1、English Linguistics,Why bother to study,It is a required course for English majors. It is tested when you pursue your graduate study. It is practically useful for studying literature and translation. It is practically useful in helping you understand the relation between what you speak and where you
2、 live.,How to study,Preview and review Discuss with your classmates www.wikipedia.orgwww.linguistlist.org Use other related materials. Relate it to your daily life.,Chapter One,The basic issues in this chapter: 1. What is Language? 2. Design features of language. 3. Functions of language. 4. What is
3、 Linguistics? 5. Four pairs of important distinctions in linguistics.,Questions,Read 1.1 on page 1-2 and answer the following questions: Why do we need to study language? 2. What can you learn from this course book?,1.1The definition of language,Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used f
4、or human communication.,1. Language is a system,A basic observation is that each language contains two systems, a system of sound and a system of meaning, and language is a rule-governed system.,2. Language is arbitrary,The relation between expression and content is not natural but conventional. And
5、 this conventional relation varies from language to language. e.g. A is called a “老鼠” in Chinese, while a “rat” or “mouse” in English.,3. Language is vocal,The primary medium of language is sound rather than word. written forms came much later than the spoken forms; we speak more everyday; we learn
6、to speak first.,4. Language is symbolic,Language is symbolic in the sense that all the sounds people produce and the ideas, concepts, objects, etc. that these sounds can refer to are bound up by convention. Linguistic units are conventional signs.,5. Language is human-specific,Language is possessed
7、only by human beings, other communication systems as possessed by animals or many other life forms are not languages, i.e. they do not manifest such features as the so-called design features as possessed by human language.,6. Language is for communication,The main and primary function of language is
8、 for human beings to communicate. People say things to each other to express their communicational needs, and language functions to communicate general attitudes toward life and others.,1.2 Design features（定义特征）,Design features refer to those features which can define our human languages.They are de
9、vised to distinguish the communication system as possessed by human, which we term language, from communication systems as possessed by other life forms.,（1） Arbitrariness,By arbitrariness we mean that there is no logical or intrinsic connection between a particular sound and the meaning it is assoc
10、iated with. In animal communication systems, there are no arbitrary relations. e.g. In the 8-figure dance that a bee uses to indicate the honey source, there are fixed patterns (the direction of the bees head and the way that it dances indicate the quantity and distance of the honey source),蜜蜂是靠太阳来辨
11、别方向的.在一天中,蜜蜂舞蹈的方向是随着时间不同而变化的.蜜蜂是依靠蜂房、采蜜地点和太阳三个点来定位的.蜂房是三角形的顶点,而顶点角的大小是由两条线来决定的：一条是从蜂房到太阳,另一条是从蜂房到采蜜地点的直线,这两条线所夹的角叫“太阳角”,是蜜蜂的“方向盘”.蜜蜂向左先飞半个小圈,又倒转过来向右再飞半个小圈,飞行路线就像个“8”字.可是,蜜蜂有时从上往下飞,有时从下朝上飞,而飞行直线同地面垂直线的夹角,相等于太阳角.蜜蜂正是从这种角度的大小来确定采蜜地点和方向的. 如果蜜蜂跳“8”字舞时,头朝上直飞,太阳角是零度,意思是说：“朝太阳方向飞去,就是采蜜的方向.” 如果蜜蜂跳“8”字舞时,头朝地直
12、飞,太阳角是180,意思是说：“背太阳方向飞去,就是采蜜的地方.” 如果蜜蜂跳“8”字舞时,飞行直线同地面垂直线的左面夹角是15角,意思是说：“向左太阳角60方向飞去,就是采蜜的地方.”,Onomatopoeic words, as direct imitations of natural sounds, are not in conflict with this feature. e.g. a Chinese dog barks 汪汪汪, while an English dog barks bowwow. Although they describe the same sound, the
13、 forms are different.,Arbitrariness can also be demonstrated on the syntactic level. e.g. for this sentence “小羊上山吃草”, which has only six Chinese characters, at least eight new sentences with distinctive meanings can be derived by altering the sequence of these characters.,小羊上山吃草。小羊山上吃草。 小羊吃山上草。小羊吃上山
14、草。 小羊吃草上山。小羊吃草山上。 小山上羊吃草。小山上草羊吃。 羊吃山上小草。羊吃小山上草。 羊吃小草山上。羊上山吃小草。 羊山上吃小草。山上吃草羊小。 小山上吃羊草。吃草小羊山上。 小山羊吃上草。小山羊吃草上。 吃草山上小羊。羊吃小草上山。,Questions,1. Can you think of some words in English which are onomatopoeic? 2. Do you think that onomatopoeic indicates a non-arbitrary relationship between form and meaning? 3.
15、 Could the sentence “As the night fell, the wind rose” be expressed as “As the wind rose, the night fell”? If not, why? Does this indicate a degree of non-arbitrariness about word order?,Answers,2. Before we feel a word is onomatopoeic we should first know which sound the word imitates. Just as what
16、 is said in Chapter One, in order to imitate the noise of flying mosquitoes, there are many choices like “murmurous” and “murderous”. They both bear more or less resemblance to the genuine natural sound, but “murmurous” is fortunately chosen to mean the noise while “murderous” is chosen to mean some
17、thing quite different. They are arbitrary as signifiers.,Answers,3. No, these two parts cannot interchange. Yes, it is a case in point to illustrate non-arbitrariness about word order. When the two parts interchange, the focus and the meaning of the sentence is forced to change, because clauses occu
18、rring in linear sequence without time indicators will be taken as matching the actual sequence of happening. The writers original intention is distorted, and we can feel it effortlessly by reading. That is why systemic-functionalists and American functionalists think language is not arbitrary at the
19、 syntactic level.,2. Duality,By duality we mean that each language is organized at two levels or layers, one is sound and the other is meaning. The advantage of this division is that we can use limited number of sounds to produce unlimited number of sound combinations with distinctive meanings. e.g.
