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Chapter 1 Introduction.What is language?1. Different definitions of language(1) Language is a system whose parts can and must be considered in their synchronic solidarity. (de Saussure, 1916)(2) Language is a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements. (Chomsky, 1957)(3) Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.2. 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.3. 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 language1. Creativity(1) Language provides opportunities for sending messages that have never been sent before and for understanding brand new messages.(2) The grammar rules and the words are finite, but the sentences are infinite. Every speaker uses language creatively.2. Duality(1) Language contains two subsystems, one of sounds and the other of meanings.(2) Certain sounds or sequences of sounds stand for certain meanings.(3) Certain meanings are conveyed by certain speech sounds or sequences of speech sounds.3. Arbitrariness(1) The relationship between the two subsystems of language is arbitrary.(2) There is no logical connection between sound and meaning.4. Displacement(1) There is no limit in time or space for language.(2) Language can be used to refer to things real or imagined, past, present or future.5. Cultural transmission(1) Culture cannot be genetically transmitted. Instead, it must be learned.(2) Language is a way of transmitting culture.6. InterchangeabilityAll members of a speech community can send and receive messages.7. Reflexivity(1) Human languages can be used to describe themselves.(2) The language used to talk about language is called meta-language.Functions of language three meta-functions1. The ideational function To identify things, to think, or to record information.2. The interpersonal function To get along in a community.3. The textual functionTo form a text.Types of language1. Genetic classification2. Typological classification(1) Analytic language no inflections or formal changes, grammatical relationships are shown through word order, such as Chinese and Vietnamese(2) Synthetic language grammatical relationships are expressed by changing the internal structure of the words, typically by changing the inflectional endings, such as English and German(3) Agglutinating language words are built out of a long sequence of units, with each unit expressing a particular grammatical meaning, such as Japanese and Turkish.The myth of language language origin1. The Biblical accountLanguage was Gods gift to human beings.2. The bow-wow theory Language was an imitation of natural sounds, such as the cries of animals, like quack, cuckoo.3. The pooh-pooh theory Language arose from instinctive emotional cries, expressive of pain or joy.4. 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.5. The evolution theoryLanguage originated in the process of labour and answered the call of social need.What is linguistics?1. Linguistics is the scientific study of language.(1) Observing & questioning(2) Formulating hypotheses(3) Verifying the hypotheses(4) Proposing a theory2. Branches of linguistics(1) Internal branches: intra-disciplinary divisions n Phonetics n Phonology n Morphology n Syntax n Semantics(2) External branches: inter-disciplinary divisions n Pragmatics n Psycholinguistics n Sociolinguistics n Applied linguistics n Computational linguistics n Neurolinguistics 3. Features of linguistics(1) Descriptive(2) Dealing with spoken language(3) SynchronicChapter 2 Phonetics.What is phonetics? 1. Phonetics is termed as the study of speech sounds.2. Sub-branches of phonetics(1) Articulatory phonetics the production of speech sounds(2) Acoustic phonetics the physical properties of speech sounds(3) Auditory phonetics the perceptive mechanism of speech sounds.The speech organs1. Where does the air stream come from?From the lung2. What is the function of vocal cords?Controlling the air stream3. What are the cavities?(1) Oral cavity(2) Pharyngeal cavity(3) Nasal cavity.Transcription of speech sounds1. Units of representationSegments (the individual sounds)2. Phonetic symbols(1) The widely used symbols for phonetic transcription of speech sounds is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).(2) 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.