語言學(xué)課堂筆記

1、語言學(xué)課堂筆記（英漢對照）第一章Chapter 1 Invitations to LinguisticsTeaching aims: let the students have the general idea about language and linguistics.Teaching difficulties: design features of language ; some important distinctions in linguisticsTeaching procedures1. language1.1 Why study language?為什么學(xué)習(xí)語言A tool f

2、or communication交流的工具An integral part of our life and humanity 人類生活和人性中不可或缺的一部分.If we are not fully aware of the nature and mechanism of our language, we will be ignorant of what constitutes our essential humanity.如果不能完全理解語言的本質(zhì)和結(jié)構(gòu),我們就會對人類的本質(zhì)一無所知.1.2 What is language?什么是語言 different senses of languag

3、e 語言的不同意義1. what a person says( concrete act of speech)a persons consistent way of speaking or writinga particular level of speaking or writing e.g. colloquial languagean abstract system2. A websters New Dictionrary offers a frequently used sense of the word “l(fā)anguage”:a. human speech 人類的言語b. the ab

4、ility to communicate by this means 通過言語來交流的能力c. a system of vocal sounds and combinations of such sounds to which meaning is attributed, used for the expression or communication of thoughts and feelings; 用來表達(dá)或交流思想和感覺的一套聲音及這些聲音互相結(jié)合的系統(tǒng)d. the written representation of such a system 系統(tǒng)的文字表達(dá)3. the barest

5、 of definition, language is a means of verbal communication.最簡潔的定義:語言是言語交流的一種方式.Language is instrumental in that communicating by speaking or writing is a purposeful act. It is social and conventional in that language is a social semiostic and communication can only take place effectively if all the

6、 users share a broad understanding of human interaction including such associated factors as nonverbal cues, motivation, and socio-cultural roles. Language distinguishes us from animals.因為說和寫的交流方式是一種有目的的行為,所以語言是實用性的;因為語言是社會符號,語言的交流只能在所有參與者廣泛理解了人類的那些非言語的暗示,動機(jī),社會文化角色等等互相關(guān)聯(lián)的因素之后才能有效進(jìn)行,因此語言又是社會的,約定俗成的.語

7、言使人類區(qū)別于動物. definitions一.Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.What is communication?A process in which information is transmitted from a source (sender or speaker) to a goal (receiver or listener).A system-since elements in it are arranged according to certain

8、rules systematically, rather than randomly. They cannot be arranged at will. e.g. He the table cleaned. (×) bkli (×)Why do we say language is arbitrary?Arbitrary-there is no intrinsic (logic) connection between a linguistic form and its meaning, between the sounds that people use and the o

9、bjects to which these sounds refer. This explains and is explained by the fact that different language have different words for the same object, it is good illustration of the arbitrary nature of language . it is only our tacit agreement of utterance and concept at work and not any innate relationsh

10、ip bound up in the utterance. A typical example to illustrate the arbitrary of language is a famous quotation from shakepeares play:” Romeo and Juliet: A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.一朵玫瑰不管它叫什么名字,聞起來都是一樣香的.Symbols-words are just the symbols associated with objects, actions, and ideas

11、by nothing but convention. Namely, people use the sounds or voval forms to symbolize what they wish to refer to.Vocal- the primary medium for all languages is sound, no matter how well developed their writing systems are. Writing systems came much later than the spoken forms. The fact that small chi

12、ldren learn and can only learn to speak and listen before they write or read also indicates that language is primarily vocal, rather than written. Writing systems came into being much later than the spoken forms. People with little or no literacy can also be competent language users.Human -language

13、is human-specific. Human beings have different kinds of brains and vocal capacity. “Language Acquisition Device”(LAD)二.What characteristics of langauge do you think should be included in a good ,comprenhensive definition of language?Language is a rule-governed system; langauge is basically vocal; la

14、ngauge is arbitrary ; langague is used for human communication.1.3 Design features of language 語言的結(jié)構(gòu)特征Design features- refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication. They are arbitrariness, duality, creativity/ productivity, displacem

