Chapter 1 Language语言
1.★What is language?(ok)
linguistic
symbol and what the symbol stands for. It
because words are associated with objects, actions, ideas etc. by nothing but
2.★What are the design features of language? (ok)
Design feature (识别特征) refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication(Charles Hockett). They are arbitrariness, duality, productivity, displacement, cultural transmission and interchangeability.
3.What are the design features of language? （具体）
I.Productivity (能产性) refers to the ability that people have in making and comprehending
indefinitely large quantities of sentences in their native language，including sentences
they never heard before, but that are appropriate to the speaking situation. No one has
ever said or heard “A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the small hotel bed with an African
gibbon”, but he can say it when necessary, and he can understa nd it in right register.
Different from artistic creativity, though, productivity never goes outside the language,
thus also called “rule-bound creativity” (by N.Chomsky).
II.arbitrariness (任意性) （核心）Arbitrariness refers to the phenomenon that there is no motivated relationship between a linguistic form and its meaning. By “arbitrariness”, we
mean there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds (see I .1). A dog might
be a pig if only the first person or group of persons had used it for a pig. Language is
therefore largely arbitrary. But language is not absolutely seem to be some
sound-meaning association, if we think of echo words, like “bang”, “crash”, “roar”, which
are motivated in a certain sense. Secondly, some compounds (words compounded to be
one word) are not entirely arbitrary either. “Type” and “write” are opaque or unmotivated
words, while “type-writer” is less so, or more transparent or motivated than the words
that make it. So we can say “arbitrariness” is a matter of degree.
III.（symbol (符号) Symbol refers to something such as an object, word, or sound that represents something else by association or convention.）
IV.discreteness(离散性) Discreteness refers to the phenomenon that the sounds in a language are meaningfully distinct.
V.displacement (不受时空限制的特性) “Displacement”, as one of the design features of the human language, refers to the fact that one can talk about things that are not present, as
easily as he does things present. In other words, one can refer to real and unreal things,
things of the past, of the present, of the future. Language itself can be talked about too.
When a man, for example, is crying to a woman, about something, it might be something
that had occurred, or something that is occurring, or something that is to occur. When a
dog is barking, however, you can decide it is barking for something or at someone that
exists now and there. It couldn’t be bow wowing sorrowfully for dome lost love or a bone
to be lost. The bee’s system, nonetheless, has a small share of “displacement”, but it is an
unspeakable tiny share.
VI.duality of structure (结构二重性) Linguists refer “duality” (of structure) to the fact that in all languages so far investigated, one finds two levels of structure or patterning. At the
first, higher level, language is analyzed in terms of combinations of meaningful units
(such as morphemes, words etc.); at the second, lower level, it is seen as a sequence of
segments which lack any meaning in themselves, but which combine to form units of
meaning. According to Hu Zhanglin et al. (p.6), language is a system of two sets of
structures, one of sounds and the other of meaning. This is important for the workings of
language. A small number of semantic units (words), and these units of meaning can be
arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences (note that we have
dictionaries of words, but no dictionary of sentences!). Duality makes it possible for a
person to talk about anything within his knowledge. No animal communication system
enjoys this duality, or even approaches this honor.
VII.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. This means that language is not biologically transmitted from generation
to generation, but that the details of the linguistic system must be learned anew by each
speaker. It is true that the capacity for language in human beings (N. Chomsky called it
“language acquisition device”, or LAD) has a genetic basis, but the particular language a
perso n learns to speak is a cultural one other than a genetic one like the dog’s barking
system. If a human being is brought up in isolation he cannot acquire language. The Wolf
Child reared by the pack of wolves turned out to speak the wolf’s roaring “tongue” when
he was saved. He learned thereafter, with no small difficulty, the ABC of a certain human
language.
VIII.interchangeability (互换性) Interchangeability means that any human being can be both a producer and a receiver of messages. (1) Interchangeability means that any
human being can be both a producer and a receiver of messages. We can say, and on
other occasions can receive and understand, for example, “Please do something to make
me happy.” Though some people (including me) suggest that there is sex differe ntiation
in the actual language use, in other words, men and women may say different things, yet
in principle there is no sound, or word or sentence that a man can utter and a woman
cannot, or vice versa. On the other hand, a person can be the speaker while the other
person is the listener and as the turn moves on to the listener, he can be the speaker and
the first speaker is to listen. It is turn-taking that makes social communication possible
and acceptable.
(2) Some male birds, however, utter some calls, which females do not (or cannot?), and
certain kinds of fish have similar haps mentionable. When a dog barks, all the neighboring
dogs bark. Then people around can hardly tell which dog (dogs) is (are0 “speaking” and
which listening.
4.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.
5.What functions does language have?
6.★(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 langua
●Instrumental function(工具功能)refers to the fact that language allows speakers to get
things done. It allows them to control things in the environment .people can cause things
to be done and happen through the use of words alone.
●Regulatory function(调节功能)refers to language used in an attempt to control events
once they happen. Those events may involve the self as well as others . People do try to
control themselves through language.
●Representational function(表现功能)refers to the use of language to communicate
knowledge about the world ,to report events ,to make statements ,to give accounts , to
explain relationships, to relay messages and so on. This function of language is
represented by all kinds of record-keeping .
●Interactional function(互动功能)refers to language used to ensure social maintenance.
Phatic communication is a part of it .
●Personal function(自指性功能)refers to language used to express the individual’s
feelings ,emotions and personality. A person’s individuality is usually characterized by
his or her use of personal of communication.
●Heuristic function(启发功能) [osbQtq`kf`h] refers to language used in order to
acquire knowledge and understanding of the world .language may be used for learning.
Questions can lead to answers , argumentation to conclusion and hypothesis-testing to
new discoveries. It provides a basis for the structure of knowledge in the different
disciplines .Language allows people to ask questions about the nature of the world they
lived in and to construct possible answers.
●Imaginative function(想象功能)refers to language used to create imaginary system,
whether these are literary works ,philosophical systems or utopian visions one the one
hand ,or daydreams and idle musings on the other hand .
II.Adult language has three functional components as following:
1) Interpersonal components. 人际2) Ideational components.概念3) Textual components.语篇
◆phatic function（寒暄功能）: The “phatic function” refers to language being used for setting
up a certain atmosphere or maintaining social contacts (rather than for exchanging
information or ideas). Greetings, farewells, and comments on the weather in English and on clothing in Chinese all serve this function. Much of the phatic language (e.g. “How are you?”
“Fine, thanks.”) Is insincere if taken literally, but it is important. If you don't say “Hello” to a friend you meet, or if you don’t answer his “Hi”, you ruin your friendship.
◆directive function: The “directive function” means that language may be used to get the
hearer to do something. Most imperative sentences perform th is function, e.g., “Tell me the result when you finish.” Other syntactic structures or sentences of other sorts can, according to J.Austin and J.Searle’s “indirect speech act theory”(see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp271-278) at least, serve the purpose of direct ion too, e.g., “If I were you, I would have blushed to the bottom of my ears!”
