第二講-what-is-language獲獎課件

Lecture2:WhatisLanguage?

Aimsforthislecture1.Definitionsforlanguage2.Featuresoflanguage3.Originsoflanguage4.FormsofLanguage5.FunctionsoflanguageQuestions:1.Whatifwehadnolanguage?2.Whatislanguage?3.Islanguageimportant?Isitmoreimportantthan(lessimportant,asimportantas)oureyes,hands,earsorlegs?1.Definitions《辭海》（1989年版，第446頁）人類最主要旳交際工具。它同思維有親密旳聯(lián)系，是人類思維和體現(xiàn)思想旳手段，也是人類社會最基本旳信息載體。人們借助語言保存和傳遞人類文明旳成果。語言是人區(qū)別于其他動物旳本質特征之一。共同旳語言又常是民族旳特征。語言是以語音為物質外殼，以語詞為建筑材料，以語法為構造規(guī)律而構成旳符號體系。語言是一種特殊旳社會現(xiàn)象，它伴隨社會旳產生而產生，發(fā)展而發(fā)展。語言沒有階級性，一視同仁地為社會各階層服務。社會各階級，階層或社會集群也會影響到語言，因而造成語言在使用上旳不同特點或差別。Language“isnottobeconfusedwithhumanspeech,ofwhichitisonlyadefinitepart,thoughcertainlyanessentialone.Itisbothasocialproductofthefacultyofspeechandacollectionofnecessaryconventionsthathavebeenadoptedbyasocialbodytopermitindividualstoexercisethatfaculty”.(FerdinanddeSaussure1857-1913)[Languageis]asetof(finiteorinfinite)sentences,eachinfiniteinlengthandconstructedoutofafinitesetofelements.(Chomsky,1957)Languageisapurelyhumanandnon-instinctivemethodofcommunicatingideas,emotionsanddesiresbymeansofvoluntarilyproducedsymbols.(Sapir,1921)Alanguageisasystemofarbitrary

vocalsymbolsbymeansofwhichasocialgroupco-operates.”--BernardBloch(1907-1965)&GeorgeTrager(1906-1992):OutlineofLinguisticAnalysis(1942)Alanguageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsbymeansofwhichthemembersofasocietyinteractintermsoftheirtotalculture.”--GeorgeTrager:TheFieldofLinguistics(1949)“Languageisasystemofarbitrary

vocal

symbolsusedforhumancommunication.”--RonaldWardhaugh:IntroductiontoLinguistics(1977)Languageisameansofverbalcommunication.Itisinstrumentalinthatcommunicatingbyspeakingorwritingisapurposefulact.Itissocialandconventionalinthatlanguageisasocialsemioticandcommunicationcanonlytakeplaceeffectivelyifalltheusersshareabroadunderstandingofhumaninteractionincludingsuchassociatedfactorsasnonverbalcues,motivation,andsocio-culturalroles.--Huzhuanglin(2023)Inbroadterms,linguistsagreetodefinelanguageasasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.

Liao,Meizhen(2023)語言是什么？語言是人。人是什么？人是語言。Weexistbecausewespeak.（我說故我在）。Manismanonlywhenmandoesnotregard(take)languageasatool.（只有當人不把語言作工具旳時候，人才成為真正意義旳人）。當人把語言看成工具旳時候，人覺得自己是主人，其實人是奴隸。當人不論是在顯意識還是潛意識中都不把語言看成工具旳時候，人才干真正地得到解放，人文精神才真正地實現(xiàn)。不然人永遠是奴隸。把語言看作工具永遠無法得到語言和語言研究旳真諦。QianGuanlian(2023)語言是人類旳最終家園:人活在語言中,人不得不活在語言中,人活在程式性語言行為中.語言實際上是人類旳一種社會活動.是一種行為.顧曰國(2023)“學一門語言是懂一種人旳心聲，懂一種文化。就是整個文化旳大門給你開放了，整個文明給你開放了。

我感覺語言這個東西，不要把它看成是一種簡樸旳符號。它是一種心。另外對于個人來說，是一種文化旳大門，一種文明旳大門向你開放了，這個太有意思。我目前正在準備學蒙古語。我想看看蒙古人怎么看世界。”

Definedassuch,languageisseenasuniquetohumanbeings.Animalcommunicationsystems(birdchips,beedances,dogbarks,andsoon),areallexcluded.Isthisjustified?Arecommunicationsystemspossessedbyothercreaturesqualitativelydifferentfromhumanlanguages?2.DesignFeaturesofhumanlanguagesDesignfeaturesoflanguagedifferentiateitfromallotherformsofsignalingandwhichmakeitauniquetypeofcommunicationsystem.ArbitrarinessDualityProductivityDisplacementCulturaltransmissionDiscretenessInterchangeability

ReflexivityArbitrarinessLanguageisarbitrary.Alllanguagesarearbitrary.

Arbitrariness

Therelationshipbetweenspeechsoundsandthemeaningstheyrepresentinthelanguagesoftheworldis,forthemostpart,anarbitraryone.TheSwisslinguistdeSaussureregardedthelinguisticsignascomposedofsignifier(soundimage)andsignified(referent).Inhisview,thereisnoinherent

relationbetweenthetwo.Forthemajorityofanimalsignals,theredoesappeartobeaclearconnectionbetweentheconveyedmessageandthesignalusedtoconveyit.Animalsignalingisnon-arbitrary.DualityLanguageisorganizedattwolevelsorlayerssimultaneously.Thispropertyiscalledduality.Or‘doublearticulation’.Atonelevel,wehavedistinctsounds,and,atanotherlevel,wehavedistinctmeanings.Thisisimportantfortheworkingsoflanguage.Asmallnumberofsoundscanbegroupedandregroupedintoalargenumberofunitsofmeaning(words),andtheunitsofmeaningcanbearrangedandrearrangedintoaninfinitenumberofsentences.Noanimalcommunicationsystemhasduality.Thebarksofadogarenotanalyzable.Animalcommunicationsystemscannotbecutintosegmentsandthenbereorganizedintomeaningfulsequences.Inotherwords,humanlanguagesarediscretewhileanimalcommunicationsystemsarenon-discrete.DiscretenessThefactthatthepronunciationoftheformspackandback

leadstoadistinctioninmeaningcanonlybeduetothedifferencebetweenthe

p

and

b

soundsinEnglish.Thispropertyoflanguageisdescribedasdiscreteness.Wehaveaverydiscreteviewofthesoundsofourlanguageandwhereverapronunciationfallswithinthephysicallypossiblerangeofsounds,itwillbeinterpretedasalinguisticallyspecificandmeaningfullydistinctsound.Creativity/productivityLanguageisresourcefulbecauseofitsdualityanditsrecursiveness.Wecanuseittocreatenewmeanings.Wordscanbeusedinnewwaystomeannewthings,andcanbeinstantlyunderstoodbypeoplewhohavenevercomeacrossthatusagebefore.

Creativity/productivity

Itreferstothefactthatlanguageprovidesopportunitiesforsendingmessagesthathaveneverbeensentbeforeandforunderstandingnovelmessages.Thegrammaticalrulesandthewordsofalanguagearefinite,butthesentencesareinfinite.Everyspeakeruseslanguagecreatively.Evenachildacquiringhismothertonguecanputspeechsoundsandwordsintonovelcombinationstoexpressmeanings.Thisfeatureisnotfoundinanimalcommunicationsystems.Talkingbirdssuchasparrotscanimitate

