英语语言学lecture two

英语语言学lecture two

TakelanguageasatoolforaccesstosomeotherfieldsratherthanstudyitasasubjectLanguagedistinguishesusfromanimalsbecauseitisfarmoresophisticatedthananyanimalcommunicationsystem.Whatislanguage?Itisverydifficulttogiveasatisfactorydefinition.Wemaysay“Languageisatoolforhumancommunication”.Butthatdoesnotsayanythingaboutitsdefiningproperties,onlyaboutitsfunction.Therearemanyothersystems(secretcodes,trafficsignals)performingthesamefunction.Wemaysay“Languageisasetofrules.”;againthatsaysnothingaboutitsfunction,andthereareothersystemscontainingsetsofrules.Atentativedefinitionisgivenlikethefollowing:Languageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.Languagemustbeasystem,sinceelementsinitarearrangedaccordingtocertainrules.Andtheycannotbecombinedatwill.Languageisarbitraryinthesensethatthereisnointrinsicconnectionbetweenthewordpenandthethingweusetowritewith.Thatfactthatdifferentlanguageshavedifferentwordsforitspeaksforthearbitrarynatureoflanguage.Wesaylanguageisvocalbecausetheprimarymediumissoundforalllanguage,nomatterhowwelldevelopedaretheirwritingsystems.Allevidenceshowsthatwritingsystemscamemuchlaterthanthespokenforms.Thefactthatchildrenacquirespokenlanguagefirstbeforetheycanreadorwritealsoindicatesthatlanguageisprimarilyvocal.Theterm“human”inthedefinitionismeanttospecifythatlanguageisverydifferentfromthecommunicationsystemsotherformsoflifepossess(suchasbirdsongsandanimalcries.)Step1.DesignfeaturesoflanguageWhatmakesourlanguageadvantageousoveranimal“languages”/distinctivefromlanguagesusedbyotherspecies/complicatedandflexible?1.Arbitrariness@Theformsoflinguisticsigns/morphemebearnonaturalrelationshiptotheirmeaningandobjects.Wecannotexplainwhyabookiscalleda/buk/inEnglishbuta书inChinese.@Whatisthelinkbetweenalinguisticsignanditsmeaning?Itisamatterofconvention.@Thereisnologicalconnectionbetweenmeaningsandsounds.However,languageisnotentirelyarbitraryHowaboutonomatopoeia,wordsthatsoundlikethesoundstheydescribe.;therearecaseswherethereseemstobesomeassociationbetweensoundsandmeaning.Theonomatopoeicwordsarecertainwordsineverylanguagewhichimitatenaturalsounds,suchasbang,crashinEnglishorputong,dingdanginChinese.Butindifferentlanguages,totallydifferentwordsareusedtodescribethesound.Forexample,thedogbarkswowwowinEnglishbutwangwanginChinese.Somecompoundwordsarenotentirelyarbitrary;thereisacertainconnectionbetweentheirsoundsandmeaning.Forexample,themachinewetypeourpapersoniscalled“typewriter”.@Therearedifferentlevelsofarbitrariness.Thatistosay,syntaxislessarbitrarythanwords.Asweknow,theorderofelementsinasentencefollowscertainrules,andthereisacertaindegreeofcorrespondencebetweenthesequenceofclausesandtherealhappenings.11\n(a)Hecameinandsatdown.(b)Hesatdownandcamein.(c)Hesatdownafterhecamein.Arbitraryrelationshipbetweenthesoundofamorphemeanditsmeaning“Itisonlywhenyouknowthemeaningthatyouinferthattheformisappropriate.”(Widdowson,1996).@Thearbitrarynatureoflanguageisasignofsophisticationandthismakesitpossibleforlanguagetohaveunlimitedsourcesofexpression.2.Duality@“Bydualityismeantthepropertyofhavingtwolevelsofstructures,suchthatunitsoftheprimarylevelarecomposedofelementsofthesecondarylevelandeachofthetowlevelshasitsownprinciplesoforganization.”