英语语言学Lingguistics summary.docVIP

Chapter 1 Introduction: Language and Linguistics What is language? Different definitions of language Language 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 h