(完整word版)新编语言学教程刘润清版1,2章复习大纲

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Definition : linguistics can be defined as the scientific or systematic study of language. It is always guided by the

three cannons of science:exhaustiveness, consistency and economy.

Linguistics describes languages and does not lay down rules of correctness while traditional

grammar emphasizes correctness.

Linguistics

Linguists regard the spoken language as primary, not the written while traditional grammar

Linguistics versus traditional grammar: emphasizes the priority of written language.

Traditional grammar is based on Latin and it tries to impose the Latin categories and

structures on other languages. Linguistics describes each language on its own merits.

Scope Microlinguistics Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics Macrolinguistics Sociolinguistics Psycholinguistics Neurolinguistics Stylistics Discourse analysis Computational linguistics Cognitive linguistics

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

Language is a system---elements in it are not arranged and combined randomly, but according to some rules and

Definition: principles. Language is arbitrary --- there is no intrinsic connection between the word (e.g. pen) and the thing(e.g.

what we write with).Language is vocal---the primary medium for all languages is sound. Language is used for human

communication ---it is human-specific, very different form systems of animal communication.

Ding-Dong Theory: human speech developed from primitive man giving vocal expression to the objects he encountered. Sing-Song Theory: language developed from primitive ritual songs of praise.

Pooh-Pooh Theory: language came from interjections, which express he speaker’s emotions. Origins Yo-He-Ho Theory: language came from the cries uttered, during strain of work.

Ta-Ta Theory : language came from the combination of certain gestures and tongues movements. Bow-Wow Theory: language came from imitation of animal cries and other sounds heard in nature.

Design features

Arbitrariness: this refers to the fact that there is no logical or intrinsic connection between a particular sound and the meaning it is associated with. For example, English should use the sounds/d?g/ to refer to the animal dog, but Chinese should use “gou” to refer to te same animal. A dog may be called a pig if the first man happens to name it as a “pig”. So, the relationship between the sounds and their meaning is quite accidental. Of course, onomatopoetic words such as “quack-quack” and “bang” are exceptions, but words these are relatively few compared withe the total number of words in language.

Duality: language operates on two levels of structure. At one level are elements which have no meaning in themselves but which combine to form units at another level which do have meaning.

Productivity: productivity or creativity refers to man’s linguistic ability which enables him to produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences in our native language, including the sentences which were never heard before.

Interchangeability : interchangeability or reciprocity refers to the fact that man can both produce and receive messages, and his roles as a speaker and a hearer can be exchanged at ease.

Displacement: displacement is a property of language enabling people to talk about things remote either in space or in time. Specialization: specialization refers to the fact that man does not have a total physical involvement in the act of communication.

Cultural transmission: language is culturally transmitted. It cannot be transmitted through heredity. A human being brought up in isolations simply doesn’t acquire language, as is demonstrated by the studies of children brought up by animals without human contact. Animals transmit their cries simply from parent to child, while human baby doesn’t speak any language at birth. What language a baby is going to speak is determined by the culture he is born into. A Chinese baby born and brought up in London by an English family will speak English, while an English kid brought up in a Chinese community will speak Chinese.

Functions Phatic function/communion Directive function Informative function

Interrogative function Expressive function Evocative function Performative function

Some major concepts in linguistics

Descriptive and prescriptive grammar

Descriptive grammars attempt to tell what is in the language; while prescriptive grammars tell people what should be in the language.As traditional grammars tried to lay down rules, they are often called prescriptive. Most modern linguistics is descriptive.

Synchronic and diachronic linguistics

When we study language at one particular time, it is called synchronic linguistics. When we study language developments through time, it is called diachronic or historical linguistics. Synchronic linguistics focuses on the state of language at any point in history while diachronic linguistics focuses on he difference in two or more than two tates of language over decades or centuries.

Langue and parole

F.de Saussure made an important distinction between langue and parole. Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community. Parole refers to particular realizations of langue. Langue is the social, conventional side of language, while parole is individualized speech.

Competence and performance

According to Chomsky, competence refers to the knowledge that native speakers have of their language as a system of abstract formal relations, while performance refers to their actual linguistic behavior, that is , the actual use of this knowledge.

Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations

Saussure has put forward another pair of concepts: syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations. The former refers to the horizontal relationship between linguistic elements, which form linear sequences. The later means the vertical relationship between forms, which might occupy the same particular place in a structure.

Functionalism and formalism

Functionalism or functional linguistics refers to the study of the forms of language in reference to their social function in communication. Formalism or formal linguistics is the study of the abstract forms of language and their internal relations.

课后练习

If language is partially defined as communication, can we call the noises that dogs make language? Why or why not?

No,we can’t call the noises that dogs make as language even though language is partially defined as communication. There are two reasons for that: first, language is human-specific,it is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used only for human communication. Second, language has design features which are totally lack in animal communication systems. For example, language has two levels of structures: at one level are elements which have no meaning in themselves but which combine to form units at another level which do have meaning. Noises made by dogs represent certain meaning but can not be further analyzed into smaller units.

What is the difference between a prescriptive and a descriptive approach to language?

Descriptive approach to language attempt to tell what is in the language, while prescriptive approach to language tells people what should be in the language. Most contemporary linguists believe that whatever occurs naturally in the language should be described. Certain forms are sued more regularly than others and by different people. Though some forms occur less frequently they should not be ignored. They can all be recorded and explained as aspects of the languages since hey are actually used.

A wolf is able to express subtle gradations of emotion by different positions of the ears, the lips, and the tail. There are eleven postures of the tail that express such emotions as self-confidence, confident threat, lack of tension, uncertain threat, depression, defensiveness, active submission, and complete submission. This system seems to be complex. Suppose there were a thousand different emotions that the wolf could express in this way. Would you then say a wolf had a language similar to man’s ? If not, why not?

No, we can not say a wolf has a language similar to that of men even though there were a thousand different emotions that the wolf could express with his positions of body parts. There are two reasons for that:

First, language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. Language is human-specific. Second, language has design features which are lack in animals’ communication systems. For example, language has two levels of structures: at one level are elements which have no meaning in themselves but which combine to form units at another level which do have meaning. But in wolf’s communication system, one position stands for one certain meaning, and can not be further analyzed into smaller units. And no the other hand, human linguistic units can be grouped and regrouped, arranged and rearranged according to certain rules but those positions owned by wolf have no such features. Therefore, wolf’s this system is not so productive as human languages.

Chapter 2 THE SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTION

Phonology : is the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language.

Phoneme: and minimal sets \\

Distinctive features syllables

In English some words may contain a sequence of two or more consonants in one syllable, for example, /spl/ in

Consonant cluster

/’splendid/. Sequences of consonants like this are called consonant clusters.

Initial cluster: /spl/ in /’spl??/ splash Final cluster: /st/ in /test/ test Medial cluster: /str/ in /’pe?str?/ pastry

A word which begins with three-consonant clusters always observes three strict rules:

The first consonant must be /s/

The second phoneme must be /p /or /t/ or /k/

The third consonant must be /l / or /r / or /w / or /j /

Suprasegmentals

Sound contrasts that extend over several segments (phonemes),and such contrasts are called suprasegmentals.

Suprasegmental features Stress Intonation When a word has more than one syllable, one of them will be pronounced with more prominence than others. This brings us to another speech sound phenomenon, that of stress.

When sounds which are identical as to their place or manner features may differ in length, pitch or loudness. When speaking, people generally raise and lower the pitch of their voice. This phenomenon is called intonation.

The English word beautiful consists of three speech units: beau-ti-ful. These units, which are often longer than one sound and smaller than a whole word, are called syllables.

Phoneme is the phonological units of language, and it is an abstract collection of phonetic features which and distinguish meaning.

For example, sip and zip is signaled by the fact that the initial sound of the first word is s/s/ and the initial sound of the second word is z/z/./s/and /z/can therefore distinguish or contrast words. Such distinctive sounds are called phonemes. Minimal pairs are pairs of words which differ from each other only by one sound. For example, chunk and junk ,ban and bin, be and bat, fan and van, fine and vine, sink and zinc, site and side are minimal pairs in English. When a group of words can be differentiated each one from the others, by changing one phoneme (always in the same position), then we have a minimal set. For example, a minimal set based on the vowel phonemes of English would include feat, fit ,fate fat fought and foot, and one based on consonants could have big, pig, rig, fig, dig and wig. when two or more sounds occur in the same positon without any apparent change of meaning, they are said to be in For example, there are two pronunciation of the word either,we can say /i:δ?r/ and /’a?δ?r/.

