2010-2011下学期语言学复习1-12章2

Linguistics

Chapter 1 Invitations to Linguistics

1.1 Why study language? 1. Language is very essential to human beings. 2. In language there are many things we should know. 3. For further understanding, we need to study language scientifically. 1.2 What is language? Language is a means of verbal communication. It is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. 1.3 Design features of language The features that define our human languages can be called design features which can distinguish human language from any animal system of communication. 1.3.1 Arbitrariness

Arbitrariness refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meanings.

1.3.2 Duality

Duality refers to the property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization.

1.3.3 Creativity

Creativity means that language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. Recursiveness refers to the rule which can be applied repeatedly without any definite limit. The recursive nature of language provides a theoretical basis for the possibility of creating endless sentences.

1.3.4 Displacement

Displacement means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of conversation.

1.4 Origin of language 1. The bow-wow theory 2. The pooh-pooh theory 3. The ―yo-he-ho‖ theory 1.5 Functions of language As is proposed by Jacobson, language has six functions: 1. Referential: to convey message and information; 2. Poetic: to indulge in language for its own sake; 3. Emotive: to express attitudes, feelings and emotions;

1

Linguistics

4. Conative: to persuade and influence others through commands and entreaties; 5. Phatic: to establish communion with others; 6. Metalingual: to clear up intentions, words and meanings. Halliday (1994) proposes a theory of metafunctions of language. It means that language has three metafunctions: 1. Ideational function: to convey new information, to communicate a content that is

unknown to the hearer;

2. Interpersonal function: embodying all use of language to express social and personal relationships;

3. Textual function: referring to the fact that language has mechanisms to make any

stretch of spoken and written discourse into a coherent and unified text and make a living passage different from a random list of sentences.

According to Hu Zhuanglin, language has at least seven functions: 1.5.1 Informative The informative function means language is the instrument of thought and people

often use it to communicate new information. 1.5.2 Interpersonal function The interpersonal function means people can use language to establish and

maintain their status in a society. 1.5.3 Performative The performative function of language is primarily to change the social status of

persons, as in marriage ceremonies, the sentencing of criminals, the blessing of children, the naming of a ship at a launching ceremony, and the cursing of enemies. 1.5.4 Emotive function The emotive function 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. 1.5.5 Phatic communion The phatic communion means people always use some small, seemingly

meaningless expressions such as Good morning, God bless you, Nice day, etc., to maintain a comfortable relationship between people without any factual content. 1.5.6 Recreational function The recreational function means people use language for the sheer joy of using it,

such as a baby‘s babbling or a chanter‘s chanting. 1.5.7 Metalingual function The metalingual function means people can use language to talk about itself. E.g. I

can use the word ―book‖ to talk about a book, and I can also use the expression ―the word book‖ to talk about the sign ―b-o-o-k‖ itself.

2

Linguistics

1.6 What is linguistics? Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It studies not just one language of any one community, but the language of all human beings. 1.7 Main branches of linguistics 1.7.1 Phonetics

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds, it includes three main areas: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics.

1.7.2 Phonology

Phonology studies the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables.

1.7.3 Morphology

Morphology studies the minimal units of meaning – morphemes and word-formation processes.

1.7.4 Syntax

Syntax refers to the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences in a language, or simply, the study of the formation of sentences.

1.7.5 Semantics Semantics examines how meaning is encoded in a language. 1.7.6 Pragmatics Pragmatics is the study of meaning in context. 1.8 Macrolinguistics Macrolinguistics is the study of language in all aspects, distinct from microlinguistics, which dealt solely with the formal aspect of language system. 1.8.1 Psycholinguistics 1.8.2 Sociolinguistics 1.8.3 Anthropological linguistics 1.8.4 Computational linguistics 1.9 Important distinctions in linguistics 1.9.1 Descriptive vs. prescriptive To say that linguistics is a descriptive science is to say that the linguist tries to discover and record the rules to which the members of a language-community actually conform and does not seek to impose upon them other rules, or norms, of correctness.

Prescriptive linguistics aims to lay down rules for the correct use of language and settle the disputes over usage once and for all.

For example, ―Don‘t say X.‖ is a prescriptive command; ―People don‘t say X.‖ is a descriptive statement. The distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things are. In the 18th century, all the main European languages were studied prescriptively. However, modern linguistics is mostly descriptive because the nature of linguistics as a science determines its preoccupation with description instead

3

Linguistics

of prescription. 1.9.2 Synchronic vs. diachronic

A synchronic study takes a fixed instant (usually at present) as its point of observation. Saussure‘s diachronic description is the study of a language through the course of its history. E.g. a study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare‘s time would be synchronic, and a study of the changes English has undergone since then would be a diachronic study. In modern linguistics, synchronic study seems to enjoy priority over diachronic study. The reason is that unless the various state of a language are successfully studied it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development. 1.9.3 Langue & parole Saussure distinguished the linguistic competence of the speaker and the actual phenomena or data of linguistics as langue and parole. Langue is relative stable and systematic, parole is subject to personal and situational constraints; langue is not spoken by an individual, parole is always a naturally occurring event. What a linguist should do, according to Saussure, is to draw rules from a mass of confused facts, i.e. to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make them the subject of linguistics. 1.9.4 Competence and performance According to Chomsky, a language user‘s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called the linguistic competence, and the actual use of language in concrete situations is called performance. Competence enables a speaker to produce and understand and indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker‘s competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speaker‘s performance does not always match his supposed competence. Langue is a social product and a set of conventions of a community, while competence is deemed as a property of mind of each individual.

Chomsky‘s competence-performance distinction is not exactly the same as Saussure‘s langue-parole distinction. Saussure looks at language more from a sociological or sociolinguistic point of view than Chomsky since the latter deals with his issues psychologically or psycholinguistically.

1.9.5 Etic vs. emic

4

Linguistics

Chapter 1 : 测试题

I. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Choose the best answer.

