英语语言学第一章

英语语言学是英语语言文学专业培养计划中的一门基础必修课，其重要性不言而喻。该课程的目标包括系统传授现代语言学知识、提高学生英语学习能力、激发学生对从事语言研究的兴趣，培养学生的创新能力等。

Chapter OneInvitations to Linguistics

• Design Features of Language
  • Arbitrariness
    • the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning
  • Duality
    • The property of having two levels of structures, such that unitsof the primary level are composed of elements of the secondarylevel and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization
  • Creativity
    • Language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness递推性.
  • Displacement
    • Human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of communication.
  • Cultural transmission
    • Language is not genetically inherited. Passed from generation to generation, it requires some learning. It is true human are born with language capacity
  • interchangeability
• Definitions of Language
  • • Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used by a social group for communication.
• Origin
• Functions of Language
  • Informative
    • Language is the instrument of thought, record the facts. The use of language to record the facts is a prerequisite of social development.
  • Interpersonal
    • By far the most important sociological use of language, and by which people establish and maintain their status in a society.
  • Performative
    • primarily to change the social status of persons, as in marriage ceremonies, the sentencing of criminals, the blessing of children, the naming of a ship at a launching ceremony, and the cursing of enemies.
  • Emotive
    • To change the emotional status of an audience for or against someone or something.
  • Phatic communion
    • the social interaction of language
  • Recreational
    • The recreational function of a language is often overlooked because it seems so restrictive in purpose and supposedly so limited in usefulness.
  • Metalingual
    • Our language can be used to talk about itself
• linguistics principles
  • Exhaustiveness
  • Consistency
  • Economy
  • Objectivity
• linguistics Definition
  • Linguistics is a Scientific study of language
  • linguistics is or ought to be largelydescriptive, rather than prescriptive.
• distinctions in linguistics
  • Descriptive vs. prescriptive
    • A linguistic study is descriptive if it only describes and analyzes the facts of language, and it is prescriptive if it tries to lay down rules for “correct” language behavior
  • Synchronic vs. diachronic
    • Diachronic linguistics is the study of a language through the course of its history. A synchronic description takes a fixed instant (usually, but not necessarily, the present) as its point of observation. Most grammars are of this kind.
  • Langue & parole
    • 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 subject to personal and situational constraints.
  • Competence & performance
    • A language user’s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called his linguistic competence. 语言能力Performance语言运用 refers to the actual use of language in concrete situations.
  • Speech and writing
    • Speech and writing are the two major media of linguistic communication. Modern linguistics regards the spoken language as the natural or the primary medium of language from evolution and everyday communication aspects.
  • Traditional grammar and modern linguistics