◆informative function(信息功能): Language serves an “informational function” when used to
tell something, characterized by the use of declarative sentences. Informative statements are often labeled as true (truth) or false (falsehood). According to P.Grice’s “Cooperative Principle”(see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp282-283), one ought not to violate the “Maxim of Quality”, when he is informing at all.
◆interrogative function: When language is used to obtain information, it serves an
“interrogative function”. This includes all questions that expect replies, statements, imperatives etc., according to the “indirect speech act theory”, may have this function as well,
e.g., “I’d like to know you better.” This may bring forth a lot of personal information. Note that
rhetorical questions make an exception, since they demand no answer, at least not the reader’s/listener’s answer.
◆expressive function: The “expressive function” is the use of language to reveal something
about the feelings or attitudes of the speaker. Subconscious emotional ejaculations are good examples, like “Good heavens!” “My God!” Sentences like “I’m sorry about the delay” can serve as good examples too, though in a subtle way. While language is used for the informative function to pass judgment on the truth or falsehood of statements, language used for the expressive function evaluates, appraises or asserts the speaker’s own attitudes.
◆evocative function(感情功能): The “evocative function” is the use of language to create
certain feelings in the hearer. Its aim is, for example, to amuse, startle, antagonize, soothe, worry or please. Jokes (not practical jokes, though) are supposed to amuse or entertain the listener; advertising to urge customers to purchase certain commodities; propaganda to influence public opinion. Obviously, the expressive and the evocative functions often go together, i.e., you may express, for example, your personal feelings about a political issue but end up by evoking the same feeling in, or imposing it on, your listener. That’s also the case with the other way round.
◆performative function（表达功能）: This means people speak to “do things” or perform
actions. On certain occasions the utterance itself as an action is more important than what words or sounds constitute the uttered sentence. When asked if a third Yangtze Bridge ought to be built in Wuhan, the mayor may say, “OK”, which means more than speech, and more than an average social individual may do for the construction. The judge’s imprisonment sentence, the president’s war or independence declaration, etc., are pe r formatives as well (see J.Austin’s speech Act Theory, Hu Zhuanglin, ecal.pp271-278).
Chapter 2 Linguistics语言学
1.What is linguistics?
1）“Linguistics” is the scientific study of language. It may be a study of language ,the history of history of language ,the function of language ,etc. It studies not just one language of any one society, but also the language of all human beings. A linguist, though, does not have to know and use a large number of languages, but to investigate how each language is constructed. He is also concerned with how a language varies from dialect to dialect, from class to class, how it changes from century to century, how children acquire their mother tongue, and perhaps how a person learns or should learn a foreign language. In short, linguistics studies the general principles whereupon all human languages are constructed and operate as systems of communication in their societies or communities (see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp20-22).
/2）Linguistics can be defined as the scientific or systematic study of language.
It is a science in the sense that it scientifically studies the rules, systems and principles of human languages, guided by three canons of science:
(i) exhaustiveness: it strives for thorough-goingness in the examination of relevant materials;
(ii)consistency: there should be no contradiction between different parts of the total statement;
(iii)economy: other things being equal, a shorter statement or analysis is to be preferred to one that is longer or more complex.
The subject matter of linguistics is all natural languages, living or dead. It studies the origin, growth, organization, nature and development of language and discovers the general rules and principles governing language.
It has two main purposes. One is that it studies the nature of language and tries to establish a theory of language, and describes languages in the light of the theory established. The other is that it examines all the forms of language in general and seeks a scientific understanding of the ways in which it is organized to fulfill the needs it serves and the functions it performs in human life.
2.★How does John Lyons classify linguistics?
?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.
?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.
?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.
?microlinguistics and macrolinguistics(微观语言学与宏观语言学)at its narrowest. the
former studies only the structure of language system. at its broadest , the latter deals with everything that is related in any way at all to languages and language .
3.Linguistics :the science
The scientific method of linguistic study involves the following steps(Wen Qiufang):
1)Gather data concerning languages ;
2)Construct a tentative rule based on the data obtained;
3)Examine the tentative rule against the further data and make necessary changes;
4)Finalize the rule which must be able to account for all the relevant data.
Mei Deming gives a similar summarization of the process of linguistic study:
1)Linguistic facts observed ;
2)Generalizations made about the linguistic facts;
3)Hypotheses formulated to explain the linguistic facts;
4)The hypotheses tested and examined by more and further observations;
5) A certain linguistic theory of language constructed.
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.
4.What are the major branches of linguistics?
The study of language as a whole is often called general linguistics (e.g.Hu Zhuanglin et al., 1988;Wang Gang, 1988). But a linguist sometimes is able to deal with only one aspect of language at a time, thus the arise of various branches: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, pragmatics, psycholinguistics, lexicology, lexicography, etymology, etc.
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. ///// It is the scientific study of speech sounds, including the articulation, transmission and reception of specch sounds, the description and classification of speech sounds.
2) Phonology. 音位学studies about the sounds and sound patterns of a speaker’s native language.//// it is the study of how speech sounds function in a language. It studies the ways speech sounds are organized, the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and shape of syllables. It can be considered the functional pnonetics of a particular languange.
3) Morphology. 形态学studies about how a word is formed./// It is concerned with the internal organization, the formation of words. It studies the minimal units of meaning—morphemes and word-formation processes.
Syntax: it is the grammar of sentence construction, dealing with the combination of words into phrases, clauses and sentences.
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./// It is concerned with the study of meaning in all its aspects, examines how meaning is encoded in a language. It is not only concerned with meanings of words, but also with levels of language below the word and above it.
6) Pragmatics. 语用学/// it is the study of meaning in context, in use. It deals with particular
utterances in particular situations and is especially concerned with the various ways in which the many social contexts of language performance can influence interpretation. In other words, pragmatics is concerned with the way language is used to communicate rather than with the way language is structured.
5.some distinction in linguistics
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.F. De Saussure refers “langue”to the abstrac t linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community and refers “parole” to the actual or actualized language, or the realization of langue. Langue is abstract, parole specific to the speaking situation; langue not actually spoken by an individual, parole always a naturally occurring event; langue relatively stable and systematic, parole is a mass of confused facts, thus not suitable for systematic investigation. What a linguist ought to do, according to Saussure, is to abstract langue from instances of parole, I. e. to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make than the subject of linguistics. The langue-parole distinction is of great importance, which casts great influence on later linguists.
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.
(1) According to N. Chomsky, “competence” is the ideal language user’s knowledge of the rules
of his language, and “performance” is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances. The former enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker’s competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speaker’s performance does not always match or equal his supposed competence.
(2) Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rather than performance. In
other words, they should discover what an ideal speaker knows of his native language.
