英語語言學(xué)概論

《英語語言學(xué)概論》重、難點(diǎn)提示

第一章語言的性質(zhì)

語言的定義：語言的基本特征（任意性、二重性、多產(chǎn)性、移位、文化傳遞和互換性）；語言的功能（寒暄、

指令、提供信息、詢問、表達(dá)主觀感情、喚起對(duì)方的感情和言語行為）；語言的起源（神授說，人造說，進(jìn)化

說）等。

第二章語言學(xué)

語言學(xué)定義；研究語言的四大原則（窮盡、一致、簡潔、客觀）；語言學(xué)的基本概念（口語與書面語、共時(shí)與

歷時(shí)、語言與言學(xué)、語言能力與言行運(yùn)用、語言潛勢(shì)與語言行為）；普通語言學(xué)的分支（語音、音位、語法、

句法、語義）；；語言學(xué)的應(yīng)用（語言學(xué)與語言教學(xué)、語言與社會(huì)、語言與文字、語言與心理學(xué)、人類語言學(xué)、

神經(jīng)語言學(xué)、數(shù)理語言學(xué)、計(jì)算語言學(xué)）等。

第三章語音學(xué)

發(fā)音器官的英文名稱；英語輔音的發(fā)音部位和發(fā)音方法；語音學(xué)的定義；發(fā)音語音學(xué)；聽覺語音學(xué)；聲學(xué)語音

學(xué)；元音及輔音的分類；嚴(yán)式與寬式標(biāo)音等。

第四章音位學(xué)

音位理論；最小對(duì)立體；自由變異；互補(bǔ)分布；語音的相似性；區(qū)別性特征；超語段音位學(xué)；音節(jié)；重音（詞

重音、句子重音、音高和語調(diào)）等。

第五章詞法學(xué)

詞法的定義；曲折詞與派生詞；構(gòu)詞法（合成與派生）；詞素的定義；詞素變體；自由詞素；粘著詞素（詞根,

詞綴和詞干）等。

第六章詞匯學(xué)

詞的定義；語法詞與詞匯詞；變?cè)~與不變?cè)~；封閉詞與開放詞；詞的辨認(rèn)；習(xí)語與搭配。

第七章句法

句法的定義；句法關(guān)系；結(jié)構(gòu)；成分；直接成分分析法；并列結(jié)構(gòu)與從屬結(jié)構(gòu)；句子成分；范疇（性，數(shù)，格）；

一致；短語，從句，句子擴(kuò)展等。

第八章語義學(xué)

語義的定義；語義的有關(guān)理論；意義種類（傳統(tǒng)、功能、語用）；里奇的語義分類；詞匯意義關(guān)系（同義、反

義、下義）；句子語義關(guān)系。

第九章語言變化

語言的發(fā)展變化（詞匯變化、語音書寫文字、語法變化、語義變化）；

第十章語言、思維與文化

語言與文化的定義：薩丕爾-沃夫假說：語言與思維的關(guān)系；語言與文化的關(guān)系；中西文化的異同。

第十章語用學(xué)語用學(xué)的定義；語義學(xué)與語用學(xué)的區(qū)別；語境與意義；言語行為理論（言內(nèi)行為、言外行

為和言后行為）；合作原則；

Questions&AnswersonKeyPoints

ofLinguistics

1.1.Whatislanguage?

“Languageissystemofarbitraryvocal

symbolsusedforhumancommunication.It

isasystem,sincelinguisticelements

arearrangedsystematically,rather

thanrandomly.Arbitrary,inthesense

thatthereisusuallynointrinsic

connectionbetweenawork(like

"book")andtheobjectitrefersto.

Thisexplainsandisexplainedbythe

factthatdifferentlanguageshave

different“books":"book"in

English,“l(fā)ivre“inFrench,in

Japanese,inChinese,“check”in

Korean.Itissymbolic,becausewords

areassociatedwithobjects,actions,

ideasetc.bynothingbutconvention.

Namely,peopleusethesoundsorvocal

formstosymbolizewhattheywishto

referto.Itisvocal,becausesoundor

speechistheprimarymediumforall

humanlanguages,developedor"new”.