20、 in the language of English we use around 48 sounds to produce almost infinite number of sound combinations (words). This feature is very economical for the system of language.,Questions,Does the traffic light system have duality? Can you explain by drawing a simple graph?,Answers,Traffic light does
21、 not have duality. Obviously, it is not a double-level system. There is only one-to-one relationship between signs and meaning but the meaning units cannot be divided into smaller meaningless elements further. So the traffic light only has the primary level and lacks the secondary level like animals
22、 calls.,3. Creativity,By creativity we mean that speaker of a language can understand utterances that they have never heard before, and also at the same time produce new expressions, on the basis of the duality and recursiveness of language. e.g. for this sentence A red-eyed elephant is dancing on h
23、otel bed, even if it is the first time that you ever meet this expression, and this phenomenon may never occur in the real word, you have no difficulty in understanding it.,Questions,The recursive nature of language provides a theoretical basis for creativity of language. Can you write a recursive s
24、entence following the example in section 1.3.3?,Answers,Today I encoutered an old friend who was my classmate when I was in elementary school where there was an apple orchard in which we slid to select ripe apples that,4. Displacement,By displacement we mean that language can be used to communicate
25、about things that are not present in our immediate communicational context. This feature enables speakers to communicate free of the barriers caused by time and space. It also gives human beings the ability to generalize and abstract.,5. Cultural transmission,It refers to the fact that details of th
26、e linguistic system must be learned anew by each speaker. Language is not transmitted biologically from generation to generation.e.g. A Chinese-American child brought up in the States may not be able to say one single Chinese word if he is not purposefully taught to speak Chinese, he can only speak
27、English.,Jakobsons framework of language functions,We use language to talk about our experience of the world, including the world in our own minds, to describe events and states and entities involved in them. (ideational function) We also use language to interact with other people, to establish and
28、maintain relations with them, to influence their behavior, to express our own viewpoint on things in the world, and to elicit and change theirs. (interpersonal function) Finally, we organize our messages in ways which indicate how they fit in with the other messages around them and with the wider co
29、ntext in which we are talking or writing. (textual function),Functions of language,1. Informative The use of language to record facts, to state what things are like, and to exchange information. It is also called ideational function in Hallidays terms. This serves as the primary function of language
30、.,2. Interpersonal FunctionThe most important sociological use of language, which serves to establish and maintain peoples status in a society. Expressions such as “Morning!”, “Hello, Mr. White.” will show the speakers as well as the addressers relationships in the society.,3. Performative FunctionL
31、anguage can be used to do things (Austin and Searle), to change the social status or the immediate state of affairs of people.e.g. in Western countries, when the priest says: “I thereby pronounce you husband and wife.” The marriage status of the couple is recognized legally.,4. Emotive FunctionLangu
32、age can be used to express the emotional state of the speaker. e.g. exclamation. The expressions of gratitude and apology are also examples of this function.,5. Phatic CommunionRitual exchanges, exchanges that have little meaning but help to maintain our relationships with other people. e.g. Speaker
33、 A: “Whats up?“Speaker B: “Hey, man, hows it going?“ (And each just walks on.),6. Recreational FunctionWord play, word for words sake, the use of language to have fun. e.g. Tongue twisters such as she sells sea-shells on the sea-shore, and the shells that she sells on the sea-shore are sea-shells is
34、 uttered only for the sheer joy of language. The Chinese crosstalk and mini-comedy also belong to this category of language use.,7. Metalingual FunctionLanguage can be used to explain or describe itself or other languages. e.g.,Man is bipedal hairless primate.Man is a noun. It is composed of 3 phone
35、mes.,Main branches of linguistics,Important distinctions,Descriptive vs. prescriptive Synchronic vs. diachronic Langue vs. parole Competence vs. performance,Descriptive vs. prescriptive,The descriptive study of language is to record linguistic phenomena or rules, to study language as a social phenom
36、enon. The prescriptive study of language is to state that certain linguistic phenomena or rules should or should not be obeyed, like a grammar book does. Linguists usually use the first method in their study of language.,Synchronic vs. diachronic,Synchronic study of language takes a fixed instant as
37、 its point of observation. Diachronic study examines language through the course of time. It studies the development or history of language.,Langue and parole,Saussure made the distinction between langue and parole.Langue describes linguistic competence as a system of conventions and rules, which la
38、nguage users must master and obey when they use language. It is a social phenomenon, an abstraction shared by all the speakers within a speech community. Parole is the actual speaking of language by an individual speaker. It is an individual linguistic phenomenon.,Langue is the set of conventions an
39、d rules which language users all have to abide by, parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules.Langue is abstract, parole is concrete.Langue is relatively stable, while parole varies from person to person, from situation to situation.,Competence & performance,Choms
40、kys competence refers to an ideal speakers knowledge of the underlying system of rules in a language. It stresses the psychological or mental property of language.Performance refers to the actual use of the language by a speaker in a real communicational context. It is the external realization of the internal linguistic competence.,Communicative competence is proposed by Dell Hymes, it refers to what a language user knows about how a language is used in particular situations for effective and appropriate communication.,
