Language and linguistics
linguistics
lingual-ist
-ics
Why study language?
What is language?
What to study about language?
How did language come into being?
How many languages are there in the world?
Does language change?
1. Knowledge of the sound system
what sounds are in that language and what sounds are not。
2. Knowledge of words
Certain sound sequences signify
3. Knowledge of sentences and non-sentences
•Combine words to form phrases, and phrases to form
sentences.
•Every string of words does not constitute a wellformed sentence in a language. (rules for forming
sentences)
Rules are finite in length and number, while sentences
are infinite.
4. Knowledge of meaning
knowledge of proposition
knowledge of meaning in use
Interesting facts about language:
* The population of Europe is about ¼ of the whole
world, but Europeans speak only 234 languages.
* About 94% of all languages are regularly spoken by
just 6% of the population of the world.
* In Papua New Guinea there are less than 5.5 million
citizens and about 830 languages spoken by them.
* Esperanto is the most popular artificial language.
* The number of speakers of English in China is larger
than in the USA.
New words
过劳死（Death from overwork）
白 领 （ white-collar workers ） -- 灰 领 （ Gray-collar
workers ） -- 金 领 （ Gold-collar workers ） -- 绿 领
(Green-collar workers)—黑领（Black-collar workers）
alchoholic—workaholic--shopaholic
大哥大—移动电话—手机
短信—彩信——垃圾短信
书信—电子邮件—伊妹儿
博客—微博—微博控
微信, 易信
鼠标手，山寨，黑客
超女，剩女，宅女
海选、犀利哥
给力， 雷人，团购
杯具、神马、酱紫, 人肉
Hold住，很high，粉丝
New words
education mortgage
zero drag
yin yang, kung fu, tai chi, feng shui
weather bomb
eco-tech
bare-foot doctor, little red book, red
weblish
guards
data spill
Generation 9-11
taikonaut, bare branches or guanggun, angry
youth or fenqing, chengguan, guanxi
General linguistics
phonetics 语音学
音
phonology 音系学
morphology 词法学
形
syntax
句法学
semantics
语义学
义
pragmatics
语用学
The study of sounds which are used in linguistic
communication is called phonetics.
The study of how sounds are put together and
used in communication is called phonology.
The study of the way in which morphemes are
arranged to form words is called morphology.
The study of how morphemes and words are
combined to form sentences is called syntax.
The study of meaning in language is called
semantics.
The study of meaning in context of use is called
pragmatics.
The study of language with reference to society is
called sociolinguistics.
The study of language with reference to the
workings of mind is called psycholinguistics.
The study of such applications is generally known
as applied linguistics.
But in a narrow sense, applied linguistics refers to
the application of linguistic principles and theories
to language teaching and learning, especially the
teaching of foreign and second languages.
cognitive vs. social toward language
1. Cognitive view: Language is a cognitive system
To know language is to know the rules.
2. Social view: language shift, language change
Phonetics
Speech organs
*pharyngeal cavity (throat)
*oral cavity (mouth)
*nasal cavity (nose)
Pharyngeal cavity
Apart/ voiceless
Totally closed /glottal stop
Oral cavity and nasal cavity
consonants and vowels
consonants
are produced with obstruction of air stream
vowel
are produced with no obstruction of air stream
A. obstruction vs. no obstruction
B. Consonants are shorter, vowels are longer.
C. Vowels are definitely voiced; consonants are either
voiced or voiceless.
D. In forming words, vowels can stand alone, consonants
cannot.
Consonants
Three parameters to identify a consonant:
①place of articulation: place in the mouth where
obstruction occurs
②manners of articulation: ways in which articulation can
be accomplished
③state of vocal cords: voiced vs. voiceless
aspiration or non-aspiration?
Note: semi-vowels: /h/, /w/, /j/, viewed as consonants today.
/m/, /p/, /b/, /w/
/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/,
/tr/, /dr/, /n/, /r/, /l/
/f/, /v/,
/j/
/ ɵ/, /ð/, ts/, /dz/
/k/, /g/, /ŋ/
Practice
Give the consonants for the sounds that correspond to the
descriptions below.
1.Voiceless labiodental fricative
[f]
2.Voiced labiodental fricative
[v]
3.Palatal approximant (glide)
[j]
4.Voiceless glottal fricative
[h]
5.Voiceless alveolar stop
[t]
Vowels
Monophthongs (pure) — No movement of the tongue is
involved
e.g. tea, back, cook
diphthongs—a single movement of the tongue is involved
e.g. way, tide, how
triphthongs-- a double movement of the tongue is
involved e.g. wire, tower etc.
