英语语言学笔记
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 famousquotation 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。
英语语言学笔记（3）
三、 MORPHOLOGY 形态学请结合《词汇学中的构词法》进⾏学习。
语素：语⾔最⼩的意义单位 语素的类型 复合词的类型 复合词的特征 Morphology is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed. It is divided into two sub-branches: inflectional morphology and lexical or derivational morphology. 形态学研究单词的内部结构以及构词规则，有屈折形态学和词汇形态学两⼤分⽀。
Morpheme:the smallest meaningful unit of language. 语素：语⾔最⼩的意义单位。
Free Morpheme: A free morpheme is one that can stand by itself. （independent） ⾃由语素可以作为单词独⽴使⽤。
Bound Morpheme: A bound morpheme is one that cannot stand by itself. 粘着语素必须和其他语素结合成单词 Bound Morpheme includes two types: （1） root （2）Affix（词缀） 1）Inflectional affixes （屈折词缀）（inflectional morphemes）: affixes attached to the end of words to indicate grammatical relationships are inflectional 2）Derivational affixes（派⽣词缀） A） prefix: A prefix comes before words. B）suffix An adjective suffix（形容词后缀） that is added to the stem, whatever classis belongs to , the result will be an adjective. free=free root（⾃由词根） Morpheme（词素） Bound root prefix bound derivational affix suffix inflectional Root and stem（词根和词⼲） 1） Root 2） Stem The differences between root and stem: A root is the basic form of a word which cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity. A stem is the surplus part after the cutting of inflectional morpheme in a word with inflectional morphemes,can be further analyzed, it sometimes could be a root. Individualistic Undesirables Individualist （stem） undesirable （stem） Individual （stem） desirable （stem） dividual （stem） desire （root, stem） divide（root, stem） Affixation词缀法（Derivation派⽣法）：adding word-formation or derivational affixes to stem. Prefixation前缀@：It's the formation of new words by adding a prefixes to stems. 1）'表⽰否定'nagative prefixes: un-,non,in-,dis,a- etc. 2）''reversative or privative prefixes: un-,de-dis etc. 3）'表⽰贬义'pejorative prefixes: mis-, mal-, pseudo- etc. 4）'表⽰程度'degree or size prefixes: arch-, super-,out-,sub-,over-,under-,hyper-,ultra-,mini- etc. 5）'表⽰⽅向、态度'orientation & attitude prefixes:counter-,contra-,anti-,pro- etc. 6）locative prefixes:super-,sub-,inter-,trans- etc. 7）'表⽰时间、次序'time and order prefixes:fore-,pre-,post-,ex-,re- etc. 8）'表⽰数量'number prefixes:uni-/mono-,bi-/di-,tri-,multi-/poly- etc. 9）'混杂'miscellaneous prefixes：auto-, neo-, pan-, vice- Suffixation后缀@: It's the formation of a new word by adding suffixes to stems. 1）noun suffixes 2）adjective suffixes 3）Adverb suffixes 4）verb suffixes Compounding复合法（also called composition） Compounding: is the formation of new words by joining two or more stems Formation of compounds Noun + noun（名词＋名词） —— handbook, sunshine Adjective + noun（形容词＋名词）——highway, deadline Adjective + noun + -ed（形容词＋名词＋ed）——white-haired, red-eyed Verb + noun（动词＋名词）——driveway, breakwater（挡⽔板） Adverb + noun（副词＋名词）——downtown, overburden Noun + verb（名词＋动词）——toothpick, snowfall Verb + adverb（动词＋副词）——follow-up, kick-off Noun + adjective（名词＋形容词）——world-famous, lifelong -ing form + noun（ing+名词）——baking power, dining-room other forms（其他）——go-between, father-in-law Features of compounds复合词的特征 1.Orthographically书写特征 （Compounds are written in three ways: solid（airmail） hyphenated（air-conditioning） open（air force, air raid） 2.Syntactically句法特征（复合词的词性⼀般取决于复合词最后⼀个成分的词性） 3.Semantically语义特征（复合词的意义具有习语性质，许多复合词的意义都不是其构成成分意义和总和） 4.Phonetically语⾳特征（复合词的单词重⾳落在第⼀个构成成分上）。
英语语言学笔记
3
语音学
语音（Phonetics）
研究语言的发音机制、音素（音位）的发音特征和分布规律。
/b/、/t/、/d/等辅音音素的发音方式。
4
音位（Phoneme）
语言中能够区分意义的最小语音单位。
在英语中，“bit”和“bet”因音位/ɪ/和/ɛ/的不同而意义不同。
5
音系学
音系（Phonology）
研究语言中音素的组合规则和模式，以及这些规则如何影响语言的意义。
英语中的重音和节奏模式对单词和句子的意义有影响。
6
语法学
语法（Grammar）
描述语言中单词、短语和句子如何组合成有意义的结构的规则系统。
句子“The cat sat on the mat.”遵循英语语法规则。
英语语言学笔记
序号
主题/子主题
关键概念/术语
定义/解释
示例/应用
备注
1
语言学基础
语言学（guistics）
研究语言的科学，包括语言的结构、功能、演变以及语言在社会中的应用。
语言学家研究不同语言的语音、语法、词汇等。
2
语言（Language）
人类特有的、用于沟通的一套符号系统，包括口语、书面语和手势语等。
研究语言中的词汇、短语和句子如何表达意义。
单词“happy”的意义是“快乐的”。
10
语用学
语用（Pragmatics）
研究语言如何在特定情境中使用，以及语言使用者的意图、背景和互动如何影响语言的意义。
“It’s cold in here.”可能不仅仅是描述温度，还可能暗示要求关窗或开暖气。
11
社会语言学
社会语言学（Sociolinguistics）
新编简明英语语言学教程第二版复习笔记
新编简明英语语言学教程第二版复习笔记引言《新编简明英语语言学教程》（第二版）是一本全面介绍英语语言学的教材。
本文是根据该教材的内容整理出的复习笔记，旨在帮助读者复习和巩固所学知识。
本文将从语音学、形态学、句法学、语用学等方面进行总结和回顾。
一、语音学语音学是语言学的一个重要分支，研究语音的产生、传播和接收。
在英语语音学中，我们学习了音素、音节、音变等概念，以及发音方式和音系结构。
其中，音素是语音的最小单位，音节是由音素组成的单位，音变是音素在特定环境中发生的变化。
在语音学的学习中，我们还学习了国际音标的使用和表示方法。
国际音标是一种标记语音的符号系统，其中每个音素都有一个唯一的符号来表示。
通过学习国际音标，我们可以准确地记录和描述语音。
二、形态学形态学是研究词素和词法规则的学科。
在形态学中，我们学习了词的构成规则和形态变化。
英语中的词缀是词的构成要素，可以分为前缀、后缀和中缀。
词缀的加入或删除可以改变词的意思、词性或词态。
此外，我们还学习了各种词的形态变化规则，如名词的复数形式、动词的时态和语气等。
了解形态学规则对于理解和运用英语词汇是非常重要的。
三、句法学句法学是研究句子结构和句子成分之间关系的学科。
在句法学的学习中，我们学习了句子的基本成分，如主语、谓语、宾语和定语等。
我们还学习了句子的结构、成分之间的语法关系，以及句法规则的应用。
在英语句法学中，我们学习了句子的短语结构分析和句子树的表示方法。
通过短语结构分析和句子树，我们可以准确地分析句子的结构和成分关系。
四、语用学语用学研究的是语言的使用和交际。
在语用学的学习中，我们学习了语言的交际功能、意义和上下文的影响。
我们还学习了言语行为和语用规则，如请求、邀请、命令等。
了解语用学对于理解和运用英语是非常重要的。
结论《新编简明英语语言学教程》（第二版）是一本重要的英语语言学教材，其内容涵盖了语音学、形态学、句法学和语用学等方面的知识。
本文对该教材的内容进行了复习总结，并通过Markdown文本格式进行了输出。
大学英语专业语言学笔记整理
1.1. What is language?“Language is system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. It is a system, since linguistic elements are arranged systematically, rather than randomly. Arbitrary, in the sense that there is usually no intrinsic connection between a work (like “book”) and the object it refers to. This explains and is explained by the fact that different languages have different “books”: “book” in English, “livre” in French, in Japanese, in Chinese, “check” in Korean. It is symbolic, because words are associated with objects, actions, ideas etc. by nothing but convention. Namely, people use the sounds or vocal forms to symbolize what they wish to refer to. It is vocal, because sound or speech is the primary medium for all human languages, developed or “new”. Writing systems came much later than the spoken forms. The fact that small children learn and can only learn to speak (and listen) before they write (and read) also indicates that language is primarily vocal, rather than written. The term “human” in the definition is meant to specify that language is human specific.1.2. What are design features of language?