humanutterances.(a)Makeupnewwords三個代表,hypertext,toyboy(b)Useoldwordsinnewways

Cool……(c)Composeinfinitesentences

YouknowIknowyouknowIknowyouknow……Heboughtabookwhichwaswrittenbyateacherwhotaughtinaschoolwhichwasknownforitsgraduateswho...DisplacementHumanlanguage-userscanrefertopastandfuturetime,andtootherlocations.Thispropertyofhumanlanguageiscalleddisplacement.Itallowstheusersoflanguagetotalkaboutthingsandeventsnotpresentintheimmediateenvironment.Displacementbenefitshumanbeingsbygivingusthepowertohandlegeneralizationsandabstractions.Oncewecantalkaboutphysicallydistantthing,weacquiretheabilitytounderstandconceptswhichdenote“non-things”,suchastruthandbeauty.Animalcommunicationisgenerallyconsideredtolackthisproperty.Itseemsthatanimalcommunicationisalmostexclusivelydesignedforthismoment,hereandnow.Itcannoteffectivelybeusedtorelateeventswhicharefarremovedintimeandplace.Aphilosopheroncemarked“Nomatterhoweloquentlyadogmaybark,hecannottellyouthathisparentswerepoorbuthonest.”Thecleverestdogcannotbarktotellothershowbadlyitsparentsweretreatedbytheirowner.Animalcommunicationisnormallyunder“immediatestimuluscontrol”.Forinstance,awarningcryofabirdinstantlyannouncesdanger.Humanlanguageisstimulus-free.Whatwearetalkingaboutneednotbetriggeredbyanyexternalstimulusintheworldoranyinternalstate.Thisfeatureoflanguageisduetothefactthatthehumanbrainisspeciallystructuredforlanguageandthatthebrainsofotherspeciesarenotcomparableintermsofthecapacitiesofmemoryandabstraction.However,ithasbeenproposedthatbeecommunicationdoeshavethepropertyofdisplacement.Thehoneybee'sdanceexhibitsdisplacementalittlebit:hecanrefertoasourceoffood,whichisremoteintimeandspacewhenhereportsonit.CulturalTransmissionAChinesespeakerandanEnglishspeakerarenotmutuallyintelligible.Thisshowsthatlanguageisculturallytransmitted.Thatis,itispassedonfromonegenerationtothenextbyteachingandlearning,ratherthanbyinstinct.WhileIthasbeenarguedthathumansarebornwithanpredispositiontoacquirelanguage,itisclearthattheyarenotbornwiththeabilitytoproduceutterancesinaspecificlanguage.Aslanguageisarbitraryandconventional,achildcanonlyacquirehismothertonguethroughinteractingwithpeoplearound.Animalcallsystemsaregeneticallytransmitted.InterchangeabilityAllmembersofaspeechcommunitycansendandreceivemessages.Thisisobviouslytrueofallhumanlanguages,butnotofallanimalcommunicationsystems.Beedancesarenotinterchangeable;onlyforagerssendmessages.Noraresongsofmanybirds;onlyroosterscrow.

Reflexivity

Humanlanguagescanbeusedtodescribethemselves.Thelanguageusedtotalkaboutlanguageiscalledmetalanguage.e.g.,Whatdoyoumean?Imean…..word,sentence,this,that…..Linguistshaveobservedothercharacteristics,buttheonesdiscussedabovearemorestriking,particularlythefeaturesofdualityandcreativity.Theseareuniversalfeaturespossessedbyallhumanlanguages.Althoughsomeanimalcommunicationsystemspossess,toaverylimiteddegree,oneoranotherofthesefeaturesexceptcreativityandduality,noneisfoundtohaveallthefeatures.Languagedistinguisheshumanbeingsfromanimalsinthatitisfarmoresophisticatedthananyanimalcommunicationsystem.Onthisbasislinguiststendtoconcludethathumanlanguagesarequalitativelydifferentfromanimalcommunicationsystems.Humanlanguageisauniqueformofcommunication.Question:Wouldothercreaturesbeabletounderstandandproducethisspecializedhumanmodeofexpression?Humanlanguage:uniqueformofcommunicationOthercreaturescannotdevelopanunderstandingofhumanmodeofexpressionStimulus-responseofanimals:RiderssayWHOASayHeeltodogsCircusanimalsgoUp,Down,Rollover,etcDifficulttoconceiveanimals“understanding”humanlanguage,evenlesslikelytoproducehumanlanguageOnespeciesofanimalsdonotproducethesignalsofanotherspecies.HorsewillnotlearntoproduceMooamongcows;PuppyandbabygrowingtogetherChimpanzeesandLanguage99%basicgeneticsincommonwithhuman1930s,2scientists(LuellaandWithropKellogg)raisedchimpwiththeirsonandcouldunderstand100words,butcouldnotproduce1940s,(CatherineandKeithHayes)chimpVikilivinglikeahumanchild,shapinghermouth,itmanagedtoproducesomewords:mama,papa,cupRemarkableachievementsinceotherprimatesdonotpossessthehumanvocaltractsuitableforproducinghumanspeechsoundsWehaveansweredsomequestions,butnotall.Westilldonothaveanuncontroversialdefinitionof“usinglanguage”.Butgiventhemassofevidnecefromthestudies,wemightsuggestthatthelinguistNoamChomskyshouldrevisehisclaimthat“acquisitionofeventhebarestrudimentsoflanguageisquitebeyondthecapacitiesofanotherwiseintelligibleape”.Chimpanzeeshaveobviouscapacitytocopewiththe“barestrudimentsoflangauge”wecertainlyhave.3.OriginoflanguageQuestion:Whatistheoriginoflanguage?

