语言学-ch1.pptx

Introduction to Linguistics;Chapter 1 Invitations to Linguistics ;1.1 Why study language?;1.2 What is language?;;Language;Language learning;Key points:;Some fundamental views about language;Definition:;1.3 Design features of language;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. He bought a book which was written by a teacher who taught in a school which was known for its graduates who ... Recursiveness-递归性 non-human signals ,on the other hand, appears to have little flexibility.;Displacement Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situation of the speaker, i.e. it can be ‘displaced’. Talk about the past. Talk about some fictitious event or story. Talk with somebody far away (via phone). Listen to the recording (the past).;Cultural transmission The ability to speak a language is transmitted from generation to generation by a process of learning, and not genetically. (contrasting with the properties of many other semiotic systems) Language is transmitted culturally; that is, it is learned. “Language Acquisition Device” (LAD) LAD is a postulated organ of the brain that is supposed to function as a congenital (先天) device for learning symbolic language (i.e., language acquisition). First proposed by Noam Chomsky ;1.4 Origin of langua