普通语言学的课件

1、Introduction general linguisticstoHello, my friendsAssessment:Performance in class 10%Homework out of class 10%Final examination 80%Public email: 1.1 Invitation to studying languageLanguage is a means of communication? The function of language is to exchange information?Language has a form-meaning c

2、orrespondence?Chalk the thing with which we can write.All languages have three major components: a sound system, a system of lexico-grammar and a system of semantics.Traffic systemSecret codeGood morning! 吃了吗？对歌Language operates by rules.Speakers of all languages employ a range of styles and a set o

3、f jargons. Languages are related to the societies and individuals who use them.Children learn their native language swiftly, efficiently and without instruction.A particular language:scientific language, trade language, etc.我在吃饭。 在我吃饭？You are speaking differently to your friend from to your teacher.

4、You are speaking differently from a student from a another university.妈妈，面面What is the difference between English majors and non-English majors in studying English?How we acquire language? To produce and perceive language? Relationship b/w language and thought, language and culture? How and when lan

5、guage originated?We study the universal properties of all speech/writing systems, the defining features of human language behavior as contrasted with animal system of communication or any artificial language.1.2 Definition of language of used for systemarbitrary vocal symbolshuman communication.a :l

6、anguage consists of a set of rules. Elements are arranged according to certain rules; they cannot be combined at will. no intrinsic connection b/w the word pen and the thing we use to write with. A rose by any name would smell as sweet. Words are symbols, because they have concrete signs-sounds, whi

7、ch can represent a certain meaning. Language is vocal because the primary medium is sound. Language is human-specific.System? He eats a tablearbitraryvocal symbolhumanVisual symbols: gestures, signal flags, and traffic lights;Auditory symbols: drum beats, bugle calls and whistle but not vocal (they

8、are not produced by speech organs).Linguistic symbols are various movements of speech organs. But not all sounds produced by speech organs are linguistic symbols, e.g. sneezes, coughs, grunts and cries.1.3 Design feature of languageThe defining features of human language that distinguish it from ani

9、mal system of communication.No matter how eloquently a dog may bark he cannot tell you that his parents were poor but honest. _ Bertrand RussellHuman language is more complicated and flexible, unrestrained by the immediate context and more capable of creating new meanings.1.3.1Arbitrariness Saussure

10、: the bond b/w the signifier/sound image and the signified/concept is arbitrary. A linguistic sign is composed of speech sounds and the idea. Why is it called book or shu in English and Chinese respectively?A dog barks wow wow in English, but wang wang in Chinese.2. Different levels of arbitrariness

11、:Less arbitrary at the syntactic level: iconicityIs it raining?下雨吗？He came and sat down. He sat down and came in.他买了鲜花，他女朋友很生气。他女朋友很生气，他买了鲜花。Sentences are constructed according to the grammar. There is a certain degree of correspondence b/w the sequence of clauses and real happenings.The most strict

12、ly arbitrary level of language exists in the distinctive units of sounds. Skin/skim, spare/scareWee, teeny are related to smallness. The position of the tongue is higher and front. Chip/chop, slip/slap, nib/knob, a freep is a little frope.3. There are cases where there seems to be some associations

13、b/w sounds and meaning.Onomatopoeic words imitate the natural sounds. bang, crash, roar扑通，轰隆，叮当Some compound words are not entirely arbitrary. Typewriter, air conditioner4. Arbitrariness and convention: once the pronunciation of a word has been established in a speech community, people cannot change

14、 it at will.Summary:The arbitrary nature makes it possible for language to have unlimited sources of expression. Potentially creative.The other side of the coin of arbitrariness is conventionality, which makes learning a language laborious. We should pay more attention to the conventionality of a la

15、nguage.Duality: double-structuredBirds sing bird, -s, and sing; Birds sing /b,:,d,z,s,i,/. Two levels: grammatically meaningful meaningless sounds Independent: the rules that govern the combination of sounds have no relation to the rules that govern the combination of meaningful units.For animals, t

16、he special calls have meanings but cannot be divided into elements.Every language has an infinite potentiality of creating new words with a limited set of distinct words/sound?. The number of words is relatively finite, but the number of sentences are infinite. We can understand and produce sentence

17、s we have never heard before. The speaker is able to combine the basic linguistic units to form an infinite set of sentences.The recursive nature of language provides a theoretical basis for its potential to create endless sentences. Information imparted by animals is limited and confined to a small

18、 set of messages.Productivity- creativity This is the house.This is the house that Jack built.This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.This is the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.Recursive: Displacement Human languages

