第二讲-what-is-language获奖课件

Lecture2:WhatisLanguage?

Aimsforthislecture1.Definitionsforlanguage2.Featuresoflanguage3.Originsoflanguage4.FormsofLanguage5.FunctionsoflanguageQuestions:1.Whatifwehadnolanguage?2.Whatislanguage?3.Islanguageimportant?Isitmoreimportantthan(lessimportant,asimportantas)oureyes,hands,earsorlegs?1.Definitions《辞海》（1989年版，第446页）人类最主要旳交际工具。它同思维有亲密旳联系，是人类思维和体现思想旳手段，也是人类社会最基本旳信息载体。人们借助语言保存和传递人类文明旳成果。语言是人区别于其他动物旳本质特征之一。共同旳语言又常是民族旳特征。语言是以语音为物质外壳，以语词为建筑材料，以语法为构造规律而构成旳符号体系。语言是一种特殊旳社会现象，它伴随社会旳产生而产生，发展而发展。语言没有阶级性，一视同仁地为社会各阶层服务。社会各阶级，阶层或社会集群也会影响到语言，因而造成语言在使用上旳不同特点或差别。Language“isnottobeconfusedwithhumanspeech,ofwhichitisonlyadefinitepart,thoughcertainlyanessentialone.Itisbothasocialproductofthefacultyofspeechandacollectionofnecessaryconventionsthathavebeenadoptedbyasocialbodytopermitindividualstoexercisethatfaculty”.(FerdinanddeSaussure1857-1913)[Languageis]asetof(finiteorinfinite)sentences,eachinfiniteinlengthandconstructedoutofafinitesetofelements.(Chomsky,1957)Languageisapurelyhumanandnon-instinctivemethodofcommunicatingideas,emotionsanddesiresbymeansofvoluntarilyproducedsymbols.(Sapir,1921)Alanguageisasystemofarbitrary

vocalsymbolsbymeansofwhichasocialgroupco-operates.”--BernardBloch(1907-1965)&GeorgeTrager(1906-1992):OutlineofLinguisticAnalysis(1942)Alanguageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsbymeansofwhichthemembersofasocietyinteractintermsoftheirtotalculture.”--GeorgeTrager:TheFieldofLinguistics(1949)“Languageisasystemofarbitrary

vocal

symbolsusedforhumancommunication.”--RonaldWardhaugh:IntroductiontoLinguistics(1977)Languageisameansofverbalcommunication.Itisinstrumentalinthatcommunicatingbyspeakingorwritingisapurposefulact.Itissocialandconventionalinthatlanguageisasocialsemioticandcommunicationcanonlytakeplaceeffectivelyifalltheusersshareabroadunderstandingofhumaninteractionincludingsuchassociatedfactorsasnonverbalcues,motivation,andsocio-culturalroles.--Huzhuanglin(2023)Inbroadterms,linguistsagreetodefinelanguageasasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.

Liao,Meizhen(2023)语言是什么？语言是人。人是什么？人是语言。Weexistbecausewespeak.（我说故我在）。Manismanonlywhenmandoesnotregard(take)languageasatool.（只有当人不把语言作工具旳时候，人才成为真正意义旳人）。当人把语言看成工具旳时候，人觉得自己是主人，其实人是奴隶。当人不论是在显意识还是潜意识中都不把语言看成工具旳时候，人才干真正地得到解放，人文精神才真正地实现。不然人永远是奴隶。把语言看作工具永远无法得到语言和语言研究旳真谛。QianGuanlian(2023)语言是人类旳最终家园:人活在语言中,人不得不活在语言中,人活在程式性语言行为中.语言实际上是人类旳一种社会活动.是一种行为.顾曰国(2023)“学一门语言是懂一种人旳心声，懂一种文化。就是整个文化旳大门给你开放了，整个文明给你开放了。

我感觉语言这个东西，不要把它看成是一种简朴旳符号。它是一种心。另外对于个人来说，是一种文化旳大门，一种文明旳大门向你开放了，这个太有意思。我目前正在准备学蒙古语。我想看看蒙古人怎么看世界。”

Definedassuch,languageisseenasuniquetohumanbeings.Animalcommunicationsystems(birdchips,beedances,dogbarks,andsoon),areallexcluded.Isthisjustified?Arecommunicationsystemspossessedbyothercreaturesqualitativelydifferentfromhumanlanguages?2.DesignFeaturesofhumanlanguagesDesignfeaturesoflanguagedifferentiateitfromallotherformsofsignalingandwhichmakeitauniquetypeofcommunicationsystem.ArbitrarinessDualityProductivityDisplacementCulturaltransmissionDiscretenessInterchangeability

ReflexivityArbitrarinessLanguageisarbitrary.Alllanguagesarearbitrary.