Writingsystemscamemuchlaterthanthe

spokenforms.Thefactthatsmall

childrenlearnandcanonlylearnto

speak(andlisten)beforetheywrite

(andread)alsoindicatesthatlanguage

isprimarilyvocal,ratherthanwritten.

Theterm“human“inthedefinitionis

meanttospecifythatlanguageishuman

specific.

1.2.Whataredesignfeaturesof

language?

uDesignfeaturesvhererefertothe

definingpropertiesofhumanlanguage

thattellthedifferencebetweenhuman

languageandanysystemofanimal

communication.Theyarearbitrariness,

duality,productivity,displacement,

culturaltransmissionand

interchangeability

1.3.Whatisarbitrariness?

Byarbitrarinessv,wemeanthereis

nologicalconnectionbetweenmeanings

andsounds(seeI.1).Adogmightbea

pigifonlythefirstpersonorgroupof

personshaduseditforapig.Language

isthereforelargelyarbitrary.But

languageisnotabsolutelyseemtobe

somesound-meaningassociation,ifwe

thinkofechowords,like“bang”,

“crash”,“roar”,whichare

motivatedinacertainsense.Secondly,

somecompounds(wordscompoundedtobe

oneword)arenotentirelyarbitrary

either.“Type"and“write”are

opaqueorunmotivatedwords,while

utype-writer??islessso,ormore

transparentormotivatedthanthewords

thatmakeit.Sowecansay

“arbitrariness“isamatterofdegree.

1.4.Whatisduality?

Linguistsrefer“duality”(of

structure)tothefactthatinall

languagessofarinvestigated,onefinds

twolevelsofstructureorpatterning.

Atthefirst,higherlevel,languageis

analyzedintermsofcombinationsof

meaningfulunits(suchasmorphemes,

wordsetc.);atthesecond,lowerlevel,

itisseenasasequenceofsegments

whichlackanymeaninginthemselves,

butwhichcombinetoformunitsof

meaning.AccordingtoHuZhanglinetal.

(p.6),languageisasystemoftwosets

ofstructures,oneofsoundsandthe

otherofmeaning.Thisisimportantfor

theworkingsoflanguage.Asmallnumber

ofsemanticunits(words),andthese

unitsofmeaningcanbearrangedand

rearrangedintoaninfinitenumberof

sentences(notethatwehave

dictionariesofwords,butnodictionary

ofsentences!).Dualitymakesit

possibleforapersontotalkabout

anythingwithinhisknowledge.Noanimal

communicationsystemenjoysthis

duality,orevenapproachesthishonour.

1.5.Whatisproductivity?

Productivityreferstotheabilityto

theabilitytoconstructandunderstand

anindefinitelylargenumberof

sentencesinone'snativelanguage,

includingthosethathasneverheard

before,butthatareappropriatetothe

speakingsituation.Noonehaseversaid

orheard“Ared-eyedelephantis

dancingonthesmallhotelbedwithan

Africangibbon”,buthecansayitwhen

necessary,andhecanunderstanditin

rightregister.Differentfromartistic

creativity,though,productivitynever

goesoutsidethelanguage,thusalso

called“rule-boundcreativity^(by

N.Chomsky).

1.6.Whatisdisplacement?

“Displacement”,asoneofthedesign

featuresofthehumanlanguage,refers

tothefactthatonecantalkabout

thingsthatarenotpresent,aseasily

ashedoesthingspresent.Inother

words,onecanrefertorealandunreal

things,thingsofthepast,ofthe

present,ofthefuture.Languageitself

canbetalkedabouttoo.Whenaman,for

example,iscryingtoawoman,about

something,itmightbesomethingthat

hadoccurred,orsomethingthatis

occurring,orsomethingthatisto

occur.Whenadogisbarking,however,

youcandecideitisbarkingfor

somethingoratsomeonethatexistsnow

andthere.Itcouldn?tbebow-wowing

sorrowfullyfordomelostloveorabone

tobelost.Thebee'ssystem,

nonetheless,hasasmallshareof

“displacement”,butitisan

unspeakabletinyshare.

1.7.Whatisculturaltransmission?

