第一讲courseinformationandintroduction课件上课讲义

LectureOne:

CourseinformationandIntroductionContentsofthislecture1.Courseinformationandrequirements2.Whatislinguistics?3.Contentsandaimsofthiscourse4.Significanceoflearninglanguageorlinguistics5.Learningstrategiesforthiscourse6.Questionsforreflectionanddiscussion

1.Courseinformationandrequirements1.Instructor:Aimei(Grace)Chengracechen89@2.TeachingMethod:discussionandpresentation.3.Grading:Attendance(5%)Performance(presentationandparticipation)(15%)Mid-termpaper(20%);Finalexam(60%).2.Whatislinguistics研究语言的科学。同哲学、心理学、历史学、文学和自然科学技术均有密切的联系。分理论语言学和具体语言学；前者研究人类语言的一般规律，后者研究具体语言的存在和发展的规律，如汉语语言学、英语语言学，根据不同的研究目的，具体语言学又可分为描写语言学和历史语言学，前者研究语言在某一时期的状态，后者研究语言的古今演变。2.Whatislinguistics

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Definition“Linguisticsmaybedefinedasthescientificstudyoflanguage”(Lyons1968:1).Thisdefinitioniswellacceptedbecauseitpinpointstheobjectandmethodsoflinguisticsasadiscipline.

Theobjectoflinguistics：languageNoticethatthewordlanguageisnotprecededbyanarticle(i.e.withoutaorthe),norinthepluralform.Thismeansthatlinguisticsstudiesalllanguages.

Thekindofscienceforlinguistics:Itsobjectofstudy,language,determinesthatitisadisciplineamonghumanities,becauselanguageismostlyasocialphenomenon,despiteabiologicalaspectofit.Itsmethodofstudyisclosetothatusedinnaturalsciences.Fromthesetwoperspectiveslinguisticsisseenasadisciplineclosest,amonghumanities,tonaturalsciences.

Methodsofstudy:

First,certainlinguisticphenomenaareobservedandquestionsareraisedaboutthem.Second,hypotheses(whicharegeneralizationsbasedonobservations)areformulatedtoexplainthephenomena.

Third,thehypothesesaretestedbyfurtherobservationsorexperiments.Iftheyarevalid,thehypothesesbecometheories.Iftheyarenot,thentheresearchermustreformulatehypothesesandthenverifythemuntilnodatacollectedcontradictthehypotheses.Forth,linguistictheoriesthusproduced,justasotherscientifictheories,areopentochallenge.

2)BranchesoflinguisticsIntra-disciplinarydivisionsThestudyoflanguageingeneralisoftentermedgenerallinguistics.Itisbasedontheviewthatlanguageasasystemiscomposedofthreeaspects:sound,structureandmeaning.Thecoreofgenerallinguisticsisthestudyoftheseaspects,dealingwiththeregularitiesoftheseacrosslanguages.PhoneticsPhonologyMorphologySyntaxSemanticsPragmaticsPhoneticsstudiesspeechsounds,includingtheproductionofspeech,thatishowspeechsoundsareactuallymade,transmittedandreceived,thedescriptionandclassificationofspeechsounds,wordsandconnectedspeech,etc.Phonologystudiestherulesgoverningthestructure,distribution,andsequencingofspeechsoundsandtheshapeofsyllables.Itdealswiththesoundsystemofalanguagebytreatingphonemeasthepointofdeparture.Aphonemeisthesmallestlinguisticunitofsoundthatcansignaladifferenceinmeaning.Morphologyisconcernedwiththeinternalorganizationofwords.Itstudiestheminimalunitsofmeaning—morphemesandword-formationprocesses.Althoughmanypeoplethinkofwordsasthebasicmeaningfulelementsofalanguage，manywordscanbebrokendownintostillsmallerunits,calledmorphemes.Syntaxisaboutprinciplesofformingandunderstandingcorrectsentences.Theformorstructureofasentenceisgovernedbytherulesofsyntax,whichspecifywordorder,sentenceorganization,andtherelationshipsbetweenwords,wordclassesandothersentenceelements.Semanticsexamineshowmeaningisencodedinalanguage.Itisnotonlyconcernedwithmeaningsofwordsaslexicalitems,butalsowithlevelsoflanguagebelowthewordandaboveit,e.g.meaningofmorphemesandsentences.Pragmaticsisthestudyofmeaningincontext.Itdealswithparticularutterancesinparticularsituationsandisespeciallyconcernedwiththevariouswaysinwhichthemanysocialcontextsoflanguageperformancecaninfluenceinterpretation.Inotherwords,pragmaticsisconcernedwiththewaylanguageisusedtocommunicateratherthanwiththewaylanguageisinternallystructured.Inter-disciplinarydivisions

Languageasasystemisalsocloselyinterwovenwithotheraspectsofmanandsociety.Ithasoftenbeenstudiedinwaysthatrelatelinguisticstootherdisciplines.Linguisticsisnottheonlyfieldconcernedwithlanguage.Otherdisciplinessuchaspsychology,sociology,ethnography,thescienceoflawandartificialintelligenceetc.arealsopreoccupiedwithlanguage.

