英语专业语言学课程Chapter 1

ChapterOneInvitationstoLinguisticsThegiftoflanguageisthesinglehumantraitthatmarksusallgenetically,settingusapartfromtherestoflife.LewisThomasThelivesofaCellTeachingObjectives1.Whatislanguage?2.Designfeaturesoflanguage3.Functionsoflanguage4.Importantdistinctionsinlinguistics1.Whatislanguage?Language“isnottobeconfusedwithhumanspeech,ofwhichitisonlyadefinitepart,thoughcertainlyanessentialone.Itisbothasocialproductofthefacultyofspeechandacollectionofnecessaryconventionsthathavebeenadoptedbyasocialbodytopermitindividualstoexercisethatfaculty.----FerdinanddeSaussure(1857--1913):CourseinGeneralLinguistics(1916)“Languageisapurelyhumanandnon-instinctivemethodofcommunicatingideas,emotionsanddesiresbymeansofvoluntarilyproducedsymbols.“EdwardSapir(1884-1939)Language:AnIntroductiontotheStudyofSpeech(1921)“Alanguageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsbymeansofwhichasocialgroupco-operates.”BernardBloch(1907-1965)&GeorgeTrager(1906-1992)OutlineofLinguisticAnalysis(1942)“Alanguageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsbymeansofwhichthemembersasocietyinteractintermsoftheirtotalculture.”--GeorgeTrager:TheFieldofLinguistics(1949)“FromnowonIwillconsiderlanguagetobeaset(finiteorinfinite)ofsentences,eachfiniteinlengthandconstructedoutofafinitesetofelements.”----NoamChomsky(1928--):SyntacticStructures(1957)Languageis“theinstitutionwherebyhumanscommunicateandinteractwitheachotherbymeansofhabituallyusedoral--auditoryarbitrarysymbols.”--RobertA.Hall(1911--1997)IntroductoryLinguistics(1964)Languageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.“-RonaldWardhaugh:IntroductiontoLinguistics(1977)Languageisaformofhumancommunicationbymeansofasystemofsymbolsprincipallytransmittedbyvocalsounds.”StuartC.Poole:AnIntroductiontoLinguistics(1999)Thequestion'Whatislanguage?'iscomparablewith一and,somewouldsay,hardlylessprofoundthan一'Whatislife?',thepresuppositionsofwhichcircumscribeandunifythebiologicalsciences...itisnotsomuchthequestionitselfastheparticularinterpretationthatthebiologistputsuponitandtheunravellingofitsmoredetailedimplicationswithinsomecurrentlyacceptedtheoreticalframeworkthatnourishthebiologist'sday-to-dayspeculationsandresearch.Soitisforthelinguistinrelationtothequestion'Whatislanguage?--JohnLyons(1932-）:LanguageandLinguistics(1981)...．inasensealldefinitions(oflanguage)are,bythemselves,inadequate,since,iftheyaretobemorethantrivialanduninformative,theymustpresuppose…somegeneraltheoryoflanguageandoflinguisticanalysis.“--R.H.Robins(1921-2000):GeneralLinguistics(1989)Languageisameansofverbalcommunication.Itisinstrumentalinthatcommunicatingbyspeakingorwritingisapurposefulact.Itissocialandconventionalinthatlanguageisasocialsemioticandcommunicationcanonlytakeplaceeffectivelyifalltheusersshareabroadunderstandingofhumaninteractionincludingsuchassociatedfactorsasnonverbalcues，motivation,andsocio一culturalroles.--Thetextbook(2007,P3)2.DesignfeaturesoflanguageDesignfeatures(P3)refertofeaturesthatdistinguishourhumanlanguagesfromtheotheranimals’.5majordesignfeatures:arbitrariness,duality,creativity,displacementculturaltransmission.2.1Arbitrariness（随意性）Saussure:theformsoflinguisticsignsbearnonaturalrelationshiptotheirmeaning朋友,friend,ami/amie吸尘器，dustcollector,aspirateurArbitraryrelationshipbetweenthesoundofamorphemeanditsmeaning,evenwithonomatopoeicwords：ThedogbarksbowwowinEnglishbut“汪汪汪”inChinese.Exceptions1.OnomatopoeicwordsCrackle,crush,giggle,bang,rumblePutong,dingtong,dong,dingdang,shasha,kacha2.Compoundwordstype-writer,classmate,shoe-maker,photecopy3.Arbitrarinessatthesyntacticlevel:languageisnotarbitraryatthesyntacticlevel.(a)Hecameinandsatdown.(b)Hesatdownandcamein.(c)Hesatdownafterhecamein.Thelinkbetweenalinguisticsignanditsmeaningisamatterofconvention.TheEnglishLanguageHaveyoueverwonderedwhyforeignershavetroublewiththeEnglishLanguage?Let'sfaceitEnglishisastupidlanguage.ThereisnoeggintheeggplantNohaminthehamburgerAndneitherpinenorappleinthepineapple.AndaguineapigisneitherfromGuineanorisitapig.Ifwriterswrite,howcomefingersdon'tfing.IfthepluraloftoothisteethShouldn'tthepluralofphoneboothbephonebeethWhydidn'tthepreacherpraught.2.2Duality（双重性）Thepropertyofhavingtwolevelsofstructures,suchthatunitsoftheprimarylevelarecomposedofelementsofthesecondarylevelandeachofthetwolevelshasitsownprinciplesoforganization.Lowerlever---sounds(meaningless)Higherlever---meaning(meaningful)Primaryunits“words”(meaningful)consistofsecondaryunits'sounds'(meaningless).Hierarchyoflanguage:stratificationas'theinfiniteuseoffinitemeans'．Sounds＞syllables＞morphemes＞words＞phrases＞clauses＞sentences/utterances＞texts/discourses2.3Creativity（创造性）Languageisresourcefulbecauseofitsdualityanditsrecursiveness.Wecanuseittocreatenewmeanings.Wordscanbeusedinnewwaystomeannewthings,andcanbeinstantlyunderstoodbypeoplewhohavenevercomeacrossthatusagebefore.Birds,bees,crabs,spiders,andmostothercreaturescommunicateinsomeway,buttheinformationimpartedisseverelylimitedandconfinedtoasmallsetofmessages.Becauseofdualitythehumanspeakerisabletocombinethebasiclinguisticu