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chapter1handoutandexercisesforstudents

Chapter1Introduction

1.1Whatislinguistics?

1.1.1Definition:

Linguisticsisthescientificstudyoflanguage.

language:

languageingeneral,notanyparticularlanguage,e.g.English,Chinese,Arabic,andLatin.

1.1.2TheScopeoflinguistics

A）generallinguistics

Thestudyoflanguageasawholeisoftencalledgenerallinguistics.

basicconcepts:

language;sentence;words

theories:

descriptions:

models:

methodsapplicableinanylinguisticstudy:

B）mainbranchesoflinguistics

LanguagestudyfocusesonMeaningandForm.

i）Form:

sound

phonetics语音学

phonology音系学

written

morphology形态学

syntax句法学

ii）Meaning:

semantics语义学

pragmatics语用学

iii）introductiontothemainbranches

1）Phonetics

Thestudyofsoundsusedinlinguisticcommunication.

2）Phonology

Thestudyofthewayinwhichthesoundsareputtogetherandusedtoconveymeaningincommunication.

3）Morphology

Thestudyofthewayinwhichthesymbolsarearrangedandcombinedtoformwords.

4）Syntax

Thestudyofruleswhichgovernthecombinationofwordstoformgrammaticallypermissiblesentencesinlanguages.

5）Semantics:

meaninginlanguage

Thestudyofmeaningisknownassemantics.

6）Pragmatics:

meaningincontext

Whenthestudyofmeaningisconducted,notinisolation,butinthecontextoflanguageuse,itbecomesanotherbranchoflinguisticstudycalledpragmatics.

C）Macrolinguistics

Linguisticsisnottheonlyfieldconcernedwithlanguage.Otherdisciplinessuchaspsychology,sociology,anthropology,artificialintelligence,medicineandeducationetc.arealsopreoccupiedwithlanguage.

1）Sociolinguistics

Thestudyofthesocialaspectsoflanguageanditsrelationwithsocietyformsthecoreofthebranchcalledsociolinguistics.

Forexample,

LatininEurope

2）Psycholinguistics

Itrelatesthestudyoflanguagetopsychology.

e.g.tostudylanguagedevelopmentinchildren,suchasthetheoriesoflanguageacquisition;

3）Appliedlinguistics

a）thestudyofsecondandforeignlanguagelearningandteaching.

Atwhatageisanoptimalageforachildtostudyaforeignlanguage?

b）thestudyoflanguageandlinguisticsinrelationtopracticalproblems.Itusesinformationfromsociology,psychology,anthropologyandinformationtheoryaswellaslinguisticsinordertodevelopitsowntheoreticalmodelsoflanguageandlanguageuse,andthenusesthisinformationandtheoryinpracticalareas.

1.1.3LinguisticsasaScience

Threeadequacies

Howcanweappraisetheextentofsuccessinscientificstudy?

Therearethreelevelstoconsider,namelyobservation,description,andexplanation.Whatalinguistseeksforcanbesummarizedasthreeadequaciescorrespondingly.

a）observationaladequacy

Asuccessfulresearchisexpectedtobeadequateinobservationatfirst.

Itischaracterizedbycorrectlyspecifyingwhatisobservedtobephonologically,morphologically,syntactically,semantically,orpragmaticallywell-formedorill-formed.

b）descriptiveadequacy

Properdescriptionisbasedonadequateobservation,andapieceofscientificworkisdescriptivelyadequateifitprovidesaprincipledaccountofthenativespeaker’sintuitionsaboutthestructureofthelinguisticphenomenonobserved.

c）explanatoryadequacy

Explanatoryadequacyistheultimategoalofanyscientificexploration.

Inlinguistics,atheoryattainsexplanatoryadequacyjustincaseitprovidesadescriptivelyadequategrammarforeverynaturallanguage,anddoessointermsofamaximallyconstrainedsetofuniversalprincipleswhichrepresentpsychologicallyplausiblenaturalprinciplesofmentalcomputation.

1.2Whatislanguage?

1.2.1Designfeatures（识别特征）

Designfeaturesrefertothedefiningpropertiesofhumanlanguagethatdistinguishitfromanyanimalsystemofcommunication.

TheframeworkofthedesignfeatureswasproposedbytheAmericanlinguistCharlesHockett.

1）Arbitrariness（任意性）

Arbitrarinessmeansthatthereisnologicalconnectionbetweenmeaningsandsounds.

Why?

a）differentlanguagesmayhavedifferentsoundstorepresentthesameobjectthatexistsinsociety.

b）thesamesoundmayexpressdifferentmeanings

exception:

onomatopoeia:

basedonthenaturalvoices.

2）Duality（结构双重性）

DEFINITION:

Languageisasystem,whichconsistsoftwosetsofstructures,ortwolevels.Atthelowerorthebasiclevelthereisastructureofsounds,whicharemeaninglessbythemselves.Butthesoundsoflanguagecanbegroupedandregroupedintoalargenumberofunitsofmeaning,whicharefoundatthehigherlevelofthesystem.

3）Productivity（创造性）

DEFINITION:

Languageisproductiveorcreativeinthatitmakespossibletheconstructionandinterpretationofnewsignalsbyitsusers.

comparingwithanimalcommunicationsystems

e.g.anexperimentonbeedance:

Beecommunicationregardinglocationhasafixedsetsignals,allofwhichrelatetohorizontaldistance.Thebeecannotmanipulateitscommunicatingsystemtocreatea“new”messageindicatingverticaldistance.

