英语语言学笔记
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英语语言学笔记LinguisticsChapter 1 Introduction: Language and LinguisticsWhat is language?Different definitions of languageLanguage is a system whose parts can and must be considered in their synchronic solidarity. (de Saussure, 1916)[Language is] a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements. (Chomsky, 1957)Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.Each of the definitions above has pointed out some aspects of the essence of language, but all of them have left out something. We must see the multi-faceted nature of language.As is agreed by linguists in broad terms, language can be defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.Features of human languageCreativityLanguage provides opportunities for sending messages that have never been sent before and for understanding brand new messages.The grammar rules and the words are finite, but the sentences are infinite. Every speaker uses language creatively.DualityLanguage contains two subsystems, one of sounds and the other of meanings.Certain sounds or sequences of sounds stand for certain meanings.Certain meanings are conveyed by certain speech sounds or sequences of speech sounds.ArbitrarinessThe relationship between the two subsystems of language is arbitrary.There is no logical connection between sound and meaning.DisplacementThere is no limit in time or space for language.Language can be used to refer to things real or imagined, past, present or future.Cultural transmissionCulture cannot be genetically transmitted. Instead, it must be learned.Language is a way of transmitting culture.InterchangeabilityAll members of a speech community can send and receive messages.ReflexivityHuman languages can be used to describe themselves.The language used to talk about language is called meta-language.Functions of language – three meta-functionsThe ideational functionTo identify things, to think, or to record information.The interpersonal functionTo get along in a community.The textual functionTo form a text.Types of languageGenetic classificationTypological classificationAnalytic language –no inflections or formal changes, grammatical relationships are shown through word order, such as Chinese and VietnameseSynthetic language –grammatical relationships are expressed by changing the internal structure of the words, typically by changing the inflectional endings, such as English and German Agglutinating language –words are built out of a long sequence of units, with each unit expressing a particular grammatical meaning, such as Japanese and TurkishThe myth of language – language originThe Biblical accountLanguage was God’s gift to human beings.The bow-wow theoryLanguage was an imitation of natural sounds, such as the cries of animals, like quack, cuckoo. The pooh-pooh theoryLanguage arose from instinctive emotional cries, expressive of pain or joy.The yo-he-ho theoryLanguage arose from the noises made by a group of people engaged in joint labour or effort –lifting a huge hunted game, moving a rock, etc.The evolution theoryLanguage originated in the process of labour and answered the call of social need.What is linguistics?Linguistics is the scientific study of language.Observing & questioningFormulating hypothesesVerifying the hypothesesProposing a theoryBranches of linguisticsInternal branches: intra-disciplinary divisionsPhoneticsPhonologyMorphologySyntaxSemanticsExternal branches: inter-disciplinary divisionsPragmaticsPsycholinguisticsSociolinguisticsApplied linguisticsComputational linguisticsNeurolinguisticsFeatures of linguisticsDescriptiveDealing with spoken languageSynchronicChapter 2 PhoneticsWhat is phonetics?Phonetics is termed as the study of speech sounds.Sub-branches of phoneticsArticulatory phonetics – the production of speech soundsAcoustic phonetics – the physical properties of speech soundsAuditory phonetics – the perceptive mechanism of speech soundsThe speech organsWhere does the air stream come from?From the lungWhat is the function of vocal cords?Controlling the air streamWhat are the cavities?Oral cavityPharyngeal cavityNasal cavityTranscription of speech soundsUnits of representationSegments (the individual sounds)Phonetic symbolsThe widely used symbols for phonetic transcription of speech sounds is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).The IPA attempts to represent each sound of human speech with a single symbol and the symbols are enclosed in brackets [ ] to distinguish phonetic transcriptions from the spelling system of a language.In more detailed transcription (narrow transcription) a sound may be transcribed with a symbol to which a smaller is added in order to mark the finer distinctions.Description of speech soundsDescription of English consonantsGeneral feature: obstructionCriteria of consonant descriptionPlaces of articulationManners of articulationV oicing of articulationPlaces of articulationThis refers to each point at which the air stream can be modified to produce a sound.Bilabial: [p] [b] [m] [w]Labiodental: [f] [v]Interdental: [] []Alveolar: [t] [d] [s] [z] [l] [n] [r]Palatal: [] [] [t] [d] [j]Velar: [k] [g] []Glottal: [h]Manners of articulationThis refers to how the air stream is modified, whether it is completely blocked or partially obstructed.Stops: [p] [b] [t] [d] [k] [g]Fricatives: [s] [z] [] [] [f] [v] [] [] [h]Affricates: [t] [d]Liquids: [l] [r]Glides: [w] [j]Nasals: [m] [n] []V oicing of