英语语言学概论--整理.docx

Chapter 1 Language 语言 1. Design feature (识别 特征 ) refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication. 2. Productivity (能 产 性 ) refers to the ability that people have in making and comprehending indefinitely large quantities of sentences in their native language. 3. arbitrariness (任意性 ) Arbitrariness refers to the phenomenon that there is no motivated relationship between a linguistic form and its meaning. 4. symbol (符号 ) Symbol refers to something such as an object, word, or sound that represents something else by association or convention. 5. discreteness (离散性 ) Discreteness refers to the phenomenon that the sounds in a language are meaningfully distinct. 6. displacement (不 受 时 空 限 制 的 特 性 ) Displacement refers to the fact that human language can be used to talk about things that are not in the immediate situations of its users. 7. duality of structure (结 构 二 重 性 ) The organization of language into two levels, one of sounds, the other of meaning, is known as duality of structure. 8. culture transmission (文化 传 播 ) Culture transmission refers to the fact that language is passedon from one generation to the next through teaching and learning, rather than by inheritance. 9. interchangeability (互 换 性 ) Interchangeability means that any human being can be both a producer and a receiver of messages. 1. ★What is language? Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. This definition has captured the main features of language. First, language is a system. 1 Second, language is arbitrary in the sense. The third feature of language is symbolic nature. 2. ★What are the design features of language? Language has seven design features as following: 1) Productivity. 2) Discreteness. 3) Displacement 4) Arbitrariness. 5) Cultural transmission 6) Duality of structure. 7) Interchangeability. 3. Why do we say langu