(3) Chomsky’s competence-performance distinction is not exactly the same as, though similar
to, F. de Saussure’s langue-parole distinction. Langue is a social product, and a set of conventions for a community, while competence is deemed as a property of the mind of each individual. Sussure looks at language more from a sociological or sociolinguistic point of view than N. Chomsky since the latter deals with his issues psychologically or psycholinguistically.
synchronic and diachronic(共时与历时) The description of a language at some point of time (as if it stopped developing) is a synchrony study (synchrony). The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study (diachronic). An essay entitled “On the Use of THE”, for example, may be synchronic, if the author does not recall the past of THE, and it may also be diachronic if he claims to cover a large range or period of time wherein THE has undergone tremendous alteration (see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp25-27).
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. (1) No one needs the repetition of the general principle of linguistic analysis, namely, the primacy of speech over writing. Speech is primary; because it existed long long before writing systems came into being. Genetically children learn to speak before learning to write. Secondly, written forms just represent in this way or that the speech sounds: individual sounds, as in English and French as in Japanese.
(2) In contrast to speech, spoken form of language, writing as written codes, gives language new
scope and use that speech does not have. Firstly, messages can be carried through space so that people can write to each other. Secondly, messages can be carried through time thereby, so that people of our time can be carried through time thereby, so that people of our time can read Beowulf, Samuel Johnson, and Edgar A. Poe. Thirdly, oral messages are readily subject to distortion, either intentional or unintentional (causing misunderstanding or malentendu), while written messages allow and encourage repeated unalterable reading.
(3) Most modern linguistic analysis is focused on speech, different from grammarians of the last
century and theretofore.
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.
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.
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.
6.Traditional grammar and modern linguistics
What are the differences between the descriptive and the prescriptive approaches?
A linguistic study is “descriptive” if it only describes and analyses the facts of language, and “prescriptive” if it tries to lay down rules for“correct” language behavior. Linguistic studies before this century were largely prescriptive because many early grammars were largely prescriptive because many early grammars were based on “high” (literary or religious) written records. Modern linguistics is mostly descriptive, however. It (the latter) believes that whatever occurs in natural speech (hesitation, incomplete utterance, misunderstanding, etc.) should be described in the analysis, and not be marked as incorrect, abnormal, corrupt, or lousy. These, with changes in vocabulary and structures, need to be explained also.
Chapter 3 Phonetics语音学
1.What is phonetics?
“Phonetics” is the science which studies the characteristics of human sound-making, especially those sounds used in speech, and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription (see Hu Zhuanglin et al., pp39-40), speech sounds may be studied in different ways, thus by three different branches of phonetics. (1) Articulatory phonetics; the branch of phonetics that examines the way in which a speech sound is produced to discover which vocal organs are involved and how they coordinate in the process. (2) Auditory phonetics, the branch of phonetic research from the hearer’s point of view, looking into the impression which a speech sound makes on the hearer as mediated by the ear, the auditory nerve and the brain. (3) Acoustic phonetics: the study of the physical properties of speech sounds, as transmitted between mouth and ear.
Most phoneticians, however, are interested in articulator phonetics.
2.Phonetics sub-branchess
◆articulatory phonetics(发音语音学) The study of how speech organs produce the sounds is
called articulatory phonetics.
◆acoustic phonetics (声学语音学) The study of the physical properties and of the transmission of
speech sounds is called acoustic phonetics.
◆auditory phonetics (听觉语音学) The study of the way hearers perceive speech sounds is called
auditory phonetics.
3.How are the vocal organs formed?(p29-30)
The vocal organs (see Figure1, Hu Zhuanglin et al., p41), or speech organs, are organs of the human body whose secondary use is in the production of speech sounds. The vocal organs can be considered as consisting of three parts; the initiator of the air-stream, the producer of voice and the resonating cavities.
4.the definition of consonant and vowel
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.
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.
5.The place of articulation:（辅音分类）
◆bilabials (双唇音) Bilabials means that consonants for which the flow of air is stopped or
restricted by the two lips.
◆Labiodentals: consonant brought about by bringing the bottom lip to the upper teeth.
◆Dentals/interdentals: consonant for which the flow of air is restricted by catching the tongue
between the teeth .
◆Alveolars: consonant produced by bringing the tip of the tongue into contact with the upper
teeth-ridge to create the obstruction.
◆Post-alveolars: consonant produced by bringing the tip of the tongue to the rear part of the
alveolar ridge.
◆Alveo-palatals: consonants formed by putting the tongue at the very front part of the hard
palate,near the alveolar ridge. Palatals: consonants made by bringing the back of the tongue to the hard palate.
◆Velars: consonants made by bringing the back of the tongue to the soft palate.
◆Glottals: sounds produced by bringing the vocal cords momentarily together to create the
obstruction.
6.classifications of English consonants
7.★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.
8.★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.
9.affricates (塞擦音) The sound produced by stopping the airstream and then immediately
releasing it slowly is called affricates. [tX] [dY] [tr] [dr]
glottis (声门) Glottis is the space between the vocal cords.
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]
diphthongs(双元音) Diphthongs are produced by moving from one vowel position to another through intervening positions.[ei][ai][Oi] [Qu][au]
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. [eiQ][aiQ][OiQ] [QuQ][auQ] 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.
Chapter 4 Phonology 音位学
1.What is phonology? What is difference between phonetics and phonology?
(1) “Phonology” is the study of sound systems- the invention of distinctive speech sounds that
occur in a language and the patterns wherein they fall. Minimal pair, phonemes, allophones, free variation, complementary distribution, etc., are all to be investigated by a phonologist.
(2) Phonetics is the branch of linguistics studying the characteristics of speech sounds and
provides methods for their description, classification and transcription. A phonetist is mainly interested in the physical properties of the speech sounds, whereas a phonologist studies what he believes are meaningful sounds related with their semantic features, morphological features, and the way they are conceived and printed in the depth of the mind phonological knowledge permits
a speaker to produce sounds which from meaningful utterances, to recognize a foreign “accent”,
to make up new words, to add the appropriate phonetic segments to from plurals and past tenses, to know what is and what is not a sound in on e’s language.
2.重要概念
?phonemes (音位) Phonemes are minimal distinctive units in the sound system of a language. ?allophones(音位变体) Allophones are the phonetic variants and realizations of a particular phoneme.
?phones (音子) The smallest identifiable phonetic unit or segment found in a stream of speech is called a phone.
?minimal pair (最小对立体) Minimal pair means words which differ from each other only by one sound.
?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.
?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.
?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.
3.principles of indentifying phonemes(识别音位的原则)
if two sounds are found to be in contrastive distribution ,then they are said to be separate
phonemes.
If there exist two sounds which are always in free variation ,then they are regarded as two
allophones of the same phoneme.
If two phonetically similar sounds are in complementary distribution, then they are said to be
two allophones of the same phoneme.
If two sounds are in complementary distribution but have no phonetic similarity ,then they
are certainly two different phonemes.
4.distinctive features(区别性特征) A distinctive feature is a feature which distinguishes one
phoneme from another.