articulationThis refers to the vibrating of the vocal cords when sounds are produced.V oiced soundsV oiceless soundsDescription of English vowelsGeneral feature: without obstructionCriteria of vowel descriptionPart of the tongue that is raisedFrontCentralBackExtent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the palateHighMidLowKind of opening made at the lipsPosition of the soft palateSingle vowels (monophthongs) and diphthongsPhonetic features and natural classesClasses of sounds that share a feature or features are called natural classes.Major class features can specify segments across the consonant-vowel boundary.Classification of segments by features is the basis on which variations of sounds can be analyzed.Chapter 3 PhonologyWhat is phonology?Phonology is the study of sound systems and patterns.Phonology and phonetics are two studies different in perspectives, which are concerned with the study of speech sounds.Phonology focuses on three fundamental questions.What sounds make up the list of sounds that can distinguish meaning in a particular language? What sounds vary in what ways in what context?What sounds can appear together in a sequence in a particular language?Phonemes and allophonesA phoneme is a distinctive, abstract sound unit with a distinctive feature.The variants of a phoneme are termed allophones.We use allophones to realize phonemes.Discovering phonemesContrastive distribution – phonemesIf sounds appear in the same environment, they are said to be in contrastive distribution.Typical contrastive distribution of sounds is found in minimal pairs and minimal sets.A minimal pair consists of two words that differ by only one sound in the same position.Minimal sets are more than two words that are distinguished by one segment in the same position.The overwhelming majority of the consonants and vowels represented by the English phonetic alphabet are in contrastive distribution.Some sounds can hardly be found in contrastive distribution in English. However, these sounds are distinctive in terms of phonetic features. Therefore, they are separate phonemes.Complementary distribution – allophonesSounds that are not found in the same position are said to be in complementary distribution.If segments are in complementary distribution and share a number of features, they are allophones of the same phoneme.Free variationIf segments appear in the same position but the mutual substitution does not result in change of meaning, they are said to be in free variation.Distinctive and non-distinctive featuresFeatures that distinguish meaning are called distinctive features, and features do not, non-distinctive features.Distinctive features in one language may be non-distinctive in another.Phonological rulesPhonemes are abstract sound units stored in the mind, while allophones are the actual pronunciations in speech.What phoneme is realized by what allophones in what specific context is another major question in phonology.The regularities that what sounds vary in what ways in what context are generalized and stated in phonology as rules.There are many phonological rules in English. Take the following ones as examples.[+voiced +consonant] – [-voiced]/[-voiced +consonant]_[-voiced +bilabial +stop] – unaspirated/[-voiced +alveolar +fricative]_Syllable structureA syllable is a phonological unit that is composed of one or more phonemes.Every syllable has a nucleus, which is usually a vowel.The nucleus may be preceded by one or more consonants called the onset and followed by one or more consonants called the coda.Sequence of phonemesNative speakers of any language intuitively know what sounds can be put together.Some sequences are not possible in English. The impossible sequences are called systematic gaps.Sequences that are possible but do not occur yet are called accidental gaps.When new words are coined, they may fill some accidental gaps but they will never fill systematic gaps.Suprasegmental featuresFeatures that are found over a segment or a sequence of two or more segments are called suprasegmental features.These features are distinctive features.StressStress is the perceived prominence of one or more syllabic elements over others in a word.Stress is a relative notion. Only words that are composed of two or more syllables have stress. If a word has three or more syllables, there is a primary stress and a secondary stress.In some languages word stress is fixed, i.e. on a certain syllable. In English, word stress is unpredictable.IntonationWhen we speak, we change the pitch of our voice to express ideas.Intonation is the variation of pitch to distinguish utterance meaning.The same sentence uttered with different intonation may express different attitude of the speaker.In English, there are three basic intonation patterns: fall, rise, fall-rise.ToneTone is the variation of pitch to distinguish words.The same sequence of segments can be different words if uttered with different tones.Chinese is a typical tone language.Chapter 4 MorphologyWhat is morphology?The total number of words stored in the brain is called the lexicon.Words are the smallest free units of language that unite sounds with meaning.Morphology is defined as the study of the internal structure and the formation of words.Morphemes and allomorphsThe smallest meaningful unit of language is called a morpheme.A morpheme may be represented by different forms, called allomorphs.