戴煒棟語言學(xué)重點(diǎn)

1、2. Some important distinctions in linguistics. Prescriptive vs. DescriptivePrescriptive: aims to lay down rules for correct and standard behavior in using L.Descriptive: aims to describe and analyze the L people actually use. Synchronic vs. Diachronic Synchronic study: the description of a language

2、at some point in time. Diachronic study: the description of a language as it changes through time.In modern linguistics, a synchronic approach seems to enjoy priority over a diachronic one. It is believed that unless the various states of a language in different historical periods are successfully s

3、tudied, it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development. Synchronic descriptions are often thought of as being description of a language in its current existence, so most linguistic studies are of this type. Speech and writingSpeech is prior to writi

4、ng.a. from the point of view of linguistic evolution, the writing system of language is always invented by its users to record speech when the need arises.b. in everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the amount of information conveyed.c. speech is always the way

5、 in which every native speaker acquires his mother tongue, and writing is learned and taught later when he goes to school.d. for modern linguists, spoken language reveals more true features of human speech, thus it was regarded as authentic, while written language is only the revised record of speec

6、h. Traditional grammar and modern linguisticsModern linguistics differs from traditional grammar in several basic ways:linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive.Modern linguistics regards the spoken L as primary, not the written. Traditional grammarians emphasize the impor

7、tance of the written word.Modern linguistics does not force Ls into a Latin-based framework, while to traditional grammar, Latin provided a universal framework into which all Ls fit. As a result, other Ls were forced to fit into Latin patterns and categories, esp. its case system and tense divisions

8、 of past, present and future.3. The properties of languageLanguage is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. language is a system: ie. elements of L are combined together according to rules. language is arbitrary means that there is no intrinsic connection between a lingui

9、stic symbol and what the symbol stands for. language is vocal because the primary medium for all languages is sound symbols: language is expressed by literal forms. language is human-specific, ie. it is very different from the communication systems other forms of life possess.4. Design features of l

10、anguage: the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication. (proposed by Charles Hockett.)Arbitrariness（任意性） one of the major design features of human language.+ conceptThere is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. Except onomatopoeic

11、 words and some compound words that are not entirely arbitrary. eg. while photo and copy are both arbitrary, the compound photocopy is not entirely arbitrary.Productivity（能產(chǎn)性，創(chuàng)造性）Language is productive in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. (Creati

12、vity or open-endedness)Animal communication systems appear to be highly restricted: eg. Gibbon calls: gibbon draw their calls from a limited repertoire, which is rapidly exhausted, making any novelty impossible.Bee dancing is used only to indicate food sources, which is the only kind of message that

13、 can be sent through the dancing. Duality（雙重結(jié)構(gòu)性，兩重性或二元性）Language is organized at two levels or layers simultaneously. At the lower level, there is a structure of sounds, which are meaningless by themselves. But the sounds of language can be grouped and regrouped into a larger number of units of mean

14、ing, which are found at the higher level of the system. Then the units at the higher level can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences. The duality of structure enables its users to talk about anything within their knowledge. Displacement（跨時(shí)空性，移位性）Language can be used to refe

15、r to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker.It is not restricted by the here and now as animal communication. We can talk about anything we want, including what happened in the past, what is going to happen in the future, what is not existent in the immediate surroundings and

16、even what we image.Cultural transition（文化傳遞性）While human capacity for language has a genetic basis, ie. everyone was born with the ability to acquire a language, the details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learnt.Discreteness（可分離性）(2011復(fù)試筆試考過

17、)Each sound in the language is treated as discrete.The communication system consists of isolatable, repeatable units.Recursiveness(遞歸性) (2011復(fù)試筆試考過)Recursiveness refers to the rule which can be applied repeatedly without any definite limit. The recursive nature of language provides a theoretical bas

18、is for the possibility of creating endless sentences.5. Functions of languageThe descriptive function, also referred to the cognitive, or referential, or propositional function. It is the function to convey factual info. eg. “The Sichuan earthquake is the most serious one China has ever suffered.”Th

19、e expressive function, also called the emotive or attitudinal function, supplies info about the users feelings, preferences, prejudices, and values. eg. “I will never go camping with the Simpsons again.” The social function, also referred as the interpersonal function, serves to establish and mainta

20、in social relations between people. eg. “How can I help you, Sir?6. HallidayInterpersonal communication: convey information, thoughts, feelings from one to anotherIntrapersonal communication: language facilitates thinking, speech behavior, and action for the individual The ideational function is to

21、organize the speaker or writers experience of the real or imaginary world. The interpersonal function is to indicate, establish or maintain social relationships between people. The textual function is to organize written or spoken texts in such a manner that they are coherent with themselves and fit