5.some rules of phonolopy
sequential rules(序列规则) state the possible combination of phonemes and the constraint over such a combination for a language .for example ,if a word begins with a [l] , then the next sound must be a vowel .that is why [lkik] are impossible combination in english .also ,if three consonants should cluster together at the beginning of a word ,the combination should obey the following three rules:1.the first phoneme must be /s/;2.the second phoneme must be /p/,/t/ or/k/;3.the three phoneme must be /l/,/r/ or /w/.
assimilation rule (同化规则)is to describe the effect of phonetic context or situation on a particular phone. The assimilation rule assimilates one segment to another by “copying” a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones more similar.
Deletion rule (省略规则) in phonology concerns the relation between letterns and sounds within the phonetic condition. The deletion rule tells us when a sound is to be deleted although it is orthographically represented.
6.suprasegmental features(超切分语音特征)
“Suprasegmental phonology” refers to the study of phonological properties of linguistic units larger than the segment called phoneme, such as syllable, word and sentence.
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.
Hu Zhuanglin et al.,(p,73) includes stress, length and pitch as what they suppose to be “principal suprasegmental features”, calling the concurrent patterning of three “intonation”. Dai Weidong(pp23-25) lists three also, but they are stress, tone and intonation. The main suprasemental Features include stress , tone , intonation and juncture.
?Stress(重音) refers to the degree of force used in producing a syllable. The parts of speech that
are normally stressed in an English sentence are nouns ,main verbs , adjectives , adverbs,
numerals , and demonstrative pronouns ;the other categories of words like articles ,personal pronouns , auxiliary verbs , prepositions , and conjunctions are usually not stressed.
?Tone(声调) refer to an identifiable movement or level of pitch that is used in a linguistically
contrastive way. Tones are pitch variations caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords. Tone languages are those which use pitch to contrast meaning at word level.
?Intonation(语调)plays an important role in the conveyance of meaning in almost every
language . English is an intonation language and ,according to M. A. K. Halliday, has five basic types of tones : the falling tone, the rising one ,the level tone ,the falling-rising tone and the rising-falling tone . when spoken in different tones , the same sentence may have different meanings. Generally speaking, the failing pitch conveys certainty ;the rising pitch indicates uncertainty ; the level tone means “not (yet) decided whether known or unknown ”; the falling-rising tone means “seems certain, but turns out not to be ”; and the rising-falling tone means “seems uncertain, but turns out to be certain”. Intonation languages are those which use pitch to distinguish meaning at phrase level or sentence level.
?Juncture(连音) is another suprasegmental feature which is frequently (but not necessarily )
realized as a pause .it refers to the phonetic boundary features which may demarcate grammatical units such as morpheme , word or clause. 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.
Chapter 5 Morphology 形态学
1.the scope of morphology/ What is morphology?
Morphology” is the branch of linguistics ,and also a branch of grammar, it studies the internal structure of words, and the rules by which words are formed. It is generally divided into two fields: inflectional morphology and lexical/derivational morphology.
2.the definition of morphemes
morphemes (语素) Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units in the grammatical system of a language. In a simpler way ,we can define a morpheme as a minimal meaningful grammatical unit. The “morpheme” is the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expression and content, a unit which cannot be divided without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical. The word “boxes”, for example, has two morphemes: “box” and “-es”, neither of which permits further division or analysis if we don’t wish to sacrifice meaning. Therefore a morpheme is considered the minimal unit of meaning.
3.一些重要概念
?allomorphs(语素变体) Allomorphs are the realizations of a particular morpheme.
Allomorphs, like allophones vs. phones, are the alternate shapes (and thus phonetic forms) of the same morphemes. Some morphemes, though, have no more than one invariable form in all contexts, such as “dog”, “cat”, etc. The variants of the plurality “-s” make the allomorphs thereof in the following examples: map-maps, mouse-mice, sheep-sheep etc.
?morphs(形素) Morphs are the realizations of morphemes in general and are the actual
forms used to realize morphemes.
?roots (词根) Roots is defined as the most important part of a word that carries the principal
meaning.A “root” is the base form of a word that cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity.In other words, a “root” is that part of the word left when all the affixes are removed.
?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.
?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.词根、词缀、自由语素和粘着语素的相互关系
Morphemes can be further classified into sub-groups in terms of two criteria: either semantically or structurally. Semantically speaking, morphemes are grouped into two categories: root morphemes （roots for short）and affixational morphemes (affixes for short ). Structurally speaking , they are divided into two types: free morphemes and bound morphemes.
To sum up ,all free morphemes are roots but not all roots are free morphemes, all affixes are bound morphemes, but not all bound morphemes are affixes（the interrelations between semantic and structural classifications of morphemes）.
5.前缀、后缀、中缀之间的关系
Affixes are generally classified into three types: prefixes, suffixes and infixes. Those which are added to the beginning of the roots are called prefixes. the affixes which roots are called suffixes, the affixes which interrupt roots are called infixes.
6.屈折词缀和派生词缀之间的关系
7.root /stem/base(词根、词干、词基之间的关系)
A “root” is the base form of a word that cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity.
A “stem” is any morpheme or combination of morphemes to which an affix can be added. It may be the same as , and in other cases, different from, a root. Differ from the term ”root”,both the
such a form to which an affixes will be attached .if we are going to attach a derivational affix ,we will call the form a base. But if we are going to attach
8.morphemes, morphs, allomorphs(语素、语子和语素变体的关系)
morphemes (语素) Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units in the grammatical system of a language. morphs (形素) Morphs are the realizations of morphemes in general and are the actual forms used to realize morphemes.allomorphs(语素变体) Allomorphs are the realizations of a particular morpheme.
In sum, morphemes are always represented by morphs . the morphs that belong to the same morpheme are called allomorphs , in other words ,morphs are related to morphemes in general, while allomorphs are always related to a specific morpheme.
9.empty morph，zero morph (空语子和零语子)
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.
10.IC Analysis (直接成分分析)
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.
11.IC Analysis(直接成分分析)中的概念
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.
morphological rules (形态学规则) The principles that determine how morphemes are combined into new words are said to be morphological rules.
12.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.
13.Explain the differences between inflectional and derivational affixes in term of both
function and position.
1)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.
2)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.
14.word-formation process
derivation (派生法)also termed as affixation, is a process of word-formation , in
which one or more affixes are attached to a root or a base to produce a new word
known as derived word . it is the most common word-formation .(the important
ways of derivation is prefixation and suffixation).
compounding(复合法)refers to a process of word-formation, in which two or more free morphemes are combined to form a new word.(compounds/compound
words).there are three types of compounds :1) hyphenated compounds ;2)solid
compounds; 3)open compounds. In a hyphenated compound, words are connected
by hyphen, e.g. father-in-low ,whistle-blowing ,let-make-a deal, etc. a solid
compound word is composed of two words that are written as one word ,such as
fingerprint, sunburn and doorknob and so on. An open compound consists of two or
more written separately, such as April Fool’s Day ,Boston terrier and legislation
scheduling session and so on . in addition, a compound can be classified as
permanent or temporary. A permanent compound is fixed by common usage and
usually be found in the dictionary , while a temporary compound is composed of two
or more words connected by a hyphen as needed ,usually to modify another word or
to avoid ambiguity. In general, permanent compounds begins as temporary
compounds . similarly, many solid compounds begins as separate words ,evolve into
hyphenated compounds, and later solid compounds.
