语言学Chapter-1-What-is-Linguistics

1Linguistics:anIntroductiontoLanguageandCommunicationLecturer:Alexander[e-mail]stics?3Teachingfocus:1.designfeaturesoflanguage;Arbitrariness;duality;productivity;displacement;culturaltransmission42.someimportantdistinctionsinlinguisticsDescriptivevs.prescriptiveSynchronicvs.diachroniclangue&paroleCompetenceandperformanceTraditionalgrammarandmodernlinguistics53.DefinitionLanguageLinguistics61.WhatisLinguistics?Thefieldoflinguistics,thescientificstudyofhumannaturallanguage,isagrowingandexcitingareaofstudy,withanimportantimpactonfieldsasdiverseaseducation,anthropology,sociology,languageteaching,cognitivepsychology,philosophy,computerscience,neuroscience,andartificialintelligence,amongothers.71.1DefinitionWhatislinguistics,then?Fundamentally,thefieldisconcernedwiththenatureoflanguageand(linguistic)communication.8Itisgenerallydefinedasthescientificstudyoflanguage.Languagemeansnotanyparticularlanguage,butlanguageingeneral.Studydoesn’tmeanlearnbutinvestigateorexamine.Scientificreferstothewayinwhichthelanguageisstudied.91.2Thescopeoflinguistics1.MicrolinguisticsPhoneticsPhonologyMorphologySyntaxSemanticsPragmatics10Phonetics语音学Phoneticsstudiesspeechsounds,includingtheproductionofspeech,thatishowspeechsoundsareactuallymade,transmittedandreceived,thedescriptionandclassificationofspeechsounds,wordsandconnectedspeech,etc.11Phonology音位学Phonologystudiestherulesgoverningthestructure,distribution,andsequencingofspeechsoundsandtheshapeofsyllables.Itdealswiththesoundsystemofalanguagebytreatingphoneme（音素）asthepointofdeparture.Aphonemeisthesmallestlinguisticunitofsoundthatcansignaladifferenceinmeaning.12Morphology形态学Morphology,isconcernedwiththepropertiesofwordsandword-buildingrules.Morphologyisconcernedwiththeinternalorganizationofwords.Itstudiestheminimalunitsofmeaning—morphemes（词素）andword-formationprocesses.13Althoughmanypeoplethinkofwordsasthebasicmeaningfulelementsofalanguage，manywordscanbebrokendownintostillsmallerunits,calledmorphemes.14Syntax句法学Syntaxisaboutprinciplesofformingandunderstandingcorrectsentences.Theformorstructureofasentenceisgovernedbytherulesofsyntax,whichspecifywordorder,sentenceorganization,andtherelationshipsbetweenwords,wordclassesandothersentenceelements.15Weknowthatwordsareorganizedintostructuresmorethanjustwordorder.Thechildrenwatched[thefireworkfromthehill].Thechildrenwatched[thefirework][fromthehill].16Semantics语义学Semanticsexamineshowmeaningisencodedinalanguage.Itisnotonlyconcernedwithmeaningsofwordsaslexicalitems,butalsowithlevelsoflanguagebelowthewordandaboveit,e.g.meaningofmorphemesandsentences.17Thefollowingarewhatthekeyconceptslooklike:semanticcomponentsdenotationofwordssenserelationsbetweenwordssuchasantonymyandsynonymysenserelationsbetweensentencessuchasentailmentandpresuppositionandothers.18Pragmatics语用学Pragmaticsisthestudyofmeaningincontext.Itdealswithparticularutterancesinparticularsituationsandisespeciallyconcernedwiththevariouswaysinwhichthemanysocialcontextsoflanguageperformancecaninfluenceinterpretation.Inotherwords,pragmaticsisconcernedwiththewaylanguageisusedtocommunicateratherthanwiththewaylanguageisinternallystructured.192.MacrolinguisticsLinguisticsisnottheonlyfieldconcernedwithlanguage.Otherdisciplinessuchaspsychology,sociology,ethnography（人种学）,thescienceoflawandartificialintelligenceetc.arealsopreoccupiedwithlanguage.20AlthoughSaussure'sgoalwastoestablishtheautonomyoflinguistics,givingitawell-definedsubjectofstudyandfreeingitfromrelianceonotherdisciplines,withitscomingofagelinguisticsisdevelopinginteractivelinkswithothersciences.Thecentralgoalofdescribingtheunderlyingsystemremains:thisistheprovinceofgeneral,descriptivelinguistics.21Butsincelanguagehasbothindividualandsocialaspects,itisnaturallyofinteresttopsychologistsandsociologistsamongothers.Thereforeitisnotsurprisingthatwehavesomebranchesofmacrolinguisticsthatshowaninterdisciplinarynaturefromtheirverynames:22Sociolinguistics社会语言学Sociolinguisticsisthestudyofthecharacteristicsoflanguagevarieties,thecharacteristicsoftheirfunctions,andthecharacteristicsoftheirspeakersasthesethreeconstantlyinteractandchangewithinaspeechcommunity.Anumbrellatermwhichcoversavarietyofdifferentinterestsinlanguageandsociety,includingthesocialfunctionsoflanguageandthesocialcharacteristicsofitsusers.23Psycholinguistics心理语言学Psycholinguisticsinvestigatestheinterrelationoflanguageandmind,forexample,inprocessingandproducingutterancesandinlanguageacquisition.Italsostudieslanguagedevelopmentinthechild,suchasthetheoriesoflanguageacquisition,biologicalfoundationsoflanguage,andaprofoundaspect—therelationshipbetweenlanguageandcognition.241.3SomeimportantdistinctionsinlinguisticsDescriptivevs.prescriptiveSynchronicvs.diachronicSpeechandwritingLangue&paroleCompetenceandperformance25Descriptivevs.prescriptive“描写式”和“规定式”Ifalinguisticstudydescribesandanalyzesthelanguagepeopleactuallyuse,itissaidtobedescriptive;ifitaimstolaydownrulesfor“correct”behavior,i.e.,totel