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human __________. A. contact B. communication C. relation D. community Which of the following words is entirely arbitrary? A. tree B. typewriter C. crash D. bang The function of the sentence ―Water boils at 100 degrees Centigrade.‖ is __________. A. interrogative B. directive C. informative D. performative In Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate the host or the people present are likely to say“碎碎（岁岁）平安”as a means of controlling the forces which they believes feel might affect their lives. Which functions does it perform? A. Interpersonal B. Emotive C. Performative D. Recreational Which of the following property of language enables language users to overcome the barriers caused by time and place, due to this feature of language, speakers of a language are free to talk about anything in any situation? A. Transferability B. Duality C. Displacement D. Arbitrariness Study the following dialogue. What function does it play according to the functions of language?

— A nice day, isn’t it?

— Right! I really enjoy the sunlight. A. Emotive B. Phatic C. Performative D. Interpersonal __________ refers to the actual realization of the ideal language user‘s knowledge of the rules of his language in utterances. A. Performance B. Competence C. Langue D. Parole

When a dog is barking, you assume it is barking for something or at someone that exists hear and now. It couldn‘t be sorrowful for some lost love or lost bone. This indicates the design feature of __________.

A. cultural transmission B. productivity C. displacement D. duality __________ answers such questions as how we as infants acquire our first language. A. Psycholinguistics B. Anthropological linguistics C. Sociolinguistics D. Applied linguistics

__________ deals with language application to other fields, particularly education. A. Linguistic theory B. Practical linguistics C. Applied linguistics D. Comparative linguistics

5.

6. 7. 8.

9. 10.

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

11. Language is a means of verbal communication. Therefore, the communication way used by

the deaf-mute is not language.

5

Linguistics

sound.

Regressive assimilation: If a following sound is influencing a preceding sound, we call it regressive assimilation.

Progressive assimilation: If a preceding sound is influencing a following sound, we call it progressive assimilation.

Devoicing: A process by which voiced sounds become voiceless. Devoicing of voiced consonants often occurs in English when they are at the end of a word.

2.6.2 Epenthesis, rule ordering and the Elsewhere Condition 2.6.3 Distinctive features Distinctive feature: A particular characteristic which distinguishes one distinctive sound unit of a language from another or one group of sounds from another group. Binary feature: A property of a phoneme or a word which can be used to describe the phoneme or word. A binary feature is either present or absent. Binary features are also used to describe the semantic properties of words.

2.7 Suprasegmentals

Suprasegmental features: Suprasegmental features are those aspects of speech that involve more than single sound segments. The principal suprasegmental features are syllables, stress, tone, and intonation. 2.7.1 Syllables

Syllable: An important unit in the study of suprasegmentals. It is often longer than one sound and smaller than a whole word. A syllable must have a nucleus or

peak, which is often the task of a vowel. However, sometimes it is also possible for a consonant to play the part of a nucleus, as in the word table, which consists of a syllable [teI] and a syllable [bl]. In the second syllable there is only the syllabic consonant [l] to function as the nucleus.

Open syllable: A syllable which ends in a vowel.

Closed syllable: A syllable which ends in a consonant. Maximal onset principle: The principle which states that when there is a choice as to where to place a consonant, it is put into the onset rather than the coda. (举例参照课本telling的发音，或以其他单词drilling等为例说明) 2.7.2 Stress Stress refers to the degree of force used in producing a syllable. In transcription, a raised

│

vertical line [] is used just before the syllable it relates to.

11

Linguistics

Chapter 2 : 测试题

I. Choose the best answer.

1. Of the consonants /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /m/, /z/ and /g/, which has the features of voiceless and

velar?

A. /k/ B. /p/ C. /g/ D. /t/ 2. Conventionally a __________ is put in slashes (/ /). A. allophone B. phone C. phoneme D. morpheme 3. An aspirated ph, an unaspirated p and an unreleased p are __________ of the p phoneme. A. analogues B. tagmemes C. morphemes D. allophones 4. The opening between the vocal cords is sometimes referred to as __________. A. glottis B. vocal cavity C. pharynx D. uvula

5. The diphthongs that are made with a movement of the tongue towards the center are known

as __________ diphthongs. A. wide B. closing C. narrow D. centering 6. A phoneme is a group of similar sounds called __________. A. minimal pairs B. allomorphs C. phones D. allophones 7. Which branch of phonetics concerns the production of speech sounds? A. Acoustic phonetics B. Articulatory phonetics C. Auditory phonetics D. None of the above 8. Which one is different from the others according to places of articulation? A. [n] B. [m] C. [b] D. [p] 9. Which vowel is different from the others according to the characteristics of vowels? A. [i:] B. [u] C. [e] D. [i] 10. What kind of sounds can we make when the vocal cords are vibrating? A. Voiceless B. Voiced C. Glottal stop D. Consonant

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false.

11. Suprasegmental phonology refers to the study of phonological properties of units larger than

the segment-phoneme, such as syllable, word and sentence.

12. The air stream provided by the lungs has to undergo a number of modification to acquire the

quality of a speech sound.

13. Two sounds are in free variation when they occur in the same environment and do not

contrast, namely, the substitution of one for the other does not produce a different word, but merely a different pronunciation. 14. [p] is a voiced bilabial stop.

12

Linguistics

15. 16. 17. 18.

Acoustic phonetics is concerned with the perception of speech sounds.

All syllables must have a nucleus but not all syllables contain an onset and a coda. When pure vowels or monophthongs are pronounced, no vowel glides take place.

According to the length or tenseness of the pronunciation, vowels can be divided into tense vs. lax or long vs. short.

19. Received Pronunciation is the pronunciation accepted by most people.

20. The maximal onset principle states that when there is a choice as to where to place a

consonant, it is put into the coda rather than the onset.