When a feature distinguishes one phoneme from another it is a distinctive feature (or a phonemic feature). For example, seal and zeal distinguishes by /s/ ad /z/,/s/ is voiceless and /z/ is voiced,so /s/ and /z/ is a voicing difference.

With some phonetic knowledge we can give a much more precise description to speech sounds. And with some phonological knowledge we can become more aware of the functions of sounds in different languages. More importantly, phonetics and phonology have made the greatest contribution to “teaching”machines to “talk”.

Minimal pairs

Free variation free variation.

Syllable structure syllable

onset

Rime(rhyme)

Nucleus(peak) coda Consonant(s) vowel consonant(s)

Definition: The study of the speech sounds that occur in all human languages is called phonetics.

Articulatory phonetics, which is the study of how speech sounds are produced, or “articulated”. Three research fields Acoustic phonetics, which deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air. Auditory phonetics, which deals with how speech sounds are perceived by the listener.

Pharynx is a tube which begins just above the larynx. Articulators

and functions

Voiced and voiceless sounds

Nasal and oral sounds

Velum or soft palate is seen in the position that allows air to pass through the nose and the mouth.

Hard palate is often called the “roof of the mouth”, you can feel its smooth curved surface with your tongue. Alveolar ridge or alveolum is between the top front teeth and hard palate. Tongue can be moved into many different places and different shapes. Teeth

Lips Larynx is also an articulator.

Notices Jaws are sometimes called articulators,but the jaws are not articulators in the same way as others. The nose and the nasal cavity not articulators as others.

When the vocal cords are spread apart, the airstream from the lungs is not obstructed at the space between

vocal cords and passes freely. The sounds produced in this way are described as voiceless sounds. The sounds represented by /p/,/t/,/k/,and /s/ in the English words seep/si:p/,seat/si:t/,and seek/si:k/ are voiceless sounds.

When the vocal cords are drawn together, the airstream forces its way through and causes them to vibrate. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiced sounds. The sounds represented by /b/, /d/, /g/ and /z/ in the English words cob/k?b/,cod/k?d/,cog/k?g/,and daze/de?z/ are voiced sounds.

When the velum is lowered, air escapes through the nose as well as the mouth; sounds produced this way are called nasal sounds. There are three nasal consonants /m/, /n/,and /?/ in English.

When the velum is raised all the way to touch the back of the throat, the passage through the nose is cut off. When the nasal passage is blocked in this way, the air can escape only through the mouth. Sounds produced this way are called oral sounds. /p/ and /b/ are oral sounds.

Liaison: The phenomenon of the linking of two words in speech, in particular when the second word begins with

a vowel, is called liaison. The phrase “an egg” is often pronounced /?’neg/.

Variations Elision : the loss of a sound or sounds in speech is called elision. The word “suppose” is often pronounced as of /sp??z/, “factory” as /’f?ktr?/. sounds

Assimilation: the way that sounds belonging to one word or one syllable can cause changes in sounds

belonging to neighboring words or syllables is called assimilation. In English the negative prefix occurs as “im-” before words such as “possible”---”impossible”.

Definition: vowels are sounds produced without obstruction, so o turbulence or a total stopping

Front vowels: /i:/ /?/ /e/ /?/ /?/ /ɑ/ Vowels of the air can be perceived.

The height of the tongue Central vowels: /з:/ /?/ /?/

Classification

Back vowels: /u:/ /u/ /?:/ /?/ /ɑ:/

of The shape of the lip Rounded vowels: /u:/ /u/ /?:/ /?/ English Unrounded vowels: /i:/ /?/ /e/ /?/ /?/ /ɑ/ /з:/ /?/ /?/ /ɑ:/

Open vowels: /?/ /ɑ/ /?/ /ɑ:/ Speech

The width of the mouth Close vowels: /i:/ /?/ /u:/ /u/

Sounds

Semi-open vowels: /?://e/ /?/ /з:/ /?/ /?/

Consonants are sounds produced by constricting or obstructing the vocal tract at some

places to divert, impede or completely shut off the flow of air in the oral cavity.

