英語語言學(xué)完整版

1、A Course on Linguistics for Students of EnglishSchool of Foreign Studies,,,Chapter 1. Introduction,1. What is language?,Language can mean,what a person says (e.g. bad language, expressions) the way of speaking or writ

2、ing (e.g. Shakespeare’s language, Luxun’s language)a particular variety or level of speech or writing (e.g. language for special purpose, colloquial language) the abstract system underlying the totality of the speech/w

3、riting behavior of a community (e.g. Chinese language, first language) the common features of all human languages (e.g. He studies language)a tool for human communication. (social function) a set of rules. (rule-gove

4、rned),Sapir’s definition (1921),“Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.”,Hall’s definition (1968),Language is “the ins

5、titution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.”,Chomsky’s definition (1957),“From now on I will consider language to be a set of (finite or i

6、nfinite) sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.”,Language can be generally defined as,a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.,Language is a system,Syst

7、ematic---- rule-governed, elements in it are arranged according to certain rules; can’t be combined at will. e.g. *bkli, *I apple eat.,Language is arbitrary,Arbitrary---- no intrinsic connection between the word and the

8、 thing it denotes, e.g. “pen” by any other name is the thing we use to write with.,Language is symbolic in nature,Symbolic---- words are associated with objects, actions ideas by convention. “A rose by any other name wou

9、ld smell as sweet”----Shakespeare,Language is primarily vocal,Vocal---- the primary medium is sound for all languages; writing system came much later than spoken form.,Language is human-specific,Human-specific---- differ

10、ent from the communication systems other forms of life possess, e.g. bird songs, bee dance, animal cries.,The design/defining features of human language (Charles Hockett),ArbitrarinessProductivity/CreativityDualityDis

11、placementCultural transmission,Arbitrariness,----No logical (motivated or intrinsic) connection between sounds and meanings.Onomatopoeic words (which imitate natural sounds) are somewhat motivated ( English: rumble, c

12、rackle, bang, …. Chinese: putong, shasha, dingdang… )Some compound words are not entirely arbitrary, e.g. type-writer, shoe-maker, air-conditioner, photocopy…,Productivity/creativity,----Peculiar to human languages，use

13、rs 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

14、 the world.A gibbon call system is not productive for gibbon draw all their calls from a fixed repertoire which is rapidly exhausted, making any novelty impossible. The bee dance does have a limited productivity, as

15、it is used to communicate about food sources in any direction. But food sources are the only kind of messages that can be sent through the bee dance; bees do not “talk” about themselves, the hives, or wind, let alone abo

16、ut people, animals, hopes or desires,,Duality (double articulation),Lower level----sounds (meaningless)Higher level----meaning (larger units of meaning)A communication system with duality is considered more flexible th

17、an 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 rea

18、rranged into an infinite number of sentences. (we make dictionary of a language, but we cannot make a dictionary of sentences of that language.,Displacement,----Language can be used to refer to things, which are not pres

19、ent: real or imagined matters in the past, present or future, or in far-away places. A gibbon never utters a call about something he ate last yearThere is something special about the bee dance though. Bees communicate

20、with other bees about the food sources they have found when they are no longer in the presence of the food. In this sense, the bee dance has a component of displacement. But this component is very insignificant. For the

21、bees must communicate about the food immediately on returning to the hive. They do not dance about the food they discovered last month nor do they speculate about future discoveries.,Cultural transmission,----Language is

22、 culturally transmitted (through teaching and learning; rather than by instinct).Animal call systems are genetically transmitted. All cats, gibbons and bees have systems which are almost identical to those of all other

23、 cats, gibbons and bees.A Chinese speaker and an English speaker are not mutually intelligible. This shows that language is culturally transmitted. That is, it is pass on from one generation to the next by teaching and

24、 learning, rather than by instinct.The story of a wolf child, a pig child shows that a human being brought up in isolation simply does not acquire human language.,Functions of language,Phatic: establishing an atmospher

25、e or maintaining social contact.Directive: get the hearer to do something. Informative: give information about facts. Interrogative: get information from others.Expressive: express feelings and attitudes of the speak

26、er. Evocative: create certain feelings in the hearer (amuse, startle, soothe, worry or please) Performative: language is used to do things, to perform actions.,The origin of language,The divine-origin theory---- Langua

