A Course on Linguistics for Students of English Zhou Changming Dept

A Course on Linguistics for Students of English Zhou Changming Dept
A Course on Linguistics for Students of English Zhou Changming Dept. of Foreign Languages, SHUPL

The Goals for this Course
To get a scientific view on language; To understand some basic theories on linguistics; To understand the applications of the linguistic theories, especially in the fields of language teaching & learning (SLA or TEFL), cross-cultural communication……; To prepare for the future research work.

The Requirements for this course
Class attendance Classroom discussion Fulfillment of the assignment Examination

Reference Books 戴炜栋，何兆熊，(2002)，《新编简明英语语言学教程》，上海外语教育出版社。
胡壮麟，(2001)，《语言学教程》，北京大学出版社。刘润清，(1995)，《西方语言学流派》，外语教学与研究出版社。 Fromkin,V. & R. Rodman, (1998), An Introduction to Language the sixth edition, Orlando, Florida: Holt, Ranehart & Winston, Inc.

Chapter 1. Introduction

1. What is linguistics? ----Linguistics is the scientific study of language. ----A person who studies linguistics is known as a linguist.

Four principles of linguistic studies
Exhaustiveness/adequacy Consistency Economy Objectivity

The scope or major branches of linguistics
Theoretical linguistics Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Use of linguistics Applied linguistics Sociolinguistics Psycholinguistics ……

Theoretical linguistics
Phonetics----speech sound (description, classification, transcription): articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, auditory phonetics. Phonology----sound patterns of languages Morphology----the form of words Syntax----the rules governing the combination of words into sentence. Semantics----the meaning of language (when the meaning of language is conducted in the context of language use----Pragmatics)

Use of linguistics Applied linguistics----linguistics and language teaching Sociolinguistics---- social factors (e.g. class, education) affect language use Psycholinguistics----linguistic behavior and psychological process Stylistics----linguistic and literature

Some other applications
Anthropological linguistics Neurolinguistics Computational linguistics (e.g. machine translation)

Some important distinctions in linguistics

Descriptive vs prescriptive
Descriptive ---- describe/analyze linguistic facts observed or language people actually use (modern linguistic) Prescriptive ----lay down rules for “correct” linguistic behavior in using language (traditional grammar)

Synchronic vs diachronic
Synchronic study---- description of a language at some point of time (modern linguistics) Diachronic study---- description of a language through time (historical development of language over a period of time)

Speech vs writing Speech ---- primary medium of language
Writing ---- later developed

Langue vs parole (F. de Saussure)
Langue ---- the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of the speech community. Parole ---- the realization of langue in actual use. Saussure takes a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions.

Competence and performance (Chomsky)
Competence ---- the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language Performance ---- the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.

Traditional grammar vs modern linguistics
Traditional grammar ---- prescriptive, written, Latin-based framework Modern linguistics descriptive, spoken, not necessarily Latin-based framework

2. What is language?

Language can mean what a person says (e.g. bad language, expressions)
the way of speaking or writing (e.g. Shakespeare’s language, Luxun’s language) a particular variety or level of speech or writing (e.g. language for special purpose, colloquial language) the abstract system underlying the totality of the speech/writing behavior of a community (e.g. Chinese language, first language) the common features of all human languages (e.g. He studies language) a tool for human communication. (social function) a set of rules. (rule-governed)

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.”

Chomsky’s definition (1957)
“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.”

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.

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 is human-specific
Human-specific---- different from the communication systems other forms of life possess, e.g. bird songs, bee dance, animal cries.

The design/defining features of human language (Charles Hockett)
Arbitrariness Productivity/Creativity Duality Displacement Cultural transmission

Arbitrariness ----No logical (motivated or intrinsic) connection between sounds and meanings. Onomatopoeic words (which imitate natural sounds) are somewhat motivated ( English: rumble, crackle, bang, …. Chinese: putong, shasha, dingdang… ) Some compound words are not entirely arbitrary, e.g. type-writer, shoe-maker, air-conditioner, photocopy…

Productivity/creativity
----Peculiar to human languages，users of language can understand and produce sentences they have never heard before, e.g. we can understand sentence like “ A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the hotel bed”, though it does not describe a common happening in the world. A gibbon call system is not productive for gibbon draw all their calls from a fixed repertoire which is rapidly exhausted, making any novelty impossible. The bee dance does have a limited productivity, as it is used to communicate about food sources in any direction. But food sources are the only kind of messages that can be sent through the bee dance; bees do not “talk” about themselves, the hives, or wind, let alone about people, animals, hopes or desires

Duality (double articulation)
Lower level----sounds (meaningless) Higher level----meaning (larger units of meaning) A communication system with duality is considered more flexible than one without it, for a far greater number of messages can be sent. A small number of sounds can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning (words), and the units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences. (we make dictionary of a language, but we cannot make a dictionary of sentences of that language.

Displacement ----Language can be used to refer to things, which are not present: real or imagined matters in the past, present or future, or in far-away places. A gibbon never utters a call about something he ate last year There is something special about the bee dance though. Bees communicate with other bees about the food sources they have found when they are no longer in the presence of the food. In this sense, the bee dance has a component of displacement. But this component is very insignificant. For the bees must communicate about the food immediately on returning to the hive. They do not dance about the food they discovered last month nor do they speculate about future discoveries.

Cultural transmission
----Language is culturally transmitted (through teaching and learning; rather than by instinct). Animal call systems are genetically transmitted. All cats, gibbons and bees have systems which are almost identical to those of all other cats, gibbons and bees. A Chinese speaker and an English speaker are not mutually intelligible. This shows that language is culturally transmitted. That is, it is pass on from one generation to the next by teaching and learning, rather than by instinct. The story of a wolf child, a pig child shows that a human being brought up in isolation simply does not acquire human language.

Functions of language Phatic: establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact. Directive: get the hearer to do something. Informative: give information about facts. Interrogative: get information from others. Expressive: express feelings and attitudes of the speaker. Evocative: create certain feelings in the hearer (amuse, startle, soothe, worry or please) Performative: language is used to do things, to perform actions.

The origin of language The divine-origin theory---- Language is a gift of God to mankind. The invention theory---- imitative, cries of nature, the grunts of men working together. The evolutionary theory---- the result of physical and psychological development.

许国璋先生认为把语言定义成交际工具不够科学,至少不够严谨.他对语言的定义做了如下概括:语言是一种符号系统.
当它作用于人与人之间的关系的时候,它是表达相互反应的中介; 当它作用于人与客观世界的关系的时候,它是认知事物的工具; 当它作用于文化的时候,它是文化的载体.

Chapter 2 Phonology Language is primarily vocal. The primary medium of human language is sound. Linguists are not interested in all sounds, but in speech sounds----sounds that convey meaning in human communication.

Phonetics ----A branch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription, e.g. [p] bilabial, stop.

Three branches of phonetics
Articulatory phonetics----from the speakers’ point of view, “how speakers produce speech sounds” Auditory phonetics----from the hearers’ point of view, “how sounds are perceived” Acoustic phonetics----from the physical way or means by which sounds are transmitted from one to another.

Articulatory phonetics
■ It has the longest history. It studies the sounds from the speaker’s point of view, i.e. how a speaker uses his speech organ to articulate the sounds.

Acoustic phonetics ■ It tries to describe the physical properties of the stream of sounds which a speaker issues. ■Spectrograph (频谱仪）：to record sound waves

Speech organs: three important areas
Pharyngeal cavity (咽腔）---- the throat; The oral cavity（口腔） ---- the mouth; Nasal cavity （鼻腔）---- the nose.