“Design features” here refer to the defining p roperties of human language that tell the difference between human language and any system of animal communication. They are arbitrariness, duality, productivity, displacement, cultural transmission and interchangeability1.3. What is arbitrariness?By “arbitrariness”, we mean there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds (see I .1). A dog might be a pig if only the first person or group of persons had used it for a pig. Language is therefore largely arbitrary. But language is not absolutely seem to be some sound-meaning association, if we think of echo words, like “bang”, “crash”, “roar”, which are motivated in a certain sense. Secondly, some compounds (words compounded to be one word) are not entirely arbitrary either. “Type” and “write” are opaque or unmotivated words, while “type-writer” is less so, or more transparent or motivated than the words that make it. So we can say “arbitrariness” is a matter of degree.1.4.What is duality?Linguists refer “duality” (of structure) to the fact that in all languages so far investigated, one finds two levels of structure or patterning. At the first, higher level, language is analyzed in terms of combinations of meaningful units (such as morphemes, words etc.); at the second, lower level, it is seen as a sequence of segments which lack any meaning in themselves, but which combine to form units of meaning. According to Hu Zhanglin et al. (p.6), language is a system of two sets of structures, one of sounds and the other of meaning. This is important for the workings of language. A small number of semantic units (words), and these units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences (note that we have dictionaries of words, but no dictionary of sentences!). Duality makes it possible for a person to talk about anything within his knowledge. No animal communication system enjoys this duality, or even approaches this honor.1.5.What is productivity?Productivity refers to the ability to the ability to construct and understand an indefinitely large number of sentences in one’s native language, including those that has never heard before, but that are appropriate to the speaking situation. No one has ever said or heard “A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the small hotel bed wit h an African gibbon”, but he can say it when necessary, and he can understand it in right register. Different from artistic creativity, though, productivity never goes outside the language, thus alsocalled “rule-bound creativity” (by N.Chomsky).1.6.What is displacement?“Displacement”, as one of the design features of the human language, refers to the fact that one can talk about things that are not present, as easily as he does things present. In other words, one can refer to real and unreal things, things of the past, of the present, of the future. Language itself can be talked about too. When a man, for example, is crying to a woman, about something, it might be something that had occurred, or something that is occurring, or something that is to occur. When a dog is barking, however, you can decide it is barking for something or at someone that exists now and there. It couldn’t be bow wowing sorrowfully for dome lost love or a bone to be lost. The bee’s system, nonetheless, has a small share of “displacement”, but it is an unspeakable tiny share.1.7.What is cultural transmission?This means that language is not biologically transmitted from generation to generation, but that the details of the linguistic system must be learned anew by each speaker. It is true that the capacity for language in human beings (N. Chomsky called it “language acquisition device”, or LAD) has a genetic basis, but the particular language a person learns to speak is a cultural one other than a genetic one like the dog’s barking system. If a human being is brought up in isolation he cannot acquire language. The Wolf Child reared by the pack of wolves turned out to speak the wolf’s roaring “tongue” when he was saved. He learned thereafter, with no small difficulty, the ABC of a certain human language.1.8.What is interchangeability?(1) Interchangeability means that any human being can be both a producer and a receiver of messages. We can say, and on other occasions can receive and understand, for example, “Please do somethi ng to make me happy.” Though some people (including me) suggest that there is sex differentiation in the actual language use, in other words, men and women may say different things, yet in principle there is no sound, or word or sentence that a man can utter and a woman cannot, or vice versa. On the other hand, a person can be the speaker while the other person is the listener and as the turn moves on to the listener, he can be the speaker and the first speaker is to listen. It is turn-taking that makes social communication possible and acceptable.(2) Some male birds, however, utter some calls, which females do not (or cannot?), and certain kinds of fish have similar haps mentionable. When a dog barks, all the neighboring dogs bark. Then people aroun d can hardly tell which dog (dogs) is (are0 “speaking” and which listening.1.9.Why do linguists say language is human specific?First of all, human language has six “design features” which animal communication systems do not have, at least not in the true sense of them (see I .2-8). Let’s borrow C. F. Hocket’s Chart that compares human language with some animals’ systems, from Wang Gang (1998,p.8).Secondly, linguists have done a lot trying to teach animals such as chimpanzees to speak a human language but have achieved nothing inspiring. Beatnice and Alan Gardner brought up Washoe, a female chimpanzee, like a human child. 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 istaken back and taught to lo to so (see the “Wolf Child”in I.7)1.10.What functions does language have?Language has at least seven functions: phatic, directive, Informative, interrogative, expressive, evocative and per formative. According to Wang Gang (1988,p.11), language has three main functions: a tool of communication, a tool whereby people learn about the world, and a tool by which people learn about the world, and a tool by which people create art. M .A. K.Halliday, representative of the London school, recognizes three “Macro-Functions”: ideational, interpersonal and textual (see! 11-17;see HU Zhuanglin et al., pp10-13, pp394-396).1. 