1、Part 1 命题演讲-4,Olympic Games in My Heart,What is Linguistics?,Judge whether the statements are true or false. 1. Language involves different senses at different levels. 2. Language can refer to the concrete act of speaking in a given situation. 3. In “Yu Qiuyus language“, language actually means a ki
2、nd of idiolect. 4. Language also means a particular variety or level of speaking or writing, as in “Do you know French?“ 5. When we say “He studies language“, we mean everything in a language system. 6. A person expresses himself sometimes in a particular way, but often in a consistent way; whereas
3、the former can be regarded as language, the latter cant. 7. The statement “Language is a tool for communication“ refers to the property of language.,What function do the following instances refer to?,1. I name this ship the Queen Elizabeth. 2. Come and look at the watch. 3.Hi, long time no see. How
4、are you doing? 4. 哇噻！ 5. Good to the last drop 滴滴香浓，意犹未尽。（麦斯威尔咖啡） 6. The Chinese team has won 51 gold medals in the 29th Olympic Games. 7. Lovely weather, isnt it? 8. How do you feel about the trip?,What function do the following instances refer to?,钗头凤 别小乔,龟山幽，汉水寒， 黄鹤辞楼君不还。 人各半，心同轩， 诲言犹在，别意阑珊。 恋！恋！
5、恋！,闭月娇，羞花艳， 落雁弃宫北疆迁。 风未发，雨不眠， 女儿有志，铁马金簪。 羡！羡！羡！,Oral questions,1.What is the definition of language? 2.What does “design features“ mean? 3.What design feature makes it possible for language to have unlimited sources of expression? 4.What is “duality“? 5. What design feature makes it possible for spe
6、akers to talk about a wide range of things? 6. How does language differs from animal call systems in terms of transmission? 7. How do you call such words as “putong“, “bang“, etc? Does their existence deny “arbitrariness“?,Part 1 命题演讲-4,Olympic Games in My Heart,What is linguistics?Some basic distin
7、ctions in linguisticsMajor branches of general linguisticsUse of linguistics,1. What is linguistics?,Linguistics is a “Pilot Science“ Linguistics is a radically interdisciplinary and self-reflexive enterprise and should not remain the business of a few specialists. (Saussure,1959); It lays the found
8、ation for cognitive science, psychology, computer technology and artificial intelligence, etc.,1. What is linguistics?,Linguistics is the scientific study of language. not just one language of any society, but languages of all human societies. study: “investigation“ or “examination“ rather than “lea
9、rning“; scientific: based on the systematic investigation of data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure. Task of a linguist: In a word, linguistics studies the general principles upon which all languages are constructed and operate as systems of communication in the
10、societies in which they are used.,1. What is linguistics?,Scientific process for linguistic studyto observe certain linguistic facts to make generalizations to formulate hypotheses to further test the hypothesesto construct a theory,1. What is linguistics?,principles to be followed exhaustiveness co
11、nsistency economy objectivity,2. Some basic distinctions,a. speech vs writingThe primacy of speech over writing is one general principle of linguistic analysis. Speech as the primary medium of language for3 reasons. Speech is prior to writing historically. Genetically, children learn to speak before
12、 they learn to write. The primacy of speech can be seen in the forms writing systems use. Alphabetic writing (The written forms represent individual sounds, like English, French, etc.) Syllabic writing (The written forms represent syllables) Logographic writing (The written forms represent individua
13、l words, such as Chinese.),2. Some basic distinctions,a. speech vs writing Writing gives L new scope and uses speech dont have. Written messages can be carried through space. Written messages can be carried through time. Written messages remain unchangeable over time and space, unlike oral messages
14、being subject to distortion. Everything considered, speech is believed to be more representative of human L than writing.,2. Some basic distinctions,b. Descriptive vs prescriptive Descriptive: to describe and analyse facts observed;Prescriptive: to lay down rules for “correct“ language. Linguistic s
15、tudies before 20thC are largely prescriptive in the sense that many early grammars were based on “high“ written language. They use logical and aesthetic criterion to judge the correctness of sentences. Modern linguistics is mostly descriptive. They believe that whatever occurs in natural speech (hes
16、itation, incomplete utterance, misunderstanding, etc) should be described in their analysis.,2. Some basic distinctions,C.Synchronic vs Diachronic studies Language exists in time and changes through time. Synchronic study: description of a language at some point of time (modern linguistics) Diachron
17、ic study: description of a language through time (historical development of language over a period of time) One principle is the priority of synchronic descriptions to diachronic descriptions. Synchronic descriptions are often thought of the descriptions of the language.,2. Some basic distinctions,C
