英语语言学笔记

linguistics
chapter 1 introduction: language and linguistics
 what is language?

 different definitions of language
 language is a system whose parts can and must be considered in their synchronic solidarity. (de saussure, 1916)
 [language is] a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements. (chomsky, 1957)
 language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.
 each of the definitions above has pointed out some aspects of the essence of language, but all of them have left out something. we must see the multi-faceted nature of language.
 as is agreed by linguists in broad terms, language can be defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

 features of human language

 creativity
 language provides opportunities for sending messages that have never been sent before and for understanding brand new messages.
 the grammar rules and the words are finite, but the sentences are infinite. every speaker uses language creatively.
 duality
 language contains two subsystems, one of sounds and the other of meanings.
 certain sounds or sequences of sounds stand for certain meanings.
 certain meanings are conveyed by certain speech sounds or sequences of speech sounds.
 arbitrariness
 the relationship between the two subsystems of language is arbitrary.
 there is no logical connection between sound and meaning.
 displacement
 there is no limit in time or space for language.
 language can be used to refer to things real or imagined, past, present or future.
 cultural transmission
 culture cannot be genetically transmitted. instead, it must be learned.
 language is a way of transmitting culture.
 interchangeability
 all members of a speech community can send and receive messages.
 reflexivity
 human languages can be used to describe themselves.
 the language used to talk about language is called meta-language.

 functions of language – three meta-functions

 the ideational function
 to identify things, to think, or to record information.
 the interpersonal function
 to get along in a community.
 the textual function
 to form a text.

 types of language

 genetic classification
 typological classification
 analytic language – no inflections or formal changes, grammatical relationships are shown through word order, such as chinese and vietnamese
 synthetic language – grammatical relationships are expressed by changing the internal structure of the words, typically by changing the inflectional endings, such as english and german
 agglutinating language – words are built out of a long sequence of units, with each unit expressing a particular grammatical meaning, such as japanese and turkish

 the myth of language – language origin

 the biblical account
 language was god’s gift to human beings.
 the bow-wow theory
 language was an imitation of natural sounds, such as the cries of animals, like quack, cuckoo.
 the pooh-pooh theory
 language arose from instinctive emotional cries, expressive of pain or joy.
 the yo-he-ho theory
 language arose from the noises made by a group of people engaged in joint labour or effort – lifting a huge hunted game, moving a rock, etc.
 the evolution theory
 language originated in the process of labour and answered the call of social need.

 what is linguistics?

 linguistics is the scientific study of language.
 observing & questioning
 formulating hypotheses
 verifying the hypotheses
 proposing a theory
 branches of linguistics
 internal branches: intra-disciplinary divisions
 phonetics
 phonology
 morphology
 syntax
 semantics
 external branches: inter-disciplinary divisions
 pragmatics
 psycholinguistics
 sociolinguistics
 applied linguistics
 computational linguistics
 neurolinguistics
 features of linguistics
 descriptive
 dealing with spoken language
 synchronic

chapter 2 phonetics
 what is phonetics?

 phonetics is termed as the study of speech sounds.
 sub-branches of phonetics
 articulatory phonetics – the production of speech sounds
 acoustic phonetics – the physical properties of speech sounds
 auditory phonetics – the perceptive mechanism of speech sounds

 the speech organs

 where does the air stream come from?
 from the lung
 what is the function of vocal cords?
 controlling the air stream
 what are the cavities?
 oral cavity
 pharyngeal cavity
 nasal cavity

 transcription of speech sounds

 units of representation
 segments (the individual sounds)
 phonetic symbols
 the widely used symbols for phonetic transcription of speech sounds is the international phonetic alphabet (ipa).
 the ipa attempts to represent each sound of human speech with a single symbol and the symbols are enclosed in brackets [ ] to distinguish phonetic transcriptions from the spelling system of a language.
 in more detailed transcription (narrow transcription) a sound may be transcribed with a symbol to which a smaller is added in order to mark the finer distinctions.

 description of speech sounds

 description of english consonants
 general feature: obstruction
 criteria of consonant description
 places of articulation
 manners of articulation
 voicing of articulation
 places of articulation
 this refers to each point at which the air stream can be modified to produce a sound.
 bilabial: [p] [b] [m] [w]
 labiodental: [f] [v]
 interdental: [] []
 alveolar: [t] [d] [s] [z] [l] [n] [r]
 palatal: [] [] [t] [d] [j]
 velar: [k] [g] []
 glottal: [h]
 manners of articulation
 this refers to how the air stream is modified, whether it is completely blocked or partially obstructed.
 stops: [p] [b] [t] [d] [k] [g]
 fricatives: [s] [z] [] [] [f] [v] [] [] [h]
 affricates: [t] [d]
 liquids: [l] [r]
 glides: [w] [j]
 nasals: [m] [n] []