11What is the phatic function?The “phatic function” refers to language being used for setting up a certain atmosphere or maintaining social contacts (rather than for exchanging information or ideas). Greetings, farewells, and comments on the weather in English and on clothing in Chinese all serve this function. Much of the phatic language (e.g. “How are you?” “Fine, thanks.”) Is insincere if taken literally, but it is important. If you don't say “Hello” to a friend you meet, or if you don’t answer his “Hi”, you ruin your friendship.1.12. What is the directive function?The “directive function” means that language may be used to get the hearer to do something. Most imperative sentences perform this function, e.g., “Tell me the result when you finish.” Other syntactic structures or sentences of other sorts can, according to J.Austin and J.Searle’s “indirect speech act theory”(see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp271-278) at least, serve the purpose of direction too, e.g., “If I we re you, I would have blushed to the bottom of my ears!”1.13.What is the informative function?Language serves an “informational function” when used to tell something, characterized by the use of declarative sentences. Informative statements are often labeled as true (truth) or false (falsehood). According to P.Grice’s “Cooperative Principle”(see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp282-283), one ought not to violate the “Maxim of Quality”, when he is informing at all.1.14.What is the interrogative function?When lang uage is used to obtain information, it serves an “interrogative function”. This includes all questions that expect replies, statements, imperatives etc., according to the “indirect speech act theory”, may have this function as well, e.g., “I’d like to know you better.” This may bring forth a lot of personal information. Note that rhetorical questions make an exception, since they demand no answer, at least not the reader’s/listener’s answer.1.15.What is the expressive function?The “expressive function” i s the use of language to reveal something about the feelings or attitudes of the speaker. Subconscious emotional ejaculations are good examples, like “Good heavens!” “My God!” Sentences like “I’m sorry about the delay” can serve as good examples too, thoug h in a subtle way. While language is used for the informative function to pass judgment on the truth or falsehood of statements, language used for the expressive function evaluates, appraises or asserts the speaker’s own attitudes.1.16.What is the evocative function?The “evocative function” is the use of language to create certain feelings in the hearer. Its aim is, for example, to amuse, startle, antagonize, soothe, worry or please. Jokes (not practical jokes, though) are supposed to amuse or entertain the listener; advertising to urge customers to purchase certain commodities; propaganda to influence public opinion. Obviously, the expressive and the evocative functions often go together, i.e., you may express, for example, your personal feelings about a political issue but end up by evoking the same feeling in, or imposing it on, your listener. That’s also the case with the other way round.1.17.What is the per formative function?This means people speak to “do things” or perform actions. On certain occ asions the utterance itself as an action is more important than what words or sounds constitute the uttered sentence. When asked if a third Yangtze Bridge ought to be built in Wuhan, the mayor may say, “OK”, which means more than speech, and more than an a verage social individual may do for the construction. The judge’s imprisonment sentence, the president’s war or independence declaration, etc., are per formatives as well (see J.Austin’s speech Act Theory, Hu Zhuanglin, ecal.pp271-278).1.18.What is linguistics?“Linguistics” is the scientific study of language. It studies not just one language of any one society, but also the language of all human beings. A linguist, though, does not have to know and use a large number of languages, but to investigate how each language is constructed. He is also concerned with how a language varies from dialect to dialect, from class to class, how it changes from century to century, how children acquire their mother tongue, and perhaps how a person learns or should learn a foreign language. In short, linguistics studies the general principles whereupon all human languages are constructed and operate as systems of communication in their societies or communities (see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp20-22)1.19.What makes linguistics a science?Since linguistics is the scientific study of language, it ought to base itself upon the systematic, investigation of language data, which aims at discovering the true nature of language and its underlying system. To make sense of the data, a linguist usually has conceived some hypotheses about the language structure, to be checked against the observed or observable facts. In order to make his analysis scientific, a linguist is usually guided by four principles: exhaustiveness, consistency, and objectivity. Exhaustiveness means he should gather all the materials relevant to the study and give them an adequate explanation, in spite of the complicatedness. He is to leave no linguistic “stone” unturned. Consistency means there should be no contradiction between different parts of the total statement. Economy means a linguist should pursue brevity in the analysis when it is possible. Objectivity implies that since some people may be subjective in the study, a linguist should be (or sound at least) objective, matter-of-face, faithful to reality, so that his work constitutes part of the linguistics research.1.20.What are the major branches of linguistics?The study of language as a whole is often called general linguistics (e.g.Hu Zhuanglin et al., 1988;Wang Gang, 1988). But a linguist sometimes is able to deal with only one aspect of language at a time, thus the arise of various branches: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics,applied linguistics, pragmatics, psycholinguistics, lexicology, lexicography, etymology, etc.1.21.What are synchronic and diachronic studies?The description of a language at some point of time (as if it stopped developing) is a synchrony study (synchrony). The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study (diachronic). An essay entitled “On the Use of THE”, for example, may be synchronic, if the author does not recall the past of THE, and it may also be diachronic if he claims to cover a large range or period of time wherein THE has undergone tremendous alteration (see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp25-27).1.22.What is speech and what is writing?