英语语言学概论

《英语语言学概论》重、难点提示

第一章语言的性质

语言的定义：语言的基本特征（任意性、二重性、多产性、移位、文化传递和互换性）；语言的功能（寒暄、

指令、提供信息、询问、表达主观感情、唤起对方的感情和言语行为）；语言的起源（神授说，人造说，进化

说）等。

第二章语言学

语言学定义；研究语言的四大原则（穷尽、一致、简洁、客观）；语言学的基本概念（口语与书面语、共时与

历时、语言与言学、语言能力与言行运用、语言潜势与语言行为）；普通语言学的分支（语音、音位、语法、

句法、语义）；；语言学的应用（语言学与语言教学、语言与社会、语言与文字、语言与心理学、人类语言学、

神经语言学、数理语言学、计算语言学）等。

第三章语音学

发音器官的英文名称；英语辅音的发音部位和发音方法；语音学的定义；发音语音学；听觉语音学；声学语音

学；元音及辅音的分类；严式与宽式标音等。

第四章音位学

音位理论；最小对立体；自由变异；互补分布；语音的相似性；区别性特征；超语段音位学；音节；重音（词

重音、句子重音、音高和语调）等。

第五章词法学

词法的定义；曲折词与派生词；构词法（合成与派生）；词素的定义；词素变体；自由词素；粘着词素（词根,

词缀和词干）等。

第六章词汇学

词的定义；语法词与词汇词；变词与不变词；封闭词与开放词；词的辨认；习语与搭配。

第七章句法

句法的定义；句法关系；结构；成分；直接成分分析法；并列结构与从属结构；句子成分；范畴（性，数，格）；

一致；短语，从句，句子扩展等。

第八章语义学

语义的定义；语义的有关理论；意义种类（传统、功能、语用）；里奇的语义分类；词汇意义关系（同义、反

义、下义）；句子语义关系。

第九章语言变化

语言的发展变化（词汇变化、语音书写文字、语法变化、语义变化）；

第十章语言、思维与文化

语言与文化的定义：萨丕尔-沃夫假说：语言与思维的关系；语言与文化的关系；中西文化的异同。

第十章语用学语用学的定义；语义学与语用学的区别；语境与意义；言语行为理论（言内行为、言外行

为和言后行为）；合作原则；

Questions&AnswersonKeyPoints

ofLinguistics

1.1.Whatislanguage?

“Languageissystemofarbitraryvocal

symbolsusedforhumancommunication.It

isasystem,sincelinguisticelements

arearrangedsystematically,rather

thanrandomly.Arbitrary,inthesense

thatthereisusuallynointrinsic

connectionbetweenawork(like

"book")andtheobjectitrefersto.

Thisexplainsandisexplainedbythe

factthatdifferentlanguageshave

different“books":"book"in

English,“livre“inFrench,in

Japanese,inChinese,“check”in

Korean.Itissymbolic,becausewords

areassociatedwithobjects,actions,

ideasetc.bynothingbutconvention.

Namely,peopleusethesoundsorvocal

formstosymbolizewhattheywishto

referto.Itisvocal,becausesoundor

speechistheprimarymediumforall

humanlanguages,developedor"new”.

Writingsystemscamemuchlaterthanthe

spokenforms.Thefactthatsmall

childrenlearnandcanonlylearnto

speak(andlisten)beforetheywrite

(andread)alsoindicatesthatlanguage

isprimarilyvocal,ratherthanwritten.

Theterm“human“inthedefinitionis

meanttospecifythatlanguageishuman

specific.

1.2.Whataredesignfeaturesof

language?

uDesignfeaturesvhererefertothe

definingpropertiesofhumanlanguage

thattellthedifferencebetweenhuman

languageandanysystemofanimal

communication.Theyarearbitrariness,

duality,productivity,displacement,

culturaltransmissionand

interchangeability

1.3.Whatisarbitrariness?

