[其它]语言学考试综合资料.doc

An Introduction to Linguistics  What is linguistics? --Linguistics is the scientific study of language in general (not any particular language). --A person who studies linguistics is known as a linguist. --Why “scientific” ? Research methodology is systematic. 方法论 Theory/hypothesis is falsifiable. 假说 可以被检验的 Formal representation (in some way). What do you know when you claim to know a language? Sapir’s definition (1921) “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.” Hall’s Definition (1968) Language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.” --Noam Chomsky (1928-) “From now on I will consider language to be a set of (finite or infinite) sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.” Syntactic Structure (1957) “When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call ‘human essence’, the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man.” Language and Mind (2006) Language can be generally defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. Language is a system Systematic---- rule-governed, elements in it are arranged according to certain rules; can’t be combined at will. e.g. *bkli, *I apple eat. Language is arbitrary Arbitrary---- no intrinsic connection between the word and the thing it denotes, e.g. “pen” by any other name is the thing we use to write with. 本质的 表示 Language is symbolic in nature Symbolic---- words are associated with objects, actions ideas by convention. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” ----Shakespeare Language is primarily vocal Vocal---- the primary medium is sound for all languages; writing system came much later than spoken form. Language i