chapter 1 introduction

chapter 1 introduction «新编语言学教程»第一章导论，要考语言学的友友们看过来哦！！

Chapter 1 introduction

• linguistics
  • definition of linguistics
    • definition
      • the scientific or systematic study of language
        • a science that scientifically studies the rules, systems and principles of human language
        • deals with a wide range of linguistics phenomena, analyes them and makes general statements about them
        • studies the origin growth, organization, nature and development of language and discovers the general rules and principles
    • guided by the three canons of science
      • exhaustives
        • it strives for through-goingness in the examination of relevant materials
      • consistency
        • there should be no contradiction bewteen different parts of the total statement
      • economy
        • other things being equal, a shorter statement or analysis is to be preferred to one that is longer or more complex
    • the subject matter of linguistics
      • all natural languages
        • living natural language
          • concerned with the study of both their spoken and written forms
        • dead natural language
          • concerned with their written forms
    • two purposes of linguistics
      • studies the nature of language and tries to establish a theory of language, and describes languages in the light of the theory established
      • examines all the forms of language in general and seeks a scientific understanding of the ways in which it is organized to fulfill the needs it serves and the functions it performs in human life
  • linguistics versus traditional grammar
    • linguistics describes language and does not lay down rules of correctness. descriptive or prescriptive
    • linguists regard the spoken language as primary, not the written language.
    • traditional grammar is based on Latin and it tries to impose the Latin categories and structures on other language, while linguistics describes each language on its own merits.
    • linguistics is not only something about grammar. it is certainly that grammer is an important part of linguistics , but lingusitics deals with many other things too
  • use of studying linguistics
    • for a student of language
    • for a teacher of foreign languages
    • for a researcher
  • scope of linguistics
    • microlinguistics
      • phonetics
        • phonology
          • semantics
      • morphology
        • syntax
          • pragmatics
    • macrolinguistics
      • sciolinguistics
        • psycholinguistics
      • stylistics
        • discourse analysis
          • computational linguistics
      • neurolinguistics
        • studys the disturbances of language comprehension and production caused by the damage of certain areas of the brain.
      • cognitive linguistics a paradign or a school of linguistics
        • definition
          • an approach to the analysis of natural language and focuses on language as an instrument for organizing, processing, and conveying information.
        • the analysis of the conceptual and experiential basis of linguistic categories is of primary importance within cognitive linguistics
        • the main topics of that cognitive linguistics interested in are categories and categorization, conceptual metaphor and metonymy, iconicity and grammaticalization.
      • applied linguistics
        • definition
          • primarily concerned with the application of linguistic theories, methods and findings to the elucidation of language problems which have arisen in other areas of experience
          • the most well-developed branch of applied linguistics is the learning and teaching of foreign languages.
        • other field of application have emerged in recent years
          • clinical linguistics
            • lingusitic analysis of language disorders
          • educational lingisitics
            • the use of language in mother -tongue education
          • developments in lexicology, translation and stylistics
• language
  • definition of language
    • language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication
      • language is a system
      • language is arbitrary
      • language is vocal
      • language is used for human communication
  • origin of language
    • language originates, grows and develops in society, even though its exact process is not fully revealed to us yet
  • design features of language
    • function of design features
      • utterly lacking in animal communication and this set human language apart from animal cry systems
    • features
      • arbitrariness
        • there is no logical or instrinic connection between a particular sound and the meaning it associates with
        • onomatopetic words are ecceptions, but these words are relatively few compared with the total number of words in a language
      • duality
      • cultural transmission
      • interchangrability
        • refers to the fact that man can both produce and receive messages, and his roles as a speaker and hearer can both be exchanged at ease
      • productivity
        • most animal cries are limited to a few, a dozen at most. there is no productivity to speak of in those cries
        • refers to the man′s linguistica ability which enables him to produce and understand in infinitely large number of sentences in our native langauge, including the sentences which were never heard before.
      • displacement
        • displacement occasionally occurs in the animal world
        • a property of language enabling people to talk about things remote either in space or in time
      • specialization
        • man does not have a total physical involvement in the act of communication
        • speech is a specializaed activity. we use it in a detached manner
        • we can talk about exciting experience while engaged in activities completely detached from the subject under disscussion
  • functions of language
    • phatic function
      • directive function
        • informative function
    • interrogative function
      • expressive function
        • evocative function
          • performative function
• some major concepts in linguistics
  • descriptive and prescriptive grammar
    • descriptive grammars attempt to tell what is in the language
      • most modern linguistics are descriptive.
    • prescriptive grammar tell people what should be in the language
  • synchronic and diachronic linguistics
    • language can be studied at a given point in time or over time
    • synchronic
      • when we study language at one particular time, it is called synchronic linguistics
      • focuses on the state of language at any point in history
    • diachronic
      • when we study language development through time, it is called diachronic or historical linguistics
      • focuses on the differences in two or more than two states of language over decades or centuries
  • langue and parole
    • F de Saussure
      • early last century, the famous linguist F de Saussure made an important distinction bewteen langue and parole
      • a set of social covention
    • definition
      • langue
        • the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community
        • the social, conventional side of language
        • the abstract knowledge necessary for speaking, listening, writing and reading
        • relatively stable and systematic
        • code
      • parole
        • particular realizations of langue
        • individual speech
        • concrete manifestation of language either through speech or writing
        • more variable and may change according to contextual factors
        • message
      • parole and langue together constitute language
  • competence and performance
    • noam chomsky
      • he distinguishes competence and performance so as to idealize language data and to define the scope of linguistic study
      • a psychological construction
    • definition
      • competence
        • refers to the knowledge that native speakers have of their language as a system of abstract formal relation
      • performance
        • refers to their actual linguistic behavior, that is, the actual use of this knowledge
  • syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations
    • Saussure has put forward another pair of concepts: syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations
    • definition
      • the syntagmatic refers to the horizontal relationship bewteen linguistics elements, which form linear sequences
      • The paradigmatic means the vertical relationship bewteen forms, which might occupy the same particular place in a structure
  • functionalism and formalism
    • functionalism
      • the study of the forms of language in reference to their social function in communication.
      • it considers the individual as a social being and investigates the way in which she acquires language and uses it in order to communicate with others in her or his social environment
      • functionalism tends to explain the forms of language by attributing a determining role of its function
      • most contemporary linguistics in Europe since the Prague School is functional
    • formalism formal linguistics
      • the study of the abstract forms of language and their internal relations
      • fixes on the forms of langugage as evidence of the universals without considering how these forms function in communication and the ways of social life in different communities
      • most representitive
        • noam chomsky 's transformational generative grammar