Byarbitrarinessv,wemeanthereis

nologicalconnectionbetweenmeanings

andsounds(seeI.1).Adogmightbea

pigifonlythefirstpersonorgroupof

personshaduseditforapig.Language

isthereforelargelyarbitrary.But

languageisnotabsolutelyseemtobe

somesound-meaningassociation,ifwe

thinkofechowords,like“bang”,

“crash”,“roar”,whichare

motivatedinacertainsense.Secondly,

somecompounds(wordscompoundedtobe

oneword)arenotentirelyarbitrary

either.“Type"and“write”are

opaqueorunmotivatedwords,while

utype-writer??islessso,ormore

transparentormotivatedthanthewords

thatmakeit.Sowecansay

“arbitrariness“isamatterofdegree.

1.4.Whatisduality?

Linguistsrefer“duality”(of

structure)tothefactthatinall

languagessofarinvestigated,onefinds

twolevelsofstructureorpatterning.

Atthefirst,higherlevel,languageis

analyzedintermsofcombinationsof

meaningfulunits(suchasmorphemes,

wordsetc.);atthesecond,lowerlevel,

itisseenasasequenceofsegments

whichlackanymeaninginthemselves,

butwhichcombinetoformunitsof

meaning.AccordingtoHuZhanglinetal.

(p.6),languageisasystemoftwosets

ofstructures,oneofsoundsandthe

otherofmeaning.Thisisimportantfor

theworkingsoflanguage.Asmallnumber

ofsemanticunits(words),andthese

unitsofmeaningcanbearrangedand

rearrangedintoaninfinitenumberof

sentences(notethatwehave

dictionariesofwords,butnodictionary

ofsentences!).Dualitymakesit

possibleforapersontotalkabout

anythingwithinhisknowledge.Noanimal

communicationsystemenjoysthis

duality,orevenapproachesthishonour.

1.5.Whatisproductivity?

Productivityreferstotheabilityto

theabilitytoconstructandunderstand

anindefinitelylargenumberof

sentencesinone'snativelanguage,

includingthosethathasneverheard

before,butthatareappropriatetothe

speakingsituation.Noonehaseversaid

orheard“Ared-eyedelephantis

dancingonthesmallhotelbedwithan

Africangibbon”,buthecansayitwhen

necessary,andhecanunderstanditin

rightregister.Differentfromartistic

creativity,though,productivitynever

goesoutsidethelanguage,thusalso

called“rule-boundcreativity^(by

N.Chomsky).

1.6.Whatisdisplacement?

“Displacement”,asoneofthedesign

featuresofthehumanlanguage,refers

tothefactthatonecantalkabout

thingsthatarenotpresent,aseasily

ashedoesthingspresent.Inother

words,onecanrefertorealandunreal

things,thingsofthepast,ofthe

present,ofthefuture.Languageitself

canbetalkedabouttoo.Whenaman,for

example,iscryingtoawoman,about

something,itmightbesomethingthat

hadoccurred,orsomethingthatis

occurring,orsomethingthatisto

occur.Whenadogisbarking,however,

youcandecideitisbarkingfor

somethingoratsomeonethatexistsnow

andthere.Itcouldn?tbebow-wowing

sorrowfullyfordomelostloveorabone

tobelost.Thebee'ssystem,

nonetheless,hasasmallshareof

“displacement”,butitisan

unspeakabletinyshare.

1.7.Whatisculturaltransmission?

Thismeansthatlanguageisnot

biologicallytransmittedfrom

generationtogeneration,butthatthe

detailsofthelinguisticsystemmustbe

learnedanewbyeachspeaker.Itistrue

thatthecapacityforlanguageinhuman

beings(N.Chomskycalleditlanguage

acquisitiondevice??,orLAD)hasa

geneticbasis,buttheparticular

languageapersonlearnstospeakisa

culturaloneotherthanageneticone

likethedog'sbarkingsystem.Ifa

humanbeingisbroughtupinisolation

hecannotacquirelanguage.TheWolf

Childrearedbythepackofwolvesturned

outtospeakthewolf,sroaring

“tongue“whenhewassaved.Helearned

thereafter,withnosmalldifficulty,

theABCofacertainhumanlanguage.

1.8.Whatisinterchangeability?