Arbitrariness

Therelationshipbetweenspeechsoundsandthemeaningstheyrepresentinthelanguagesoftheworldis,forthemostpart,anarbitraryone.TheSwisslinguistdeSaussureregardedthelinguisticsignascomposedofsignifier(soundimage)andsignified(referent).Inhisview,thereisnoinherent

relationbetweenthetwo.Forthemajorityofanimalsignals,theredoesappeartobeaclearconnectionbetweentheconveyedmessageandthesignalusedtoconveyit.Animalsignalingisnon-arbitrary.DualityLanguageisorganizedattwolevelsorlayerssimultaneously.Thispropertyiscalledduality.Or‘doublearticulation’.Atonelevel,wehavedistinctsounds,and,atanotherlevel,wehavedistinctmeanings.Thisisimportantfortheworkingsoflanguage.Asmallnumberofsoundscanbegroupedandregroupedintoalargenumberofunitsofmeaning(words),andtheunitsofmeaningcanbearrangedandrearrangedintoaninfinitenumberofsentences.Noanimalcommunicationsystemhasduality.Thebarksofadogarenotanalyzable.Animalcommunicationsystemscannotbecutintosegmentsandthenbereorganizedintomeaningfulsequences.Inotherwords,humanlanguagesarediscretewhileanimalcommunicationsystemsarenon-discrete.DiscretenessThefactthatthepronunciationoftheformspackandback

leadstoadistinctioninmeaningcanonlybeduetothedifferencebetweenthe

p

and

b

soundsinEnglish.Thispropertyoflanguageisdescribedasdiscreteness.Wehaveaverydiscreteviewofthesoundsofourlanguageandwhereverapronunciationfallswithinthephysicallypossiblerangeofsounds,itwillbeinterpretedasalinguisticallyspecificandmeaningfullydistinctsound.Creativity/productivityLanguageisresourcefulbecauseofitsdualityanditsrecursiveness.Wecanuseittocreatenewmeanings.Wordscanbeusedinnewwaystomeannewthings,andcanbeinstantlyunderstoodbypeoplewhohavenevercomeacrossthatusagebefore.

Creativity/productivity

Itreferstothefactthatlanguageprovidesopportunitiesforsendingmessagesthathaveneverbeensentbeforeandforunderstandingnovelmessages.Thegrammaticalrulesandthewordsofalanguagearefinite,butthesentencesareinfinite.Everyspeakeruseslanguagecreatively.Evenachildacquiringhismothertonguecanputspeechsoundsandwordsintonovelcombinationstoexpressmeanings.Thisfeatureisnotfoundinanimalcommunicationsystems.Talkingbirdssuchasparrotscanimitate