19、 enables their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of communication.We can refer to Confucius, Athens, anything not present: real or imagined, in the past, present or future, in faraway places.We can talk about physically distant th

20、ings, understand concepts which denotes no things as truth, beauty. Cultural transmissionLanguage is passed on from one generation to the next by teaching and learning rather than by instinct.Animal call systems are genetically transmitted. Animals are born with the capacity to produce the set of ca

21、lls peculiar to their species. Changeable or interchangeableA language changes over a period of time in its sounds, vocabulary and grammar.Human beings are both a producer and a receiver of messages.A system of arbitrary vocal symbols, which is creative, double-structured, and changeable, and which

22、is culturally transmitted and can be used in a displaced way. 1.4 Origin of language1.4.1 the divine origin theoryIn the beginning was the word.God give Adam the power to name all things. People throughout the world believe language had the magical properties to make things happen. It was taboo to s

23、peak of sinking and overturn on a ship. 岁岁平安， 饺子皮挣了，1.4.2 the invention theoryBow-wow theory: in primitive times people imitated the sounds of the animal calls. Onomatopoeic wordsPooh-pooh theory: primitive ancestors utter instinctive sounds of pain, anger, and joy. Interjections Yo-he-ho theory: pe

24、ople produce some rhythmic grunts - chants-lang.dogCries of naturegrunts of men1.4.3 the evolution theoryIn the process of evolution man gradually stood up, finding a freer use of the lungs and the vocal cords, and more room for the movement of the vocal organs. Labour created the necessity for lang

25、uage. Men-in-the-making in joint activities demanded cooperation and communication.1.5 Function of languageJacobsonsReferentialcontextEmotiveaddresserConativeaddresseePoeticmessagePhaticcontactMetalingualcodeImperatives and vocativesIntonation showing angerpoetryHello Convey messageHallidays metafun

26、ctions of languageIdeational function: constructs a model of experience and logical relations;Interpersonal function: enacts social relationships;Textual function: creates relevance to text.1.5.1 Informative functionThe major role of language.Language is the instrument of thought and is used to tell

27、 what the speaker believes, to give information about facts. Expressed by declarative sentences. Ideational function in Hallidays theory.1.5.2 Interpersonal functionThe most important sociological use of language, by which people establish and maintain their status in a society.It is concerned with

28、interaction b/w the addresser and addressee in the discourse situation and the addressees attitude toward( dear professor, xiao li, yours)Function of of the expression of identity: the chanting of a crowd at a football match, the shouting of names or slogans at public meetingsLanguage marks our iden

29、tity physically in terms of age, sex and voiceprints; psychologically in terms of language and personality, intelligence; geographically in terms of accents, dialects; ethnically and socially in terms of social stratification, class, status, role, solidarity and distance.As a broad category, it seem

30、s to include the following performative, emotive, expressive and phatic function of language.1.5.3 Performative (Austin & Searle)Originates from philosophical study of language, primarily to change the social status of persons. Marriage ceremonies, the sentencing of criminals, the blessing of childr

31、en, the naming of a ship, etc.I declare the meeting open.I declare the war open, a student says. ?1.5.4 Emotive Crucial in changing the emotional status of an audience for or against sth or someone. It is a means of getting rid of our nervous energy, e.g. God, my, Damn it, what a sight, wow.Under th

32、e term expressive function: can be entirely personal and without any communications to others. A man may mutter “Damn” when realizing he has forgotten an appointment.1.5.5 EvocativeTo create certain feeling in the hearer, e.g. to amuse, startle, anger, soothe, worry, please. Often in joke, advertisi

33、ng or propaganda.The expressive and the evocative functions often go hand in hand.1.5.6 Phatic communionOriginates from Malinowskis study of the functions of language.Used to maintain a comfortable relationship b/w people without involving any factual content. Different cultures have different topic

34、s of phatic communion.A woman in Burundi may say “I must go home now, or my husband will beat me”我得回家做饭了/接孩子了。Greetings, farewells, comments on weather all serve this purpose.1.5.7 Recreational / poetic For the sheer joy of playing on language. Verbal dueling, 相声，小品Children love the repetitive rhyth

35、ms in the game; adults have their way to appreciate language for its own sake, such as poetry writing.1.5.8 Metalingual functionThe word book has four letters. Instead of saying 我吃了，I say吃了， 我Language can be used to talk about itself. This make the language infinitely self-reflexive. We can talk abo