(1)Interchangeabilitymeansthatany

humanbeingcanbebothaproducerand

areceiverofmessages.Wecansay,and

onotheroccasionscanreceiveand

understand,forexample,“Pleasedo

somethingtomakemehappy."Though

somepeople(includingme)suggestthat

thereissexdifferentiationinthe

actuallanguageuse,inotherwords,men

andwomenmaysaydifferentthings,yet

inprinciplethereisnosound,orword

orsentencethatamancanutteranda

womancannot,orviceversa.Ontheother

hand,apersoncanbethespeakerwhile

theotherpersonisthelistenerandas

theturnmovesontothelistener,hecan

bethespeakerandthefirstspeakeris

tolisten.Itisturn-takingthatmakes

socialcommunicationpossibleand

acceptable.

(2)Somemalebirds,however,uttersome

callswhichfemalesdonot(orcannot?),

andcertainkindsoffishhavesimilar

hapsmentionable.Whenadogbarks,all

theneighbouringdogsbark.Thenpeople

aroundcanhardlytellwhichdog(dogs)

is(areO"speaking”andwhich

listening.

1.9.Whydolinguistssaylanguageis

humanspecific?

Firstofall,humanlanguagehassix

“designfeaturesrwhichanimal

communicationsystemsdonothave,at

leastnotinthetruesenseofthem(see

I.2~8).Let?sborrowC.F.Hocket?s

Chartthatcompareshumanlanguagewith

someanimals,systems,fromWang

Gang(1998,p.8).

Secondly,linguistshavedonealot

tryingtoteachanimalssuchas

chimpanzeestospeakahumanlanguage

buthaveachievednothinginspiring.

Washoe,afemalechimpanzee,wasbrought

uplikeahumanchildbyBeatniceand

AlanGardner.Shewastaught“American

signLanguage”,andlearnedalittle

thatmadetheteachershappybutdidmot

makethelinguisticscirclehappy,for

fewbelievedinteachingchimpanzees.

Thirdly,ahumanchildrearedamong

animalscannotspeakahumanlanguage,

notevenwhenheistakenbackandtaught

tolotoso(seethe“WolfChild”in

1.7)

1.10.Whatfunctionsdoeslanguagehave?

Languagehasatleastsevenfunctions:

phatic,directive,Informative,

interrogative,expressive,evocative

andperformative.AccordingtoWangGang

(1988,p.11),languagehasthreemain

functions:atoolofcommunication,a

toolwherebypeoplelearnaboutthe

world,andatoolbywhichpeoplelearn

abouttheworld,andatoolbywhich

peoplecreateart.M.A.K.Halliday,

representativeoftheLondonschool,

recognizesthree“Macro—Functions”:

ideational,interpersonaland

textual(see!.11-17;seeHUZhuanglinet

al.,pplO-13,pp394-396).

1.IlWhatisthephaticfunction?

The“phaticfunction“refersto

languagebeingusedforsettingupa

certainatmosphereormaintaining

socialcontacts(ratherthanfor

exchanginginformationorideas).

Greetings,farewells,andcommentson

theweatherinEnglishandonclothing

inChineseallservethisfunction.Much

ofthephaticlanguage(e.g."Howare

you?”"Fine,thanks.")isinsincere

iftakenliterally,butitisimportant.

Ifyoudon，tsay“Hello”toafriend

youmeet,orifyoudon'tanswerhis

“Hi”,youruinyourfriendship.

1.12.Whatisthedirectivefunction?

The“directivefunction“meansthat

languagemaybeusedtogetthehearer

todosomething.Mostimperative

sentencesperformthisfunction,e.g.,

“Tellmetheresultwhenyoufinish.”

Othersyntacticstructuresorsentences

ofothersortscan,accordingto

J.AustinandJ.Searle's"indrect

speechacttheory”(seeHuZhuanglinet

al.,pp271-278)atleast,servethe

purposeofdirectiontoo,e.g.,“IfI

wereyou,Iwouldhaveblushedtothe

bottomofmyears!”

1.13.Whatistheinformativefunction?

