1、1,Linguistics A Course Book 邵文軒 Michelle,2,Course Introduction,Nature of the Course Optional: 2 credit scores Interesting but difficult Useful: logical thinking training Course requirements Main Branches of linguistics Basic content of theories Fundamental application,3,Course evaluation,General Pol

2、icy regular attendance class participation Mid-term and final exam *Note to Course Policy Absence Penalty: 5-score penalty for each absence Contribution Award: 2-5 scores for class contribution,4,Course Contents: an overview,Invitations to Linguistics (week1 and this they begin to do; and now nothin

3、g will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” (Genesis, 11: 6),36,4.1 The “bow-wow” theory,In primitive times people imitated the sounds of the animal calls in the wild environment they lived and speech developed from that. Onomatopoeic words seem to be a convenient evidence for t

4、his theory. But they are very different in the degree of resemblance they express with the natural sounds. This theory lacks supportive evidence.,37,4.2 The “pooh-pooh” theory,In the hard life of our primitive ancestors, they utter instinctive sounds of pain, anger and joy. As for evidence, we can o

5、nly cite the universal use of sounds as interjections. What makes the theory problematic is that there is only a limited number of interjections in almost all languages. Besides, interjections such as Oh, Ah, Oops bear little relationship with the sound system of a language and therefore are not goo

6、d evidence.,38,4.3 The “yo-he-ho” theory,As primitive people worked together, they produced some rhythmic grunts which gradually developed into chants and then into language. We do have prosodic use of rhythms in languages, but rhythmic grunts are far different from language in its present sense. Th

7、e theory is again at most a speculation.,39,The by-now fruitless search for the origin of languages reflects peoples concern with the origin of humanity and may come up with enlightening findings in future. One thing we can say for certain is that language evolves within specific historical, social

8、and cultural contexts.,40,5. Functions of language,Linguists talk about the functions of language in an abstract sense, that is, not in terms of using language to chat, to think, to buy and sell, to read and write, to greet, praise and condemn people, etc. They summarize these practical functions an

9、d attempt some broad classifications of the basic functions of language.,41,For Jakobson, language is above all for communication. While for many people, the purpose of communication is referential, for him (and the Prague school structuralists), reference is not the only, not even the primary goal

10、of communication.,42,In his famous article, Linguistics and Poetics, he defined six primary factors of any speech event, namely: speaker, addressee, context, message, code, contact. In conjunction with these, Jakobson established a well-known framework of language functions based on the six key elem

11、ents of communication, namely:,43,referential (to convey message and information), poetic (to indulge in language for its own sake), emotive (to express attitudes, feelings and emotions), conative (to persuade and influence others through commands and requests), phatic (to establish communion with o

12、thers) metalingual (to clear up intentions and meanings).,44,They correspond to such communication elements as context, message, addresser, addressee, contact and code respectively. Jakobsons views of the functions of language are still of great importance.,45,46,Informative function Interpersonal f

13、unction Performative function Emotive function Phatic communion Recreational function Metalingual function,47,5.1 Informative function,Language is the instrument of thought and people often feel need to speak their thoughts aloud. The use of language to record the facts is a prerequisite of social d

14、evelopment. The informative function is indeed a crucial function of language.,48,5.2 Interpersonal function,By far the most important sociological use of language, and by which people establish and maintain their status in a society.,49,For example, the ways in which people address others and refer

15、 to themselves (e.g. Dear Sir, Dear Professor, Johnny, yours, your obedient servant) indicate the various grades of interpersonal relations.,50,Attached to the interpersonal function is its function of expressing identity. For example, the chanting of a crowd at a football match, the shouting of nam

16、es or slogans at public meetings, the stage-managed audience reactions to TV game shows They all signal who we are and where we belong.,51,Language marks our identity, physically in terms of age, sex, and voiceprints; psychologically in terms of language, personality and intelligence; geographically

17、 in terms of accents and dialects; ethnically and socially in terms of social stratification, class, status, role, solidarity and distance.,52,The interpersonal function is such a broad category that it is often discussed under various other terms as in the following performative, emotive, expressiv

18、e and phatic functions of language. They seem to emphasize different aspects of the interpersonal function.,53,5.3 Performative function,This concept originates from the philosophical study of language represented by Austin and Searle, whose theory now forms the back-bone of pragmatics (Chapter 8).