III. Fill in the blanks.

21. Consonant sounds can be either __________ or __________, while all vowel sounds are

__________.

22. Consonant sounds can also be made when two organs of speech in the mouth are brought

close together so that the air is pushed out between them, causing __________. 23. The qualities of vowels depend upon the position of the __________ and the lips.

24. One element in the description of vowels is the part of the tongue which is at the highest

point in the mouth. A second element is the __________ to which that part of the tongue is raised.

25. Consonants differ from vowels in that the latter are produced without __________.

26. In phonological analysis the words fail / veil are distinguishable simply because of the two

phonemes /f/ - /v/. This is an example for illustrating __________.

27. In English there are a number of __________, which are produced by moving from one

vowel position to another through intervening positions.

28. __________ refers to the phenomenon of sounds continually show the influence of their

neighbors.

29. __________ is the smallest linguistic unit.

30. Speech takes place when the organs of speech move to produce patterns of sound. These

movements have an effect on the __________ coming from the lungs.

IV. Explain the following terms, using examples.

31. consonant 32. phoneme 33. syllable 34. assimilation

V. Answer the following question.

35. Cite examples from English and Chinese to discuss the concept of the syllable.

13

Linguistics

参考答案举例和要点分值：

The syllable is an important unit in the study of phonology. Different languages permit different kinds of syllables. In Chinese Putonghua, for example, syllables typically consist of a consonant followed by a vowel. Only nasals /n, η / can occur after the vowel and there are no consonant clusters. This is why the English monosyllabic word please is often pronounced as pulisi by Chinese who are beginning to learn English. (4‘)

In English, a word may be monosyllabic (with one syllable, like cat and dog) or polysyllabic (with more than one syllable, like transplant or festival). A syllable must have a nucleus or peak, which is often the task of a vowel. However, sometimes it is also possible for a consonant to play the part of a nucleus, as in the word table, which consists of a syllable [theI] and a syllable [bl]. In the second syllable there is only the syllabic consonant [l] to function as the nucleus. Consonants [m, n] also have such functions in English, as in bottom [b?tm] and cotton [k?tn]. (4‘)

When we say that words like bed, dead, fed, head, led, red, said, thread, wed rhyme, we mean that the sounds after the first consonant or consonant cluster are identical. Therefore, we can divide a syllable into two parts, the Rhyme (or Rime) and the Onset. As the vowel within the rhyme is the nucleus, the consonant(s) after it will be termed the Coda. We can thus represent the syllabic structure of the word clasp in (1). The Greek letter ? (―sigma‖) is used to represent a syllable. (6‘)

(1)

O(nset) k

r

? k t

N(ucleus) Co(da)

R(hyme)

?

All syllables must have a nucleus but not all syllables contain an onset and a coda. A syllable that has no coda is called an open syllable while a syllable with coda is known as closed syllable. In English, there are both closed and open syllables but only tense vowels (long vowels and diphthongs) can occur in stressed open syllables. Differences in syllable structure also exist

14

Linguistics

cross-linguistically. In English, the onset position may be empty or filled by a cluster of as many as three consonants, while the coda position may be filled by as many as four consonants (as in sixths [s?ksθs] ). For this matter, the English syllable may be represented as (((C)C)C)V((((C)C)C)C). The Chinese syllable, however, allows at most one consonant in the onset position and only nasals [n, η] in the coda for the Putonghua. Thus the Standard Chinese syllable is represented as (C)V(C). (6‘)

注：音节的定义一直是一个难题，但音节的概念并不难于理解。本题要求学生对照英汉两种语言的音节构成，以此说明音节的概念。

36. Discuss the concepts of ?coarticulation‘ and ?assimilation‘. 答案要点和分值:

1) Coarticulation is a term of phonetics while assimilation is a term of phonology. (4) 2) Cause: speech is a continuous process… (4)

3) Types: anticipatory/perseverative coarticulation, regressive/progressive assimilation. (5) 4) Appropriate examples, esp. nasalization, velarization, & dentalization; cross syllabic and cross word boundaries; English fricative devoicing. (7)

注：本题要求学生对教材中分属语音学和音系学的两个几乎完全相同的概念（协同发音和同化现象）进行统一的讨论。学生要能够讲清为什么同一语言现象在不同学科中有不同的名称，产生这一现象的原因，这一现象的分类，并统一使用足够的例子来说明这一现象。

Test Two

I.

1~5 ACDAA II.

11~15 TTTFF III.

21. voiced, voiceless, voiced 23. tongue 25. obstruction 27. diphthongs 29. Phonemes IV.

6~10 DBABB 16~20 TTTFF 22. friction 24. height

26. minimal pairs 28. Co-articulation 30. air stream

15

Linguistics

(3) Very often, the relevant people must have the requisite thoughts, feelings

and intentions, and must follow it up with actions as specified.

8.1.2 A theory of the illocutionary act 1. What is a speech act?

A speech act is an utterance as a functional unit in communication. In speech act theory, utterances have two kinds of meaning. Propositional meaning (locutionary meaning): This is the basic literal meaning of the utterance which is conveyed by the particular words and structures which the utterance contains.

Illocutionary meaning (illocutionary force): This is the effect the utterance or written text has on the reader or listener. E.g. in I’m thirsty, the propositional meaning is what the utterance says about the speaker‘s physical state. The illocutionary force is the effect the speaker wants the utterance to have on the listener. It may be intended as request for something to drink. A speech act is a sentence or utterance which has both propositional meaning and illocutionary force.

A speech act which is performed indirectly is sometimes known as an indirect speech act, such as the speech act of the requesting above. Indirect speech acts are often felt to be more polite ways of performing certain kinds of speech act, such as requests and refusals.