Languageservesan^informational

function??whenusedtotellsomething,

characterizedbytheuseofdeclarative

sentences.Informativestatementsare

oftenlabelledastrue(truth)or

false(falsehood).Accordingto

P.Grice's^Cooperative

Principlev(seeHuZhuanglinetal.,

pp282-283),oneoughtnottoviolatethe

“MaximofQualityv,whenheis

informingatall.

1.14.Whatistheinterrogative

function?

Whenlanguageisusedtoobtain

information,itservesan

interrogativefunction".This

includesallquestionsthatexpect

replies,statements,imperativesetc.,

accordingtothe“indirectspeechact

theory??,mayhavethisfunctionas

well,e.g.,"I'dliketoknowyou

better."Thismaybringforthalotof

personalinformation.Notethat

rhetoricalquestionsmakeanexception,

sincetheydemandnoanswer,atleastnot

thereaders/listener?sanswer.

1.15.Whatistheexpressivefunction?

Theuexpressivefunction“istheuse

oflanguagetorevealsomethingabout

thefeelingsorattitudesofthe

speaker.Subconsciousemotional

ejaculationsaregoodexamples,like

“Goodheavens!”“MyGod!”Sentences

like"I'msorryaboutthedelay”can

serveasgoodexamplestoo,thoughina

subtleway.Whilelanguageisusedfor

theinformativefunctiontopass

judgementonthetruthorfalsehoodof

statements,languageusedforthe

expressivefunctionevaluates,

appraisesorassertsthespeaker?sown

attitudes.

1.16.Whatistheevocativefunction?

The“evocativefunction??istheuseof

languagetocreatecertainfeelingsin

thehearer.Itsaimis,forexample,to

amuse,startle,antagonize,soothe,

worryorplease.Jokes(notpractical

jokes,though)aresupposedtoamuseor

entertainthelistener;advertisingto

urgecustomerstopurchasecertain

commodities;propagandatoinfluence

publicopinion.Obviously,the

expressiveandtheevocativefunctions

oftengotogether,i.e.,youmay

express,forexample,yourpersonal

feelingsaboutapoliticalissuebutend

upbyevokingthesamefeelingin,or

imposingiton,yourlistener.That's

alsothecasewiththeotherwayround.

1.17.Whatistheperformativefunction?

Thismeanspeoplespeakto“dothings”

orperformactions.Oncertainoccasions

theutteranceitselfasanactionismore

importantthanwhatwordsorsounds

constitutetheutteredsentence.When

askedifathirdYangtzebridgeoughtto

bebuiltinWuhan,themayormaysay

“OK”,whichmeansmorethanspeech,

andmorethananaveragesocial

individualmaydofortheconstruction.

Thejudge,simprisonmentsentence,the

president?swarorindependence

declaration,etc.,areperformativesas

well(seeJ.Austin'sspeechActTheory,

HuZhuanglin,ecal.,pp271-278).

1.18.Whatislinguistics?

“Linguistics“isthescientificstudy

oflanguage.Itstudiesnotjustone

languageofanyonesociety,butthe

languageofallhumanbeings.A

linguist,though,doesnothavetoknow

andusealargenumberoflanguages,but

toinvestigatehoweachlanguageis

constructed.Heisalsoconcernedwith

howalanguagevariesfromdialectto

dialect,fromclasstoclass,howit

changesfromcenturytocentury,how

childrenacquiretheirmothertongue,

andperhapshowapersonlearnsorshould

learnaforeignlanguage.Inshort,

linguisticsstudiesthegeneral

principleswhereuponallhuman

languagesareconstructedandoperateas

systemsofcommunicationintheir

societiesorcommunities(seeHu

Zhuanglinetal.,pp20-22)

1.19.Whatmakeslinguisticsascience?

