第一章 语言学导论

第一章语言学导论

Chapter1 Invitations to Linguistics

Linguistics is nowadays coming into wide use with combination of theories and practice as well as linguistics and other disciplines.

Linguistics is of great use with very wide application. —人工智能，人机对话，机器翻译

The research of linguistics has already gone beyond language itself.

Definition of Linguistics

How do you define linguistics? What is linguistics?

——Linguistics can be defined as the scientific or systematic study of language. It is a science in the sense that it scientifically studies the rules, systems and principles of human language. What are we going to learn about linguistics?

1. It is generally agreed that linguistics should include at least five parameters, namely, phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic. These can be called microlinguistics.

语音学(phonetics);音系学(phonology);形态学(morphology);句法学(syntax) —Schools of Modern Linguistics 现代语言学流派; 语义学(semantics) ; 语用学(pragmatics) (chapter2-6) 2. Macrolinguistics——interdisciplinary learning

Saussure, father of modern linguistics(现代语言学之父) were intended to establish the autonomy of linguistics, giving it a well-defined subject of study and freeing it from reliance on other disciplines. However, the interactive links between linguistics and other sciences are developing fast.

尽管索绪尔的目的是给予语言学自主性，给它定义明确的研究对象，将它从对其他学科的依赖中解放出来。然而，随着时间的推移，语言学和其他学科的联系越来越密切。Psycholinguistics

Psycholinguistics, as implied by the name, is the study of psychological aspects of language. It usually studies the psychological states and mental activity associated with the use of language.

心理语言学，顾名思义，是对语言的心理方面的研究，它通常研究的是与语言使用相关的心理状态和心理活动。比如语言习得，语言的理解，语言的生成等等。(chapter 9/chapter11) Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics, as implied by the name, attempts to show the relationship between language and society.

Sociolinguistics attempts to look at language structures by paying attention to language use in a social context and on the other hand tries to understand sociological things of society by examining linguistic phenomena of a speaking community.

这就是社会与语言的关系，一方面通过社会语境中语言使用情况的调查了解语言结构的问题，另一方面又通过语言现象的分析了解社会构成的问题。

Research Focus1

Cross-cultural Communication

There exists a close relationship between language and culture. Language is an indispensable carrier of culture. Culture finds a better representation through language use.

语言是文化的载体，具有不可替代的重要性；文化通过语言得以凸现，其表现力得到充分展示。

心理学家罗杰斯(Rogers,1961), 真正的交流建立在理解基础上的倾听。

Anthropological Linguistics人类语言学

Anthropological linguists are interested primarily in the history and structure of formerly unwritten languages. They are concerned with the emergence of language and also with the divergence of languages over thousands of years. They start with the comparison of contemporary languages in order to draw inferences about the kinds of change in language that may have occurred in the past. This is the “diachronic” study of language.

人类语言学家主要对历史和早期无文字语言的结构感兴趣，他们关注语言的出现和上千年来语言的分化。他们从当代语言的比较出发，推测语言过去发生了何种变化。这就是对语言历时的研究，即研究语言的历史。

Computational Linguistics 计算机语言学

Some current application areas include Machine Translation, Corpus Linguistics and Information Retrieval as well as various forms of computer mediated(传递的) communication such as emails, QQ, online shopping transaction software and so on.

当前的一些应用领域包括机器翻译，语料库语言学和信息检索，各种各样因电脑的出现而改变的交际方式，比如电子邮件，QQ聊天，网上购物交易软件等等。

Instant Messenger on the internet (基于互联网的即时通讯), such as百度Hi, MSN, UC, YY语音，阿里旺旺等等。

Other interdisciplinary branches

1、认知语言学Cognitive Linguistics (chapter 10)

2、语言与语言教学(chapter 12 Applied Linguistics)

3、文本语言学或语篇分析—Discourse Analysis Chapter 7（研究语言和语境的关系the relationship between language and the contexts in which language is used, 语篇的衔接cohesion 连贯coherence等等）。

4、语言与文学Language and Literature（文体学Stylistics）

5、神经语言学neurolinguistics

What is language?

对语言的误解：wrong ideas about language

1、语言仅是一种交际方式

Language is only a means of communication.

2、语言的形式和意义对应一致

Language has a form-meaning correspondence.

3、语言的作用即交换信息

The function of language is to exchange information.

4、英语比汉语难学

English is more difficult to learn than Chinese.

5、黑人英语不标准需要改造

Black English is not standard and should be reformed.

误解语言仅仅是一个交际系统Language is only a system of communication.

If language is merely defined as a system of communication, we can call the noises that dogs make language. As we know, birds, bees, crabs, spiders, and most other creatures communicate in some way, but the information imparted is severely limited and confined to a small set of messages. So language can’t be defined merely as a system of communication, otherwise language is not unique to humans. Language is one of the unique possessions of human beings. It is used for human communication. It is one of our most articulated means of expressing ideas and thoughts.