18、.Synchronic vs Diachronic studies Its hard to draw a sharp line between the two studies in reality for some reasons. Languages are changing constantly. The language of any speech community is never uniform When a language changes, it is not the case that one set of features are suddenly replaced ano
19、ther set of features.,2. Some basic distinctions,d.Langue vs parole(F. de Saussure) Langue: the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community. Parole: the actualized language, or realization of langue. As a social product, langue is a set of conventions that members of a
20、 speech community seem to abide by. It can be thought of as the generalized rules of the language. Parole is the concrete use of the conventions or application of the rules. Langue is abstract; parole is specific; Langue is not actually spoken by everyone while parole is always a naturally occurring
21、 event; Langue is relatively stable and systematic; parole is subject to personal and situational constraints.,2. Some basic distinctions,d.Langue vs parole Which should be studied in linguistics, langue or parole? For Saussure, parole is a mass of confused facts and not suitable for investigation;
22、The linguist has to abstract langue from instances of parole, that is, to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make them the subject of linguistics. Saussure takes a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions,2. Some basic dist
23、inctions,e.Competence vs performance (Chomsky) Competence: the ideal users knowledge of the rules of his language. Performance: the actual realization of thisknowledge in linguistic communication.Competence enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and recognize g
24、rammatical mistakes and ambiguities.A persons competence is stable but his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors.A speakers performance does not always match his competence.,2. Some basic distinctions,e.Competence vs performance (Chomsky) The object is the ideal speaker
25、s competence, not his performance. Chomskys vs Saussures distinction Saussures langue is a social product, a set of conventions for a speech community. Chomsky regards competence as a property of the mind of each individual. Saussure looks at language more from a sociological point of view while Cho
26、msky looks at it from a psychological point of view.,2. Some basic distinctions,f. Linguistic potential vs actual linguistic behavior Halliday looks at L from a functional point of view; he is more concerned with what speakers do with L. His linguistic potential is similar to Saussures langue and Ch
27、omskys competence, and his actual linguistic behavior to the notion of parole and performance.,2. Some basic distinctions,f. Linguistic potential vs actual linguistic behaviour Linguistic potential, langue and competence are similar in only one aspect: they all refer to the constant which underlines
28、 the utterances that constitute parole / performance/actual linguistic behavior Langue is a social property while LP is sth available for the speaker to choose from; Competence is a form of “knowing“ while LP is a set of possibilities for “doing“; The competence vs performance distinction is one bet
29、ween what a person “knows“ and what he “does“, while the LP vs ALB is one between what a person “can do“ and what a person “does“.,2. Some basic distinctions,g.Traditional grammar vs modern linguisticsTraditional grammar: prescriptive, written, Latin-based framework Modern linguistics: descriptive,
30、spoken, not necessarily Latin-based framework,3. Major branches of general linguistics,General linguistics and applied linguisticsThe study of language as a whole is called General linguistics concepts, theories, descriptions models and methodsIt is used in contrast with branches of study which appl
31、y linguistics to the research of other areas.,3. Major branches of general linguistics,General linguistics1. Phonetics2. Phonology3. Morphology4. Syntax5. SemanticsUse of linguistics1.Applied linguistics2.Sociolinguistics3.Psycholinguistics,3. Major branches of general linguistics,Phonetics:speech s
32、ound (description, classification, transcription): articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, auditory phonetics. Phonology: sound patterns of languages Morphology: the form of words Syntax: the rules governing the combination of words into sentence. Semantics: the meaning of language (when the mea
33、ning of language is conducted in the context of language use-Pragmatics),4.Use of linguistics,Applied linguistics: linguistics and language teaching Sociolinguistics: social factors (e.g. class,education) affect language use Psycholinguistics: linguistic behavior and psychological process Stylistics: linguistic and literature Anthropological linguistics Neurolinguistics Computational linguistics,Thanks for your presence!,