Sincelinguisticsisthescientific

studyoflanguage,itoughttobase

itselfuponthesystematic,

investigationoflanguagedatawhich

aimsatdiscoveringthetruenatureof

languageanditsunderlyingsystem.To

makesenseofthedata,alinguist

usuallyhasconceivedsomehypotheses

aboutthelanguagestructure,tobe

checkedagainsttheobservedor

observablefacts.Inordertomakehis

analysisscientific,alinguistis

usuallyguidedbyfourprinciples:

exhaustiveness,consistency,and

objectivity.Exhaustivenessmeanshe

shouldgatherallthematerialsrelevant

tothestudyandgivethemanadequate

explanation,inspiteofthe

complicatedness.Heistoleaveno

linguistic“stone”unturned.

Consistencymeansthereshouldbeno

contradictionbetweendifferentparts

ofthetotalstatement.Economymeansa

linguistshouldpursuebrevityinthe

analysiswhenitispossible.

Objectivityimpliesthatsincesome

peoplemaybesubjectiveinthestudy,

alinguistshouldbe(orsoundatleast)

objective,matter-of-face,faithfulto

reality,sothathisworkconstitutes

partofthelinguisticsresearch.

1.20.Whatarethemajorbranchesof

linguistics?

Thestudyoflanguageasawholeisoften

calledgenerallinguistics(e.g.Hu

Zhuanglinetal.,1988;Wang

Gang,1988).Butalinguistsometimesis

abletodealwithonlyoneaspectof

languageatatime,thustheariseof

variousbranches:

phonetics,phonology,morphology,

syntax,semantics,sociolinguistics,

appliedlinguistics,pragmatics,

psycholinguistics,lexicology,

lexicography,etymology,etc.

1.21.Whataresynchronicanddiachronic

studies?

Thedescriptionofalanguageatsome

pointoftime(asifitstopped

developing)isasynchronystudy

(synchrony).Thedescriptionofa

languageasitchangesthroughtimeis

adiachronicstudy(diachronic).An

essayentitled“OntheUseofTHE”,for

example,maybesynchronic,ifthe

authordoesnotrecallthepastofTHE,

anditmayalsobediachronicifhe

claimstocoveralargerangeorperiod

oftimewhereinTHEhasundergone

tremendousalteration(seeHuZhuanglin

etal.,pp25-27).

1.22.Whatisspeechandwhatiswriting?

(1)Nooneneedstherepetitionofthe

generalprincipleoflinguistic

analysis,namely,theprimacyofspeech

overwriting.Speechisprimary,because

itexistedlonglongbeforewriting

systemscameintobeing.Genetically

childrenlearntospeakbeforelearning

towrite.Secondly,writtenformsjust

representinthiswayorthatthespeech

sounds:individualsounds,asin

EnglishandFrenchasinJapanese.

(2)Incontrasttospeech,spokenform

oflanguage,writingaswrittencodes,

giveslanguagenewscopeandusethat

speechdoesnothave.Firstly,messages

canbecarriedthroughspacesothat

peoplecanwritetoeachother.

Secondly,messagescanbecarried

throughtimethereby,sothatpeopleof

ourtimecanbecarriedthroughtime

thereby,sothatpeopleofourtimecan

readBeowulf,SamuelJohnson,andEdgar

A.Poe.Thirdly,oralmessagesare

readilysubjecttodistortion,either

intentionalorunintentional(causing

misunderstandingormalentendu),while

writtenmessagesallowandencourage

repeatedunalterablereading.

(3)Mostmodernlinguisticanalysisis

focusedonspeech,differentfrom

grammariansofthelastcenturyand

theretofore.

1.23.Whatarethedifferencesbetween

thedescriptiveandtheprescriptive

approaches?

Alinguisticstudyis“descriptive”if

itonlydescribesandanalysesthefacts

oflanguage,and“prescriptive”ifit

triestolaydownrulesfor“correct”

languagebehavior.Linguisticstudies

beforethiscenturywerelargely

prescriptivebecausemanyearly

grammarswerelargelyprescriptive

becausemanyearlygrammarswerebased

on“high”(literaryorreligious)

writtenrecords.Modernlinguisticsis

mostlydescriptive,however.It(the

latter)believesthatwhateveroccursin

naturalspeech(hesitation,incomplete

utterance,misunderstanding,etc.)

shouldbedescribedintheanalysis,and

notbemarkedasincorrect,abnormal,

corrupt,orlousy.These,withchanges

invocabularyandstructures,needtobe

explainedalso.

