英语语言学概论--整理

Chapter 1 Language语言

1. Design feature (识别特征) refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication.

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

native language.

3. arbitrariness (任意性) Arbitrariness refers to the phenomenon that there is no motivated relationship between a linguistic form and its

meaning.

4. symbol (符号) Symbol refers to something such as an object, word, or sound that represents something else by association or convention.

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

6. displacement (不受时空限制的特性) Displacement refers to the fact that human language can be used to talk about things that are not in the

immediate situations of its users.

7. duality of structure (结构二重性) The organization of language into two levels, one of sounds, the other of meaning, is known as duality of

structure.

8. culture transmission (文化传播) Culture transmission refers to the fact that language is passed on from one generation to the next through

teaching and learning, rather than by inheritance.

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

1. ★What is language?

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. This definition has captured the main features of language.

First, language is a system.

Second, language is arbitrary in the sense.

The third feature of language is symbolic nature.

2. ★What are the design features of language?

Language has seven design features as following:

1) Productivity.

2) Discreteness.

3) Displacement

4) Arbitrariness.

5) Cultural transmission

6) Duality of structure.

7) Interchangeability.

3. Why do we say language is a system?

Because elements of language are combined according to rules, and every language contains a set of rules. By system, the recurring patterns or arrangements or the particular ways or designs in which a language operates. And the sounds, the words and the sentences are used in fixed patterns that speaker of a language can understand each other.

4. ★ (Function of language.) According to Halliday, what are the initial functions of children’s language? And what are the three

functional components of adult language?

I. Halliday uses the following terms to refer to the initial functions of children’s language:

1) Instrumental function. 工具功能

2) Regulatory function. 调节功能

3) Representational function. 表现功能

4) Interactional function. 互动功能

5) Personal function. 自指性功能

6) Heuristic function. 启发功能[osbQtq`kf`h]

7) Imaginative function. 想象功能

II. Adult language has three functional components as following:

1) Interpersonal components. 人际

2) Ideational components.概念

3) Textual components.语篇

1. general linguistics and descriptive linguistics (普通语言学与描写语言学) The former deals with language in general whereas the latter is

concerned with one particular language.

2. synchronic linguistics and diachronic linguistics (共时语言学与历时语言学) Diachronic linguistics traces the historical development of the

language and records the changes that have taken place in it between successive points in time. And synchronic linguistics presents an account of language as it is at some particular point in time.

3. theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics (理论语言学与应用语言学) The former copes with languages with a view to establishing a

theory of their structures and functions whereas the latter is concerned with the application of the concepts and findings of linguistics to all sorts of practical tasks.

4. microlinguistics and macrolinguistics(微观语言学与宏观语言学) The former studies only the structure of language system whereas the

latter deals with everything that is related to languages.

5. langue and parole (语言与言语) The former refers to the abstract linguistics system shared by all the members of a speech community

whereas the latter refers to the concrete act of speaking in actual situation by an individual speaker.

6. competence and performance (语言能力与语言运用) The former is one’s knowledge of all the linguistic regulation systems whereas the latter

is the use of language in concrete situation.

7. speech and writing (口头语与书面语) Speech is the spoken form of language whereas writing is written codes, gives language new scope.

8. linguistics behavior potential and actual linguistic behavior (语言行为潜势与实际语言行为) People actually says on a certain occasion to a

certain person is actual linguistics behavior. And each of possible linguistic items that he could have said is linguistic behavior potential.

9. syntagmatic relation and paradigmatic relation(横组合关系与纵聚合关系) The former describes the horizontal dimension of a language

while the latter describes the vertical dimension of a language.

10. verbal communication and non-verbal communication(言语交际与非言语交际) Usual use of language as a means of transmitting

information is called verbal communication. The ways we convey meaning without using language is called non-verbal communication.

1. ★How does John Lyons classify linguistics?

According to John Lyons, the field of linguistics as a whole can be divided into several subfields as following:

1) General linguistics and descriptive linguistics.

