新编简明英语语言学的教程ch1.ppt

Chapter 1 Introduction;Preliminary questions: What is language? What does it look like? Is there any concrete object that is called language? Can we feel it by our sensory organs? Where does it located? ;Brocas area Wernickes area The motor cortex /皮层运动区 The arcuate fasciculus /弓状束;1.1.1 Definition a “mirror of mind” In Language and Mind, by Noam Chomsky (1968). Language is probably the best window we have on the workings of the human mind. The units of language — elements of form, words, grammatical patterns, conventions of usage — are in some sense also units of cognition. ;Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication Language is a system----means rule-governed Arbitrariness---means there no intrinsic connection between the words and what they refer to Symbolic---language can mean a sign system, e.g. the vocal signs Human-specific----innate to human (distinctive characteristics of human being).;The defining properties of human language Arbitrariness Linguistic forms are said to lack any physical correspondence with entities in the world to which they refer. “HOUSE” ? uchi (Japanese) ? Mansion (French) ? 房子(Chinese);Duality - which sees languages as being structurally organized in terms of two abstract levels. At the first, higher level, language is analyzed in terms of two combinations of units, such as morphemes words; at another, lower level, it is seen as a sequence of segments which lack any meaning in themselves, but which combine to form units of meaning. /ai ni:d ? buk/ - the sound sequence We can distinguish each individual sound. We can segment them into groups of sounds and get the meaning. ;Creativity Language is resourceful. It makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. (novel utterances are continually being created.) a. We can create new words. b. We can create endless new sentences with limited number of words. non-human signals ,on the other hand, appear