語言學(xué)打印文嘉

1、A Course on Linguistics for Students of EnglishChapter 1. Introduction1. What is language? Language can meanwhat a person says (e.g. bad language, expressions) the way of speaking or writing (e.g. Shakespeares language, Luxuns language)a particular variety or level of speech or writing (e.g. languag

2、e for special purpose, colloquial language) the abstract system underlying the totality of the speech/writing behavior of a community (e.g. Chinese language, first language) the common features of all human languages (e.g. He studies language)a tool for human communication. (social function) a set o

3、f rules. (rule-governed) Sapirs definition (1921)“Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.”Halls definition (1968)Language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other b

4、y means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.”Chomskys definition (1957)“From now on I will consider language to be a set of (finite or infinite) sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.”Language can be generally defined asa system of arbitrary

5、vocal symbols used for human communication.Language is a systemSystematic- rule-governed, elements in it are arranged according to certain rules; cant be combined at will. e.g. *bkli, *I apple eat.Language is arbitraryArbitrary- no intrinsic connection between the word and the thing it denotes, e.g.

6、 “pen” by any other name is the thing we use to write withLanguage is symbolic in natureSymbolic- words are associated with objects, actions ideas by convention. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”-Shakespeare Language is primarily vocalVocal- the primary medium is sound for all language

7、s; writing system came much later than spoken form. Language is human-specific Human-specific- different from the communication systems other forms of life possess, e.g. bird songs, bee dance, animal cries.The design/defining features of human language (Charles Hockett)v Arbitrariness-No logical (mo

8、tivated or intrinsic) connection between sounds and meanings.Onomatopoeic words (which imitate natural sounds) are somewhat motivated ( English: rumble, crackle, bang, . Chinese: putong, shasha, dingdang )Some compound words are not entirely arbitrary, e.g. type-writer, shoe-maker, air-conditioner,

9、photocopyv Productivity/CreativityPeculiar to human languages，users of language can understand and produce sentences they have never heard before, e.g. we can understand sentence like “ A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the hotel bed”, though it does not describe a common happening in the world.A gi

10、bbon call system is not productive for gibbon draw all their calls from a fixed repertoire which is rapidly exhausted, making any novelty impossible. The bee dance does have a limited productivity, as it is used to communicate about food sources in any direction. But food sources are the only kind o

11、f messages that can be sent through the bee dance; bees do not “talk” about themselves, the hives, or wind, let alone about people, animals, hopes or desires v DualityLower level-sounds (meaningless)Higher level-meaning (larger units of meaning)A communication system with duality is considered more

12、flexible than one without it, for a far greater number of messages can be sent. A small number of sounds can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning (words), and the units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences. (we make dictionary of

13、a language, but we cannot make a dictionary of sentences of that language.v Displacement-Language can be used to refer to things, which are not present: real or imagined matters in the past, present or future, or in far-away places. A gibbon never utters a call about something he ate last yearThere

14、is something special about the bee dance though. Bees communicate with other bees about the food sources they have found when they are no longer in the presence of the food. In this sense, the bee dance has a component of displacement. But this component is very insignificant. For the bees must comm

15、unicate about the food immediately on returning to the hive. They do not dance about the food they discovered last month nor do they speculate about future discoveries.v Cultural transmission-Language is culturally transmitted (through teaching and learning; rather than by instinct).Animal call syst

16、ems are genetically transmitted. All cats, gibbons and bees have systems which are almost identical to those of all other cats, gibbons and bees.A Chinese speaker and an English speaker are not mutually intelligible. This shows that language is culturally transmitted. That is, it is pass on from one

17、 generation to the next by teaching and learning, rather than by instinct.The story of a wolf child, a pig child shows that a human being brought up in isolation simply does not acquire human language. v InterchangeabilityInterchangeability or reciprocity refers to the fact that a person has the abi

18、lity to both speak and hear the same signal. Anything that a person is able to hear, they have the ability to reproduce through spoken language. v Specialization Human language sounds are specialized for communication. When dogs pant it is to cool themselves off, when humans speak it is to transmit

19、information. Functions of language Phatic: establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact.Directive: get the hearer to do something. Informative: give information about facts. Interrogative: get information from others.Expressive: express feelings and attitudes of the speaker. Evocative: c

20、reate certain feelings in the hearer (amuse, startle, soothe, worry or please) Performative: language is used to do things, to perform actions. The origin of language The divine-origin theory- Language is a gift of God to mankind. The invention theory- imitative, cries of nature, the grunts of men w

21、orking together. The evolutionary theory- the result of physical and psychological development.許國璋先生認(rèn)為把語言定義成交際工具不夠科學(xué),至少不夠嚴(yán)謹(jǐn).他對語言的定義做了如下概括:語言是一種符號系統(tǒng).當(dāng)它作用于人與人之間的關(guān)系的時(shí)候,它是表達(dá)相互反應(yīng)的中介;當(dāng)它作用于人與客觀世界的關(guān)系的時(shí)候,它是認(rèn)知事物的工具;當(dāng)它作用于文化的時(shí)候,它是文化的載體.2. What is linguistics? -Linguistics is the scientific study of language. -A

