考研语言学复习资料.docx

考研语言学复习资料.docx

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考研语言学复习资料

Transformational-generativegrammar:

inthe1950stheschooloflinguisticthoughtknownastransformational-generativegrammarreceivedwideacclaimthroughtheworksofNoamChomsky.Chomshypostulatedasyntacticbaseoflanguage（calleddeepstructure）,whichconsistsofaseriesofphrase-structurerewriterules,i.e.,aseriesof（possiblyuniversal）rulesthatgeneratestheunderlyingphrase-structureofasentence,andaseriesofrules（calledtransformations）thatactuponthephrase-structuretoformmoreconplexsentences.Theendresultofatransformational-generativegrammarisasurfacestructurethat,aftertheadditionofwordsandpronunciations,isidenticaltoanactualsentenceofalanguage.Alllanguageshavethesamedeepstructure,buttheydifferfromeachotherinsurfacestructurebecauseoftheapplicationofdifferentrulesfortransformations,pronunciation,andwordinsertion.Anotherimportantdistinctionmadeintransformational-generativegrammaristhedifferencebetweenlanguagecompetence（thesubconsciouscontrolofalinguisticsystem）andlanguageperformance（thespeaker’sactualuseoflanguage）.Althoughthefirstworkdoneintransformational-generativegrammarwassyntactic,laterstudieshaveappliedthetheory,tothephonologicalandsemanticcomponentsoflanguage.

Conceptualism:

conceptualismisbasedonthepresumptionthatonecanderivemeaningfrom,orreduceitto,observablecontext:

the“situationalcontext”andthe“linguisticcontext”.Everyutteranceoccursinaparticularspatial-temporalsituation,asthefollowingfactorsarerelatedtothesituationalcontext:

（1）thespeakerandthehearer;

（2）theactionstheyareperformingatthetime;（3）variousexternalobjectsandevents;（4）deicticfeatures.The“linguisticcontext”isanotheraspectofconceptualism.Itconsiderstheprobabilityofoneword’sco-occurrenceorcollocationwithanother,whichformspartofthemeaning,andanimportantfactorincommunication.

Complementarity:

complementaritymayberegardedasspecialcaseofincampatibilityholdingovertwo-termsets.Itischaracteristicofsuchparisoflexicalitemsthattheapprovalofoneimpliesthedenialoftheother.Inotherwords,itisnotamatterofdegreebetweentwoextremes,butamatterofeitheroneortheother.Forexample,apersoncanbeeither“alive”or“dead”,either“male”or“female”;thereisnothirdpossibility.

TheSapir-Whorfhypothesis:

inthediscussionabouttherelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture,oneoftheessentialissuesisthatbetweenlanguageandthought.EdwardSapirandBenjaminWhorf,throughtheirstudiesofAmericanIndianlanguages,proclaimedthatthestructureofthelanguagepeoplehabituallyuseinfluencedthewaystheythinkandbehave.Thatistosay,differentlanguagesofferpeopledifferentwaysofexpressiontheworldaround,theythinkandspeakdifferently,thisisalsoknownaslinguisticrelativity.SapirandWhorfbelievethatlanguagefilterspeople’sperceptionandthewaytheycategorizeexperiences.ThisinterdependenceoflanguageandthoughtisnowknownasSair-Whorfhypothesis.Thehypothesisisnowinterpretedmainlyintwodifferentways:

astrongversionandaweakone.Whilethestrongversionbelievesthatthelanguagepatternsdeterminepeople’sthinkingandbehavior,theweakoneholdsthattheformerinfluencethelatter.Sofar,manyresearchesandexperimentsconductedinvariousdisciplinesprovidesupporttotheweakversion.Thestudieshaveshednewlightonourunderstandingofthehypothesis:

peopletendtosortoutanddistinguishexperiencesdifferentlyaccordingtothesemanticcategoriesprovidedbytheirdifferentcodes.ThestudyofthelinguisticrelativityorSapir-Whorfhypothesishasshedlightontwoimportantinsights:

Thereisnowadaysrecognitionthatlanguage,asacode,reflectsculturalandpreoccupationsandconstrainsthewaypeoplethink.EveninWhorf’sdays,however,werecognizehowimportantcontextisincomplementingthemeaningsencodedinthelanguage.

Backwasheffect:

thistermdescribestheeffectoftestingonteaching.Backwashcanbeharmfulorbeneficial.Positivebackwashhappensehenstudentsstudyandlearnthosethingswhichteachersintendthemtostudyandlearn.Ontheotherhand,negativebackwashmeanstheconverse.Forexample,ifteachersmeasurewritingskillsonlythroughmultiple-choiceitems,thentherewillbepressuretopracticesuchitems,ratherthanwritingitself.Inthiscase,thebackwashwouldbenegative.

