. . 戴版语言学Chapter One-IntroductionPart one-What is linguistics?1. Definition-linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.Scientific means it is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure.No Article before language in this definition means that linguistics studies language in general.Linguists task: basically study and understand the general principles upon which all languages are built.Interest of linguists is “what is said”2. The scopes of linguisticsGeneral linguistics-the study of language as a whole-the core of linguisticsPhonetics-the study of sounds used in linguistic communication.Phonology-the study of how sounds are put together and used to convey meanings in communication.Morphology-the study of the way in which the symbols are arranged and combined to form words.Syntax-the study of the rules for sentence formationSemantics-the study of meaning.Pragmatics-the study of meaning in the context of language use.Above are made up of the core of linguisticsSociolinguistics-the study of all social aspects of language and its relation with society from the core of the branch.Psycholinguistics-the study of language processing, comprehending and production, as well as language acquisition.Applied linguistics-the application of linguistic theories and principles to language teaching , especially the teaching of foreign and second languages.3.Some important distinctions in linguistics.(1) prescriptive vs. descriptiveprescriptive-the linguistic study aims to lay down rules for “correct and standard” behavior in using language, i.e. to tell people what they should say and what they should not say.Descriptive-the linguistic study aims to describe and analyze the language people actually use.Modern linguistics is mostly descriptive.(2) Synchronic vs. diachronicSynchronic-the description of a language at some point of time in history.Diachronic-the description of a language as it changes through time-the historical development of language over a period of time-another name: historical linguistics.A synchronic approach enjoys priority over a diachronic one.(3)Speech vs. writingTwo major media of linguistic communicationSpeech is prior to writing: (1)writing system is always “invented” by its users to record speech.(2)speech plays a greater role than writing in information conveyance.(3)speechis acquired as mother tongue while writing is learned and taught.(4)speech reveals true features of human speech while writing language is only the “revised” record of speech.(4) Langue vs. paroleProposed by Swiss linguist-F. de Saussure-sociological view.Purpose: discover the regularities governing the actual use of language and make them the subjects of study of linguistics.Langue-the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of s speech community.-abstract & stable.Parole-the realization of language in actual use-concrete & varied(5) Competence vs. performanceProposed by American linguist Noam Chomsky-psychological viewPurpose: discover and specify the internalized sets of rules.Competence-the ideal users knowledge of the rules of his language.Performance-the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication.(6) Traditional grammar and modern linguisticsThe beginning of modern linguistics- the publication of Saussures “Course in General Linguistics” in early 20thModern linguistics differs traditional grammar: (1) descriptive vs. prescriptive.(2) spoken language vs. written language.(3)ML doesnt force languages into a Latin-based framework.Part Two-What is language?1. Definition-language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.System-elements of language are combined according to rules.Arbitrary-there is no intrinsic connection between a linguistic symbol and what symbol stands for.Vocal-the primary medium for all language is sound.Human-language is human-specific.2. Design features-proposed by American linguist Charles Hockett.(5/12)Design features: the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication-human-specific.(1) Arbitrariness-there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds.Exceptions: Onomatopoeic words and some compound words are not entire arbitrary.(2) Productivity-language is creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users-users can produce and understand sentences that they have never heard before.(3) Duality-(another name: double articulation.) Language is a system which consists of two sets of structures, or two levels. The lower lever is the stru