(1) No one needs the repetition of the general principle of linguistic analysis, namely, the primacy of speech over writing. Speech is primary; because it existed long long before writing systems came into being. Genetically children learn to speak before learning to write. Secondly, written forms just represent in this way or that the speech sounds: individual sounds, as in English and French as in Japanese. (2) In contrast to speech, spoken form of language, writing as written codes, gives language new scope and use that speech does not have. Firstly, messages can be carried through space so that people can write to each other. Secondly, messages can be carried through time thereby, so that people of our time can be carried through time thereby, so that people of our time can read Beowulf, Samuel Johnson, and Edgar A. Poe. Thirdly, oral messages are readily subject to distortion, either intentional or unintentional (causing misunderstanding or malentendu), while written messages allow and encourage repeated unalterable reading.(3) Most modern linguistic analysis is focused on speech, different from grammarians of the last century and theretofore.1.23.What are the differences between the descriptive and the prescriptive approaches?A linguistic study is “descriptive” if it only describes and analyses the facts of language, and “prescriptive” if it tries to lay down rules for “correct” language behavior. Linguistic studies before this century were largely prescriptive because many early grammars were largely prescriptive because many early grammars were based on “high” (literary or religious) written records. Modern linguistics is mostly descriptive, however. It (the latter) believes that whatever occurs in natural speech (hesitation, incomplete utterance, misunderstanding, etc.) should be described in the analysis, and not be marked as incorrect, abnormal, corrupt, or lousy. These, with changes in vocabulary and structures, need to be explained also.1.24.What is the difference between langue and parole?F. De Saussure refers “langue”to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community an d refers “parole” to the actual or actualized language, or the realization of langue. Langue is abstract, parole specific to the speaking situation; langue not actually spoken by an individual, parole always a naturally occurring event; langue relatively stable and systematic, parole is a mass of confused facts, thus not suitable for systematic investigation. What a linguist ought to do, according to Saussure, is to abstract langue from instances of parole, I. e. to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make than the subject of linguistics. The langue-parole distinction is of great importance, which casts great influence on later linguists.1.25.What is the difference between competence and performance?(1) According to N. C homsky, “competence” is the ideal language user’s knowledge of the rules of his language, and “performance” is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances. The former enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker’s competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speaker’s performance does not always match or equal his supposed competence.(2) Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rather than performance. In other words, they should discover what an ideal speaker knows of his native language.(3) Chomsky’s competence-performance distinction is not exactly the same as, though similar to,F. de Saussure’s langue-parole distinction. Langue is a social product, and a set of conventions for a community, while competence is deemed as a property of the mind of each individual. Sussure looks at language more from a sociological or sociolinguistic point of view than N. Chomsky since the latter deals with his issues psychologically or psycholinguistically.1.26.What is linguistic potential? What is actual linguistic behavior?M. A. K. Halliday made these two terms, or the potential-behavior distinction, in the 1960s, from a functional point of view. There is a wide range of things a speaker can do in his culture, and similarly there are many things he can say, for example, to many people, on many topics. What he actually says (i.e. his “actual linguistic behavior”) on a certain occasion to a certain person is what he has chosen from many possible injustice items, each of which he could have said (linguistic potential).1.27.In what way do language, competence and linguistic potential agree? In what way do they differ? And their counterparts?Langue, competence and linguistic potential have some similar features, but they are innately different (see 1.25). Langue is a social product, and a set of speaking conventions; competence is a property or attribute of each ideal speaker’s mind; linguistic potential is all the linguistic corpus or repertoire available from which the speaker chooses items for the actual utterance situation. In other words, langue is invisible but reliable abstract system. Competence means “knowing”, and linguistic potential a set of possibilities for “doing” or “performing actions”. They are similar in that they all refer to the constant underlying the utterances that constitute what Saussure, Chomsky and Halliday respectively called parole, performance and actual linguistic behavior. Paole, performance and actual linguistic behavior enjoy more similarities than differences.1.28.What is phonetics?