English Linguistics Course Objective Mastery of some linguistic

§ English Linguistics

Course Objective § Mastery of some linguistic concepts and theories in order to understand how language is constructed, how language operates, how language is used to do things, how language is acquired or learnt, how language varies according to the user or the situation; etc. § Improvement of English proficiency in general and enhancement of the awareness of patterns and regularities in the English language; § Preparation for further study and research about language.

Course Outline § § § Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Phonology Chapter 3: Morphology Chapter 4: Syntax Chapter 5: Semantics Chapter 6: Pragmatics Chapter 7: Language Change Chapter 8: Language and Society Chapter 9: Language and Culture Chapter 10: Language Acquisition Chapter 11: Second Language Acquisition Chapter 12: Language and the Brain

Course Components § § § Lectures Discussions Presentation Assignments Research

“Study and Research” groups(4 -5 persons for one group), each group draws a topic out of the following(topics for Term 1) § § § § For chapter 1: The 13 design features proposed by Charles Hockett The functions of language Phatic communion in English and Chinese The theories about the origin of language For Chapter 2: The relation between the sound and the sense the function of suprasegmental features in daily communication in Chinese § The effect of phonetic knowledge on language learning § The effective strategies in learning English speech sounds

§ § § For Chapter 3: On Word formation in English On the Word formation in Chinese On The role of morphonological knowledge on English vocabulary learning On the word-formation in on-line coined words in Chinese For Chapter 4: on the syntactic theories presented by different linguistic schools on the main points of Chomsky’s Transformational Generative Grammar For Chapter 5: The relation between sense and reference the majar types of synonyms and antonyms in English The implications of lexical sense relations on English teaching and learning

Forms of Course Assessment § Class attendance § Participation(Oral presentation and regular participation in Classroom discussion) § Fulfillment of the assignment § Term paper(A-4, 宋体，4号，3000字，5 -10条 参考书目，first-hand data+analysis) § Examination

Chapter 1. Introduction § What is linguistics? § What is language?

1. What is linguistics? (P 1) ----Linguistics is the scientific study of language. (subject, method, principle, procedure) Subject: all languages of human societies Method: scientific Principle: Exhaustiveness, Consistency , Economy, Objectivity Procedure: collect language facts-analyze and find similiarities-make generalization and form hypothesischecked by more language facts ----A person who studies linguistics is known as a linguist.

The scope of linguistics § 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. major branches Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics / pragmatics Use of linguistics or interdisciplinary branches 1. Applied linguistics 2. Sociolinguistics 3. Psycholinguistics ……

Theoretical linguistics § Phonetics----speech sound (description, classification, transcription): articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, auditory phonetics. § Phonology----sound patterns of languages § Morphology----the form of words § Syntax----the rules governing the combination of words into sentence. § Semantics----the meaning of language (when the meaning of language is conducted in the context of language use---Pragmatics)

Some important distinctions in linguistics 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Descriptive vs. prescriptive Synchronic vs. diachronic Speech and writing Langue and parole Competence and performance Traditional grammar and modern linguistics

Descriptive vs. prescriptive § Descriptive ---- describe/analyze linguistic facts observed or language people actually use (modern linguistics) § Prescriptive ----lay down rules for “correct” linguistic behavior in using language (traditional grammar)

Synchronic vs. diachronic § Synchronic study---description of a language at some point of time (modern linguistics) § Diachronic study---description of a language through time (historical development of language over a period of time)

Speech and writing § Speech ---- primary medium of language § Writing ---- later developed § Question: Why is speech regarded as the primary medium of language?

Langue and parole (F. de Saussure) § Langue ---- the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of the speech community. § Parole ---- the realization of langue in actual use. § Saussure takes a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions.

Competence and performance (Chomsky) § Competence ---- the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language § Performance ---- the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication § Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.

Traditional grammar vs modern linguistics § Traditional grammar ---- prescriptive, written, Latin-based framework § Modern linguistics ----- descriptive, spoken, not necessarily Latin-based framework

2. What is language? (P 7) § The question “What is language”is comparable with-and, some would say, hardly less profound than— “What is life? ” ------John Lyons Question: How do you define language?

What does “language”mean in each of the contexts? § § § “language” used in various contexts: Chinese is a language. Linguistics is the systematic study of language. Both Jane and John like Shakespeare’s language. The language of bees

Language can mean § what a person says (e. g. bad language, expressions) § the way of speaking or writing (e. g. Shakespeare’s language, Luxun’s language) § a particular variety or level of speech or writing (e. g. language for special purpose, colloquial language) § the abstract system underlying the totality of the speech/writing behavior of a community (e. g. Chinese language, first language) § the common features of all human languages (e. g. He studies language) § a tool for human communication. (social function) § a set of rules. (rule-governed) Question: Is there any other context in which the use of the word means something else?

