语言的结构特征.docVIP

Chapter 1 Invitations to Linguistics Teaching aims: let the students have the general idea about language and linguistics. Teaching difficulties: design features of language ; some important distinctions in linguistics Teaching procedures language Why study language? A tool for communication An integral part of our life and humanity If we are not fully aware of the nature and mechanism of our language, we will be ignorant of what constitutes our essential humanity. What is language? different senses of language what a person says( concrete act of speech) a person’s consistent way of speaking or writing a particular level of speaking or writing e.g. colloquial language an abstract system definitions Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. What is communication? A process in which information is transmitted from a source (sender or speaker) to a goal (receiver or listener). A system----elements in it are arranged according to certain rules. They cannot be arranged at will. e.g. He the table cleaned. (? bkli (? Arbitrary----there is no intrinsic (logic) connection between a linguistic form and its meaning. Symbols----words are just the symbols associated with objects, actions, and ideas by convention. Vocal--------the primary medium for all languages is sound, no matter how well developed their writing systems are. Writing systems came into being much later than the spoken forms. People with little or no literacy can also be competent language users. Human ----language is human-specific. Human beings have different kinds of brains and vocal capacity. “Language Acquisition Device”(LAD) 1.3 Design features of language 语言的结构特征 Design features refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication. a. arbitrariness----the form of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. The link between them is a matter of c