胡壮麟语言学课件

Chapter One

Invitations to Linguistics

1.1 Why Study Language

⏹Language

⏹Features

⏹Function

⏹Language learning

⏹first language leaning

⏹second language learning

1.2 What Is Language

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

⏹System: elements in language are arranged according to certain rules.

⏹Arbitrary: There is no intrinsic connection between the word and its meaning.

⏹Symbolic nature of language: words are associated with objects, actions, ideas by convention.

1.3 Design Features of Language

⏹Design features are features that define our human language.

⏹Design Features of Language(1)

⏹Arbitrariness: the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning.

⏹arbitrariness at different levels of a language

⏹1) arbitrary relationship between the sound of a morpheme and its meaning

⏹2) arbitrariness at the syntactic level

apples, pears and bananas

⏹pears, apples and bananas

b) He came in and sat down.

⏹He sat down and came in.

⏹He sat down after he came in.

⏹c) She got married and had a baby.

⏹She had a baby and got married.

⏹d) 屡战屡败

⏹屡败屡战

⏹3) arbitrariness and convention

⏹arbitrariness

⏹→ language creative

⏹convention

⏹→ learnabili ty;

⏹→ learning a language laborious

1.3 Design Features of Language(2)

⏹Duality: the property of having two levels of structures

⏹1) sound— secondary units

⏹2) meaning — primary units

1.3 Design Features of Language(3)

⏹Creativity(productivity): Users can understand and produce sentences they have never heard before.

⏹1) Words can be used in new ways to mean new things.

⏹mouse bridge

⏹2) Its potential to create endless sentences by recursiveness （递归性）

⏹e.g. a. Smith believes that the earth is flat

⏹ b. Brown believes that Smith believes that the earth is flat

⏹ c. Smith believes that Brown believes that Smith believes that the earth is flat

⏹ d. Brown believes Smith believes that Brown believes that Smith believes that the earth is flat

⏹山里有座庙，庙里有个和尚，老和尚在念经，念的什么经：山里有座庙，庙里有个和尚，老和尚在念经，念的什么经：山里有座庙，庙里有个和尚，老和尚在念经，念的什么经……

1.3 Design Features of Language(4)

⏹Displacement means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are

not present (in time or space) at the moment of communication.

1.3 Design Features of Language(5)

⏹Cultural transmission: language is passed on through teaching and learning, rather than by instinct.

1.4 Origin of Language

⏹The bow-wow theory汪汪理论: imitate the sounds of the animals. onomatopoeic

⏹The pooh-pooh theory噗噗理论: instinctive sounds of pain, anger and joy. interjection

⏹The yo-he-ho theory哟嗬哟理论: rhythmic grunts produced when working . chants

Origin of Language

⏹The divine-origin theory

⏹“So he (God) took some soil from the ground and formed all the animals and all the birds. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and that is how they got their names. So the man named all the birds and the animals,…”（Genesis，Chapter11：6）

⏹The invention theory

⏹ a. imitative b. cries of nature

⏹ c. grunts of men working together

⏹The evolution theory

1.5 Functions of Language(1)

⏹Jakobson

⏹"Linguistics and Poetics: Closing Statement"

⏹All acts of communication, be they written or oral, are contingent on six constituent elements: context, message, addresser, addressee, contact and code

⏹Each of the constituent elements of the communicative act has a corresponding function; thus:

⏹referential，poetic，emotive，phatic, conative and metalingual

⏹context

⏹REFERENTIAL

⏹Addresser message addressee

⏹EMOTIVE POETIC CONA TIVE

⏹contact

⏹PHA TIC

⏹code

⏹METALINGUAL

⏹Referential : to convey message and information

⏹Emotive: to express attitudes, feelings and emotions

⏹Poetic: to indulge in language for its own sake

⏹Conative: to persuade and influence others through commands and requests

⏹Phatic: to establish communion with others

⏹Metalingual: to clear up intentions and meanings

1.5 Functions of Language(2)

⏹Halliday: three metafunctions of language:

⏹1) ide ational function is to organize the speaker’s or the writer’s experience of the real or imaginary world, i. e. language refers to real or imagined persons,things actions,events,states,etc.达意功能指组织说话者或作者现实或虚构世界的体验，即语言指称实际或虚构的人、物、动作、事件、状态等。

⏹2) Interpersonal function is to indicate, establish, or maintain social relationships between people.It includes forms of address, speech function, MODALITY, etc.人际功能表明、建立或维持人与人之间的社会关系，包括称谓形式，语言功能，情态等。

⏹3) Textual function is to create written or spoken TEXTs which cohere within themselves and which fit the particular situation in which they are used.

⏹组篇功能指组成书面或口头的语篇，这些语篇内部连贯，并适用于所用的特定场景。

Functions of Language(3）

Halliday’s developmental functions of language

a. Instrumental 工具性的(“I want”): used for satisfying materia l needs

⏹b. regulatory 控制性的(“do as I tell you”): used for controlling the behavior of others

⏹c. interactional 应对性的(“me and you”): used for getting along with other people

⏹d. personal 自指的(“here I come”): used for identifying and expressing the self

⏹e. heuristic 探究性的(“tell me why”): used for exploring the world around and inside one

⏹f. Imaginative 想象性的（“Let’s pretend…”）used for creating a world of one’s own