2) Synchronic linguistics and diachronic linguistics.

3) Theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics.

4) Microlinguistics and macrolinguistics.

2. Explain the three principles by which the linguist is guided: consistency, adequacy and simplicity.

1) Consistency means that there should be no contradictions between different parts of the theory and the description.

2) Adequacy means that the theory must be broad enough in scope to offer significant generalizations.

3) Simplicity requires us to be as brief and economic as possible.

3. ★What are the sub-branches of linguistics within the language system?

Within the language system there are six sub-branches as following:

1) Phonetics. 语音学is a study of speech sounds of all human languages.

2) Phonology. 音位学studies about the sounds and sound patterns of a speaker’s native language.

3) Morphology. 形态学studies about how a word is formed.

4) Syntax. 句法学studies about whether a sentence is grammatical or not.

5) Semantics. 语义学studies about the meaning of language, including meaning of words and meaning of sentences.

6) Pragmatics. 语用学

★The scope of language: Linguistics is referred to as a scientific study of language.

★The scientific process of linguistic study: It involves four stages: collecting data, forming a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis and drawing conclusions.

1. articulatory phonetics(发音语音学) The study of how speech organs produce the sounds is called articulatory phonetics.

2. acoustic phonetics (声学语音学) The study of the physical properties and of the transmission of speech sounds is called acoustic phonetics.

3. auditory phonetics (听觉语音学) The study of the way hearers perceive speech sounds is called auditory phonetics.

4. consonant (辅音) Consonant is a speech sound where the air form the language is either completely blocked, or partially blocked, or where the

opening between the speech organs is so narrow that the air escapes with audible friction.

5. vowel (元音) is defined as a speech sound in which the air from the lungs is not blocked in any way and is pronounced with vocal-cord vibration.

6. bilabials (双唇音) Bilabials means that consonants for which the flow of air is stopped or restricted by the two lips. [p][b] [m] [w]

7. affricates (塞擦音) The sound produced by stopping the airstream and then immediately releasing it slowly is called affricates. [t X] [d Y] [tr] [dr]

8. glottis (声门) Glottis is the space between the vocal cords.

9. rounded vowel (圆唇元音) Rounded vowel is defined as the vowel sound pronounced by the lips forming a circular opening. [u:] [u] [OB] [O]

10. diphthongs (双元音) Diphthongs are produced by moving from one vowel position to another through intervening positions.[ei][ai][O i] [Q u][au]

11. triphthongs(三合元音) Triphthongs are those which are produced by moving from one vowel position to another and then rapidly and

continuously to a third one. [ei Q][ai Q][O i Q] [Q u Q][au Q]

12. lax vowels (松元音) According to distinction of long and short vowels, vowels are classified tense vowels and lax vowels. All the long vowels

are tense vowels but of the short vowels,[e] is a tense vowel as well, and the rest short vowels are lax vowels.

1. ★How are consonants classified in terms of different criteria?

The consonants in English can be described in terms of four dimensions.

1) The position of the soft palate.

2) The presence or the absence of vocal-cord vibration.

3) The place of articulation.

4) The manner of articulation.

2. ★How are vowels classified in terms of different criteria?

Vowel sounds are differentiated by a number of factors.

1) The state of the velum

2) The position of the tongue.

3) The openness of the mouth.

4) The shape of the lips.

5) The length of the vowels.

6) The tension of the muscles at pharynx.

3. ★What are the three sub-branches of phonetics? How do they differ from each other?

Phonetics has three sub-branches as following:

1) Articulatory phonetics is the study of how speech organs produce the sounds is called articulatory phonetics.

2) Acoustic phonetics is the study of the physical properties and of the transmission of speech sounds is called acoustic phonetics.

3) Auditory phonetics is the study of the way hearers perceive speech sounds is called auditory phonetics.

4. ★What are the commonly used phonetic features for consonants and vowels respectively?