Bilabials / p, b, m, w/

Labiodentals / f, v/ Consonants Dentals /?, δ /

in terns of place of articulation Alveolars / t, d, n, s, z, r, l /

Palatals / ?, ? /

Velars /k, g, ? / glottal /h /

Stops / p, b, t, d, k, g /

Fricatives /f, v, ?, δ, s, z, ?, ?, h /

Affricates / ?, ? / In terms of manners of articulation Liquids /l, r / Nasals /m, n, ? / Glides /j, w /

CAPTER 2 课后练习

2. What is the test most often used for determining phonemes in a language?

Minimal pair test or substitution test is the first rule of thumb to determine the phonemes of any language, that is , to see whether substituting one sound for another result in a different word. If it does , the two sound represent different phonemes. For example, we see from the contrast between fine and vine and between chunk and junk that /f /, /v /,/? /and /?/ must be phonemes in English because substituting /v/ for /f /,or /?/ for /? / produce a different word.

3. What’s the difference between an open and a closed syllable?

The units, which are often longer than one sound and smaller than a whole word, are called syllables. Syllables can be divided into two sorts: the open syllables and the closed syllables. Syllables like me, by or no that have an onset and a nucleus, but no coda are called open syllables; while the coda is present in the syllables like up, cup or hat, which is called closed syllables.

4. For each group of sounds listed below, state the phonetic feature or features which they share

/p/ /b/ /m/ feature: bilabial,stop,consonant /g/ /p/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /b/ feature: stop, consonant /?/ /u:/ /?/ feature: back, rounded, vowel

5. Name the single feature that distinguishes the following pairs of sounds.

/ δ / : /?,/ voicing ( voiceless vs. voiced )

/p /: /f / place of articulation ( bilabial vs. labio-dental ) /? /: /e / the height of the tone rising. ( high vs. mid )

/b /: /m / manner of articulation. (stop vs. nasal) /s /: /? / place of articulation (alveolar vs. palatal) /s /: /δ / place of articulation (alveolar vs. dental)

6. The following sets of minimal pairs show that English /p/ and /b/ contrast in initial, medial and final positions. Initial Medial final pit/bit rapid/rabid cap/cab Find similar seets of minimal pairs for each pair of consonants given:

Initial Medial final /k/-/g/ Kook/gook raking/raging lak/leg /m/-/n/ Moon/noon dime/dine beam/bean /b/-/v/ Berry/very dribble/drivel dub/dove /b/-/m/ Be/me ribbed/rimmed rib/rim

/p/-/f/ Pat/fat depend/defend rap/raff 7. The english data below provide examples of stress placement on certain verbs. A B C ap’pear a’dapt as’tonish col’lide col’lapse con’sider e’rase e’lect i’magine ca’rouse ob’serve de’termine cor’rode tor’ment ‘promise

1) Describe in words the stress placement on these verbs. Make sure you refer to syllable structure in your statement. 2) Provide syllable representations of the words col’lide, e’lect, and con’sider in order to illustrate your conclusion about stress placement in these forms.

1)

Stress in languages may be predictable by rules: lexical category, morphological structure and number of syllables all seem to be relevant factors for the placement of stress in English words.

For two-syllable verbs, the final(ultimate) syllable will receive main stress if tie has a long vowel or ends in at least two consonants. In this case, the first(penultimate) syllable may have secondary stress, contain an unstressed full vowel, or contain a reduced vowel. For example, a’dapt, e’lect.

If the ultimate syllable does not have a long vowel or end in two or more consonants, the penultimate syllable is stressed, as in’promise. Otherwise, the main stress will be put on the second syllable. For example, ca’rouse, ob’serve, astonish, de’termine.

If there is a double-letter in the word, the main stress should be put between them, or in other words, on the second one of the two. Such as ap’pear, cor’rode, col’lide, col’lase 2)

They are two-syllable words; therefore the final (ultimate ) syllable will receive main stress,, as col’lide, e’lect and con’side.