英语语言学教程(胡壮麟版).doc

1、1英语语言学教程（胡壮麟版）Chapter one. Invitation to Linguistic. 1. What is language?“Language is system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. It is a system, since linguistic elements are arranged systematically, rather than randomly. Arbitrary, in the sense that there is usually no intrinsi

2、c connection between a work (like “book”) and the object it refers to. This explains and is explained by the fact that different languages have different “books”: “book” in English, “livre” in French, “shu” in Chinese. It is symbolic, because words are associated with objects, actions, ideas etc. by

3、 nothing but convention. Namely, people use the sounds or vocal forms to symbolize what they wish to refer to. It is vocal, because sound or speech is the primary medium for all human languages. Writing systems came much later than the spoken forms. The fact that small children learn and can only le

4、arn to speak (and listen) before they write (and read) also indicates that language is primarily vocal, rather than written. The term “human” in the definition is meant to specify that language is human specific.2. Design Features of Language.“Design features” here refer to the defining properties o

5、f human language that tell the difference between human language and any system of animal communication. They are arbitrariness, duality, productivity, displacement, cultural transmission and interchangeability(1) Arbitrariness: By “arbitrariness”, we mean there is no logical connection between mean

6、ings and sounds.(2) Duality: The property of having two levels of structures (phonological and grammatical), units of the primary level being composed of elements of the secondary level and each level having its own principles of organization.(3) Productivity: Productivity refers to the ability to t

7、he ability to construct and understand an indefinitely large number of sentences in ones native language, including those that has never heard before, but that are appropriate to the speaking situation. The property that enables native speakers to construct and understand an indefinitely large numbe

8、r of utterances, including utterances that they have never previously encountered.(4) Displacement: “Displacement”, as one of the design features of the human language, refers to the fact that one can talk about things that are not present, as easily as he does things present. In other words, one ca

9、n refer to real and unreal things, things of the past, of the present, of the future. Language itself can be talked about too.(5) Cultural transmission: This means that language is not biologically transmitted from generation to generation, but that the details of the linguistic system must be learn

10、ed anew by each speaker.(6) Interchangeability: Interchangeability means that any human being can be both a producer and a receiver of messages.3. Functions of Language. Language has at least seven functions: phatic, directive, Informative, interrogative, expressive, evocative and performative.(1) P

11、hatic function: The “phatic function” refers to language being used for setting up a certain atmosphere or maintaining social contacts (rather than for exchanging information or ideas). Greetings, farewells, and comments on the weather in English and on clothing in Chinese all serve this function.(2

12、) Directive function: The “directive function” means that language may be used to get the hearer 2to do something. Most imperative sentences perform this function, e. g., “Tell me the result when you finish.”(3) Informative function: Language serves an “informational function” when used to tell some

13、thing, characterized by the use of declarative sentences. Informative statements are often labeled as true (truth) or false (falsehood).(4) Interrogative function: When language is used to obtain information, it serves an “interrogative function”. This includes all questions that expect replies, sta

14、tements, imperatives etc.(5) Expressive function: The “expressive function” is the use of language to reveal something about the feelings or attitudes of the speaker.(6) Evocative function: The “evocative function” is the use of language to create certain feelings in the hearer. Its aim is, for exam

15、ple, to amuse, startle, antagonize, soothe, worry or please.(7) Per formative function: This means people speak to “do things” or perform actions.4. What is linguistic?“Linguistics” is the scientific study of language. It studies not just one language of any one society, but the language of all huma

16、n beings. In short, linguistics studies the general principles whereupon all human languages are constructed and operate as systems of communication in their societies or communities.5. Main branches of linguistics.The study of language as a whole is often called general linguistics. But a linguist

17、sometimes is able to deal with only one aspect of language at a time, thus the arise of various branches: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, psycholinguistics etc.6. Important distinctions in linguistic.(1) synchronic study vs. dia

18、chronic studyThe description of a language at some point of time (as if it stopped developing) is a synchrony study (synchrony). The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study (diachronic).(2) Speech vs. writingSpeech is primary, because it existed long before writing

19、 systems came into being. Genetically children learn to speak before learning to write. Secondly, written forms just represent in this way or that the speech sounds: individual sounds, as in English and French as in Japanese. In contrast to speech, spoken form of language, writing as written codes,

20、gives language new scope and use that speech does not have. Most modern linguistic analysis is focused on speech, different from grammarians of the last century and theretofore.(3) Descriptive vs. prescriptiveA linguistic study is “descriptive” if it only describes and analyses the facts of language

21、, and “prescriptive” if it tries to lay down rules for “correct” language behavior. Linguistic studies before this century were largely prescriptive because many early grammars were largely prescriptive because many early grammars were based on “high” (literary or religious) written records. Modern

22、linguistics is mostly descriptive. (4). langue vs. paroleF. de Saussure refers “langue” to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community and refers “parole” to the actual or actualized language, or the realization of langue. Langue is abstract, parole specific to the

23、 speaking situation; langue not actually spoken by an individual, parole always a naturally occurring event; langue relatively stable and systematic, parole is a mass of confused facts, thus not suitable for systematic investigation. What a linguist ought to do, according to Saussure, is to abstract

24、 langue from instances of parole, i.e. to discover the regularities governing all instances of 3parole and make than the subject of linguistics. The langue-parole distinction is of great importance, which casts great influence on later linguists.(5). competence vs. performanceAccording to N. Chomsky

25、, “competence” is the ideal language users knowledge of the rules of his language, and “performance” is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances. The former enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguiti

26、es. A speakers competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speakers performance does not always match or equal his supposed competence. Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rather than performance.(6). linguistic pote