I. The frequently used phonetic features for consonants include the following:

1) Voiced.

2) Nasal.

3) Consonantal.

4) Vocalic.

5) Continuant.

6) Anterior.

7) Coronal.

8) Aspirated.

II. The most common phonetic features for vowels include the following:

1) High.

2) Low.

3) Front.

4) Back.

5) Rounded.

6) Tense.

1. phonemes (音位) Phonemes are minimal distinctive units in the sound system of a language.

2. allophones (音位变体) Allophones are the phonetic variants and realizations of a particular phoneme.

3. phones (单音) The smallest identifiable phonetic unit found in a stream of speech is called a phone.

4. minimal pair (最小对立体) Minimal pair means words which differ from each other only by one sound.

5. contrastive distribution (对比分布) If two or more sounds can occur in the same environment and the substitution of one sound for another

brings about a change of meaning, they are said to be in contrastive distribution.

6. complementary distribution(互补分布) If two or more sounds never appear in the same environment ,then they are said to be in

complementary distribution.

7. free variation (自由变异) When two sounds can appear in the same environment and the substitution of one for the other does not cause any

change in meaning, then they are said to be in free variation.

8. distinctive features (区别性特征) A distinctive feature is a feature which distinguishes one phoneme from another.

9. suprasegmental features (超切分特征) The distinctive (phonological) features which apply to groups larger than the single segment are known

as suprasegmental features.

10. tone languages (声调语言) Tone languages are those which use pitch to contrast meaning at word level.

11. intonation languages (语调语言) Intonation languages are those which use pitch to distinguish meaning at phrase level or sentence level.

12. juncture (连音) Juncture refers to the phonetic boundary features which may demarcate grammatical units.

1. ★What are the differences between English phonetics and English phonology?

1) Phonetics is the study of the production, perception, and physical properties of speech sounds, while phonology attempts to account for

how they are combined, organized, and convey meaning in particular languages.

2) Phonetics is the study of the actual sounds while phonology is concerned with a more abstract description of speech sounds and tries to

describe the regularities of sound patterns.

2. Give examples to illustrate the relationship between phonemes, phones and allophones.

When we hear [pit],[tip],[spit],etc, the similar phones we have heard are /p/. And /p/ and /b/ are separate phonemes in English, while [ph] and [p] are allophones.

3. How can we decide a minimal pair or a minimal set?

A minimal pair should meet three conditions:

1) The two forms are different in meaning.

2) The two forms are different in one sound segment.

3) The different sounds occur in the same position of the two strings.

4. ★Use examples to explain the three types of distribution.

1) Contrastive distribution. Sounds [m] in met and [n] in net are in contrastive distribution because substituting [m] for [n] will result in a

change of meaning.

2) Complementary distribution. The aspirated plosive [ph] and the unaspirated plosive [p] are in complementary distribution because the

former occurs either initially in a word or initially in a stressed syllable while the latter never occurs in such environments.

3) Free variation. In English, the word “direct” may be pronounce in two ways: /di’rekt/ and /dia’rekt/, and the two different sounds /i/ and /ai/

can be said to be in free variation.

5. What’s the difference between segmental features and suprasegmental features? What are the suprasegmental features in English?

I. 1) Distinctive features, which are used to distinguish one phoneme from another and thus have effect on one sound segment, are referred to

as segmental features.

2) The distinctive (phonological) features which apply to groups larger than the single segment are known as suprasegmental features.

3) Suprasegmental features may have effect on more than one sound segment. They may apply to a string of several sounds.

II.The main suprasegmental features include stress, tone, intonation and juncture.

6. What’s the difference between tone languages and intonation language?

Tone languages are those which use pitch to contrast meaning at word level while intonation languages are those which use pitch to distinguish meaning at phrase level or sentence level

7. ★What’s the difference between phonetic transcriptions and phonemic transcriptions?

The former was meant to symbolize all possible speech sounds, including even the most minute shades of pronunciation, while the latter was intended to indicate only those sounds capable of distinguishing one word from another in a given language.