2. Locutionary act: A distinction is made by Austin in the theory of speech acts between three different types of acts involved in or caused by the utterance of a sentence. A locutionary act is the saying of something which is meaningful and can be understood. 3. Illocutionary act: An illocutionary act is using a sentence to perform a function. 4. Perlocutionary act: A perlocutionary act is the results or effects that are produced by means of saying something. 8.2 The theory of conversational implicature 8.2.1 The cooperative principle 1. The cooperative principle (CP)

Cooperative principle refers to the ―co-operation‖ between speakers in using the maxims during the conversation. There are four conversational maxims:

(1) The maxim of quantity: a. Make your contribution as informative as required. b. Don‘t make your contribution more informative than is required. (2) The maxim of quality: Try to make your contribution one that is true. a. Don‘t say what you believe to be false. b. Don‘t say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

46

Linguistics

8.2.2 ?

?

?

?

(3) The maxim of relation: Say things that are relevant. (4) The maxim of manner: Be perspicuous. a. Avoid obscurity of expression. b. Avoid ambiguity. c. Be brief. d. Be orderly.

2. Conversational implicature: The use of conversational maxims to imply

meaning during conversation is called conversational implicature. Violation of the maxims [In fact this is taken from one of my essays. Only for reference. ^_^ - icywarmtea] 1. Conversational implicature In our daily life, speakers and listeners involved in conversation are generally cooperating with each other. In other words, when people are talking with each other, they must try to converse smoothly and successfully. In accepting speakers‘ presuppositions, listeners have to assume that a speaker is not trying to mislead them. This sense of cooperation is simply one in which people having a conversation are not normally assumed to be trying to confuse, trick, or withhold relevant information from one another.

However, in real communication, the intention of the speaker is often not the literal meaning of what he or she says. The real intention implied in the words is called conversational implicature. For example:

[1] A: Can you tell me the time?

B: Well, the milkman has come.

In this little conversation, A is asking B about the time, but B is not answering directly. That indicates that B may also not no the accurate time, but through saying ―the milkman has come‖, he is in fact giving a rough time. The answer B gives is related to the literal meaning of the words, but is not merely that. That is often the case in communication. The theory of conversational implicature is for the purpose of explaining how listeners infer the speakers‘ intention through the words.

2. The CP The study of conversational implicature starts from Grice (1967), the American philosopher. He thinks, in daily communication, people are observing a set of basic rules of cooperating with each other so as to communicate effectively through conversation. He calls this set of rules the cooperative principle (CP) elaborated in four sub-principles (maxims). That is the cooperative principle. We assume that people are normally going to provide an appropriate amount of information, i.e. they are telling the relevant truth clearly. The cooperative principle given by Grice is an idealized case of communication.

47

Linguistics

?

?

?

?

However, there are more cases that speakers are not fully adhering to the principles. But the listener will assume that the speaker is observing the principles ―in a deeper degree‖. For example:

[2] A: Where is Bill?

B: There is a yellow car outside Sue’s house.

In [2], the speaker B seems to be violating the maxims of quantity and relation, but we also assume that B is still observing the CP and think about the relationship between A‘s question and the ―yellow car‖ in B‘s answer. If Bill has a yellow car, he may be in Sue‘s house. If a speaker violate CP by the principle itself, there is no conversation at all, so there cannot be implicature. Implicature can only be caused by violating one or more maxims.

3. Violation of the CP

(1) The people in conversation may violate one or more maxims secretly. In

this way, he may mislead the listener. For this case, in the conversation [2] above, we assume that B is observing the CP and Bill has a yellow car. But if B is intentionally trying to mislead A to think that Bill is in Sue‘s house, we will be misled without knowing. In this case, if one ―lies‖ in conversation, there is no implicature in the conversation, only the misleading.

(2) He may declare that he is not observing the maxims or the CP.

In this kind of situation, the speaker directly declares he is not cooperating. He has made it clear that he does not want to go on with the conversation, so there is no implicature either. (3) He may fall into a dilemma.

For example, for the purpose observing the first principle of the maxim of quantity (make your contribution as informative as is required), he may be violating the second principle of the maxim of quality (do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence).

For this case, Grice gave an example: [3] A: Where does C live?

B: Somewhere in the south of France.

In [3], if B knows that A is going to visit C, his answer is violating the maxim of quantity, because he is not giving enough information about where C lives. But he has not declared that he will not observe the maxims. So we can know that B knows if he gives more information, he will violate the principle ―do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence‖. In other words, he has fallen into a ―dilemma‖. So we can infer that his implicature is that he does not know the exact address of C. In this case, there is

48

Linguistics

conversational implicature.

(4) He may ―flout‖ one or more maxims. In other words, he may be

obviously not observing them.

The last situation is the typical case that can make conversational implicature. Once the participant in a conversation has made an implicature, he or she is making use one of the maxims. We can see that from the following examples:

[4] A: Where are you going with the dog?

B: To the V-E-T.

In [4], the dog is known to be able to recognize the word ―vet‖ and to hate being taken there. Therefore, A makes the word spelled out. Here he is ―flouting‖ the maxim of manner, making the implicature that he does not want the dog to know the answer to the question just asked.

[5] (In a formal get-together)

A: Mrs. X is an old bag.

B: The weather has been quite delightful this summer, hasn’t it? B is intentionally violating the maxim of relation in [5], implicating that what A has said is too rude and he should change a topic.

8.2.3 Characteristics of implicature 1. Calculability 2. Cancellability / defeasibility 3. Non-detachability 4. Non-conventionality 8.3 Post-Gricean developments 8.3.1 Relevance theory

This theory was formally proposed by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson in their book Relevance: Communication and Cognition in 1986. They argue that all Gricean maxims, including the CP itself, should be reduced to a single principle of relevance, which is defined as: Every act of ostensive communication communicates the presumption of its own optimal relevance.

8.3.2 The Q- and R-principles

These principles were developed by L. Horn in 1984. The Q-principle is intended to invoke the first maxim of Grice‘s Quantity, and the R-principle the relation maxim, but the new principles are more extensive than the Gricean maxims.

The definition of the Q-principle (hearer-based) is: (1) Make your contribution sufficient (cf. quantity); (2) Say as much as you can (given R).