22、 the particular situation in which they are used. 7. Six elements of a speech event Jakobsona. Addresser-EmotiveThe addresser expresses his attitude to the topic or situation of communication, eg. “I hate whatever whey are planning for me!”b. AddresseeConative意動(dòng)的The addresser aims to influence the a

23、ddressees course of action or ways of thinking, eg. “ Why not go and see another doctor?”c. Context-ReferentialThe addresser conveys a message of info, eg. “As far as I know, the earths resources are being astonishingly wasted.”d. Message-PoeticThe addresser uses languages for the solo purpose of di

24、splaying the beauty of language itself, eg. poetrye. Contact-Phatic communion交際性談話The addresser tries to establish or maintain good interpersonal relationships with the addressee, eg. “Hi! How are you this morning?”f. Code-Metalinguistic元語言的The addresser uses language to make clear the meaning of la

25、nguage itself, eg. “Let me tell you what the word anorexia means.Chapter 2 Phonology8. Phonology vs. PhoneticsBoth phonology and phonetics are concerned with the same aspect of language - the speech sounds, but they differ in their approach and focus. Phonetics is of a general nature; it is interest

26、ed in all human language: how they are produced, how they differ from each other, what phonetic features they possess, how they can be classified, etc.Phonology, on the other hand, aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in lingu

27、istics communication. The difference between l and l, p and p is what the phoneticians are interested in. But from the phonological point of view, these two sounds are fundamentally the same, since they have one or and the same function in communication, in distinguishing between words and meanings

28、despite their difference in pronunciation.9. Broad transcription: the transcription with letter-symbols only. Narrow transcription is the transcription with letter-symbols together with the diacritics. e.g. “pit” and “bit”, in “pit”, p sounds is pronounced with a strong puff of air, i.e. aspirated.

29、But in “spit”, the puff of air is withheld to some extent, i.e. unaspirated. This difference is not shown in broad transcription, but in narrow transcription, a small raised “h” is used to show aspiration, thus “pit” is transcribed as p it and “spit” as spit.10. Functions of intonation:表態(tài)功能attitudin

30、al function 話語功能discourse function語法功能grammatical function強(qiáng)調(diào)功能accentual function 情感功能emotive function 語法功能grammatical function 信息結(jié)構(gòu)功能information structure function 語段功能 language section function 心理功能 psychological function 牽引功能 traction functionIntonation: when pitch, stress and sound length are tie

31、d to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as intonationChapter 4 Syntax11. Four properties of coordination structure: there is no limit on the number of coordinated categories that can appear prior to the conjunction. a category at any level(a head or an entire

32、 XP) can be coordinated. coordinated categories must be of the same type. the category type of the coordinated phrase is identical to the category type of the elements being conjoined.Chapter 5 Semantics13. Major views concerning the study of meaning: The naming theory: proposed by the ancient Greek

33、 scholar Plato. Words are just names or labels fot things.Limitations: nouns that denote things do not exist in the real world at all such as ghost, dragon. And also abstract notions such as joy and impulse. The conceptualist view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what

34、 it refers to; they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.( semantic triangle by Ogden and Richards )Thought/reference (concept)Symbol/Form (words) Referent (real object) Contextualism holds that meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context-elements closely linked

35、 with language behaviour. J. R. FirthThe contextualist view of meaning is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from or reduce meaning to observable context. Two kinds of context are recognized: the situational context and the linguistic context.eg. a. the meaning of the word “seal” i

36、n the S “The seal could not be found” can only be determined by the context in which the S occurs: The seal could not be found, the zoo keeper became worried (seal means an aquatic mammal).or The seal could not be found, the king became worried (seal means the kings stamp). b. The meaning of the wor

37、d “black” differs in the two collocations of “black hair” and “black coffee”.Black hair: the color of hair is black.Black coffee: coffee without adding sugar or milk, just keeping the original taste of coffee. Behaviorism: Bloomfield Behaviorists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as

38、 the “situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.” Jill Jack(stimulus)S-rs-R (response)14. Sense and referenceSense and reference are two terms in the study of meaning(1)Sense: is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form, abstract and de-

39、contextualized.Reference: means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience(2) Obviously, linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situa

40、tions. On the other hand, there are less frequent occasions when linguistic forms with the same reference might differ in sense, e.g. “morning star” and “evening star”.15. Major sense relations: synonymy- the sameness or close similarity of meaning同義詞可以分為哪幾類a. dialectal synonymssynonyms used in diff

41、erent regional dialects. BE AEb. stylistic synonymssynonyms differing in style. eg. old man, daddy, dad, father, male parentc. synonyms that differ in their emotive or evaluative meaning, eg. collaborator helps another in doing sth. good, accomplice(bad)d. collocational synonymseg. accuseof, chargew

