1. Language and Linguistics An Introduction

2. Brief Introduction  Language  A human speech;  The ability to communicate;  A system of vocal sounds;  A means of verbal communication.  Instrumental, Social and Conventional.

3. Brief Introduction  We would all agree that language is essential to human beings but we may find it hard to specify what makes our language advantageous over animal “language”  The features that define our human languages can be called Design Features.

4. Brief Introduction  Design features of language  1. Arbitrariness 任意性  2. Duality 二重性  3. Creativity 创造性  4. Displacement 移位性

5. Brief Introduction  Arbitrariness 任意性  The widely accepted meaning of this feature first refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning.  What is the link between a linguistic sign and its meaning? It is the matter of convention. Arbitrariness of language makes it potentially creative, and conventionality of language makes learning a language laborious.

6. Brief Introduction  Duality 二重性  By duality is meant having two levels of structures, and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization.  The elements of the spoken language are sounds which do not convey meaning in themselves. The only function of sounds is to combine with one another to form units that have meaning, such as words.

7. Brief Introduction  Duality 二重性  We call sounds secondary units as opposed to primary units as words, since the secondary units are meaningless and the primary units have distinct and identifiable meaning.  The property of duality only exists in such system with both elements and units.

8. Brief Introduction  Creativity 创造性  By creativity we mean language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. We can use language to create new meanings. That’s how human language apart from animal languages.

9. Brief Introduction  Creativity 创造性  He bought a book which was written by a teacher who taught in a school which was known for its graduates who…

10. Brief Introduction  Displacement 移位性  Displacement means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present at the moment of communication.  Displacement benefits human beings that it makes it possible for us to talk and think in abstract terms.

11. Brief Introduction  Functions of language  1. Informative 信息功能  2. Interpersonal function 人际功能  3. Performative 施为功能  4. Emotive function 感情功能  5. Phatic communion 交感行谈话  6. Recreational function 娱乐性功能  7. Metalingual function 元语言功能

12. Brief Introduction  Informative 信息功能  Language is the instrument of thought and people often feel need to speak their thoughts aloud. The use of language to record the facts is a prerequisite of social development. This is indeed an important function of language.

13. Brief Introduction  Interpersonal function 人际功能  The most important sociological use of language is the interpersonal function, by which people establish and maintain their status in a society.

14. Brief Introduction  Performative 施为功能  The performative function of language is primarily to change the social status of persons. The kind of language employed in performative verbal acts is usually quite formal and even ritualized.  The control of reality as on some magical or religious occasions.

15. Brief Introduction  Emotive function 感情功能  The emotive function of language is one of the most powerful uses of language because it is so crucial in changing the emotional status of an audience for or against someone or something.

16. Brief Introduction  Phatic communion 交感行谈话  Refers to the social interaction of language. We all use such small, seemingly meaningless expressions to maintain a comfortable relationship between people without involving any factual content.  Different cultures have different topics of phatic communion.

17. Brief Introduction  Phatic communion 交感行谈话  Rundi women (in Central Africa), upon taking leave, routinely and politely say:  “I must go home now, or my husband will beat me.”

18. Brief Introduction  Recreational function 娱乐性功能  The recreational function of a language is often overlooked because it seems so restrictive in purpose and supposedly so limited in usefulness.

19. Brief Introduction  Metalingual function 元语言功能  Language can be used to talk about itself.  Human beings can talk about talk and think about thinking, and thus only humans can ask what it means to communicate, to think, to be human. 

20. Brief Introduction  Linguistics  The science of language;  The scientific study of language;  The theories of language;  The Study of the way in which language works.

21. Brief Introduction  Main branches of linguistics  1. Phonetics 语音学  2. Phonology 音系学  3. Morphology 形态学  4. Syntax 句法学  5. Semantics 语义学  6. Pragmatics 语用学

22. Brief Introduction  Phonetics 语音学  Phonetics studies speech sounds, including the production of speech, that is how speech sounds are actually made, transmitted and received, the sounds of speech, the description and classification of speech sounds, words and connected speech, etc.

23. Brief Introduction  Phonology 音系学  Phonology studies the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables.  Phonetics is the study of speech sounds that the human voice is capable of creating whereas phonology is the study of a subset of those sounds that constitute language and meaning.

24. Brief Introduction  Morphology 形态学  Morphology is concerned with the internal organization of words. It studies the minimal units of meaning – morphemes and word- formation processes.

25. Brief Introduction  Syntax 句法学  Syntax is about principles of forming and understanding correct English sentences. The form or structure of a sentence is governed by the rules of syntax. These rules specify word order, sentence organization, and the relationship between words, word classes and other sentence elements.

26. Brief Introduction  Syntax 句法学  A. The children watched [the firework from the hill].  孩子们看山上的烟火。  B. The children watched [the firework] [from the hill].  孩子们从山上看烟火。

27. Brief Introduction  Semantics 语义学  Semantics examines how meaning is encoded in a language. It is not only concerned with meanings of words as lexical items, but also with levels of language below the word and above it.

28. Brief Introduction  Pragmatics 语用学  Pragmatics is the study of meaning in context. It deals with particular utterances in particular situations and is especially concerned with the various ways in which the many social contexts of language performance can influence interpretation.

29. Brief Introduction  Macrolinguistics  Psycholinguistics 心理语言学  Sociolinguistics 社会语言学  Anthropological linguistics 人类语言学  Computatuonal linguistics 计算语言学

30. Brief Introduction  Psycholinguistics 心理语言学  Psycholinguistics investigates the interrelation of language and mind, in processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition for example.

31. Brief Introduction  Sociolinguistics 社会语言学  Sociolinguistics is the study of the characteristics of language varieties, the characteristics of their functions, and the characteristics of their speakers.

32. Brief Introduction  Anthropological linguistics 人类语言学  Anthropological linguistics studies primarily in the history and structure of formerly unwritten languages. They are concerned with the emergence of language and also with the divergence of languages over thousands of years.

33. Brief Introduction  Computatuonal linguistics 计算语言学  Computatuonal linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which centers around the use of computers to process or produce human language.

34. Brief Introduction  The Aim of the course  Understand the relation between language and civilization  Understand the symbolic nature of language  Understand the various functions of language  Understand the relation between language and society  Understand the relation between language and mind

35. How to Study  Overall organization of the contents  Unit 1 Awareness of Our Language  --The importance of language  Unit 2 Physical Aspects of Language  Unit 3 The Symbolic Nature of Language  -- What is language?

36. How to Study  Unit 4 Language Function 1: Organizing Our Experiences of the Material World  Unit 5 Language Function 2: Doing Things with Language  Unit 6 Language Function 3: Managing Interpersonal Relations  Unit 7 Language Function 4: Talk, Talk, and Talk  Unit 8 Language in Society  -- What are the functions language fulfills in the social world?

37. How to Study  Unit 9 Language, Brain and Mind  -- What are the functions language fulfills in the human mind?  Unit 10 General Review and Course Assessment

38. How to Study  1. What is language?  2. What are the functions language fulfills in the social world?  3. What is the role language plays in the human mind?

39. Way of Examination  Part 1: 20%  Class Attending and Assignments  Part 2: 80%  Final Examination

40. Way of Examination  Final Paper Text:  1. Multiple Choice 20%  2. Fill in the Blanks 20%  --Checking Content Awareness  3. True of False 20%  4. Match 20%  --Checking Understanding of General Principles of Language and Linguistics  5. Analysis 20%  --Checking Analytic Application