《英语语言学概论》重难点问与答

1、Questions & Answers on Key Points of Linguistics 英语语言学概论重、难点问与答 1.1. What is language? “Language is system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. It is a system, since linguistic elements are arranged systematically, rather than randomly. Arbitrary, in the sense that there is u

2、sually no intrinsic connection between a work (like “book”) and the object it refers to. This explains and is explained by the fact that different languages have different “books”: “book” in English, “livre” in French, in Japanese, in Chinese, “check” in Korean. It is symbolic, because words are ass

3、ociated with objects, actions, ideas etc. by nothing but convention. Namely, people use the sounds or vocal forms to symbolize what they wish to refer to. It is vocal, because sound or speech is the primary medium for all human languages, developed or “new”. Writing systems came much later than the

4、spoken forms. The fact that small children learn and can only learn to speak (and listen) before they write (and read) also indicates that language is primarily vocal, rather than written. The term “human” in the definition is meant to specify that language is human specific. 1.2. What are design fe

5、atures 结构特点of language? “Design features” here refer to the defining properties of human language that tell the difference between human language and any system of animal communication. They are arbitrariness, duality, productivity, displacement, cultural transmission and interchangeability 1.3. Wha

6、t is arbitrariness? By “arbitrariness”, we mean there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds (see I .1). A dog might be a pig if only the first person or group of persons had used it for a pig. Language is therefore largely arbitrary. But language is not absolutely seem to be some soun

7、d-meaning association, if we think of echo words, like “bang”, “crash”, “roar”, which are motivated in a certain sense. Secondly, some compounds (words compounded to be one word) are not entirely arbitrary either. “Type” and “write” are opaque or unmotivated words, while “type-writer” is less so, or

8、 more transparent or motivated than the words that make it. So we can say “arbitrariness” is a matter of degree. Linguists refer “duality” (of structure) to the fact that in all languages so far investigated, one finds two levels of structure or patterning. At the first, higher level, language is an

9、alyzed 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 which lack any meaning in themselves, but which combine to form units of meaning. According to Hu Zhanglin et al. (p.6), language is a system of two s

10、ets of structures, one of sounds and the other of meaning. This is important for the workings of language. A small number of semantic units (words), and these units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences (note that we have dictionaries of words, but no diction

11、ary of sentences!). Duality makes it possible for a person to talk about anything within his knowledge. No animal communication system enjoys this duality, or even approaches this honor. Productivity refers to the ability to the ability to construct and understand an indefinitely large number of sen

12、tences in ones native language, including those that has never heard before, but that are appropriate to the speaking situation. No one has ever said or heard “A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the small hotel bed with an African gibbon”, but he can say it when necessary, and he can understand it in

13、 right register. Different from artistic creativity, though, productivity never goes outside the language, thus also called “rule-bound creativity” (by N.Chomsky).“Displacement”, as one of the design features of the human language, refers to the fact that one can talk about things that are not prese

14、nt, as easily as he does things present. In other words, one can refer to real and unreal things, things of the past, of the present, of the future. Language itself can be talked about too. When a man, for example, is crying to a woman, about something, it might be something that had occurred, or so

15、mething that is occurring, or something that is to occur. When a dog is barking, however, you can decide it is barking for something or at someone that exists now and there. It couldnt be bow wowing sorrowfully for dome lost love or a bone to be lost. The bees system, nonetheless, has a small share

16、of “displacement”, but it is an unspeakable tiny share.文化传递? This means that language is not biologically transmitted from generation to generation, but that the details of the linguistic system must be learned anew by each speaker. It is true that the capacity for language in human beings (N. Choms

17、ky called it “language acquisition device”, or LAD) has a genetic basis, but the particular language a person learns to speak is a cultural one other than a genetic one like the dogs barking system. If a human being is brought up in isolation he cannot acquire language. The Wolf Child reared by the

18、pack of wolves turned out to speak the wolfs roaring “tongue” when he was saved. He learned thereafter, with no small difficulty, the ABC of a certain human language.可交换性 (1) Interchangeability means that any human being can be both a producer and a receiver of messages. We can say, and on other occ

19、asions can receive and understand, for example, “Please do something to make me happy.” Though some people (including me) suggest that there is sex differentiation 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 sente

20、nce 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 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 poss

21、ible and acceptable. (2) Some male birds, however, utter some calls, which females do not (or cannot?), and certain kinds of fish have similar haps mentionable. When a dog barks, all the neighboring dogs bark. Then people around can hardly tell which dog (dogs) is (are0 “speaking” and which listenin