“zero” form of a morpheme and suppletivesSome countable nouns do not change form to express plurality. Similarly, some regular verbs do not change form to indicate past tense. In these two cases, the noun or verb contains two morphemes, among which there is one “zero form” of a morpheme.Some verbs have irregular changes when they are in past tense. In this case, the verbs also have two morphemes. Words which are not related in form to indicate grammatical contrast with their roots are called suppletives.Free and bound morphemesSome morphemes constitute words by themselves. These morphemes are called free morphemes.Other morphemes are never used independently in speech and writing. They are alwaysattached to free morphemes to form new words. These morphemes are called bound morphemes. The distinction between a free morphemes and a bound morpheme is whether it can be used independently in speech or writing.Free morphemes are the roots of words, while bound morphemes are the affixes (prefixes and suffixes).Inflexional and derivational morphemesInflexional morphemes in modern English indicate case and number of nouns, tense and aspect of verbs, and degree of adjectives and adverbs.Derivational morphemes are bound morphemes added to existing forms to construct new words.English affixes are divided into prefixes and suffixes.Some languages have infixes, bound morphemes which are inserted into other morphemes.The process of putting affixes to existing forms to create new words is called derivation. Words thus formed are called derivatives.Conclusion: classification of morphemesMorphemesFree morphemesBound morphemesInflexionalDerivational: affixesPrefixes: -s, -’s, -er, -est, -ing, -ed, -sSuffixesFormation of new wordsDerivationDerivation forms a word by adding an affix to a free morpheme.Since derivation can apply more than once, it is possible to create a derived word with a number of affixes. For example, if we add affixes to the word friend, we can form befriend, friendly, unfriendly, friendliness, unfriendliness, etc. This process of adding more than one affix to a free morpheme is termed complex derivation.Derivation does not apply freely to any word of a given category. Generally speaking, affixes cannot be added to morphemes of a different language origin.Derivation is also constrained by phonological factors.Some English suffixes also change the word stress.CompoundingCompounding is another common way to form words. It is the combination of free morphemes.The majority of English compounds are the combination of words from the three classes –nouns, verbs and adjectives – and fall into the three classes.In compounds, the rightmost morpheme determines the part of speech of the word.The meaning of compounds is not always the sum of meaning of the components.ConversionConversion is the process putting an existing word of one class into another class.Conversion is usually found in words containing one morpheme.ClippingClipping is a process that shortens a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables.Clipped words are initially used in spoken English on informal occasions.Some clipped words have become widely accepted, and are used even in formal styles. For example, the words bus (omnibus), vet (veterinarian), gym (gymnasium), fridge (refrigerator) and fax (facsimile) are rarely used in their complete form.BlendingBlending is a process that creates new words by putting together non-morphemic parts of existing words. For example, smog (smoke + frog), brunch (a meal in the middle of morning, replacing both breakfast and lunch), motel (motor + hotel). There is also an interesting word in the textbook for junior middle school students –“plike” (a kind of machine that is like both a plane and a bike).Back-formationBack-formation is the process that creates a new word by dropping a real or supposed suffix. For example, the word televise is back-formed from television. Originally, the word television is formed by putting the prefix tele- (far) to the root vision (viewing). At the same time, there is a suffix –sion in English indicating nouns. Then people consider the –sion in the word television as that suffix and drop it to form the verb televise.Acronyms and abbreviationsAcronyms and abbreviations are formed by putting together the initial letters of all words in a phrase or title.Acronyms can be read as a word and are usually longer than abbreviations, which are read letter by letter.This type of word formation is common in names of organizations and scientific terminology. EponymsEponyms are words that originate from proper names of individuals or places. For example, the word sandwich is a common noun originating from the fourth Earl of Sandwich, who put his food between two slices of bread so that he could eat while gambling.CoinageCoinage is a process of inventing words not based on existing morphemes.This way of word formation is especially common in cases where industry requires a word for a new product. For example, Kodak and Coca-cola.For more detailed explanation to the ways of word formation, see my notes of Practical English Grammar.Chapter 5 SyntaxWhat is syntax?The term syntax is from the ancient Greek word syntaxis, which literally means “arrangement” or “setting out together”.Traditionally, it refers to the branch of grammar dealing with the ways in which words, with or without appropriate inflexions, are arranged to show connexions of meaning within the sentence. Syntax is a branch of linguistics that analyzes