1. morphemes (语素) Morphemes are the minimal meaningful units in the grammatical system of a language.

allomorphs (语素变体) Allomorphs are the realizations of a particular morpheme.

morphs (形素) Morphs are the realizations of morphemes in general and are the actual forms used to realize morphemes.

2. roots (词根) Roots is defined as the most important part of a word that carries the principal meaning.

affixes (词缀) Affixes are morphemes that lexically depend on roots and do not convey the fundamental meaning of words.

free morphemes (自由语素) Free morphemes are those which can exist as individual words.

bound morphemes (粘着语素) Bound morphemes are those which cannot occur on their own as separate words.

3. inflectional affixes (屈折词缀) refer to affixes that serve to indicate grammatical relations, but do not change its part of speech.

derivational affixes (派生词缀) refer to affixes that are added to words in order to change its grammatical category or its meaning.

4. empty morph (空语子) Empty morph means a morph which has form but no meaning.

zero morph (零语子) Zero morph refers to a morph which has meaning but no form.

5. IC Analysis (直接成分分析) IC analysis is the analysis to analyze a linguistic expression (both a word and a sentence) into a hierarchically

defined series of constituents.

6. immediate constituents(直接成分) A immediate constituent is any one of the largest grammatical units that constitute a construction.

Immediate constituents are often further reducible.

ultimate constituents (最后成分) Ultimate constituents are those grammatically irreducible units that constitute constructions.

7. morphological rules (形态学规则) The principles that determine how morphemes are combined into new words are said to be morphological

rules.

8. word-formation process (构词法) Word-formation process mean the rule-governed processes of forming new words on the basis of already

existing linguistic resources.

1. ★What is IC Analysis?

IC analysis is the analysis to analyze a linguistic expression (both a word and a sentence) into a hierarchically defined series of constituents.

2. How are morphemes classified?

1) Semantically speaking, morphemes are grouped into two categories: root morphemes and affixational morphemes.

2) Structurally speaking, they are divided into two types: free morphemes and bound morphemes.

3. ★Explain the interrelations between semantic and structural classifications of morphemes.

a) All free morphemes are roots but not all roots are free morphemes.

b) All affixes are bound morphemes, but not all bound morphemes are affixes.

4. What’s the difference between an empty morph and a zero mor ph?

a) Empty morph means a morph that has form but no meaning.

b) Zero morph refers to a morph that has meaning but no form.

5. Explain the differences between inflectional and derivational affixes in term of both function and position.

a) Functionally:

i.Inflectional affixes sever to mark grammatical relations and never create new words while derivational affixes can create new words.

ii.Inflectional affixes do not cause a change in grammatical class while derivational affixes very often but not always cause a change in grammatical class.

b) In term of position:

i.Inflectional affixes are suffixes while derivational affixes can be suffixes or prefixes.

ii.Inflectional affixes are always after derivational affixes if both are present. And derivational affixes are always before inflectional suffixes if both are present.

6. What are morphological rules? Give at least four rules with examples.

The principles that determine how morphemes are combined into new words are said to be morphological rules.

For example:

a) un- + adj. ->adj.

b) Adj./n. + -ify ->v.

c) V. + -able -> adj.

d) Adj. + -ly -> adv.

1. syntagmatic relations (横组关系) refer to the relationships between constituents in a construction.

paradigmatic relations (纵聚合关系) refer to the relations between the linguistic elements within a sentence and those outside the sentence.

hierarchical relations (等级关系) refer to relationships between any classification of linguistic units which recognizes a series of successively subordinate levels.

2. IC Analysis (直接成分分析) is a kind of grammatical analysis, which make major divisions at any level within a syntactic construction.

labeled IC Analysis(标记法直接成分分析) is a kind of grammatical analysis, which make major divisions at any level within a syntactic construction and label each constituent.

phrase markers (短语标记法) is a kind of grammatical analysis, which make major divisions at any level within a syntactic construction, and label each constituent while remove all the linguistic forms.

labeled bracketing (方括号标记法) is a kind of grammatical analysis, which is applied in representing the hierarchical structure of sentences by using brackets.