Spokenformoflanguage---writtenformoflanguage---noevidencerelatingtothespeech---speculationsThe‘Divine’origin

神授說Inmostreligions,thereappearstobeadivinesourcewhoprovideshumanswithlanguage.Christianbelief,GodcreatedAdamand“whatsoeverAdamcalledeverylivingcreature,thatwasthenamethereof”(Genesis2:19)Afewexperimentshavebeencarriedout,withratherconflictingresults.Thebasichypothesis

seemstohavebeenthat,ifinfantswereallowedtogrowupwithouthearinganylanguage,thentheywouldspontaneouslybeginusingtheoriginalGod-givenlanguage.TheConclusion1)Itisunfortunatethatallothercasesofchildrenwhohavebeendiscoveredlivinginisolation,withoutcomingintocontactwithhumanspeech,tendnottoconfirmtheresultsofeitherofthese“divine-source”experiments.2)Childrenlivingwithoutaccesstohumanspeechintheirearlyyearsgrowupwithnolanguageatall.The“bow-wow”theory

(Thenatural-soundsource)

1)

ImitatingnaturalsoundsInprimitivetimespeopleimitatedthesoundsoftheanimalcallsinthewildenvironmentandspeechdevelopedfromthat.Onomatopoeic

wordsseemtobeaconvenientevidenceforthistheory.Buttheyareverydifferentinthedegreeofresemblancetheyexpresswiththenaturalsounds.Thistheorylackssupportiveevidence.2)The“pooh-pooh”theoryInthehardlifeofourprimitiveancestors,theyutterinstinctivesoundsofpain,angerandjoy.Asforevidence,wecanonlycitetheuniversaluseofsoundsasinterjections.Whatmakesthetheoryproblematicisthatthereisonlyalimitednumberofinterjectionsinalmostalllanguages.3)The“yo-heave-ho”theory

Asprimitivepeopleworkedtogether,theyproducedsomerhythmicgruntswhichgraduallydevelopedintochantsandthenintolanguage.Wedohaveprosodicuseofrhythmsinlanguages,butrhythmicgruntsarefardifferentfromlanguageinitspresentsense.

Theoral-gesturesource1)Onesuggestionregardingtheoriginsofthesoundsoflanguageinvolvesalinkbetweenphysicalgestureandorallyproducedsounds.2)The“oral-gesture”theoryproposesanextremelyspecificconnectionbetween

physicalandoralgesture.Glossogenetics

言語遺傳學

1)Glossogeneticsfocusesmainlyonthebiologicalbasisoftheformationanddevelopmentofhumanlanguage.2)Thereisaconcentrationonsomeofthephysicalaspectsofhumansthatarenotsharedwithanyothercreatures,inthisapproach.Physiologicaladaptation

生理順應Teeth,lips,mouth,tonguelarynx,pharynx.ThehumanBrainTheby-nowfruitlesssearchfortheoriginoflanguagesreflectspeople'sconcernwiththeoriginofhumanityandmaycomeupwithenlighteningfindingsinfuture.Onethingwecansayforcertainisthatlanguageevolveswithinspecifichistorical,socialandculturalcontexts.