The diagram of speech organs
Lips Teeth Teeth ridge (alveolar) Hard palate Soft palate (velum) Uvula Tip of tongue Blade of tongue Back of tongue Vocal cords Pharyngeal cavity Nasal cavity

Orthographic representation of speech sounds
---- A standardized and internationally accepted system of phonetic transcription is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The basic principle of the IPA is using one letter to represent one speech sound. Broad transcription ---- used in dictionary and textbook for general purpose, without diacritics, e.g. clear [ l ] [ pit ] Narrow transcription ---- used by phonetician for careful study, with diacritics, e.g. dark [ l ], aspirated [ p ]

Some major articulatory variables
---- dimensions on which speech sounds may vary: Voicing---- voiced & voiceless Nasality ---- nasal & non-nasal Aspiration aspirated & unaspirated

Classification of English speech sounds
---- English speech sounds are generally classified into two large categories: Vowels Consonants Note: The essential difference between these two classes is that in the production of the former the airstream meets with no obstruction of any kind in the throat, the nose or the mouth, while in that of the latter it is somehow obstructed.

“Vowels are modifications of the voice-sound that involve no closure, friction, or contact of the tongue or lips ( Bloomfield ) A vowel is defined as a voiced sound in forming which the air issues in a continuous stream through the pharynx and mouth, there being no audible friction.” (Jones)

Classification of consonants
---- English consonants may be classified according to two dimensions: The manner of articulation The place of articulation

The manner of articulation
stops/plosives(闭塞音）: [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g]; Fricatives（摩擦音）: [f] [v], [s], [z], [∫], [З], [], [ð], [h]; Affricates（塞擦音）: [t ∫], [d З]; Liquids（流音）: [l](lateral), [r]; Nasals（鼻音）: [m], [n], []; glides/semivowels（滑音）: [w], [ j].

The place of articulation
Bilabial（双唇音）: [p], [b], [m], [w]; Labiodental（唇齿音）: [f], [v]; Dental（齿音）: [], [ð], Alveolar（齿龈音）: [t], [d], [s], [z], [n], [l], [r]; Palatal（腭音）: [∫], [З], [t ∫], [d З], [j]; Velar（软腭音）: [k], [g], []; Glottal（喉音）: [h].

The place of articulation
Bilabial; Labiodental; Dental or interdental; Alveolar; Palatoalveolar; Palatal; Velar; Uvular; Glottal.

The description of English consonants
Place manner Voic-ing Bila- bial Labio- dental Dental Alveo-lar Palatal Velar Glottal Stops or plosives VL [ p ] [ t ] [ k ] VD [ b ] [ d ] [ g ] Frica-tives [ f [] [ s ] [∫] [h] [ v ] [ð] [ z ] [З] Affri- cates ([t∫] ) [t∫] (dЗ) [dЗ] Nasals [m] [n] [ ] Liquids [l], [r] Glides [w] [j ]

Classification of vowels
---- English vowels can be divided into two large categories: Monophthongs or pure/single vowels Diphthongs or gliding vowels

Monophthongs or pure/single vowels
----According to which part of the tongue is held highest in the process of production, the vowels can be distinguished as: front vowels: [i: ], [i], [e] [æ] [a] central vowels: [ ], [ ], [ ]; back vowels: [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ].

According to the openness of the mouth
Close: [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]. Semi-close: [ ], [ ]; Semi-open: [ ], [ ]; Open: [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ];

The diagram of single vowel classification by applying the two criteria so far mentioned:

According to the shape of the lips or the degree of lip rounding
rounded: [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]; unrounded: [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ].

According to the length of the vowels
long: [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ] short: [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ].

Diphthongs/gliding vowels
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ].

Exercises: underline the words that begin with a sound as required.
A bilabial consonant: mad sad bad cad pad had lad A velar consonant: nod god cod pod rod Labiodental consonant: rat fat sat mat chat vat pat An alveolar consonant: nick lick sick tick kick quick A palato-alveolar consonant: sip ship tip chip lip zip A dental consonant: lie buy thigh thy tie rye A glide: one war yolk rush

Underline the words that end with a sound as required:
A fricative pay horse tough rice breath push sing wreathe hang cave message A nasal train bang leaf limb A stop drill pipe fit crab fog ride laugh rack through tip An affricate: rack such ridge booze

Underline the words that contain the sound as required:
A central vowel: mad lot but boot word A front vowel: reed pad load fate bit bed cook A rounded vowel: who he bus her hit true boss bar walk A back vowel: paid reap fool top good father

Describe the underlined consonants according to three dimensions:
vd/vl place manner Letter Brother Sunny Hopper Itching Lodger Calling Singing Robber either

Phonology Phonology studies the patterning of speech sounds, that is, the ways in which speech sounds form systems and patterns in human languages.

Phonetics & phonology Both are concerned with the same aspect of language----the speech sounds. But they differ in their approach and focus. Phonetics is of general nature; it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages; it aims to answer questions like: how they are produced, how they differ from each other, what phonetic features they have, how they can be classified, etc. Phonology aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.

Phone, phoneme, allophone

Phone A phone---- a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. Phones do not necessarily distinguish meaning, some do, some don’t, e.g. [ ] & [ ], [ ] & [ ].

Phoneme A phoneme---- is a phonological unit; it is a unit of distinctive value; an abstract unit, not a particular sound, but it is represented by a certain phone in certain phonetic context, e.g. the phoneme /p/ can be represented differently in [p t], [t p] and [sp t].

Allophone Allophones ---- the phones that can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments.

Phonemic contrast, complementary distribution and minimal pair.

Phonemic contrast Phonemic contrast----different or distinctive phonemes are in phonemic contrast, e.g. /b/ and /p/ in [ bIt ] and [pIt].

Complementary distribution
Complementary distribution----allophones of the same phoneme are in complementary distribution. They do not distinguish meaning. They occur in different phonetic contexts, e.g. dark [l] & clear [l], aspirated [p] & unaspirated [p].

Minimal pair Minimal pair----when two different forms are identical (the same) in every way except for one sound segment which occurs in the same place in the strings, the two sound combinations are said to form a minimal pair, e.g. beat, bit, bet, bat, boot, but, bait, bite, boat.

Some rules of phonology
Sequential rules Assimilation rule Deletion rule

Sequential rules Sequential rules ---- the rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language, e.g. in English, “k b i I” might possibly form blik, klib, bilk, kilb. If a word begins with a [l] or a [r], then the next sound must be a vowel.

Sequential rules If three consonants should cluster together at the beginning of a word, the combination should obey the following three rules, e.g. spring, strict, square, splendid, scream. a) the first phoneme must be /s/, b) the second phoneme must be /p/ or /t/ or /k/, c) the third phoneme must be /l/ or /r/ or /w/. * [ N ] never occurs in initial position in English and standard Chinese,but it does occur in some dialects, e.g. in Cantonese: “牛肉，我，俄语……”

Assimilation rule Assimilation rule----assimilates one sound to another by “copying” a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones similar, e.g. the prefix in is pronounced differently when in different phonetic contexts: indiscreet alveolar [In] inconceivable velar [IN ] input bilabial [Im]

Assimilation in Mandarin
好啊 hao wa 海啊 hai ya 看啊 kan na 唱啊 chang Na 跳啊 tiao wa ……

Deletion rule Deletion rule---- it tells us when a sound is to be deleted although it is orthographically represented, e.g. design, paradigm, there is no [g] sound; but the [g] sound is pronounced in their corresponding forms signature, designation, paradigmatic.

Suprasegmental features
Suprasegmental features----the phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments ( larger than phoneme): stress tone intonation

Syllable (what is syllable?)
Ancient Greek: a unit of speech sound consisting of a vowel or a vowel with one or more than one consonant. Dictionary: word or part of a word which contains a vowel sound or consonant acting as a vowel. a combination or set of one or more units of sound in a language that must consist of a sonorous(响亮的)element (a sonant (浊音的; 成(音)节的) or vowel) and may or may not contain less sonorous elements (consonants or semivowels) flanking it on either or both sides: for example ``paper'' has two syllables See open See closed ”.