Thismeansthatlanguageisnot

biologicallytransmittedfrom

generationtogeneration,butthatthe

detailsofthelinguisticsystemmustbe

learnedanewbyeachspeaker.Itistrue

thatthecapacityforlanguageinhuman

beings(N.Chomskycalleditlanguage

acquisitiondevice??,orLAD)hasa

geneticbasis,buttheparticular

languageapersonlearnstospeakisa

culturaloneotherthanageneticone

likethedog'sbarkingsystem.Ifa

humanbeingisbroughtupinisolation

hecannotacquirelanguage.TheWolf

Childrearedbythepackofwolvesturned

outtospeakthewolf,sroaring

“tongue“whenhewassaved.Helearned

thereafter,withnosmalldifficulty,

theABCofacertainhumanlanguage.

1.8.Whatisinterchangeability?

(1)Interchangeabilitymeansthatany

humanbeingcanbebothaproducerand

areceiverofmessages.Wecansay,and

onotheroccasionscanreceiveand

understand,forexample,“Pleasedo

somethingtomakemehappy."Though

somepeople(includingme)suggestthat

thereissexdifferentiationinthe

actuallanguageuse,inotherwords,men

andwomenmaysaydifferentthings,yet

inprinciplethereisnosound,orword

orsentencethatamancanutteranda

womancannot,orviceversa.Ontheother

hand,apersoncanbethespeakerwhile

theotherpersonisthelistenerandas

theturnmovesontothelistener,hecan

bethespeakerandthefirstspeakeris

tolisten.Itisturn-takingthatmakes

socialcommunicationpossibleand

acceptable.

(2)Somemalebirds,however,uttersome

callswhichfemalesdonot(orcannot?),

andcertainkindsoffishhavesimilar

hapsmentionable.Whenadogbarks,all

theneighbouringdogsbark.Thenpeople

aroundcanhardlytellwhichdog(dogs)

is(areO"speaking”andwhich

listening.

1.9.Whydolinguistssaylanguageis

humanspecific?

Firstofall,humanlanguagehassix

“designfeaturesrwhichanimal

communicationsystemsdonothave,at

leastnotinthetruesenseofthem(see

I.2~8).Let?sborrowC.F.Hocket?s

Chartthatcompareshumanlanguagewith

someanimals,systems,fromWang

Gang(1998,p.8).

Secondly,linguistshavedonealot

tryingtoteachanimalssuchas

chimpanzeestospeakahumanlanguage

buthaveachievednothinginspiring.

Washoe,afemalechimpanzee,wasbrought

uplikeahumanchildbyBeatniceand

AlanGardner.Shewastaught“American

signLanguage”,andlearnedalittle

thatmadetheteachershappybutdidmot

makethelinguisticscirclehappy,for

fewbelievedinteachingchimpanzees.

Thirdly,ahumanchildrearedamong

animalscannotspeakahumanlanguage,

notevenwhenheistakenbackandtaught

tolotoso(seethe“WolfChild”in

1.7)

1.10.Whatfunctionsdoeslanguagehave?

Languagehasatleastsevenfunctions:

phatic,directive,Informative,

interrogative,expressive,evocative

andperformative.AccordingtoWangGang

(1988,p.11),languagehasthreemain

functions:atoolofcommunication,a

toolwherebypeoplelearnaboutthe

world,andatoolbywhichpeoplelearn

abouttheworld,andatoolbywhich

peoplecreateart.M.A.K.Halliday,

representativeoftheLondonschool,

recognizesthree“Macro—Functions”:

ideational,interpersonaland

textual(see!.11-17;seeHUZhuanglinet

al.,pplO-13,pp394-396).

1.IlWhatisthephaticfunction?

The“phaticfunction“refersto

languagebeingusedforsettingupa

certainatmosphereormaintaining

socialcontacts(ratherthanfor

exchanginginformationorideas).

Greetings,farewells,andcommentson

theweatherinEnglishandonclothing

inChineseallservethisfunction.Much

ofthephaticlanguage(e.g."Howare

you?”"Fine,thanks.")isinsincere

iftakenliterally,butitisimportant.

Ifyoudon，tsay“Hello”toafriend

youmeet,orifyoudon'tanswerhis

“Hi”,youruinyourfriendship.

1.12.Whatisthedirectivefunction?

The“directivefunction“meansthat

languagemaybeusedtogetthehearer

todosomething.Mostimperative

sentencesperformthisfunction,e.g.,

“Tellmetheresultwhenyoufinish.”

