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1、中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,Chapter 1,Invitations to Linguistics,主讲人 齐振海,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,1.1 Why Study Language?1.2 What Is Language?1.3 Design Features of Language 1.3.1 Arbitrariness1.3.2 Duality1.3.3 Creativity1.3.4 Displacement 1.4 Origin of Language 1.5 Functions of Language 1.5.1 Informative Funct
2、ion1.5.2 Interpersonal Function1.5.3 Performative Function1.5.4 Emotive Function 1.5.5 Phatic Communion 1.5.6 Recreational Function 1.5.7 Metalingual Function 1.6 What Is Linguistics?,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,1.7 Main Branches of Linguistics1.7.1 Phonetics 1.7.2 Phonology1.7.3 Morphology1.7.4 Syntax1.7.5
3、 Semantics1.7.6 Pragmatics1.8 Macrolinguistics1.8.1 Psycholinguistics1.8.2 Sociolinguistics1.8.3 Anthropological Linguistics1.8.4 Computational Linguistics1.9 Important Distinctions in Linguistics1.9.1 Descriptive vs. Prescriptive1.9.2 Synchronic vs. Diachronic1.9.3 Langue & Parole1.9.4 Competence a
4、nd Performance,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,Some myths about language: Language is only a means of communication.Language has a form-meaning correspondence.The function of language is to exchange information.English is more difficult to learn than Chinese.Black English is not standard and should be reformed.
5、Some fundamental views about Language: (1) Children learn their native language swiftly, efficiently and without instruction.(2) Language operates by rules.(3) All languages have three major components: a sound system, a system of lexicogrammar and a system of semantics.(4) Everyone speaks a dialect
6、.(5) Language slowly changes.(6) Speakers of all languages employ a range of styles and a set of jargons.(7) Languages are intimately related to the societies and individuals who use them.(8) Writing is derivative of speech.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,Some most frequently used senses of the word “language”
7、 from Websters New World Dictionary: Namely: (a) human speech; (b) the ability to communicate by this means; (c) a system of vocal sounds and combinations of such sounds to which meaning is attributed, used for the expression or communication of thoughts and feelings; (d) the written representation
8、of such a system;Other senses: e.g. the study of multimodal discourses which resorts to such symbolic resources as images and sounds.The term multimodal refers to at least five modes of meaning-making: linguistic, visual, gestural, spatial and audio, working together to texts.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,Se
9、veral important definitions of language:Language “is not to be confused with human speech, of which it is only a definite part, though certainly an essential one. It is both a social product of the faculty of speech and a collection of necessary conventions that have been adopted by a social body to
10、 permit individuals to exercise that faculty”. Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913): Course in General Linguistics (1916)“A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which the members of a society interact in terms of their total culture.” George Trager: The Field of Linguistics (1949
11、)Language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.” Robert A. Hall (1911-1997): Introductory Linguistics (1964)“Language is a form of human communication by means of a system of symbols principally transm
12、itted by vocal sounds.” Stuart C. Poole: An Introduction to Linguistics (1999),中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,Definitions of language in the textbook:“Language is a means of verbal communication.”It is instrumental in that communicating by speaking or writing is a purposeful act. It is social and conventional
13、in that language is a social semiotic and communication can only take place effectively if all the users share a broad understanding of human interaction including such associated factors as nonverbal cues, motivation, and socio-cultural roles. Language distinguishes human beings from animals in tha
14、t it is far more sophisticated than any animal communication system.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,一、选择题Which of the following statement is NOT true? 大连外国语学院2008研A. Language is a means of vocal communication.B. Language is instrumental.C. Language is social and conventional.【答案】B二、判断正误1. “Language operates by
15、 rules” is a fundamental view about language. 大连外国语学院2008研【答案】T 2. It is conclusive that Chinese is regarded as the primeval language. 清华大学2000研【答案】F3. Wherever humans exist, language exists. 对外经济贸易大学2006研【答案】F,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,三、简答题Why is it difficult to define language? 北京第二外国语学院2004研【答案】It is
16、difficult to define language, as it is such a general term that covers too many things. Thus, definitions for it all have their own special emphasis, and are not totally free from limitations.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,四、论述题 Comment on the following topic: Definitions of language. 西安外国语学院2006研 【答案】In fact