Stress Word stress Sentence stress

Word stress The location of stress in English distinguishes meaning, e.g. a shift in stress in English may change the part of speech of a word: verb: im5port; in5crease; re5bel; re5cord … noun: 5import; 5increase; 5rebel; 5record …

Word stress Similar alteration of stress also occurs between a compound noun and a phrase consisting of the same elements: compound: 5blackbird; 5greenhouse; 5hotdog… noun phrase: black 5bird; green 5house; hot 5dog…

Word stress The meaning-distinctive role played by word stress is also manifested in the combinations of -ing forms and nouns: modifier: 5dining-room; 5readingroom; 5sleepingbag… doer: sleeping 5baby; swimming 5fish; flying 5plane…

Sentence stress Sentence stress----the relative force given to the components of a sentence. Generally, nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, numerals and demonstrative pronouns are stressed. Other categories like articles, person pronouns, auxiliary verbs prepositions and conjunctions are usually not stressed. Note: for pragmatic reason, this rule is not always right, e.g. we may stress any part in the following sentences. He is driving my car. My mother bought me a new skirt yesterday.

Tone Tones are pitch variations,which are caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords. English is not a tone language, but Chinese is. ma 妈 (level) ma 麻 (the second rise) ma 马 (the third rise) ma 骂 (the fourth fall)

Intonation When pitch, stress and length variations are tied to the sentence rather than to the word, they are collectively known as intonation. English has three types of intonation that are most frequently used: falling tone (matter of fact statement) rising tone (doubts or question) the fall-rise tone (implied message) For instance, “That’s not the book he wants.”

Grammatical functions of intonations
----Intonation plays an important role in the conveyance of meaning in almost every language, esp. in English. a) It may indicate different sentence types by pitch direction.

b) It may impose different structures on the sentence by dividing it into different intonation units, e.g. “John didn’t come because of Marry” Within one intonation unit, it means: John came, but it had nothing to do with Marry. With two intonation units, it means: Marry was the reason why John didn’t come. Exercises: Think of the utterance in different intonations: “Those who bought quickly made a profit.”

c) It can make a certain part of a sentence especially prominent by placing nucleus on it, e.g. Jack came yesterday by train.

d) Its attitudinal functions. Falling tone ---- matter-of-fact statement, downright assertion, commands. Rising tone ----politeness, encouragement, pleading. Note: these can only be very general indications. The specific attitudinal meaning of an intonation pattern must be interpreted within a context.

Chapter 3 Morphology Morphology refers to the study of the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.

Open class word and closed class word
Open class words----content words of a language to which we can regularly add new words, such as nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs, e.g. beatnik(a member of the Beat Generation), hacker, , internet, “做秀，时装秀…” in Chinese. Closed class words----grammatical or functional words, such as conjunction, articles, preposition and pronouns.

Morpheme--the minimal unit of meaning
---Words are composed of morphemes. Words may consist of one morpheme or more morphemes, e.g. 1-morpheme boy, desire 2-morpheme boy+ish, desir(e)+ble 3-morpheme boy+ish+ness, desir(e)+bl(e)+ity 4-morpheme gentle+man+li+ness, un+desir(e)+abl(e)+ity 5-morpheme un+gentle+man+li+ness 6-morpheme anti+dis+establish+ment+ari+an+ism

Affix Prefix ---- morphemes that occur only before others, e.g.
un-, dis, anti-, ir-, etc. Suffix ---- morphemes that occur only after others, e.g. -ful, -er, -ish, -ness, -able, -tive, tion, etc.

Free morpheme & bound morpheme
Free morpheme(自由词素）is one that may constitute a word (free form) by itself, such as bed, tree, sing, dance, etc. Bound morpheme（黏着词素）----is one that may appear with at least one other morpheme. They can not stand by themselves, such as “-s” in “dogs”, “al” in “national”, “dis-” in “disclose”, “ed” in “recorded”, etc.

Allomorph(词素变体 ) Some morphemes have a single form in all contexts, such as “dog, bark, cat”,etc. In other instances, there may be some variation, that is, a morpheme may have alternate shapes or phonetic forms. They are said to be the allomorphs of the morpheme, the plural morpheme may be represented by: map----maps [s] dog----dogs [z] watch----watches [iz] mouse----mice [ai] ox----oxen [n] tooth----teeth sheep----sheep Each of the underlined part is called an allomorph of plural morpheme.

Derivational morpheme & inflectional morpheme
Derivational morphemes（派生词素）---- the morphemes which change the category, or grammatical class of words, e.g. modern---modernize, length---lengthen, fool---foolish, etc. Inflectional morphemes（屈折词素）---- the morphemes which are for the most part purely grammatical markers, signifying such concepts as tense, number, case and so on; they never change their syntactic category, never add any lexical meaning, e.g. a) number: tables apples cars b) person, finiteness and aspect: talk/talks/talking/talked c) case: John/John’s

Some other terms Root Stem Base

Root A root is that part of the word left when all the affixes (inflectional & derivational) are removed, e.g. “desire” in “desirable”, “care” in “carefully”, “nation” in “internationalism”, “believe” in “unbeliev(e)able”…

Stem A stem is part of a word-form which remains when all inflectional affixes have been removed, e.g. “undesiralbe” in undesirables

Base A base is any form to which affixes of any kind can be added. This means any stem and root can be termed as a base.

The difference between root, stem & base
A base can be added by both inflectional & derivational affixes while a stem can be added only by inflectional affixes; A base is derivationally analyzable (e.g. undesire in undesirable) while a root cannot be further analyzed, e.g. desire in undesirable; Root, stem and base can be the same form, e.g. desire in desired; Undesirable in undesirables is either a stem or a base; Desirable in undesirable is only a base.

Morphological rules The rules that govern the formation of words, e.g. the “un ” rule. unfair unthinkable unacceptable… Compounding is another way to form new words, e.g. landlady rainbow undertake…

Compounds Noun compounds daybreak (N+V) playboy (V+N) haircut (N+V)
callgirl (V+N) windmill (N+N) Verb compounds brainwash (N+V) lipread (N+V) babysit(N+V) Adjective compounds maneating (N+Ving) heartfelt (N+Ved) dutyfree (N+adj.) Preposition compounds into (P+P) throughout (P+P)

Some points about compounds
When the two words are in the same grammatical category, the compound will be in this category, e.g. postbox, landlady, icy-cold, blue-black… When the two words fall into different categories, the class of the second or final word will be the grammatical category of the compound, e.g. head-strong, pickpocket… Compounds have different stress patterns from the non-compounded word sequence, e.g. red coat, green house… The meaning of a compound is not always the sum of the meanings of its parts.

Chapter 4 Syntax

What is syntax? ----a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences.

Transformational Generative Grammar (TG)
Norm. Chomsky, the most influential linguist in 20th century, some important works: (1957) Syntactic Structure; (1965) Aspects of the Theory of Syntax; (1981) Lectures on Government and Binding; (1986) Barriers (1993) A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory; (1995) The Minimalist （极简主义） Program; (1998) The Minimalist Inquiry……

Criteria on good grammar
Observational adequacy （观察的充分性） Descriptive adequacy （描述的充分性） Explanatory adequacy（解释的充分性） The ultimate goal for any theory is to explain. TG differs from traditional grammar in that it not only aims at language description, but also its explanation.

Chomsky is much more interested in the similarities (language universals) between languages rather than their differences. Linguists should attempt to find a grammatical framework which will be suitable for all languages; Linguists should concentrate on the elements and constructions that are available to all languages rather than on elements that actually occur in all languages. There are likely to be universal constraints on the ways linguistic elements are combined Chomsky proposed that the grammars of all human languages share a common framework (Universal Grammar).

Categories Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb. The most central categories to the syntactic study are the word-level categories (traditionally, parts of speech)

Word-level categories
Major lexical categories: N, V, Adj, Prep. Minor Lexical categories: determiner (Det限定词), degree words (Deg 程度词）, qualifier (Qual 修饰词）, Auxiliary (Aux 助动词 ) , conjunction (Conj.连词）

The criteria on which categories are determined
Meaning（意义） Inflection （屈折变化） Distribution （分布） Note: The most reliable criterion of determining a word’s category is its distribution.