The definition of the R-principle (speaker-based) is:

(1) Make your contribution necessary (cf. Relation, Quantity-2, Manner);

49

Linguistics

(2) Say no more than you must (given Q)

8.3.3 The Q-, I- and M-principles

This tripartite model was suggested by S. Levinson mainly in his 1987 paper Pragmatics and the Grammar of Anaphor: A Partial Pragmatic Reduction of Binding and Control Phenomena. The contents of these principles are:

Q-principle:

Speaker‘s maxim: Do not provide a statement that is informationally weaker than your knowledge of the world allows, unless providing a stronger statement would contravene the I-principle.

Recipient‘s corollary: Take it that the speaker made the strongest statement consistent with what he knows, and therefore that:

(1) If the speaker asserted A (W), and form a Horn scale, such that A (S) || (A (W)), then one can infer K ~ (A (S)), i.e. that the speaker knows that the stronger statement would be false.

(2) If the speaker asserted A (W) and A (W) fails to entail an embedded sentence Q, which a stronger statement A (S) would entail, and {S, W} form a contrast set, then one can infer ~ K (Q), i.e. the speaker does not know whether Q obtains or not.

I-principle

Speaker‘s maxim: the maxim of minimization

Say as little as necessary, i.e. produce the minimal linguistic information sufficient to achieve your communicational ends.

Recipient‘s corollary: the enrichment rule

Amplify the informational content of the speaker‘s utterance, by finding the most specific interpretation, up to what you judge to be the speaker‘s m-intended point.

M-principle

Speaker‘s maxim: Do not use a prolix, obscure or marked expression without reason.

Recipient‘s corollary: If the speaker used a prolix or marked expression M, he did not mean the same as he would have, had he used the unmarked expression U – specifically he was trying to avoid the stereotypical associations and I-implicatures of U.

50

Linguistics

2. Morphophonology / morphophonemics: Morphophonology is a branch of

linguistics referring to the analysis and classification of the phonological factors that affect the appearance of morphemes, and correspondingly, the grammatical factors that affect the appearance of phonemes. It is also called morphonology or morphonemics.

3. Assimilation: Assimilation refers to the change of a sound as a result of the influence of an adjacent sound, which is more specifically called ―contact‖ or ―contiguous‖ assimilation. 4. Dissimilation: Dissimilation refers to the influence exercised by one sound segment upon the articulation of another, so that the sounds become less alike, or different. 3.3 Lexical change 3.3.1 Lexical change proper 1. Invention

Since economic activities are the most important and dynamic in human life, many new lexical items come directly from the consumer items, their producers or their brand names.

2. Blending Blending is a relatively complex form of compounding, in which two words are blended by joining the initial part of the first word and the final part of the second word, or by joining the initial parts of the two words.

3. Abbreviation / clipping

A new word is created by cutting the final part, cutting the initial part or cutting both the initial parts of the original words.

4. Acronym

Acronym is made up from the first letters of the name of an organization, which has a heavily modified headword.

5. Back-formation

Back-formation refers to an abnormal type of word-formation where a shorter word is derived by deleting an imaged affix from a longer form already in the language.

6. Analogical creation

The principle of analogical creation can account for the co-existence of two forms, regular and irregular, in the conjugation of some English verbs.

7. Borrowing

English in its development has managed to widen her vocabulary by borrowing words from other languages. Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Arabic and other languages have all played an active role in this process.

21

Linguistics

3.3.2

3.3.3 3.3.4

3.3.5

Phonological change

1. Loss

The loss of sound can first refer to the disappearance of the very sound as a phoneme in the phonological system. The loss of sounds may also occur in utterances at the expense of some unstressed words. 2. Addition

Sounds may be lost but they may also be added to the original sound sequence.

3. Metathesis

Metathesis is a process involving an alternation in the sequence of sounds. Metathesis had been originally a performance error, which was overlooked and accepted by the speech community. 4. Assimilation

Assimilation refers to the change of a sound as a result of the influence of an adjacent sound, which is more specifically called ―contact‖ or ―contiguous‖ assimilation.

Morpho-syntactical change Semantic change 1. Broadening Broadening is a process to extend or elevate the meaning from its specific sense to a relatively general one. 2. Narrowing Contrary to broadening, the original meaning of a word can be narrowed or restricted to a specific sense. 3. Meaning shift All semantic changes involve meaning shift. Here meaning shift is understood in its narrow sense, i.e. the change of meaning has nothing to do with generalization or restriction as mentioned above. 4. Class shift

By shifting the word class one can change the meaning of a word from a concrete entity or notion to a process or attribution. This process of word formation is also known as zero-derivation, or conversion. 5. Folk etymology

Folk etymology refers to a change in form of a word or phrase, resulting from an incorrect popular notion of the origin or meaning of the term or from the influence of more familiar terms mistakenly taken to be analogous. Orthographic change

22

Linguistics

Test Three: Morphology

I. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Choose the best answer.

Nouns, verbs and adjectives can be classified as __________. A. lexical words B. grammatical words C. function words D. form words Morphemes that represent tense, number, gender and case are called __________ morpheme. A. inflectional B. free C. bound D. derivational There are __________ morphemes in the word denationalization. A. three B. four C. five D. six In English –ise and –tion are called __________. A. prefixes B. suffixes C. infixes D. stems The three subtypes of affixes are: prefix, suffix and __________. A. derivational affix B. inflectional affix C. infix D. back-formation __________ is a way in which new words may be formed from already existing words by subtracting an affix which is thought to be part of the old word. A. affixation B. back-formation C. insertion D. addition The word TB is formed in the way of __________. A. acronymy B. clipping C. initialism D. blending The words like comsat and sitcom are formed by __________. A. blending B. clipping C. back-formation D. acronymy The stem of disagreements is __________. A. agreement B. agree C. disagree D. disagreement All of them are meaningful except for __________. A. lexeme B. phoneme C. morpheme D. allomorph

7. 8. 9. 10.

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false.

