11/2/2010

The Nature of Language

Introduction

1.1What is linguistics
1.1.1Definition
Linguistics is generally defined as the
scientific study of language.

The Scope of Linguistics

Language is a complicated
entity with multiple layers The study of how sounds
and facets , so the linguists are put together and used
have to concentrate on one in communication is
aspect of it at a time. The called phonology.
study of sounds which are
used in linguistic
communication is called
phonetics .

1

While sounds are primary in
linguistic communication,
they are represented by
certain symbols, i.e. , words
and morphemes. The study
of the way in which
morphemes are arranged to
form words is called
morphology.
The ultimate objective of
language is not just to create
grammatically well-formed
sentences, but to convey
meaning. The study of
meaning in language is called
semantics.
11/2/2010
The combination of these words to
form permissible sentences in
languages is governed by rules. The
study of how morphemes and words
are combined to form sentences is
called syntax.
Language communication does not occur in
a vacuum. It always occurs in a context, i.e.,
it always occurs at a certain time, at a certain
place, between participants with particular
intentions. The study of meaning in context
of use is called pragmatics .
2

Language is a social activity carried
out in a certain social environment
by human beings. Therefore,
language and society are closely
related.
Language changes are often
caused by social changes. The
study of language with reference
to society is called
sociolinguistics.
11/2/2010
The language a person uses often reveals
his social background, and there exist
social norms that determine the type of
language to be used on a certain occasion ;
The study of language
with reference to the
workings of mind is
called psycholinguistics.
3
 11/2/2010

But in a narrow sense,

Findings in linguistic studies can often be applied linguistics refers to
applied to the solution of such problems as the application of linguistic
the recovery of speech ability. The study principles and theories to
of such applications is generally known as language teaching and
applied linguistics. learning, especially the
teaching of foreign and
second languages.

According to Sapir (1921:8): This definition suffers many defects.

”Language is a purely human

and non-instinctive method of
1) However broadly we construe the terms

communicating ideas, emotions

“ idea”, “emotion” and “desire”, it seems

and desires by means of

clear that there is much that is

voluntarily produced
communicated by language which is not

symbols.”
covered by any of them; and “ idea” in
particular is inherently imprecise.

4
 11/2/2010

For example
2) there are many systems of
what is now popularly
voluntarily produced symbols that referred to by means of
we only count as languages in what the expression “body
we feel to be an extended or language” ---which
metaphorical sense of the word makes use of gestures,
postures, eye-gaze, etc.--
“language”. -would seem to satisfy
this point of Sapir’s
definition.

In their Outline of What is striking

Linguistic Analysis about this definition,
Bloch and Trager in contrast with
wrote (1942:5): “A Sapir ’s is that it
language is a system makes no appeal,
of arbitrary vocal except indirectly and
symbols by means of by implication, to the
which a social group communicative
co-operates.” function of language

5
 11/2/2010

The Block and Trager

definition differs from
Instead, it puts all the emphasis upon Sapir’s in that it brings
its social function; and, in doing so, as in the property of
we shall see later, it takes a rather “arbitrariness” and
narrow view of the role that language explicitly restricts
p l a y s i n s o c i e t y . language to spoken
language (thus making
the phrase “ written
l a n g u a g e ”
contradictory).

In his Essay on Language, Hall

(1968:158) tells us that language is
The term “arbitrariness” is here “ the institution
being used in a rather special sense. whereby humans
communicate and
interact with each
other by means of
habitually used oral-
auditory arbitrary
s y m b o l s . ”

6

Among the points to notice here
are, first of all, the fact
that both communication
and interaction are
introduced into the
definition (“interaction”
being broader than and,
in this respect, better than
“ cooperation”)
Hall, like Sapir, treats language
as a purely human institution;
and the term “ institution” makes
explicit the view that the
language that is used
by a particular
society is part of
that society’s
culture.
11/2/2010
second, that the term “ oral-auditory”
can be taken to be roughly
equivalent to “ vocal” differing from
it only in that “ oral-auditory”
makes reference to the hearer as
well as to the speaker i.e. to the
receiver as well as the sender of the
vocal signals that we identify as
language- utterances).
Chomsky says that “From now on I will
consider a language to be a set (finite or
infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and
constructed out of a finite set of elements.”
Syntactic Structures
(1957:13)
7
 11/2/2010

1) Arbitrariness: there are no direct

or intrinsic links between form and
meaning or between the signal and
Design Features of Human Language
the message.