(3) 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 sounds1. Description of English consonants(1) General feature: obstruction(2) Criteria of consonant description n Places of articulationn Manners of articulationn Voicing of articulation(3) Places of articulationThis refers to each point at which the air stream can be modified to produce a sound.n Bilabial: p b m wn Labiodental: f vn Interdental: W Tn Alveolar: t d s z l n rn Palatal: F V tF dV jn Velar: k g Nn Glottal: h (4) Manners of articulationThis refers to how the air stream is modified, whether it is completely blocked or partially obstructed. n Stops: p b t d k gn Fricatives: s z F V f v W T hn Affricates: tF dVn Liquids: l rn Glides: w jn Nasals: m n N (5) Voicing of articulation This refers to the vibrating of the vocal cords when sounds are produced.n Voiced soundsn Voiceless sounds2. Description of English vowels(1) General feature: without obstruction(2) Criteria of vowel descriptionA. Part of the tongue that is raisedn Frontn Centraln BackB. Extent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the palaten Highn Midn LowC. Kind of opening made at the lipsD. Position of the soft palate(3) Single vowels (monophthongs) and diphthongs.Phonetic features and natural classes1. Classes of sounds that share a feature or features are called natural classes.2. Major class features can specify segments across the consonant-vowel boundary.3. Classification of segments by features is the basis on which variations of sounds can be analyzed.Chapter 3 Phonology.What is phonology? 1. Phonology is the study of sound systems and patterns.2. Phonology and phonetics are two studies different in perspectives, which are concerned with the study of speech sounds.3. Phonology focuses on three fundamental questions.(1) What sounds make up the list of sounds that can distinguish meaning in a particular language?(2) What sounds vary in what ways in what context?(3) What sounds can appear together in a sequence in a particular language.Phonemes and allophones1. A phoneme is a distinctive, abstract sound unit with a distinctive feature.2. The variants of a phoneme are termed allophones.3. We use allophones to realize phonemes.Discovering phonemes1. Contrastive distribution phonemes(1) If sounds appear in the same environment, they are said to be in contrastive distribution.(2) Typical contrastive distribution of sounds is found in minimal pairs and minimal sets.A. A minimal pair consists of two words that differ by only one sound in the same position.B. Minimal sets are more than two words that are distinguished by one segment in the same position.(3) The overwhelming majority of the consonants and vowels represented by the English phonetic alphabet are in contrastive distribution.(4) 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.2. Complementary distribution allophones(1) Sounds that are not found in the same position are said to be in complementary distribution.(2) If segments are in complementary distribution and share a number of features, they are allophones of the same phoneme.3. 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 features1. Features that distinguish meaning are called distinctive features, and features do not, non-distinctive features.2. Distinctive features in one language may be non-distinctive in another.Phonological rules1. Phonemes are abstract sound units stored in the mind, while allophones are the actual pronunciations in speech.2. What phoneme is realized by what allophones in what specific context is another major question in phonology.3. The regularities that what sounds vary in what ways in what context are generalized and stated in phonology as rules.4. There are many phonological rules in English. Take the following ones as examples.A. +voiced +consonant -voiced/-voiced +consonant_B. -voiced +bilabial +stop unaspirated/-voiced +alveolar +fricative_.Syllable structure1. A syllable is a phonological unit that is composed of one or more phonemes.2. Every syllable has a nucleus, which is usually a vowel.3. 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 phonemes1. Native speakers of any language intuitively know what sounds can be put together.2. Some sequences are not possible in English. The impossible sequences are called systematic gaps.3. Sequences that are possible but do not occur yet are called accidental gaps.4. When new words are coined, they may fill some accidental gaps but they will never fill systematic gaps. Suprasegmental features1. Features that are found over a segment or a sequence of two or more segments are called suprasegmental features.2. These features are distinctive features.3. Stress(1) Stress is the perceived prominence of one or more syllabic elements over others in a word.(2) Stress is a relative notion. Only words that are composed of two or more syllables have stress.(3) If a word has three or more syllables, there is a primary stress and a secondary stress.(4) In some languages word stress is fixed, i.e. on a certain syllable. In English, word stress is unpredictable.4. Intonation(1) When we speak, we change the pitch of our voice to express ideas.(2) Intonation is the variation of pitch to distinguish utterance meaning.(3) The same sentence uttered with different intonation may express different attitude of the speaker.(4) In English, there are three basic intonation patterns: fall, rise, fall-rise.5. Tone(1) Tone is the variation of pitch to distinguish words.(2) The same sequence of segments can be different words if uttered with different tones.