前元音
[i:]
[i]
[e]
中元音
[ʌ]
[ə:]
[ə]
后元音
[u:]
[u]
[ɔ:]
开合双元音
[ei]
[ai]
[ɔi] [əu] [au]
集中双元音
[iə]
[εə]
[uə]
单元音
[æ]
[ɔ]
[a:]
元音
双元音
How to classify pure vowels?
1) position of the highest part of tongue:
front, central, back
2) openness of the mouth:
open, semi-close, semi-open, close
3) shape of the lips:
rounded, unrounded
4) the length of the vowels:
long, short
Practice
 Give the vowel for the sounds that correspond to
the descriptions below.
1. Mid front unrounded vowel
[e]
2. High back rounded tense vowel
[u:]
3. high front unrounded vowel
[i]
4. Back semiopen rounded vowel
[ᴐ:]
Phonetic transcription (the IPA)
a method of writing down speech sounds in a systematic
and consistent way.
IPA (International phonetic Alphabet)
1) The purpose
the idea of establish a phonetic alphabet
2) The principle a separate letter for each distinctive
sound
3) The latest version 2005
phonics
a method of teaching people to read based on the sounds
that letters represent
Goal: to enable beginning readers to decode new written
words by sounding them out.
Since the turn of the 20th century phonics has been widely
used in primary education and in teaching literacy
throughout the English-speaking world.
Phonology
Phone, phoneme and allophone
phone:
any sound we hear and produce;
different versions of a phoneme regularly
produced in actual speech
do not necessarily distinguish meaning
phoneme: a phonological unit of distinctive value
allophone:
different phones which can represent a
phoneme in different phonetic
environments
a relative term
Attention:
“/ / ” (phonemic transcription)
“[ ]” (phonetic transcription)
Practice
speak peak
Is [p] in the two words the same phoneme?
[p, ph] are two different phones and are variants of the
phoneme /p/.
[p, ph] are called allophones of the phoneme /p/.
interesting question:
How do the phonologists find phonemes?
Crystal (1997): ‘Phonological analysis relies on the
principle that certain sounds cause changes in the
meaning of a word or phrase, whereas other sounds
do not’.
Phonological rules
1. sequential rules:
rules that govern the combination of sounds in a
particular language
k b l i
a. If a word begins with a [l] or a [r], then the next sound
must be a vowel.
b. If three consonants should cluster together at the
beginning of a word, the combination should obey the
following three rules:
the first phoneme must be /s/
the second phoneme must be /p/, /t/, or /k/
the third phoneme must be /l/, /r/, or /w/
e.g. spring, strict, square, splendid
c. [ŋ] never occurs in initial position in English and
standard Chinese, but it does occur in some dialects.
Practice
Indicate which of the following is not a possible
English word.
/ʒæs/ /tæs//zæs//dæs/ /sdæg/
/met/ /ŋet/ /net/ /tne/
/ndik/ /mbik/ /dhik/ /bmik/
/snɔl/ /znɔl/ /fnɔl/ /nɔl/
/lriz/ /triz/ /priz/ griz/
2. Assimilation rule: the rule that assimilates one sound
to anther by “copying” a feature of a sequential
phoneme, thus making the two phones similar.
progressive assimilation(顺同化)
regressive assimilation(逆同化).
 nasalization: can [kæn]
[-nasal] →[+nasal] /＿ [+nasal]
 dentalization: tenth [tenθ]
[-dental] →[+dental] / ＿ [+dental]
 velarization: sink [siŋk]
[-velar] →[+velar] / ＿ [+velar]
Assimilation can occur across syllables or word
boundaries.
eg. pan [ŋ] cake
you can [ŋ] keep them
The sound assimilation is actually reflected in the
spelling in most cases.
eg. impossible
*inpossible
3. Deletion rules
A sound is to be deleted although it is represented in
written form.
sign design paradigm
The rule: delete a [g] when it occurs before a final
nasal consonant.
But how about “signature, resignation”?
Suprasegmental features 超切分特征
1. Syllable
The basic elements of the syllable are the onset (音头)
(one or more consonants) and the rhyme (音韵), which
consists of the vowel and is treated as the nucleus(音
核).
 The nucleus may be followed by one or more
segments called the coda (音尾).
onset
k
r
Rhyme
Nucleus
æ
Coda
k t
Open syllable: car, ray
Closed syllable: bed, food
English Syllable: (((C)C)C)V((((C)C)C)C)
Chinese Putonghua syllable: (C)V(C) only nasals in
the coda
Questions：
How many syllables are there in the following words:
classify, universal, reason, fatal, uncomfortable
2. Stress
At the word level, it only applies to the words with at
least two syllables.