3. constituency (成分关系)

dependency (依存关系)

4. surface structures (表层结构)refers to the mental representation of a linguistic expression, derived from deep structure by transformational

rules.

deep structures (深层结构) deep structure of a linguistic expression is a theoretical construct that seeks to unify several related structures. 5. phrase structure rules (短语结构规则)are a way to describe a given language's syntax. They are used to break a natural language sentence

down into its constituent parts.

6. transformational rules (转换规则)

7. structural ambiguity (结构歧义)

1. What are the differences between surface structure and deep structure?

They are different from each other in four aspects:

1) Surface structures correspond directly to the linear arrangements of sentences while deep structures correspond to the meaningful grouping

of sentences.

2) Surface structures are more concrete while deep structures are more abstract.

3) Surface structures give the forms of sentences whereas deep structures give the meanings of sentences.

4) Surface structures are pronounceable but deep structures are not.

2. Illustrate the differences between PS rules and T-rules.

1) PS rules frequently applied in generating deep structures.

2) T-rules are used to transform deep structure into surface structures.

3. What’s the order of generating sentences? Do we st art with surface structures or with deep structures? How differently are they

generated?

To generate a sentence, we always start with its deep structure, and then transform it into its corresponding surface structure.

Deep structures are generated by phrase structure rules (PS rules) while surface structures are derived from their deep structures by transformational rules (T-rules).

4. What’s the difference between a compulsory constituent and an optional one?

Optional constituents may be present or absent while compulsory constituents must be present.

5. What are the three syntactic relations? Illustrate them with examples.

1) Syntagmatic relations

2) Paradigmatic relations.

3) Hierarchical relations.

1. Lexical semantics (词汇语义学) is defined as the study of word meaning in language.

2. Sense (意义) refers to the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.

3. Reference (所指) means what a linguistic form refers to in the real world.

4. Concept (概念) is the result of human cognition, reflecting the objective world in the human mind.

5. Denotation (外延) is defined as the constant ,abstract, and basic meaning of a linguistic expression independent of context and situation.

6. Connotation (内涵) refers to the emotional associations which are suggested by, or are part of the meaning of, a linguistic unit.

7. Componential analysis (成分分析法) is the way to decompose the meaning of a word into its components.

8. Semantic field (语义场) The vocabulary of a language is not simply a listing of independent items, but is organized into areas, within which

words interrelate and define each other in various ways. The areas are semantic fields.

9. Hyponymy (上下义关系) refers to the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific word.

10. Synonymy (同义关系) refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning.

11. Antonymy (反义关系) refers to the oppositeness of meaning.

12. Lexical ambiguity (词汇歧义)

13. Polysemy (多义性) refers to the fact that the same one word may have more than one meaning.

14. Homonymy (同音(同形)异义关系) refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form.

15. Sentence semantics (句子语义学) refers to the study of sentence meaning in language.

1. What’s the criterion of John Lyons in classifying semantics into its sub-branches? And how does he classify semantics?

In terms of whether it falls within the scope of linguistics, John Lyons distinguishes between linguistic semantics and non-linguistic semantics.

According John Lyons, semantics is one of the sub-branches of linguistics; it is generally defined as the study of meaning.

2. What are the essential factors for determining sentence meaning?

1) Object, 2) concept, 3) symbol, 4) user, 5) context.

3. What is the difference between the theory of componential analysis and the theory of semantic theory in defining meaning of words?

4. What are the sense relations between sentences?

1) S1 is synonymous with S2.

2) S1 entails S2.

3) S1 contradicts S2.

4) S1 presupposes S2.

5) S1 is a tautology, and therefore invariably true.

6) S1 is a contradiction, and therefore invariably false.

7) S1 is semantically anomalous.