(3) Chinese is a typical tone language.Chapter 4 Morphology.What is morphology?1. The total number of words stored in the brain is called the lexicon.2. Words are the smallest free units of language that unite sounds with meaning.3. Morphology is defined as the study of the internal structure and the formation of words.Morphemes and allomorphs1. The smallest meaningful unit of language is called a morpheme.2. A morpheme may be represented by different forms, called allomorphs.3. “zero” form of a morpheme and suppletives(1) Some 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.(2) 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 morphemes1. Some morphemes constitute words by themselves. These morphemes are called free morphemes.2. Other morphemes are never used independently in speech and writing. They are always attached to free morphemes to form new words. These morphemes are called bound morphemes.3. The distinction between a free morphemes and a bound morpheme is whether it can be used independently in speech or writing.4. Free morphemes are the roots of words, while bound morphemes are the affixes (prefixes and suffixes).Inflexional and derivational morphemes1. Inflexional morphemes in modern English indicate case and number of nouns, tense and aspect of verbs, and degree of adjectives and adverbs.2. Derivational morphemes are bound morphemes added to existing forms to construct new words.(1) English affixes are divided into prefixes and suffixes.(2) Some languages have infixes, bound morphemes which are inserted into other morphemes.(3) The process of putting affixes to existing forms to create new words is called derivation. Words thus formed are called derivatives.Conclusion: classification of morphemesMorphemes(1) Free morphemes(2) Bound morphemesA. InflexionalB. Derivational: affixesn Prefixes: -s, -s, -er, -est, -ing, -ed, -sn Suffixesn.Formation of new words1. Derivation(1) Derivation forms a word by adding an affix to a free morpheme.(2) 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.(3) 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.(4) Derivation is also constrained by phonological factors.(5) Some English suffixes also change the word stress.2. Compounding(1) Compounding is another common way to form words. It is the combination of free morphemes.(2) The majority of English compounds are the combination of words from the three classes nouns, verbs and adjectives and fall into the three classes.(3) In compounds, the rightmost morpheme determines the part of speech of the word.(4) The meaning of compounds is not always the sum of meaning of the components.3. Conversion(1) Conversion is the process putting an existing word of one class into another class.(2) Conversion is usually found in words containing one morpheme.4. Clipping(1) Clipping is a process that shortens a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables.(2) Clipped words are initially used in spoken English on informal occasions.(3) 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.5. 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).6. 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.7. Acronyms and abbreviations(1) Acronyms and abbreviations are formed by putting together the initial letters of all words in a phrase or title.(2) Acronyms can be read as a word and are usually longer than abbreviations, which are read letter by letter.(3) This type of word formation is common in names of organizations and scientific terminology.8. 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.9. Coinage(1) Coinage is a process of inventing words not based on existing morphemes.(2) 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.Chapter 5 Syntax.What is syntax? 1. The term syntax is from the ancient Greek word syntaxis, which literally means “arrangement” or “setting out together”.2. 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.3. Syntax is a branch of linguistics that analyzes the structure of sentences.What is a sentence? 1. Syntax is the analysis of sentence structure. A sentence is a sequence of words arranged in a certain order in accordance with grammatical rules.2. 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 structure1. Structural 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.2. 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.3. 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 dont have enough boats, the word enough is related to different words in the two sentences.4. 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.5. Sentence relatednessSentences may be structurally variant but semantically related.6. Syntactic categories(1) A 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:u The child found the knife.u A policeman found the knife.u The man who just left here found the knife.u He found the knife. (2) 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 grammar1. In traditional grammar, a sentence is considered a sequence of words which are classified into parts of speech.2. Sentences are analyzed in terms of grammatical functions of words: subjects, objects, verbs (predicates), predicatives, .3. Compulsory elements of a sentence: subject, verb, object, complement, adverbial.4. Nou
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