For long words, there are often two stressed syllables
--- primary stressed and secondary stressed syllables.
e.g., communication [kə,mju:ni'keiʃən]
Word stress pattern
1)regional or dialectal differences
RP: la`boratory, `debris, `garage
GA: `laboratory, de`bris, ga`rage
2) different grammatical function
V．－ ｎ．
3)Compound vs. Phrase
blackboard
black board
blackbird
black bird
Sentence stress
 In general situation, notional words are normally
stressed while structural words are unstressed.
 In principle, stress may fall on any word or any
syllable to express emphasis, surprise, etc.
John bought a red car.
JOHN bought a red car.
John BOUGHT a red car.
John bought a RED car.
John bought a red CAR.
That’s not the book he wants. \ (Falling tone)
That’s not the book he wants. /(rising tone)
That’s not the book he wants. (Fall-rise tone)
Flying planes can be dangerous.
Read the sentences and mark the words that
should be stressed.
1. He had finished breakfast before I arrived.
---------- -----------------2. Philip ordered a huge steak for dinner.
--------- ------ -----------3.They
will
have
to
stay
up
late
if
they
are
going
to
----------finish their homework.
-------------------4. It must have been something in the air that
--------------caused
Jack
to
shout.
-------- ---------5. Could you please be more quite?
------------
3. Tone
Putonghua [pa]
Chinese
character
八
Pinyin
bā
Tone
symbol
Tone
number
Tone
description
55
High level
‘eight’
Gloss
拔
bá
35
High rising
‘pull
out’
靶
bă
214
Low falling
rising
‘target’
坝
bà
51
High falling
‘dam’
1.Your name
Your age
Your present address
4. Intonation
2.The problem with that child is getting her to grow up.
The problem with that tree is getting it to grow up; it
has a tendency to spread out too much.
3.whose side?/ Who’s sighted?
4. - how’s the temperature out today? - Cool, man.
- What do you think of it? - Cool, man.
5. What’s in the tea, honey?
6. Is she more or less courteous?
Morphology
the grammar of words
What is a word?
A morpheme or combination of morphemes which native
speakers regard as a minimal pronounceable meaningful
unit.
-- Ronald Wardhaugh
Features of a word:
Stability: hard to rearrange the internal structure of a word
Relative uninterruptibility: new elements should not be
inserted into a word
A minimum free form: that can be used as a complete
utterance.
Lexeme: a word or phrase that is a meaningful unit.
Subclassification of words:
open-class words: the membership is infinite, e.g. n., v.
closed-class words: the membership is fixed, e.g. prep.
grammatical words: whose role is largely grammatical, e.g.
this, the
lexical words: carries the semantic content, e.g. book,
run
Types of morphemes
morpheme: the minimal lexical or grammatical unit
e.g. care, -ful, re-, -ness, -ed, -ing, etc.
allomorph: one morpheme may have several
pronunciations or phonological forms.
Each is an allomorph of the same
morpheme, e.g. cats [ts], dogs [z],
watches [iz]
root:
the part of the word left when all the affixes
have been removed, care in careful
the part of the word to which any inflectional
stem:
affixes can be added, e.g. statement in statements
affix: a morpheme which is added to a word, and which
changes the meaning or function of the word, e.g.
un-, -s, -ed, -ful
prefix
infix
suffix
derivational morpheme: affixes added to a word to create
a new word,e.g. -ness
inflectional morpheme: affixes attached to the end of a
word to indicate grammatical
relationships, e.g. -ed, -ing
free ~:may form a word by itself
-- root ~
Morpheme
bound ~: must appear with at least one
other morpheme
root ~
prefix derivational affix
affix
suffix inflectional affix
derivational affix
one root morpheme: book, desk
Simple word
word
a root morpheme+suffix: careful, desks
prefix+ a root morpheme: unhappy,
disappear
prefix+a root morpheme+suffix:
uncomfortable
more than one root morphemes:
blackboard
Compound word
prefix + root morphemes+ affix:
footballs
Hierarchical structure of words
un-
comfort
uncomfortable
-able
Discussion
How are the following two words formed?
unsatisfied
dissatisfied
un- satis- -fy -ed
dis-
satis- -fy
-ed
Question: What are the structure of the word “unlockable”?
Word formation
1) Inflection: changes in the grammatical class of words,
such as signifying tense, number, case, etc.
Inflection of nouns, verbs and qualifiers in English
Nouns
plural (cat-- cats)
possession (Henry’s
cat).
