2023年英语专业八级语言学笔记要点 (1)

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　　Linguistics

　　Chapter 1 Introduction: Language and Linguistics

　　l What is language?

　　n Different definitions of language

　　u Language is a system whose parts can and must be considered in their synchronic solidarity. (de Saussure, 1916)

　　u [Language is] a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements. (Chomsky, 1957)

　　u Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.

　　n Each of the definitions above has pointed out some aspects of the essence of language, but all of them have left out something. We must see the multi-faceted nature of language.

　　n As is agreed by linguists in broad terms, language can be defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

　　l Features of human language

　　n Creativity

　　u Language provides opportunities for sending messages that have never been sent before and for understanding brand new messages.

　　u The grammar rules and the words are finite, but the sentences are infinite. Every speaker uses language creatively.

　　n Duality

　　u Language contains two subsystems, one of sounds and the other of meanings.

　　u Certain sounds or sequences of sounds stand for certain meanings.

　　u Certain meanings are conveyed by certain speech sounds or sequences of speech sounds.

　　n Arbitrariness

　　u The relationship between the two subsystems of language is arbitrary.

　　u There is no logical connection between sound and meaning.

　　n Displacement

　　u There is no limit in time or space for language.

　　u Language can be used to refer to things real or imagined, past, present or future.

　　n Cultural transmission

　　u Culture cannot be genetically transmitted. Instead, it must be learned.

　　u Language is a way of transmitting culture.

　　n Interchangeability

　　u All members of a speech community can send and receive messages.

　　n Reflexivity

　　u Human languages can be used to describe themselves.

　　u The language used to talk about language is called meta-language.

　　l Functions of language – three meta-functions

　　n The ideational function

　　u To identify things, to think, or to record information.

　　n The interpersonal function

　　u To get along in a community.

　　n The textual function

　　u To form a text.

　　l Types of language

　　n Genetic classification

　　n Typological classification

　　u Analytic language – no inflections or formal changes, grammatical relationships are shown through word order, such as Chinese and Vietnamese

　　u Synthetic language – grammatical relationships are expressed by changing the internal structure of the words, typically by changing the inflectional endings, such as English and German

　　u Agglutinating language – words are built out of a long sequence of units, with each unit expressing a particular grammatical meaning, such as Japanese and Turkish

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