12 Schools of Modern Linguistics文档.ppt

Topic 12Schools of Modern Linguistics Wang Lijuan Linguistics 12.1 Introduction Modern linguistics began from the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). “father of modern linguistics” the creator of the modern theory of structuralism Saussure: lectured on general linguistics (索绪尔) 1907-1911 University of Geneva After his death, two of his students, C. Bally and A. Sechehaye, collected lecture notes and put his original and insightful ideas together to produce the great work Course in General Linguistics, in 1916. * Saussure’s linguistic concepts Saussurean Structuralist linguistics seeks to identify the structures that shape all languages. 1 Language is a system of signs that evolves constantly. Sounds counts as language only when they serve to express or communicate ideas. signifier vs. signified Sign Signifier Signified entity sound image * Saussure’s linguistic concepts 2 The nature of the linguistic signs: langue vs. parole syntagmatic vs. paradigmatic relations synchonic vs. diachronic linguistics Language Langue Parole actual speech made by an individual collective abstract system shared by a community Panchronic Synchronic Diachronic study of a system over a specific extent of time study of a system as it exists at one moment in time Sign relation Syntagmatic (linear) Paradigmatic substitution positioning * Saussure’s influence 1 He provided a general orientation, a sense of the task of linguistics which had seldom been questioned. 2 He influenced modern linguistics in the specific concepts. e.g. langue vs. parole It is saussure that pushed linguistics into a brand new stage and all linguistics in the 20th century are Saussurean linguistics. * 12.2 The European Functionalism/Structuralism欧洲功能主义语言学/结构主义语言学 12.2.1 The Prague School 布拉格学派 The Prague School views language as a combination of structure and function. In the narrow sense: the linguists who attend the Prague Linguistic Circle (PLC) since the late 1