4.FormsoflanguageVerylargenumberoflanguagesusedinspokenform;Developmentofwriting—arecentthing;Cavedrawings–20,000yearsago;Claytokens–10,000yearsago;Alphabeticscript–inscriptions3,000yearsago.Ancientwritingsystemfoundonstoneortabletsinruinedcities.Thedevelopmentofwriting1)Pictogramsandideograms（象形和表意）2)Logograms（語標書寫法）3)Rebuswriting（字謎書寫法）4)Syllabicwriting（音節(jié)書寫法）5)Alphabeticwriting（字母書寫法）1)PictogramsandideogramsWhensomeofthe“pictures”(ofcavedrawings)cametorepresentparticularimagesinaconsistentway,wecanbegintodescribetheproductasaformofpicture-writing,orpictogramsIdeogrammeansideapictureorideawriting.Inordertoexpresstheattributeofanobjectorconceptsassociatedwithit,thepictogram’smeaninghadtobeextended.Forinstance,apictureofthesundoesnotnecessarilyrepresenttheobjectitself,butconnotates“warmth”,“heat”,“l(fā)ight”,“daytime”,etc.2)LogogramsAgoodexampleoflogographicwritingisthatusedbytheSumerians,inthesouthernpartofmodernIraq,between5,000and6,000yearsago.Becauseoftheparticularshapesusedintheirsymbols,theseinscriptionsaremoregenerallydescribedascuneiformwriting.Theterm“cuneiform”means“wedge-shaped”.Theformofthissymbolreallygivesnocluetowhattypeofentityisbeingreferredto.Therelationshipbetweenthewrittenformandtheobjectitrepresentshasbecomearbitrary.TheearliestknownwritingsystemChinesewrittensymbolsorcharacters.Theadvantageandthedisadvantage.3)RebuswritingOnewayofusingexistingsymbolstorepresentthesoundsoflanguageisviaaprocessknownasRebuswriting.Inthisprocess,thesymbolsforoneentityistakenoverasthesymbolforthesoundofthespokenwordusedtorefertothatentity.Thatsymbolthencomestobeusedwheneverthatsoundoccursinanywords.4)SyllabicwritingWhenawritingsystememploysasetofsymbolswhichrepresentthepronunciationsofsyllables,itisdescribedassyllabicwriting.Therearenopurelysyllabicwritingsystemsinusetoday,butmodernJapanesecanbewrittenwithasetofsinglesymbolswhichrepresentspokensyllablesandisconsequentlyoftendescribedashavinga(partially)syllabicwritingsystem,orasyllabary.5)AlphabeticwritingAnalphabetisessentiallyasetofwrittensymbolswhicheachrepresentasingletypeofsound.ItistheGreekswhoshouldbegivencreditfortakingtheinherentlysyllabicsystemfromthePhoenicians,andcreatingawritingsysteminwhichthesingle-symboltosingle-soundcorrespondencewasfullyrealized.WrittenEnglishIftheoriginsofthealphabeticwritingsystemwerebasedonacorrespondencebetweensinglesymbolandsinglesoundtype,thenwhythereissuchafrequentmismatchbetweentheformsofwrittenEnglishandthesoundsofspokenEnglish?Printingwasintroducedin15thCenturyConventionsregardingwrittenrepresentationofwordsderivedfromLatinandFrenchEarlyprinters:DutchSince15thcentury,thepronunciationhasundergonesubstantialchangesLargenumberofwordswere“recreated”in16thcentury5.Functionsoflanguage1.Whatdowedowithlanguage?2.Whatkindofthingscanlanguagedo?‘Function’isgenerallyusedinlinguisticstorefertotheroleslanguageplaysinourlifeorinsociety.Eveninthissense,‘function’mayrefertospecific

rolesorgeneralroles.

Thespecificroleslanguageplaysfulfillanindividual'spurposeofcommunicationintermsofusinglanguagetochat,tothink,tobuyandsell,toreadandwrite,togreet,praiseandcondemnpeople,etc..

Linguiststalkaboutthefunctionsoflanguageinanabstractsense.Theysummarizethesepracticalfunctionsandattemptsomebroadclassificationsofthebasicfunctionsoflanguage.Butthelistishardlyexhaustive.GeneralfunctionsoflanguageReferentialfunctionPerformativeFunctionEmotiveFunctionPhaticCommunionRecreationalFunctionMeta-lingualFunctionReferentialfunctionThetransmissionofinformationisthefirstthingwethinkofwhenweconsiderthefunctionsoflanguage.Informationalorreferentialorideationalfunctionisassociatedwithwhatobjectsandideasarecalledandhoweventsaredescribed.PerformativeFunctionTheperformativefunctionoflanguageisprimarilytochangethesocialstatusofpersons,asinmarriageceremonies,thesentencingofcriminals,theblessingofchildren,thenamingofashipatalaunchingceremony,andthecursingofenemies.Thekindoflanguageemployedinperformativeverbalactsisusuallyquiteformalandevenritualized.Thepriest:NowIdeclareyoumanandwife.Thejudge:NowIsentenceyoutotenyearsinprison.Forexample,whenwesaytoafriend:“今晚到我們這兒吃頓便飯”。weperformthefollowingacts.Producingnoises.ProducingnoisesinsuchawaytheybecomeChinesesounds.ProducingsoundsinsuchawaytheybecomeChinesewords.PuttingChinesewordsinsuchawaytheybecomeameaningfulutterance.Whatwedoisissuinganinvitation.Thepurposeofdoingthisistobepolite

OrtoreinforcethefriendshipAndetc.EmotiveFunctionTheemotivefunctionoflanguageisoneofthemostpowerfuluseso