4）Displacement（移位性）

DEFINITION：

Languagecanbeusedtorefertothingswhicharepresentornotpresent,realorimaginedmattersinthepast,present,orfuture,orinfar-awayplaces.

Animalsareunder“immediatestimuluscontrol”.

Humanlanguageis,unlikeanimalcommunicationsystems,stimulusfree.

5）Culturaltransmission（文化传递）

Languageculturaltransmissionmeansthatlanguageisculturallytransmitted.Itispassedonfromonegenerationtothenextthroughteachingandlearning,ratherthanbyinstinct.

1.2.2Definitionsoflanguage

Languageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.

1.2.2.1Languageisasystem

elementsoflanguagearecombinedaccordingtorules.

a）rulesofsoundsystem

b）rulesofwrittensystem

1.2.2.2Languageisarbitraryandsymbolic

1.2.2.3Languageisvocal

a）theprimarymediumforalllanguagesissound.

b）writingsystemscameintobeingmuchlaterthanthespokenforms.

c）somelanguageonlyhavesoundsystemsandnowritingsystems

1.2.2.4Languageishuman-specific

1.2.2.5communicationvsinformation

1.2.3Knowledgeoflanguage:

endowedorconventional?

TIME-HONOREDPROBLEMS

•WHATISKNOWLEDGEOFLANGUAGE?

•WHEREDOESITCOMEFROM?

Aristotle（384-322B.C.）:

Languageisarrivedatbyconventionandagreementofthespeakersofagivenlanguage.

BEHAVIORISM

EMPIRICISM

Ourbrainwasblankwhenwewereborn.Languageisasocial,empiricalentity.

B.F.Skinner:

theAmericanpsychologistandafamousHarvardbehaviourist

Thefamousquotation“languageisbehaviour”

Verbalbehaviouristhesameasanyotherfundamentalrespectofnon-verbalbehaviour.

Theoccurrenceofbehavioursisdependentuponthreecrucialelements:

astimulus,whichservestoelicitbehaviour;

aresponsetriggeredbyastimulus;

reinforcement,whichservestomarktheresponseasbeingappropriate（orinappropriate）andencouragestherepetition（orsuppression）oftheresponseinthefuture.

Verbalbehaviour:

thestimulusaswhatistaught（languageinput）,

theresponseasthelearner’sreactiontothestimulus,

thereinforcementastheapprovalorpraise（ordiscouragement）oftheteacherorfellowstudents.

Argumentfor“povertyofthestimulus”

●a）Thechild’slinguisticexperience（stimulus）isnotsufficienttojustifytheadultgrammar.

●b）Asfarasachildisconcerned,anutterancecontainingamistakeisjustanotherpieceoflinguisticexperiencetobetreatedonaparwitherror-freeutterance.Buttheystillknowthecorrectgrammar.

●c）Achildandachimpanzeebothliveinthesamelanguageenvironment,onlythechildcanlearnthelanguage.

Plato（427?

-347B.C.）

Thereisauniversallycorrectandacceptablelogicoflanguageformantofollowinexpressinghisideas.

NATIVISM先天论

MENTALISM心灵主义

Thereisabiological,physiologicalentityinsideourbrainwhichdecidesthatwespeak.

Languagefaculty/（LAD=LanguageAcquisitionDevice）:

Humanbeingsdohaveaninbornknowledgeoflanguagewhichmustbeuniversallycorrectandacceptable,thelocationofsuchinnateknowledgejustinourgenes.

ExperienceofL—LF—GrammarofL

Chomsky’sepistemologyoftheknowledgeoflanguage

●TheinitialstateofhumanlanguagefacultyiscalledUG（UniversalGrammar）.

●UG（universalgrammar）:

Everyspeakerknowsasetofprincipleswhichapplytoalllanguagesandalsoasetof（binary）parametersthatcanvaryfromonelanguagetoanother.

principles:

allhumanlanguageshavethesubject,verb,andobject.

reflexiblepronounprinciple:

thereflexiblepronounshouldtakethenouninthesameclauseasantecedent.

parameters:

binaryparameter:

thepositionofthewh-elementinthesentence

●Duetotheeffectoflaterexperience,ourbrain/minddevelopsfromtheinitialstateintothesteadystate,whichcorrespondstothecompetenceofspeakingahumanlanguage.

experience

UG----------------PG（ParticularGrammar）

PG=a.UG

1.3Someimportantdistinctionsinlinguistics

1.3.1Prescriptivevs.descriptive

Prescriptiveanddescriptiverepresenttwodifferenttypesoflinguisticstudy.

Descriptivestudy:

Ifalinguisticstudyaimstodescribesandanalyzethelanguagepeopleactuallyuse,itissaidtobedescriptive.

Prescriptivestudy:

Ifalinguisticstudyaimstolaydownrulesfor“correctandstandard”behaviorinusinglanguage,itissaidtobeprescriptive.

1.3.2Synchronicvs.diachronic

--byFerdinanddeSaussure.

synchronicstudy（共时研究）:

thedescriptionofalanguageatsomepointoftimeinhistory.

diachronicstudy（历时研究）:

thedescriptionofalanguageasitchangesthroughtime.Adiachronicstudyoflanguageisahistoricalstudy;itstudiesthehistoricaldevelopmentoflanguageoveraper