42、ith, rebukefore. semantically different synonymsamaze suggests confusion and bewilderment, astound suggests difficulty in believing. polysemyone word that has more than one related meaning homonymyHomophones: when two words are identical in soundHomographs: when two words are identical in spellingCo

43、mplete homonyms: when two words are identical both in spelling and in Sound hyponymy inclusivenessThe word which is more general in meaning is called the superordinator, eg. flower The word which is more specific in meaning is called hyponym, eg. lily, tulip, rose. antonymyoppositeness 反義詞可以分為哪幾類？各有

44、什么特征？1) Gradable antonyms: Some antonyms are gradable because there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair such as old/young, hot/cold. 2) Complementary antonyms: a pair of complementary antonyms is characterized by the feature that the denial of one member of the pair implie

45、s the assertion of the other. Male/ female, alive/ dead3) Relational opposites: pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between the two items. Husband wife, above-below, let-rent, buy-sell, north-south.16. Sense relations between sentences X is synonymous with Y X is inconsistent

46、with Y. eg. X: John is married. Y: John is a bachelor. X entails Y (Y is an entailment of X) X presupposes Y (Y is a prerequisite of X) X is a contradiction eg. My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor. X is semantically anomalous(語義反常) eg. The table has bad intentions.17. 句子的意義是構(gòu)成句子的每個(gè)單詞意義的總和嗎？

47、 The meaning of a sentence is not the sum total of the meanings of all its components. It cannot be worked out by adding up all the meanings of its constituent words. For example; The dog bit the man. The man bit the dog. The two sentences consist of exactly the same words, but they arc widely diffe

48、rent in their meanings. Chapter six Pragmatics19. Pragmatics vs. semanticsBoth of them are linguistic studies of meaning.What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in the study of meaning the context of use is considered.20. Sentence vs. utterance A sentence is a grammatical

49、unit. Its meaning is often studied as the abstract, intrinsic property of the sentence itself in terms of a predication. Utterance is what people actually utter in the course of communication. It should be considered in the situation in which it is actually uttered or used. Most utterances take the

50、form of sentences, i.e. most utterances are complete sentences in terms of syntax; however, some utterances are not, and some cannot even be restored to complete sentences.21. Sentence meaning vs. utterance meaning The meaning of a sentence is abstract and de-contextualized, while the meaning of an

51、utterance is concrete and context-dependent. Utterance meaning is based on sentence meaning; it is the realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation of communication, or simply in a context. eg. My bag is heavy.Sentence meaning: BAG (BE HEAVY)Utterance meaning: a. a straightf

52、orward statement, telling the hearer that the bag is heavy. b. an indirect, polite request, asking the hearer to help him carry the bag. c. a decline of someones request for help.22. Context: first noted by Firth. The notion of context is essential to the pragmatic study of language. It is generally

53、 considered as constituted by the knowledge shared by the speaker and the hear.That which occurs before and/ or after a word, a phrase or even a longer utterance or a text. The context often helps in understanding the particular meaning of the word, phrase, etc. For example, the word loud in loud mu

54、sic is usually understood as meaning “noisy” whereas in a tie with a loud pattern it is understood as “unpleasant colorful”. The context may also be the broader social situation in which a linguistic item is used. For example, in ordinary usage, spinster refers to an older unmarried woman but in a l

55、egal context it refers to any unmarried woman.The illocutionary act performed by the speaker is that by making such an utterance, he has expressed his intention of asking the hearer to close the door. The perlocutionary act refers to the effect of the utterance. If the hearer understands that the sp

56、eaker intends him to close the door and closes the door, the speaker has successfully brought about the change in the real world he has intended to; then the perlocutionary act is successfully performed . 24. Searles classification of illocutionary acts: (結(jié)合examples)1) Representatives: stating or de

57、scribing, saying what the speaker believes to be true. To commit the speaker to sths being the case, to the truth of what has been said.2) Directives: trying to get the hearer to do something. 3) Commissives: committing the speaker himself to some future course of action. 4) Expressives: expressing

58、feelings or attitude towards an existing state. 5) Declarations: bringing about immediate changes by saying something. 25. Indirect speech act. When someone is not saying in an explicit and straightforward manner what he means to say, rather he is trying to put across his message in an implicit, rou

59、ndabout way, we can say he is using indirect language.According to Searle, when a speaker is using indirect language, he is performing two speech act simultaneously; one is the primary speech act and the other is the secondary speech act. The primary speech act is the speakers goal of communication

60、while the secondary speech act is the means by which he achieves his goal.eg. Student X: Lets go to the movies tonight. Student Y: I have to study for an exam.Obviously, by saying “I have to study for an exam” Student Y is saying “No” to Student Xs suggestion to go the movies. According to Searles i