22、 person who studies linguistics is known as a linguist.Four principles of linguistic studiesExhaustiveness/adequacy Consistency Economy Objectivity The scope or major branches of linguisticsTheoretical linguisticsPhonetics-speech sound (description, classification, transcription): articulatory phone

23、tics, acoustic phonetics, auditory phonetics.Phonology-sound patterns of languagesMorphology-the form of wordsSyntax-the rules governing the combination of words into sentence.Semantics-the meaning of language (when the meaning of language is conducted in the context of language use-Pragmatics)Phone

24、ticsPhonologyMorphologySyntaxSemanticsUse of linguisticsApplied linguistics-linguistics and language teaching Sociolinguistics- social factors (e.g. class, education) affect language use Psycholinguistics-linguistic behavior and psychological process Stylistics-linguistic and literature Applied ling

25、uisticsSociolinguisticsPsycholinguisticsSome other applications 1. Anthropological linguistics2. Neurolinguistics3. Computational linguistics (e.g. machine translation)Some important distinctions in linguistics Descriptive vs prescriptiveØ Descriptive - describe/analyze linguistic facts observe

26、d or language people actually use (modern linguistic)Ø Prescriptive -lay down rules for “correct” linguistic behavior in using language (traditional grammar)Synchronic vs diachronicØ Synchronic study- description of a language at some point of time (modern linguistics) Ø Diachronic st

27、udy- description of a language through time (historical development of language over a period of time) Langue vs parole (F. de Saussure)Ø Langue - the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of the speech community.Ø Parole - the realization of langue in actual use.Ø Saussure

28、 takes a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions.Competence and performance (Chomsky)Ø Competence - the ideal users knowledge of the rules of his language Ø Performance - the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication &

29、#216; Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations Ø Syntagmatichorizontal relationship between linguistic elementsforming linear sequencesØ Paradigmatic-vertical relat

30、ionship between forms-might occupy the same particular place in a structure.Traditional grammar vs modern linguisticsØ Traditional grammar - prescriptive, written, Latin-based framework Ø Modern linguistics - descriptive, spoken, not necessarily Latin-based framework Task: work in groups a

31、nd discuss the following questions1. What are the major branches of linguistics? What does each of them study?2.In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ from traditional grammar?3. Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic? Why?4. How is Saussures distinction between langue and

32、parole similar to Chomskys distinction between competence and performance?Chapter 2 Phonology Language is primarily vocal. The primary medium of human language is sound. Linguists are not interested in all sounds, but in speech sounds-sounds that convey meaning in human communication. Phonetics -A b

33、ranch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription, e.g. p bilabial, stop. Three branches of phonetics Ø Articulatory phonetics-from the speakers point of view, “how speakers produce speech sounds”

34、Ø Auditory phonetics-from the hearers point of view, “how sounds are perceived”Ø Acoustic phonetics-from the physical way or means by which sounds are transmitted from one to another. Articulatory phonetics Speech organs: three important areas Pharyngeal cavity - the throat; The oral cavit

35、y - the mouth; Nasal cavity - the nose. The diagram of speech organsOrthographic representation of speech sounds - A standardized and internationally accepted system of phonetic transcription is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The basic principle of the IPA is using one letter to represen

36、t one speech promise system (Hu, 58)Henry SweetHandbook of PhoneticsBroad transcription - used in dictionary and textbook for general purpose, without diacritics, e.g. clear l , pit Narrow transcription - used by phonetician for careful study, with diacritics, e.g. dark l , aspirated p Some

37、 major articulatory variables- dimensions on which speech sounds may vary:Voicing- voiced & voicelessNasality - nasal & non-nasal Aspiration - aspirated & unaspirated Classification of English speech sounds - English speech sounds are generally classified into two large categories: Vowel

38、s Consonants the sounds in the production of which there is an obstruction of the airstream at some point of the vocal tract are call consonants. Note: The essential difference between these two classes is that in the production of the former the airstream meets with no obstruction of any kind in th

39、e throat, the nose or the mouth, while in that of the latter it is somehow obstructed.Classification of consonants- English consonants may be classified according to two dimensions:The manner of articulation The place of articulationThe manner of articulationstops/plosives: p, b, t, d, k, g;fricativ

40、es: f, v, s, z, W, T, F, V, h;affricates: tF, dV; liquids: l(lateral), r; nasals: m, n, N; glides/semivowels: w, j. The place of articulationbilabial: p, b, m, w;labiodental: f , v;dental: W, T;alveolar: t, d, s, z, n, l, r;palatal: F, V, tF, dV, j ;velar: k, g, N; glottal: h.Classification of vowel

