英语语言学教程胡壮麟版.docx

英语语言学教程胡壮麟版.docx

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英语语言学教程胡壮麟版

英语语言学教程（胡壮麟版）

Chapterone.InvitationtoLinguistic.

1.Whatislanguage?

“Languageissystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.Itisasystem,sincelinguisticelementsarearrangedsystematically,ratherthanrandomly.Arbitrary,inthesensethatthereisusuallynointrinsicconnectionbetweenawork（like“book”）andtheobjectitrefersto.Thisexplainsandisexplainedbythefactthatdifferentlanguageshavedifferent“books”:

“book”inEnglish,“livre”inFrench,“shu”inChinese.Itissymbolic,becausewordsareassociatedwithobjects,actions,ideasetc.bynothingbutconvention.Namely,peopleusethesoundsorvocalformstosymbolizewhattheywishtoreferto.Itisvocal,becausesoundorspeechistheprimarymediumforallhumanlanguages.Writingsystemscamemuchlaterthanthespokenforms.Thefactthatsmallchildrenlearnandcanonlylearntospeak（andlisten）beforetheywrite（andread）alsoindicatesthatlanguageisprimarilyvocal,ratherthanwritten.Theterm“human”inthedefinitionismeanttospecifythatlanguageishumanspecific.

2.DesignFeaturesofLanguage.

“Designfeatures”hererefertothedefiningpropertiesofhumanlanguagethattellthedifferencebetweenhumanlanguageandanysystemofanimalcommunication.Theyarearbitrariness,duality,productivity,displacement,culturaltransmissionandinterchangeability

（1）Arbitrariness:

By“arbitrariness”,wemeanthereisnologicalconnectionbetweenmeaningsandsounds.

（2）Duality:

Thepropertyofhavingtwolevelsofstructures（phonologicalandgrammatical）,unitsoftheprimarylevelbeingcomposedofelementsofthesecondarylevelandeachlevelhavingitsownprinciplesoforganization.

（3）Productivity:

Productivityreferstotheabilitytotheabilitytoconstructandunderstandanindefinitelylargenumberofsentencesinone’snativelanguage,includingthosethathasneverheardbefore,butthatareappropriatetothespeakingsituation.Thepropertythatenablesnativespeakerstoconstructandunderstandanindefinitelylargenumberofutterances,includingutterancesthattheyhaveneverpreviouslyencountered.

（4）Displacement:

“Displacement”,asoneofthedesignfeaturesofthehumanlanguage,referstothefactthatonecantalkaboutthingsthatarenotpresent,aseasilyashedoesthingspresent.Inotherwords,onecanrefertorealandunrealthings,thingsofthepast,ofthepresent,ofthefuture.Languageitselfcanbetalkedabouttoo.

（5）Culturaltransmission:

Thismeansthatlanguageisnotbiologicallytransmittedfromgenerationtogeneration,butthatthedetailsofthelinguisticsystemmustbelearnedanewbyeachspeaker.

（6）Interchangeability:

Interchangeabilitymeansthatanyhumanbeingcanbebothaproducerandareceiverofmessages.

3.FunctionsofLanguage.

Languagehasatleastsevenfunctions:

phatic,directive,Informative,interrogative,expressive,evocativeandperformative.

（1）Phaticfunction:

The“phaticfunction”referstolanguagebeingusedforsettingupacertainatmosphereormaintainingsocialcontacts（ratherthanforexchanginginformationorideas）.Greetings,farewells,andcommentsontheweatherinEnglishandonclothinginChineseallservethisfunction.

（2）Directivefunction:

The“directivefunction”meansthatlanguagemaybeusedtogetthehearertodosomething.Mostimperativesentencesperformthisfunction,e.g.,“Tellmetheresultwhenyoufinish.”

（3）Informativefunction:

Languageservesan“informationalfunction”whenusedtotellsomething,characterizedbytheuseofdeclarativesentences.Informativestatementsareoftenlabeledastrue（truth）orfalse（falsehood）.

（4）Interrogativefunction:

Whenlanguageisusedtoobtaininformation,itservesan“interrogativefunction”.Thisincludesallquestionsthatexpectreplies,statements,imperativesetc.