Sociolinguisticsstudieslanguageinrelationtosociety.Languagevariesfromregiontoregion,fromclasstoclass,anditalsovarieswithageandsex.Languagechangesaremostlycausedbysocialchanges.Languageispartofcultureandthecarrierofculture.Psycholinguisticsinvestigatestheinterrelationoflanguageandmind,forexample,inprocessingandproducingutterancesandinlanguageacquisition.Italsostudieslanguagedevelopmentinthechild,suchasthetheoriesoflanguageacquisition,biologicalfoundationsoflanguage,andaprofoundaspect—therelationshipbetweenlanguageandcognition.Computationallinguisticscentersaroundtheuseofcomputerstoprocessorproducehumanlanguage(alsoknownas“naturallanguage”,todistinguishitfromcomputerlanguages).Tothisfield,linguisticscontributesanunderstandingofthespecialpropertiesoflanguagedata,andprovidestheoriesanddescriptionsoflanguagestructureanduseSomecurrentapplicationareasincludetranslatingfromonelanguagetoanother(MachineTranslation),storingandfindingrelevantdocumentsinlargecollectionsoftext(CorpusLinguisticsandInformationRetrieval),andcarryingoutvariousformsofcomputermediatedcommunication.Appliedlinguisticsisconcernedwiththeapplicationoflinguistictheoriesanddescriptionsinotherfields,particularlyinlanguageteaching.3.ContentsandAimsofthiscourse1)

Materials:ThiscourseisbaseduponGeorgeYule’s“TheStudyofLanguage”anddrawsonmeritsofmanydifferentbooks.1.赵华威,《语言研究学习指要》,黑龙江教育出版社,2008.2.胡壮麟，姜望琪，《语言学教程》(第三版)，北京大学出版社，2001。3.杨信彰，《语言学概论》，高等教育版社,2005。4.钱冠连,《语言:人类最后的家园》，商务印书馆,2005.2)Contents:Thiscourseisdevotedtodiscussionofsuchthingsasthenatureandfunctionsoflanguage,thefieldsandareasoflinguistics,therelationshipbetweenlinguistictheoryanduseoflanguage,languageandbrain,languageacquisitionandlearning,languageandCulture,languageandsociety,andlanguagehistoryandchange.3)AimsTheaimsofthiscoursearetohelpthestudentstodevelopabetterawarenessoflanguage,haveagoodknowledgeoftheabove-mentionedthings,developindividualinsightsintolanguageandlinguistics,getpreparedforfuturestudiesandresearchinlanguageandlinguisticsoruselinguistictheoriestosolve

problemsinyourownresearchareas.4.TheimportanceofstudyinglanguageorlinguisticsDiscussion5.Learningstrategiesforthiscourse语言学是一门最接近自然科学的社会科学。说它是社会科学是因为语言文字是社会现象。说它最接近自然科学是因为语言学研究借鉴了自然科学的一些研究方法。语言学的特性和本门课程的目的决定了学习策略。要学好语言学概论这门课程，应遵循以下几点：

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体会价值，激发动力语言学是比较抽象的学科，要学好非下一番功夫不可。人们说兴趣是最好的老师，是因为有了兴趣就有持久的学习动力。然而在没进入一个学科之前无法谈到是否会产生兴趣。就个人而言，要不要学习某个学科，取决于个人对那个学科价值的判断，看它对自己的素质提高和专业发展是否有作用。对于语言教师来说，语言学的价值毋须质疑。应用语言学家将语言学对语言教学的贡献概括为应用和启示两方面。语言描述的成果为语言教学直接提供内容，如音标、教学语法等。语言学理论研究成果对语言教师思考教什么和怎样教两个根本问题颇有启发。

一个语言教师如果没有语言理论知识就好比一个不懂人体科学的体育教练。无论他/她自己运动水平多高，不研究运动机理就不可能培养出高水平运动员。同样道理，语言教师只有懂得语言符号系统是怎样构成的，是如何发挥作用的，语言学习过程有那些因素，怎样发挥这些因素的作用，才能更有效地从事语言教学，提高人才培养质量。

2)整体入手，见木见林语言是非常复杂的现象，语言学分支很多，派别林立。语言学的分支是依其研究对象划分的，即依语言的各种要素划分的。语言的基本要素是语音、结构、意义。研究语音的分支是语音学、音位学，研究结构的是形态学和句法学，研究意义的是语义学和语用学。语言与社会、心理、文化、教育等密切相关，因此出现一些语言研究的交叉学科，如社会语言学、心理语言学、应用语言学等。首先在宏观上对该课程的内容有所了解。在学习时，首先要仔细阅读目录。目录是全书内容的高度浓缩和概括，它不仅包括本学科所涉及到的主要内容，而且也涉及到内容与内容之间的联系。在整体把握课本内容的基础上，再从宏观进入到微观学习。通过细节的学习来加深对课本宏观的把握，而对课本宏观的把握又会有助于课本细节的学习，做到“既见森林，又见树木。”3)了解立论过程，深入理解理论理论是对自然和社会现象的系统性解释。任何理论都产生于研究过程。研究过程始于观察和提问，然后提出假说（即对所观察到的现象的初步解释或对所提出问题的初步解答），最后验证假说。如果假说得到充分验证，则成为理论。如果验证失败，则须重新提出假说，再验证新的假说。语言学理论也是在这样的过程中产生的。理解一个语言学理论，就须从语言学家所提出的问题开始，弄清假说，看它是如何被验证的。这样才能深入理解理论。

4)用例证解读术语

每一门科学都有术语。语言学术语也很多。术语是一门科学的专门用语。学习语言学就必须掌握其专门用语。在语言学文献中重要术语都给出明确的定义。尽管如此，初学者仍感到术语很抽象，难以理解和记忆。因此，在学习过程中要重视举例。每接触到一个新术语，首先要仔细揣摩它的定义,然后看所给的例子。这样就把抽象的概念具体化，便于理解和记忆。比较和对比是该课程中不可缺少的两种方法。通过比较，可以找出不同概念之间的相似之处，通过对比可以理解不同概念之间的相异性。比较和对比的结合有助于弄清概念之间的异同和内在的联系。5)仔细阅读，勤于思考语言学文献逻辑性很强。语言学家采用演绎推理或归纳推理提出理论。要理解语言学理论就必须仔