Phrase categories and their structures
Phrase categories----the syntactic units that are built around a certain word category are called phrase categories, such as NP(N), VP(V), AP(A), PP(P). The structure: specifier + head + complement Head（中心词）---- the word around which a phrase is formed Specifier（标志语）---- the words on the left side of the heads Complement（补语）---- the words on the right side of the heads

Phrase structure rules
The grammatical mechanism that regulates the arrangement of elements that make up a phrase is called a phrase structure rule, such as: NP  (Det) + N +(PP)……e.g. those people, the fish on the plate, pretty girls. VP  (Qual) + V + (NP)……e.g. always play games, finish assignments. AP  (Deg) + A + (PP)……very handsome, very pessimistic, familiar with, very close to PP  (Deg) + P + (NP)……on the shelf, in the boat, quite near the station.

The XP rule XP Specifier X Complement Head
Note: The phrase structure rules can be summed up as XP rule shown in the diagram, in which X stands for N, V, A or P.

X’ Theory XP  (Specifier)X’ X’  X(complement) XP(Phrase level) X’
X(head) complement

Coordination rule Coordination structures-----the structures that are formed by joining two or more elements of the same type with the help of a conjunction such as and, or, etc. ----Coordination has four important properties: no limit on the number of coordinated categories before the conjunction; a category at any level can be coordinated; the categories must be of the same type; the category type of the coordinate phrase is identical to the category type of the elements being conjoined.

Phrase elements Specifiers (标志语） Head（中心词） Complement（补语)

Specifiers ---- Semantically, specifiers make more precise the meaning of the head; syntactically, they typically mark a phrase boundary. Specifiers can be determiners as in NP, qualifiers as in VP and degree words as in AP.

Complements ---- Complements themselves can be a phrase, they provide information abut entities (实体） and locations（位置） whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head, e.g. a story about a sentimental girl; There can be no complement, one complement, or more than one complement in a phrase, e.g. appear, break, put…; a sentence-like construction may also function as a complement such as in “I believed that she was innocent. I doubt if she will come. They are keen for you to show up.” That/if /for are complementizers（补语化成份）, the clauses introduced by complementizers are complement clause.

Modifiers (修饰语） ---- Modifiers specify optionally expressible properties of heads.

Sentences (the S rule) S  NP VP S VP NP NP Det N V Det N
A boy found the evidence

Sentences (the S rule) S  NP infl VP
Many linguists believe that sentences, like other phrases, also have their own heads. Infl is an abstract category inflection (dubbed ‘Infl’) as their heads, which indicates the sentence’s tense and agreement. InflP(=S) NP VP Infl

Infl realized by a tense label
InflP（=S） VP NP NP Det N Infl V Det N A boy Pst found the evidence

Infl realized by an auxiliary
InflP（=S） VP NP NP Det N Infl V Det N A boy will find the evidence

Transformations Auxiliary movement (inversion) Do insertion
Deep structure & surface structure Wh-movement Move α and constraints on transformations

Auxiliary movement (inversion)
Inversion Move Infl to the left of the subject NP. Inversion (revised) Move Infl to C. CP S C NP Det N Infl V the train will arrive

Auxiliary movement (inversion)
CP S NP C Infl Det N Infl V Will the train e arrive

Do insertion Do insertion---- Insert interrogative do into an empty Infl position. CP S C NP Infl VP Birds fly Figure-1 CP CP S S C C NP Infl VP Infl NP Infl VP Do birds e fly Birds do fly Figure-2 Figure-3

Deep structure & surface structure
Consider the following pair of sentences: John is easy to please.（约翰很容易满足） John is eager to please.（约翰急于讨好他人） Structurally similar sentences might be very different in their meanings, for they have quite different deep structures.

Consider one more sentence: Flying planes can be dangerous. It can mean either that if you fly planes you are engaged in a dangerous activity or Planes that are flying are dangerous.

Deep structure----formed by the XP rule in accordance with the head’s sub-categorization properties; it contains all the units and relationships that are necessary for interpreting the meaning of the sentence. Surface structure----corresponding to the final syntactic form of the sentence which results from appropriate transformations; it is that of the sentence as it is pronounced or written.

The organization of the syntactic component
The XP rule Subcategorization restricts choice of complements Deep structure transformations Surface structure

Wh-movement Consider the derivation of the following sentences:
What languages can you speak? What can you talk about? These sentences may originate as: You can speak what languages. You can talk about what.

Wh-movement Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the beginning of the sentence. What language can you speak ? What can you talk about ?

Wh-movement Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the specifier position under CP. (Revised) CP S NP C Who VP NP Infl e Pst V NP won the game

Move α（包含性术语） and constraints on transformations
Inversion can move an auxiliary from the Infl to the nearest C position, but not to a more distant C position. No element may be removed from a coordinate structure.

Chapter 5 Semantics Semantics----the study of language meaning.
Meaning is central to the study of communication. What is meaning?---- Scholars under different scientific backgrounds have different understandings of language meaning.

Some views concerning the study of meaning
Naming theory (Plato) （命名论） The conceptualist view （概念论） Contextualism (Bloomfield) （语境论） Behaviorism （行为主义论）

Naming theory (Plato) Words are names or labels for things.
Limitations: 1) Applicable to nouns only. 2) There are nouns which denote things that do not exist in the real world, e.g. ghost, dragon, unicorn（麒麟）, pheonix… 3) There are nouns that do not refer to physical objects but abstract notions, e.g. joy, impulse, hatred…

The conceptualist view
The conceptualist view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i.e. between language and the real world); rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts (思维的概念）in the mind.

Ogden and Richards: semantic triangle
Thought/reference/concept Symbol/form word/phrase/sentence Referent/object in the world of experience

Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957)奥格登
美国作家、教育家和语言心理学家。毕业于剑桥大学并留校，创立《剑桥杂志》。 20世纪20年代，出版《意义之意义（The Meaning of Meaning)，提出著名的语义三角(semantic triangle)。该书是20世纪最重要的著作之一。 1930年他创立基本英语，作为一门国际辅助语；而哈佛大学的理查兹（I. A. Richards）则是基本英语的重要宣传者。 1925年，出版（心理学的意义）（The Meaning of Psychology),提出了他的语言心理学思想。 1927年，成立语言正字研究所，总部设在英国剑桥。

Ivor Amstrong Richards (1893-1979)理查兹英国心理学家、教育家、评论家和诗人。毕业于剑桥大学并留校任教。
1923年，与奥格登合著《意义之意义》，《文学批评原理》。 1944年，任哈佛大学教授，是基本英语的倡导者。

Ogden and Richards: semantic triangle
The symbol or form refers to the linguistic elements (words and phrases); The referent refers to the object in the world of experience; Thought or reference refers to concept. The symbol or a word signifies things by virtue of the concept associated with the form of the word in the minds of the speaker; and the concept looked at from this point of view is the meaning of the word.

The Contextualism （语境论）
Meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context—elements closely linked with language behavior. Two types of contexts are recognized: Situational context: spatiotemporal situation Linguistic context: the probability of a word’s co-occurrence or collocation. For example, “black” in black hair & black coffee, or black sheep differs in meaning; “The president of the United States” can mean either the president or presidency in different situation.

J. R. Firth 弗斯（）英国语言学家，伦敦学派的奠基人。毕业里兹大学，曾任教于伦敦大学语言系，后在伦敦大学设立普通语言学讲座。曾与马林诺夫斯基（B。 Malinowski）共事多年。弗斯对语言学贡献有两点：1、发展了马林诺夫斯基的意义语境理论（或情境的上下文理论）。2、提出语言学中的韵律分析（亦称超音段分析）。主要专著：《言语 Speech》，《人的语言The Tongue of Men》和《语言学论文集 Papers in Linguistics》。

Bronislow Malinowski （1889-1942）马林诺夫斯基
波兰著名人类学家。毕业于牛津大学人类学系，一直从事文化人类学研究。他对语言学的贡献：1、“提供了一种普遍的理论，特别是他使用了语境和语言功能的概念”。2、“在行动中的语言”和“语义就是使用”。主要著作：《原始语言的意义问题The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages》和《珊瑚岛Corral Garden and Their Magic和其魔力》

Wittgenstein Ludwig 维特根斯坦（1889-1951）
奥地利人，旅居英国。20世纪英语世界中哲学界的重要人物，主要贡献：《哲学研究》和《逻辑哲学论》。第一本书揭示概念怎样同行为和反应相联系，怎样同人们的生活方式，而不是根据模糊的精神领域来展示概念的作用和意义。第二本书的中心问题是“语言是怎样发生的”。

Behaviorism Behaviorists attempted to define meaning as “the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer”. The story of Jack and Jill: Jill Jack S_________r s_________R

Lexical meaning Sense （意义）and reference（指称） are both concerned with the study of word meaning. They are two related but different aspects of meaning. Sense---- is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de-contextualized. It is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are interested in. Reference----what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience.

