新编简明英语语言学知识点汇总

新编简明英语语言学知识点汇总1 Introduction

What is linguistics?

Scientific study of language.

Interpretation:

①try to answer the basic questions and probe into various problems related to language;

②linguistics studies not any particular language but language in general;

③scientific study because based on systematic investigation of linguistic data.

The scope of linguistics

The study of language as a whole is often called general linguistic.

Some important distinctions in linguistics

What is language

Definitions of language

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

Characteristics:

①language is system,elements of language are combined according to the rules;

②language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between a linguistic symbol and what it stands for, A rose by any other name would smell as well;

③language is vocal because the primary medium for all language is sound;

④language is human -specific,different from animal communication. Design features of language

Proposed by American linguist Charles Hockett:comparing the animal & human communication are five major design features of human language:

①arbitrariness

No logical connection between meaning and sounds(except onomatopoetic and compound words)

②productivity

It makes to possible to construction and interpretation of new signal by its users.

③duality

Language is a system which consists of two structures. At the lower level there is a structure of sounds,which are meaningless by the sounds can grouped or regrouped together into a larger numbers of units of meaning such as morpheme or words,which are found at the higher level of system(carp & park).Then the higher level can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite numbers of sentences;

④Displacement

Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speakers;

⑤cultural transmission

While human capacity for language has a genetic basis,the details of any language systems are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.(language is cultural

transmitted[language not mutually intelligible] while animal call system is genetically transmitted)

Functions of language

Three main functions of language which distinct from each other but actually overlapping to some degree:

①descriptive function

The primary function of language;

The Sichuan earthquake is the most serious one China has ever suffered.