语言学 胡壮麟02Chapter 1_intro.ppt

1.What is language? Possible answers: a. Language is a tool for human communication. b. Language is a set of rules. A tentative definition: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. “Language is a means of verbal communication.” It is instrumental in that communicating by speaking or writing is a purposeful act. It is social and conventional in that language is a social semiotic and communication can only take place effectively if all the users share a broad understanding of human interaction including such associated factors as nonverbal cues, motivation, and socio-cultural roles. -- Our textbook (2006) 2. Design Features of Language Design features refer to the defining properities of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication. Human language is ‘unique’ Arbitrariness 2.1 Arbitrariness Saussure: the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning (1)Arbitrary relationship between the sound of a morpheme and its meaning, even with onomatopoeic words: The dog barks wow wow in English but “汪汪汪” in Chinese. (2)Arbitrariness at the syntactic level: language is not arbitrary at the syntactic level. He came in and sat down. He sat down and came in. He sat down after he came in. (3)The link between a linguistic sign and its meaning is a matter of convention. 2.2 Duality The property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization: Primary units ‘words’ (meaningful) consist of secondary units ‘sounds’ (meaningless). Hierarchy of language: stratification as ‘the infinite use of finite means’. Sounds syllables morphemes words phrases clauses sentences/utterances texts/discourses 2.3 Creativity Language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. We can use it to create new meanings. Words can be used in new ways