11. Phonetically, the stress of a compound always falls on the first element, while the second

element receives secondary stress.

12. Fore as in foretell is both a prefix and a bound morpheme.

13. Base refers to the part of the word that remains when all inflectional affixes are removed. 14. In most cases, prefixes change the meaning of the base whereas suffixes change the

word-class of the base.

15. Conversion from noun to verb is the most productive process of a word.

16. Reduplicative compound is formed by repeating the same morpheme of a word. 17. The words whimper, whisper and whistle are formed in the way of onomatopoeia.

18. In most cases, the number of syllables of a word corresponds to the number of morphemes.

23

Linguistics

19. 20. III. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

Back-formation is a productive way of word-formations. Inflection is a particular way of word-formations. Fill in the blanks.

An __________ is pronounced letter by letter, while an __________ is pronounced as a word.

Lexicon, in most cases, is synonymous with __________.

Orthographically, compounds are written in three ways: __________, __________ and __________.

All words may be said to contain a root __________.

A small set of conjunctions, prepositions and pronouns belong to __________ class, while the largest part of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs belongs to __________ class. __________ is a reverse process of derivation, and therefore is a process of shortening.

__________ is extremely productive, because English had lost most of its inflectional endings by the end of Middle English period, which facilitated the use of words interchangeably as verbs or nouns, verbs or adjectives, and vice versa.

Words are divided into simple, compound and derived words on the __________ level.

A word formed by derivation is called a __________, and a word formed by compounding is called a __________.

Bound morphemes are classified into two types: __________ and __________. Explain the following terms, using examples. Blending morpheme Inflection

Bound morphemes

Answer the following questions.

How many types of morphemes are there in the English language? What are they?

28. 29. 30. IV. 31. 32. 33. 34. V. 35.

Chapter 3 Reference answer

I.

1~5 AACBB II.

11~15 TTFTT III.

6~10 BCADB 16~20 FTFFF

24

Linguistics

21. initialism, acronym 22. vocabulary 23. solid, hyphenated, open 24. morpheme 25. close, open 26. back-formation 27. conversion 28. morpheme 29. derivative, compound 30. affix, bound root IV.

31. Blending: It is a process of word-formation in which a new word is formed by combining the

meanings and sounds of two words, one of which is not in its full form or both of which are not in their full forms, like newscast (news + broadcast), brunch (breakfast + lunch)

32. A morpheme is the smallest unit of language in terms of relationship between expression and

content, a unit that cannot be divided into further smaller units without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical. E.g. the word ―boxes‖ has two morphemes: ―box‖ and ―es,‖ neither of which permits further division or analysis shapes if we don‘t want to sacrifice its meaning.

33. Inflection is the manifestation of grammatical relationships through the addition of

inflectional affixes, such as number, person, finiteness, aspect and case, which do not change the grammatical class of the stems to which they are attached. 34. Bound morphemes are the morphemes which cannot be used independently but

have to be combined with other morphemes, either free or bound, to form a word.

35. 略

25

Linguistics

Test Four：Reference Answer

I.

1~5 DCDDD 6~10 ADCBA 11~13 AAB II.

14~18 TTTTF 19~23 FTFTT III.

24. Syntax: Syntax refers to the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences

in a language, or simply, the study of the formation of sentences.

25. IC analysis: Immediate constituent analysis, IC analysis for short, refers to the analysis of a

sentence in terms of its immediate constituents – word groups (phrases), which are in turn analyzed into the immediate constituents of their own, and the process goes on until the ultimate sake of convenience.

26. Hierarchical structure: It is the sentence structure that groups words into structural

constituents and shows the syntactic category of each structural constituent, such as NP, VP and PP.

27. Concord (or Agreement) may be defined as the requirement that the forms of two or more

words of specific word classes that stand in specific syntactic relationship with one another, shall also be characterized by the same paradigmatically marked category (or categories). For example, the syntactic relationship between that girl and she in the following dialogue: A: Who is that girl? B: Oh, she is my sister.

28. In Saussure’s view, language is a system of signs, each of which consists of two parts:

“signified” (concept) and “signifier”(sound image). And the relationship between these two parts is arbitrary. Therefore the linguist cannot attempt to explain individual signs in a piecemeal fashion. Instead he must try to find the value of a sign from its relations to others, or rather, its position in the system.

The two principal types of relations which Saussure identified are Syntagmatic and

Paradigmatic relations. The syntagmatic relation is a relation between one item and others in a sequence, or between elements which are all present. The paradigmatic(or associative) relation is a relation holding between elements replaceable with each other at a particular place in a structure, or between one element present and the others absent. They can substitute for each other without violating syntactic rules.

The syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations together, like the two axes of a coordinate

（坐标轴）, determine the identity of a linguistic sign. Syntagms and paradigms provide a structural context within which signs make sense; they are the structural forms through which signs are organized into codes.

31

Linguistics

29. Which of the following sentences are ambiguous? If you know how, use tree diagrams to show

how these sentences are ambiguous. (1) The children put the toy in the box.

(2) The professor‘s appointment was shocking. (3) No smoking section is available. 【答案】

(1) This sentence is unambiguous since the structure can be illustrated as: (NP The children) (VP put (NP the toy) (PP in (NP the box.)))

(2) The professor’s appointment was shocking. (the definite professor)

The professor’s appointment was shocking. (the definite appointment)

Therefore, it could be clear that the second sentence is ambiguous.

(3) No smoking section is available. (smoking forbidden)

No smoking section is available. (smoking allowed)

Thus, the third sentence is ambiguous.

32

Linguistics

Chapter 5 Meaning

5.1 Meanings of “meaning”

1. Meaning: Meaning refers to what a language expresses about the world we live in or

any possible or imaginary world.

2. Connotation: The additional meaning that a word or phrase has beyond its central

meaning.

3. Denotation: That part of the meanings of a word or phrase that relates it to phenomena

in the real world or in a fictional or possible word.