19、For example, I now declare the meeting open. I bet you two pounds it will rain tomorrow.,54,The performative function of language is primarily to change the social status of persons, as in marriage ceremonies, the sentencing of criminals, the blessing of children, the naming of a ship at a launching

20、 ceremony, and the cursing of enemies. The kind of language employed in performative verbal acts is usually quite formal and even ritualized.,55,For example, in Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate the host or the people present are likely to say 歲歲平安 as a means of controlling the invisible

21、 forces which the believers feel might affect their lives adversely.,The performative function can extend to the control of reality as on some magical or religious occasions.,56,5.4 Emotive function,The emotive function of language is one of the most powerful uses of language because it is crucial i

22、n changing the emotional status of an audience for or against someone or something. It is a means of getting rid of our nervous energy when we are under stress, e.g. swear words, obscenities, involuntary verbal reactions to a piece of art or scenery; conventional words/phrases, e.g. God, My, Damn it

23、, What a sight, Wow, Ugh, Oh.,57,It is also discussed under the term expressive function. The expressive function can often be entirely personal and totally without any implication of communication to others. For example, a man may say Ouch! after striking a fingernail with a hammer, or he may mutte

24、r Damn when realizing that he has forgotten an appointment.,58,Exclamations such as Man! Oh boy! and Hurrah! are usually uttered without any purpose of communicating to others, but as essentially a verbal response to a persons own feelings. Such expressive utterances can also be a communal response

25、of a group of people who reinforce one anothers expressive use of language to show their solidarity.,59,5.5 Phatic communion,Phatic communion refers to the social interaction of language, originating from Malinowskis study of the functions of language performed by Trobriand Islanders. For example,Mr

26、s. P sneezes violently. Mrs. Q: Bless you. Mrs. P: Thank you.,60,We all use such small, seemingly meaningless expressions to maintain a comfortable relationship between people without involving any factual content. Ritual exchanges about health or weather such as Good morning, God bless you, Nice da

27、y often state the obvious. Yet they indicate that a channel of communication is open if it should be needed.,61,Different cultures have different topics of phatic communion. According to David Crystal, the weather is not a universal conversation filler as the English might like to think. Rundi women

28、 (in Burundi, Central Africa), upon taking leave, routinely and politely say “I must go home now, or my husband will beat me.”,62,Broadly speaking, this function refers to expressions that help define and maintain interpersonal relations, such as slang, jokes, jargons, ritualistic exchanges, switche

29、s to social and regional dialects. We have to learn a large repertoire of such usages if we are to interact comfortably with different people.,63,5.6 Recreational function,The recreational function of a language is often overlooked because it seems so restrictive in purpose and supposedly so limited

30、 in usefulness. However, no one will deny the use of language for the sheer joy of using it, such as a babys babbling or a chanters chanting.,64,In the Latin and Islamic worlds as well as in some areas of China, there is widespread use of verbal dueling, in which one singer begins a song of usually

31、few lines and challenges his opponent to continue the content or provide a rejoinder in a similar rhythm and rhyme scheme. Such verbal duels may last for a few hours and is performed for the sheer joy of playing on language.,65,To take one example, the well-known movie劉三姐features a scene of “對(duì)歌” (so

32、ng dueling) mostly for the sheer joy of playing on language.,66,If you observe a childrens play, you will find the power of sound. Sometimes even nonsensical lyrics perform a recreational function in the game: the repetitive rhythms help to control the game, and the children plainly take great delig

33、ht in it. Adults also have their way to appreciate language for its own sake.,67,For instance, poetry writing gives them the pleasure of using language for its sheer beauty. Very close here to Jakobsons poetic function.,68,5.7 Metalingual function,Our language can be used to talk about itself. To or

34、ganize any written text into a coherent whole, writers employ certain expressions to keep their readers informed about where they are and where they are going.,69,For instance, instead of saying The lion chased the unicorn all round the town, they say All around the town the lion chased the unicorn.

35、,A unicorn,70,This is the metalingual function of language and meshes with the thematic function of language in functional grammar. It makes the language infinitely self-reflexive: We human beings can talk about talk and think about thinking, and thus only humans can ask what it means to communicate

36、, to think, to be human.,71,6 What is linguistics 1.1.1 Definition Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.,Linguistics studies not just one language of any society, but the language of all human society, language in general.,Linguistic data and theory stand in a dialect

37、ical complementation.,72,Aims of linguistic theory: What is knowledge of language? (Competence) How is knowledge of language acquired? (Acquisition) How is knowledge of language put to use? (Performance/language processing),73,A grammar includes everything one knows about the structure of ones langu

38、age: Phonetics and Phonology (the sounds and the sound system or patterns) Lexicon (the words or vocabulary in the mental dictionary) Morphology (the structure of words) Syntax (the structure of phrases and sentences and the constraints on well-formedness of sentences) Semantics (the meaning of word

39、s and sentences),74,7. Main branches of linguistics,Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics,75,7.1 Phonetics,Phonetics studies speech sounds, including the production of speech, that is how speech sounds are actually made, transmitted and received, the description and classificati