27、ntial vs. linguistic behaviorThese two terms, or the potential-behavior distinction, were made by M. A. K. Halliday in the 1960s, from a functional point of view. There is a wide range of things a speaker can do in his culture, and similarly there are many things he can say, for example, to many peo

28、ple, on many topics. What he actually says (i.e. his “actual linguistic behavior”) on a certain occasion to a certain person is what he has chosen from many possible injustice items, each of which he could have said (linguistic potential).Chapter 2 Phonetics1.What is phonetics?“Phonetics” is the sci

29、ence which studies the characteristics of human sound-making, especially those sounds used in speech, and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription, speech sounds may be studied in different ways, thus by three different branches of phonetics.(1) Articulatory phonetics

30、; the branch of phonetics that examines the way in which a speech sound is produced to discover which vocal organs are involved and how they coordinate in the process.(2) Auditory phonetics, the branch of phonetic research from the hearers point of view, looking into the impression which a speech so

31、und makes on the hearer as mediated by the ear, the auditory nerve and the brain. (3) Acoustic phonetics: the study of the physical properties of speech sounds, as transmitted between mouth and ear. Most phoneticians, however, are interested in articulatory phonetics.2. The IPAThe IPA, abbreviation

32、of “International Phonetic Alphabet”, is a compromise system making use of symbols of all sources, including diacritics indicating length, stress and intonation, indicating phonetic variation. Ever since it was developed in 1888, IPA has undergone a number of revisions.3. Place of articulation It re

33、fers to the place in the mouth where, for example, the obstruction occurs, resulting in the utterance of a consonant. 4. Manner of articulationThe “manner of articulation” literally means the way a sound is articulated. 5. Phonology“Phonology” is the study of sound systems- the invention of distinct

34、ive speech sounds that occur in a language and the patterns wherein they fall. Minimal pair, phonemes, allophones, free variation, complementary distribution, etc., are all to be investigated by a phonologist.6. Narrow transcription and broad transcription.The former was meant to symbolize all the p

35、ossible speech sounds, including even the most minute shades of pronunciation while Broad transcription was intended to indicate only those sounds capable of 4distinguishing one word from another in a given language.7. Phone Phoneme Allophone A “phone” is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sound

36、s we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. When we hear the following words pronounced: pit, tip, spit, etc., the similar phones we have heard are p for one thing, and three different ps, readily making possible the “narrow transcription or diacritics”. Phones may and may

37、not distinguish meaning.A “phoneme” is a phonological unit; it is a unit that is of distinctive value. As an abstract unit, a phoneme is not any particular sound, but rather it is represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context. For example, the phonemep is represented diffe

38、rently in pit, tip and spit.The phones representing a phoneme are called its “allophones”, i.e., the different (i.e., phones) but do not make one word so phonetically different as to create a new word or a new meaning thereof. So the different p s in the above words is the allophones of the same pho

39、neme p. How a phoneme is represented by a phone, or which allophone is to be used, is determined by the phonetic context in which it occurs. But the choice of an allophone is not random. In most cases it is rule-governed; these rules are to be found out by a phonologist.8. Minimal pairs?When two dif

40、ferent phonetic forms are identical in every way except for one sound segment which occurs in the same place in the string, the two forms (i. e., word) are supposed to form a “minimal pair”, e.g., “pill” and “bill”, “pill” and “till”, “till” and “dill”, “till” and “kill”, etc. All these words togeth

41、er constitute a minimal set. They are identical in form except for the initial consonants. There are many minimal pairs in English, which makes it relatively easy to know what English phonemes are. It is of great importance to find the minimal pairs when a phonologist is dealing with the sound syste

42、m of an unknown language.9. Free variationIf two sounds occurring in the same environment do not contrast; namely, if the substitution of one for the other does not generate a new word form but merely a different pronunciation of the same word, the two sounds then are said to be in “free variation”.

43、10. Complementary distributionWhen two sounds never occur in the same environment, they are in “complementary distribution”. For example, the aspirated English plosives never occur after s, and the unsaturated ones never occur initially. Sounds in complementary distribution may be assigned to the sa

44、me phoneme.11. Assimilation rule.The “assimilation rule” assimilates one segment to another by “copying” a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones more similar.12. Deletion rule The “deletion rule” tell us when a sound is to be deleted although is orthographically represented.13.

45、 Suprasegmental phonology and suprasegmental features“Suprasegmental phonology” refers to the study of phonological properties of linguistic units larger than the segment called phoneme, such as syllable, length and pitch, stress, intonation.Chapter 3. Morphology1. Morpheme and MorphologyThe “morphe

46、me” is the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expression and content, a unit which cannot be divided without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical.5“Morphology” is the branch of grammar that studies the internal structure of words, and the r

47、ules by which words are formed. It is generally divided into two fields: inflectional morphology and lexical/derivational morphology.2. Types of Morphemes.(1) free morpheme and bound morphemeA “free morpheme” is a morpheme that constitutes a word by itself, such as bed”, “tree”, etc. A “bound morphe

48、me” is one that appears with at least another morpheme, such as “-s” in “beds”, “-al” in “national” and so on. All monomorphemic words are free morphemes. Those polymorphemic words are either compounds (combination of two or more free morphemes) or derivatives (word derived from free morphemes).(2).

49、 root; affix; stemA “root” is the base form of a word that cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity. It is the part of the word that is left when all the affixes are removed.“Affixes” is a collective term for the type of morpheme that can be used only when added to another morpheme (the root or stem), so affix is naturally bound. (prefix, suffix, infix)A “stem” is any morpheme or combination of morphemes to which an affix can be added.(3). Inflectional affix and derivational affix.Inflectional affixes: do not change the word class, but only ad