Linguistic Terms

A List of Terms of Linguistics for General Revision

-------By A

The father of modern linguistics: Ferdinand de Saussure

Systemic-functional grammar: M.A.K. Halliday

（选择题可能考到语言学家相关知识，要稍作了解哈）

Design features of language:

1.

arbitrariness:

the

forms

of

linguistic

signs

bear

no

natural

relationship

to

their meaning. (That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as

sweet.-----William Shakespeare)

2.

symbolicity: language contains a lot of linguistic symbols with meaning to be

organized

in

sentences.

A

symbol

indicates

its

object

or

quality

in

communication.

3.

Duality: duality is 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 two levels has its own principles of organization.

4.

Productivity: (

同

creativity)

5.

creativity: Creativity means language is resourceful because of its duality and

its recursiveness, (which enables human beings to produce and understand an

infinitely

large

number

of

sentences

in

our

native

language,

including

the

sentences which were never heard before.) this property of human language

has also been termed as productivity.

6.

Displacement: displacement means that human languages enable their users

to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and

space) at the moment of communication.

7.

cultural transmission: human language is passed on from one generation to

the

next

through

teaching

and

learning,

rather

than

by

instinct

or

through

heredity.

8.

vocality: Language is first and foremost vocal

–

people first speak and hear

messages

shaped

in

sounds.

The

primary

medium

of

language

is

vocal

–

in

sound forms.

Functions of language:

1.

informative:

Language

is

used

to

convey

thoughts,

opinions,

and

ideas.

For

most

people

this

function

is

predominantly

the

major

role

of

language.

(Declarative sentences often serve this function.)

2.

interrogative: language is used to ask for information.

3.

directive: language is used to get the hearer to do something so the current

situation can be changed. (Most imperative sentences serve this function.)

4.

commissive: the speaker promises to do something.

5.

emotive

(evocative

and

expressive):

language

is

used

both

for

arousing

feelings

and

expressing

feelings.

(It

is

one

of

the

most

powerful

uses

of

language because it is crucial in changing the emotional status of an audience

for or against someone or something.)

6.

phatic

(interpersonal):

language

is

used

to

establish

an

atmosphere

or

to

maintain

social

contact

between

the

speaker

and

the

hearer.(slangs,

jokes,

jargons, ritualistic exchanges, and so on.)

Basic terms (

课本

P10-P11):

1.

descriptive / prescriptive

2.

synchronic / diachoronic

3.

langue / parole

4.

competence / performance

Phonetics: Phonetics is defined as the study of speech sounds, specifically on its

production, transmission and perception. (

学会

describe consonants and vowels

)

1.

position of utterance/articulation (

发音部位

课本

P16)

2.

manner of utterance/articulation

（发音方式

课本

P17

）

3.

articulatory phonetics: The study of the production of speech sounds.

4.

acoustic phonetics: The study of the physical properties of speech sounds.

5.

auditory phonetics: The study of the perception of speech sounds.

6.

division of phones

Phonology:

the

study

of

sound

patterns,

and

sound

systems.

It

studies

how

speech

sounds

in

a

language

form

patterns

and

how

these

sounds

are

used

to

convey meaning in linguistic communication.

1.

phoneme

（音位）

:

Phoneme

is

an

abstract

phonological

unit

that

is

of

distinctive value. In other words, ?unit of explicit sound contrast‘.

(

补充理解：

phone

（音素）

:

It

is

a

basic

unit

of

phonetic

study,

and

it

is

a

minimal sound segment that human speech organ can produce. )

2.

allophone

（音位变体）

: The different phones representing a phoneme (/The

different

realizations

of

the

same

phoneme)

in

different

phonetic

environments are called its allophones.

3.

suprasegmental features: Suprasegmental features are those aspects of speech

that involve more than single sound segments. The principal suprasegmentals

are: syllable, stress, tone, and intonation

4.

minimal pair: When two different forms are identical in every way except for

one

sound

segment

which

occurs

in

the

same

place

in

the

strings,

the

two

sounds are said to form minimal pairs

（

最小对立对）

. (When a group of words

can

be

differentiated,

each

one

from

the

other,

by

changing

one

phoneme

(always in the same position), then we have a minimal set.

最小对立组

)

5.

stress

：

Stress

refers

to

the

degree

of

force

used

in

producing

a

syllable.

In

transcription, a raised vertical line [

′

] is often used just before the syllable

it relates to.

6.

assimilation: When two phonemes occur in sequence and some aspect of one

phoneme

is

taken

or

?

copied

‘

by

the

other,

the

process

is

known

as

assimilation.