Sapir’s definition (1921) § “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols. ”

Hall’s definition (1968) § Language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols. ”

Chomsky’s definition (1957) § “From now on I will consider language to be a set of (finite or infinite) sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements. ”

Language can be generally defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

Language is a system § Systematic---- rule-governed, elements in it are arranged according to certain rules; can’t be combined at will. e. g. *bkli, *I apple eat.

Language is arbitrary § Arbitrary---- no intrinsic connection between the word and the thing it denotes, e. g. “pen” by any other name is the thing we use to write with.

Language is symbolic in nature § Symbolic---- words are associated with objects, actions ideas by convention. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”----Shakespeare

Language is primarily vocal § Vocal---- the primary medium is sound for all languages; writing system came much later than spoken form.

Language is human-specific § Human-specific---- different from the communication systems other forms of life possess, e. g. bird songs, bee dance, animal cries.

The design/defining features of human language (Charles Hockett) • • • Arbitrariness Productivity/Creativity Duality Displacement Cultural transmission

Arbitrariness ----No logical (motivated or intrinsic) connection between sounds and meanings. Questions: 1. by this property do we mean that a person can use the language as freely as we like? 2. How about onomatopoeic words which imitate natural sounds such as ( English: rumble, crackle, bang, …. Chinese: putong, shasha, dingdang… ) 3. How about some compound words liketype-writer, shoe-maker, airconditioner, photocopy…? 4. How about words like “flow, float, flood, fluent”etc, ? other examples: J--: joy, jovial, jubilate, joyous, joyful, jubilant Gl--: glow, glisten, gleam, glare, glimmer, glitter

Productivity/creativity ----Peculiar to human languages，users of language can understand produce sentences they have never heard before, e. g. we can understand sentence like “ A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the hotel bed”, though it does not describe a common happening in the world. § A gibbon call system is not productive for gibbon draw all their calls from a fixed repertoire which is rapidly exhausted, making any novelty impossible. § The bee dance does have a limited productivity, as it is used to communicate about food sources in any direction. But food sources are the only kind of messages that can be sent through the bee dance; bees do not “talk” about themselves, the hives, or wind, let alone about people, animals, hopes or desires

Duality (double articulation) § Lower level----sounds (meaningless) § Higher level----meaning (larger units of meaning) §. A small number of sounds can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning (words), and the units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences. § Questions: § Why is this property generally assumed as central to language? Does animal language have this property? § How is this related to communicative power?

Displacement ---Language can be used to refer to things, which are not present: real or imagined matters in the past, present or future, or in far-away places. Questions: What advantages does this property of language yield? How about the other communication systems? § A gibbon never utters a call about something he ate last year § There is something special about the bee dance though. Bees communicate with other bees about the food sources they have found when they are no longer in the presence of the food. In this sense, the bee dance has a component of displacement. But this component is very insignificant. For the bees must communicate about the food immediately on returning to the hive. They do not dance about the food they discovered last month nor do they speculate about future discoveries.

Cultural transmission ----Language is culturally transmitted (through teaching and learning; rather than by instinct). § Animal call systems are genetically transmitted. All cats, gibbons and bees have systems which are almost identical to those of all other cats, gibbons and bees. § A Chinese speaker and an English speaker are not mutually intelligible. This shows that language is culturally transmitted. That is, it is pass on from one generation to the next by teaching and learning, rather than by instinct. § Question: Can we deny that human language has a genetic basis? What is the implication of the story about “wolf child”? What about those patients with aphasia(patial or total loss of language due to brain damage)?

Functions of language § Language contributes to the success of our everyday life and the survival of human beings. § Discussion: What functions does language serve for our life and survival? § Humans are said to be language animals. But what if we humans lived without language? § There are some 6, 800 known languages spoken in the 200 countries of the world. In 2003, the total number of languages in teh world was estimated to be 6, 809, of which 2, 261 have writing systems (the other are only spoken), what if there were only one language over the world?

Functions of language Three main functions( distinct but overlapping to some degree) 1. Descriptive function----to convey factual information 2. Expressive function----to supply information about user’s feelings, preferences, prejudices, and values. 3. Social function----to establish and maintain social relations between people. Roman Jakobson (six functions) Emotive / Conative / Referential Poetic / Phatic communion/ Metalinguistic M. A. K. Halliday( three macrofunction) Ideational / interpersonal / textual

The origin of language § The divine-origin theory---- Language is a gift of God to mankind. § The invention theory---- imitative, cries of nature, the grunts of men working together. § The evolutionary theory---- the result of physical and psychological development.

Assignments § Review the majar points of this chapter. § For the various functions of language discussed in class, use one example of your own to illustrate each.

For further reading: § Jakobson, R. Closing Statement: Linguistics and Poetics, in Sebeok, T. a. (ed. ) Style in Language, Mass. MIT, 1960 § Lyons, J. Chapters 3 & 4, The Design Features of Language, in Semantics I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977 § Widdowson, H. Chapters 1 & 2, in Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966

The End Thank you!