胡壮麟语言学第一章.ppt

Chapter1

InvitationstoLinguistics1.1WhatisLanguage?“Languageisapurelyhumanandnon-instinctivemethodofcommunicatingideas,emotionsanddesiresbymeansofvoluntarilyproducedsymbols.”--EdwardSapir(1884-1939):Language:AnIntroductiontotheStudyofSpeech(1921)“Languageisthesystematic,conventionaluseofsounds,signsorwrittensymbolsinahumansocietyforcommunicationandself-expression.”(DavidCrystal,1992)Language“isnottobeconfusedwithhumanspeech,ofwhichitisonlyadefinitepart,thoughcertainlyanessentialone.Itisbothasocialproductofthefacultyofspeechandacollectionofnecessaryconventionsthathavebeenadoptedbyasocialbodytopermitindividualstoexercisethatfaculty”.--FerdinanddeSaussure(1857-1913):CourseinGeneralLinguistics(1916)“FromnowonIwillconsiderlanguagetobeaset(finiteorinfinite)ofsentences,eachfiniteinlengthandconstructedoutofafinitesetofelements.”--NoamChomsky(1928-):SyntacticStructures(1957)“...inasensealldefinitions[oflanguage]are,bythemselves,inadequate,since,iftheyaretobemorethantrivialanduninformative,theymustpresuppose...somegeneraltheoryoflanguageandoflinguisticanalysis.”--R.H.Robins(1921-2000):GeneralLinguistics(1989)“Languageisaformofhumancommunicationbymeansofasystemofsymbolsprincipallytransmittedbyvocalsounds.”--StuartC.Poole:AnIntroductiontoLinguistics(1999)“Languageisameansofverbalcommunication.”Itisinstrumentalinthatcommunicatingbyspeakingorwritingisapurposefulact.Itissocialandconventionalinthatlanguageisasocialsemioticandcommunicationcanonlytakeplaceeffectivelyifalltheusersshareabroadunderstandingofhumaninteractionincludingsuchassociatedfactorsasnonverbalcues,motivation,andsocio-culturalroles.