第一章总结

Invitations to Linguistics1.1 To give the barest of definition, language is a means of verbal communication.1.3 Design Feature o Language1.3.1 ArbitrarinessRefers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning.Arbitrary relationship between the sound of a morpheme and its meaning. Arbitrariness at the syntactic level,by syntax we refer to the ways that sentences are constructed according to the grammar of arrangement Arbitrariness and convention :the matter of convention is the link between a linguistic sign and its meaning.1.3.2DualityBy duality is meant the property of having two levels of structures,such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization. 1.3.3 CreativityBy creativity we mean language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness.1.3.4 DisplacementIt means that human languages enable their users to symbolize object,events and concepts which are not present at the moment ofcommunication.1.4 Origin of LanguageThe bow-bow theory:The bow-wow theory refers to theories by various scholars, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Gottfried Herder, on the origins of human language.The pooh-pooh theory: The pooh-pooh theory In the hard life of our primitive ancestors, they utter instinctive sounds of pains, anger and joy which gradually developed into language.The yo-he-ho theory: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.1.5 Functions of Language1.5.1 InformativeIt is predominately the major role of language.1.5.2 Interpersonal FunctionBy far the most important sociological use of language is the interpersonal function, by which people establish and maintain their status in a society.1.5.3 PerformativeIt is primarily to change the social status of person, as in marriage ceremonies, the sentencing of criminals, the ………1.5.4 Emotive FunctionIt is one of the most powerful uses of language because it is crucial in changing the emotional status of an audiences for or against someone or something.1.5.5 Phatic CommunionIt refers to the social interaction of language.1.5.6 Recreational FunctionIt refer the use of language for the heavy joy of using it.1.5.7 Metalingual FunctionOur language can be used to talk about itself.1.6 The Definition of Linguistics:the science of language or, alternatively ,as the scientific study of language.1.7 Main Branches of Linguistics1.7.1 PhoneticsIt studies speech sounds,including the production of speech.1.7.2 PhonologyIt studies the rules governing the structure ,distribution ,and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables.1.7.3 MorphologyIt is concerned with the internal organization of words. It studies the minimal units of meaning-morphemes and word-formation processes. 1.7.4 SyntaxIt is about principles of forming and understanding correct English sentences.1.7.5 SemanticsIt examines how meaning is encoded in a language.1.7.6 PragmaticsIt is the study of meaning in context.Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics and semiotics that studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other in philosophy, sociology, linguistics and anthropology.Unlike semantics, which examines meaning that is conventional or "coded" in a given language, pragmatics studies how the transmission of meaning depends not only on structural and linguistic knowledge (e.g., grammar, lexicon, etc.) of the speaker and listener, but also on the context of the utterance, any pre-existing knowledge about those involved, the inferredintent of the speaker, and other factors.In this respect, pragmatics explains how language users are able to overcome apparent ambiguity, since meaning relies on the manner, place, time etc. of an utterance1.8 Macrolinguistics1.8.1 PsycholinguisticsIt investigates the interrelation of language and mind,in processing and producing utterance and in language acquisition for example.Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language. Initial forays into psycholinguistics were largely philosophical or educational schools of thought, due mainly to their location in departments other than applied sciences (e.g., cohesive data on how the human brain functioned). Modern research makes use of biology,neuroscience, cognitive science, linguistics, and information science to study how the brain processes language, and less so the known processes of social sciences, human development, communication theories and infant development, among others. There are a number of subdisciplines with non-invasive techniques for studying the neurological workings of the brain; for example, neurolinguistics has become a field in its own right. Psycholinguistics has roots in education and philosophy, and in 2013 covers the "cognitive processes" that make it possible to generate a grammatical and meaningful sentence out of vocabulary and grammatical structures, as well as the processes that make it possible to understand utterances, words, text, etc. Developmental psycholinguistics studies children's ability to learn language.1.8.2 SociolingusticsIt is the study of the characteristics of language varieties, thecharacteristics of their functions,and the characteristics of their speakers as these three constantly interact and change within a speech community.。