理论语言学考试资料

TG-grammar and SF-grammarFirstly: Halliday interpreters language from a functional point of view and formulates a functional theory of language while TG-grammar defined language as a set of rules and principles. Secondly: Halliday takes actual uses of language as the object of study, in opposition to Chomsky‟s TG grammar that takes the ideal speaker‟s linguistic competence as the object of study.Thirdly: the two grammars view language learning differently. Halliday follows the experimental language learning while Chomsky put an emphasis on the rational language learning. Fourthly: the two grammars have different views on the characteristics of the study.SF-grammar chiefly describes three metafunctions. Each of the metafunctions is a complex system.Consisting of other systems and choices are simultaneously made from the three functions. According to Chomsky, the study of language or the structure of language, can throw some light on the nature of the human mind. Chomsky follows phrases and structural rules in language study. Finally: Chomsky holds that while structuralist grammarian. IC analysis can reveal some of the structural features. It is seriously defective. There is still semantic ambiguity while TG method can not only describe the surface structure a sentence, but also interpret the internal grammatical relationships within a sentence, getting closer to the truth of language.While SF-grammar has to serve many more social functions, therefore, Halliday has to refer to categories of his experience of the world. They pay much attention to contextual meaning.Structural grammar vs TG grammarFirstly, structural grammar and TG grammar have different views on the natures of language. Bloomfield defined language as a set of utterance and a set of “lexical and grammatical habits”, while Chomsky defines language as a set of rules and principles. Secondly, the two grammars have different aims in linguistics. For structural grammar, the aim of linguistics is often evaluated in terms of the use to which it is going to be put. For C h omsky, the aim of linguistics is to produce a generative grammar which captures the tacit knowledge of the native speaker of his language. This concerns the question of learning theory and the question of linguistic universal. Thirdly, the two grammars make use of different types of data in their analysis. The structuralists only make use of naturally occurring utterances observable and observed. Chomsky and his followers are interested in any data that can reveal the native speaker‟s tacit knowledge. Fourthly, the two grammars employ different methods. The structuralists‟methodology is essentially inductive, whereas Chomsky‟s is hypothesis-deductive. Finally, the two grammars view language learning differently. The structuralists follow empiricism in philosophy and behaviorism in psychology. Chomsky follows rationalism in philosophy and mentalism in psychology.Modern linguistics vs Traditional grammarFirstly, modern linguistics is descriptive, while the traditional grammar is prescriptive. Secondly, traditional grammar pays more attention to the written form of language, while modern linguistics attaches more importance to speaking than writing. Thirdly, traditional grammar has been restricted mainly to syntax, that is, the way of words making patterns to form sentences, while modern linguistics has a boarder scope for researching, e.g, pragmatics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, ect, Which, accordingly, are out of scope of traditional grammar.Traditional grammar vs Structural grammarFirstly, traditional grammar is the most widespread and the best understood method of discussing Indo-European language. Secondly, traditional grammar gives a fairly thorough and consistent analysis of the declarative sentence, the most frequently used in both written and spoken discourse. Thirdly, it contains a theory of reference by which the meaning of declarative sentences can be explained and to which other uses may be reduced. Fourthly, it is the vehicle by means of which ordinary students and scholars have mastered many languages successfully for centuries. As to structural grammar, firstly, structural grammar is descriptive, describing everything that is found in a language instead of laying down rules. Secondly, structural grammar is empirical, aiming at objectivity in the sense that all definitions and statements should be verifiable or refutable. Thirdly, structural grammar examines all languages, recognizing and doing justice to the uniqueness of each language. Fourthly, structural grammar describes even the smallest contrasts that underlie any construction or use of a language, not only those discoverable in some particular use.分析题：Important distinction in linguistics （page27~36）Descripitive vs prescriptiveSynchronic vs diachronicLangue vs paroleCompetence vs performanceActual and potential linguistic choiceEtic vs emicFormalism vs functionalismDescriptive vs PrescriptiveThis language phenomenon is about/concerned about…Both descriptive and prescriptive belong to linguistic grammar. The distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things actually are. For example, concerning “it is I”and “it is me”, the prescriptive view is that we should say the former instead of the latter because according to the rules in Latin “be” should be followed by the nominative case, not the accusative. Here, “don‟t speak”represents the prescriptivist, while “you don‟t speak”represents the descriptivist. Because “don‟t speak”is a imperative sentence, we don‟t have to place “you”in front of it.Synchronic vs DiachronicThis language phenomenon is about…These are two fundamental and indispensable aspects of linguistic study Saussure formalized.The description of a language at some point of time is a synchronic study. The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study. For example, an essay entitled “on the use of THE”, may be synchronic, if the author dose not recall the past of “the”, and it may also be diachronic if he claims to cover a large range of time wherein THE has undergone tremendous alteration.Here, …….Langue vs ParoleThis language phenomenon is about…Both langue and parole are the study from social behavior point of view. Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of speech community. Parole refers to particular realization of langue. For example, while we finish the dinner, it is very kind of us to say “thanks for your dinner” instead of “that dish is so bad”. The former is langue, and the latter is parole.Here, …Competence vs PerformanceThis language phenomenon is about…Both competence and performance are the study from psychological behavior point of view. Competence is the ideal language user‟s knowledge of the language system. Simply, it is the rules of his language. Performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterance. For example, we know that the adjective should be placed in front of the noun. This knowledge is language competence. In utterance, we use the expression “good girl”, this is language performance. Here,…Linguisitic potential vs Actual linguistic behaviorThis language phenomenon is about …These two are the study from the function point of view. Linguistic potential means a person can do something. Actual linguistic behavior means a person really does. For example, “ I can speak English.” This expression is linguistic potential. Then I read “A, B, C…” this is actually linguistic behavior.Here,…Etic vs EmicThis language phenomenon is about…Both etic and emic are the study from verbal behavior(这里有点疑惑，自己决定写什么) point of view. Emic is about the meaning of action while etic is about the real action. For example, “what do you want to tell me” is emic and “you want to tell me what” is etic. Here, emic means that verbal behavior of native English speaker. And etic means that verbal behavior of non-native English speaker. No matter who is right or wrong, they just express the same meaning of a sentence.想表达：你好中国人：你过早了吗？西方人：good morning.Formalism vs FunctionalismThis language phenomenon is about…They are two major camps in schools of linguistics. Formalism or formal linguistics is the study of the abstract forms of language and their internal relations. Its focus is on the forms of language.E.g TG grammar. Functionalism or functional linguistics refers to the study of the forms of language in reference to their social function in communication. It intends to explain the forms of language by its function.论述题As we know, the arbitrariness of linguistic signs is put forward by Saussure, the founder of the structuralism. Saussure emphasize that there is no necessary, intrinsic, direct or inevitable relationship between the signifier and the signified. In our textbook, Arbitrariness means that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meanings. For instance, we cannot explain why a book is called a /buk/ and a pen called a /pen/.Recently some arguments have been going on in the serge of re-reading Saussure. Some scholars argue in favor of non-arbitrariness of language others insist on the total arbitrariness of language. Here more would agree that there seems to be different levels of arbitrariness.（一）Arbitrary relationship between the sound of a morpheme and its meaningYou may object to this when you think of words with different degrees of onomatopoeia, namely, words that sound like the sounds they describe. E.g. in Chinese “叮咚”，“轰隆”，“叽哩咕噜”.these linguistic forms seem to have a natural basis. But in English, totally different words are used to describe the sound. For example, the dog barks wow wow in English but wangwangwang in Chinese.（二）Arbitrariness at the syntactic levelBy syntax we refer to the ways that sentences are constructed according to the grammar of arrangement. As we know, the order of elements in a sentence follows certain rules, and there is a certain degree of correspondence between the sequence of clauses and real happenings. In other words, syntax is less arbitrary than words, especially in so far as this kind of order is concerned. Compare: (a)The teacher took the book and left the room. (b)The teacher left the room and took the book. (c)The teacher took the book before he left the room. When we say (a) we refer to the sequence of actions; if we say (b) the readers will take it as meaning the opposite of real happenings—perhaps he got into his wheelchair and propelled himself into the room. In (c) with the help of the word “after” we can reverse the order of the clauses. Therefore the functionalists hold that the most strictly arbitrary level of language exists in the distinctive units of sounds by which we distinguish pairs of words .(三) Arbitrariness and conventionWhen then is the link between a linguistic sign and its meaning? It is a matter of convention. Here we have to look at the other side of the coin of arbitrariness, namely, conventionality. Arbitrariness of language makes it potentially creative, and conventionality of language makes learning a language laborious. For example, mouse（原意：老鼠）就不会延伸有…鼠标‟这个意义了. Application :There are some applications in the Literary works and translation phenomena. In the literary works especially in the imagists poems, for example, E.E.Cummings的一首图形诗l (a le af fa ll s) one li ness (竖着)，there two parts in the poem, one is the loneliness(孤独!寂寞) , the other is a leaf falls(一片树叶落下). The linguistic signs seem to be no exact meaning but when you put them in the whole part the readers can grasp different meanings from this poem. There is no natural relationship between sound and meaning.In the translation phenomena, for instance, she is tall and thin. You can translate”她高挑修长”.”她高大的个子，瘦长的腿” . From the two sentence ,you can acquire two different meanings from the same source language, obviously ,this phenomena can be observed anywhere.。