Transcript Unit 2 Some Preliminaries about Language

2.1 The definition of language
The question “what is language?” is comparable
with – and, some would say, hardly less profound
than – “what is life?”
---John Lyons
How do you define language?
• 列宁(《论民族自治》)：Language is the most
important tool for human communication.
• Chomsky(1957): a set of (finite or infinite) of
sentences, each finite in length and constructed
out of a finite set of elements.
• Sapir(1921): Language is a purely human and
non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,
emotions, and desires by means of voluntarily
produced symbols.
• Language is a system of arbitrary vocal
symbols used for human communication.
--- 胡壮麟
“language” used in various
contexts
(pp.10-11, No. 1)
• ‘Chinese is a language
• Linguistics is the systematic study of
language.
• Both Jane and John like
Shakespeare’s language.
• the language of bees
2.2 The functions of language
• Language contributes to the success of
our everyday life and the survival of
human beings.
• Discussion:
• What functions does language serve for our
life and survival?
• Humans are said to be language animals. But what if
we humans lived without language?
• There are some 6,800 known languages spoken
in the 200 countries of the world. In 2003, the
total number of languages in the world was
estimated to be 6,809, of which 2,261 have
writing systems (the others are only spoken).
What if there were only one language the world over?
(P. 11 No. 2)
Some common functions of language
• phatic: Hello!
• directive: Get out of my way!
• informative: The earth revolves around the sun.
• interrogative: Do you know his hobby?
• expressive: I hate her.
• evocative: How do you like Jack?
• performative: I hereby declare the meeting open.
• interpersonal: Tommy, Dear Friend
• recreational: humor; rhyming; puns
• metalinguistic: what I mean is; in other words
Discussion:
PP. 16-17 No.5
2.3 The origin of language
• PP. 12-13 No. 6
2.4 The defining features of language
• Also called design features (C. F.Hockett, A Course
in Modern Linguistics, 1958)
a. creativity
• “creativity”, sometimes also “productivity”, means the
property which makes possible the construction and
interpretation of new symbols, i.e. of signals that have not
been previously encountered.
• Of course, the property of creativity is rule-governed
according to Chomsky. Thus, the creativity in linguistics
is different from that in art, which means breaking rules.
b. arbitrariness
• The term “arbitrary” here means something
inexplicable in terms of some more general principles.
It is impossible to predict the meaning from the form,
or vice versa.
word
form
Discuss: P. 12 No. 5
meaning
Question:
• By this property do we mean that a person can use the
•
•
language as freely as we like?
How about argot? How about onomatopeic words? [PP.
11-12 No. 4]
How about words like flow, float, flood, fluent, etc.?
[P. 17 No.6] and floor? flour?
• Other examples:
• J-: joy, jovial, jubilate, joyous, joyful, jubilant
• Gl-: glow, glisten, gleam, glare, glint, glimmer,
glitter
• (p124 HU)
c. duality of structure/double articulation
• b-o-o-k (meaningless segments: lower level,
secondary) ---->
• Book (meaningful unit: higher level, primary)
• Question: Why is this property generally
assumed as central to language? Does
animal language have this property? How
is this related to communicative power?
d. displacement
• This property give rise to the flexibility and
versatility of language. Communication by
means of language is constrained neither by
time nor by space.
• Question: What advantages does this property
of language yield?
• How about the other communication systems?
e. cultural transmission
• Animal call systems are genetically transmitted.
• Language is passed on from one generation to
another by teaching and learning, rather than by
instinct.
• Question: Can we deny that human language has a
genetic basis? What is the implication of the story
about “wolf child”? What about those patients with
neurological lesions in areas like Broca area (named
after a French scientist) and Wernicke area (named
after a German scientist) [aphasia] ?
What all languages seem to share
P. 15 No. 12
• What do we mean by “knowing a language”?
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* /bdek/
* enblack
* He me laugh at.
* The father of the orphan is in Beijing.
A: Sorry I broke your glass.
*B: Thank you.
After gathering adequate materials, each
group should prepare a 15-minute
powerpoint-version report and present it
in class.
The PPT needs to be emailed to me a
week prior to the presentation so that I
can offer advice for modification.
2.5 The acquisition of language
L1 acquisition is said to have the following
features:
a. universally successful;
b. without explicit instruction (teacher,
textbook, school, syllabus, etc.);
c. rapid (0-4 years’ old);
d. conditional (i. exposure; ii. critical period
1.5-4years old; iii. no mental deficiency).
L1 acquisition generally falls into some
stages:三躺六坐七爬爬，八个月会踏踏
a. babbling period: birth--around 6 months,
produce some sounds;
b. syllabic speech period: around 8 months,
syllables replace babbled sounds, like [mama];
c. single-word stage: around 1 year old, first words,
no grammar; carry out simple commands;
d. onset of speech: 18 months, more words (3-50
words);
e. two-word utterances stage: 2 years old, can
name most things around him; begin his own
creation of two-word phrases (early stage of
grammar), pivot words +open words, e.g.
Mummy sock;
f. full-understanding stage: 2.5 years old, e.g.
daddy kick ball;
g. near adult-speech: 3 years old;
overgeneralization of inflections;
Going swimming-pool on Sunday. Mummy goed to
market yesterday. Want to eat.
h. adult speech: 4 years old.
Are you my brother’s family teacher? glasses
Agriculture.
Discuss
PP. 13-14:
No. 7, 8, 9
Assignments
1. Review the major points of this lecture.
2. Browse the Internet for some definitions of
language and bring at least 2 to class.
Form “ study and research” groups (4-5 persons for
1 group). Each group draws a topic out of the
following:
a. Word formation in English [Week 3]
b. Interrogative sentences in English [Week 4]
c. Phatic communion in English and Chinese [寒暄] [Week 5]
d. The naming of people in English [Week 6]
e. Metonymy in English [Week 7]
f. Complimenting and responding to compliments in English
[Week 8]
g. Strategies for doing face-threatening acts in English [Week 9]
h. Euphemisms in English [Week 10]
i. The change of English [Week 11]
j. Chinglish [Week 12]
• The members of each group must work
together when collecting materials,
preparing the PPT, and presenting the
report.
• Each presentation is to last about 20
minutes.
• Each PPT must be sent to the teacher for
comments and advice ONE weak prior to
the report.