Note: Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations; on the other hand, there are also occasions, when linguistic forms with the same reference might differ in sense, e.g. the morning star （晨星） and the evening star（昏星）, rising sun in the morning and the sunset at dusk.

Major sense relations Synonymy （同义现象） Antonymy （反义词） Polysemy （多义现象）
Homonymy （同音异义） Hyponymy （下义关系）

Synonymy Synonymy refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning. Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms. 1) Dialectal synonyms（方言同义）---- synonyms used in different regional dialects, e.g. autumn - fall, biscuit - cracker, petrol – gasoline… 2) Stylistic synonyms（文体同义）----synonyms differing in style, e.g. kid, child, offspring; start, begin, commence;…

Synonymy 3) Synonyms that differ in their emotive or evaluative meaning,（情感或评价意义不同的同义） e.g.collaborator- accomplice,… 4) Collocational synonyms（搭配同义）, e.g. accuse…of, charge…with, rebuke…for; … 5) Semantically different synonyms（语义不同的同义词）, e.g. amaze, astound,…

Antonymy Gradable antonyms（等级反义词）----there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair, e.g. old-young, hot-cold, tall-short, … Complementary antonyms （互不反义词） ----the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other, e.g. alive-dead, male-female, … Relational opposites （关系反义词） ----exhibits the reversal of the relationship between the two items, e.g. husband-wife, father-son, doctor-patient, buy-sell, let-rent, employer-employee, give-receive, above-below, …

Gradable antonyms（等级反义）
Gradable antonyms ----there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair, e.g. old-young, hot-cold, tall-short, …

Complementary antonyms
Complementary antonyms ----the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other, e.g. alive-dead, male-female, …

Polysemy Polysemy----the same one word may have more than one meaning, e.g. “table” may mean: A piece of furniture All the people seated at a table The food that is put on a table A thin flat piece of stone, metal wood, etc. Orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc. ……

Homonymy Homonymy （同音异义词） ---- the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form, e.g. different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both. Homophone （同音异义词） ---- when two words are identical in sound, e.g. rain-reign, night/knight, … Homogragh （同形异义词） ---- when two words are identical in spelling, e.g. tear(n.)-tear(v.), lead(n.)-lead(v.), … Complete homonym （完全同音异义词） ---- when two words are identical in both sound and spelling, e.g. ball, bank, watch, scale, fast, …

Note: A polysemic word is the result of the evolution of the primary meaning of the word (the etymology （词源学） of the word); while complete homonyms are often brought into being by coincidence.

Hyponymy Hyponymy （下义关系） ----the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific word. Superordinate （上坐标词） : the word which is more general in meaning. Hyponyms （下义词） : the word which is more specific in meaning. Co-hyponyms （并列下义词） : hyponyms of the same superordinate.

Hyponymy Superordinate: flower
Hyponyms: rose, tulip, lily, chrysanthemum, peony, narcissus, … Superordinate: furniture Hyponyms: bed, table, desk, dresser, wardrobe, sofa, …

Sense relations between sentences
(1) X is synonymous with Y （同义） (2) X is inconsistent with Y （不一致） (3) X entails Y （蕴含） (4) X presupposes Y （预设） (5) X is a contradiction （自我矛盾） (6) X is semantically anomalous （语义反常）

X is synonymous with Y X: He was a bachelor all his life.
Y: He never got married all his life. X: The boy killed the cat. Y: The cat was killed by the boy. If X is true, Y is true; if X is false, Y is false.

X is inconsistent with Y
X: He is single. Y: He has a wife. X: This is my first visit to Beijing. Y: I have been to Beijing twice. If X is true, Y is false; if X is false, Y is true.

X entails Y X: John married a blond heiress. Y: John married a blond.
X: Marry has been to Beijing. Y: Marry has been to China. Entailment is a relation of inclusion. If X entails Y, then the meaning of X is included in Y. If X is true, Y is necessarily true; if X is false, Y may be true or false.

X presupposes Y X: His bike needs repairing. Y: He has a bike.
Paul has given up smoking. Paul once smoked. If X is true, Y must be true; If X is false, Y is still true.

X is a contradiction *My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor.
*The orphan’s parents are pretty well-off.

X is semantically anomalous
*The man is pregnant. *The table has bad intentions. *Sincerity shakes hands with the black apple.

Analysis of meaning Componential analysis （成分分析法）
Predication analysis （述谓结构分析法）

Componential analysis
Componential analysis---- a way to analyze lexical meaning. The approach is based on the belief that the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features. For example, Man: [+HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALE] Boy: [+HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALE] Woman: [+HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALE] Girl: [+HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALE]

Predication analysis 1) The meaning of a sentence is not to be worked out by adding up all the meanings of its component words, e.g “The dog bites the man” is semantically different from “The man bites the dog” though their components are exactly the same. 2) There are two aspects to sentence meaning: grammatical meaning and semantic meaning, e.g. *Green clouds are sleeping furiously. *Sincerity shook hands with the black apple. Whether a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called selectional restrictions.

Predication analysis Predication analysis---- a way to analyze sentence meaning (British G. Leech). Predication----the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence. A predication consists of argument(s) and predicate. An argument is a logical participant in a predication, largely identical with the nominal elements in a sentence. A predicate is something said about an argument or it states the logical relation linking the arguments in a sentence.

Predication analysis According to the number of arguments contained in a predication, we may classify the predications into the following types: One-place predication: smoke, grow, rise, run, … Two-place predication: like, love, save, bite, beat,… Three-place predication: give, sent, promise, call, … No-place predication: It is hot.

Predication analysis Tom smokes.  TOM (SMOKE)
The tree grows well.  TREE (GROW) The kids like apples.  KIDS (LIKE) APPLE I sent him a letter.  I (SEND) HIM LETTER

Chapter 6 Pragmatics （语用学）
---- the study of language in use or language communication; the study of the use of context to make inference about meaning. ---- the study of how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication.

Some basic notions in Pragmatics
Context Pragmatics vs. semantics Sentence meaning vs. utterance meaning Correctness vs. appropriateness

Context Context---- a basic concept in the study of pragmatics. It is generally considered as constituted knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer, such as cultural background, situation(time, place, manner, etc.), the relationship between the speaker and the hearer, etc.….

Pragmatics vs. semantics
Semantics---- is the study of the literal meaning of a sentence (without taking context into consideration). Pragmatics---- the study of the intended meaning of a speaker (taking context into consideration), e.g. “Today is Sunday”, semantically, it means that today is the first day of the week; pragmatically, you can mean a lot by saying this, all depending on the context and the intention of the speaker, say, making a suggestion or giving an invitation…

Sentence meaning vs. utterance meaning
Abstract and context-independent meaning; literal meaning of a sentence; having a dyadic relation as in: What does X mean? ----utterance meaning: concrete and context-dependent meaning; intended meaning of a speaker; having a triadic relation as in: What did you mean by X?

For example, “The bag is heavy” can mean
a bag being heavy (sentence meaning); an indirect, polite request, asking the hearer to help him carry the bag; the speaker is declining someone’s request for help. Note: The meaning of an utterance is based on the sentence meaning; it is the realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation of communication, or simply in a context; utterance meaning is richer than sentence meaning; it is identical with the purpose for which the speaker utters the sentence.