Conversion(转化法)refers to the derivational process whereby an item comes to belong to a new word class without addition of an affix. Conversion is also known as
functional shift or zero-derivation. (without using any affix)
Blending(混合构词法)is a process of word-formation in which new words are made by deleting parts of two words and combining the remaining parts of them together.
it’s also likely that the whole word is retained while part of the other word is
discarded. Words created in this way are called blends.
Clipping(剪切法)refers to the process of word-formation in which a word (usually a noun) is shortened by deleting one or more syllables without any change in the
meaning or in the part of speech. However, clipping usually results in a stylistic
change: form formal to informal style . (详细见书p71)
Backformation(逆生法)is a very specialized type of reduction process by which a shorter word is created by the removal of a supposed suffix from a longer form
already present in the language.
Acronymy(首字母缩略法)is the process of forming new words by joining the initial letters of several words together .
Chapter 6 Syntax 句法学
1.syntax: definition
“Syntax” is the study of the rules governing the arrangement of sentences in sequences, and the study of the interrelationships between elements of sentence structure.
/“Syntax” is the study of the rules governing the ways in which words, word groups and phrases are combined to form sentences in a language, or the study of the interrelationships between sentential elements.
/“Syntax” is a subfield of linguistics that studies the rules governing the way words are combined to
form sentences in a language , or the study of the formation of sentences.
2.grammar, syntax and morphology
grammar can be defined as “the knowledge and the study of the morphological and regularities of a natural language”. As a part of grammar , morphology examines the internal stru cture of words and the word formation processes. The other part of grammar is syntax, which is concerned with the relationships between words and phrases within a sentences.
Sentences can be studied in two different ways: statically , we can describe the structure of sentences to illustrate the relationship among the elements of a sentences; and dynamically , we can study how sentences are generated by syntactic rules . in order to make a static study of sentence, we need to understand three syntactic relations: syntactic, paradigmatic and hierarchical relations.
3.syntagmati, paradigmatic and hierarchical relations（三种句法关系）
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.
4.IC Analysis ，labeled IC Analysis，phrase markers and labeled bracketing
?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.
5.constituency and dependency(成分关系和依存关系)
sentences can be studied and analyzed in different ways . and all the methods discussed above can be based on the idea of constituency . according to the idea , a sentences can be analyzed into a series of constituents , such as subject + predicate ,or NP+VP ，etc. these units thus produced can ,in turn, be analyzed into further constituents. And this constituents analysis process can be continued until no further subdivisions are possible. Constituent structure analysis is a hierarchical analysis showing the different constituents at different structural levels based on the distribution of linguistic forms.
Another type of syntactic analysis uses the concept of dependency. it is based on the function of linguistic forms . dependency grammar is a formal grammar, developed by several linguistic in the 1950s , which establishes types of dependencies between the elements of a construction as a means of explaining grammatical relationships . the main concern of dependency grammar is the description of dependency structure of sentences , that is , the structure of dependency relations between the elements of a sentences . it is assumed that in a syntactic connection between two elements one is the governing and other the dependent element. When a governing element is
dependent on another governing element, a complex hierarchical dependency order results . dependency structures are represented with tree diagrams whose central node represents the absolute governor of a linguistic structure . in sentences the absolute governor is the verb .(例子见书P84)
6.the differences of surface structures and deep structures(表层结构和深层结构的区别) 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.
To sum up , they are different from each other at four aspects :
●Surface structures correspond directly to the linear arrangements of sentences while deep
structures correspond to the meaningful grouping of sentences.
●Surface structures are more concrete while deep structures are more abstract.
●Surface structures gives the forms of sentences whereas deep structures gives the meanings of
sentences.
●Surface structures are pronounceable but deep structures are not.
7.the process of generating a sentence
PS-rules(短语结构规则) ---→deep structures ---→T-rules （移位规则）---→surface structures
8.phrase structure rules(PS rules for short) (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.
S--→ NP + AUX + VP
NP--→(Det) (AP) + N
AP--→(AP)/(ADVP)
ADVP--→(ADVP) + Adv
PP-→P + NP
AUX--→Tense + (Modal)+(Perf)+(Prog)
Tense-→Present/Past
Modal-→can, may, must, will, shall, etc.
Perf -→have-en
Prog -→be-ing
9.transformation rules(T-rules)(转化规则)
transformation rules are used to transform deep structures into surface structures . usually , we need a series of T-rules to transform a deep structure into its corresponding surface structure . at each step , one T-rule is applied , which modified the deep structure in some way and thus makes it less abstract . each of the T-rules performs one or two of the following three operations:1)rearranging the elements of the structure; 2)adding a new element to the structure; 3）deleting an element from the structure. A T-rules consists of two parts: 1) the structural description (SD); 2)the structural change (SC)
T-rules:（例子见书p90-93）
T-Affix hopping(词缀转换规则)（此规则为obligatory T-rules，其他为optional T-rules）
SD: X Affix V Y
1 2 3 4
SC: 1 3 2 4
T-Passive（被动转换规则）
SD: NP1 AUX V NP2
1 2 3 4
SC: 4 2+be-EN 3 +by 1
T-Agent deletion(删除施事着转换规则)
SD: NP2 AUX +be-EN V +by NP1 X
1 2 3 4 5
SC: 1 2 3 空 5
T-Negation(否定转换规则)
SD: X Tense(Modal/have/Be) Y
1 2 3
SC: 1 2+not 3
T-Do insertion(助动词do 插入转换规则)
SD: X Tense Y
1 2 3 (Tense is not followed by Modal, have or be) SC: 1 2+do 3
T-Yes or No question(一般疑问句转换规则)
SD: NP Tense(Modal/have/Be) X
1 2 3
SC: 2 1 3
T-Wh-word question(疑问词插入转换规则)
T-Wh-word insertion---→T-Yes or No question(---→T-Do insertion)---→T-Wh-word switching----→T-Affix hopping
T-Reflexive (反身代词转换规则)
SD: NP1 X NP2 (NP1=NP2)
1 2 3
SC: 1 2 Reflexive
T-Imperative(祈使句转换规则)
SD: Y Present V X
1 2 3 4
SC: 空 2 3 4
10.some basis ordering of transformations(T-rules转换规则的顺序)
T-Affix hopping must be applied in deriving any surface structure.
1) T-Reflexive must be applied before T-Imperative;
2) T-Passive must be applied before T-Reflexive;
3) T-Passive must be applied before T-Negation;
4) T-Passive must be applied before T-Yes or No question;
5) T-Affix is always finally applied;
6) T-Agent deletion is always applied immediately after T-Passive;
7) T-Do insertion is always applied immediately after T-Negation;
8) T-Do insertion is always applied immediately after T-Yes or No question;
9) the basis order of transformations for Wh-word question is:
T-Wh-word insertion---→T-Yes or No question(---→T-Do insertion)---→T-Wh-word switching----→T-Affix hopping
11.structural ambiguity (结构歧义)
some lexical or grammatical structures cause ambiguity without suitable or sufficient context. most researchers classify ambiguity into two broad groups ：lexical ambiguity and structural ambiguity. Here the structural ambiguity covers both surface structural ambiguity and underlying structural ambiguity.
