LanguageLearningtheories

1I.LinguisticstheoriesandapproachesGenerallylinguistichasexperienced3stages:prescriptive（规定性的）,descriptive（描写性的）,explanatory（解释性的）.AncientGreekgrammartolinguisticsinthe18thcenturybelongedtotraditionalgrammarandwereprescriptiveandbasedonLatingrammarandclassicworksofthemasters.Intermsofthestudyofformandmeaning,3stagescanbedividedinto:traditionalgrammarisfrommeaning,structurlismisfromform,whileHallidaytriestocombineformandmeaning.I.Traditionalgrammar1.AncientGreekgrammareg:Plato,Aristotleetc.2.AncientRomangrammar3.GrammarintheMiddlesAges4.LinguisticsfromtheRenaissancetothe18thcentury5.LinguisticsofancientIndia---SanskritFeatures:prescriptive,basedonLatingrammarandclassicworksofthemastersBeforethe19thcentury,prescriptive,diachronicNormativegrammarAgrammarwhichcontainsrulesforwhatisconsideredtobecorrectorappropriateusage.Therulesmaybebasedonclassicalliteraryworksorthespeechofthosepeoplewhoareconsideredasmodelsforotherstocopy.Inanationinwhichmanydifferentdialectsarespoken,anationallanguagemaybedevelopedandanormativegrammaranddictionaryproduced.II.19thcenturyandhistoricallinguistics十九世纪有着划时代的意义。它是社会变革的一百年，是科学文化大发展的一百年。人类进人十九世纪之后，随着社会的巨大变革及社会科学和自然科学的巨大发展，思想空前活跃，思潮此起彼伏。其总的方向是向科学化、非宗教化．理性化方向发展。人类对语言的观察和研究深深地受到哲学和自然科学的影响。在理论上仍然有不少学者探讨语言是与生俱来的还是后天习得的问题。在语言历史方面，人们发现了大量的现象以证明语言之间的亲属关系，提出了许多语言是从同一始源语（parentlanguage）演变而来的观点，而且划出了语言“谱系”。整个十九世纪，历史语言学和比较语言学占了统治地位，并得到了空前的发展。历史语言学是语言学的一个分支，它主要研究某种语言或各种语言的发展史，称为“历时语言学”。十九世纪时，历史语言学与比较语言学有很多的相同之处，它们都是通过比较各种语言在不同时期在语音、词形、屈折变化。语法结构上的相同特点，来建立语言族系：如拉丁语系，罗曼语系，日尔曼语系，斯拉夫语系等，并对这些语系的始源语作出假设。2.1earlyhistoricallinguistics2.2Grimm’sLawandVerner’slaw“格里姆定律”为德国语言学家雅各布·格里姆（1781—1863）所制订，主要探讨原始印欧语语音与原始德语语音、原始德语语音与高地（现代）德语语音等的变换关系。他与其弟2卡尔为《格里姆童话集》的作者。2.3HumboldtandAugustSchleicher洪堡特指出，在人脑里天生有着创造语言的能力。他说，语言是讲话者产生语言和理解语言的能力，而不是说话或写字所产生的可观察的结果。也就是说，语言是一种创造能力，不是一种客观结果，更不是语法学家分析出来的一套一成不变的规则。他认为，语言能力是人类大脑功能的重要组成部分；否则，儿童就不可能在语言环境中自然而然地（不用正式教授）习得到语言。正因为如此，产生的语言才能随着环境的需要而变化。洪堡特说，只有在这个前提下，才有可能解释语言的基本事实。因为语言是大脑的一种能力，讲话人才能运用有限的语言手段创造出无限的语言行为。对沃尔夫有重要影响。施莱歇的贡献表现在三个方面：关于语言亲属关系的理论，关于重建始源语的比较方法及关于对语言的分类。III.Thebeginningofmodernlinguistics---SaussureFromtheSwisslinguistFerdinanddeSaussure(1857-1913),“fatherofmodernlinguistics”and“amasterofdisciplinewhichhemademodern”.*Heisthefirstinemphasizingthesenseofthetaskoflinguisticinvestigation,providingageneralorientation*Heinfluencesmodernlinguisticsinthespecificconcepts,thedistinctionbetweenlangueandparole,theseparationofthesynchronicandthediachronicperspectives,andtheviewoflanguageassystemofsyntagmaticandparadigmaticrelationoperatingatvarioushierarchicallevels.langueandparole:itisadistinctionofgreatimportancetomodernlinguisticsandtolanguageteachingtheories.Itisbetweenlanguageasasystemorstructure,langue,andtheuseofthatlanguageinutterances,parole.AccordingtoSaussure,theobjectofstudyforlinguisticsisnotprincipallythemassofindividualutterances,parole,buttheunderlyingsystem,language,sharedbyallthespeakersofthelanguageasafirstlanguageorofthevarietyofthelanguageunderinvestigation.Similarpairofconceptshavebeendevelopedbyanumberoftheories,theycanbetabulatedasfollows:LangueparoleSystemuseLanguagemessageCompetenceperformanceFormfunctionActually,Skinnerrejectedtheparole-languedistinctioninhischallengingbookonverbalbehavior,Headoptedastrictlybehavioristicpointofviewandarguedthattheonlyobservableobjectofscientificstudyistheverbalbehavior,thespeechutterancesandtexts(ie,parole).Accordingtoskinner,langueisamentalisticandunscientificabstraction.Hisworkonverbalbehaviorisanattempttoaccountforalllinguisticactivitiesentirelywithintermsofovertandobservableeventswithoutanyappealtoanunderlyingsystem.Thecompetence-performancedistinctionwasintroducedbyChomsky.‘Performance’referstotheinfinitelyvariedindividualactsofverbalbehaviorwiththeirirregularities,inconsistencies3anderrors.Thecapacityoftheindividualtoabstractfromtheseactsofperformanceandtodevelopsystemandorderiscompetence.Chomskyhasmadethepointthatthelanguageuserhimselfmustpossessintuitivelyandunconsciouslythiscapacitytoabstractfromtheconcretemanifestationsoflanguage.AccordingtoChomsky,thetaskoflinguisticsistostudycompetence,theknowledgeofthelanguage,or‘theunderlyingsystemofrulesthathasbeenmasteredbythespeaker-hearer.’Itisdebatableissueinlinguisticswhethertoplayemphasismainlyorexclusivelyonlangueorparole,orperhapstherelationbetweenthetwo.TheChomskyanemphasisoncompetencehasbeenquestioned:towhatextentcananunderlyinglanguage‘knowledge’beseparatedfromlanguageuse?Inlanguageteachingtheory,too,thequestionoflanguagesystemversususegoestotheheartofthedebateonteachingmethodswherethedistinctionbetweena‘formal’treatmentofthelanguageasanabstractsystemanda‘functional’orcommunicativetreatmentofthelanguageinuseisacrucialissue.I-languageandE-language:I-language内化语言/外化语言isanabstractlinguisticsystemwhichdevelopsduringlanguageacquisition,groundedinthehuman,geneticallydetermined`capacityforlanguageintheformofuniversalgrammar.UniversalgrammarisablueprintfirtheacquisitionofanyI-language.I-languageisessentiallythesameas‘competence’:abodyofunconsciousknowledgewhichtoge