the structure of sentences.What is a sentence?Syntax is the analysis of sentence structure. A sentence is a sequence of words arranged in a certain order in accordance with grammatical rules.A sequence can be either well-formed or ill-formed. Native speakers of a language know intuitively what strings of words are grammatical and what are ungrammatical.Knowledge of sentence structureStructural ambiguityStructural ambiguity is one or more string(s) of words has/have more than one meaning. For example, the sentence Tom said he would come yesterday can be interpreted in different ways.Word orderDifferent arrangements of the same words have different meanings. For example, with the words Tom, love and Mary, we may say Tom loves Mary or Mary loves Tom.Grammatical relationsNative speakers know what element relates to what other element directly or indirectly. For example, in The boats are not big enough and We don’t have enough boats, the word enough is related to different words in the two sentences.RecursionThe same rule can be used repeatedly to create infinite sentences. For example, I know that you are happy. He knows that I know that you are happy. She knows that he knows that I know that you are happy.Sentence relatednessSentences may be structurally variant but semantically related.Syntactic categoriesA syntactic category is a class of words or phrases that can substitute for one another without loss of grammaticality. For example, consider the following sentences:The child found the knife.A policeman found the knife.The man who just left here found the knife.He found the knife.All the italicized parts belong to the same syntactic category called noun phrase (NP). The noun phrases in these sentences function as subject. The knife, also a noun phrase, functions as object.Traditional grammarIn traditional grammar, a sentence is considered a sequence of words which are classified into parts of speech.Sentences are analyzed in terms of grammatical functions of words: subjects, objects, verbs (predicate s), predicatives, …Compulsory elements of a sentence: subject, verb, object, complement, adverbial…Nouns: number, case, gender…Verbs: tense, aspect, voice…Adjectives and adverbs: comparative and superlative degreesAgreement in number/person/genderParsing: trying to make detailed analysis in structureStructural grammarStructural grammar arose out of an attempt to deviate from traditional grammar. It deals with the inter-relationships of different grammatical units. In the concern of structural grammar, words are not just independent grammatical units, but are inter-related to one another.Form classForm class is a wider concept than part of speech in traditional grammar.Linguistic units which can appear in the same slot are said to be in the same form class. For example, a(n), the, my, that, every, etc. can be placed before nouns in English sentences. These words fall into one form class.These linguistic units are observed to have the same distribution.Immediate constituent (IC) analysisStructural grammar is characterized by a top-down process of analysis.A sentence is seen as a constituent structure. All the components of the sentences are its constituents. A sentence can be cut into sections. Each section is its immediate constituent. Then each section can be further cut into constituents. This on-going cutting is termed immediate constituent analysis.Examples:Old men and women: old | men and women, old || men | and womenThe ||| little || girl | speaks || French.In this way, sentence structure is analyzed not only horizontally but also vertically. In other words, IC analysis can account for the linearity and the hierarchy of sentence structure.I will suggest | that this || in itself reflects ||| a particular ideology |||| about gender ||||| that deserves to be re-examined.Two advantages of IC analysis:It can analyze some ambiguities.It shows linearity and hierarchy of one sentence.Transformational-generative (TG) grammarBackground and the goal of TG grammarChomsky (1957) – grammar is the knowledge of native speakers.Adequacy of observationAdequacy of descriptionAdequacy of explanationWriting a TG grammar means working out two sets of rules –phrase structure rules and transformation rules – which are followed by speakers of the language.TG grammar must account for all and only grammatical sentences.Syntactic categoriesNoun Phrase (NP)Verb Phrase (VP)Sentence (S)Determiner (Det)Adjective (Adj)Pronoun (Pro)Verb (V)Auxiliary Verb (Aux)Prepositional Phrase (PP)Adverb (Adv)Phrase structure (PS) rulesS →NP VP(Det) (Adj) NNP →{ProVP →(Aux) V (NP) (PP)PP →P NPTree diagrams (omit)Recursion and the infinitude of languageS contains NP and VP and that S may be a constituent of NP and VP. NP and PP can be mutually inclusive. If phrasal categories appear on both sides of the arrow in phrase structure rules, the rules are recursive. Recursive rules can be applied again and again, and the phrase structure can grow endlessly.Sub-categorization of the lexicon.The process of putting words of the same lexical category into smaller classes according to their syntactic characteristics is called sub-categorization.Transformational rules (T-rules)Particle movement T-ruleJohn turned the machine off. John turned off the machine.Replacement T-ruleJohn beat Tom. He beat Tom.The house needs repairing (to be repaired).Insertion T-ruleA fish is swimming in the pond. There is a fish swimming in the pond.Deletion