humanutterances.(a)Makeupnewwords三个代表,hypertext,toyboy(b)Useoldwordsinnewways

Cool……(c)Composeinfinitesentences

YouknowIknowyouknowIknowyouknow……Heboughtabookwhichwaswrittenbyateacherwhotaughtinaschoolwhichwasknownforitsgraduateswho...DisplacementHumanlanguage-userscanrefertopastandfuturetime,andtootherlocations.Thispropertyofhumanlanguageiscalleddisplacement.Itallowstheusersoflanguagetotalkaboutthingsandeventsnotpresentintheimmediateenvironment.Displacementbenefitshumanbeingsbygivingusthepowertohandlegeneralizationsandabstractions.Oncewecantalkaboutphysicallydistantthing,weacquiretheabilitytounderstandconceptswhichdenote“non-things”,suchastruthandbeauty.Animalcommunicationisgenerallyconsideredtolackthisproperty.Itseemsthatanimalcommunicationisalmostexclusivelydesignedforthismoment,hereandnow.Itcannoteffectivelybeusedtorelateeventswhicharefarremovedintimeandplace.Aphilosopheroncemarked“Nomatterhoweloquentlyadogmaybark,hecannottellyouthathisparentswerepoorbuthonest.”Thecleverestdogcannotbarktotellothershowbadlyitsparentsweretreatedbytheirowner.Animalcommunicationisnormallyunder“immediatestimuluscontrol”.Forinstance,awarningcryofabirdinstantlyannouncesdanger.Humanlanguageisstimulus-free.Whatwearetalkingaboutneednotbetriggeredbyanyexternalstimulusintheworldoranyinternalstate.Thisfeatureoflanguageisduetothefactthatthehumanbrainisspeciallystructuredforlanguageandthatthebrainsofotherspeciesarenotcomparableintermsofthecapacitiesofmemoryandabstraction.However,ithasbeenproposedthatbeecommunicationdoeshavethepropertyofdisplacement.Thehoneybee'sdanceexhibitsdisplacementalittlebit:hecanrefertoasourceoffood,whichisremoteintimeandspacewhenhereportsonit.CulturalTransmissionAChinesespeakerandanEnglishspeakerarenotmutuallyintelligible.Thisshowsthatlanguageisculturallytransmitted.Thatis,itispassedonfromonegenerationtothenextbyteachingandlearning,ratherthanbyinstinct.WhileIthasbeenarguedthathumansarebornwithanpredispositiontoacquirelanguage,itisclearthattheyarenotbornwiththeabilitytoproduceutterancesinaspecificlanguage.Aslanguageisarbitraryandconventional,achildcanonlyacquirehismothertonguethroughinteractingwithpeoplearound.Animalcallsystemsaregeneticallytransmitted.InterchangeabilityAllmembersofaspeechcommunitycansendandreceivemessages.Thisisobviouslytrueofallhumanlanguages,butnotofallanimalcommunicationsystems.Beedancesarenotinterchangeable;onlyforagerssendmessages.Noraresongsofmanybirds;onlyroosterscrow.

Reflexivity

Humanlanguagescanbeusedtodescribethemselves.Thelanguageusedtotalkaboutlanguageiscalledmetalanguage.e.g.,Whatdoyoumean?Imean…..word,sentence,this,that…..Linguistshaveobservedothercharacteristics,buttheonesdiscussedabovearemorestriking,particularlythefeaturesofdualityandcreativity.Theseareuniversalfeaturespossessedbyallhumanlanguages.Althoughsomeanimalcommunicationsystemspossess,toaverylimiteddegree,oneoranotherofthesefeaturesexceptcreativityandduality,noneisfoundtohaveallthefeatures.Languagedistinguisheshumanbeingsfromanimalsinthatitisfarmoresophisticatedthananyanimalcommunicationsystem.Onthisbasislinguiststendtoconcludethathumanlanguagesarequalitativelydifferentfromanimalcommunicationsystems.Humanlanguageisauniqueformofcommunication.Question:Wouldothercreaturesbeabletounderstandandproducethisspecializedhumanmodeofexpression?Humanlanguage:uniqueformofcommunicationOthercreaturescannotdevelopanunderstandingofhumanmodeofexpressionStimulus-responseofanimals:RiderssayWHOASayHeeltodogsCircusanimalsgoUp,Down,Rollover,etcDifficulttoconceiveanimals“understanding”humanlanguage,evenlesslikelytoproducehumanlanguageOnespeciesofanimalsdonotproducethesignalsofanotherspecies.HorsewillnotlearntoproduceMooamongcows;PuppyandbabygrowingtogetherChimpanzeesandLanguage99%basicgeneticsincommonwithhuman1930s,2scientists(LuellaandWithropKellogg)raisedchimpwiththeirsonandcouldunderstand100words,butcouldnotproduce1940s,(CatherineandKeithHayes)chimpVikilivinglikeahumanchild,shapinghermouth,itmanagedtoproducesomewords:mama,papa,cupRemarkableachievementsinceotherprimatesdonotpossessthehumanvocaltractsuitableforproducinghumanspeechsoundsWehaveansweredsomequestions,butnotall.Westilldonothaveanuncontroversialdefinitionof“usinglanguage”.Butgiventhemassofevidnecefromthestudies,wemightsuggestthatthelinguistNoamChomskyshouldrevisehisclaimthat“acquisitionofeventhebarestrudimentsoflanguageisquitebeyondthecapacitiesofanotherwiseintelligibleape”.Chimpanzeeshaveobviouscapacitytocopewiththe“barestrudimentsoflangauge”wecertainlyhave.3.OriginoflanguageQuestion:Whatistheoriginoflanguage?

Spokenformoflanguage---writtenformoflanguage---noevidencerelatingtothespeech---speculationsThe‘Divine’origin

神授说Inmostreligions,thereappearstobeadivinesourcewhoprovideshumanswithlanguage.Christianbelief,GodcreatedAdamand“whatsoeverAdamcalledeverylivingcreature,thatwasthenamethereof”(Genesis2:19)Afewexperimentshavebeencarriedout,withratherconflictingresults.Thebasichypothesis

seemstohavebeenthat,ifinfantswereallowedtogrowupwithouthearinganylanguage,thentheywouldspontaneouslybeginusingtheoriginalGod-givenlanguage.TheConclusion1)Itisunfortunatethatallothercasesofchildrenwhohavebeendiscoveredlivinginisolation,withoutcomingintocontactwithhumanspeech,tendnottoconfirmtheresultsofeitherofthese“divine-source”experiments.2)Childrenlivingwithoutaccesstohumanspeechintheirearlyyearsgrowupwithnolanguageatall.The“bow-wow”theory

(Thenatural-soundsource)

1)

ImitatingnaturalsoundsInprimitivetimespeopleimitatedthesoundsoftheanimalcallsinthewildenvironmentandspeechdevelopedfromthat.Onomatopoeic

wordsseemtobeaconvenientevidenceforthistheory.Buttheyareverydifferentinthedegreeofresemblancetheyexpresswiththenaturalsounds.Thistheorylackssupportiveevidence.2)The“pooh-pooh”theoryInthehardlifeofourprimitiveancestors,theyutterinstinctivesoundsofpain,angerandjoy.Asforevidence,wecanonlycitetheuniversaluseofsoundsasinterjections.Whatmakesthetheoryproblematicisthatthereisonlyalimitednumberofinterjectionsinalmostalllanguages.3)The“yo-heave-ho”theory

Asprimitivepeopleworkedtogether,theyproducedsomerhythmicgruntswhichgraduallydevelopedintochantsandthenintolanguage.Wedohaveprosodicuseofrhythmsinlanguages,butrhythmicgruntsarefardifferentfromlanguageinitspresentsense.

Theoral-gesturesource1)Onesuggestionregardingtheoriginsofthesoundsoflanguageinvolvesalinkbetweenphysicalgestureandorallyproducedsounds.2)The“oral-gesture”theoryproposesanextremelyspecificconnectionbetween

physicalandoralgesture.Glossogenetics

言语遗传学

1)Glossogeneticsfocusesmainlyonthebiologicalbasisoftheformationanddevelopmentofhumanlanguage.2)Thereisaconcentrationonsomeofthephysicalaspectsofhumansthatarenotsharedwithanyothercreatures,inthisapproach.Physiologicaladaptation

生理顺应Teeth,lips,mouth,tonguelarynx,pharynx.ThehumanBrainTheby-nowfruitlesssearchfortheoriginoflanguagesreflectspeople'sconcernwiththeoriginofhumanityandmaycomeupwithenlighteningfindingsinfuture.Onethingwecansayforcertainisthatlanguageevolveswithinspecifichistorical,socialandculturalcontexts.