15、ent, clutural transmission and interchangeability.Design features- are features that define our human languages,such as arbitrariness,duality,creativity,displacement,cultural transmission,etc.(指決定了人類語言性質(zhì)的特征.例如任意性,二重性,創(chuàng)造性,移位性,文化轉(zhuǎn)移性等.)The American linguist Charles Hockett specified twelve design featu

16、res.What is arbitrariness?任意性a. arbitrariness- arbitrariness(任意性): one design feature of human language,which refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning.(人類語言的本質(zhì)特征之一,指語言符號的形式與意義之間沒有自然的聯(lián)系.)It was discussed by Saussure first.The link between the

17、m is a matter of convention. E.g. “house” uchi (Japanese) Mansion (French) 房子(Chinese)(1) arbitrary between the sound of a morpheme and its meaning語言的音和義之間的任意性 a. By “arbitrary”, we mean there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. 語言的意義和語音之間沒有邏輯關(guān)系。A gog might be a pig if only the fir

18、st person or group of persons had used it for a gig. Language therefore is largely arbitrary.b. But language is not absolutely seem to be some sound-meaning association, if we think of echo words, like “bang ” ”crash” ”roar ” ” rumble ” ”cakle”, which are motivated in a certain sense.”onomatopoeia擬聲

19、詞-words that sound like the sounds they describe那些發(fā)音像它們的描寫的聲音的詞c. some compounds (words compounded to be one word ) are not entirely arbitary either. “type ” and ”write ”are opaque or unmotivated words, while “type -writer” is less so, or more transparent or motivated than the words that make it . s

20、o we can say “arbitrariness” is a matter of degree.arbitrary and onometopoeic effect may work at the same time.任意性和擬聲可以同時起作用。Eg. The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.夏日黃昏，群蠅嗡嗡地非。(2) Arbitrary at the syntactic level 句法上的任意性According to systematic-functionalists and American functionlists, lang

21、uage is not arbitrary at the syntactic level. 對于系統(tǒng)功能語言學(xué)家和美國功能語言學(xué)家來說，語言在句法上是非任意的。Syntax-it refers to the ways that sentences are constructed according to the grammar of arrangement.句法就是依據(jù)語法安排造句之法。(3) Aribrtary and convention任意性和約定性The link between a linguistic sign and its meaning is a matter of conv

22、ention.語言學(xué)上的符號和它的意義之間是約定俗成的關(guān)系。The other side of coin of arbitrariness , namely, conventionality.任意性的相反面，即約定性。conventionality-It means that in any language there are certain sequences of sounds that have a conventionally accepted meaning. Those words are customarily used by all speakers with the same

23、 intended meaning and understood by all listeners in the same way.Arbitrainess of langauge makes it potentially creative, and conventionality of language makes learning a language laborious.任意性賦予語言潛在的創(chuàng)造力，而語言的約定性又使學(xué)習(xí)語言變得費(fèi)力。There are two different schools of belief concerning arbitrariness. Most peopl

24、e, especially structural linguists believe that language is arbitrary by nature. Other people, however, hold that language is iconic, that is, there is a direct relation or correspondence between sound and meaning, such as onomatopoeia.(cuckoo; crash)For the majority of animal signals, there does ap

25、pear to be a clear connection between the conveyed message and the signal used to convey it, And for them, the sets of signals used in communication is finite.b. duality(二重性):- one design feature of human language,which refers to the property of having two levels of structures , such as units of the

26、 primary level are composed of elements of the secondary.level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization.(人類語言的本質(zhì)特征之一,指擁有兩層結(jié)構(gòu)的這種特性,底層結(jié)構(gòu)是上層結(jié)構(gòu)的組成成分,每層都有自身的組合規(guī)則.)duality-language is simultaneously organized at two levels or layers, namely, the level of sounds and that of meaning

27、. the higher level -words which are meaningfulthe lower or the basic level-sounds which are meaningless, but can be grouped and regrouped into words.Dog: woof (but not “w-oo-f ” ) This duality of levels is, in fact, one of the most economical features of human language, since with a limited set of d

28、istinct sounds we are capable of producing a very large number of sound combinations (e.g. words) which are distinct in meaning. The principle of economyLinguists refer “duality” (of structure) to the fact that in all language so far investigated, one finds two levels of structure or patterning. At