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 start 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 are syntactic relations?
“Syntactic relations” refer to the ways in which words, word groups or phrases form sentences;
hence three kinds of syntactic relations: positional relations, relations of substitutability and relations of co-occurrence.
(1) “Positional relation”, or “word order”, refers to the sequential arrangement to words in
a language. It is a manifestation of a certain aspect of what F. de Saussure called “syntagmatic
relations”, or of what other linguists call “horizontal relations” or “chain relations”.
(2) “Relations of substitutability” re fer to classes or sets of words substitutable for each
other grammatically in same sentence structures. Saussure called them “associative relations”.
Other people call them “paradigmatic/vertical/choice relations”.
(3) By “relations of co-occurrence”, one means that words of different sets of clauses may
permit or require the occurrence of a word of another set or class to form a sentence or a
一、课程性质及其设置目的与要求 （一）课程性质和特点 《英语语言学概论》课程是我省高等教育自学考试英语专业（本科段）的一门重要的专业理论课程，其任务是培养应考者系统地学习英语语言学的基本知识，掌握语言系统内部语言学各分支之间的关系和各分支的重要概念和基本理论，了解语言学在其它学科领域的应用，熟悉现代语言学重要的流派及其代表人物；通过该课程的学习，考生可以从不同的角度了解语言（的性质），了解语言学习和语言教学，为日后进一步学习语言学、从事语言教学实践和语言学研究打下扎实基础。本课程的特点是：专业术语多，概念多，内容抽象，所以，考生最好在学习本课程之前先学习提高语言读写能力的课程，如高级英语、泛读（三）、写作等，这样可以减少语言障碍，有利于学好语言学的理论知识。 （二）本课程的基本要求 本课程共分为本书共分四编，计十三章。第一编（一至二章）介绍了语言和语言学；第二编（三至八章）介绍了语言学的主要分支—语音学、音位学、形态学、句法学、语义学和语用学；第三编（九至十二章）为跨学科领域与应用—话语分析、社会语言学、心理语言学，以及语言学理论与外语教学；第四编（十三章）介绍了现代语言学流派。通过对本书的学习，要求应考者对英语语言学有一个全面和正确的了解。具体应达到以下要求： 1、掌握语言的性质、功能，以及语言学的研究范围、语言学的分支和重要的语言学概念； 2、掌握语言系统内部语言学各分支之间的关系和各分支的重要概念和基本理论； 3、了解语言学在其它学科领域的应用； 4、熟悉现代语言学重要的流派及其代表人物。 （三）本课程与相关课程的联系 英语语言学概论是一门基础理论课程，其含盖范围很广，既涉及语言系统内部的语音学、音位学、形态学、句法学、语义学和语用学，又涉及许多交叉学科，如话语分析、社会语言学、心理语言学、应用语用学（包括语言学理论与外语教学），以及本教程未涉及的神经认知语言学、计算机语言学、人工智能与机器翻译等。语言学的进一步研究甚至会涉及到哲学、逻辑学等领域。 在自考课程中，词汇学与语言学关系最为密切，词汇学的许多概念、理论和研究方法都来源于语言学。高级英语、泛读（三）、写作、翻译等课程则是学好语言学的基础。文学与语言学并非对立的关系，这两个领域的研究方法可以互相补充、互相借鉴，日后无论从事语言学还是文学研究，这两个领域都必须同时涉猎。 二、课程内容与考核目标
《英语语言学概论》精选试题1 1. Which of the following statements about language is NOT true A. Language is a system B. Language is symbolic C. Animals also have language D. Language is arbitrary 2. Which of the following features is NOT one of the design features of language A. Symbolic B. Duality C. Productive D. Arbitrary 3. What is the most important function of language A. Interpersonal B. Phatic C. Informative D. Metalingual 4. Who put forward the distinction between Langue and Parole A. Saussure B. Chomsky C. Halliday D. Anonymous 5. According to Chomsky, which is the ideal user's internalized knowledge of his language A. competence B. parole C. performance D. langue 6. The function of the sentence "A nice day, isn't it" is . A. informative B. phatic C. directive D. performative 7. Articulatory phonetics mainly studies . A. the physical properties of the sounds produced in speech B. the perception of sounds C. the combination of sounds D. the production of sounds 8. The distinction between vowels and consonants lies in . A. the place of articulation B. the obstruction of airstream C. the position of the tongue D. the shape of the lips 9. Which is the branch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription A. Phonetics B. Phonology C. Semantics D. Pragmatics 10. Which studies the sound systems in a certain language A. Phonetics B. Phonology C. Semantics D. Pragmatics 11. Minimal pairs are used to . A. find the distinctive features of a language B.find the phonemes of a language C. compare two words D. find the allophones of language 12. Usually, suprasegmental features include ___ ,length and pitch. A. phoneme B. speech sounds C. syllables D. stress 13. Which is an indispensable part of a syllable A. Coda B. Onset C. Stem D. Peak 三、判断
Chapter 4 Phonology(音位学) 4.1 phonetics and phonology:语音学与音位学的区分 Both phonetics and phonology are concerned with speech.语音学和音位学都士对语音的研究。 定义区别 -Phonetics is a study of the production, perception and physical properties of speech sounds. 语音学是研究语音的生产、感知和物理性质的。 -Phonology studies how speech sounds are combined，organized，and convey meanings in particular languages.研究语音如何在在特定的语言中结合、组织和表达含义。 ---Phonology is language-specific.it is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages.音位学是特定于语言的。它的研究对象是自然语言中的声音是如何组织和使用的。 ---Phonetics is a study of speech sounds while phonology is a study of the sound syst em of a language.语音学是一个研究语音的然后音位学是研究一种语言的声音系统的学科。 4.2 Phonemes，phones and allophones 音位、音子、音位变体 Different languages have different phonological systems.不同的语言有不同的语音系统。 定义： ①Phones are the smallest identifiable phonetic unit or segment found in a stream of speech. 音子就是在连续的发音中可辨认的最小语音单位或片段。 ②Allophones are the phones which represent a phoneme in a language and cannot change word meaning by substituting any of the set for another.音位变体是指代表语言中音位的音子，即使以一个取代另一个也不改变词义。 ③Phonemes are the minimal distinctive units in the sound system of a language.音位是语言系统中最小的独特的单位。 Allophones are the realization of a particular phoneme while phones are the realizatio n of phonemes in general.音位变体是一个特定音素的认知而音子则是一般的音素。 4.3Minimal pairs 最小对立体 The phonologist is concerned with what difference are significant or technically speaki ng, distinctive. Minimal pair---a pair of words which differ from each other by one sound. Three conditions（情况）: 1）the two froms are different in meaning意义不同 2）the two forms are different in one sound segment声音片段不同 3）the different sounds occur in the same position of the two words.不同声音发生在两个单词的相同位置 Minimal set: a group of words can satisfy（满足）the three conditions . Minimal pairs help determine phonemes. 最小对立体用来定义音位。 4.4 identifying phonemes 识别音素 4.4.1 contrastive distribution，complementary distribution and free variation 对比分布，互补分布和自由变异 The distribution of a sound refers to the collective environments in which the sound concerned may appear.一个声音的分布是指其有关的声音可能出现的集体环境。 1）contrastive distribution对比分布 If two or more sounds can occur in the same environment and the substitution of on