4.FormsoflanguageVerylargenumberoflanguagesusedinspokenform;Developmentofwriting—arecentthing;Cavedrawings–20,000yearsago;Claytokens–10,000yearsago;Alphabeticscript–inscriptions3,000yearsago.Ancientwritingsystemfoundonstoneortabletsinruinedcities.Thedevelopmentofwriting1)Pictogramsandideograms（象形和表意）2)Logograms（语标书写法）3)Rebuswriting（字谜书写法）4)Syllabicwriting（音节书写法）5)Alphabeticwriting（字母书写法）1)PictogramsandideogramsWhensomeofthe“pictures”(ofcavedrawings)cametorepresentparticularimagesinaconsistentway,wecanbegintodescribetheproductasaformofpicture-writing,orpictogramsIdeogrammeansideapictureorideawriting.Inordertoexpresstheattributeofanobjectorconceptsassociatedwithit,thepictogram’smeaninghadtobeextended.Forinstance,apictureofthesundoesnotnecessarilyrepresenttheobjectitself,butconnotates“warmth”,“heat”,“light”,“daytime”,etc.2)LogogramsAgoodexampleoflogographicwritingisthatusedbytheSumerians,inthesouthernpartofmodernIraq,between5,000and6,000yearsago.Becauseoftheparticularshapesusedintheirsymbols,theseinscriptionsaremoregenerallydescribedascuneiformwriting.Theterm“cuneiform”means“wedge-shaped”.Theformofthissymbolreallygivesnocluetowhattypeofentityisbeingreferredto.Therelationshipbetweenthewrittenformandtheobjectitrepresentshasbecomearbitrary.TheearliestknownwritingsystemChinesewrittensymbolsorcharacters.Theadvantageandthedisadvantage.3)RebuswritingOnewayofusingexistingsymbolstorepresentthesoundsoflanguageisviaaprocessknownasRebuswriting.Inthisprocess,thesymbolsforoneentityistakenoverasthesymbolforthesoundofthespokenwordusedtorefertothatentity.Thatsymbolthencomestobeusedwheneverthatsoundoccursinanywords.4)SyllabicwritingWhenawritingsystememploysasetofsymbolswhichrepresentthepronunciationsofsyllables,itisdescribedassyllabicwriting.Therearenopurelysyllabicwritingsystemsinusetoday,butmodernJapanesecanbewrittenwithasetofsinglesymbolswhichrepresentspokensyllablesandisconsequentlyoftendescribedashavinga(partially)syllabicwritingsystem,orasyllabary.5)AlphabeticwritingAnalphabetisessentiallyasetofwrittensymbolswhicheachrepresentasingletypeofsound.ItistheGreekswhoshouldbegivencreditfortakingtheinherentlysyllabicsystemfromthePhoenicians,andcreatingawritingsysteminwhichthesingle-symboltosingle-soundcorrespondencewasfullyrealized.WrittenEnglishIftheoriginsofthealphabeticwritingsystemwerebasedonacorrespondencebetweensinglesymbolandsinglesoundtype,thenwhythereissuchafrequentmismatchbetweentheformsofwrittenEnglishandthesoundsofspokenEnglish?Printingwasintroducedin15thCenturyConventionsregardingwrittenrepresentationofwordsderivedfromLatinandFrenchEarlyprinters:DutchSince15thcentury,thepronunciationhasundergonesubstantialchangesLargenumberofwordswere“recreated”in16thcentury5.Functionsoflanguage1.Whatdowedowithlanguage?2.Whatkindofthingscanlanguagedo?‘Function’isgenerallyusedinlinguisticstorefertotheroleslanguageplaysinourlifeorinsociety.Eveninthissense,‘function’mayrefertospecific

rolesorgeneralroles.

Thespecificroleslanguageplaysfulfillanindividual'spurposeofcommunicationintermsofusinglanguagetochat,tothink,tobuyandsell,toreadandwrite,togreet,praiseandcondemnpeople,etc..

Linguiststalkaboutthefunctionsoflanguageinanabstractsense.Theysummarizethesepracticalfunctionsandattemptsomebroadclassificationsofthebasicfunctionsoflanguage.Butthelistishardlyexhaustive.GeneralfunctionsoflanguageReferentialfunctionPerformativeFunctionEmotiveFunctionPhaticCommunionRecreationalFunctionMeta-lingualFunctionReferentialfunctionThetransmissionofinformationisthefirstthingwethinkofwhenweconsiderthefunctionsoflanguage.Informationalorreferentialorideationalfunctionisassociatedwithwhatobjectsandideasarecalledandhoweventsaredescribed.PerformativeFunctionTheperformativefunctionoflanguageisprimarilytochangethesocialstatusofpersons,asinmarriageceremonies,thesentencingofcriminals,theblessingofchildren,thenamingofashipatalaunchingceremony,andthecursingofenemies.Thekindoflanguageemployedinperformativeverbalactsisusuallyquiteformalandevenritualized.Thepriest:NowIdeclareyoumanandwife.Thejudge:NowIsentenceyoutotenyearsinprison.Forexample,whenwesaytoafriend:“今晚到我们这儿吃顿便饭”。weperformthefollowingacts.Producingnoises.ProducingnoisesinsuchawaytheybecomeChinesesounds.ProducingsoundsinsuchawaytheybecomeChinesewords.PuttingChinesewordsinsuchawaytheybecomeameaningfulutterance.Whatwedoisissuinganinvitation.Thepurposeofdoingthisistobepolite

OrtoreinforcethefriendshipAndetc.EmotiveFunctionTheemotivefunctionoflanguageisoneofthemostpowerfuluseso