学点语言学

jindaqiao

语言学是对语言的系统研究，对于一个学习英语的人来说，应该懂一点语言学的知识，它
可以在理论上对学习语言有指导作用，有助于更好的学习语言，下面介绍一点语言学知识
。

I. Introduction

1. What is Language

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.


2. What is Linguistics(语言学)

Linguistics is the scientific study of language.

3.Some Basic Distinctions(区分) in Linguistics

3.1 Speech and Writing

One general principle(原则) of linguistic analysis is the primacy of speech ov
er writing. Writing gives language new scope(范畴) and uses that speech does n
ot have.

3.2 Descriptive(描述性) or Prescriptive(说明性)

A linguistic study is descriptive if it describes and analyses facts observed;
it is prescriptive if it tries to lay down rules for \"correct\" behavior.

3.3 Synchronic(共时) and Diachronic(历时) Studies

The description of a language at some point in time is a synchronic study and
The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study
.

3.4 Langue(语言) and Parole(言语)

This is a distinction made by the Swiss linguist F.De Saussure (索绪尔）early
last century. langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all th
e members of a speech community and parole refers to the actualized(实际的) la
nguage, or realization of langue.

3.5 Competence(能力)and Performance(行为)

Competence is the ideal language user's knowledge of the rules of his language
. Performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances(发声).


4.The Scope of Linguistics

General linguistics is the study of language as a whole.

Phonetics(语音学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the characteristi
cs of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification
and transcription.

Phonology(音韵学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the sound pattern
s of languages.

Morphology(词法) is the branch of linguistics which studies the form of words.


Syntax(句法) is the branch of linguistics which studies the rules governing th
e combination of words into sentences.

Semantics(语义学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the meaning of la
nguage.

Applied linguistics(应用语言学) is the study of the teaching of foreign and se
cond languages.

Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society
.

Psycholinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and the mi
nd.

Historical Linguistics(历史语言学) is the study of language changes.

Anthropological linguistics(人文语言学) uses the theories and methods of anthr
opology to study language variation and language use in relation to the cultur
al patterns and beliefs of man.

Neurolinguistics(神经语言学) studies the neurological basis of language develo
pment and use in human beings.

Mathematical linguistics(数学语言学) studies the mathematical features of lang
uage, often employing models and concepts of mathematics.

Computational linguistics(计算语言学) is an approach to linguistics in which m
athematical techniques and concepts(概念) are applied, often with the aid of a
computer.

II. Phonetics(语音学）

1. scope of phonetics

Speech sounds may be studied from different angles, thus we have at least thre
e branches of phonetics:

Articulatory phonetics(发音语音学）we may examine the way in which a speech so
und is produced to discover which vocal organs are involved and how they coord
inate(协调） in the process.

Auditory phonetics （听觉语音学）we may look into the impression a speaker mak
es on the hearer as mediated(调节） by the ear, the auditory nerve(神经） and
the brain.

Acoustic phonetics (声学语音学） we study the physical properties of speech so
unds, as transmitted（传送） between mouth and ear.

2. The vocal organs

The vocal organs may be viewed as consisting of three parts, the initiator of
the air-stream,(气流发生器官） the producer of voice（声音发生器官） and the r
esonating cavities.（声音共振器官）

3. Consonants(辅音）

Places of articulation(发音部位）: bilabial,(双唇） Labiodentals,（唇齿） dent
al,（齿） alveolar,（齿龈） retroflex,（卷舌） palate-alveolar,（上齿龈） pala
tal,（上颚） velar,（软腭） uvular,（小舌） glottal(声门）

Manners of articulation: plosive,（暴破） nasal,（鼻音） trill,（颤音） latera
l,（边音） fricative,（摩擦） approximant,（近似音） affricate（破擦）

4. Vowels (元音）

The classification of vowels: the height of tongue raising (high, mid, low), t
he position of the highest part of the tongue(front, central, back), and the d
egree of lip rounding(rounded, unrounded)

III. Phonology（音韵学）

1. phonemes(音素）：a distinctive(有区别的） sound in a language.

2. Allophones(音位变体）：The nondistinctive sounds are members of the same ph
oneme.

3. Minimal pairs(最小对立体）： word forms which differ from each other only b
y one sound.

4. Free variation (自由变异）：If two sounds occurring in the same environment
(环境）, they does not produce a different word form, but merely a different p
ronunciation of the same word.

5. Complementary distribution(补充分类）：Not all the speech sounds occur in t
he same environment. When two sounds never occur in the same environment

6.Suprasegmental phonology(超音段音位）：the study of phonological properties(
性质） of units lager than the segment-phoneme. They are syllable(音节）， str
ess,（重音） word stress, sentence stress. pitch （音调）and intonation（语调）
.

IV. Morphology（词法）

1. inflection(构形法）：the grammatical relationships through the addition of
inflectional affixes.(屈折词缀）

2. Word-formation(构词）：the processes(过程） of word variations signaling le
xical relationships.（表明词法关系） They are compound(合成）and derivation (派
生）.

3. Morpheme(词素）： the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expres
sion and content.

4. Allomorph(同质异象变体）： some morphemes have considerable variation, for
instance, alternate shapes or phonetic forms.

5. Types of morphemes: They are roots,(词根） affix（词缀） and stem（词干）.


6. Lexicon(语言词汇）：in its most general sense, is synonymous with vocabular
y.

7. Closed-class words(封闭性） and open-class words(开放性）：the former whose
membership is fixed or limited and the latter whose membership is in principl
e(实际上） indefinite or unlimited.