29、the first, higher level, language is analyzed in terms of combinations of meaningful units (such as morphemes, words etc.) . At the second, lower level, it is seen as a sequence of segments wich lack any meaning in themselves, but which combine to form units of meaning.According to HUZHUANGLIN, lang

30、uage is a system of two sets of structures or two levels, one of sound and the other of meaning. This is improtant for the workings of language. A samll number of senmantic words /units, and these units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences.這些意義單位組成無數(shù)個句子。(not

31、e that we have dictionaries of words, but no dictionary of sentences!). Duality makes it possible for a person to talk about anything within his knowledge. No anmial communication system enjoys this duality.To talk about duality we must notice that language is hierarchical.說到語言的二重性，我們必須注意語言的等級性。 lic

32、. Creativity-language is resourceful. It makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users.(novel utterances are continually being created.) non-human signals ,on the other hand, appears to have little flexibility. creativity(創(chuàng)造性): one design feature of human language ,b

33、y creativity we mean language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. (指語言的能產(chǎn)性,因為語言有二重性和遞歸性.)productivity-productivity refers to the ability to construct and understand an indefinitely large number of sentences in ones native language , including those that has never heard befor

34、e , but that are appropriate to the speaking situation.人們能夠利用語言中原有的規(guī)則來理解從未碰到過的語言符號的特征。e.g. an experiment of bee communication:The worker bee, normally able to communicate the location of a nectar source , will fail to do so if the location is really new .In one experiment, a hive of bees was placed

35、at the foot of a radio tower and a food source at the top. Ten bees were taken to the top, shown the food source, and sent off to tell the rest of the hive about their find. The message was conveyed via a bee dance and the whole gang buzzed off to get the free food. They flow around in all direction

36、s, but couldnt locate the food. The problem may be that bee communication regarding location has a fixed set of signals, all of which related to horizonta distance. The bee cannot create a new message indicating vertical distance.No one has never said or heard “A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the

37、small hotel bed with an African gibbon”, but he can say it when necessary, and he can understand it in right register.Different from artistic creativity, productivity never goes outside the language, thus productivity is also called “rule-bound creativity” (by N. Chomsky) Productivity is unique to h

38、uman language. 創(chuàng)造性是人類語言的獨(dú)一無二的特征。d. displacement(移位性): one design feature of human language,which means human language enable their users to symbolize objects,events and concepts which are not present c in time and space,at the moment of communication.(指人類語言可以讓使用者來表示在說話時(時間和處所)并不存在的物體,時間和觀點.) Bee com

39、munication:When a worker bee finds a source of nectar and returns to the hive, it can perform a complex dance routine to communicate to the other bees the location of this nectar. Depending on the type of dance (round dance for nearby and tail-wagging dance, with variable tempo, for further away and

40、 how far), The other bees can work put where this newly discovered feast can be found. Bee communication has displacement in an extremely limited form. However, it must be the most recent food source.Displacement , as one of the design features of the human languag, refers to the fact that one can t

41、alk about things that are not present, as easily as he does things present. In other words, one can refer to real or unreal things, things of the past, of the present, of the future.人類語言可以被用來指不在當(dāng)時當(dāng)?shù)匕l(fā)生的事情，這就使得人類能夠談?wù)撛S多事情而不受時空限制。Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situa

42、tions of the speak, that means language has the feature of displacement.Language itself can be talked about too. When a man , for esxample, is crying to a woman, about something, it might be something that had occurred, or something that is occuring, or soemthing that is to occur. When a dog is bark

43、ing, however, you can dicide it is barking for something or at someone that exists now and there. It counldnt be bow-wowing sorrowfully for a bone to be lost. The bees system, nonetheless, has a samll share of “displacement”, but its an unspeakable tiny sharee. Cultural transmission-genetic transmis

44、sion You acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from parental genes.The process whereby language is passed on from one generation to the next is described as cultural transmission.This means that language is not biologically transmitted from generation to generation, but that th

45、e details of the linguistic system must be learned anew by each speaker. It is true that the capacity for language in human beings (N. Chomsky called it “l(fā)anguage acquisition device”, or LAD) has a genetic basis, but the particular languag a person learns to speak is a cultural one other than a gene

