性原则，而且它们不能处于对比分布.[p, ph] are two different phones 音子and are variants of the phoneme /p/. Such variants of a phoneme are called allophones of the same phoneme.In this case the allophones are said to be in complementary distribution 互补分布because they never occur in the same context:[p] occurs after [s] while [ph] occurs in other places./p/ [p] / [s] _____[ph] elsewhere2.互补分布Complementary distribution----allophones of the same phoneme are in complementary distribution. They do not distinguish meaning. They occur in different phonetic contexts, .dark [l] & clear [l], aspirated [p] & unaspirated [p].四．形态学**Morphemes: Technically, a morpheme is defined as a minimal meaningful unit in the grammaticalsystem of a components of a word are known as morphemes. They themselves cannot be further analyzed:chairman: chair, mantownhall: town, hallboys: boy, -schecking: check, -ingdisappointment: dis-, appoint, -mentFree morpheme & bound morpheme自由语素和粘着语素Free morpheme----is one that may constitute a word (free form) by itself, such as bed, tree, sing, dance, etc.Bound morpheme----is one that may appear with at least one other morpheme. They can not stand by themselves, such as “-s” in “dogs”, “al” in “national”, “dis-” in “disclose”, “ed” in “recorded”, etc.**Derivational morpheme & inflectional morpheme派生语素和屈折性语素Derivational morphemes---- the morphemes which change the category, or grammatical class of words, . correct---incorrect, edit---co-edit, modern---modernize, length---lengthen, fool---foolish, etc. Inflectional morphemes---- the morphemes which are for the most part purely grammatical markers, signifying such concepts as tense, number, case and so on; they never change their syntactic category, never add any lexical meaning, .a) number: tables matches factoriesb) person, finiteness and aspect: talk/talks/talking/talkedc) case: John/John’sd) comparison: tall/taller/tallest1.构词法 word formation●Compound：smartphone, cutting-edge, domain name, cloakroom 衣帽间, state-of-the-art顶尖的, nursing home, self-control, armchair●Derivation派生法：un + conscious → unconscious,nation + al → national,national + ize → nationalizenationalize + ation → nationalization●Invention(新创词语): Facebook, Twitter, drones, microblog, e-tailer, smartphone, tsunami●Blending(混成法):smoke + fog> smogmotorist + hotel> motelbreakfast + lunch> brunchmodulator + demodulator> modemsmoking + flirting> smirting 边吸烟边跟异性搭讪advertisement + editorial> advertorialeducation + entertainment> edutainmentinformation + commercial> infomercialinformation + entertainment> Infortainment 新闻娱乐化in + love + individual> inlovidual 独立爱人●Abbreviation(缩写词): advertisement--ad; helicopter--copter; influenza--flu●Acronym (缩写词):WB--- World Bank CIA --- Central Intelligence Agency WTO--CPI ---Consumer Price Index 消费者物价指数UNESCO---联合国教科文组织NEET---Not in Education, Employment or Training 啃老族●Clipping(截断法):Back-clippings: ad(vertisement), chimp(anzee),deli(catessen), hippo(potamus), piano(forte),reg(ulation)s, app(lication) program (应用软件)Fore-clippings: (ham)burger, (omni)bus, (violin)cello, (heli)copter,(alli)gator, (tele)phone, (earth)quake.Fore-and-aft clippings: (in)flu(enza), (de)tec(tive).●Back-formation (逆构词法)：gangling → gangle editor → editpeddler → peddle hawker → hawkenthusiasm → enthuse laser → lasecalmative → calm free association → free-associate●Analogical creation (类推构词)：work: wrought > worked；beseech:besought > beseeched；slay: slew > slayed?●Borrowing (借词): Borrow from other languages.Chinese: kung fu, tea, tofu, typhoon ; Japanese: TsunamiIndian: bungalow, jungle, yoga五．句法学1.画树形图2. Chomsky提出：形式主义的转换生成语法Transformational Generative Grammar、Universal Grammar、 LAD语言习得机制 language acquisition3. 表层结构和深层结构Deep structure & surface structureConsider the following pair of sentences:John is easy to please.John is eager to please.Structurally similar sentences might be very different in their meanings, for they have quite different deep structures.Consider one more sentence: Flying planes can be dangerous.It can mean either that: if you fly planes you are engaged in a dangerous activity or Planes that are flying are dangerous.Deep structure----formed by the XP rule in accordance with the head’s sub-categorization properties; it contains all the units and relationships that are necessary for interpreting the meaning of the sentence.Surface structure----corresponding to the final syntactic form of the sentence which results from appropriate transformations; it is that of the sentence as it is pronounced or written.六．语义学Semanticsis traditionally defined as the study of meaning in language.Types of meaning:●Grammatical meaning●Lexical meaning①Conceptual meaning 概念意义②Association meaning 联想意义a.Connotative meaning 内涵意义b.Social meaning 社会意义c.Affective meaning 情感意义d.Reflected meaning 反射意义e.Collocatinve meaning搭配意义③Thematic meaning 主位意义(1) Conceptual meaning概念意义Also called ‘denotative’(外延的) or ‘cognitive’ meaning.Refers to logical, cognitive or denotative content.Concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refersto.(2) Connotative meaning(内涵意义)The communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content.(3)Social meaningWhat a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use.(4)Affective meaning(情感意义)Reflecting the personal feelings of the speaker, including his attitude to the listener, or his attitude to something he is talking about.(5) Reflected meaningArises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense.反映意义指的是一个语词或语句除了自身的意义以外还顺带隐射或隐含了其他意义，或联想意义即引起读者联想的意义。
What is language
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7) Knowledge of a language determines which strings of words are and which are not sentences.