8. Word class(词性）：It displays a wider range of more precisely defined clas
ses.

9. Lexeme(词位）：the smallest unit in the meaning system of a language that c
an be distinguished from other smaller units.

10. Idiom(习语，成语）：Most phrasal lexemes are idioms. It is especially true
for a sequence of words(词序） which is semantically（语义上） and often synt
actically(句法上） restricted.（限制）

11. Collocation(搭配）： the habitual(习惯的） co-occurrences （同时出现）of i
ndividual lexical items.

V. Syntax (句法）

1. Positional relation or word order（词序）：the sequential(顺序） arrangemen
t of words in a language.

2. Construction or constituent (句子结构）： the overall process of internal (
内部）organization of a grammatical unit .

3. Syntactic function(句法功能）： the relationship between a linguistic form
and other parts of the linguistic pattern in which it is used. The names of fu
nctions are expressed in terms of subjects, objects, predicates, modifiers,(修
饰语） complements（补语）, etc.

4. Category(范畴）：It refers to classes and functions in its narrow sense, e.
g. noun, verb, subject, predicate, noun phrase, verb phrase, etc. The categori
es of the noun include number, gender, case and countability.

5. Phrase: a single element of structure containing more than one word, and la
cking the subject-predicate structure typical of clause.

6. Clause: a group of words with its own subject and predicate, if it is inclu
ded in a larger sentence.

7. Sentence: It is the minimum part of language that expresses a complete thou
ght.

VI. Semantics

1. Conceptualism or mentalism (概念主义）：Following F. De Saussure(索学尔）'s
\"sign\" theory, the linguistic sign is said to consist of a signifier （所指）
and signified（被指）, i.e., a sound image and a concept, liked by a psycholog
ical（心理的） \"associative\" bond.（相关联系）

2. Mechanism(机械主义）：Some linguists, Bloomfield,(布鲁费尔德） for example,
turned to science to counter（反）-act the precious theories and this leads t
o what call the mechanistic approach（方法）. The nature of this theory has no
thing to do with the scientific study of mental phenomena.（智力现象）

3. Contextualism （语境主义）：It is based on the presumption(假定） that one
can derive meaning from or reduce it to observable context.

4. Behaviorism (行为主义）：Behaviourists attempt to define (定义）the meaning
of a language form as \"the situation(情景） in which the speaker utters（说话
） it and the response（反应） it calls forth in the hearer.\"

5. functionalism (功能主义）：functionalists as represented (代表）by the Prag
ue school（布拉格学派） linguists and neo-Firthian （新弗斯）linguists, approa
ch the problem from an entirely new orientation（方法）. They argue（争辩） th
at meaning could only be interpreted（解释） from its use or function in socia
l life.

6. Sense relationships: While reference deals with the relationship between th
e linguistic elements, words, sentences, etc.,and the non-linguistic world of
experience, sense relates to the complex system of relationships that hold bet
ween the linguistic elements themselves. They include synonymy(同义词），anton
ymy(反义词）,hyponymy(下层次）Polysemy(一词多义）and Homonymy (同音异义词）

7. Semantic analysis: It includes 1) componential（成分） analysis which defin
es the meaning of a lexical element in terms of semantic components.(意义成分）
2) predication (表述）analysis in which the meaning of a sentence is not merel
y the sum of the meanings of the words which compose it. 3) relational compone
nts in which the semantic analysis of some words presents a complicated pictur
e, because they show relations between two and perhaps more terms.

VII. Language variation (语言变化）

1. Lexical change(词汇的变化）：changes in lexis.

2. Invention: (新造词）new entities.

3. Compounding合成词）New words are sometimes constructed by combining two o
ld words.

4. Blending: (混合词）：It is a relatively complex form of compounding, in whi
ch two roots are blended by joining the initial part of the first root and the
final part of the second root, or by joining the initial parts of the two roo
ts.

5. Abbreviation or clipping缩写）A new word is created by cutting the final
part or cutting the initial part.

6. acronym取首字母的缩写词）It is made up from the first letters of the name
of an organization, which has a heavily modified (修饰） headword.

7. metanalysis再分化）It refers to a process through which a division is mad
e where there were note before.

8. Back-formation逆构词） It refers to an abnormal(非正常） type of word-for
mation where a shorter word is derived by deleting(去掉） an imagined affix fr
om a longer form already present in the language.

9. Analogical creation类比造词）It can account for（说明） the co-existence
of two forms, regular and irregular, in the conjugation(结合） of some English
verbs.

10. Borrowing（借用）：English in its development has managed to widen her voc
abulary by borrowing words from other languages.

11. Phonological change(音变）：It is related to language variation in the pho
nological system of language. It includes loss,(省音） addition,（加音） assim
ilation,（ 同化）dissimilation.（异化）

12. Grammatical change: Changes in both morphology（词法） and syntax（句法）
are listed under this heading.

13. Semantic change语义变化）It includes broadening,（语义扩大） narrowing,（
语义缩小） meaning shift,（意义转化） class shift（词性转换） and folk etymolo
gy.（词源变化）

14. Orthographic change ：(正字法）Changes can also be found at the graphetic
level.