Othersyntacticstructuresorsentences

ofothersortscan,accordingto

J.AustinandJ.Searle's"indrect

speechacttheory”(seeHuZhuanglinet

al.,pp271-278)atleast,servethe

purposeofdirectiontoo,e.g.,“IfI

wereyou,Iwouldhaveblushedtothe

bottomofmyears!”

1.13.Whatistheinformativefunction?

Languageservesan^informational

function??whenusedtotellsomething,

characterizedbytheuseofdeclarative

sentences.Informativestatementsare

oftenlabelledastrue(truth)or

false(falsehood).Accordingto

P.Grice's^Cooperative

Principlev(seeHuZhuanglinetal.,

pp282-283),oneoughtnottoviolatethe

“MaximofQualityv,whenheis

informingatall.

1.14.Whatistheinterrogative

function?

Whenlanguageisusedtoobtain

information,itservesan

interrogativefunction".This

includesallquestionsthatexpect

replies,statements,imperativesetc.,

accordingtothe“indirectspeechact

theory??,mayhavethisfunctionas

well,e.g.,"I'dliketoknowyou

better."Thismaybringforthalotof

personalinformation.Notethat

rhetoricalquestionsmakeanexception,

sincetheydemandnoanswer,atleastnot

thereaders/listener?sanswer.

1.15.Whatistheexpressivefunction?

Theuexpressivefunction“istheuse

oflanguagetorevealsomethingabout

thefeelingsorattitudesofthe

speaker.Subconsciousemotional

ejaculationsaregoodexamples,like

“Goodheavens!”“MyGod!”Sentences

like"I'msorryaboutthedelay”can

serveasgoodexamplestoo,thoughina

subtleway.Whilelanguageisusedfor

theinformativefunctiontopass

judgementonthetruthorfalsehoodof

statements,languageusedforthe

expressivefunctionevaluates,

appraisesorassertsthespeaker?sown

attitudes.

1.16.Whatistheevocativefunction?

The“evocativefunction??istheuseof

languagetocreatecertainfeelingsin

thehearer.Itsaimis,forexample,to

amuse,startle,antagonize,soothe,

worryorplease.Jokes(notpractical

jokes,though)aresupposedtoamuseor

entertainthelistener;advertisingto

urgecustomerstopurchasecertain

commodities;propagandatoinfluence

publicopinion.Obviously,the

expressiveandtheevocativefunctions

oftengotogether,i.e.,youmay

express,forexample,yourpersonal

feelingsaboutapoliticalissuebutend

upbyevokingthesamefeelingin,or

imposingiton,yourlistener.That's

alsothecasewiththeotherwayround.

1.17.Whatistheperformativefunction?

Thismeanspeoplespeakto“dothings”

orperformactions.Oncertainoccasions

theutteranceitselfasanactionismore

importantthanwhatwordsorsounds

constitutetheutteredsentence.When

askedifathirdYangtzebridgeoughtto

bebuiltinWuhan,themayormaysay

“OK”,whichmeansmorethanspeech,

andmorethananaveragesocial

individualmaydofortheconstruction.

Thejudge,simprisonmentsentence,the

president?swarorindependence

declaration,etc.,areperformativesas

well(seeJ.Austin'sspeechActTheory,

HuZhuanglin,ecal.,pp271-278).

1.18.Whatislinguistics?

“Linguistics“isthescientificstudy

oflanguage.Itstudiesnotjustone

languageofanyonesociety,butthe

languageofallhumanbeings.A

linguist,though,doesnothavetoknow

andusealargenumberoflanguages,but

toinvestigatehoweachlanguageis

constructed.Heisalsoconcernedwith

howalanguagevariesfromdialectto

dialect,fromclasstoclass,howit

changesfromcenturytocentury,how

childrenacquiretheirmothertongue,

andperhapshowapersonlearnsorshould

learnaforeignlanguage.Inshort,

linguisticsstudiesthegeneral

principleswhereuponallhuman

languagesareconstructedandoperateas

systemsofcommunicationintheir

societiesorcommunities(seeHu

Zhuanglinetal.,pp20-22)

1.19.Whatmakeslinguisticsascience?