27、ge is a gift of God to mankind. The invention theory---- imitative, cries of nature, the grunts of men working together. The evolutionary theory---- the result of physical and psychological development.,許國璋先生認(rèn)為把語言定義成

28、交際工具不夠科學(xué),至少不夠嚴(yán)謹(jǐn).他對(duì)語言的定義做了如下概括:語言是一種符號(hào)系統(tǒng).,當(dāng)它作用于人與人之間的關(guān)系的時(shí)候,它是表達(dá)相互反應(yīng)的中介;當(dāng)它作用于人與客觀世界的關(guān)系的時(shí)候,它是認(rèn)知事物的工具;當(dāng)它作用于文化的時(shí)候,它是文化的載體.,2. What is linguistics?,----Linguistics is the scientific study of language. ----A person who st

29、udies linguistics is known as a linguist.,Four principles of linguistic studies,Exhaustiveness/adequacy Consistency Economy Objectivity,The scope or major branches of linguistics,Theoretical linguisticsPhoneticsP

30、honologyMorphologySyntaxSemanticsUse of linguisticsApplied linguisticsSociolinguisticsPsycholinguistics ……,Theoretical linguistics,Phonetics----speech sound (description, classification, transcription): arti

31、culatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, auditory phonetics.Phonology----sound patterns of languagesMorphology----the form of wordsSyntax----the rules governing the combination of words into sentence.Semantics----the

32、meaning of language (when the meaning of language is conducted in the context of language use----Pragmatics),Use of linguistics,Applied linguistics----linguistics and language teaching Sociolinguistics---- social facto

33、rs (e.g. class, education) affect language use Psycholinguistics----linguistic behavior and psychological process Stylistics----linguistic and literature,Some other applications,Anthropological linguisticsNeuroling

34、uisticsComputational linguistics (e.g. machine translation),Some important distinctions in linguistics,Descriptive vs prescriptive,Descriptive ---- describe/analyze linguistic facts observed or language people actually

35、 use (modern linguistic)Prescriptive ----lay down rules for “correct” linguistic behavior in using language (traditional grammar),Synchronic vs diachronic,Synchronic study---- description of a language at some point of

36、 time (modern linguistics) Diachronic study---- description of a language through time (historical development of language over a period of time),Speech vs writing,Speech ---- primary medium of languageWriting ---- la

37、ter developed,Langue vs parole (F. de Saussure),Langue ---- the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of the speech community.Parole ---- the realization of langue in actual use.Saussure takes a sociologic

38、al view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions.,Competence and performance (Chomsky),Competence ---- the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language Performance ---- the actual r

39、ealization of this knowledge in linguistic communication Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.,Traditional grammar vs modern li

40、nguistics,Traditional grammar ---- prescriptive, written, Latin-based framework Modern linguistics ----- descriptive, spoken, not necessarily Latin-based framework,Chapter 2 Phonology,Language is primarily vocal. The

41、primary medium of human language is sound. Linguists are not interested in all sounds, but in speech sounds----sounds that convey meaning in human communication.,Phonetics,----A branch of linguistics which studies the ch

42、aracteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription, e.g. [p] bilabial, stop.,Three branches of phonetics,Articulatory phonetics----from the speakers’ point of view

43、, “how speakers produce speech sounds”Auditory phonetics----from the hearers’ point of view, “how sounds are perceived”Acoustic phonetics----from the physical way or means by which sounds are transmitted from one to

44、another.,Articulatory phonetics,Speech organs: three important areas,,Pharyngeal cavity ---- the throat; The oral cavity ---- the mouth; Nasal cavity ---- the nose.,The diagram of speech organs,LipsTeethTeeth ridg

45、e (alveolar)Hard palateSoft palate (velum)UvulaTip of tongueBlade of tongueBack of tongueVocal cordsPharyngeal cavityNasal cavity,Orthographic representation of speech sounds,---- A standardized and internationa

46、lly accepted system of phonetic transcription is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The basic principle of the IPA is using one letter to represent one speech sound.Broad transcription ---- used in dictionary a

47、nd textbook for general purpose, without diacritics, e.g. clear [ l ], [ pit ] Narrow transcription ---- used by phonetician for careful study, with diacritics, e.g. dark [ l ], aspirated [ p ],Some major articulator