22、g.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 (see I .2-8). Lets borrow C. F. Hockets Chart that compares human language with some animals systems, from Wang Gang (1998,p.8). Secondly, linguists have do

23、ne a lot trying to teach animals such as chimpanzees to speak a human language but have achieved nothing inspiring. Beatnice and Alan Gardner brought up Washoe, a female chimpanzee, like a human child. She was taught “American sign Language”, and learned a little that made the teachers happy but did

24、 mot make the linguistics 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 lo to so (see the “Wolf Child”in I.7) Language has at least seven functions: phatic, directive, In

25、formative, interrogative, expressive, evocative and per formative. According to Wang Gang (1988,p.11), language has three main functions: a tool of communication, a tool whereby people learn about the world, and a tool by which people learn about the world, and a tool by which people create art. M .

26、A. K.Halliday, representative of the London school, recognizes three “Macro-Functions”: ideational, interpersonal and textual (see! 11-17;see HU Zhuanglin et al., pp10-13, pp394-396). 1. 11What is the phatic function?交际功能 The “phatic function” refers to language being used for setting up a certain a

27、tmosphere or maintaining social contacts (rather than for exchanging information or ideas). Greetings, farewells, and comments on the weather in English and on clothing in Chinese all serve this function. Much of the phatic language (e.g. “How are you?” “Fine, thanks.”) Is insincere if taken literal

28、ly, but it is important. If you don't say “Hello” to a friend you meet, or if you dont answer his “Hi”, you ruin your friendship.1.12. What is the directive指令 function? The “directive function” means that language may be used to get the hearer to do something. Most imperative sentences perform t

29、his function, e.g., “Tell me the result when you finish.” Other syntactic structures or sentences of other sorts can, according to J.Austin and J.Searles “indirect speech act theory”(see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp271-278) at least, serve the purpose of direction too, e.g., “If I were you, I would have

30、blushed to the bottom of my ears!” 教育性的 function? Language serves an “informational function” when used to tell something, characterized by the use of declarative sentences. Informative statements are often labeled as true (truth) or false (falsehood). According to P.Grices “Cooperative Principle”(s

31、ee Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp282-283), one ought not to violate the “Maxim of Quality”, when he is informing at all. 疑问的 function? When language is used to obtain information, it serves an “interrogative function”. This includes all questions that expect replies, statements, imperatives etc., according

32、 to the “indirect speech act theory”, may have this function as well, e.g., “Id like to know you better.” This may bring forth a lot of personal information. Note that rhetorical questions make an exception, since they demand no answer, at least not the readers/listeners answer. 表达功能The “expressive

33、function” is the use of language to reveal something about the feelings or attitudes of the speaker. Subconscious emotional ejaculations are good examples, like “Good heavens!” “My God!” Sentences like “Im sorry about the delay” can serve as good examples too, though in a subtle way. While language

34、is used for the informative function to pass judgment on the truth or falsehood of statements, language used for the expressive function evaluates, appraises or asserts the speakers own attitudes. 唤起的 function? The “evocative function” is the use of language to create certain feelings in the hearer.

35、 Its aim is, for example, to amuse, startle, antagonize, soothe, worry or please. Jokes (not practical jokes, though) are supposed to amuse or entertain the listener; advertising to urge customers to purchase certain commodities; propaganda to influence public opinion. Obviously, the expressive and

36、the evocative functions often go together, i.e., you may express, for example, your personal feelings about a political issue but end up by evoking the same feeling in, or imposing it on, your listener. Thats also the case with the other way round. formative function? 表述行为This means people speak to

37、“do things” or perform actions. On certain occasions the utterance itself as an action is more important than what words or sounds constitute the uttered sentence. When asked if a third Yangtze Bridge ought to be built in Wuhan, the mayor may say, “OK”, which means more than speech, and more than an

38、 average social individual may do for the construction. The judges imprisonment sentence, the presidents war or independence declaration, etc., are per formatives as well (see J.Austins speech Act Theory, Hu Zhuanglin, ecal.pp271-278). 1.18.What is linguistics? 语言学“Linguistics” is the scientific stu

39、dy of language. It studies not just one language of any one society, but also the language of all human beings. A linguist, though, does not have to know and use a large number of languages, but to investigate how each language is constructed. He is also concerned with how a language varies from dia