(Lyons,1982)Thepropertyofdualitythenonlyexistsinsuchasystem,namely,withbothelementsandunits.Manyanimalscommunicatewithspecialcalls,whichhavecorrespondingmeanings.Thatis,theprimaryunitshavemeaningsbutcannotbefurtherdividedintoelements.@Languageishierarchical.Thelowestlevelconsistsofdozensofbitsofmeaninglesssounds.Thesoundsoccurinchumpstoformsyllablewhichisthesmallestunit.(etc.monosyllabiclikecat,dogandpolysyllabicliketransplant,)Scoresofsyllablesbecomesthecarriersofhundredsofmeaningfulsegmentsofwordsthatarecalledmorphemes,suchastheprefixtrans-.Morphemescomposethousandsofword.Outofthehugenumberofwords,therecanbeendlessnumberofsentences,whichinturncanformunlimitednumberoftextsanddiscourses.Stratification----thisorganizationoflevelsonlevels----isthephysicalmanifestationofthe“infiniteuseoffinitemeans”,thetraitthatmostdistinguisheshumancommunicationfromanimal.3.Creativity@Languageisafarmorecomplicatedentitythantrafficlightsisthatwecanuseittocreatenewmeanings.Wordscanbeusedinnewwaystomeannewthingsandcanbeunderstoodbypeoplewhohavenevercomeacrossthatwordbefore.@Birdscanonlyconveyalimitedrangeofmessages.AsBertrandRussellonceobserved:“Nomatterhoweloquentlyadogmaymark,hecannottellyouthathisparentswerepoorbuthonest.”@Becauseofdualitythespeakerisabletocombinethebasiclinguisticunitstoformaninfinitesetofsentences.(dictionary)4.Displacement(themovementfrominitialpositiontosubsequentposition)移位@Displacementmeansthathumanlanguagesenabletheiruserstosymbolizeobjects,eventsandconceptswhicharenotpresent(intimeandspace)atthemomentofcommunication.Languagecanbeusedtorefertothingswhicharenotpresent:realorimaginedmattersinthepast,present,orfutureorinfarawayplaces.Inotherwords,languagecanrefertocontextsremovedfromtheimmediatesituationsofthespeaker.@Someanimalsareunder“immediatestimuluscontrol”.Callsorcriesareproducedincontactoffood,inpresenceofdangerorinpain.Oncethedangerorpainisover,callsarestopped.Humanlanguageisstimulusfree.11\n@Theintellectualbenefitsofdisplacementtousisthatitmakesitpossibleforustotalkandthinkinabstractterms.Step2.OriginoflanguageSofarthereareonlyfruitlesssearchfortheoriginoflanguages.Theactionreflectspeople’sconcernwiththeoriginofhumanityandmaycomeupwithenlighteningfindingsinfuture.Andonethingwecansayforcertainisthatlanguageevolveswithinspecifichistorical,socialandculturalcontexts.Step3.FunctionsoflanguageAbriefexplanationtoJakobson’sclassificationoffunctionsoflangugeP91Informativefunction(ideationalfunction/referentialfunction)Languageservesaninformativefunctionwhenitisusedtotellwhatthespeakerbelieves,togiveinformationaboutfacts,ortoreasonthingsout.Languageservesfortheexpressionofcontent.ThisfunctionischaracterizedbytheuseofdeclarativesentencesFormostpeopletheinformativefunctionispredominantlythemajorroleoflanguage.Languageistheinstrumentofthoughtandpeopleoftenfeelneedtospeaktheirthoughts.Theuseoflanguagetorecordthefactsisaprerequisiteofsocialdevelopment.2.Interpersonalfunction人际功能Byfarthemostimportantsociologicaluseoflanguageistheinterpersonalfunction,bywhichpeopleestablishandmaintaintheirstatusinasociety.Forexample,thewaysinwhichpeopleaddressothersandrefertothemselves(e.g.DearSir,DearProfessor,yours,yourobedientservant)indicatethevariousgradesofinterpersonalrelations.Languagemarkspeople’sidentity.Forexample,thechantingofacrowdatafootballmatch,theshoutingofnamesorslogansatpublicmeetings,thestage-managedaudiencereactionstoTVgamesshowsallsignalwhoweareandwherewebelong.Performativefunction言语行为功能Theperformativefunctionoflanguageisprimarilytochangethesocialstatusofpersons.Thekindoflanguageemployedinperformativeverbalactsisusuallyquiteformalandevenritualized.Languageisalsousedto“dothings”.,toperformactions.Thisiscalledtheperformativefunction.Oncertainoccasions,theutteringoftheappropriatewordsisthecentralcomponentintheperformanceoftheact.Atameeting,forexample,assoonasthechairmansays“Ideclarethemeetingopen”,themeetinghasstarted”.Ifthepresidentsays“Ideclarewar…”,warexistsbetweenthetwocountries.Inallthesecases,theactcannotbeperformedwithoutthesentencesbeinguttered.Thekindoflanguageemployedinperformativeverbalactsisusuallyquiteformalandevenritualized.Emotivefunction(expressivefunction)@Accordingtosomeinvestigations,thoughtheconveyingofinformationoccursinmostusesoflanguage,itprobablyrepresentsnotmorethan20percentofwhattakesplaceinverbalcommunication.Theemotivefunctionoflanguageisoneofthemostpowerfulusesoflangue.Itisameansofgettingridofournervousenergywhenweareunderstress.@Amanmaysayouch!Afterstrikingafingernailwithahammer,orhemaymutterdamnwhenrealizingthathehasforgottenanappointment.ExclamationssuchasMan!Oh,boy!Andhurrah!areusuallyutteredwithoutanypurposeofcommunicatingtoothers,butasessentiallyaverbal11\nresponsetoaperson’sownfeelings.@Theemotivefunctionistheuseoflanguagetorevealsomethingaboutthefeelingsandattitudesofthespeaker.Whileintheinformativefunctionlanguageisusedtopassjudgementonthetruthorfalsehoodofstatement,inemotivefunction,languageisusedtoevaluate,appraiseandassertthespeaker’sattitudes.PhaticcommunionWeallusesuchsmall,seeminglymeaninglessexpressionstomaintainacomfortablerelationshipbetweenpeoplewithoutinvolvinganyfactualcontent.RitualexchangesabouthealthorweathersuchasGoodmorning,Godblessyou,Nicedayoftenstatetheobvious.Anddifferentcultureshavedifferenttopicsofphaticcommunion.Broadlyspeaking,itisfunctionreferstoexpressionsthathelpdefineandmaintaininterpersonalrelations,suchasslangs,jokes,jargonsetc.我靠Recreationalfunction(closetoJakobson’spoeticfunction)Theuseoflanguageforthesheerjoyofusingit,suchasababy’sbabblingThesheerjoyofplayingonlanguageFillintheancientgivenrhythmandrhymeschemeinpoetrywiththecurrentcontent对联couplet　　上：指数函数，对数函数，三角函数，数数含辛茹苦；下：平行直线，交叉直线，异面直线，线线意切情深。我爱的人名花有主下：爱我的人惨不忍睹 （横批是：命苦）上联:忆往昔,红米饭,南瓜汤,老婆一个,小孩一帮.下联:看今朝,白米饭,王八汤,小孩一个,老婆一帮Ifyouobserveachildren’splay,youwillfindthepowerofsound.Sometimesevennonsensicallyricsperformarecreationalfunctioninthegame:therepetitiverhythmshelptocontrolthegamePoetrywritinggivesadultsthepleasureofusinglanguageforitssheerbeauty.酒，装在瓶里像水，喝到肚里闹鬼，说起话来走嘴，走起路来闪腿，半夜起来找水，早上起来后悔，中午酒杯一端还是挺美。女卑为婢，女又可称奴。人曾是僧，人弗能成佛。7.MetalingualfunctionLanguagecanbeusedtotalkaboutitself.Toorganizeanywrittentextintoacoherentwhole,writersemploycertainexpressionstokeeptheirreadersinformedaboutwheretheyareandwheretheyaregoingWehumanbeingscantalkabouttalkandthinkaboutthinking,andthusonlyhumanscanaskwhatitmeanstocommunicate,tothink,tobehuman.Step4Whatislinguistics?Step5.Mainbranchesoflinguistics11\n1.Phonetics@Phoneticsstudiesspeechsounds,includingtheproductionofspeech,thatishowspeechsoundsareactuallymade,transmittedandreceived,thesoundofspeech,thedescriptionandclassificationofspeechsounds,wordsandconnectedspeech,etc.Itstudiesthecharacteristicsofspeechsoundsandprovidesmethodsfortheirdescription,classificationandtranscription.