17、, it is very difficult to give this question a satisfactory definition. The various definitions given to language so far have pointed out some aspects of the essence of language, but all of them have left out something. The multi-faceted nature of language should be taken into consideration when it
18、is defined. (1) Language must be a system, since elements in it are arranged according to certain rules; they cannot be combined at will. If language were not systematic, it could not be learned or used consistently. (2) Language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection betwee
19、n the word “book” and the thing we use to write with. The fact that different languages have different words for it speaks strongly for the arbitrary nature of language. (3) This also explains the symbolic nature of language: words are associated with objects, actions, ideas by convention. (4) Langu
20、age is primarily vocal, since that the primary medium is sound for all languages, no matter how well developed are their writing systems. All evidence shows that writing systems came much later than the spoken forms and that they are only attempts to capture sounds and meaning on paper. (5) Language
21、 is human-specific; that is, it is very different from the communication systems other forms of life possess. It is far more sophisticated than any animal communication system. Therefore, most linguists have agreed on such a definition: language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human
22、communication.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,The features that define our human languages can be called DESIGN FEATURES.1.3.1 ArbitrarinessSaussure: the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning Different levels of ARBITRARINESS:(1) Arbitrary relationship between the sound of a m
23、orpheme and its meaning, even with onomatopoeic words:The dog barks wow wow in English but “汪汪汪” in Chinese. (2) Arbitrariness at the syntactic level: language is not arbitrary at the syntactic level. He came in and sat down.He sat down and came in.He sat down after he came in.(3) Arbitrariness and
24、convention The link between a linguistic sign and its meaning is a matter of convention.Arbitrariness of language makes it potentially creative，and conventionality of language makes learning a language laborious.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,1.3.2 Duality Definition: The property of having two levels of stru
25、ctures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization:Primary units words (meaningful) consist of secondary units sounds (meaningless).Hierarchy of language: stratification as the infinite use of
26、 finite means.Sounds syllables morphemes words phrases clauses sentences/utterances texts/discourses1.3.3 Creativity Definition: Language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. We can use it to create new meanings. Words can be used in new ways to mean new things, and can be in
27、stantly understood by people who have never come across that usage before. Because of duality the human speaker is able to combine the basic linguistic units to form an infinite set of sentences, most of which are never before produced or heard.Birds, bees, crabs, spiders, and most other creatures c
28、ommunicate in some way, but the information imparted is severely limited and confined to a small set of messages. The recursive nature of language provides a potential to create an infinite number of sentences. For instance:He bought a book which was written by a teacher who taught in a school which
29、 was known for its graduates who.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,1.3.4 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.Thus, we can refer to Confucius, or the North Pole, ev
30、en though the first has been dead for over 2550 years and the second is situated far away from us. Our language enables us to communicate about things that dont exist or dont yet exist. Animal communication is normally under “immediate stimulus control”. For instance, a warning cry of a bird instant
31、ly announces danger. Human language is stimulus-free. What we are talking about need not be triggered by any external stimulus in the world or any internal state. The honeybees dance exhibits displacement a little bit: he can refer to a source of food, which is remote in time and space when he repor
32、ts on it. A dog cannot tell people that its master will be home in a few days. Displacement benefits human beings by giving us the power to handle generalizations and abstractions. Once we can talk about physically distant thing, we acquire the ability to understand concepts which denote “non- thing
33、s”, such as truth and beauty.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,一、术语解释1.Duality 北京交通大学2005研；西安交通大学2008研；四川大学2006研；武汉大学2007研；北京师范大学2003研 【答案】Duality refers to the fact that in all languages so far investigated there are two levels of structure or patterning. At the first, higher level, language is analyzed in term