Correctness vs. appropriateness
*“John play golf”---- grammatically incorrect; ?“Golf played John” ---- logically incorrect; but it might be appropriate pragmatically in certain context. Note: Pragmatics can make sense out of nonsense, given a suitable context. Appropriateness is very important in linguistic communication, especially in cross-cultural communication. If you say something grammatically incorrect, you are at worse condemned as “speaking badly”, but, if you say something inappropriately, you will be judged as “behaving badly”, such as insincere, untruthful, or deceitful. (Thomas, 1983)

Speech act theory Speech acts is a term derived from the work of the philosopher J. L. Austin (1962) and now used to refer to a theory which analyzes the role of utterances in relation to the behavior of the speaker and the hearer in interpersonal communication. It aims to answer the question “What do we do when using language?”

Two types of utterances
Constatives (叙述句) ---- statements that either state or describe, and are thus verifiable; Performatives (施为句) ---- sentences that do not state a fact or describe a state, and are not verifiable. Note: Sometimes they are easy to get confused, e.g.“It is raining outside” can be a constative, and also a performative, for by uttering such a sentence, we may not only state a fact, but involve in the act of informing someone about the rain.

Some Examples of Performatives
“I do” “I name this ship Elizabeth.” “I give and bequeath my watch to my brother.” “I bet you sixpence it will rain tomorrow.” “I declare the meeting open.”

Austin’s new model of speech acts
----According to Austin’s new model, a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously when speaking: locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. The locutionary act----an act of saying something, i.e. an act of making a meaningful utterance (literal meaning of an utterance); The illocutionary act----an act performed in saying something: in saying X, I was doing Y (the intention of the speaker while speaking). The perlocutionary act----an act performed as a result of saying something: by saying X and doing Y, I did Z.

For example,“It is cold in here.”
Its locutionary act is the saying of it with its literal meaning the weather is clod in here; Its illocutionary act can be a request of the hear to shut the window; Its perlocutionary act can be the hearer’s shutting the window or his refusal to comply with the request. ----Analyze one more example: “You have left the door wide open.” Note: Of the three acts, what speech act theory is most concerned with is the illocutionary act. It attempts to account for the ways by which speakers can mean more than what they say.

Analyze the illocutionary acts of the following conversation between a couple:
----(the telephone rings) ----H: That’ the phone. (1) ----W: I’m in the bathroom. (2) ----H: Okay. (3) This seemingly incoherent conversation goes on successfully because the speakers understand each other’s illocutionary acts: (1) Making a request of his wife to go and answer the phone. (2) A refusal to comply with the request; issuing a request of her husband to answer the phone instead. (3) Accepting the wife’s refusal and accepting her request, meaning “all right, I’ll answer it.”

Searle’s classification of speech acts (1969)
Assertives/representatives(陈述) Directives(指令) Commissives(承诺) Expressives(表达) Declarations(宣布)

Assertives/representatives
---- Stating or describing, saying what the speaker believes to be true, e.g. I think the film is moving. I’m certain I have never seen the man before. I solemnly swear that he had got it. …

Directives ---- Trying to get the hearer to do something, e.g.
I order you to leave right now. Open the window, please. Your money or your life! …

Commissives ---- Committing the speaker himself to some future course of action, e.g. I promise to come. I will bring you the book tomorrow without fail. …

Expressives ----Expressing the speaker’s psychological state about something, e.g. I’m sorry for being late. I apologize for the sufferings that the war has caused to your people. …

Declarations ----Bringing about an immediate change in the existing state or affairs, e.g. I now appoint you chairman of the committee. You are fired. I now declare the meeting open. …

Note: (1) All the acts that belong to the same category share the same purpose but differ in their strength or force, e.g. I guess / am sure / swear he is the murderer. Note: (2) In order to get someone open the door, we can choose one from a variety of the forms in below: Could you open the door, please! Can you open the door! Do you mind opening the door? Open the door! The door please!

Principle of conversation (Paul Grice)
Cooperative principle (CP)---- According to Grice, in making conversation, there is a general principle which all participants are expected to observe. It goes as follows: Make your conversational contribution such as required at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.

Four maxims of CP The maxim of quality
----Do not say what you believe to be false. ----Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. The maxim of quantity ----Make your contribution as informative as required for the current purpose of the exchange. ----Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. The maxim of relation ----Be relevant ( make your contribution relevant). The maxim of manner ----Avoid obscurity of expression. ----Avoid ambiguity. ----Be brief. ----Be orderly.

Conversational implicature
In real communication, however, speakers do not always observe these maxims strictly. These maxims can be violated for various reasons. When any of the maxims is blantantly violated, i.e. both the speaker and the hearer are aware of the violation, our language becomes indirect, then conversational implicature arises.

Violation of Maxim of quality
----A: Would you like to go movie with me tonight? ----B: The final exam is approaching. I’m afraid I have to prepare for it. ----A: would you like to come to our party tonight? ----B: I’m afraid I’m not feeling so well tonight. ----A: Who was that lady I saw you with last night? ----B: That was no lady, that was my wife.

Violation of maxim of quantity
At a party a young man introduces himself by saying “I’m Robert Sampson from Leeds, 28, unmarried…” “War is war.” “Girls are girls.” ----A:When is Susan’s farewell party? ----B:Sometime next month.

Violation of maxim of relation
----A: How did the math exam go today, Jonnie? ----B: We had a basketball match with class 2 and we beat them. ----A: The hostess is an awful bore. ----B: The roses in the garden are beautiful, aren’t they? ----A: What time is it? ----B: The postman has just arrived.

Violation of maxim of manner
----A: Shall we get something for the kids? ----B: Yes. But I veto I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M.

Politeness principle (Leech)

Chapter 7 Language change
Sound change Morphological and syntactic change Vocabulary change

Morphological and syntactic change
Change in “agreement” rule Change in negation rule Process of simplification Loss of inflections

Vocabulary change Addition of new words Loss of words
Changes in the meaning of words

Addition of new words coinage(创新词) clipped words(缩略词) blending(紧缩法)
acronyms(词首字母缩略词) back-formation(逆构词法) functional shift borrowing

Coinage ----A new word can be coined outright to fit some purpose, e.g. walkman Kodak Xerox Ford Benz Toyota

Clipped words ----The abbreviation of longer words or phrases, e.g.
gym—gymnasium memo—memorandum disco—discotheque fridge—refrigerator

Blending ----A blend is a word formed by combining parts of other words, e.g. smog—smoke + fog motel—motor + hotel camcorder—camera + recorder

Acronyms ----Acronyms are words derived from the initials of several words, e.g. CBS---- Columbia Broad casting system ISBN----International Standard Book Number WTO WHO PLA AIDS UNESCO APEC OPEC CAD SARS

Back-formation ----New words may be coined from already existing words by “subtracting” an affix thought to be part of the old word. edit  editor hawk  hawker beg  beggar baby-sit  baby-sitter

Functional shift ----Words may shift from one part of speech to another without the addition of affixes, e.g. Noun verb: to knee, to bug, to tape, to brake… Verb noun: a hold, a flyby, a reject, a retreat… Adj. verb: to cool, to narrow, to dim, to slow… Adj. noun: a daily, a Christian, the rich, the impossible…

Borrowing ----When different cultures come into contact, words are often borrowed from one language to another. The following are some of the loan words in English (see more in P ). Latin bonus education exit German beer waltz quartz Chinese tea kowtow sampan Russian sputnik commissar vodka Arabic zero algebra alcohol

Loss of words Words can be lost from a language as time goes by. The following words, taken from Romeo and Juliet, have faded out of the English language. Beseem  to be suitable Wot  to know Gyve  a fetter Wherefore  why

Changes in the meaning of words
Widening of meaning Narrowing of meaning Meaning shift

Widening of meaning Holiday: [+specific] holy day
[+general] any rest day Tail: [+specific] tail of a horse [+general] tail of any animal

Narrowing of meaning hound: any dog a special kind of dog
girl: young person of either sex young people of female sex deer: any animal a particular kind of animal meat: food edible part of an animal corn: grain a particular grain

Meaning shift inn: a small, old hotel or pub well-known, nice hotel
nice: ignorant (1000 years ago) good, fine lust: pleasure with negative and sexual overtones silly: happy naïve, foolish

Some recent trends Moving towards greater informality
The influence of American English The influence of science and technology

The influence of science and technology
Space travel Computer and internet language Ecology

Causes of the language change
The rapid development of science and technology; More and more women have taken up activities formerly reserved for men, more neutral job titles have been created; “ Economy of memory” results in grammar simplification; Regularization of exceptional plural forms provides another example for analogical change.