Sincelinguisticsisthescientific

studyoflanguage,itoughttobase

itselfuponthesystematic,

investigationoflanguagedatawhich

aimsatdiscoveringthetruenatureof

languageanditsunderlyingsystem.To

makesenseofthedata,alinguist

usuallyhasconceivedsomehypotheses

aboutthelanguagestructure,tobe

checkedagainsttheobservedor

observablefacts.Inordertomakehis

analysisscientific,alinguistis

usuallyguidedbyfourprinciples:

exhaustiveness,consistency,and

objectivity.Exhaustivenessmeanshe

shouldgatherallthematerialsrelevant

tothestudyandgivethemanadequate

explanation,inspiteofthe

complicatedness.Heistoleaveno

linguistic“stone”unturned.

Consistencymeansthereshouldbeno

contradictionbetweendifferentparts

ofthetotalstatement.Economymeansa

linguistshouldpursuebrevityinthe

analysiswhenitispossible.

Objectivityimpliesthatsincesome

peoplemaybesubjectiveinthestudy,

alinguistshouldbe(orsoundatleast)

objective,matter-of-face,faithfulto

reality,sothathisworkconstitutes

partofthelinguisticsresearch.

1.20.Whatarethemajorbranchesof

linguistics?

Thestudyoflanguageasawholeisoften

calledgenerallinguistics(e.g.Hu

Zhuanglinetal.,1988;Wang

Gang,1988).Butalinguistsometimesis

abletodealwithonlyoneaspectof

languageatatime,thustheariseof

variousbranches:

phonetics,phonology,morphology,

syntax,semantics,sociolinguistics,

appliedlinguistics,pragmatics,

psycholinguistics,lexicology,

lexicography,etymology,etc.

1.21.Whataresynchronicanddiachronic

studies?

Thedescriptionofalanguageatsome

pointoftime(asifitstopped

developing)isasynchronystudy

(synchrony).Thedescriptionofa

languageasitchangesthroughtimeis

adiachronicstudy(diachronic).An

essayentitled“OntheUseofTHE”,for

example,maybesynchronic,ifthe

authordoesnotrecallthepastofTHE,

anditmayalsobediachronicifhe

claimstocoveralargerangeorperiod

oftimewhereinTHEhasundergone

tremendousalteration(seeHuZhuanglin

etal.,pp25-27).

1.22.Whatisspeechandwhatiswriting?

(1)Nooneneedstherepetitionofthe

generalprincipleoflinguistic

analysis,namely,theprimacyofspeech

overwriting.Speechisprimary,because

itexistedlonglongbeforewriting

systemscameintobeing.Genetically

childrenlearntospeakbeforelearning

towrite.Secondly,writtenformsjust

representinthiswayorthatthespeech

sounds:individualsounds,asin

EnglishandFrenchasinJapanese.

(2)Incontrasttospeech,spokenform

oflanguage,writingaswrittencodes,

giveslanguagenewscopeandusethat

speechdoesnothave.Firstly,messages

canbecarriedthroughspacesothat

peoplecanwritetoeachother.

Secondly,messagescanbecarried

throughtimethereby,sothatpeopleof

ourtimecanbecarriedthroughtime

thereby,sothatpeopleofourtimecan

readBeowulf,SamuelJohnson,andEdgar

A.Poe.Thirdly,oralmessagesare

readilysubjecttodistortion,either

intentionalorunintentional(causing

misunderstandingormalentendu),while

writtenmessagesallowandencourage

repeatedunalterablereading.

(3)Mostmodernlinguisticanalysisis

focusedonspeech,differentfrom

grammariansofthelastcenturyand

theretofore.

1.23.Whatarethedifferencesbetween

thedescriptiveandtheprescriptive

approaches?

Alinguisticstudyis“descriptive”if

itonlydescribesandanalysesthefacts

oflanguage,and“prescriptive”ifit

triestolaydownrulesfor“correct”

languagebehavior.Linguisticstudies

beforethiscenturywerelargely

prescriptivebecausemanyearly

grammarswerelargelyprescriptive

becausemanyearlygrammarswerebased

on“high”(literaryorreligious)

writtenrecords.Modernlinguisticsis

mostlydescriptive,however.It(the

latter)believesthatwhateveroccursin

naturalspeech(hesitation,incomplete

utterance,misunderstanding,etc.)

shouldbedescribedintheanalysis,and

notbemarkedasincorrect,abnormal,

corrupt,orlousy.These,withchanges

invocabularyandstructures,needtobe

explainedalso.