34、s of combinations of meaningful units (such as morphemes, words, etc.); at the second, lower level, it is seen as a sequence of segments which lack any meaning in themselves, but which combine to form units of meaning. For example, a syllable is the smallest unit that is normally spoken by itself, a
35、nd scores of syllables become the carriers of hundreds of meaningful segments of words that are called morphemes.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,2. Productivity (as a property of language) 武汉大学2004研；上海交通大学2006，2007研；四川大学2007研；北京交通大学2007研；大连外国语学院2008研 【答案】It means language is resourceful because of its duality
36、and its recursiveness. It refers to the property that language enables language users to produce or understand an indefinite number of sentences including novel sentences by use of a finite set of rules. For example, I could make a sentence like “The man who is waiting for the lady who is talking to
37、 the boy who is playing with a girl is my uncle.”3. define features 武汉大学2005研 【答案】Define features, also called design features, refer to the defining properties of human language that distinguish human language from any system of animal communication. They are arbitrariness, duality, productivity, d
38、isplacement, cultural transmission, and interchangeability.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,4. displacement 四川大学2006，2008研；南开大学2004研；武汉大学2006，2008研；北京交通大学2006研 【答案】Language can be used to refer to what is present, what is absent, what happens at present, what happened in the past, what will happen in the future
39、 or what happens in a far-away place. This property of language enables language users to overcome the barriers caused by time and place. For example, scientists can predict the “future” of certain planets that are several billions of light years away from us.5. arbitrariness 四川大学2006研；上海交通大学2005研；南
40、开大学2007研 【答案】Arbitrariness refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs be no natural relationship to their meaning. Arbitrariness of language makes it potentially creative, a conventionality of language makes a language be passed from generation to generation. For example, it is unable to
41、explain why a book is called a /buk/ and a pen a /pen/.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,二、简答题 Why do people take duality as one of the important design features of human language? Can you tell us what language will be if it has no such design feature? 南开大学2004研 【答案】Duality makes our language productive. A large
42、 number of different units can be formed out of a small number of elementsfor instance, tens of thousands of words out of a small set of sounds. And out of the huge number of words, there can be astronomical number of possible sentences and phrases, which in turn can combine to form unlimited number
43、 of texts. Most animal communication systems do not have this design feature of human language. If language had no such design feature, then it would be like animal communicational system which consists only a number of basic sounds, and this would be highly limited. Then we would not be able to pro
44、duce a very large number of sound combinations (e.g. words), which are distinct in meaning. In other words, the number of messages one can send would be restricted to the number of basic sounds.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,三、论述题 Shakespeare has Juliet say： Whats in a name? That which we call a rose By any o
45、ther name would smell as sweet. What do the above lines say to you about the relationship between the form (sounds) and meaning (concept) of a word in spoken language? Explain with positive evidence as well as exceptions from the English language. (15 points) 北外2004研 【答案】The lines said above show th
46、at the relationship between the form (sounds) and meaning (concept) of a word in spoken language is arbitrary in nature. That means there is no logical connection between forms (sounds) and meaning (concept). Different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different languages. Sounds are ju
47、st symbols; they are associated with objects, actions, ideas, etc. by convention. In this example, the rose can be called by many names in different languages but its smell never changes. Another example, different languages have different forms for referring to dog in English, such as Chinese 狗（gou
48、） , French chien (n.m.). While language is arbitrary by nature, there are some exceptions as well. The best examples in English are the onomatopoetic words and compound words. For example, some onomatopoetic words rumble, crash, crackle bang are uttered like the sounds they describe, thus seem to ha
49、ve a natural basis. Besides, some compound words are also not entirely arbitrary. For example while photo and copy are both arbitrary, the compound word photocopy is not entirely arbitrary, thus seem to be motivated. Anyhow, non-arbitrary words make up only a small percentage of the vocabulary of a
50、language.,中华英语学习网 官方总站：圣才学习网 ,四、选择题1. By we mean language is resourceful because of its duality and recursiveness. 西安外国语学院2006研 a. arbitrariness b. duality c. creativity d. displacement 【答案】c2. Which of the following words is entirely arbitrary? 西安交通大学2008研 A. tree B. crash C. typewriter D. bang 【答案
