英语语言学概论 整理

Chapter 1 Language 语言

1. Design feature (识另U特征)refers to the defining properties of human Ianguage that distinguish it from any

ani mal system of com muni cati on.

2. Productivity (能产性)refers to the ability that people have in making and comprehending indefinitely large qua ntities of

sentences in their n ative Ian guage.

3. arbitrari ness (任意性) Arbitrari ness refers to the phe nomenon that there is no motivated relati on ship

betwee n a lin guistic form and its meaning.

4. symbol (符号) Symbol refers to someth ing such as an object, word, or sound that represe nts someth ing

else by associati on or conven tio n.

5. discreteness (离散性) Discreteness refers to the phenomenon that the sounds in a Ianguage are

meanin gfully disti net.

6. displaceme nt (不受时空限制的特性) Displaceme nt refers to the fact that huma n Ian guage can be used to

talk about things that are not in the immediate situati ons of its users.

7. duality of structure (结构二重性) The organization of Ianguage into two levels, one of sounds, the other of

meanin g, is known as duality of structure.

8. culture transmission (文化传播) Culture transmission refers to the fact that Ianguage is passed on from one gen erati on

to the next through teach ing and lear ning, rather tha n by in herita nee.

9. interchangeability (互换性) Interchangeability means that any human being can be both a producer and a receiver of

messages.

1. ★ What is Ian guage?

Lan guage is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for huma n com muni cati on. This defi niti on has captured the main features of Ian guage.

First, la nguage is a system.

Secon d, la nguage is arbitrary in the sen se.

The third feature of Ian guage is symbolic n ature.

2. ★ What are the desig n features of Ian guage?

Lan guage has seve n desig n features as follow ing:

1) Productivity.

2) Discrete ness.

3) Displaceme nt

4) Arbitrari ness.

5) Cultural tran smissi on

6) Duality of structure.

7) In tercha ngeability.

3. Why do we say Ian guage is a system?

Because eleme nts of Ian guage are comb ined accord ing to rules, and every Ian guage contains a set of rules.

By system, the recurri ng patter ns or arra ngeme nts or the particular ways or desig ns in which a Ian guage operates. And the soun ds, the words and the senten ces are used in fixed patter ns that speaker of a Ian guage can un dersta nd each other.

4. ★ ( Function of Ianguage .) According to Halliday, what are the initial functions of children s

Ian guage? And what are the three fun cti onal comp onents of adult Ian guage?

I. Halliday uses the following terms to refer to the initial functions of children s ' Ianguage:

1) In strume ntal fun ctio n. 工具功能

2) Regulatory fun ctio n. 调节功能

3) Represe ntati onal fun cti on. 表现功能

4) In teracti onal fun cti on. 互动功能

5) Perso nal fun ctio n. 自指性功能

6) Heuristic fun ctio n.启发功能[osbQtq'kFh]

7) Imagi native fun cti on. 想象功能

II. Adult Ian guage has three fun cti onal comp onents as follow ing:

1) In terpers onal comp onen ts. 人际

2) Ideati onal comp onen ts. 概念