语言学chapter1

1. What is language?

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. 2. Design features (properties) of language

The features that define our human languages can be called design features which can distinguish human language from any animal system of communication. 1) Arbitrariness

----No logical (motivated or intrinsic) connection between sounds and meanings. 2) Duality

Lower level----sounds (meaningless)

Higher level----meaning (larger units of meaning)

A communication system with duality is considered more flexible than one without it, for a far greater number of messages can be sent. A small number of sounds can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning (words), and the units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences. (we make dictionary of a language, but we cannot make a dictionary of sentences of that language. 3) Productivity/creativity

----Peculiar to human languages，users of language can understand and produce sentences they have never heard before, e.g. we can understand sentence like “ A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the hotel bed”, though it does not describe a common happening in the world. 4) Displacement (移位性)

----Language can be used to refer to things, which are not present: real or imagined matters in the past, present or future, or in far-away places. 语言使我们能够谈及已不存在的或还未出现的事物，用抽象的概念来交谈或思考。 5) Cultural transmission

----Language is culturally transmitted (through teaching and learning; rather than by instinct).

3. What is linguistics?

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It studies not just one language of any one community, but the language of all human beings. 4. Main branches of linguistics

1). Phonetics----speech sound (description, classification, transcription) 语音学 2). Phonology----sound patterns of languages 音系学 3). Morphology----the form of words 形态学

4). Syntax----the rules governing the combination of words into sentence. 句法学 5). Semantics----the meaning of language. 语义学

6). Pragmatics----when the meaning of language is conducted in the context of language use. 语用学

5. Important distinctions in linguistics

1) Descriptive vs prescriptive 描写式和规定式

Descriptive ---- describe/analyze linguistic facts observed or language people actually use (modern linguistic)

Prescriptive ----lay down rules for “correct” linguistic behavior in using language (traditional grammar)

2) Synchronic vs diachronic 共时和历时

Synchronic study---- description of a language at some point of time (modern linguistics)

Diachronic study---- description of a language through time (historical development of language over a period of time)

A synchronic study takes a fixed instant (usually at present) as its point of observation. Saussure’s diachronic description is the study of a language through the course of its history. E.g. a study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare’s time would be synchronic, and a study of the changes English has undergone since then would be a diachronic study. In modern linguistics, synchronic study seems to enjoy priority over diachronic study. The reason is that unless the various state of a language are successfully studied it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development.

3) Langue vs parole (F. de Saussure) 语言和言语

Langue ---- the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of the speech community.

Parole ---- the realization of langue in actual use.

Saussure distinguished the linguistic competence of the speaker and the actual phenomena or data of linguistics as langue and parole. Langue is relative stable and systematic, parole is subject to personal and situational constraints; langue is not spoken by an individual, parole is always a naturally occurring event. What a linguist should do, according to Saussure, is to draw rules from a mass of confused facts, i.e. to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make them the subject of linguistics.

4) Competence and performance (Chomsky) 语言能力和语言运用 Competence ---- the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language

Performance----the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication

According to Chomsky, a language user’s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called the linguistic competence, and the actual use of language in concrete situations is called performance. Competence enables a speaker to produce and understand and indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker’s competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speaker’s performance does not always match his supposed competence. Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rather than performance.