Structuralistlinguistics:

structuralistlinguisticsisaprincipallyAmericanphenomenonofthemid-20thcentury,typifiedbytheworkofLeonardBloomfield,whodrewonideasofthebehavioristschoolofpsychology.Thestructuralistsareprimarilyconcernedwithphonology,morphology,andsyntax.Theyfoucesonthephysicalfeaturesofutteranceswithlittleregardformeaningorlexicon.Sructuralistlinguisticsdescribeslinguisticfeaturesintermsofstructuresandsystems.Dissatisfiedwithtraditionalgrammar,structuralistgrammatsetsouttodescribethecurrentspokenlanguagewhichpeopleuseincommunication.Forthefirsttime,structuralistgrammarprovidesdescriptionofphonologicalsystemswhichaidsthesystemaicteachingofpronunciation.However,liketraditionalgrammar,thefocusofsturcruralistgrammarisstillonthegrammaticalstructuresofalanguage.

Whatismorpheme?

Whatisanallomorph?

The“morpheme”isthesmallestunitintermsofrelationshipbetweenexpressionandcontent,aunitwhichcannotbedividedwithoutdestroyingordrasticallyalteringthemeaning,whetheritislexicalorgrammatical.Theword“boxes”,forexample,hastwomorphemes:

“box”and“-es”,neitherofwhichpermitsfurtherdivisionoranalysisifwedon’twishtosacrificemeaning.Thereforeamorphemeisconsideredtheminimalunitofmeaning.

Allomorphs,likeallophonesvs.phones,arethealternateshapes（andthusphoneticforms）ofthesamemorpheme.Somemorphemes,though,havenomorethanoneinvariableforminallcontexts,suchas“dog”,“cat”,etc.Thevariantsoftheplurality“-s”maketheallomorphsthereofinthefollowingexamples:

map→maps,mouse→mice,sheep→sheepetc.

Whatisconcord?

Whatisgovernment?

“Concord”maybedefinedastherequirementthattheformsoftwoormorewordsofspecificwordclassesthatstandinspecificsyntacticrelationshipwithoneanothershallbecharacterisedbythesameparadigmaticallymarkedcategoryorcategories,e.g.,“manruns”,“menrun”.“Government”requiresthatonewordofaparticularclassinagivensyntacticclassshallexhibittheformofaspecificcategory.InEnglish,governmentappliesonlytopronounsamongthevariablewords,thatis,prepositionsandverbsgovernparticularformsoftheparadigmsofpronounsaccordingtotheirsyntacticrelationwiththem,e.g.,“Ihelpedhim;hehelpedme.”

WhatistheSapir-WhorfHypothesis?

（Whatislinguisticdeterminismandlinguisticrelativity?

）

TheSapir-WhorfHypothesisisaseriesofideasaboutthelanguage-culturerelationship,formulatedbyEdwardSapirandBenjaminLeeWhorf,themainideasofwhichare:

（1）one’sthinkingiscompletelydeterminedbyhisnativelanguagebecauseonecannotbutperceivetheworldintermsofthecategoriesanddistinctionsencodedinthatlanguage.

（2）thecategoriesanddistinctionsencodedinonelanguagesystemareuniquetothatsystemandincommensurablewiththoseofothersystems.

Or,putdifferently,theSapir-WhorfHypothesishasthefollowingtwomajorthrusts:

linguisticdeterminismandlinguisticrelativity.

1.Whatisaspeechact?

Aspeechactisanutteranceasafunctionalunitincommunication.Inspeechacttheory,utteranceshavetwokindsofmeaning.

Propositionalmeaning（locutionarymeaning）:

Thisisthebasicliteralmeaningoftheutterancewhichisconveyedbytheparticularwordsandstructureswhichtheutterancecontains.

Illocutionarymeaning（illocutionaryforce）:

Thisistheeffecttheutteranceorwrittentexthasonthereaderorlistener.E.g.inI’mthirsty,thepropositionalmeaningiswhattheutterancesaysaboutthespeaker’sphysicalstate.Theillocutionaryforceistheeffectthespeakerwantstheutterancetohaveonthelistener.Itmaybeintendedasrequestforsomethingtodrink.Aspeechactisasentenceorutterancewhichhasbothpropositionalmeaningandillocutionaryforce.

Aspeechactwhichisperformedindirectlyissometimesknownasanindirectspeechact,suchasthespeechactoftherequestingabove.Indirectspeechactsareoftenfelttobemorepolitewaysofperformingcertainkindsofspeechact,suchasrequestsandrefusals,2.Locutionaryact:

AdistinctionismadebyAustininthetheoryofspeechactsbetweenthreedifferenttypesofactsinvolvedinorcausedbytheutteranceofasentence.Alocutionaryactisthesayingofsomethingwhichismeaningfulandcanbeunderstood3.Illocutionaryact:

Anillocutionaryactisusingasentencetoperformafunction.4.Perlocutionaryact:

Aperlocutionaryactistheresultsoreffectsthatareproducedbymeansofsayingsomething.

Whatisanindirectspeechact?

An“indirectspeechact”meansthatsomesentences,intheutteranceandtheseemingperformanceofaspeechact,performacertainillocutionaryactindirectly.Forexample:

“Canyoupassmethesaltplease?

”isaquestion,butitismoreofarequestthanofaninterrogationaboutthehearer’ssalt-passingability.Theproblemishowitispossibleforthespeakertosayonethingandmeananother,andhowitispossibleforthehearertounderstandtheindirectspeechact.Itisthesharedbackgroundinformationandthegeneralpowerofrationalityandthepowerofinferenceonthepartofthehearerthatco-operative