语言学概论考试要点(2009版)

语言学概论考试复习要点

1. Definition of language

Language is a system of arbitrary(随意的) vocal symbols used for human communication.

2. Design features(辨别特征)

Arbitrariness(随意性)and non-arbitrariness:

productivity（创造性）

duality(二重性)：

displacement(移位性)

genetic-cultural transmission.

discreteness of language(分离性, 离散性)：.

3. microlinguistics and macrolinguistics

microlinguistics: is concerned with the study of language or languages per se, not concern other field of study such as sociology, psychology, literature, computer science, etc. Macrolinguistics:is concerned with the study of language which involves other discipline (interdisciplinary) sociolinguistics: Psycholinguistics: Applied linguistics:

4 l angue and parole(语言和言语) 由Swiss linguist F. de Saussure 提出的

Langue r efers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community.(conventions and rules; abstract; relatively stable;)

Parole refers to the realization of a langue in actual use.(the concrete use of the conventions and rules; concrete, refers to the naturally occurring language events; varies from person to person, situation to situation)

区别的目的：parole is simple a mass of linguistic facts, too varied and

confusing for systematic investigation and what linguists should do is to

abstract langue from parole(发现规律)。

Descriptive vs prescriptive

https://www.360docs.net/doc/3a10646390.html,petence and performance(能力和运用)：

American linguist A. Chomsky proposed in the late 1950s.

Competence: the ideal user?s knowledge of the rules of his language

Performance: the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication.

犯错误的原因是：though internalised, but with social and psychological factors such as stress, anxiety and embarrassment. .

Synchronic Linguistics vs. Diachronic Linguistics

6. Definition of morphology and morphemes

Morphology is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.（simplify, identify, beautify）

Definition of Morpheme: the smallest meaningful unit of language (boyish, boy---young, male human being; ish---having the quality of…)

Free vs bound

7. syntax

Syntax: it is a central part of grammar, which studies how to combine words to form sentences in a language.

8. The linear and hierarchical structures of sentences

(1) The sequential order of words in a sentence suggests that the structure of a

sentence is linear. Change the order, the meaning will be changed or may lead to no sentence.

The hierarchical structure of a sentence

The superficial arrangement of words in a linear sequence does not mean that sentences are simply linearly-structured, adding one word onto another, following a simple arithmetic logic. 但是，intuitively, English speakers divide these sentences in the way that obviously follows a particular hierarchical order.

For example, The company// wanted a// new advertising campaign. (this division is rediculous). Instead, we divide it into meaningful segments such as

These meaningful segments are called constituents (组成成分)。And the smaller constituents can group together to form a bigger constituents. And the biggest is the sentence. So the constituent structure is hierarchical.

9. Deep structure and surface structure

Deep structure: the abstract syntactic representation of a sentence. It is believed that phrase structure rules, with the insertion of the lexicon, generate sentences at the level of deep structure.

Surface structure: the directly observable syntactic form of the sentence. The application of transformational rules transforms a sentence from the level of deep structure to that of surface structure.

Surface Structure

For example: The boy ate the cake. The cake was eaten by the boy. ( these two are all surface structure). The same deep structure is: The boy eat the cake.

What we utter and write is the surface structure, not deep structure, which shows the grammatical relationship among base components (phrases) or the internal relation of a sentence. This relationship cannot be detected from the linear structure of the sentence.

For example: The newspaper was not delivered today. 其深层结构是：

10. Universal Grammar

A theory which claims to account for the grammatical competence of every adult no matter what language he or she speaks. It claims that every speaker knows a set of principles (原理)which apply to all languages and also a set of

Parameters(参量)that can vary from one language to another, but only within certain limits.

According to UG theory, acquiring a language means applying the principles of UG to

a particular language and learning which value is appropriate for each parameter.

11. The naming theory(命名论):

One of the oldest notions concerning meaning, and also a very primitive one, proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. According to this theory, the l inguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the word s used in a language are taken to be l abels of the objects they stand for.

Pen object used for writing

12 The conceptualist view（意念观）

symbol/form---linguistic element referent---object in the world

The conceptualist view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i.e. between language and the real world); rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.

The symbol of a word relates to “things ” by virtue of the concept which is associated with the form of the word in the minds , and the concept looked at from this point of view is the meaning of the word.

Dog-------the concept of dog (what a dog is like), not the dog in the sentence …the dog over there looks unfriendly?.

13 Contextualism （语境论）

Contextualism is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from observable contexts: situational context and the linguistic context.

(1) Situational contex t: Every utterance occurs in a particular spatiotemporal situation, the main components of which include, apart from the place and time of the utterance, the speaker and the hearer, the actions they are performing at the time, the various objects and events existent in the situation.

e.g. Do you know the meaning of war?

a. It may mean Do you know the meaning of the word wa r? ,when said by a language teacher to a class of students.

b. It may mean War produces death, injury and suffering, when said by an injured

soldier to a politician who favours war.

