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Lecture One

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Modern linguistics enjoys employing synchronic approach. Speech and writing ... Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic? Why? ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Lecture One


1
  • Lecture One
  • Linguistics and Language

2
  • Definition of linguistics
  • Definitions
  • Linguistics is generally defined as the
    scientific study of language. (Dai He, p. 1)
  • Linguistics, as the name suggests, is the science
    of language and thus is usually defined as the
    systematic study of language or, a discipline
    that describes all aspects of language and
    formulate theories as to how language works.
    (Yang, 2005, p. 27)
  • Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching Applied
    Linguistics defines linguistics as the study of
    language as a system of human communication.

3
  • General linguistics vs. descriptive linguistics
    (termed by John Lyon, in Wen, p. 1)
  • General linguistics provides descriptive
    linguistics with a general framework in which a
    particular language can be analyzed and
    described. General linguistics and descriptive
    linguistics are complementary to each other.
    English linguistics is a kind of descriptive
    linguistics.

4
  • Scope of linguistics
  • Micro linguistics
  • Phonetics the study of sounds used in
    linguistics communication
  • Phonology how sounds are put together and used
    to convey meaning in communication
  • Morphology the study of the way in which the
    linguistics symbols are arranged and combined to
    form words
  • Syntax the study of the rules governing how
    words are combined to form grammatically
    permissible sentences
  • Semantics the study of meaning
  • Pragmatics the study of language use

5
  • Macro linguistics
  • Sociolinguistics the study of different social
    aspects of language and its relation with society
  • Psycholinguistics relates the study of language
    to psychology
  • Applied linguistics application of linguistic
    theories and principles to language teaching,
    especially the teaching of foreign and second
    languages
  • Neurolinguistics the study of the relationship
    between brain and language

6
  • Some distinctions in linguistics
  • Prescriptive and descriptive
  • Prescriptive lay down rules for correct and
    standard behavior in using language
  • Descriptive aims to describe and analyze the
    language people actually use

7
  • Synchronic and diachronic (?????)
  • Synchronic description of a language at some
    point of time in history
  • Diachronic the description of a language as it
    changes through time. Modern linguistics enjoys
    employing synchronic approach

8
  • Speech and writing
  • Speech is prior to writing
  • The writing system is invented when needed
  • Today there are languages which can only be
    spoken but not written
  • Speech plays a greater role than writing in daily
    communication
  • Each human being first acquires speech and then
    learns writing
  • Modern linguistics tends to pay more attention to
    authentic speech

9
  • Langue and parole (by Swiss linguist F de
    Saussure)
  • Langue Refers to the abstract linguistic system
    shared by all the members of a speech community.
    Langue is the set of conventions and rules which
    language users all have to abide by. Langue is
    abstract it is not the language people actually
    use. What linguists should do is to abstract
    langue from parole which is too varied and
    confusing for systematic investigation.
  • Parole Refers to the realization of langue in
    actual use. It is the concrete use of the
    conventions and the application of the rules.
    Parole is concrete it refers to the naturally
    occurring language events.

10
  • Competence and performance (by American linguist
    N. Chomsky)
  • Competence the ideal users knowledge of the
    rules of his language, a speaker has internalized
    a set of rules about his language which enables
    him to use the language
  • Performance the actual realization of the
    knowledge in linguistic communication, a
    speakers performance in using his language can
    be imperfect
  • These two distinctions are quite similar to each
    other. Langue lays more emphasis on social
    conventions while competence is more concerned in
    psychology or the property of mind of each
    individual.

11
  • Traditional grammar and modern linguistics
  • Modern linguistics is descriptive while
    traditional grammar is prescriptive.
  • Modern linguistics regards the spoken language as
    primary, not the written while traditional
    grammar over-emphasize the importance of the
    written form of language.
  • Modern linguistics differs from traditional
    grammar also in that it does not force languages
    into a Latin-based framework.

12
  • Definitions of language
  • Definitions
  • Language is a purely human and non-instinctive
    method of communicating ideas, emotions and
    desires by means of voluntarily produced
    symbols. (Sapir, 1921)
  • Language is the institution whereby humans
    communicate and interact with each other by means
    of habitually used oral auditory arbitrary
    symbols. (Hall, 1968)
  • From now on I will consider language to be a set
    (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in
    length and constructed out of a finite set of
    elements. (Chomsky, 1957)
  • Generally accepted definition
  • Language is a system of arbitrary vocal
    symbols used for human communication.

13
  • The nature of language
  • Arbitrariness Generally there is no logical
    connection between meanings and sounds.
    Exceptions are onomatopoeic words compound words.
    This nature makes language have an unlimited
    source of expressions.
  • Productivity or creativity Much of what we say
    and hear we are saying or hearing for the first
    time. This makes human language totally different
    from any animal language.

14
  • Duality Or double-structured. Language consists
    of two sets of structures, or two levels. Lower
    level sounds which are meaningless. Higher
    level units of meaning by grouping or regrouping
    sounds. Units of meaning can be arranged into
    infinite number of sentences.
  • Displacement Language can be used to refer to
    contexts removed from the immediate situations of
    the speaker.
  • Cultural transmission Language is culturally
    transmitted. A language is taught and learned
    within a particular cultural background.

15
  • References
  • Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. The
    Hague Mouton.
  • Dai, W. D He, Z. X. (2002). A new concise
    course on linguistics for students of English.
    Shanghai Shanghai Foreign Language Education
    Press.
  • Sapir, E. (1921). Language. New York Harcourt
    Brace.
  • Wen, Q. F. (?). An introduction to English
    linguistics. Nanjing ?
  • Yang, X. Z. (2005). An introduction to
    linguistics. Beijing Higher Education Press.

16
  • Task
  • Work in groups and discuss the following
    questions
  • What are the major branches of linguistics? What
    does each of them study?
  • In what basic ways does modern linguistics differ
    from traditional grammar?
  • Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or
    diachronic? Why?
  • For what reasons does modern linguistics give
    priority to speech rather than to writing?
  • How is Saussures distinction between language
    and parole similar to Chomskys distinction
    between competence and performance?
  • What are the main features of human language that
    have been specified by C. Hockett to show that it
    is essentially different from animal
    communication system?
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