“Phonetics” is the science which studies the characteristic s of human sound-making, especially those sounds used in speech, and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription (see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp39-40), speech sounds may be studied in different ways, thus by three different branches of phonetics. (1) Articulatory phonetics; the branch of phonetics that examines the way in which a speech sound is produced to discover which vocal organs are involved and how they coordinate in the process. (2) Auditory phonetics, the branch of phoneti c research from the hearer’s point of view, looking into the impression which a speech sound makes on the hearer as mediated by the ear, the auditory nerve and the brain. (3) Acoustic phonetics: the study of the physical properties of speech sounds, as transmitted between mouth and ear.Most phoneticians, however, are interested in articulator phonetics.1.29.How are the vocal organs formed?The vocal organs (see Figure1, Hu Zhuanglin et al., p41), or speech organs, are organs of the human body whose secondary use is in the production of speech sounds. The vocal organs can be considered as consisting of three parts; the initiator of the air-stream, the producer of voice and the resonating cavities.1.30.What is place of articulation?It refers to the place in the mouth where, for example, the obstruction occurs, resulting in the utterance of a consonant. Whatever sound is pronounced, at least some vocal organs will get involved. g. Lips, hard palate etc., so a consonant may be one of the following (1) bilabial: [p, b, m]; (2) labiodental: [f, v]; (3) dental: [,]; (4) alveolar: [t, d, l, n.s, z]; (5) retroflex; (6) palato-alveolar: [,]; (7) palatal: [j]; (8) velar [k, g,]; (9) uvular; (10) glottal: [h].Some sounds involve the simultaneous use of two places of articulation. For example, the English [w] has both an approximation of the two lips and those two lips and that of the tongue and the soft palate, and may be termed “labial-velar”.1.31.What is the manner of articulation?The “manner of articulation” l iterally means the way a sound is articulated. At a given place of articulation, the airstreams may be obstructed in various ways, resulting in various manners of articulation, are the following: (1) plosive: [p, b, t, d, k, g]; (2) nasal: [m, n,]; (3) trill; (4) tap or flap; (5) lateral: [l]; (6) fricative: [f, v, s, z]; (7) approximant: [w, j]; (8) affricate: [].1.32.How do phoneticians classify vowels?Phoneticians, in spite of the difficulty, group vowels in 5 types: (1) long and short vowels, e.g.,[i:,]; (4) rounded and unround vowels,e.g.[,i]; (5) pure and gliding vowels, e.g.[I,].1.33.What is IPA? When did it come into being ?The IPA, abbreviation of “International Phonetic Alphabet”, is a compromise system making use of symbols of all sources, including diacritics indicating length, stress and intonation, indicating phonetic variation. Ever since it was developed in 1888, IPA has undergone a number of revisions.1.34.What is narrow transcription and what is broad transcription?In handbook of p honetics, Henry Sweet made a distinction between “narrow” and “broad” transcriptions, which he called “Narrow Romic”. The former was meant to symbolize all the possible speech sounds, including even the most minute shades of pronunciation while Broad Romic or transcription was intended to indicate only those sounds capable of distinguishing one word from another in a given language.1.35.What is phonology? What is difference between phonetics and phonology?(1) “Phonology” is the study of sound syst ems- the invention of distinctive speech sounds that occur in a language and the patterns wherein they fall. Minimal pair, phonemes, allophones, free variation, complementary distribution, etc., are all to be investigated by a phonologist.(2) Phonetics, as discussed in I.28, is the branch of linguistics studying the characteristics ofspeech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription. A phonetist is mainly interested in the physical properties of the speech sounds, whereas a 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 produc e sounds which from meaningful utterances, to recognize a foreign “accent”, to make up new words, to add the appropriate phonetic segments to from plurals and past tenses, to know what is and what is not a sound in one’s language.1.36.What is a phone? What is a phoneme? What is an allophone?(1) A “phone” is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. When we hear the following words pronounced:[pit], [tip], [spit], etc., the si milar phones we have heard are [p] for one thing, and three different[p]’s, readily making possible the “narrow transcription or diacritics”. Phones may and may not distinguish meaning. A “phoneme” is a phonological unit; it is a unit that is of distinctiv e value. As an abstract unit, a phoneme is not any particular sound, but rather it is represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context. For example, the phoneme[p] is represented differently in [pit], [tip] and [spit].(2) Th e phones representing a phoneme are called its “allophones”, i. e., the different (i.e., phones) but do not make one word so phonetically different as to create a new word or a new meaning thereof. So the different[p]’s in the above words are the allophone s of the same phoneme[p]. How a phoneme is represented by a phone, or which allophone is to be used, is determined by the phonetic context in which it occurs. But the choice of an allophone is not random. In most cases it is rule-governed; these rules are to be found out by a phonologist.1.37.What are minimal pairs?When two different phonetic forms are identical in every way except for one sound segment which occurs in the same place in the string , the two forms(i. e., word) are supposed to form a “minimal pair”, e.g., “pill” and “bill”, “pill” and “till”, “till” and “dill”, “till” and “kill”, etc. All these words together constitute a minimal set. They are identical in form except for the initial consonants. There are many minimal pairs in English, which makes it relatively easy to know what are English phonemes. It is of great importance to find the minimal pairs when a phonologist is dealing with the sound system