(2) Linguistic context: is concerned with the probability of a word?s collocation with another word, which forms part of the “meaning? of the word, i.e. its collocative meaning, and also with the part of text that precedes and follows a particular utterance.

Collocative meaning: Black hair,// black coffee(浓咖啡)

Text position: The seal could not be found. The zoo keeper became worried.

The seal could not be found,. The king became worried.

14. Sense(系统意义) and reference（所指意义）

(1) Sense: It refers to the meaning that lies in the relation or the lexical contrasts among linguistic forms themselves. It is concerned with all the features of the linguistic form; it is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de-contextualized. It is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are interested in.

Sense is intra-linguistic in nature.

系统意义是指附加意义，涉及语言内部关系，一个词的系统意义通过语别的词的对照关系表现出来。

(2) Reference: It refers to the meaning that resides in the relation between linguistic forms and what a linguistic form refers to in the real physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience. Referential meaning is extra-linguistic in nature, because its interpretation depends on non-linguistic context.

所指意义是指词和句子的语言成分跟外部世界的关系。

15. Sentence meaning

Grammatical meaning: refers to its grammaticality, i.e. its grammatical well-formedness.

Semantical meaning: Whether a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called selectional restrictions ,i.e., constraints on what lexical items can go with what others.(有些句子语法正确，但语义上不正确)

16. Definition of pragmatics:

It is the study of the use of language in communication, particularly the relationships between sentences and the context and situation in which they are used. It is concerned with the meaning which is to be perceived in opposition to the literal meaning.

18. Pragmatics VS. semantics

As pragmatics and semantics are both linguistic studies of meaning, then how are they related and how do they differ?

For example, with the word dog semanticists were happy with the definition a domesticated, canine mammal. With the sentence The dog is barking ,they would be happy to explain its meaning as the predication consisting of an argument dog and the predicate bark.---Dog(bark). However,pragmatics would take the context into consideration, interpreting it as a warning of danger or something else.

Therefore, what essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in the study of meaning the context of use is considered. If it is not considered, the study is restricted to the area of traditional semantics; if it is considered, the study is being carried

out in the area of pragmatics.

17. Sentence meaning VS. utterance(话语) meaning

If we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the course of communication, it becomes an utterance, and it should be considered in the situation in which it is actually uttered or used.( the meaning of sentence is abstract and decontextualized, that of an utterance is concrete and context-dependent, based on sentence meaning. It is the realisation of the abstrat meaning of a sentence in a real situation or context.For example, The dog is barking may be a sentence or utterance. Take it as grammatical unit and a self-contained unit in isolation, then we treat it as a sentence. If we take it as something a speaker utters in a certain situation with a certain purpose (a burglar broke in ), then we treat it as utterance.

18. Austin’s theory: a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously when speaking: locutionary act (言内行为)、illocutionary act (言外行为)and perlocutionary act (言后行为)。

(1) A locutionary ac t is the act of uttering words, phrases, clauses. It is the act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and phonology.

An illocutionary act is the act of expressing the speaker?s intention; it is the act performed in saying something.

A perlocutionary act is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance.

例句：You have left the door wide open.

Locutionary act: uttered the words and expressed what the words literally mean. Illocutionary act: expressed his intention of speaking---asking someone to close the door. Perlocutionary act: if the hearer gets the message and sees the speaker means to ask someone to close the door, the speaker has successfully brought about the change in the real world.

19. Discourse : is a general term for examples of language use, i.e. language which has been produced as the result of an act of communication. Grammar refers to the rules a language uses to form grammatical units such as clause, phrase and sentence. Discourse refers to large units of language such as paragraphs, conversations, and interviews.

20. Discourse Analysis:the study of how sentences in spoken and written language form large meaningful units such as paragraphs, conversations , interviews, etc. For example, discourse analysis deals with:

Cohesion连接或衔接: the grammatical and/or lexical relationships between the different elements of a text. This may be the relationship between different sentences or between different parts of a sentence. In understanding the two elements in discourse, the interpretation of one element presupposes the decoding of the other and the two elements are actually in the relation of the presupposing and the presupposed. For example, Coherence连贯: the relationship which link the meanings of utterances in a discourse or of the sentences in a text. /// or it refers to the natural, reasonable or logical connection in meaning among the component parts of a text in question. Links may be grammatical or lexical. But the presence of the formal markers of cohesive relation does not necessarily mean the

presence of coherence: For example

21. Schema Theory

Schema theory is used to describe the interaction between the knowledge of the world and a text or discourse.Schemas come from our previous experience with the world, either through living experience or through formal/informal education.