（5）Expressivefunction:

The“expressivefunction”istheuseoflanguagetorevealsomethingaboutthefeelingsorattitudesofthespeaker.

（6）Evocativefunction:

The“evocativefunction”istheuseoflanguagetocreatecertainfeelingsinthehearer.Itsaimis,forexample,toamuse,startle,antagonize,soothe,worryorplease.

（7）Performativefunction:

Thismeanspeoplespeakto“dothings”orperformactions.

4.Whatislinguistic?

“Linguistics”isthescientificstudyoflanguage.Itstudiesnotjustonelanguageofanyonesociety,butthelanguageofallhumanbeings.Inshort,linguisticsstudiesthegeneralprincipleswhereuponallhumanlanguagesareconstructedandoperateassystemsofcommunicationintheirsocietiesorcommunities.

5.Mainbranchesoflinguistics.

Thestudyoflanguageasawholeisoftencalledgenerallinguistics.Butalinguistsometimesisabletodealwithonlyoneaspectoflanguageatatime,thustheariseofvariousbranches:

phonetics,phonology,morphology,syntax,semantics,pragmatics,sociolinguistics,appliedlinguistics,psycholinguisticsetc.

6.Importantdistinctionsinlinguistic.

（1）synchronicstudyvs.diachronicstudy

Thedescriptionofalanguageatsomepointoftime（asifitstoppeddeveloping）isasynchronystudy（synchrony）.Thedescriptionofalanguageasitchangesthroughtimeisadiachronicstudy（diachronic）.

（2）Speechvs.writing

Speechisprimary,becauseitexistedlongbeforewritingsystemscameintobeing.Geneticallychildrenlearntospeakbeforelearningtowrite.Secondly,writtenformsjustrepresentinthiswayorthatthespeechsounds:

individualsounds,asinEnglishandFrenchasinJapanese.Incontrasttospeech,spokenformoflanguage,writingaswrittencodes,giveslanguagenewscopeandusethatspeechdoesnothave.Mostmodernlinguisticanalysisisfocusedonspeech,differentfromgrammariansofthelastcenturyandtheretofore.

（3）Descriptivevs.prescriptive

Alinguisticstudyis“descriptive”ifitonlydescribesandanalysesthefactsoflanguage,and“prescriptive”ifittriestolaydownrulesfor“correct”languagebehavior.Linguisticstudiesbeforethiscenturywerelargelyprescriptivebecausemanyearlygrammarswerelargelyprescriptivebecausemanyearlygrammarswerebasedon“high”（literaryorreligious）writtenrecords.Modernlinguisticsismostlydescriptive.

（4）.languevs.parole

F.deSaussurerefers“langue”totheabstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyallthemembersofaspeechcommunityandrefers“parole”totheactualoractualizedlanguage,ortherealizationoflangue.Langueisabstract,parolespecifictothespeakingsituation;languenotactuallyspokenbyanindividual,parolealwaysanaturallyoccurringevent;languerelativelystableandsystematic,paroleisamassofconfusedfacts,thusnotsuitableforsystematicinvestigation.Whatalinguistoughttodo,accordingtoSaussure,istoabstractlanguefrominstancesofparole,i.e.todiscovertheregularitiesgoverningallinstancesofparoleandmakethanthesubjectoflinguistics.Thelangue-paroledistinctionisofgreatimportance,whichcastsgreatinfluenceonlaterlinguists.

（5）.competencevs.performance

AccordingtoN.Chomsky,“competence”istheideallanguageuser’sknowledgeoftherulesofhislanguage,and“performance”istheactualrealizationofthisknowledgeinutterances.Theformerenablesaspeakertoproduceandunderstandanindefinitenumberofsentencesandtorecognizegrammaticalmistakesandambiguities.Aspeaker’scompetenceisstablewhilehisperformanceisofteninfluencedbypsychologicalandsocialfactors.Soaspeaker’sperformancedoesnotalwaysmatchorequalhissupposedcompetence.Chomskybelievesthatlinguistsoughttostudycompetence,ratherthanperformance.

