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新
编
简
明
英
语
语
言
< br>学
知
识
点
汇
总
1
Introduction
1.1 What is linguistics?
Scientific study of language.
Interpretation:
①
try to answer the basic
questions and probe into various
problems related to language;
②
linguistics
studies
not
any
particular
language
but
language
in
general;
③
scientific study
because based on systematic investigation
of linguistic data.
1.1.2
The scope of linguistics
The study of
language as a whole is often called
general
linguistic.
phonetics
phonology
morphology
Study the sounds
used in linguistic study
How
sounds put together and convey meaning
The
way
symbols
representing
sounds
are
arranged
and
combined to form words
syntax
semantics
pragmatics
Rules governing the combination of
words
The study of meaning
Study the meaning in context
Above are major or core branches of
linguistics;
Following are linguistics
link with other disciplines.
sociolinguistics
psycholinguistics
language
and society
How
infant
acquire
mother
tongue,process
information
……（
language and
brain
）
Applied
linguistics
Applied to the recovery of
language,language
acquisition
1.1.3 Some important distinctions in
linguistics
prescriptive
Aims to lay down rules for
descriptive
Describe and analyze the
“
correct &
standard
”
;
language actually use(modern
tell people what they should
linguists believe that
say
or not
whatever occurs in the
language people use should be
described and analyzed)
synchronic
diachronic
The
description of a language
The
description of a language
at some point
of time
as it changes through time
Modern linguistics are most synchronic:
①
Difficult to describe the
changes that have taken place in
its
historical development;
②
Synchronic description are
often thought of as being
descriptions
of a language in its current existence.
speech
Speech is prior to
writing:
①
writing system is
always
“
invented
”
by the users to record
writing
the
speech when the need arises;
②
speech plays a greater role
in terms of amount of conveying
information;
③
speech
is
always the
way
native
speaker
acquire
their
mother
tongue while writing
is learn and taught in school;
④
spoken language reveals
more feature of human speech,which
is
authentic
while
written
language
is
only
the
revised
record
of
speech.
Langue
语言
Parole
言语
The
realization
of
language
in
actual use; Concrete;
Abstract linguistic system;
Vary from person to person &
Relatively stable
situation
to situation
Proposed by
Swiss linguist
Saussure
in
the early 20
th
century:parole
is
a
mass
of
linguistic
facts,to
abstract
langue
from parole.
competence
performance
The
actual
realization
of
this
The
ideal
user
’
s
knowledge
of
knowledge in linguistic
the
rules of his language
communication.
proposed by American linguist y
,
Similar
to
Saussure,what linguists should study is
the ideal speaker
’
s
competence,not the performance.
Difference:Saussure
took
sociological
view
of
language
and
hi
s notion of langue is a
matter of social convention;while
Chomsky looks at
psychological point
and to
him competence is
a property of the
mind of each individual.
Traditional
grammar
Prescriptive;
Modern
linguistics
Descriptive;
written language is primary;
Spoken language is primary;
Force language into a
Latin-
based framework;
Trying to set up a
universal
framework
Modern
linguistics begin from the publication of
Sassure
’
s
book
course in general
linguistics
1.2
What is language
1.2.1 Definitions of
language
Language
is
a
system
of
arbitrary
vocal
symbols
used
for
human
communication.
Characteristics:
①
language is system,elements
of language are combined
according to
the rules;
②
language
is
arbitrary
in
the
sense
that
there
is
no
intrinsic
connection
between
a
linguistic
symbol
and
what
it
stands
for,
A
rose by any other name would smell as well;
③
language
is
vocal
because
the
primary
medium
for
all
language
is sound;
④
language is human
-specific,different from animal
communication.
1.2.2 Design
features of language
Proposed by
American linguist Charles Hockett:comparing the
animal & human communication
ing
are
five
major
design features of
human language:
①
arbitrariness
No
logical connection between meaning and
sounds(except
onomatopoetic and
compound words)
②
productivity
It
makes
to
possible
to
construction
and
interpretation
of
new
signal by
its users.
③
duality
Language is a system which consists of
two structures. At the
lower level
there is a structure of sounds,which are
meaningless by the sounds can grouped
or
regrouped together into a larger
numbers of units of meaning
such as
morpheme or words,which are found at the higher
level
of system(carp & park).Then the
higher level can be arranged
and
rearranged into an infinite numbers of sentences;
④
Displacement
Language can be used to refer to
contexts removed from the
immediate
situations of the speakers;
⑤
cultural transmission
While human capacity for language has a
genetic basis,the
details
of
any
language
systems
are
not
genetically
transmitted,
but
instead
have
to
be
taught
and
learned.(language
is
cultural
transmitted[language not mutually
intelligible] while animal
call system
is genetically transmitted)
1.2.3
Functions of language
Three
main
functions
of
language
which
distinct
from
each
other
but
actually overlapping to some degree:
①
descriptive function
The primary function of language;
The function to convey factual
information, which can be
asserted or
denial, and in some case even verified.e.g: The
Sichuan earthquake is the most serious
one China has ever
suffered.
②
expressive function
Supply information about the
user
’
s
feeling,preference,prejudices
and
value,etc.I
will
never
come
to this coffee shop again.
③
social function
Serves to establish and maintain social
relations between
people. How can I
help you, Sir?
Others:
Russian-born structural linguist
Roman
Jakobson
：
six elemens
(function)of a speech:
Addresser
-emotive
(
动机
)
addressee
-conative(
意动
)
context
-referential
message
-poetic
contact
-phatic
communion
code-
metalinguistic