22. types of schemas

A. Schemas of scenes:

B. Schemas of events:

C. Schemas of action:

D. Schemas of persons:

E. Schemas of stories:

23. The nature of language change

Change is inevitable

Change is universal

Change is continuous.

Change is regular and systematic, extensive

24. Regional variation (地域变异)

Regional variation is speech variation according to the particular area (country, province, town) where a speaker comes from, the most discernible and definable. Geographical barriers--the major source of regional variation of language, but loyalty to one’s native speech and physical and psychological resistance to change are also reasons.

25. . Stylistic variation (文体变异)

It refers to differences associated with the speech situation: who is speaking to whom about what under what circumstances for what purpose. Stylistic variation (speech or writing) -----range on a continuum from casual or colloquial to formal or polite according to the type of communication situation.

Also refers to a particular person’s use of speech or writing at all times, or to a way of speaking or writing at a particular period of time, e.g. Dickens? style Also used by a particular group of people, (same occupation—doctors, lawyers, or the same interests, stamp collection, football fans)

It may also refer to the language use with distinctive words or phrases and special grammatical constructions , such as scientific language or legal language.

26. Standard and nonstandard language

The standard language is the variety of a language which has the highest status in a community or nation and which is usually based on the speech and writing of educated

native speakers of the language. It is the language employed by the g overnment and the judiciary system, used by the mass media and in literature , described in dictionary and grammar, and taught in educational institutions and taught to non-native speakers when they learn the language as a foreign language. Language varieties other than the standard are called nonstandard, or vernacular , languages(本地话)。

27．Lingua francas (族际通用语)

A lingua franca is a variety of language that serves as a medium of communication among groups of people of diverse linguistic backgrounds.

28. Diglossia (双言现象) and bilingualism（双语现象）

Diglossia(双言现象)

It usually describes a situation in which two very different varieties of language co-exist in a speech community. One is more standard variety called the high variety, for more formal or serious matters (gov. media. Church), and the other called low variety, for colloquial and other informal situations (f amily, friend servant, waiters, workmen).

Bilingualism(双语现象)

Bilingualism refers to a linguistic situation in which two standard languages are used either by an individual or by a group of speakers.

29. The critical period for language acquisition

Critical period hypothesis refers to a period in one?s life extending from about age two to puberty（青春期）, during which the human brain is most ready to acquire a particular language and language learning can proceed easily, swiftly, and without explicit instruction.

Grice cooperative principles

30. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

The American anthropologist-linguist Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956) proposed a sweeping, two-prolonged hypothesis concerning language and thought: (1).Linguistic determinism(语言决定论): all higher levels of thinking are dependent on language, or language determines thought

(2) linguistic relativism（语言关联性）: speakers of different languages perceive and experience the world differently, that is, relative to their linguistic background.

In short, the language we speak determines the way we perceive the world and therefore the nature of thought.

It follows from this hypothesis that there is no real translation and that it is impossible to learn the language of a different culture unless the learner abandon his or her own mode of thinking and acquire the thought patterns of the native speakers of the target language.

38.Understanding the relation of language and thought

To explore and better understand the relationship between language and thought, we should first examine the major functions that language serves and the kind of processes that thinking follow. And then we discuss the extent to which language and thought are dependent on each other.

(1). Major functions of language: First, language functions as a means of interpersonal communication,

(2). The development and blending of language and thought.

(3)Thinking without language

(4) Language as a conventional coding system to express thought

(5) The ways in which language affects thought

31. Arguments against the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Major arguments against the notion that language determines thought are presented in the following.

(1) Words and meaning

(2) Grammatical structures:

(3) Translation

(4) Second language acquisition:

(5) Language and world views

32. Brain Lateralization (大脑的侧化)

Linguistic lateralization(语言侧化)

32. Acquisition vs learning

According to Krashen, acquisition refers to the gradual and subconscious development of ability in the first language by using it naturally in daily communicative situation.

Learning is defined as a conscious process of accumulating knowledge of a second language, usually in school setting.

A second language is more commonly learned but to some degree may also be acquired, depending on the environmental setting and the input received by the L2 learner.

33. Transfer and interference

Language transfer: learners will subconsciously use their L1 knowledge in learning a second language. （positive vs negative/ similar vs differet）

Language interference: when there is a negative transfer, it is commonly called interference.

34. . Interlanguage and fossilization(僵化现象)

SLA is viewed as a process of creative construction, in which a learner constructs a series

of internal representation that comprises the learner?s interim (过渡的)knowledge of the target language, known as interlanguage., that is the language that a learner constructs at a given stage of SLA. It is a product of L2 training, mother tongue interference, overgeneralization of the target language rules, and learning and communicative strategies of the learner.