Chapter 8 Language and society
Sociolinguistics ---- a sub-field of linguists that studies the relation between language and society, between the uses of language and the social structures in which the users of language live.

The relatedness between language and society
----There are many indications of the inter-relationship between language and society. Language is often used to establish and maintain social relationships. (e.g. greeting) The use of language is in part determined by the user’s social background. (social class, age, sex, education level, etc.) Language, especially the structure of its lexicon, reflects both the physical and the social environments of a society. (“snow” for Eskimo) As a social phenomenon language is closely related to the structure of the society in which it is used, the evaluation of a linguistic form is entirely social ( the postvocalic [r] ).

Speech community and speech variety
Speech community---- the social group that is singled out for any special sociolinguistic study is called the speech community. Speech variety or language variety---- any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker or a group of speakers. In sociolinguistic study three types of speech variety are of special interest, i.e. regional dialects, sociolects and registers.

Two approaches to sociolinguistic studies
Macro sociolinguistics, i.e. a bird’s-eye view of the languages used in society; Micro sociolinguistics, i.e. a worm’s-eye view of language in use.

Varieties of language Dialectal varieties Register Degree of formality

Dialectal varieties Regional dialect is a linguistic variety used by people living in the same geographical region(e.g. Br.E. & Am.E.). Sociolect is a linguistic variety characteristic of a particular social class. (e.g. Received Pronunciation) Language and gender (e.g. intonation, lexicon) Language and age (Lexical difference: icebox---- fridge, wireless----boombox) Idiolect---- a personal dialect of an individual speaker that combines elements regarding regional, social, gender, and age variations(e.g. Hemingway, Luxun). Ethnic dialect----a social dialect of a language that cuts across regional differences; it is mainly spoken by a less privileged population that has experienced some form of social isolation such as racial discrimination or segregation (e.g. Black English).

Register Register, in a restricted sense, refers to the variety of language related to one’s occupation. In a broader sense, according to Halliday, “language varies as its function varies; it differs in different situations.” The type of language which is selected as appropriate to the type of situation is a register. Halliday further distinguishes three social variables that determine the register: field of discourse, tenor of discourse, mode of discourse.

Three social variables
Field of discourse: what is going on: to the area of operation of the language activity. It is concerned with the purpose (why) and subject matter (about what) of communication. It can be either technical or non-technical.) Tenor of discourse: the role of relationship in the situation in question: who are the participants in the communication and in what relationship they stand to each other. (customer-shop-assistant, teacher-student, etc.) Mode of discourse: the means of communication. It is concerned with how communication is carried out. (oral, written, on the line…)

Degree of formality ----Five stages of formality (Martin Joos)
Intimate: Up you go, chaps! Casual: Time you all went upstairs now. Consultative: Would you mind going upstairs right away, please? Formal: Visitors should go up the stairs at once. Frozen: Visitors would make their way at once to the upper floor by way of the staircase. ----Note: Different styles of the same language can be characterized through differences at three levels: syntactic, lexical and phonological(P121).

Standard dialect The standard variety is a superimposed, socially prestigious dialect of a language. It is the language employed by the government and the judiciary system, used by the mass media, and taught in educational institutions, including school settings where the language is taught as a foreign or second language.

Pidgin and Creole A pidgin is a special language variety that mixes or blends languages and it is used by people who speak different languages for restricted purposes such as trading. When a pidgin has become the primary language of a speech community, and is acquired by the children of that speech community as their native language, it is said to have become a Creole.

Bilingualism and Diglossia
In some speech communities, two languages are used side by side with each having a different role to play; and language switching occurs when the situation changes. This constitutes the situation of Bilingualism. According to Ferguson (1959), diglossia refers to a sociolinguistic situation similar to bilingualism. But in stead of two different languages, in a diglossia situation two varieties of a language exist side by side throughout the community, with each having a definite role to play.

Chapter 9 Language and culture

What is culture? In a broad sense, culture means the total way of life of a people, including the patterns of belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques, and language that characterizes the life of the human community. In a narrow sense, culture may refer to local or specific practice, beliefs or customs, which can be mostly found in folk culture, enterprise culture or food culture, etc. There are generally two types of culture: material and spiritual.

The relationship between language and culture
The same word may stir up different associations in people under different cultural background, e.g. the word “dog”. Language expresses cultural reality, reflects the people’s attitudes, beliefs, world outlooks, etc. The culture both emancipates and constrains people socially, historically and metaphorically. Culture also affects its people’s imagination or common dreams which are mediated through the language and reflected in their life. On the one hand, language as an integral part of human being, permeates in his thinking and way of viewing the world, language both expresses and embodies cultural reality; on the other, language, as a product of culture, helps perpetuate the culture, and the changes in language uses reflect the cultural changes in return.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf, proclaimed that the structure of the language people habitually use influences the ways they think and behave, i.e. different languages offer people different ways of expressing the world around, they think and speak differently, this is also known as linguistic relativity. Sapir and Whorf believe that language filters people’s perception and the way they categorize experiences. This interdependence of language and thought is now known as Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis.

Strong version & weak version
Strong version believes that the language patterns determine people’s thinking and behavior; Weak version holds that the former influence the latter. ----The study of the linguistic relativity or SWH has shed two important insights: There is nowadays a recognition that language, as code, reflects cultural preoccupations and constrains the way people think. More than in Whorf’s days, however, we recognize how important context is in complementing the meanings encoded in the language.

Linguistic evidence of cultural differences
Denotative meaning ---- a meaning that can be found in a dictionary. Connotative meaning ---- a meaning or idea suggested by a word or thing in addition to the formal meaning or nature of the word or thing. Iconic meaning ---- the image or icon invoked in mind by a word. For example, “rose”.

Some cultural differences in language use
Greetings and terms of address Thanks and compliments Color words Privacy and taboos Rounding off numbers Words and cultural-specific connotations Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphor

The significance of cultural teaching and learning
Learning a foreign language is inseparable from learning its culture. We need to learn enough about the language’s culture so that we can communicate in the target language properly to achieve not only the linguistic competence but also the pragmatic or communicative competence as well.

Cultural overlap Cultural overlap refers to the identical part of culture between two societies owing to some similarities in the natural environment and psychology of human beings. For example, the superior tends to refer to himself or herself by means of kinship terms, such as “Have daddy/mummy/teacher told you that?”

Cultural diffusion Through communication, some elements of culture A enter culture B and become part of culture B, this phenomenon is known as cultural diffusion. One typical example of cultural diffusion is the appearance of loan words. The practice of observing holidays of foreign origins and accepting concepts from other cultures. The attitude towards cultural diffusion (esp. cultural imperialism owing to linguistic imperialism)

Intercultural communication
Intercultural or cross-cultural communication is communication between people from different cultures (their cultural perceptions and symbols systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event.) In cross-cultural communication, we need to pay special attention to the significant differences regarding social relations and concept of universe from different perspectives such as language, food, dress, attitude towards time, work habits, social behavior and religious belief that can cause frustrations in communications and contacts.

Chapter 10 Language acquisition
Language acquisition----refers to the child’s acquisition of his mother tongue, i.e. how the child comes to understand and speak the language of his community.