of an unknown language(see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp65-66).1.38.What is free variation?If two sounds occurring in the same environment do not contrast; namely, if the substitution of one for the other does not generate a new word form but merely a different pronunciation of the same word, the two sounds then are said to be in “free variation”. The plosives, for example, may not be exploded when they occur before another plosive or a nasal (e. g., act, apt, good morning). The minute distinctions may, if necessary, be transcribed in diacritics. These unexploded and exploded plosives are in free variation. Sounds in free variation should be assigned to the same phoneme.1.39.What is complementary distribution?When two sounds never occur in the same environment, they are in “complementary distribution”. For example, the aspirated English plosives never occur after[s], and the unsaturated ones never occur initially. Sounds in complementary distribution may be assigned to the same phoneme. The allophones。
英语语言学笔记16页
英语语言学笔记16页第一章1.What is language?Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication2.Design features of language①Arbitrariness(任意性)refers to the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. (sounds and meanings)②Duality（二层性）:The property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization.③Productivity/creativity(创造性）:Language is productive in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users.④Displacement(移位性):Human Languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at moment of communication. (p7)3.Functions of language①Informative(信息功能): to give information about facts. (ideational)② Interpersonal(人际功能): to establish and maintain social status in a society.(age, sex, language, background, accent, status)③Performative(施为功能) : language is used to do things, to perform certain actions. (name, promise, apologize, sorry, declare)④. Emotive/Expressive (情感功能): to express feelings and attitudes of the speaker.⑤Phatic communion(寒暄交流) : to use small and meaningless expressions to establish a comfortable relationship or maintain social contact between people without any factual content. (health, weather)⑥ Recreational function(娱乐): the use of language for sheer joy. (lyrics, poetry)⑦Metalingual function(元语言功能): to talk about language itself.4. What is linguistics?Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.5. Important distinctions in linguisticsDescriptive & prescriptiveSynchronic & diachronicLangue & paroleCompetence & performance6.Descriptive(描写/述性)—describe and analyze linguistic facts or the language people actually use (modern linguistic) Prescriptive(规定性)—lay down rules for “correct and standard” linguistic behavior in using language (traditional grammar: “never use a double negative”)7.Synchronic study (共时)—description of a language at some point of time (modern linguistics)Diachronic study (历时)—description of a language as it changes through time (historical development of language over a period of time)第四章1．What is Syntax （句法）?Syntax is the study of the rules governing the ways different constituents are combined to form sentences.句法就是研究语言的不同成分组成句子的规则2．Four Approaches :The traditional approach传统语言观(Parts of speech、Syntactic Function不考、Category范畴、Concord and government一致关系和支配关系)、The structural approach结构语言观、The generative approach、The functional approach功能语言观3．The traditional grammar regards sentences as a sequence of words , so it pays great attention to the study of words, such as the classification of words in terms of parts of speech, the identification of function of words in terms of subject, predicate , etc.4. Parts of speechTraditional grammar defines 8 parts of speech: nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections.5．The term Category范畴in some approaches refers to word classes and functions in its narrow sense,范畴这一术语狭义上是指词类和功能eg. Noun, Verb, Subject, Predicate. More specifically, it refers to the defining properties of these general units:the categories of the noun名词的范畴, include number, gender, case and countability（case）;the categories of the verb动词的范畴: tense, aspect, voice, etc.6．Number is mostly a category of the noun and pronoun名词和不可数名词.Two terms of number in nouns: singular and plural单数和复数Number is also reflected in the inflections of pronouns and verbs7. Gender is also mostly a category of the noun and pronoun.In English, the gender distinctions are on the whole natural, determined by the biological gender of the creature.8. Case is used in the analysis of word classes to identify the syntactic relationship between words in a sentence.在词类分析中，格范畴用来辨别句子中词之间的句法关系In English, pronouns have three cases of nominative主格, accusative受格, and genitive与格. Nouns have two of general and genitive所有格In English, the case of noun is realised in three channels:(a) inflection(b) following a preposition(c) word order9. Tense时态: the absolute location of an event or action on time. It is marked by an inflection of the verb. As a result, there are only two tenses recognized now: past and present. Since the future time does not involve any inflection of the verb, we do not refer to a “future tense”, even though in many different ways we can talk about the future.10. Aspect体: It has nothing with time, and it tells us whether an action is ongoing or completed.Perfective（完成体）and Imperfective（进行体）Perfective and Progressive (in English)11. Voice语态: describe the relationship between verb and subjectPassive被动语态and active主动语态12. Concord and government①Concord (一致关系) refers to agreement between words, especially between a verband the subject of a sentence.②Government (支配关系) is a type of grammatical relationship between two or more elements in a sentence.In traditional grammar, the term government has typically been used to refer to the relationship between verbs and nounsor between prepositions and nouns.13.The Structural Approach ，由Ferdinand de Saussure提出14.Syntactic Relations：Positional relations位置关系、Relations of substitutability替代关系、Relations of co-occurrence 同现关系15.Immediate constituent (直接成分) is any meaningful constituent at the first step in an analysis.16.An endocentric construction (向心结构) is a construction that contains:1) a head, which is the single obligatory element in theconstruction;2) one or more optional elements subordinate to the head.17.them e(主位) refers to the known information which is not new to the reader or listenerRheme (述位) refers to the information that is new. The new information is what is to be transmitted to the reader or listener The linguists of the Prague school believed that sentence may be analyzed from the functional side as well as the grammatical side.subject, predicate (grammatical side)theme, rheme (functional side)第五章1. What is Semantics?Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences.语义学是研究单词、短语和句子的意义的学科2．Geoffrey Leech利奇Seven types of meaning7种意义类型:①Conceptual meaning概念意义②Connotative meaning内涵意义③Social meaning社会意义④Affective meaning 感情意义Associative Meaning联想意义（②——⑥）⑤Reflected meaning反射意义⑥Collocative meaning搭配意义⑦Thematic meaning主位意义3.Conceptual meaning (概念意义) is also called “denotative”（外延义）and it is concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it refers to.概念意义也叫外延义，它关注词语跟它所指称事物之间的联系Conceptual meaning is meaning given in the dictionary.4.Associative meaning (联想意义) is the total of all the meaningsa person thinks of when they hear the word Associative meaning is the meaning which a word suggests or implies.5.Thematic meaning (主位意义) is “what is communicated by the way in which the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis.”它是由词序和词语重音所决定的6. The Referential Theory（指称理论）：① The Referential Theory②The Semantic Triangle③ Sense and Reference7.The referential theory 指称理论is the theory of meaning which relates the meaning of a word to the thing it refers to.指称论是把词语意义跟它所指称的事物联系起来的理论。
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.。
英语语言学笔记
语言学笔记总结一、语言和语言学1、语言的区别性特征：Design of features of language任意性arbitrariness 指语言符号和它代表的意义没有天然的联系二重性duality 指语言由两层结构组成创造性creativity 指语言可以被创造移位性displacement 指语言可以代表时间和空间上不可及的物体、时间、观点2、语言的功能（不是很重要）信息功能informative人际功能interpersonal施为功能performative感情功能emotive function寒暄功能phatic communication娱乐功能recreational function元语言功能metalingual function3、语言学主要分支语音学phonetics 研究语音的产生、传播、接受过程，考查人类语言中的声音音位学phonology 研究语音和音节结构、分布和序列形态学morphology 研究词的内部结构和构词规则句法学syntax 研究句子结构，词、短语组合的规则语义学semantics 不仅关心字词作为词汇的意义，还有语言中词之上和之下的意义。
如语素和句子的意义语用学pragmatics 在语境中研究意义4、宏观语言学macrolingustics心理语言学psycholinguistics 社会语言学sociolinguistics 人类语言学anthropological linguistics 计算机语言学computational linguistics5语言学中的重要区别规定式和描写式：规定式：prescriptive说明事情应该是怎么样的描写式：descriptive 说明事情本来是怎么样的共时研究和历时研究：共时：synchronic 研究某个特定时期语言历时：diachronic 研究语言发展规律语言和言语：语言：langue指语言系统的整体言语：parole指具体实际运用的语言语言能力和语言运用：乔姆斯基(chomsky提出)能力：competence用语言的人的语言知识储备运用：performance 真实的语言使用者在实际中的语言使用二、语音学1、语音学分支发音语音学articulatory phonetics研究语言的产生声学语言学acoustic phonetics 研究语音的物理属性听觉语音学auditory phonetics 研究语言怎样被感知2 IPA（国际音标）是由daniel Jones琼斯提出的三、音位学1、最小对立体minimal pairs2、音位phoneme3 音位变体allophones4 互补分布complementary distribution6 区别特征distinctive features5 自由变体free variation7 超音段特征suprasegmental feature音节syllable 重音stress 语调tone 声调intonation四形态学1 词的构成语素morpheme 自由语素free morpheme 粘着语素bound morphemeRoot 词根词缀affix 词干stem屈折词汇和派生词汇inflectional affix and derivational affix2特有的词汇变化lexical change proper新创词语invention 混拼词blending 缩写词abbreviation首字母缩写词acronym 逆构词汇back-formation例：editor—edit类推构词analogiacal creation 例：work-worked,,slay-slayed外来词borrowing五句法学1 范畴category 数number 性gender 格case 时tense 体aspect一致关系concord 支配关系govenrment2 结构主义学派the structure approach组合关系syntagmatic relation词和词组合在一起聚合关系paradigmatic 具有共同的语法作用的词聚在一起结构和成分construction and constituents :句子不仅是线性结构liner structure还是层级结构hierarchical structure (句子或短语被称为结构体，而构成句子或短语即结构体的称为成分) 3直接成分分析法immediate constitutional analysis指把句子分成直接成分－短语，再把这些短语依次切分，得到下一集直接成分，这样层层切分，直到不能再分4向心结构和离心结构endocentric and exocentric constructions 向心：指一个结构中有中心词，例an old man ,中心为man离心：指结构中没有明显的中心词。
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。
英语语言学笔记第四章
句法（syntax）这个单词，来自希腊语，由两个语素构成：﹛syn﹜和﹛tax﹜。
﹛syn﹜的意思是"一起、共同"，﹛tax﹜的意思是"安排、排列"，因此syntax本来是"排列在一起"或"组合"的意思。
在语言学上，它是指研究语言中词组合成句子的支配规则，或者简单地说，是研究句子的构造。
因为通常认为句子是语言中最大的语法单位，所以句法长期以来是语法研究的核心。
不同的语言学理论首先体现在对句子结构的不同处理上。
这一章我们将介绍一些有代表性的句法学派。
4.1 传统学派传统认为句子是词的序列。
因此句子构造的研究涉及了对词的大量研究，例如，词类是对词进行的分类，主语、谓语是对词功能的描写，等等。
这些词类和功能有时叫做范畴。
但是"范畴"这个术语，更专门用于表示像名词、动词这些单位的特性。
例如：常说名词有数、性、格的范畴，动词有时、体、态的范畴。
在这里，我们将简要地讨论以上一些范畴。
名词、动词、形容词等形式在有关范畴中的相互关系将在"一致关系和支配关系"中讨论。
4.1.1 数、性、格4.1.2 时和体4.1.3 一致关系和支配关系4.1.1 数、性、格数（number），主要是名词和代词的范畴，如：a book（一本书）；some books（一些书）；I（我），we（我们）；he（他），they（他们）。
英语动词也反映了数的范畴，如：He speaks English.（他说英语）；They speak English.（他们说英语）。
在法语等语言中，形容词和冠词也有数的变化，如：le cheval royal，les chevaux royaux。
数一般有两种：单数和复数。
但是在古希腊语、阿拉伯语等语言中，还有第三种数：双数，类似于英语中的both（双方，两者）。
斐济群岛语还有第四种数：三数。
语言学笔记——精选推荐
语⾔学笔记《简明英语语⾔学》笔记Chapter 1 IntroductionWhat is linguistics?●Definition: the scientific study of language.● A discipline that data and theory stand in a dialectical complementation;that is, a theory without the support of data can hardly claim validity, and data without being explained by some theory remaina muddled mass of things.●The scope of linguistics:General linguistics: study language as a wholeSpecific aspects:1)Phonetics: the study of sounds2)Phonology: how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning3)Morphology: how symbols are formed and combined to form word4)Syntax: study the rules of how to form grammatically correct sentence5)Semantics: the study of meaning6)Pragmatics: the study of meaning in the context of language useInterdisciplinary branches:1)Sociolinguistics2)Psycholinguistics3)Applied linguistics●Important distinctionsPrescriptive and descriptive:1)Descriptive: Describe and analyze the language that people actuallyuse2)Prescriptive: Lay down rules for correct and standard behavior inusing language3)Modern language is mostly descriptive. Modern language, which isscientific and objective, describes language people actually use, be itcorrect or not.Synchronic and diachronic1)Synchronic: describe language at some point of time in history, al-ways in its current existence.2)Diachronic: the description of language as it changes through time; it3)In modern linguistics, synchronic approach enjoys priority.Speech and writingSpeech is prior to writing in linguistics, for it is more natural and reveals more true feature of language.Langue and parole1)Langue: abstract system shared by all members of language com-munity; it is the set of conventions and rules that language users have abide by2)Parole: Concrete use of language.3)Saussure: 1) parole is simply a mass of linguistic language facts; 2) linguist should abstract langue from parole, i.e. to discover the regu-larities governing the actual use of languageCompetence and Performance-American linguist Chomsky1)Competence: knowledge of rules of language2)Performance: the realization of this knowledge in linguistic commu-nication3)The imperfect performance is caused by social and psychological factors.Traditional grammar and modern linguistics1)Linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive.2)Modern linguistics regard spoken language as primary.3)Modern linguistics does not force languages into Latin-based framework.What is language?