A list of terms of linguistics for general revision.docVIP

A List of Terms of Linguistics for General Revision -------By A The father of modern linguistics: Ferdinand de Saussure Systemic-functional grammar: Halliday （选择题可能考到语言学家相关知识，要稍作了解哈） Design features of language: arbitrariness: the form of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. symbolicity: language contains a lot of linguistic symbols with meaning to be organized in sentences. A symbol indicates its object or quality in communication. Duality: duality is the property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of two levels has its own principles of organization. Productivity: (同creativity) creativity: Creativity means language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness, (which enables human beings to produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences in our native language, including the sentences which were never heard before.) this property of human language has also been termed as productivity. Displacement: displacement means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of communication. cultural transmission: human language is passed on from one generation to the next through teaching and learning, rather than by instinct or through heredity. vocality: Language is first and foremost vocal – people first speak and hear messages shaped in sounds. The primary medium of language is vocal – in sound forms. Functions of language: informative: Language is used to convey thoughts, opinions, and ideas. For most people this function is predominantly the major role of language. (Declarative sentences often serve this function.) interrogative: language is used to ask for information. directive: language is used to get the hearer to do something so the current situation can be changed. (Most imperative se