36、ut talk and think about thinking. 1.6 MicrolinguisticsLinguistics: the science of language, the scientific study of language.General linguistics: developing a theory that describes the rules of human language in general.Particular/descriptive linguistics: attempts to establish a model that describes

37、 the rules of a particular language. Complementary. GL provides DL a framework; the resulting description of particular languages supply empirical evidence which may confirm or refute the models put forward by GL.Not learning, but investigation or examinationScientific in linguisticsFour steps: gath

38、er data concerning languages; construct a tentative rule, examine the tentative rule, finalize the rule.Objectivity:the linguist should see and describe a language as it is, get rid of all linguistic biases.Some languages are primitive and some are advanced;Only the standard variety is the pure form

39、 of a language.PhoneticsPhonologyMorphologySyntaxPragmaticsSemanticsPhonetics The study of speech sounds, including the production of speech, the sounds of speech, the description and classification of speech sounds.Articulatory phonetics: the study of speech organs and their function;Acoustic phone

40、tics: the physical properties of the sound waves;Auditory phonetics: the perception of sounds by the human ear.Phonology Studies the rules governing the structure, distribution and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables.It deals with the sound pattern of a language by treating phonem

41、e as the smallest linguistic unit of sound that can signal a difference in meaning. In peter and ship, there is only one phoneme /p/, but two different phonetic sounds.Morphology The internal organization of words. It studies the minimal units of meaning morphemes and word formation processes.In Eng

42、lish word order and morphological additions can change the meaning of an utterance.The dog sees the cat.The cat sees the dog. Syntax The rules governing the combination of words into sentences. The rules specify word order, sentence organization, the relationship between words, word classes and othe

43、r elements.The man watched the firework from the hill.has two possible meanings.Semantics Studies the meaning of language, including morphemes, words, and sentences.Semantic components, denotation of words, sense relations b/w words such as antonymy and synonymy, sense relations b/w sentences such a

44、s entailment and presupposition. Good/badWhy did you beat your wife?You have beaten your wife.Pragmatics The study of meaning in context.It deals with particular utterances in particular situations, concerned with the way language is used to communicated rather than with the way language is structur

45、ed.When you say “I have homework”, you may refuse my invitation to seeing a film.1.7 Macrolinguistics (interdisciplinary)PsycholinguisticsSociolinguisticsAnthropological linguisticsComputational linguisticsStylisticsSecond language acquisitionPsycholinguisticsInvestigates the interrelation of langua

46、ge and mind. The psycholinguistic constraints on the form of grammar, language development in the child, the relationship b/w language and cognition.Sociolinguistics An umbrella term which covers a variety of different interests in language and society, including the social functions of language and

47、 the social characteristics of language varieties.The study of the characteristics of language varieties, that of their functions and that of their speakers.Educated and uneducated; formal variety used on formal occasion.Anthropological linguisticsInterested in the history and structure of formerly

48、unwritten languages. Concerned with the emergence and divergence of languages.Compare contemporary languages, draw inferences.Q: Did two languages diverge from a common ancestral language?Computational linguisticsThe use of computers to process or produce human language/natural language vs. computer

49、 language.E.g. machine translation, information retrieval, etc.Mathematical linguistics: studies the mathematical features of language, e.g. statistical techniques to analyze frequency of distribution of linguistic units in texts.Neurolinguistics:StylisticsTo fully appreciate a literary text mere li

50、nguistic intuition is not enough. A principled analysis of language can make our commentary on the effects less impressionistic and subjective.E.g. Oh, no! (breathy voice 送气) for hear; terrible! (creaky voice) for emphasis; wonderful! (falsetto) for artistic effect.1.8.1 Descriptive vs. prescriptive

51、People dont say its me; descriptivePeople shouldnt say its me. PrescriptiveD describes and analyzes facts observed; P lays down rules for correct behavior.In the 18th century all the main European languages were studied prescriptively. A matter of black or white, right or wrong.Modern linguists beli

52、eve that whatever occurs in natural speech should be described in their analysis. New words and structure should not be stopped, should be explained.1.8.2 Synchronic vs. diachronicSynchronic: the description of a language at some point in time; priority 五 四时期的白话研究Diachronic : the study of a language

53、 through the course of its history.No sharp line b/w these two aspects of language studies. Language is in a state of changing. no moment when a language remains static for our description; the language of any speech community is never uniform; it is not the case that one set of features are suddenly replaced by another set.Synchrony is a fiction, for language changes as the minute