Language.doc

1.Language(语言): Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.2.Linguistics:(语言学)Linguistics is usually defined as the science of language or alternatively as the scientific study of language.3.Phonetic(语音学:studies how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived.4.Phonology(音系学):Phonology is the study of the sound patterns and sound systems of languages.5.Morphology(形态学)：The systematic study of morphemes is a branch of linguistics called morphology, which investigates the internal structures and rules of morphemes by which words are formed.6.Syntax(句法):Syntax is the study of the rules governing the ways different constituents are combined to form sentences in a language, or the study of the interrelationships between elements in sentence structures.7.Semantics(语义学):the subject concerning the study of meaning is called Semantics. More specifically, semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular.8.pragmatics：（语用学）the study of language in use. 9.competence(语言能力)：A language user s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called his linguistic competence.10. Performance (语言运用):refers to the actual use of language in concrete situations.11. langue(语言)：refers to the language system shared by all the members of a speech community. 12. Parole（言语）：refers to the actual use of language by people in speech or writing.13. displacement（移位性）：displacement means that human language enable their users to symbolize objects, events, and concepts which are not present at the moment of communication.14. phoneme（音素）：A phoneme is a phonological unit; it is a unit that is of distinctive value. It is the smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish two words. To beexact, a phoneme is not a sound; it is a collection of distinctive phonetic features.15. Suprasegmental features(超音段特征): are those aspects of speech that involve more than single sound segments. The principal suprasegmentals are syllable(音节)stress, tone声调, and intonation语调. 16. epenthesis（增音）： A change that involves the insertion of a consonant or vowel sound to the middle of a word is known as epenthesis. 17. morpheme(语素)：is the smallest unit of language in regard to the relationship between sounding and meaning, a unit that cannot be divided into further smaller units without destroying or drastically altering the meaning.18. blending(混成法)：is a relatively complex form of compounding, in which two words are blended by joining together the initial part of the first word and the final part of the second word, or by only joining the initial parts of the two words.19. back-formation(逆构词法): refers to an abnormal type of word-formation where a shorter word is derived by deleting an imagined affix from a longer form already in the language. 20. sense (系统意义)：Sense is wholly internal to the language system. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form. It is abstract and decontextualized(脱离语境的). It is the aspect of meaning that dictionary compliers are interested in.21. reference(指称意义): Reference is concerned with the relation between a word and the things it refers to, or more generally between a linguistic unit and a non- linguistic entity it refers to. Reference is variable and utterance-dependent.Important short answers1. Why do linguists say language is human specific? First of all, human language has six“design features”which animal communication systems do not have, at least not in the true sense of them.secondly, linguistics 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 made the teachers happy but did not make the linguistic circle happy, for few believed in teaching chimpanzees. Thirdly ,a human child reared among animals cannot speak a human language, not even when he is taken back and taught to do so.2.What are the major distinctions between langue and parole?The distinction between langue, and parole was made by the famous linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to follow while parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules. Langue is abstract; it is not the language people actually use, but parole is concrete; it refers to the naturally occurring language events. Langue is relatively stable; it does not change frequently; while parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation.3. How do you understand competence and performance ?American linguist N. Chomsky in the late 1950s proposed the distinction between competence and performance. Chomsky defines competence as the ideal users knowledge of the rules of his language. This internalized set of rules enables the language user to produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences and recognize sentences that are ungrammatical and ambiguous. According to Chomsky, performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. Although the speakers knowledge of his mother tongue is perfect, his performance may have mistakes because of social and psychological factors such as stress, embarrassment, etc. Chomsky believes that what linguistic should study is the competence, which is systematic, not the performance, which is too haphazard.4. illustrate the relationship between phone, phoneme and allophone?Phone（音素):can be simply defined as the speech sounds we use when speaking a language that is individual. The smallest perceptible discrete segment of sound in a stream of speech. (in the mouth)Phoneme （音位）：A sound which is capable of distinguishing one word or one shape of a word from another in a given language is a phoneme. (in the mind)Allophone (音位变体) : phonic variants of a phoneme are called allophone of the same phoneme. 5. what are the criteria used in phonetic description of vowels?1. the height of tongue raising (high, mid, low); 2. the position of the highest part of the tongue (front, central, back); 3. the length or tenseness of the vowel (tense vs. lax or long vs. short),4. lip-rounding (rounded vs. unrounded).6. What are endocentric construction and exocentric construction? The endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent to that of one or more of its constituents. i.e., a word or a group of words, which serves as a definable centre or head. Usually noun phrases, verb phrases and adjective phrases belong to endocentric types because the constituent items are subordinate to the Head. A typical example is the three small children with children as its head.The exocentric construction is just the opposite of endocentric construction. It refers to a group of syntactically related words where none of the words is functionally equivalent to the group as a whole, that is, there is no definable “Centre” or “Head” inside the group. Exocentric construction usually includes basic sentence, prepositional phrase, predict construction, and connective construction. . Prepositional phrasal like on the shelf are typical examples of this type.7. what are the three kinds of antonyms(反义关系)?There are three kinds：gradable antonymy, complementary antonymy, and converse antonymy. Gradable antonymy(等级反义)n good - bad; long - short; big -small；old-youngn Can be modified by adverbs of degree like very.n Can have comparative and superlative degrees.n Have intermediate forms between the two extremes. e. g. hot warm cool coldn No absolute criterion. e. g. a big car/a small planen One member of a pair, usually the term for the higher degree serves as the cover term (unmarked). e. g. how old are you?Complementary antonymy互补反义关系alive dead male female present absent single marriedn the assertion of one member of the pair implies the denial of the other. It is a question of two term choice: yes or no.n This type of adjectives cannot be modified by very.n Dont have comparative or superlative degrees.n No cover term. You can ask “Is it a boy or a girl?” not “How male is it?”Converse antonymy/relational opposites 反向反义关系n buy sell lend borrow give receive Pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relational opposites.X is the parent of Y means the same as Y is the child of X.There are always two entities involved. And one presupposes the other.8. What is sense and what is reference? How are they related?Sense is wholly internal to the language system. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form. It is abstract and decontextualized(脱离语境的). It is the aspect of meaning that dictionary compliers are interested in. E.g. a domesticated canine mammal, occuring in many breeds that show a great variety in size and form.dog. Reference is concerned with the relation between a word and the things it refers to, or more generally between a linguistic unit and a non- linguistic entity it refers to. Reference is variable and utterance-dependent. E.g. it is a dog over there. It is a girl over there.The difference between sense and referenceEvery word has a sense. i.e. some conceptual context. But not every word has a reference. e. g. 1) Grammatical words like but, if, and do not refer to anything. 2) And words like unicorn, Santa Claus , God, ghost , fairy, demon and dragon refer to imaginary things, which do not exist in reality.3) Abstract words like sincerity, love dont have a concrete referent in the world. Whats more, it is not convenient to explain the meaning of a word in terms of the things it refers to. Therefore, people suggest that we should study meaning in terms of sense rather than reference. 9. How do you understand the sentence My brother Johnny is a fish in terms of semantic c