• When you know a language, you know the sounds, the words, and the rules for their combination.
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• 7. Every spoken language includes discrete sound segments, like /p/, /n/, or /a/, that can all be defined by a finite set of sound properties or features. Every spoken language has a class of vowels and a class of consonants. • 8. Similar grammatical categories (e.g., noun, verb) are found in all languages.
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• (2) • A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the hotel bed.
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6) Knowing a language includes knowing what sentences are appropriate in various situations.
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2. What is Language?
• These rules must be finite in length and finite in number so that they can be stored in our finite brains; yet they must permit us to form and understand an infinite set of new sentences. • 1. Definitions of language • 1) Several definitions: • (1) Language is a purely human and noninstinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols. • Sapir, 1921
what is language
1 what is language?Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.2 Design feature: Refer to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication.Arbitrariness: It means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds.For instance：the dog barks bowwow in English but 汪汪汪in Chinese.Note：syntax is less arbitrary than words. Except he came in and sat down. Duality: It means that language is a system, which consists of two levels of structures, at the lower level there is the structure of sounds; at the higher level there is the structure of words.For instance: k ae t are meaningless but put them together means cat. A small set of sound can form many words , many words can form endless sentences.Creativity: Language is productive in that users can understand and produce novel sentences that they have never heard before.For instance: There is a red-eyed elephant was dancing on a bed .we can understand that he was drunkDisplacement: Language can be used to refer to things that are not present: real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future or in faraway places.For instance:I was afraid.animals can communicate about things in the immediate environments only Interchangeability:Interchangeability refers to the communica tion system’s ability to be mutually transmitted and received by members of the same species.For instance: a man can understand English or Chinese spoken by a woman.some male birds possess calls which females, do not have, and certain fishes have similar sex-restricted type of communicationsCultural transmission:Cultural transmission refers to the fact that the ability to speak a language is passed down from one generation to the next by teaching and learning, i.e. the details of the linguistic system must be learned anew by each speaker.Linguistic ability is not biologically transmitted from generation to generation. Animal systems, on the other hand, are genetically transmitted. a mouse baby is born to make a hole . Human----“wolf baby” showsOrigin of Language(了解)：bow-wow theory-----onomatopoeic, pooh-pooh theory----interjections. One thing we can say for certain is that language evolves within specific historical, social and cultural contexts.Functions of LanguageJakobson(了解) he defined the six primary factors of any speech event, namely: speaker,addressee,context,message,code,contact.Based on the six key elements of communication, he established a well-known framework of language functions, namely:Referential( to convey message and information)Poetic(to indulge in language for its own sake)Emotive(to express attitudes, feelings and emotions)Conative(to persuade and influence others through commands and requests)Phatic(to establish communion with others)Metalingual fuction(to clear up intentions and meanings)Informative interpersonal function performative emotivn functionPhatic function recreational function metalingual functionHalliday proposes theory of metafuctions: ideational概念interpersonal 人际and textual语篇。
语言学Chapter 1 invitations to linguistics
Sounds > syllables > morphemes > words > phrases > clauses > sentences/utterances > texts/discourses
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2.3 Creativity
Language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. We can use it to create new meanings. Words can be used in new ways to mean new things, and can be instantly understood by people who have never come across that usage before.
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 place effectively if all the users share a broad understanding of human interaction including such associated factors as nonverbal cues, motivation, and sociocultural roles.
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The recursive nature of language provides a potential to create an infinite number of sentences. For instance:
英语语言学复习资料
语言学Linguistic各章重点,学习资料整理1.1What is language？Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.1.2Design features of language①Arbitrariness任意性：The property of language by which there is in general no natural (i。
e。
logical）relation between the form of a single lexical unit and its meaning。
②Duality二重性Language consists of two levels of structures. The lower (secondary）level is a definite set of meaningless sounds, which combine to form meaningful units which constitute a higher (primary) level。
③Creativity创造性Language is creative in the sense that its users can understand and produce sentences they have never heard before。
④Displacement移位性By displacement is meant that language can be used to refer to things that are not present (in time and space）at the moment of communication。
1.3Functions of language①Informative信息功能Language serves an informative function when it is used to express the speaker’s opinion, to state a fact，or to reason things out。
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• Language is a system. • Human language has several levels of organization, such as phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Within these levels, sounds are put together and patterned into larger units that y in linguistics is not a particular language but an abstract set of characteristics that are common to all human languages. Therefore, when we say that linguistics is a scientific study of language, the word language is used in Sense 1
• Language is a means of social communication. language is not merely a tool for transmitting information. It is a social phenomenon and social behavior. The conventional English greetings "Good morning" and "How do you do?" give little information other than the fact that the speakers have recognized their social relationship of being members of a given speech community.
Language
Definition of Language
• The method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.(uncountable) • to study language is to take up linguistics. • The system of communication used by a particular community or country.(countable) • to study a language means to study Chinese, English or any other language.
• Language is human-specific. It is said to be unique to human beings. Only human beings are biologically prepared for language ability. No other creatures on the earth possess this ability.