英语语言学笔记1.doc

Chapter Ⅰ IntroductionChapter I Introduction1.1 Why study language?Ø Language is an integral part of our life and humanity. (details)Ø Yet we know little or even have even wrong ideas about language.·Where does language come from? How? When?·Why is language human-specific? ·Why can a child learn his/her mother tongue in a short period of time? ·How can we say one thing but mean another? ·Language has a form-meaning correspondence.·The function of language is to exchange informationØ The subject of language is intriguing and useful for many practical reasons. Language can be used as a way of finding out:·How the brain works.·How children learn language.·Why people use different varieties of language.·What the role of language is in different cultures, etc.1.2 Language1.2.1 DefinitionØ Different senses of “language”:·Bad language: expressions·Shakespeare’s language: idiolect·Business language: variety·The English language: abstract system·A student of language: universal properties of all speech/writing systemsØ Definition of language as a research subject (in a general and abstract sense):Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.Whatever the definition of language, it must include directly, or by close implication, some main attributes of language as follows:·Language is systematic. (Elements are combined according to rules.)·Language is arbitrary. (A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.)·Language is basically vocal—the primary medium is sound for all languages.·Language is symbolic. It is meaningless by itself.·Language is human-specific—bird songs and bee dances·Language is communicative. That is its major function Questions for discussion:1. Give more senses of “language” (Computer language, body language, sign language)1.2.2 Origin (of speech)Ø The divine theory: endowed by God (The Tower of Babel)Ø The bow-wow theory: imitative of animal calls (mew, hiss)Ø The pooh-pooh theory: instinctive cries out of intense emotions (interjections)Ø The ding-dong theory: natural resonance when struck (ding-dong, bang)Ø The yo-he-yo theory: rhythmic grunts when working together (heave, haul)Summary: Language originated from our experience of the external and internal world, and our contact with others. It evolves within specific historical, social and cultural contexts.Questions for discussion:1. Will the day come when all languages become one?2. What is possibly the first language?3. Where do you think language came from?1.2.3 Design featuresDesign features refer to the defining properties of language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication.Ø Arbitrariness: no natural relationship between meaning and form.“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”Ø Duality: two hierarchical structures of sounds and wordsSounds are secondary (meaningless); words are primary (meaningful).Ø Creativity: productivity, infinite use of finite means This answers why we can understand/produce sentences never heard before.Ø Displacement: stimulus free (genereralization and abstraction) It benefits human with the power for generalization and abstraction. Language is free from barriers caused by separation in time and space.Ø Cultural transmission: more cultural than geneticONE more feature:Ø Interchangeability: both a producer and a receiver1.2.4 FunctionsLinguists talk about the FUNCTIONS of language in an abstract sense. They summarize practical functions and attempt some broad classifications.Ø Some broad classifications:·.Jakobson (1960): referential (context), emotive (addresser), poetic (message), conative (addressee), phatic (contact), meta-lingual (code)·Halliday early: instrumental, regulatory, representational, interactional, personal, heuristic and imaginative. ·Halliday (1994): ideational (logical), interpersonal (social) and textual (relevant)Ø Sub-classification with reference to Halliday’s metafunctions (1994)·Informative (ideational): to express the speaker’s experience of the external and internal world.·Interpersonal: to establish and maintain social rulesPerformative: to perform actions (directive)Emotive (expressive): overlapped with expression of the inner experiencePhatic: purely social/interpersonal·Textual Recreational: to recreate/play with wordsMetalingual: to describe language itselfQuestions for discussion:1. What do we do with the following expressions? Hello! (Phatic) Get out of my way! (Directive)The earth revolves around the sun. (Informative)Do you know his hobby? (Interrogative)I hate her. (Expressive)How do you like Jack? (Evocative)I hereby declare the meeting open. (Performative)Tommy, Dear Friend (Interpersonal)Humor; rhyming; puns (Recreational)What I mean is; in other words (Metalinguistic)1.2.5 Typology1.3 Linguistics1.3.1 Defi。