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Chapter 1 Language and Linguistics(语言学) 1.1 What is language? 　 We use language in most of our waking life (and sometimes in dreams, too). Language is so indispensable 不可缺少的；绝对必要的；责无旁贷的to us that we all tend to take it for granted. Few of us ever think about what it is that allows us to talk about everything in the universe and our inner world, to do things together with others. As a learner of a foreign language, have you ever thought about the nature of the subject that you learn through painstaking艰苦的；勤勉的；小心的 effort? As a professional English teacher, have you ever pondered仔细考虑；衡量 at the nature of the subject you teach? 　 Probing探索；探查 into this question, one may understand the 多multi-faceted nature of language. Language is many things indee的确；实在；真正地；甚至 int. 真的（表示惊讶、怀疑、讽刺等）d: a mediumadj. 中间的，中等的；半生熟的 of communication, a system of code, a carrier of culture, an instrument for thinking, a glue of a community, a social institution. 制度；建立；（社会或宗教等）公共机构；, etc. This multi-faceted nature of language explains the fact that there is no universally accepted definitionn. 定义；[物] 清晰度；解说 of language. Linguists must face up to this question, as language is the object of study in their research. Hundreds of definitions have been proposed 提议；计划（propose的过去式和过去分词） adj. 被提议的；所推荐的 in the past. We cite a few here for discussion. （注解） Language is a system whose parts can and must be consideredadj. 经过深思熟虑的；被尊重的 in their synchronic solidarity.. 团结，团结一致(de Saussure, 1916)详细? adj. 不考虑历史上变化的；限于一时的；完全同步的 [Languages is] a set (finiten. 有限之物 adj. 有限的；限定的 or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements (Chomsky, 1957)elim?nts] 详细?n. 基础；原理 Language is a purely human and non-instinctive?nst??(k)t?v] 详细? adj. 本能的；直觉的；天生的 method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily[,vɑl?nt?r?li] 详细? adv. 自动地；以自由意 produced symbols. (Sapir, 1921) 　 Each of these definitions pinpoints查明；精确地找到；准确描述 adj. 精确的；详尽的 n. 针尖；精确位置；极 some aspects of