Fossilization: It was found, however, most L2 learners failed to reach the end-point of the interlanguage continuum and acquire the native-like competence in the target language.(语音僵化最明显)。

35. The Affective Filter Hypothesis claims that comprehensible input, although necessary, is not sufficient for second language acquisition. The acquirer needs to be open to the input. The “a ffective Filter” is a mental barrier that can prevent input from reach ing the Language Acquisition Device. In other words, it prevents acquirers from fully utilizing the comprehensible input they receive for language acquisition. Research over the last decade has confirmed that a variety of affective variables relate to success in second language acquisition (Krashen, 1981). Most of those studied can be placed into one of the following three categories:

(1) Motivation: Performers with high motivation generally do better in second language acquisition. Gardner and Lambert (1972) divide motivation into two sub-types. The first is instrumental motivation, which is characterized by a practical need for the language in order to fulfill short-term goals such as passing a language exam. This need is functional and does not imply or require identification with the target culture. Integrative motivation, on the other hand, is distinguished by a desire to incorporate oneself in the target culture. Both of these kinds of motivation help to lower the affective filter and, therefore, bring about language acquisition. But integrative motivation practically eliminates the filter and thus results in the most acquisition.

(2) Self-confidence: Performers with self-confidence and a good self-image tend to do better in second language acquisition. This means that a good self-image lowers the affective filter and promotes language acquisition. This phenomenon is not particular to language acquisition. It, like anxiety, plays a role in general learning.

(3) Anxiety: Anxiety negatively affects langu age learning. The greater a student?s anxiety, the higher the affective filter. Again, when there is a high affective filter the student is less apt to benefit from the linguistic input in the environment. The affective filter does moderate second language acquisition. Perhaps the affective filter serves to explain individual differences in language acquisition. Because all other things being equal, and considering that almost all people acquire their first language, anyone should be able to acquire a second language. But, this is not done equally well by all persons.

The Affective Filter Hypothesis describes the relationship between affective variable and the process of second language acquisition by positing that acquirers vary with respect to the streng th or level of their Affective Filters. If an acquirer?s Affective Filter is strong or high, the input will not reach that part of the brain responsible for language acquisition, or the Language Acquisition Device. If a learner has a lower or weaker Affective Filter, they will be more open to the input and can acquire better.

36. (1) Optimal input is comprehensible. This is the most important input characteristic. It amounts to the claim that when the acquirer does not understand the message, there will be no acquisition.

(2) Optimal input is interesting and/or relevant and is conducive to creating a low Affective Filter. It focuses the acquirer on the message and not on the form. To go a step

further, it is so interesting and relevant that the acquirer m ay even “f orget” that the message is encoded in a foreign language.

(3) Optimal input is not grammatically sequenced. In acquisition-oriented materials, we should not be consciously concerned about including i+1 in the input. When the input is comprehensible and when meaning is successfully negotiated, i+1will be present automatically, in most cases.

(4) Optimal input must be in sufficient quantity. Elley and Mangubhai (1983) report that students in their B ook Flood Project”, who read about 250 books in two years in Fiji, outperformed traditionally taught students on tests of reading comprehension, vocabulary, oral language, grammar, listening comprehension, and writing.

37. First language acquisition vs. Second language acquisition vs foreign language learning

(1)first language acquisition: refers to children acquiring their mother tongue in

natural circumstance without formal instruction.

(2)Second and foreign languages acquisition: both refer to learning an additional

language in natural or formal circumstances after learners have acquired their

mother tongue. Second language acquisition is a broader term, including foreign

language acquisition.

(3)In second language acquisition, the target language functions as a r ecognized

means of communication in the society. In contrast, foreign language learning

takes place in settings where the language plays no major role in the community,

and is primarily learnt in the classroom.

(4)The significance of the distinction between L2 and FL learning: there will be

radical differences in both what is learnt and how it is learnt.

Behaviorist learning theory

Up to the end of the 1960s, views of language learning were derived from a theory of learning in general----behaviorism. Few empirical research on actual language use and the SLA process.

(1)The definition of habit---according to behaviourist theory, different stimulus may

lead to different responses (two categories). Some not predictable (cat and mouse, criticism of students), but some are predictable (How do you do? I am fine, thank you, and you? Me too// Who are you? I am Hillary’s husband. Me too). the association of a particular response with a particular stimulus constituted a habit.

Waston and others are interested in this regular behavior.

(2) what are the characteristics of habit?

A. Habit is observable. (wash hands before meal// milk bottle and baby smiles// person of cleanliness use spirit to clean hands every time after turning the door nob or reading newspapers. )

B. Habit is automatic; performed spontaneously(自然地) without awareness and difficult to eradicate, unless the environmental changes lead to the extinction of the stimuli.(swimming, driving and driving habits, crossing the street in the US and UK)