语言学导论第一章

Invitation to Linguistics：Features、Origin of Language、Functions of language、Macrolinguistics (use of linguistics)……

Invitation to Linguistics

• what is language
  • languange is a means of verbal commmunication. it is a symtem of arbitrary vocal symbols used for huamn communication.
• Features
  • vocal-auditory
  • transience
  • reciprocity
  • feedback
  • specialization
  • semanticity
  • arbitrariness
    • Sausssure first refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning.
    • arbitrariness and convention
      • arbitrariness of language makes it potentially ceative, and conventionality of language makes learning a language laborious.
  • discretenes
  • displacement
    • huamn language enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of communication.
  • productivity (creativity)
    • language is resourceful
  • cultural transmission
  • duality
    • the property of having two levels of structures
      • lower level: sounds (meaning less secondary elements)
      • higher level: meaning (large units of meaning; primary unit)
  • prevarication
  • reflexiveness
  • learnability
• Origin of Language
  • The "bow-bow" theory
    • imitated the sounds of the animal calls in the wild environment
  • The "pooh-pooh" theory
    • they utter instinctive sounds of pain, anger and joy.
  • The "yo-he-ho" theory
    • as primitive people worked together, they produced some rhythmic grunts ehich gradually developed into chants and then into language.
• Functions of language
  • communication
    • Jakobson's classification
      • emotive (expressive function)
        • to espress attitudes, feelings and emotions
      • conative
        • to persuade and influence others through commands and entreaties
      • poetic
        • to indulge in laguage for its own sake (for fun or beauty)
      • referential
        • to convey message and information
      • phatic
        • 寒暄功能 to establish an atmosphere or maintaining social contact
      • metalingual
        • to clear up intentions, words and meanings 源语言 解释
    • Holiday's classification
      • Ideational function
        • constructs a model of experience as well as logical relations
      • Interpersonal function
        • enacts social relationships
      • Textual function
        • creates relevance to context
    • performative function
      • 仪式施事 to change the social status of persons
      • can extend to the control of reality as on some magical or religious occasions
    • Informative Function
      • language is the instrument of thought and people often feel they need to speak their thoughts aloud
      • it is also called ideatonal function in the framework of functional grammer
• Main Branches of Linguistics ( theoretical linguistics)
  • phonetics
    • speech sounds
      • three levels: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, auditory phonetics
  • phonology
    • the rules governing the structure, distribution, aand sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables. (sound patterns of languages)
  • morphology
    • it studies the minimal units of meaning--morphemes and word-formation processes. (the form of words)
  • syntax
    • about principles of forming and understanding English sentences
  • semantics
    • examines how meaning is encoded in a language
  • pragmatics
    • meaning in context
• Macrolinguistics (use of linguistics)
  • psycholinguistics
    • linguistic behavior and psychological process
  • sociolinguistics
    • social factors
  • anthropological linguistics
    • the study of the relations between language and culture and the relations between human biology, cognition and language
  • applied linguistics
    • linguistics and language teaching
  • other related branches
    • neurological linguistics神经语言学, mathematical linguistics（数学数理语言学）, computational linguistics
• important distinctions in linguistics
  • descriptive 描写vs. prescriptive规定（对错，该不该）
    • descriptive
      • how things are
    • prescriptive
      • how things ought to be
  • synchronic共时 vs. diachronic历时
    • 共时：横面，研究一个时代或者一个类型
    • 历时：纵面，一个时间段 over a period of time
  • language & parole （Saussure)
    • langue
      • the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of the speech community. langue is the system of rules common to speakers of a particular language
      • features: generalized rules, system, abstract, relatively stable
    • parole
      • the realization of langue in actual use
      • features: concrete use of the rules, usage of system, concrete(具象），changing
  • competence 语言能力& performance语言行为 表现 运用
    • competence: the ideal user's knowledge of the rules of this language
    • performance: the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication
• what is the linguistics? linguistics is the scientific study of language.