英语语言学12Chapter-12-schools

Chapter12TheoriesofLinguistics2FunctionalismFormalism31.ThefunctionalperspectiveThePragueSchoolTheLondonSchool4PragueLinguisticCircle:StartedbyV.Mathesius(1882-1946)in1926,withsuchactivistsasR.Jacobson(1896-1982),N.Trubetzkoy(1890-1938)andlaterJ.Firbas(1921-2000).TheCirclestoodattheheartofimportantdevelopmentsinstructurallinguisticsandsemioticsinthe1930's.1.1ThePragueSchool5Threeimportantpoints:Stressedsynchroniclinguistics,butnotrigidlyseparatedfromdiachronicstudies.LissystemicinthatnoelementofLcanbesatisfactorilyanalysedorevaluatedinisolationandassessmentcanonlybemadeifitsrelationshipisestablishedwiththecoexistingelementsinthesamelanguagesystem.Lisfunctionalinthatitisatoolforperforminganumberofessentialfunctionsortasksforthecommunityusingit.6PragueSchoolPhonologyN.Trubetzkoy:PrincipleofPhonology(1939).Phonetics&phonology:differentforparole&langue.Phoneme:anabstractunitofthesoundsystem.Distinctivefeatures:phonologicaloppositions.7Trubetzkoy’scontributionsShoweddistinctivefunctionsofspeechsoundsandgaveanaccuratedefinitionofthephoneme.Definedthesphereofphonologicalstudies.Revealedinterdependentsyntagmaticandparadigmaticrelationsbetweenphonemes.Putforwardasetofmethodologiesforphonologicalstudies.Analysisofutterances(ortexts)intermsoftheinformationtheycontain.Theroleofeachutterancepartisevaluatedforitssemanticcontributiontothewhole.8Asentencecontainsapointofdepartureandagoalofdiscourse.Thepointofdeparture,calledthetheme,isthegroundonwhichthespeakerandthehearermeet.Thegoalofdiscourse,calledtherheme,presentstheveryinformationthatistobeimpartedtothehearer.Movementfromthemetorhemerevealsthemovementoftheminditself.9Therefore,thefunctionalsentenceperspective(FSP)aimstodescribehowinformationisdistributedinsentences.Itdealsparticularlywiththeeffectofthedistributionofknown(given)infoandnewinfoindiscourse.Newinfo:tobetransmittedtothereaderorhearer.Sallystandsonthetable.ThemeRhemeOnthetablestandsSally.ThemeRheme10ThreelevelsofasentenceGrammaticalSentencePattern(GSP)SemanticSentencePattern(SSP)CommunicativeSentencePattern(CSP)Johnhaswrittenanovel.SubjectVerbObject(GSP)AgentActionGoal(SSP)ThemeTransitionRheme(CSP)11Communicativedynamism(CD)J.FirbasLinguisticcommunicationisdynamic,notstatic.CDmeasurestheamountofinfoanelementcarriesinasentence.ThedegreeofCDistheeffectcontributedbyalinguisticelement.Forexample,12Hewascross.CD:ThelowestdegreeofCDiscarriedbyhe,andthehighestdegreeofCDiscarriedbycross,withthedegreecarriedbywasrankingbetweenthem.13NormallythesubjectcarriesalowerdegreeofCDthantheverband/ortheobjectand/oradverbialprovidedeithertheverbortheobjectand/oradverbialarecontextuallyindependent.Thisisbecauseaknownorunknownagentexpressedbythesubjectappearstobecommunicativelylessimportantthananunknownactionexpressedbythefiniteverband/oranunknowngoal(objectoradverbialofplace)atortowardswhichtheactionisdirected.14Forexample,Amanbrokeintothehouseandstoleallthemoney.Theultimatepurposeofthecommunicationistostatetheactionand/oritsgoal,nottheagent.15However,ifthesubjectisfollowedbyaverbexpressing“existenceorappearanceonthescene”andiscontextuallyindependent,thenitwillcarrythehighestdegreeofCD,becauseanunknownpersonorthingappearingonthesceneiscommunicativelymoreimportantthantheactofappearingandthesceneitself,e.g.Anoldmanappearedinthewaitingroomatfiveo’clock.16Ifthesubjectiscontextuallydependent,acontextuallyindependentadverbialoftimeorplacebecomesanimportantlocalandtemporalspecification,carryinggreaterdegreeofCDthanboththesubjectandthefiniteverb,asinTheoldmanwassittinginthewaitingroom.171.2TheLondonSchoolB.Malinowski(1884-1942),professorofanthropology(1927).J.R.Firth(1890-1960),thefirstprofessoroflinguisticsintheUK(1944).M.A.K.Halliday(1925-),studentofFirth.AllthreestressedtheimportanceofcontextofsituationandthesystemaspectofL.18Malinowski’stheoriesLanguage“istoberegardedasamodeofaction,ratherthanasacounterpartofthought”.Themeaningofanutterancecomesfromitsrelationtothesituationalcontextinwhichitoccurs.19Threetypesofsituationalcontext:situationsinwhichspeechinterrelateswithbodilyactivity;narrativesituations;situationsinwhichspeechisusedtofillaspeechvacuum—phaticcommunion.20Firth’stheoriesRegardedLasasocialprocess,ameansofsociallife.Inordertolive,humanbeingshavetolearnandlearningLisameansofparticipationinsocialactivities.Lisameansofdoingthingsandofmakingothersdothings,ameansofactingandliving.21Lisbothinbornandacquired.TheobjectoflinguisticstudyisLinuse.ThegoaloflinguisticinquiryistoanalysemeaningfulelementsofLinordertoestablishcorrespondingrelationsbetweenlinguisticandnon-linguisticelements.ThemethodoflinguisticstudyistodecideonthecompositeelementsofL,explaintheirrelationsonvariouslevels,andultimatelyexplicatetheinternalrelationsbetweentheseelementsandhumanactivitiesintheenvironmentoflanguageuse.22Firthattemptedtointegratelinguisticstudieswithsociologicalstudies:becausehumanbeingsareinseparablefromculturalvalues,andLisanimportantpartofculturalvalues,linguisticscanhelprevea