A New Concise Course on Linguistics 专八语言学.ppt

A New Concise Course on Linguistics for Students of English Lecture Notes by: Su Xiaojun Introduction Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguistics vs. Traditional Grammar Linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive. Linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. Linguistics differs from traditional grammar in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework. What Is Language Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. 5 design features of language: Arbitrariness: There is no logical connection between meaning and sounds. Productivity/creativity: It makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. Duality: The system of language consists of two sets of structures or two levels. Displacement: Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. Cultural transmission: Language is passed on from one generation to the next through teaching and learning, rather than by instinct. Phonology Phonetics: the study of the phonic medium of language. Phonology: the study of the sound system of language — establish and describe phonemes of a language; how sounds are affected by the combination of words; the investigation of intonation patterns. Phonetics Articulatory phonetics: studies the human speech organs and the way in which the speech sounds are produced. Acoustic phonetics: deals with the physical properties of the speech sounds. Auditory phonetics: the study of the perception of sounds by the human ear. The International Phonetic Alphabet Broad transcription: phonetic transcription without diacritics. Narrow transcription: phonetic transcription with diacritics. Diacritics: symbols used to show detailed articulatory features. 3 Major Articulatory Variables:Voicing, Nasality, Aspiration Classification of English consonants: Manner（方法） of articulation: stops/ plosives（塞音）; fricatives （摩擦音）；affricates （塞擦音）；