@Wecanapproachitonvariouslevels.Wecanfocusonthespeechsoundsproducedbytheseorgansbyidentifyingandclassifyingtheindividualsoundsinthesub-branchofarticulatoryphonetics发音语音学.Wecanalsoinvestigatethepropertiesofthesoundwaves---acousticphonetics声学语音学.Asspeechisintendedtobeheardorperceived,itisthereforepossibletofocusonthewayinwhichalisteneranalysesorprocessesasoundwave----auditoryphonetics听觉语音学.Inthiscoursebookwewillfocusonarticulatoryphonetics.Infact,thefourlevelscanbeintegrated.2.Phonology音位学@Phonologystudiestherulesgoverningthestructure,distribution,andsequencingofspeechsoundsandtheshapeofsyllables.Phoneticsisthestudyofspeechsoundsthatthehumanvoiceiscapableofcreatingwhereasphonologyisthestudyofasubsetofthosesoundsthatconstitutelanguageandmeaning.Thefirstfocusesonchaoswhilethesecondfocusesonorder.Humanbeingscanmakeawiderangeofsoundsbutonlyasmallsetofsoundsareusedinspeech.Phonologyidentifiesthesetofspeechsoundsforeachlanguage,howtheyarearrangedtoformmeaningfulunits,andthefunctionofeachsound.Phonologyrevealswhatthepossiblecombinationsofsoundsinalanguageareandexplainswhycertainwordstaketheformtheydo.@Phonologytakesphonemeasthepointofdeparture.Aphonemeisthesmallestlinguisticunitofsoundthatcansignaladifferenceinmeaning.Forexample,/p/and/b/Englishhasapproximatelyforty-fivephonemes.(eg./pig/and/big/)3.Morphology形态学@Morphologystudiestheminimalunitsofmeaning----morphemesandword-formationprocesses.Morphologyisthebranchofgrammarwhichstudiestheinternalstructureofwords,andoftherulesbywhichwordsareformed.(eg.Purify---“pure”+“-ify”sotoworkoutarule:anewformofverbcanbeformedbyadding“-ify”toanadjectivesuchasamplify,simplify,etc.).@Languagesdifferintheirdegreesofdependenceonthemorphologicalcomponents.InJapanese,forexample,meaningischangedthroughtheuseofmanymorphologicalendings.Incontrast,inEnglishwordorderisusedmorethanmorphologicaladditionstoconveymuchofthemeaningoftheutterance.4.syntax@SyntaxisaboutprinciplesofformingandunderstandingcorrectEnglishsentences.Theformorstructureofasentenceisgovernedbytherulesofsyntax.Syntaxstudiestherulesgoverningthecombinationofwordsintosentences.Sentencesarenotstringsofwordsputtogetherinarandomorder.Theypermitcertainsequencesofwordsbutnot11\nothers.Syntaxidentifiesthepermissiblesequencesinalanguageandtherelationshipsbetweenelementsinsentencestructure.Weknowthatwordsareorganizedintostructuresmorethanjustwordorder.1.SemanticsSemanticsexamineshowmeaningisencodedinalanguage.Itisnotonlyconcernedwiththemeaningofwords,butalsowiththemeaningofmorphemesandsentences,levelsoflanguagebelowandabovetheword.Thekeyconceptslooklike:denotationofwords,senserelationsbetweenwordssuchasantonymyandsynonymy,senserelationsbetweensentencessuchasentailmentandpresupposition.2.PragmaticsPragmaticsisthestudyofmeaningincontext.Itdealswithparticularutterancesinparticularsituations.Inotherwords,pragmaticsisconcernedwiththewaylanguageisusedtocommunicateratherthanwiththewaylanguageisinternallystructured.Sincelanguageistransmittedprimarilyviathespeechmode,pragmaticrulesgovernanumberofconversationalinteractions,suchassequentialorganization,repairoferrors,roleandspeechacts.Organizationofconversationsincludestakingturns,opening,maintainingandclosingaconversation,establishingandmaintainingatopicetc.Step6.MacrolinguisticsLinguisticsisnottheonlyfieldconcernedwithlanguage.Otherdisciplinessuchaspsychology,ethnography,thescienceoflawandartificialintelligenceetc.arealsopreoccupiedwithlanguage.Linguisticsisdevelopinginteractivelinkswithothersciences.Forinstance,asatoolforcommunication,languageisintimatelyrelatedwithsociety.Asahumancapacity,languageisrelatedwithpsychology.Asabasicelementinexpression,languageiscertainlyinseparablefromliterature.1.PsycholinguisticsItinvestigatestheinterrelationoflanguageandpsychology/mind/brain,inprocessingandproducingutterancesandinlanguageacquisitionforexample.Italsostudieslanguagedevelopmentinthechild,suchasthetheoriesoflanguageacquisition;biologicalfoundationoflanguage;andaprofoundaspect----therelationshipbetweenlanguageandcognition.Withinthisareaofresearch,somepeoplehavebeeninvestigatingtheeffectsofpsychologicalconstraintsontheuseoflanguage.Othershavebeenconcernedwiththementalprocessesinspeechplanning,production,perceptionandcomprehension.2.Sociolinguistic@Itcoversavarietyofdifferentinterestsinlanguageandsociety,includingthesocialfunctionsoflanguageandthesocialcharacteristicsofitsusers.Itseekstodiscoverthesocietalrulesandnormsthatexplainandconstrainlanguagebehaviorandtheattitudestowardlanguageinspeechcommunities.Sociolinguisticsisthestudyofthecharacteristicsoflanguagevarieties,thecharacteristicsoftheir11\nfunctions,andthecharacteristicsoftheirspeakersasthesethreeconstantlyinteractandchangetithingaspeechcommunity.@Languageandsocietyarecloselyconnected.Foronething,thelanguageapersonusesoftenrevealshissocial,educationalandregionalbackground.Peoplefromdifferentsocialclassesoftenspeakdifferently.Educatedpeopledonottalkexactlythesameasuneducatedpeople.Manyspeakwithanaccentpeculiartotheirplaceoforigin.Generally,aformalvarietyisusedonformaloccasions.Amorecolloquialvarietyispreferredamongfamilymembersandclosefriendsininformalsettings.Apersonwhodoesnotgobytherenormsmaybecriticizedforhis“inappropriatelinguisticbehaviour”Somedialectsorlanguagesaremoreprestigiousthanothers.Oftenonedialectisregardedasthe“standardspeech”oronelanguageissaidtobetheofficiallanguageinmultilingualsituation.Alltheseproblemsareinvestigatedbyaspecialbranchoflinguisticscalledsociolinguistics.3.Anthropologicallinguistics人类语言学Incontrastwithotherlinguists,anthropologicallinguistsareinterestedprimarilyinthehistoryandstructureofformerlyunwrittenlanguages.Theyareconcernedwiththeemergenceoflanguageandalsowiththedivergenceoflanguagesoverthousandsofyears.Becauseanunwrittenlanguagemustbeheardinordertobestudied,itdoesnotleaveanytracesonceitsspeakersdiedoff.Anthropologicallinguistsmustbegininthepresent,withcomparisonsofcontemporarylanguages.Thentheydrawinferencesaboutthechanges.AnthropologicallinguisticsusesthetheoriesandmethodsofanthropologytostudylanguagevariationandlanguageuseIrelationtotheculturalpatternsandbeliefsofman.4.ComputationallinguisticsItisaninterdisciplinaryfieldwithcentersaroundtheuseofcomputerstoprocessorproducehumanlanguage..Tothisfield,linguisticscontributesanunderstandingofthespecialpropertiesoflanguagedata,andprovidestheoriesanddescriptionsoflanguagestructureanduse.Someappliedareasincludemachinetranslation/automatictranslation,corpuslinguisticsandinformationretrieval(storingandfindingrelevantdocumentsinlargecollectionsoftext),andcomputermediatedcommunication(projectswhichteachmachinestorecognizespeechsoundsandwords;likerobots---manandmachinecanhavesimpleconversation.).Someotherapplications:Neurolinguistics神经语言学:itstudiestheneurologicalbasisoflanguagedevelopmentanduseIhumanbeings.Italsotriestoconstructamodelofthebrain’scontrolovertheprocessofspeechandhearing.Therehavebeenanumberofstudiesonhowmanymessagesthenervoussystemhastosendouttovariousspeechorgansinordertoproduceonindividualsoundandinwhatordertheyaresent.Mathematicallinguistics数理语言学:itstudiesthemathematicalfeaturesoflanguage,oftenemployingmodelsandconceptsofmathematics.Oneapproachistostudytheapplicationofstatisticaltechniquesinlinguistictheoryanddescription.Thisincludestheanalysisoffrequencyofdistributionoflinguisticunitsintexts,withtheaimofidentifyingthedistinctivecharacteristicsofthespeakerorwriter.Stylisticslinguistics文体语言学:manycriticsandstylisticiansarenowusingthefindingsand11\nmethodologyoflinguisticstoanalyseliteratureandhaveshownsatisfactoryresults.Theanalysisoflanguagecanbeusedtomakeourcommentaryontheseeffectslessimpressionisticandsubjective.Step7.Importantdistinctioninlinguistics1.Descriptive(non-normative)&prescriptive(prescriptive,makingorgivingdirections,lawsorrules)@Don’tsayX.(prescriptive)Peopledon’tsayX.(descriptive)Thedistinctionliesprescribinghowthingsoughttobeanddescribinghowthingsare/todiscoverandrecordtherules.Alinguisticstudyisdescriptiveifitdescribes,recordsandanalysesfactsobserved,itisprescriptiveifittriestolaydownrulesfor“correct”behavior.@Todistincttwotypesofrulesissimplythattraditionalgrammarwasveryprescriptive/normativeincharacter.Inthe18thcentury,allthemainEuropeanlanguageswerestudiedprescriptively.forinstance,traditionalgrammaroftenuseslogicalandaestheticcriteriontojudgethecorrectnessofsentences.Theytellschoolchildrennottosay“it’sme”,butsay“it’sI”because‘it’sme”isnotlogical.Theyalsotellpeopletoavoid“splitinfinitive”,“neverendasentencewithapreposition”andsoon,becausesentenceslikethatdonotsoundpleasanttotheear.@Modernlinguisticsismostlydescriptive.Modernlinguistsbelievethatwhateveroccursinnaturalspeech(hesitation,incompleteutterance,misunderstanding,….)shouldbedescribedintheiranalysis.@Butthenatureoflinguisticsasasciencedeterminesitspreoccupationwithdescriptioninsteadofprescription.2.Synchronic&diachronic@Asynchronicdescriptiontakesafixedinstant(usually,butnotnecessarily,thepresent)asitspointofobservation.Asbeingdescriptionsofthelanguageasitexistsatthepresentdayandmostlinguisticstudiesareofthistype.@Languageexistsintimeandchangesthroughtime.Sowespeakof“middleEnglish”,“modernEnglish”,“classicalChinese”andsoon.Wecanstudyalanguageasitexistsatanytimeoroveraperiodoftime.Thedescriptionofalanguageatsomepointintimeisasynchronicstudy.Thedescriptionofalanguageasitchangesthroughtimeisadiachronicstudy.Sassure’sdiachroniclinguisticsisthestudyofalanguagethroughthecourseofitshistory.@Thesynchronicdescriptionisessentialtolinguists.Oneprincipleinlinguisticsisthepriorityofsynchronicdescriptions.Thereason:Unlessthevariousstatesofalanguagearesuccessfullystudieditwouldbedifficulttodescribethechangesthathavetakenplaceinitshistoricaldevelopment.3.Langue&paroleThisisadistinctionmadebytheSwisslinguistF.deSaussureearlyin20thcentury.