《英语语言学概论》复习纲要 1.复习的基本原则：第一，理解和吃透各章的重点内容。第二，以 各章的题目为统领，理解各章节下的具体内容。第三，动手书写和记忆重要内容，部分语言学理论会应用到实际中。 2.各章节复习要点如下 Chapter 1 Invitations to Linguistics Definitions of the following terms: language, linguistics, arbitrariness, duality, creativity, displacement, descriptive VS prescriptive, synchronic VS diachronic, langue VS parole, competence VS performance Study of the origin of language What are the functions of language Which subjects are included in macrolinguistics Chapter 2 Speech Sounds Definitions of the following terms: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, auditory phonetics, phonetics, phonology, consonants, vowels, allophones, broad transcription VS narrow transcription Analyze the complementary distribution, free variation with examples The classification of English consonants and English vowels and the features involved in the classification Understand some processes of phonology: nasalization, dentalization, velarization
单元练习...．..７6页 英语语言学概论 —自学指导 主编: 支永碧王永祥
英语语言学概论 —自学指导 主编: 支永碧王永祥 副主编：李葆春丁后银王秀凤
前言 本书主要为参加英语专业(本科段)自学考试和全国研究生入学考试的考生而编写,是《英语语言学概论》(王永祥、支永碧,2０0７）的配套辅导用书。 自2０0７年起,《英语语言学概论》（王永祥、支永碧，２007)被确定为英语专业(本科段)自学考试的指定教材。在此期间，许多参加自学考试的考生希望能再出一本配套的辅导教材。他们中的不少人不仅希望自学考试轻松过关,还希望和全国其他学生一样将来能参加全国统一的研究生入学考试继续升造求学。而现有的教材内容和相关练习似乎还不能充分满足他们的需求。其一,配套练习尚不够全面,缺少问答题的参考答案；其二，和研究生入学考试真题相比,配套练习的类型也不够全面；其三,参加自学考试的学生往往很难得到老师的亲自授课和指导，而英语语言学理论和概念往往抽象难懂，再加上其它各种原因,不少考生不能轻易地掌握各章的所有重点、难点，因此,他们迫切需要有一本简单实用的自学考试指南和辅导练习帮助他们解决问题；此外，在英语专业研究生入学考试中，英语语言学是一门必考科目。入学以后,英语语言学也是英语专业研究生的一门必修课。鉴于此,他们希望了解更全面的英语语言学基本理论，多做一些更实用的英语语言学练习和真题，以备将来需要。为了满足广大自考学生和准备参加英语专业研究生入学考试的考生的需要,我们在广泛征求了各方面的意见之后,精心编写了本书。本书的编写除了主要参照王永祥、支永碧主编的《英语语言学概论》以外，我们还参考了胡壮麟主编的《语言学教程》(修订版）和戴炜栋、何兆熊主编的《新编简明英语语言学教程》和其它一些高校使用的语言学教程。 本书第一部分为英语语言学核心理论和概念，主要包括:本章主要考点，课文理解与重点内容分析;第二部分为英语语言学概论的十三章单元配套练习,和原教材中的练习稍有不同的是，在本部分，我们选编了部分自学考试真题和各个高校历年考研真题，以便考生更好地了解本章重点。这样，学生可以更有针对性地进行各章节的学习和复习。虽然该部分略有难度,但对考研和自考的学生都很有帮助；第三部分为英语语言学综合模拟试卷, 内容紧扣《英语语言学概论》，针对性很强,适用于英语专业各类考生；第四部分为江苏省自学考试英语语言学概论部分考试样题及参考答案。本书的习题主要包括以下七种类型:问答题、选择题、填空题、名词解释、是非判断题、汉英术语互译题、操作题。另外,为便于学习者了解考试重点，本书附加了江苏省英语专业(本科段）《英语语言学概论》自学考试新大纲2007版；另外，为便于自学者查询深涩难懂的语言学词汇，我们按照汉语字母顺序编写了常见的英语语言学术语汉英对照表，以补充原教材的些许缺失。 本书力求充分满足广大考生学习和考试的需要,帮助他们了解各章的主要考点和复习要点。祝参加英语专业自学考试的考生轻松克服《英语语言学概论》的学习难题，祝参加英语专业研究生入学考试的考生在本书的帮助下能轻松通过英语语言学这个难关，实现自己的梦想。 支永碧 20０9年2月于南京师范大学随园
第一章绪论 1.1什么是语言 1.2语言的性质 （1）语言具有系统性（systematic） （2）语言是一个符号系统 语言符号是一种象征符号。 （3）语言符号的任意性（arbitrariness）与理据性（motivation） （4）口头性 （5）语言是人类特有的 （6）语言是用于交际的 寒暄交谈（phatic communion）马林诺夫斯基提出的，认为语言除了用于表达思想、交流感情外，还可以用语言营造一种气氛或保持社会接触。这种不用于表达思想、交流感情的语言使用，叫寒暄交谈。 1.3语言的起源 1.4语言的分类 1.4.1系属分类（Genetic Classification） 历史比较语言学通过比较各种语言在不同时期语音、词性、曲折变化、语法结构上的相同特点来建立语言族系。 将语言分为语系（family）——语族（group）——语支（branch）——语言 英语、德语属印欧语系日耳曼语族西日耳曼语支。法语属印欧语系罗曼语族中罗曼语支。 汉语属汉藏语系汉语族。 1.4.2 类型分类（Typological Classifacation） 根据词的结构类型，可分为 （1）孤立语（isolating language）又叫词根语，一个词代表一个意思，缺少形态变化，语序和虚词是表达语法意义的主要手段。汉语是典型的孤立语。 （2）粘着语（agglutinative language）简单词组成复合词，而词性和意义不变。在词根前、中、后粘贴不同的词缀实现语法功能。日语、韩语、土耳其语是典型的黏着语。 （3）屈折语（inflectional language）词形变化表语法关系的语言。英语是不太典型的屈折语。 （4）多式综合语（polysynthesis language）把主、宾和其它语法项结合到动词词干上以构成一个单独的词，但表达一个句子的意思。因纽特语是典型的多式综合语。 根据句子的语序类型，可分为SVO、SOV、OSV、OVS等 1.5语言的功能 1.5.1 一般功能 1.5.2元功能（metafunction） 1.6什么是语言学（linguistics）
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. H alliday 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. A dult language has three functional components as following: 1) Interpersonal components. 人际 2) Ideational components.概念 3) Textual components.语篇
《英语语言学概论》重、难点提示 第一章语言的性质 语言的定义：语言的基本特征（任意性、二重性、多产性、移位、文化传递和互换性）；语言的功能（寒暄、指令、提供信息、询问、表达主观感情、唤起对方的感情和言语行为）；语言的起源（神授说，人造说，进化说）等。 第二章语言学 语言学定义；研究语言的四大原则（穷尽、一致、简洁、客观）；语言学的基本概念（口语与书面语、共时与历时、语言与言学、语言能力与言行运用、语言潜势与语言行为）；普通语言学的分支（语音、音位、语法、句法、语义）；；语言学的应用（语言学与语言教学、语言与社会、语言与文字、语言与心理学、人类语言学、神经语言学、数理语言学、计算语言学）等。 第三章语音学 发音器官的英文名称；英语辅音的发音部位和发音方法；语音学的定义；发音语音学；听觉语音学；声学语音学；元音及辅音的分类；严式与宽式标音等。 第四章音位学 音位理论；最小对立体；自由变异；互补分布；语音的相似性；区别性特征；超语段音位学；音节；重音（词重音、句子重音、音高和语调）等. 第五章词法学 词法的定义；曲折词与派生词；构词法（合成与派生）；词素的定义；词素变体；自由词素；粘着词素（词根，词缀和词干）等。 第六章词汇学 词的定义；语法词与词汇词；变词与不变词；封闭词与开放词；词的辨认；习语与搭配。第七章句法 句法的定义；句法关系；结构；成分；直接成分分析法；并列结构与从属结构；句子成分；范畴（性，数，格）；一致；短语，从句，句子扩展等。 第八章语义学 语义的定义；语义的有关理论；意义种类（传统、功能、语用）；里奇的语义分类；词汇意义关系（同义、反义、下义）；句子语义关系。 第九章语言变化 语言的发展变化（词汇变化、语音书写文字、语法变化、语义变化）； 第十章语言、思维与文化 语言与文化的定义；萨丕尔-沃夫假说；语言与思维的关系；语言与文化的关系；中西文化的异同。 第十一章语用学 语用学的定义；语义学与语用学的区别；语境与意义；言语行为理论（言内行为、言外行为和言后行为）；合作原 320240*********
《英语语言学概论》课程复习题集(1-6章) 2013-6-1 Chapter I Introduction2012 I. Decide whether each of the following statements is TRUE or FALSE: T1. Linguistics is the scientific study of language. F2. Competence and performance is distinguished by Saussure. F3. A synchronic linguistics is the study of a language through the course of its history. T4. Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language. F5. Linguistics studies particular language, not languages in general. F6. A scientific study of language is based on what the linguist thinks. T7. In the study of linguistics, hypotheses formed should be based on language facts and checked against the observed facts. T8. General linguistics is generally the study of language as a whole. T9. General linguistics, which relates itself to the research of other areas, studies the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods applicable in any linguistic study. T10. Phonetics is different from phonology in that the latter studies the combinations of the sounds to convey meaning in communication. F11. Morphology studies how words can be formed to produce meaningful sentences. T12. The study of the ways in which morphemes can be combined to form words is called morphology. F13. Syntax is different from morphology in that the former not only studies the morphemes, but also the combination of morphemes into words and words into sentences. T14. The study of meaning in language is known as semantics. T15. Both semantics and pragmatics study meanings. T16. Pragmatics is different from semantics in that pragmatics studies meaning not in isolation, but in context. T17. Social changes can often bring about language changes. T18. Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society. T19. The arbitrary nature of language makes it possible for language to have an