There are sporadic instances in all Onomatopoeic Motivation

languages of what is traditionally
referred to as onomatopoeia: cf. The Primary onomatopoeia
non-arbitrary connection between
the form and the meaning of such
onomatopoeic words as “cuckoo”, Primary onomatopoeia means
“peewit”, “crash”, in English. the imitation of sounds by
sounds.

8
 11/2/2010

Apes gibber. Asses bray.

Bears growl Beetles drone.
Bulls bellow Camels grunt.
Cats mew ( purr) Ducks quack.
Eagles scream. Flies buzz.
Frogs croak. Geese cackle (gabble).
Goats bleat. Horses neigh ( snort).

Hens cluck. Larks warble

Lions roar Magpies chatter.
模仿金属的声音：
Mice squeak Owls hoot (screech)
clash, clank, ting, tinkle, clang,
pigeons coo. Pigs squeal ( grunt).
jangle, ding-dong, tick-tack
Snakes hiss. Wolves howl.
Turkeys gobble.

9
 11/2/2010

Secondary onomatopoeia

模仿水等液体声： It means that certain

sounds and sound
splash, bubble, sizz, sizzle, splish-
sequences are
splosh, drip-drop
associated with certain
senses in an expressive
r e l a t i o n s h i p

Sn- Sl-
1) breath-noise: sniff, snuff, snore, 1) slippery: slide, slip, slither, slush,
snort sluice, sludge
2)quick separation or movement: snip,
snap, snatch 2) pejorative sense: slattern, slut,
3)creeping: snake, snail, slang, sly, sloppy, slovenly
sneak, snoop

10
 11/2/2010

Sk-: 与表面接触：
skate, skim, skin, skid, skimp
/h/表示猛烈使劲时的气喘声：

-ump: 表示圆形体：
heavy, haste, hurry, hit, heave, hoarse,
hurl等
plump, chump, rump, hump, stump,
dump, mump

But the vast majority of the words in all

Wh-表示“剧烈”的拟声词：
wham, whang, whap, whop,
wheeze, whicker, whinny,
whomp, whoop
languages are non-onomatopoeic: The
connection between their form and their
meaning is arbitrary in that, given the form,
it is impossible to predict the meaning and,
given the meaning, it is impossible to
predict the form.

11

2) Duality: It is meant the property
of having two levels of structure.
The units of the primary level are
composed of elements of the
secondary level and each of the
two levels has its own principles of
organization.
4) displacement
Displacement means that language
can be used to talk about the things
that exist in our world of experience
or in the world of imagination.
11/2/2010
3) creativity
It refers to the ability that we all have
to construct and understand an
i n d e f i n i t e l y l a r g e n u mb e r o f
sentences in our native language,
including sentences that we have
never heard before, but that are
appropriate to the situation in which
t h e y a r e u t t e r e d .
We can use the language to talk
about things that happened in the
past , or that are happening now or
that will happen in the future.
12

5) Cultural Transmission
It means that language is not
genetically passed down from
one generation to another. Rather,
language has to be learned.
2) Synchronic vs diachronic
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
d i a c h r o n i c s t u d y.
11/2/2010
Some important distinctions in linguistics
1)Prescriptive vs descriptive
If a linguistic study aims to describe
and analyze the language people
actually use, it is said to be descriptive
If the linguistic study aims to lay down
rules for correct and standard behaviour in
using language, it is prescriptive.
3) Speech and writing
Modern linguistics regards the spoken
language as the natural or the primary
medium of human language for some
obvious reasons.
13
 11/2/2010

A. Speech is prior to writing 4) Langue and parole

B. The writing system is always invented by

its users to record speech.
C. Speech plays a greater role than writing in
the amount of information conveyed.
D. Speech is always the way in which every
native speaker acquires his mother tongue.
Langue refers to the abstract linguistic
system shared by all the members of a
speech community.
Parole refers to the realization of langue in
actual use.

5) Competence and performance

Competence is the ideal user’s knowledge

of the rules of his language.

Performance is the actual realization of this

knowledge in linguistic communication.

14