41、s- English vowels can be divided into two large categories:Monophthongs or pure/single vowelsDiphthongs or gliding vowels Monophthongs or pure/single vowels-According to which part of the tongue is held highest in the process of production, the vowels can be distinguished as:front vowels: I:, I, e,

42、Z, A, B;central vowels: E:, E, Q;back vowels: u:, u, C:, C, B:. According to the openness of the mouth Close: I:, I, u:, u.Semi-close: e, E:; Semi-open: E, C;Open: A, B, C, B:, Q;According to the shape of the lips or the degree of lip rounding rounded: u:, u, C:, C;unrounded: I:, I, e, Z, A, B, E:,

43、E, Q, B:. According to the length of the vowels long: I:, E:, u:, C:, B:short: I, e, Z, A, E, Q, B, u, C. Diphthongs/gliding vowels ei, ai, aU, EU, Ri, iE, ZE, UE.Exercises: underline the words that begin with a sound as required.A bilabial consonant: mad sad bad cad pad had ladA velar consonant: no

44、d god cod pod rodLabiodental consonant: rat fat sat mat chat vat patAn alveolar consonant: nick lick sick tick kick quickA palato-alveolar consonant: sip ship tip chip lip zipA dental consonant: lie buy thigh thy tie ryeA glide: one war yolk rushUnderline the words that end with a sound as required:

45、A fricative pay horse tough rice breath push sing wreathe hang cave messageA nasal train bang leaf limbA stop drill pipe fit crab fog ride laugh rack through tipAn affricate: rack such ridge boozeA central vowel: mad lot but boot wordA front vowel: reed pad load fate bit bed cook A rounded vowel: wh

46、o he bus her hit true boss bar walkA back vowel: paid reap fool top good fatherDescribe the underlined consonants according to three dimensions: Letter、Brother、Sunny、Hopper、Itching、Lodger、Calling、Singing、Robber、eitherPhonologyPhonology studies the patterning of speech sounds, that is, the ways in wh

47、ich speech sounds form systems and patterns in human languages.Phonetics & phonologyBoth are concerned with the same aspect of language-the speech sounds. But they differ in their approach and focus.Phonetics is of general nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human langu

48、ages; it aims to answer questions like: how they are produced, how they differ from each other, what phonetic features they have, how they can be classified, etc.Phonology aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic com

49、munication. Phone, phoneme, allophone A phone- a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. Phones do not necessarily distinguish meaning, some do, some dont, e.g. bI:t & bIt , spIt & spIt.A phoneme- is a phonological unit;

50、 it is a unit of distinctive value; it refers to a sound which is capable of distinguishing one word or one shape of a word from another in a given language. /pin/&/bin/ /pin/&/pen/Allophones - the phone that can be represented as the same phoneme in different phonetic environments without c

51、hanging the meaning of the words. “l(fā)et”, “play” and “tell”Phonemic contrast, complementary distribution and minimal pair.Ø Phonemic contrast-different or distinctive phonemes are in phonemic contrast, e.g./b/ and /p/ in bIt and pIt.Ø Complementary distribution-allophones of the same phonem

52、e are in complementary distribution. They do not distinguish meaning. They occur in different phonetic contexts, e.g. dark l & clear l, aspirated p & unaspirated p.Ø Minimal pair-when two different forms are identical (the same) in every way except for one sound segment which occurs in

53、the same place in the strings, the two sound combinations are said to form a minimal pair, e.g. beat, bit, bet, bat, boot, but, bait, bite, boat.Free VariationWhen the substitution of one sound for another does not produce a different word, but only a different pronunciation of the same word. Then t

54、he two sounds are in FREE VARIATION. “act”, “apt”, “that boy”, “good morning”.Complementary distributionWhen two sounds never occur in the same environment, they are said to be in COMPLEMENTARY DISTRIBUTION.Aspirated plosives/ph/,/th/, /kh/ -unaspirated /p/, /t/, /k/l/, /lo/, /Sounds in complementar

55、y distribution may be assigned to the same phonemeSome rules of phonologyØ Sequential rulesSequential rules - the rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language, e.g. in English, “k b i I” might possibly form blik, klib, bilk, kilb.If a word begins with a l or a r, then th

56、e next sound must be a vowel.If three consonants should cluster together at the beginning of a word, the combination should obey the following three rules, e.g. spring, strict, square, splendid, scream. a)  the first phoneme must be /s/, b)  the second phoneme must be /p/ or /t/

57、or /k/, c)  the third phoneme must be /l/ or /r/ or /w/. * N never occurs in initial position in English and standard Chinese,but it does occur in some dialects, e.g. in Cantonese: “牛肉，我， 俄語”Ø Assimilation rule Assimilation rule-assimilates one sound to another by “copying” a feature of a sequential phon