1.24.Whatisthedifferencebetween

langueandparole?

F.deSaussurerefers“l(fā)angue”tothe

abstractlinguisticsystemsharedbyall

themembersofaspeechcommunityand

refers“parole“totheactualor

actualizedlanguage,ortherealization

oflangue.Langueisabstract,parole

specifictothespeakingsituation;

languenotactuallyspokenbyan

individual,parolealwaysanaturally

occurringevent;languerelatively

stableandsystematic,paroleisamass

ofconfusedfacts,thusnotsuitablefor

systematicinvestigation.Whata

linguistoughttodo,accordingto

Saussure,istoabstractlanguefrom

instancesofparole,i.e.todiscover

theregularitiesgoverningall

instancesofparoleandmakethanthe

subjectoflinguistics.The

langue-paroledistinctionisofgreat

importance,whichcastsgreatinfluence

onlaterlinguists.

1.25.Whatisthedifferencebetween

competenceandperformance?

(1)AccordingtoN.Chomsky,

“competence”istheideallanguage

user?sknowledgeoftherulesofhis

language,and“performance“isthe

actualrealizationofthisknowledgein

utterances.Theformerenablesaspeaker

toproduceandunderstandanindefinite

numberofsentencesandtorecognize

grammaticalmistakesandambiguities.A

speaker?scompetenceisstablewhile

hisperformanceisofteninfluencedby

psychologicalandsocialfactors.Soa

speaker?sperformancedoesnotalways

matchorequalhissupposedcompetence.

(2)Chomskybelievesthatlinguists

oughttostudycompetence,ratherthan

performance.Inotherwords,theyshould

discoverwhatanidealspeakerknowsof

hisnativelanguage.

(3)Chomsky?scompetence-performance

distinctionisnotexactlythesameas,

thoughsimilarto,F.deSaussure?s

langue-paroledistinction.Langueisa

socialproduct,andasetofconventions

foracommunity,whilecompetenceis

deemedasapropertyofthemindofeach

individual.Sussurelooksatlanguage

morefromasociologicalor

sociolinguisticpointofviewthanN.

Chomskysincethelatterdealswithhis

issuespsychologicallyor

psycholinguistically.

1.26.Whatislinguisticpotential?What

isactuallinguisticbehaviour?

Thesetwoterms,orthe

potential-behaviordistinction,were

madebyM.A.K.Hallidayinthe1960s,

fromafunctionalpointofview.There

isawiderangeofthingsaspeakercan

doinhisculture,andsimilarlythere

aremanythingshecansay,forexample,

tomanypeople,onmanytopics.Whathe

actuallysays(i.e.his“actual

linguisticbehavior??)onacertain

occasiontoacertainpersoniswhathe

haschosenfrommanypossibleinjustice

items,eachofwhichhecouldhavesaid

(linguisticpotential).

1.27.Inwhatwaydolanguage,competence

andlinguisticpotentialagree?Inwhat

waydotheydiffer?Andtheir

counterparts?

Langue,competenceandlinguistic

potentialhavesomesimilarfeatures,

buttheyareinnatelydifferent(see

1.25).Langueisasocialproduct,and

asetofspeakingconventions;

competenceisapropertyorattributeof

eachidealspeaker?smind;linguistic

potentialisallthelinguisticcorpus

orrepertoireavailablefromwhichthe

speakerchoosesitemsfortheactual

utterancesituation.Inotherwords,

langueisinvisiblebutreliable

abstractsystem.Competencemeans

“knowing”,andlinguisticpotentiala

setofpossibilitiesfor“doing”or

^performingactions”.Theyare

similarinthattheyallrefertothe

constantunderlyingtheutterancesthat

constitutewhatSaussure,Chomskyand

Hallidayrespectivelycalledparole,

performanceandactuallinguistic

behavior.Paole,performanceandactual

linguisticbehaviorenjoymore

similaritiesthandifferences.

1.28.Whatisphonetics?

“Phonetics”isthesciencewhich

studiesthecharacteristicsofhuman

sound-making,especiallythosesounds

usedi