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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.
1.Synchronic vs diachronic Language exists in time and changes through time. The description of a language at some point of time in history is a synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study. A diachronic study of language is a historical study; it studies the historical development of language over a period of time. 2. Langue and parole Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community; and parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to abide by, and parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules. Langue is abstract; it is not the language people actually use. Parole is concrete; it refers to the naturally occurring language events. Langue is relatively stable, It does not change frequently, while parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation. 3. Competence and performance Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language, and performance the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. According to Chomsky, a speaker has internalized a set of rules about his language, which enables him to produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences and recognize sentences that are ungrammatical and ambiguous. 4. Arbitrariness As mentioned earlier, language is arbitrary. This means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. A good example is the fact that different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different language. On the other hand, we should be aware that while language is arbitrary by nature it is not entirely arbitrary; certain words are motivated. The best examples are the onomatopoeic words, such as rumble, crash, cackle, bang in English. Besides, some compound words are also not entirely arbitrary. For example, while photo and copy are both arbitrary, the compound word photocopy is not entirely arbitrary. But non-arbitrary words make up only a small percentage of the vocabulary of a language. The arbitrary nature of language is a sigh of sophistication and it makes it possible for language to have an unlimited source of expressions. 5. Productivity Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. This is why they can produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences, including sentences they have never heard before. They can send messages which no one else has ever sent before. Much of what we say and hear are saying or hearing for the first time. 6. Duality Language is a system, which consists of two sets of structures or two levels. At the lower or the basic level there is a structure of sounds, which are meaningless by themselves. But the sounds of language can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning such as morphemes and words, which are found at the higher level of the system. 7. Displacement Language can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future, or in faraway places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. This is what “displacement” means. This property provides speakers with an opportunity to talk about a wide range of things, free from barriers caused by separation in time or place. In contrast, no animal communication system possesses this feature. Animal calls are mainly uttered in response to immediate changes of situation, i.e. in contact of food, in presence of danger, or in pain. Once the danger or pain is gone, calls stop. 8. Cultural transmission While human capacity for language has a genetic basis, i.e. we were all born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned. An English speaker and a Chinese speaker are both able to use a language, but they are not mutually intelligible. This shows that language is culturally transmitted. It is passed on from one generation to the next through teaching and learning, rather than by instinct. In contrast, animal call systems are genetically transmitted, i.e. animals are born with the capacity to produce the set of calls peculiar to their species. 9. Broad transcription and narrow transcription: Broad transcription is the transcription with letter-symbols only, this is the transcription normally used in dictionaries and teaching textbooks for general purposes. Narrow transcription is the transcription with letter-symbols together with the diacritics, this is the transcription needed and used by the phoneticians in their study of speech sounds. With the help of the diacritics they can faithfully represent as much of the fine details as it is necessary for their purpose. 10. Sense and reference Sense and reference are two terms often encountered in the study of word meaning. They are two related but different aspects of meaning. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of a linguistic form, the collection of all its features; it is abstract and de-contextualized. It is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are interested in. Reference means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with relationship between the linguistic element and non-linguistic world of experience. 11. Context It is generally considered as constituted by the knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer. Various components of shared knowledge have been identified, e.g. knowledge of the language they use, knowledge of what has been said before, knowledge about the world in general, knowledge about the specific situation in which linguistic communication is taking place, and knowledge about each other. Context determines the speaker’s use of language and also the hearer’s interpretation of