1.24.Whatisthedifferencebetween

langueandparole?

F.deSaussurerefers“langue”tothe

abstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyall

themembersofaspeechcommunityand

refers“parole“totheactualor

actualizedlanguage,ortherealization

oflangue.Langueisabstract,parole

specifictothespeakingsituation;

languenotactuallyspokenbyan

individual,parolealwaysanaturally

occurringevent;languerelatively

stableandsystematic,paroleisamass

ofconfusedfacts,thusnotsuitablefor

systematicinvestigation.Whata

linguistoughttodo,accordingto

Saussure,istoabstractlanguefrom

instancesofparole,i.e.todiscover

theregularitiesgoverningall

instancesofparoleandmakethanthe

subjectoflinguistics.The

langue-paroledistinctionisofgreat

importance,whichcastsgreatinfluence

onlaterlinguists.

1.25.Whatisthedifferencebetween

competenceandperformance?

(1)AccordingtoN.Chomsky,

“competence”istheideallanguage

user?sknowledgeoftherulesofhis

language,and“performance“isthe

actualrealizationofthisknowledgein

utterances.Theformerenablesaspeaker

toproduceandunderstandanindefinite

numberofsentencesandtorecognize

grammaticalmistakesandambiguities.A

speaker?scompetenceisstablewhile

hisperformanceisofteninfluencedby

psychologicalandsocialfactors.Soa

speaker?sperformancedoesnotalways

matchorequalhissupposedcompetence.

(2)Chomskybelievesthatlinguists

oughttostudycompetence,ratherthan

performance.Inotherwords,theyshould

discoverwhatanidealspeakerknowsof

hisnativelanguage.

(3)Chomsky?scompetence-performance

distinctionisnotexactlythesameas,

thoughsimilarto,F.deSaussure?s

langue-paroledistinction.Langueisa

socialproduct,andasetofconventions

foracommunity,whilecompetenceis

deemedasapropertyofthemindofeach

individual.Sussurelooksatlanguage

morefromasociologicalor

sociolinguisticpointofviewthanN.

Chomskysincethelatterdealswithhis

issuespsychologicallyor

psycholinguistically.

1.26.Whatislinguisticpotential?What

isactuallinguisticbehaviour?

Thesetwoterms,orthe

potential-behaviordistinction,were

madebyM.A.K.Hallidayinthe1960s,

fromafunctionalpointofview.There

isawiderangeofthingsaspeakercan

doinhisculture,andsimilarlythere

aremanythingshecansay,forexample,

tomanypeople,onmanytopics.Whathe

actuallysays(i.e.his“actual

linguisticbehavior??)onacertain

occasiontoacertainpersoniswhathe

haschosenfrommanypossibleinjustice

items,eachofwhichhecouldhavesaid

(linguisticpotential).

1.27.Inwhatwaydolanguage,competence

andlinguisticpotentialagree?Inwhat

waydotheydiffer?Andtheir

counterparts?

Langue,competenceandlinguistic

potentialhavesomesimilarfeatures,

buttheyareinnatelydifferent(see

1.25).Langueisasocialproduct,and

asetofspeakingconventions;

competenceisapropertyorattributeof

eachidealspeaker?smind;linguistic

potentialisallthelinguisticcorpus

orrepertoireavailablefromwhichthe

speakerchoosesitemsfortheactual

utterancesituation.Inotherwords,

langueisinvisiblebutreliable

abstractsystem.Competencemeans

“knowing”,andlinguisticpotentiala

setofpossibilitiesfor“doing”or

^performingactions”.Theyare

similarinthattheyallrefertothe

constantunderlyingtheutterancesthat

constitutewhatSaussure,Chomskyand

Hallidayrespectivelycalledparole,

performanceandactuallinguistic

behavior.Paole,performanceandactual

linguisticbehaviorenjoymore

similaritiesthandifferences.

1.28.Whatisphonetics?

“Phonetics”isthesciencewhich

studiesthecharacteristicsofhuman

sound-making,especiallythosesounds

usedi