4. Different types of meaning (Recognized by Leech, 1974) (1) Conceptual meaning: Logical, cognitive, or denotative content. (2) Associative meaning

a. Connotative meaning: What is communicated by virtue of what language

refers to.

b. Social meaning: What is communicated of the social circumstances of

language use.

c. Affective meaning: What is communicated of the feelings and attitudes of the

speaker / writer.

d. Reflected meaning: What is communicated through association with another

sense of the same expression.

e. Collocative meaning: What is communicated through association with words

which tend to occur in the environment of another word.

(3) Thematic meaning: What is communicated by the way in which the message is

organized in terms of order and emphasis.

5. The difference between meaning, concept, connotation, and denotation Meaning refers to the association of language symbols with the real world. There are many types of meaning according to different approaches.

Concept is the impression of objects in people‘s mind.

Connotation is the implied meaning, similar to implication.

Denotation, like sense, is not directly related with objects, but makes the abstract assumption of the real world. 5.2 The referential theory 1. The referential theory: The theory of meaning which relates the meaning of a word to the thing it refers to, or stands for, is known as the referential theory. 2. The semantic triangle theory Ogden and Richards presented the classic ―Semantic Triangle‖ as manifested in the following diagram, in which the ―symbol‖ refers to the linguist elements (word, sentence,

33

Linguistics

etc.), the ―referent‖ refers to the object in the world of experience, and the ―thought‖ or ―reference‖ refers to concept or notion. Thus the symbol of a word signifies ―things‖ by virtue of the ―concept,‖ associated with the form of the word in the mind of the speaker of the language. The concept thus considered is the meaning of the word. The connection (represented with a dotted line) between symbol and referent is made possible only through ―concept.‖ Concept / notion Thought / reference

Symbolizes Refers to

5.3 Sense relations 5.3.1 Synonymy Synonymy is the technical name for the sameness relation. 5.3.2 Antonymy Antonymy is the name for oppositeness relation. There are three subtypes: gradable, complementary and converse antonymy. 1. Gradable antonymy Gradable antonymy is the commonest type of antonymy. They are mainly adjectives, e.g. good / bad, long / short, big / small, etc. 2. Complementary antonymy The members of a pair in complementary antonymy are complementary to each other. That is, they divide up the whole of a semantic filed completely. Not only the assertion of one means the denial of the other, the denial of one also means the assertion of the other, e.g. alive / dead, hit / miss, male / female, boy / girl, etc. 3. Converse antonymy Converse antonyms are also called relational opposites. This is a special type of antonymy in that the members of a pair do not constitute a positive-negative opposition. They show the reversal of a relationship between two entities, e.g. buy / sell, parent / child, above / below, etc. 5.3.3 Hyponymy Hyponymy involves us in the notion of meaning inclusion. It is a matter of

34

---------------------- Symbol Word stands for Signifier Code

object

reality referent signified

Linguistics

class membership. That is to say, when x is a kind of y, the lower term x is the hyponym, and the upper term y is the superordinate. Two or more hyponyms of the same one superordinate are called co-hyponyms, e.g. under flower, there are peony, jasmine, tulip, violet, rose, etc., flower is the superordinate of peony, jasmine, etc., peony is the hyponym of flower, and peony, jasmine, tulip, violet, rose, etc. are co-hyponyms. 5.4 Componential analysis Componential analysis defines the meaning of a lexical element in terms of semantic components. That is, the meaning of a word is not an unanalyzable whole. It may be seen as a complex of different semantic features. There are semantic units smaller than the meaning of a word. E.g. Boy: [+human][-adult][+male] Girl: [+human][-adult][-male] Son: child (x, y) & male (x) Daughter: child (x, y) & -male (x) Take: cause (x, (have (x, y))) Give: cause (x, (-have (x, y))) 5.5 Sentence meaning 5.5.1 An integrated theory

1. Compositionality: A principle for sentence analysis, in which the meaning of a sentence depends on the meanings of the constituent words and the way they are combine. 2. Selection restrictions: Restrictions on the choice of individual lexical units in

construction with other units. E.g. the word breathe will typically select an animate subject (boy, man, woman, etc.) not an abstract or an inanimate (table, book, etc.). The boy was still breathing. The desk was breathing.

5.5.2 Logical semantics

1. Propositional logic / prepositional calculus / sentential calculus: Propositional

logic is the study of the truth conditions for propositions: how the truth of a composite proposition is determined by the truth value of its constituent propositions and the connections between them.

2. Predicate logic / predicate calculus: Predicate logic studies the internal

structure of simple propositions.

35

Linguistics

Test Five: Semantics

I. Choose the best answer.

1. _______ deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world experience.

A. Reference B. Concept C. Semantics D. Sense

2. Bird and cuckoo have the sense relation of hyponymy. Which of the following pairs of words has the same sense relation? A. Vowel and consonant B. Mouth and tongue C. Lexicon and word

D. Number and gender 3. Which of the following is NOT true?

A. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. B. Sense is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form. C. Sense is abstract and decontextualized.

D. Sense is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are not interested in. 4. ―Can I borrow your bike?‖_______ ―You have a bike.‖

A. is synonymous with B. is inconsistent with C. entails D. presupposes

5. ___________ is a way in which the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning

components, called semantic features. A. Predication analysis B. Componential analysis C. Phonemic analysis D. Grammatical analysis 6. ―Alive‖ and ―dead‖ are ______________.

A. gradable antonyms B. relational antonyms C. complementary antonyms D. None of the above

7. _________ deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic

world of experience. A. Reference B. Concept C. Semantics D. Sense

8. ___________ refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same

form.

A. Polysemy B. Synonymy C. Homonymy D. Hyponymy 9. Words that are close in meaning are called ______________.

A. homonyms B. polysemies C. hyponyms D. synonyms 10. The grammaticality of a sentence is governed by _______.

A. grammatical rules B. selectional restrictions

36

Linguistics

C. semantic rules D. semantic features

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false.