T-ruleThey came in and (they) sat down.Copying T-ruleHe is coming, isn’t he?He has finished his homework, hasn’t he?Reflexivization T-ruleI wash me (myself).TG grammar accounts for the mental process of our speaking.Systematic-functional grammarBackground and the goal of systemic-functional grammarM. A. K. HallidayLanguage is a system of meaning potential and a network of meaning as choices.Meaning determines form, not vice versa. Meaning is realized through forms.The goal of systemic-functional grammar is to see how function and meaning are realized through forms.The three meta-functions of languageIdeational functionInterpersonal functionTextual functionThe transitivity system of languageElementsProcessParticipantsCircumstancesCategorization of realityDoing – material processProcesses involving physical actions: walking, running, throwing, kicking, wrapping, etc.Actor, goal and circumstanceBeing – relational processProcesses representing a relation being set up between two separate entities.Be (identifying), have (attributive)Carrier/possessor and attribute/possessedSensing – mental processProcesses of sensing, including feeling, thinking, perceiving, imagining, wanting, liking, etc. Senser and phenomenonLess central types of linguistic processVerbal processes – saying somethingSayer and receiverBehavioural processes – active conscious processesBehaver and rangeExistential processes – existence of an entityExistentMood and modalityMood expresses the speaker’s attitude and serves for interpersonal function. It is a syntactic constituent made up of the subject and the finite.Modality is the degree of certainty or frequency expressed by the grammatical forms of finite. It can be categorized by modalization and modulation.Theme and rhemeTheme is the given information, while rheme is the new information.Examples:John | is my friend.He | should have replied to my letter.Chapter 6 SemanticsWhat is semantics?Semantics is defined as the study of meaning. However, it is not the only linguistic discipline that studies meaning.Semantics answers the question “what does this sentence mean”. In other words, it is the analysis of conventional meanings in words and sentences out of context.Reference and senseLinguistic expressions stand in a relation to the world. There are two aspects of meaning.Reference is the relation by which a word picks out or identifies an entity in the world. But the referential theory fails to account for certain kinds of linguistic expression.Some words are meaningful, but they identify no entities in the real world, such as the words dragon, phoenix, unicorn, and mermaid.It is not possible for some words to find referent in the world, such as the words but, and, of, however, the, etc.Speakers of English understand the meaning of a round triangle although there is no such graph.Sense is the relation by which words stand in human mind. It is mental representation, the association with something in the speaker’s or hearer’s mind. The study of meaning from the perspective of sense is called the representational approach.Classification of lexical meaningsReferential meaning (denotative meaning) – central meaning of words, stable, universalAssociative meaning –meaning that hinges on referential meaning, less stable, more culture-specificConnotative meaning – the communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, embraces the properties of the referent, peripheralSocial meaning (stylistic meaning) – what is conveyed about the social circumstances of the use of a linguistic expressionAffective meaning –what is communicated of the feeling or attitude of the speaker/writer towards what is referred toReflected meaning – what is communicated through association with another sense of the same expressionTaboosCollocative meaning –the associated meaning a word acquires in line with the meaning of words which tend to co-occur with itLexical sense relationsSynonymySynonyms are words which have different forms but similar meanings.Dialectal synonyms – lift/elevator, flat/apartmentSynonyms of different styles – gentleman/guySynonyms of different registers – salt/sodium chlorideSynonyms differing in affective meaning – attract/seduceSynonyms differing in collocation – beautiful/handsome, able/capableSynonyms are frequently used in speaking and writing as a cohesive device. In order to avoid repetition the writer/speaker needs to use a synonym to replace a word in the previous co-text when he/she wants to continue to address that idea. The synonyms together function to create cohesion of the text.AntonymyAntonyms are words which are opposite in meaning.Gradable antonyms – pairs of words opposite to each other, but the positive of one word does not necessarily imply the negative of the other. For example, the words hot and cold are a pair of antonyms, but not hot does not necessarily mean cold, maybe warm, mild or cool. Therefore, this pair of antonyms is a pair of gradable antonyms.Complementary antonyms – words opposite to each other and the positive of one implies the negative of the other: alive/deadReversal (relational) antonyms – words that denote the same relation or process from one or the other direction: push/pull, up/down, teacher/studentAntonymy is frequently utilized as a rhetorical resource in language use. Oxymoron and antithesis based on antonymy. Gradable antonyms may give rise to fuzziness.HomonymyHomonyms are words which have the same form, but different meanings.。