40、lect to dialect, from class to class, how it changes from century to century, how children acquire their mother tongue, and perhaps how a person learns or should learn a foreign language. In short, linguistics studies the general principles whereupon all human languages are constructed and operate a

41、s systems of communication in their societies or communities (see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp20-22) Since linguistics is the scientific study of language, it ought to base itself upon the systematic, investigation of language data, which aims at discovering the true nature of language and its underlying

42、 system. To make sense of the data, a linguist usually has conceived some hypotheses about the language structure, to be checked against the observed or observable facts. In order to make his analysis scientific, a linguist is usually guided by four principles: exhaustiveness, consistency, and objec

43、tivity. Exhaustiveness means he should gather all the materials relevant to the study and give them an adequate explanation, in spite of the complicatedness. He is to leave no linguistic “stone” unturned. Consistency means there should be no contradiction between different parts of the total stateme

44、nt. Economy means a linguist should pursue brevity in the analysis when it is possible. Objectivity implies that since some people may be subjective in the study, a linguist should be (or sound at least) objective, matter-of-face, faithful to reality, so that his work constitutes part of the linguis

45、tics research. 共时性 and diachronic历时性 studies? The description of a language at some point of time (as if it stopped developing) is a synchrony study (synchrony). The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study (diachronic). An essay entitled “On the Use of THE”, for ex

46、ample, may be synchronic, if the author does not recall the past of THE, and it may also be diachronic if he claims to cover a large range or period of time wherein THE has undergone tremendous alteration (see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp25-27). (1) No one needs the repetition of the general principle of

47、 linguistic analysis, namely, the primacy of speech over writing. Speech is primary; because it existed long long before writing systems came into being. Genetically children learn to speak before learning to write. Secondly, written forms just represent in this way or that the speech sounds: indivi

48、dual sounds, as in English and French as in Japanese. (2) In contrast to speech, spoken form of language, writing as written codes, gives language new scope and use that speech does not have. Firstly, messages can be carried through space so that people can write to each other. Secondly, messages ca

49、n be carried through time thereby, so that people of our time can be carried through time thereby, so that people of our time can read Beowulf, Samuel Johnson, and Edgar A. Poe. Thirdly, oral messages are readily subject to distortion, either intentional or unintentional (causing misunderstanding or

50、 malentendu), while written messages allow and encourage repeated unalterable reading. (3) Most modern linguistic analysis is focused on speech, different from grammarians of the last century and theretofore. 描写性 and the prescriptive 规范性approaches? A linguistic study is “descriptive” if it only desc

51、ribes and analyses the facts of language, and “prescriptive” if it tries to lay down rules for “correct” language behavior. Linguistic studies before this century were largely prescriptive because many early grammars were largely prescriptive because many early grammars were based on “high” (literar

52、y or religious) written records. Modern linguistics is mostly descriptive, however. It (the latter) believes that whatever occurs in natural speech (hesitation, incomplete utterance, misunderstanding, etc.) should be described in the analysis, and not be marked as incorrect, abnormal, corrupt, or lo

53、usy. These, with changes in vocabulary and structures, need to be explained also. 语言 and parole言语? F. De Saussure refers “langue”to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community and refers “parole” to the actual or actualized language, or the realization of langue. L

54、angue is abstract, parole specific to the speaking situation; langue not actually spoken by an individual, parole always a naturally occurring event; langue relatively stable and systematic, parole is a mass of confused facts, thus not suitable for systematic investigation. What a linguist ought to

55、do, according to Saussure, is to abstract langue from instances of parole, I. e. to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make than the subject of linguistics. The langue-parole distinction is of great importance, which casts great influence on later linguists. 能力 and perfo

56、rmance绩效? (1) According to N. Chomsky, “competence” is the ideal language users knowledge of the rules of his language, and “performance” is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances. The former enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recogni

57、ze grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speakers competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speakers performance does not always match or equal his supposed competence. (2) Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rat

58、her than performance. In other words, they should discover what an ideal speaker knows of his native language. (3) Chomskys competence-performance distinction is not exactly the same as, though similar to, F. de Saussures langue-parole distinction. Langue is a social product, and a set of convention

59、s for a community, while competence is deemed as a property of the mind of each individual. Sussure looks at language more from a sociological or sociolinguistic point of view than N. Chomsky since the latter deals with his issues psychologically or psycholinguistically.潜能What is actual linguistic behavior? M. A. K. Halliday made these two terms, or the potential-behavior distinction, in the 1960s, from a functional point of view. There is a wide range of things a spea