11. Dialectal synonyms can often be found in different regional dialects such as British English

and American English but cannot be found within the variety itself, for example, within British English or American English.

12. Sense is concerned with the relationship between the linguistic element and the

non-linguistic world of experience, while the reference deals with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.

13. Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations. 14. In semantics, meaning of language is considered as the intrinsic and inherent relation to the

physical world of experience.

15. Contextualism is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from or reduce meaning to observable contexts. 16. Behaviorists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.

17. The meaning of a sentence is the sum total of the meanings of all its components.

18. Most languages have sets of lexical items similar in meaning but ranked differently according to their degree of formality.

19. ―It is hot.‖ is a no-place predication because it contains no argument. 20. In grammatical analysis, the sentence is taken to be the basic unit, but in semantic analysis of a sentence, the basic unit is predication, which is the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence.

III. Fill in the blanks.

21. __________ can be defined as the study of meaning.

22. The conceptualist view holds that there is no __________ link between a linguistic form and

what it refers to.

23. __________ means 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. 24. Words that are close in meaning are called __________.

25. When two words are identical in sound, but different in spelling and meaning, they are called

__________.

26. __________ opposites are pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between

the two items.

27. __________ analysis is based upon the belief that the meaning of a word can be divided into

meaning components.

37

Linguistics

28. Whether a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called __________

restrictions, which are constraints on what lexical items can go with what others.

29. A(n) __________ is a logical participant in a predication, largely identical with the nominal

element(s) in a sentence.

IV. Explain the following terms, using examples.

30. Entailment 31. Proposition

32. The referential theory of meaning 33. Reference

V. Answer the following questions. (20%)

34. What are the sense relations between the following groups of words? Dogs, cats, pets, parrots; trunk, branches, tree, roots 35. What are the three kinds of antonymy?

VI. Analyze the following situation. (20%)

36. For each group of words given below, state what semantic property or properties are shared

by the (a) words and the (b) words, and what semantic property or properties distinguish between the classes of (a) words and (b) words. (1) a. bachelor, man, son, paperboy, pope, chief b. bull, rooster, drake, ram (2) a. table, stone, pencil, cup, house, ship, car b. milk, alcohol, rice, soup (3) a. book, temple, mountain, road, tractor b. idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fear

38

Linguistics

I. 1~5 ABDDB II. 11~15 FFTFT III.

21. Semantics 22. direct 23. Reference 24. synonyms 25. homophones 26. Relational 27. Componential 28. selectional 29. argument IV.

30. Entailment: It is basically a semantic relation (or logical implication), and it can be clarified

with the following sentences: a. Tom divorced Jane. b. Jane was Tom’s wife. In terms of truth value, the following relationships exist between these two sentences: when

A is true, B must be also true; when B is false, A must also be false. When B is true, A may be true or false. Therefore we can say A entails B.

31. Proposition: It is the result of the abstraction of sentences, which are descriptions of states of

affairs and which some writers see as a basic element of sentence meaning. For example, the two sentences ―Caesar invaded Gaul‖ and ―Gaul was invaded by Caesar‖ hold the same proposition.

32. The theory of meaning which relates the meaning of a word to the thing it refers to, or stands

for, is known as the referential theory. For example, when we say ―M. A. K Halliday‖, we do use ―M. A. K Halliday‖ to mean a particular person. This theory could explain the significance of expressions in terms of their having been conventionally associated with things or states of affairs in the world, and it could explain a human being‘s understanding a sentence in terms of that person‘s knowing what the sentence‘s component words refer to. 33. Reference: It is what a linguistic form refers to in the real world; it is a matter of the

relationship between the form and the reality. V.

34. Hyponymy, metonymy or part-whole relationship 35. (见课本，或者本文件中的34页) VI.

36. (1) The (a) words and (b) words are male. The (a) words are human, while the (b) words are non-human. (2) The (a) words and (b) words are inanimate. The (a) words are instrumental, while the (b) words are edible. (3) The (a) words and (b) words are worldly or conceptual. The (a) words are material, while the (b) words are spiritual.

39

Test Five

6~10 CACDA 16~20 TFTTT

Linguistics

Chapter 7 Language, Culture and Society

[The textbook form of this chapter seems very twisted for me. So I changed the structure of the notes, using some questions to guide the whole chapter. – icywarmtea] 7.1 Language and culture 1. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis What the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests is like this: our language helps mould our way of thinking and, consequently, different languages may probably express our unique ways of understanding the world. Following this argument, two important points could be captured in the theory. On the one hand, language may determine our thinking patterns; on the other hand, similarity between language is relative, the greater their structural differentiation is, the more diverse their conceptualization of the world will be. For this reason, this hypothesis has alternatively been referred to as linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity. This hypothesis has two versions: a strong and a weak version. The strong version of the theory refers to the claim the original hypothesis suggests, emphasizing the decisive role of language as the shaper of our thinking patterns. The weak version, however, is a modified type of its original theory, suggesting that there is a correlation between language, culture, and thought, but the cross-cultural differences thus produced in our ways of thinking are relative, rather than categorical. 2. Context of situation (1) The relevant features of the participants: persons, personalities: a. The verbal action of the participants b. The non-verbal action of the participants (2) The relevant objects (3) The effects of the verbal action

3. Speech community: Speech community refers to a group of people who form a

community, e.g. a village, a region, a nation, and who have at least one speech variety in common.

4. Gender difference: Gender difference is the difference in a speech between men and

women.

5. Linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity: Linguistic determinism is one of the two points in S-W hypothesis, i.e. language determines thought. Linguistic relativity is the other point: there is no limit to the structural diversity of languages. 6. Ethnography of communication: The study of place of language in culture and society.

Language is not studied in isolation but within a social or cultural setting. Ethnography of communication studies, e.g. how people in a particular group or community

40

本文来源：https://www.bwwdw.com/article/8pkf.html