48、y variables,---- dimensions on which speech sounds may vary:Voicing---- voiced & voicelessNasality ---- nasal & non-nasal Aspiration ----- aspirated & unaspirated,Classification of English speech sounds

49、,---- English speech sounds are generally classified into two large categories: Vowels Consonants Note: The essential difference between these two classes is that in the production of the former the airstream mee

50、ts with no obstruction of any kind in the throat, the nose or the mouth, while in that of the latter it is somehow obstructed.,Classification of consonants,---- English consonants may be classified according to two dimen

51、sions:The manner of articulation The place of articulation,,The manner of articulation,stops/plosives: [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g];fricatives: [f], [v], [s], [z], [W], [T], [F], [V], [h];affricates: [tF], [dV];

52、liquids: [l](lateral), [r]; nasals: [m], [n], [N]; glides/semivowels: [w], [j].,The place of articulation,bilabial: [p], [b], [m], [w];labiodental: [ f ], [v];dental: [W], [T];alveolar: [t], [d], [s], [z], [n],

53、[l], [r];palatal: [F], [V], [tF], [dV], [ j ];velar: [k], [g], [N]; glottal: [h].,The place of articulation,Bilabial;Labiodental;Dental or interdental;Alveolar;Palatoalveolar;Palatal;Velar;Uvular;Glottal.,The

54、description of English consonants,Classification of vowels,---- English vowels can be divided into two large categories:Monophthongs or pure/single vowelsDiphthongs or gliding vowels,Monophthongs or pure/single vowel

55、s,----According to which part of the tongue is held highest in the process of production, the vowels can be distinguished as:front vowels: [I:], [I], [e], [Z], [A], [B];central vowels: [E:], [E], [Q];back vowels: [

56、u:], [u], [C:], [C], [B:].,According to the openness of the mouth,Close: [I:], [I], [u:], [u].Semi-close: [e], [E:]; Semi-open: [E], [C];Open: [A], [B], [C], [B:], [Q];,The diagram of single vowel classification b

57、y applying the two criteria so far mentioned:,According to the shape of the lips orthe degree of lip rounding,rounded: [u:], [u], [C:], [C];unrounded: [I:], [I], [e], [Z], [A], [B], [E:], [E], [Q], [B:].,According to

58、the length of the vowels,long: [I:], [E:], [u:], [C:], [B:]short: [I], [e], [Z], [A], [E], [Q], [B], [u], [C].,Diphthongs/gliding vowels,[ei], [ai], [aU], [EU], [Ri], [iE], [ZE], [UE].,Exercises: underline the words th

59、at begin with a sound as required.,A bilabial consonant: mad sad bad cad pad had ladA velar consonant: nod god cod pod rodLabiodental consonant: rat fat sat mat chat vat patAn alveolar consonant: nick lick sick tick k

60、ick quickA palato-alveolar consonant: sip ship tip chip lip zipA dental consonant: lie buy thigh thy tie ryeA glide: one war yolk rush,Underline the words that end with a sound as required:,A fricative pay horse to

61、ugh rice breath push sing wreathe hang cave messageA nasal train bang leaf limbA stop drill pipe fit crab fog ride laugh rack through tipAn affricate: rack such ridge booze,Underline the words that contain t

62、he sound as required:,A central vowel: mad lot but boot wordA front vowel: reed pad load fate bit bed cook A rounded vowel: who he bus her hit true boss bar walkA back vowel: paid reap fool top good fath

63、er,Describe the underlined consonants according to three dimensions:,vd/vl place manner LetterBrotherSunnyHopperItchingLodgerCallingSingingRobbereither,Phonology,Phonology studies th

64、e patterning of speech sounds, that is, the ways in which speech sounds form systems and patterns in human languages.,Phonetics & phonology,Both are concerned with the same aspect of language----the speech sounds. Bu

65、t they differ in their approach and focus.Phonetics is of general nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages; it aims to answer questions like: how they are produced, how they differ

66、from each other, what phonetic features they have, how they can be classified, etc.Phonology aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic

67、communication.,Phone, phoneme, allophone,Phone,A phone---- a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. Phones do not necessarily distinguish meaning,

68、some do, some don’t, e.g. [ bI:t ] & [ bIt ], [spIt] & [spIt].,Phoneme,A phoneme---- is a phonological unit; it is a unit of distinctive value; an abstract unit, not a particular sound, but it is represented by a