@Thelinguisticcompetenceofthespeaker------langueTheactualphenomenaordataoflinguistics(utterance)-------parole11\nInseparatinglanguage(langue)fromspeaking(parole)weareatthesametimeseparating(1)whatissocialfromwhatisindividual;and(2)whatisessentialfromwhatisaccessoryandmoreorlessaccidental”Languereferstotheabstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyallthemembersofaspeechcommunityandparolereferstotheactualizedlanguage,orrealizationoflangue.Langue----①asetofconventionsabidedbymembersofaspeechcommunityorgeneralizedrulesofthelanguage;②abstract③itisnotactuallyspokenbyanyone.④stableandsystematic.Parole-----①theconcreteuseoftheconventionsorapplicationoftherules;②specifictothesituation.③itisalwaysanaturallyoccurringevent.④personalandsituationalconstraints.@Thelinguist’sproperobjectisthelangueofeachcommunity.ForSaussure,paroleisamassofconfusedfactsandnotsuitableforsystematicinvestigation.Whatthelinguisthastodoistoabstractlanguefrominstancesofparole-----thatis,todiscovertheregularitiesgoverningallinstancesofparoleandmakethemthesubjectoflinguistics.@thedistinctionbetweenlangueandparoleisveryimportant,anditinfluencedmanylinguistinlatergenerations.1.CompetenceandPerformance@ThisfundamentaldistinctionisdiscussedbyAmericanlinguistChomskyinhisAspectsoftheTheoryofSyntaxinthe1950s.@Alanguageuser’sunderlyingknowledgeaboutthesystemofrulesiscalledlinguisticcompetence.Andperformancereferstotheactualuseoflangueinconcretesituations.Competenceistheideallanguageuser’sknowledgeoftherulesofhislanguage.Performanceistheactualrealizationofthisknowledgeinutterances.@Competenceenablesaspeakertoproduceandunderstandanindefinitenumberofsentencesandtorecognizegrammaticalmistakesandambiguities.Aspeaker’scompetenceisstablebuthisperformanceisofteninfluencedbypsychologicalandsocialfactors.(suchaspressure,distress,anxiety,orembarrassment)(imperfectionperformance----slipsoftongue,unnecessarypauses,makegrammaticalmistakes)aspeaker’sperformancedoesnotalwaysmatchhiscompetence.@Chomskythinksthattheobjectofinvestigationinlinguisticsistheidealspeaker’scompetence,nothisperformance.Chomskyalsobelievethatone’slinguisticcompetencemustbeasetofruleswhichcanbeappliedoverandoveragaintogeneratelargenumberofsentences,includingsentenceshehasneverheardbefore.Thetaskofthelinguististodiscovertherulesfromthespeaker’sperformance.DellHymesapproacheslanguagefromasocio-culturalviewpointwiththeaimofstudyingthevarietiesofwaysofspeakingonthepartoftheindividualandthecommunity.Thusitispossibletoextendthenotionofcompetence,restrictedbyChomskytoaknowledgeofgrammar,toincorporatethepragmaticabilityforlanguageuse.Thisextendedideaofcompetencecanbecalledcommunicativecompetence.@Chomsky’sdistinctionandSaussure’sdistinctionarenotexactlythesame.Saussure’slangueisasocialproduct,asetofconventionsforaspeechcommunity.Chomskyregardscompetenceasapropertyofthemindofeachindividual.SaussurelooksatlanguagemorefromasociologicalpointofviewwhileChomskylooksatitmorefromapsychologicalpointof11\nview.Review:1.Definethefollowingterms:Synchronicdescription:Thedescriptionofalanguageatsomepointintimeisasynchronicstudy.Asynchronicdescriptiontakesafixedinstant(usually,butnotnecessarily,thepresent)asitspointofobservation.DiachronicdescriptionThedescriptionofalanguageasitchangesthroughtimeisadiachronicstudy.isthestudyofalanguagethroughthecourseofitshistory.PrescriptiveDescriptiveThedistinctionliesprescribinghowthingsoughttobeanddescribinghowthingsare/todiscoverandrecordtherules.Alinguisticstudyisdescriptiveifitdescribes,recordsandanalysesfactsobserved,itisprescriptiveifittriestolaydownrulesfor“correct”behavior.DualityBydualityismeantthepropertyofhavingtwolevelsofstructures,suchthatunitsoftheprimarylevelarecomposedofelementsofthesecondarylevelandeachofthetowlevelshasitsownprinciplesoforganization.”DisplacementDisplacementmeansthathumanlanguagesenabletheiruserstosymbolizeobjects,eventsandconceptswhicharenotpresent(intimeandspace)atthemomentofcommunication.Languagecanbeusedtorefertothingswhicharenotpresent:realorimaginedmattersinthepast,present,orfutureorinfarawayplaces.Inotherwords,languagecanrefertocontextsremovedfromtheimmediatesituationsofthespeaker.PhaticcommunionWeallusesuchsmall,seeminglymeaninglessexpressionstomaintainacomfortablerelationshipbetweenpeoplewithoutinvolvinganyfactualcontent.1.Doyouthinkthatonomatopoeiaindicatesanon-arbitraryrelationshipbetweenformandmeaning?Notreally.Onomatopoeiaisatmostsuggestiveofthenaturalsoundstheytrytocapture.Theyarearbitraryassignifiers.2.AstorybyRobertLouisStevensoncontainsthesentence“Asthenightfell,thewindrose.”Couldthisbeexpressed“Asthewindrose,thenightfell?”Ifnot,why?Doesthisindicateadegreeofnon-arbitrarinessaboutwordorder?Yes.Changingtheorderofthetwoclausesmaychangethemeaningofthesentence,becauseclausesoccurringinlinearsequencewithouttimeindicatorssuchas“before”or“after”willbetakenasmatchingtheactualsequenceofhappening.3.Doesthetrafficlightsystemhaveduality,why?Thereisonlysimpleone-to-onerelationshipbetweensignsandmeaning,namely,red—stop,green—goandyellow---getreadytogoorstop.11\n1.Communicationcantakemanyforms,suchassign,speech,bodylanguageandfacialexpression.Dobodylanguageandfacialexpressionshareorlackthedistinctivepropertiesofhumanlanguage?Lessarbitrary,lackduality,lesscreative,limitedrepertoire.2.CanyoumentionsometypicalexpressionsofphaticcommunioninChinese?出去啊、天气不错啊。今天好冷啊，现在身体还好吧3.Whyiscompetenceandperformanceanimportantdistinctioninlinguistics?Howdoyouliketheconceptcommunicativecompetence?Thedistinctionmakeslinguistsclarifytheobjectoftheirresearch.Thetaskofthelinguististodiscovertherulesfromthespeaker’sperformance.withtheaimofstudyingthevarietiesofwaysofspeakingonthepartoftheindividualandthecommunity.extendthenotionofcompetence,restrictedbyChomskytoaknowledgeofgrammar,toincorporatethepragmaticabilityforlanguageuse.Thisextendedideaofcompetencecanbecalledcommunicativecompetence.4.Whichbranchoflinguisticsdoyouthinkwilldeveloprapidlyinchinaandwhy?5.ComputationallinguisticsItisaninterdisciplinaryfieldwithcentersaroundtheuseofcomputerstoprocessorproducehumanlanguage..Tothisfield,linguisticscontributesanunderstandingofthespecialpropertiesoflanguagedata,andprovidestheoriesanddescriptionsoflanguagestructureanduse.Someappliedareasincludemachinetranslation/automatictranslation,corpuslinguisticsandinformationretrieval(storingandfindingrelevantdocumentsinlargecollectionsoftext),andcomputermediatedcommunication(projectswhichteachmachinestorecognizespeechsoundsandwords;likerobots---manandmachinecanhavesimpleconversation.).6.Therearemanyreasonsforthediscrepancybetweencompetenceandperformanceinnormallanguageusers.Canyouthinkofsomeofthem?(imperfectionperformance----slipsoftongue,unnecessarypauses,makegrammaticalmistakes)aspeaker’sperformancedoesnotalwaysmatchhiscompetence.bypsychologicalandsocialfactors.(suchaspressure,distress,anxiety,orembarrassment)socioeconomicstatus,professions,regionofcountry11