●Definition of languageLanguage is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human com-munication.1)Language is a system, which means elements of language are com-bined according to rules.2)Language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between a linguistic symbol and what the symbol stands for.3)Language is vocal because the primary medium for all language is sound.4)Language is human-specific.1)Arbitrariness: logical connection between meaning and sounds. While some words are motivated: the first are onomatopoeic words, such as rumble, crash, bang; the second are compound words, e.g. photocopy. This kind of words only make up small percentage of vocabulary. The arbitrary nature of language is a sign of sophistica-tion of language and make it possible for language to have an unli-mited source of expressions.2)Productivity: language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its us-ers.3)Duality: basic level: a structure of soundsHigher level: sounds of language can be rearranged into morphemes and words4)Displacement: 不受时空限制的5)Cultural transmission: human have to be learned and taught be acquire language.●Functions of languageDescriptive function: convey factual informationExpressive function: supplies informationSocial function: maintain social relations between people Structural linguist Roman JakobsonAddresser---emotive: addresser express his attitude towards thetopic or situationAddressee---conative: the addresser aims to influence addressee’s actionContext---referential: addresser conveys a message or information Message---poetic: use language to display the beauty of language Contact---phatic communication: it tries to establish or maintain in-terpersonal relationsCode---metalinguistic: make clear the meaning of language itselfIn early 1970 British linguist M.A.K. Halliday7 function in children.Ideational function: organize one’s experience, attitude, evaluation,feeling, and emotionsInterpersonal function: establish and maintain interpersonal rela-tionsTextual function: organize written or spoken English in such amanner that they are coherent within themselves and fit the particularsituation in which they are usedChapter 2 PhonologyThe phonic medium of languageLimited range of sounds constitute the phonic medium of language.The individual sounds within the range are the speech sounds.Phonetics●What is phonetics?Phonetics is defined as the study of the phonic medium of language; it is concerned with all the sounds that occurs in the world’s languages.Articu latory phonetics: studies the sounds form speaker’s point ofView, i.e. how the speaker uses his speech organs to articulate thesoundsAuditory phonetics: studies from the hearer’s point of view, i.e. howthe sounds are perceived by the hearerAcoustic phonetics: the way sounds travel by looking at the soundswaves.Chapter 4 SyntaxWhat is it?●Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies the rules the govern the formation of sen-tences.Words categories●In traditional grammar, there are 8 categories (called parts of speech). Non-traditional categories as determiner (Det), degree words (Deg), and qualifier (Qua).●Two divisionMajor lexical categories: the heads around which phases are built. Noun, verb, ad-jective, preposition.Minor lexical categories: determiner限定词, degree words, qualifier限定语, aux-iliary, conjunction.Meaning: 1) nouns often designate its entity; verbs often designate action, sensation, and states. 2) the property or attribute of a noun can be elaborated by adjectives, those of verbs, adverbs.Deficiencies: 1) some words do not have entity such as dilemma, friendship.2) some words belong to more than one categories3) words with same or similar meaning belongs to different catego-ries, e.g. be aware of a nd knowInflection: 1) noun → -s or –es indicating plural2)adjectives→-er or –est indicating comparative degree and superla-tive degree3)verb→-ing and –ed indicating progressive and past tenseDeficiency: some words do not take inflectionsDistribution: it is reliable, which indicates what type of elements can co-occur with certain words.Noun co-appear with determiner, e.g. a girl, the penVerbs with auxiliary, e.g. should openAdjectives with degree words, e.g. very coolPhrase categories and their structure●XP ruleXP→Specifier ——head—— complementNP→(Det) N (PP) …VP→(Qual) V (NP) …AP→(Deg) A (PP) …PP→(Deg) P (NP) …●Coordination ruleNo limit on the number of coordinated categories prior to the conjunction.A category at any level (head or XP) can be coordinated.Coordinated categories must be of the same type.The category type of coordinate phrase is identical to the category type of elements being conjoined.Structure: X→X, X, X…Con XPhrase elements:●SpecifiersRole：1) semantically, make more precise the meaning of head; 2) syntactically,●Provide information and location, attached to right of the head Monotransitive: open the doorDitransitive: send me the mailComlex transitive verbs: put it on the wallComplement clauseMiss Herbert believes that she will win.Matrix clause complementizer complement clauseCP complement●ModifiersTo modifier nouns →adj. phrasesTo modifier verbs →adv. Phrases and prepositional phrases Position of modifiersModifiers Positions ExamplesAP PP AdvP Precedes the headFollow the headPrecedes or followA very careful girlOpen with careRead carefully; carefully readSentences (the S rule)Inflp= (s)NP Inlf VP。