46、tic one lkie the dogs barking system. （人類學(xué)習(xí)語言的能力有遺傳基礎(chǔ)，但任何詳細(xì)的語言系統(tǒng)都必須通過教授和學(xué)習(xí)才能獲得，這說明語言具有文化傳遞性，它不是靠人類的本能而獲得的。）If a human beging is brought up in isolation he cannot acquire langauge. The Wolf Child reared by the pack of wolves turned out to speak the wolfs roaring “tongue” when he was saved. He learned

47、 thereafter, with no small difficulty, the ABC of a certain human language. Animal call systems are genetically transmitted.動物是靠其基因來傳遞其呼叫系統(tǒng)的。f. interchangeability 互換性interchangeablity means that any human beging can be both a producer and a receiver of messages. Though some people suggest that there

48、 is differatiation in the actual language use, in other words, men and women may say different things, yet in principle there is no sound, or word or sentence that a man can utter and a woman cannot, or vice versa. On the other hand, a person can be the speaker while the other person is the listener

49、 and as the turn moves on to the listener, he can be the speaker and the first speaker is to listen. It is turn-taking that makes social communication possible and acceptable. Some male birds, however, utter some calls which females do not (or cannot). When a dog barkds, all the neighboring dogs bar

50、k. Then people around can hardly tell which dog /dogs is /are “speaking” and which listening.What featrues of human langauge have been specified by C. Hockett to show that it is essentially different from any animal communication system?Arbitrainess-a sign of sophistication only humans are capable o

51、f.Duality-a feature totally lacking in any animal communication.Creativity-animals are quite limited in the messages they are able to send.Displacement-no animal can talk about things removed from the immediate situation.Cultural transmission-details of human language system are taught and learned w

52、hile animals are born with the capacity to send out certain signals as a means of limited communicaiton.Why do linguists say langauge is human specific?First of all, huan language has six “design features” which animal communication sysmtens do not have, at least not in the true sense of them.Second

53、ly, linguists have done a lot trying to teach animals such as chimpanzees to speak a human language but have achieved nothing inspiring. Washoe, a female chimpanzee, was brought up like a human child by Beatnice and Alan Gardner. She was taught “American sign language”, and learned a little that mad

54、e the teacehrs happy but did not make the linguists circle happy, for few believed in teaching champanzees.Thirdly, a human child reared among animals cannot speak a human language, not enen when he is taken back and taught to do so.1.4 Origin of language 語言的起源1.5 functions of language 語言的功能 Jakobso

55、n difined the six primary factors of any speech event, namely: speaker, addressee, context, message, code, contact. 雅科布遜定義了言語行為的六個要素：說話者，受話者，語境，信息，語碼，接觸。Jakobson established a well-known framework of language functions based on the six key elements of communication, namely: Referential funtion-to co

56、nvey message and imformation所指功能：傳達(dá)信息Poetic funtion -to indulge in language for its own sake 詩學(xué)功能：完全就語言而語言Emotive funtion -to express attitudes, feelings and emotions 感情功能：表達(dá)態(tài)度、感覺和感情Conative funtion -to persuade and influence others through commands and entreaties 意動功能：通過命令和懇求去說服和影響他人Phatic funtion

57、-to establish communion with others 交感功能：與他人建議交流Metalingual function -to clear up intentions, words and meanings 元語言功能：弄清意圖、詞語和意義They correspond to such communication elements as context ,message, addresser, addressee, contact and code. 它們與一些交流活動的元素相對應(yīng)，如語境，信息，說話者，受話者，接觸和語碼等。Halliday proposes a theor

58、y of metafunctions of language , that is, language has:韓禮德提出語言元功能的理論，即語言有：Ideational function-constructs a model of experience and constructs logical relations;概念功能：建構(gòu)了經(jīng)驗?zāi)Ｐ秃瓦壿嬯P(guān)系Interpersonal function-enacts social relationships 人際功能：反映了社會關(guān)系textual functions-creates relevance to context. 語篇功能：創(chuàng)立了語言與語境的關(guān)系Halliday proposed seven categories of language functions by observing child language development, that is ,