40、on of speech sounds, words and connected speech, etc.,76,We can approach it on various levels. At one level, speech is a matter of anatomy and physiology. We can study organs such as tongue and larynx and their functions in the production of speech. At another level, we can focus on the speech sound

41、s produced by these organs by identifying and classifying the individual sounds. This is the domain of articulatory phonetics.,77,We can also investigate the properties of the sound waves acoustic phonetics. As speech is intended to be heard or perceived, it is therefore possible to focus on the way

42、 in which a listener analyses or processes a sound wave auditory phonetics.,78,7.2 Phonology,Phonology studies the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables. It deals with the sound system of a language by treating phoneme as the point of

43、 departure. A phoneme is the smallest linguistic unit of sound that can signal a difference in meaning.,79,7.3 Morphology,Morphology is concerned with the internal organization of words. It studies the minimal units of meaning morphemes and word-formation processes. Although many people think of wor

44、ds as the basic meaningful elements of a language，many words can be broken down into still smaller units, called morphemes.,80,Morphemes serve different purposes. Some derive new words by changing the meaning or the part of speech, others only refine and give extra grammatical information about the

45、already existing meaning of a word. As morphemes are pairings of sounds with meanings, there are many complexities involved, forming a new field by the name morphophonology.,81,7.4 Syntax,Syntax is about principles of forming and understanding correct sentences. The form or structure of a sentence i

46、s governed by the rules of syntax, which specify word order, sentence organization, and the relationships between words, word classes and other sentence elements.,82,We know that words are organized into structures more than just word order. The children watched the firework from the hill . The chil

47、dren watched the firework from the hill . The chicken is too hot to eat.,83,7.5 Semantics,Semantics examines how meaning is encoded in a language. It is not only concerned with meanings of words as lexical items, but also with levels of language below the word and above it, e.g. meaning of morphemes

48、 and sentences.,84,The following are what the key concepts look like: semantic components denotation of words sense relations between words such as antonymy and synonymy sense relations between sentences such as entailment and presupposition and others.,85,7.6 Pragmatics,Pragmatics is the study of m

49、eaning in context. It deals with particular utterances in particular situations and is especially concerned with the various ways in which the many social contexts of language performance can influence interpretation. In other words, pragmatics is concerned with the way language is used to communica

50、te rather than with the way language is internally structured.,86,It regards speech performance as primarily a social act ruled by various social conventions. Some key concepts such as reference, force, effect, and cooperative principles may appear commonsensical, yet pragmatics is just about one of

51、 the most promising fields of linguistic studies.,87,Take conversation for example. Since language is transmitted primarily via the speech mode, pragmatic rules govern a number of conversational interactions, such as sequential organization, repair of errors, role and speech acts. Organization of co

52、nversations includes taking turns, opening, maintaining and closing a conversation, establishing and maintaining a topic etc.,88,8. Macrolinguistics,Linguistics is not the only field concerned with language. Other disciplines such as psychology, sociology, ethnography, the science of law and artific

53、ial intelligence etc. are also preoccupied with language.,89,Although Saussures goal was to establish the autonomy of linguistics, giving it a well-defined subject of study and freeing it from reliance on other disciplines, with its coming of age linguistics is developing interactive links with othe

54、r sciences. The central goal of describing the underlying system remains: this is the province of general, descriptive linguistics.,90,But since language has both individual and social aspects, it is naturally of interest to psychologists and sociologists among others. Therefore it is not surprising

55、 that we have some branches of macrolinguistics that show an interdisciplinary nature from their very names:,91,Macrolinguistics,Psycholinguistics Sociolinguistics Anthropological linguistics Computational linguistics,92,8.1 Psycholinguistics,Psycholinguistics investigates the interrelation of langu

56、age and mind, for example, in processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition. It also studies language development in the child, such as the theories of language acquisition, biological foundations of language, and a profound aspectthe relationship between language and cognition.,93

57、,8.2 Sociolinguistics,Sociolinguistics is the study of the characteristics of language varieties, the characteristics of their functions, and the characteristics of their speakers as these three constantly interact and change within a speech community. An umbrella term which covers a variety of diff

58、erent interests in language and society, including the social functions of language and the social characteristics of its users.,94,8.3 Anthropological linguistics,Anthropology and linguistics became closely associated in the early days of anthropological fieldwork when anthropologists enlisted the

59、help of linguists to study unwritten languages. In contrast with other linguists, then, anthropological linguists are interested primarily in the history and structure of formerly unwritten languages.,95,Because an unwritten language must be heard in order to be studied, it does not leave any traces once its speakers died off. Anthropological linguists must begin in the present, with comparisons of contemporary languages. Then they may draw inferences about the kinds of change in language that may have occurred in the past and that may account for similarities and differenc