（6）.linguisticpotentialvs.linguisticbehavior

Thesetwoterms,orthepotential-behaviordistinction,weremadebyM.A.K.Hallidayinthe1960s,fromafunctionalpointofview.Thereisawiderangeofthingsaspeakercandoinhisculture,andsimilarlytherearemanythingshecansay,forexample,tomanypeople,onmanytopics.Whatheactuallysays（i.e.his“actuallinguisticbehavior”）onacertainoccasiontoacertainpersoniswhathehaschosenfrommanypossibleinjusticeitems,eachofwhichhecouldhavesaid（linguisticpotential）.

Chapter2Phonetics

1.Whatisphonetics?

“Phonetics”isthesciencewhichstudiesthecharacteristicsofhumansound-making,especiallythosesoundsusedinspeech,andprovidesmethodsfortheirdescription,classificationandtranscription,speechsoundsmaybestudiedindifferentways,thusbythreedifferentbranchesofphonetics.

（1）Articulatoryphonetics;thebranchofphoneticsthatexaminesthewayinwhichaspeechsoundisproducedtodiscoverwhichvocalorgansareinvolvedandhowtheycoordinateintheprocess.

（2）Auditoryphonetics,thebranchofphoneticresearchfromthehearer’spointofview,lookingintotheimpressionwhichaspeechsoundmakesonthehearerasmediatedbytheear,theauditorynerveandthebrain.

（3）Acousticphonetics:

thestudyofthephysicalpropertiesofspeechsounds,astransmittedbetweenmouthandear.Mostphoneticians,however,areinterestedinarticulatoryphonetics.

2.TheIPA

TheIPA,abbreviationof“InternationalPhoneticAlphabet”,isacompromisesystemmakinguseofsymbolsofallsources,includingdiacriticsindicatinglength,stressandintonation,indicatingphoneticvariation.Eversinceitwasdevelopedin1888,IPAhasundergoneanumberofrevisions.

3.Placeofarticulation

Itreferstotheplaceinthemouthwhere,forexample,theobstructionoccurs,resultingintheutteranceofaconsonant.

4.Mannerofarticulation

The“mannerofarticulation”literallymeansthewayasoundisarticulated.

5.Phonology

“Phonology”isthestudyofsoundsystems-theinventionofdistinctivespeechsoundsthatoccurinalanguageandthepatternswhereintheyfall.Minimalpair,phonemes,allophones,freevariation,complementarydistribution,etc.,arealltobeinvestigatedbyaphonologist.

6.Narrowtranscriptionandbroadtranscription.

Theformerwasmeanttosymbolizeallthepossiblespeechsounds,includingeventhemostminuteshadesofpronunciationwhileBroadtranscriptionwasintendedtoindicateonlythosesoundscapableofdistinguishingonewordfromanotherinagivenlanguage.

7.PhonePhonemeAllophone

A“phone”isaphoneticunitorsegment.Thespeechsoundswehearandproduceduringlinguisticcommunicationareallphones.Whenwehearthefollowingwordspronounced:

[pit],[tip],[spit],etc.,thesimilarphoneswehaveheardare[p]foronething,andthreedifferent[p]s,readilymakingpossiblethe“narrowtranscriptionordiacritics”.Phonesmayandmaynotdistinguishmeaning.

A“phoneme”isaphonologicalunit;itisaunitthatisofdistinctivevalue.Asanabstractunit,aphonemeisnotanyparticularsound,butratheritisrepresentedorrealizedbyacertainphoneinacertainphoneticcontext.Forexample,thephoneme[p]isrepresenteddifferentlyin[pit],[tip]and[spit].

Thephonesrepresentingaphonemearecalledits“allophones”,i.e.,thedifferent（i.e.,phones）butdonotmakeonewordsophoneticallydifferentastocreateanewwordoranewmeaningthereof.Sothedifferent[p]sintheabovewordsistheallophonesofthesamephoneme[p].Howaphonemeisrepresentedbyaphone,orwhichallophoneistobeused,isdeterminedbythephoneticcontextinwhichitoccurs.Butthechoiceofanallophoneisnotrandom