Theories of child language acquisition
A behaviorist view of language acquisition (Skinners) An innatist view of language acquisition (Chomsky) An interactionist view of language acquisition Cognitive factors in child language development

A behaviorist view of language acquisition
Traditional behaviorists view language as behavior and believe that language learning is simply a matter of imitation and habit formation. Imitation  Recognition  Reinforcement The inadequacy of behaviorist view lies in explaining how children acquire complex language system. (See examples in P144)

An innatist view of language acquisition
According to the innatist view of language acquisition, human beings are biologically programmed for language and that the language develops in the child just as other biological functions such as walking.

An interactionist view of language acquisition
The interactionist view holds that language develops as a result of the complex interplay between the human characteristics of the child and the environment in which the child develops. Integrated with the innatist view, the interactionist further claims that the modified language which is suitable for the child’s capability is crucial in his language acquisition. (motherese)

Cognitive factors in child language development
1) Language development is dependent on both the concepts children form about the world and what they feel stimulated to communicate at the early and later stages of their language development. (the acquisition of perfect tense and the concept of present relevance) 2) The cognitive factors determine how the child makes sense of the linguistic system himself instead of what meanings the child perceives and expresses. (the acquisition of negative form)

Language environment & the critical period hypothesis
Two important factors: the linguistic environment children are exposed to and the age they start to learn the language. In behaviorist approach, language environment plays a major role in providing both language models to be imitated and necessary feedbacks. The innatist view emphasizes more on children’s internal processing of the language items to be learnt. The environment functions as a stimulus that triggers and activates the pre-equipped UG to process the materials provided by the linguistic environment around the children. The interactionist view calls for the quality of the language samples available in the linguistic environment, only when the language is modified and adjusted to the level of children’s comprehension, do they process and internalize the language items.

Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH)
---- Eric Lenneberg argues that the LAD, like other biological functions, works successfully only when it is stimulated at the right time ---- a specific and limited time period for language acquisition. The strong version of CPH suggests that children must acquire their first language by puberty or they will never be able to learn from subsequent exposure. The weak version holds that language learning will be more difficult and incomplete after puberty. (Support in Victor’s and Genie’s cases)

Stages in child language development
Phonological development Vocabulary development 1) Under-extension 2) Over-extension 3) Prototype theory Grammatical development 1) Telegraphic speech (2) 2) Sentences of three main elements (2.5) Pragmatic development

Atypical development Atypical or abnormal language development occurs due to trauma or injury. Atypical language development includes: Hearing impairment Mental retardation autism stuttering Aphasia Dyslexia and dysgraphia

Chapter 11 Second Language Acquisition
Second Language Acquisition ---- formally established itself as a discipline around the 1970s, refers to the systematic study of how one person acquires a second language subsequent to his native language. Distinguish second language & foreign language

Connections between first language acquisition and second language acquisition
The first language study has served as a backcloth for perceiving and understanding new facts about second language learning (Littlewood, 1986). SLA is different from first language acquisition. Interlanguage

Contrastive analysis (CA) (1960s)
Positive transfer----facilitate target language learning Negative transfer----interfere or hinder target language learning It is believed that differences between the native language and the target language would pose difficulties in second/foreign language learning and teaching, e.g. *To touch the society . *There are more people come to study in the states. *I wait you at the gate of the school.

Shortcomings of CA The CA was soon found problematic, for many of the predictions of the target language learning difficulty formulated on the basis of contrastive analysis turned out to be either uninformative or inaccurate. Predicted errors did not materialize in learner language while errors did show up that the contrastive analysis had not predicted. “differences” and “difficulties” are not identical concepts.

Error analysis (EA) The contrastive approach to learners’ errors has shed new light on people’s attitudes: the errors are significant in telling the teacher what needs to be taught, in telling the researcher how learning proceeds and those errors are a means whereby learners test their hypotheses about the language to be learnt. Two main sorts of errors: Interlingual errors & intralingual errors

Interlingual errors ----Interlingual errors mainly result from cross-linguistic interference at different levels such as phonological, lexical, grammatical or discoursal etc. For examples, a. Substitution of [t] for [W] and [d] for [T]: threetree, thisdis. b. Shortening of long vowels: sheepship, meetmit

Intralingual errors ----The intralingual errors mainly from faulty or partial learning of the target language, independent of the native language. Two types of errors have been well exploited: overgeneralization & cross-association

Overgeneralization Overgeneralization ---- the use of previously available strategies in new situations. Walked, watched, washed… *rided, *goed, *doed, *eated… Jane advise me to give up smoking. Jane told me to give up smoking. *Jane hoped me to give up smoking. *Jane suggested me to give up smoking.

Cross-association Cross-association refers to the phenomenon that the close association of the two similar words often leads to confusion, e.g. Other/another, much/many, stalagmite/stalactite… It may also occurs at all levels of language from phonological to syntactic, e.g. The coffee is too hot to drink. *The apricot is too sour to eat it.

Errors & mistakes Errors ---- unintentionally deviant from the target language and not self-corrigible by the learner (failure in competence)； Mistakes ---- either intentionally or unintentionally deviant forms and self-corrigible (failure in performance).

Interlanguage (S. Pit Corder & Larry Selinker)
Interlangauge ---- learners’ independent system of the second language which is of neither the native language nor the second language, but a continuum or approximation from his native language to the target language. What learners produce, correct or wrong, are evidence or the approximation from their first language to the target language.

Characteristics of interlanguage
Interlanguage has three important characteristics: systematicity, permeability and fossilization. Fossilization---- a process occurring from time to time in which incorrect linguistic features become a permanent part of the way a person speaks or writes a language.

The role of native language in 2nd language learning
Language transfer: positive & negative (behaviorism) Mentalists argued that few errors were caused by language transfer; transfer is not transfer, but a kind of mental process. Three interacting factors in determining language transfer: A learner’s psychology Perception of native-target language distance Actual knowledge of the target language

2nd language learning models and input hypothesis
Behaviorism model emphasizes the role of imitation and positive reinforcement, a “nurture” position; The mentalists or the innativists shift to a “nature” position by stressing that human beings equipped innately with language acquisition device, are capable of language learning provided with adequate language input. The social interactionists argue that language and social interaction cannot be separated.

Krashen’s Input Hypothesis
Krashen make a distinction between acquisition & learning. He put forward that learners advance their language learning gradually by receiving comprehensible input. He defined comprehensible input as “i + 1” : “i” represents learners’ current state of knowledge, the next stage is an “i + 1”. Krashen mistook input and intake, thus receive criticism.

Individual differences
Language aptitude Motivation Learning strategies Age of acquisition Personality

Language aptitude Language aptitude refers to a natural ability for learning a second language. It is believed to be related to a learner’s general intelligence. John Carroll identified some components of language aptitude: Phonemic coding ability Grammatical sensitivity Inductive language learning ability Rote learning ability

Motivation Motivation can be defined as the learner’s attitudes and affective state or learning drive. It has a strong impact on his efforts in learning a second language. Generally four types of motivations have been identified: Instrumental motivation Integrative motivation Resultative motivation Intrinsic motivation

Learning strategies Learning strategies are learners’ conscious, goal-oriented and problem-solving based efforts to achieve learning efficiency. According to Chamot (1986) & Oxford (1990), three types of strategies have been identified: Cognitive strategies ---- analyzing,synthesis and internalizing what has been learned. Metacognitive strategies ---- planning, monitoring and evaluating one’s learning. Affect/social strategies ---- the ways learners interact with other speakers. Cohen (1998) further distinguishes language learning strategies and language using strategies.

Age of acquisition The Critical Period Hypothesis
Recent studies support the hypothesis that in terms of learning achievement and grammaticality the younger learners outperform the adults.

Personality In terms of communicative ability rather than grammatical accuracy or knowledge of grammatical rules, the personality traits such as extroversion, talkative, self-esteem, self-confidence can be found in successful second language learners ( as in the case of Liyang: Crazy English).

SLA & its pedagogical implications

Chapter 12 Language and Brain

A Course on Linguistics for Students of English Zhou Changming Dept

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