Verbs
Adjectives and
adverbs
tense (wanted) comparative (hotter
person ([she] bigger);
wants).
superlative (coldest)
case (wanting,
taken)
2) Derivation: derive a new word from existing
words or morphemes.
Prefixation/ Suffixation
e.g. dislike, affectionate, uninhabitable, intolerable
词缀来源的多样性
Greek： anti-, cata-, dia-, hemi- kilo-, mono-, pan-, pseudo-cracy, -ism, ite, ize
Latin: bi-, centi- counter- deci-, en-, ex-, in- pre- re-age,- ary- -eer, -ess, -ic, -ify
Russian: -nik
词缀的多义性
in- (im-, il-, ir-)
不：incomplete, impossible, independent, irregular, illegal
入：include, impress, income, intend
词缀的同义词
不良，假的mal-, mis- pseudo时间先后 ante-, ex-, fore-, post-, pre学科 -ics, -logy, -ry
行为、动作-age, -ation, -ity, -osity, -our, -ry
-ish
dis......似的childish, foolish
去除：discolour, disburden
有点儿……的sweetish
不：dishonest, disappear
近乎于……bookish, selfish
解除，解散：disband, disengage
-ly
（构成形容词）相似的，具有某种性质的 manly, comradely
时间的反复 daily, weekly
（构成副词）以某种方式 smoothly
程度greatly; 在某一方面，某一时候firstly
词缀变化的时代性
e-: e-mail, e-prints, e-journals, e-commerce, e-book, e-card
cyber-: cybercafe, cybercrime, cybersurfing, cyberspeak
eco-：eco-car, eco-system, eco-species, eco-system
i-: iphone, ipod, icat, idog
Discussion
“I never heard of ‘Uglification,’ ” Alice ventured to say.
“What is it?” The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in
surprise. “Never heard of uglifying!” it exclaimed. “You
know what to beautify is, I suppose?” “Yes,” said Alice
doubtfully: “It means –to make– prettier.”
“Well, then,” the Gryphon went on, “if you don’t know
that to uglify is, you are a simpleton.”
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
What new word is formed? Is it acceptable?
3) Compound: words consisting of more than one words
1. Noun compounds:
w—w w
fly-paper, gas-mask
N
V + N pickpocket, cutthroat
A
greenhouse, sickroom, hotdog
P
undergraduate, outskirts, underdog
2. Adjective compounds
world-wide, seaworthy, snowblind
N
A + A
redhot, north-west, Roman Catholic
P
overwhelming, outspoken
3. Verb compounds
V
freeze-dry, dropkick
+V
outgrow, underestimate, overhear
P
4. Preposition compounds
prep. + prep.
into, throughout
Features of compounds
语法特点：
1. 不受英语句法的限制
如：名词前有动词做修饰成分的pickpocket, breakwater
名词和过去分词组合handpicked, duty-bound
2. 在句子中充当一个成分，具有独立成分的特点，词尾有变化
hotdog *hotterdog; fast food *fastest food
语义特点：
1.有较为固定的语义（有的复合词课根据两个组成部分的字面
意义去理解，如jetlag, sandstorm;有的不是原来两个独立词的语
义的简单相加，如contact lens， greenback, white lie
2.词的组成成分之间的语义关系多样化。
paper-cut, deaf-mute, water bird
3. 有些复合词运用隐喻、换喻、提喻。dream team, light-hearted,
short-handed, short-sighted
书写特点：
1. Single word: breakfast
2. Hyphenated: six-year-old, forget-me-not
3. Sequences of words separated by spaces: movie star
读音特点：
1. movie star, Whitehouse, bathroom, highchair
2. manmade, easy-going
4) Invention
mouse wrist, hacker, 剩女，给力, 网盘，微博
5) Blending
smoke + fog
smog
education+entertainment edutainment
digital + computer
digicom
6) Abbreviation
1.Cutting the final part
advertisement
ad
mathematics
math
2. Cutting the initial part
aeroplane
plane
telephone
phone
3. Cutting both the initial and final parts accordingly
detective
tec
influenza
flu
7) Analogical creation
From irregular to regular:
work:
wrought > worked
beseech: besought > beseeched
slay:
slew > slayed?
8) Acronym
CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
EEC
European Economic Community
WTO
World Trade Organization
9) Back-formation
television
televise
editor
edit
10) Class shift (conversion)
bus hog
11) Borrowing
Loanwords:
au pair, sputnik, yacht, pizza
Loanblend:
coconut: coco (Spanish) + nut (English)
Chinatown: China (Chinese) + town (English)
Loanshift
bridge: meaning as a card game borrowed from Italian ponte
Loan translation
free verse < L verse libre
black humor < Fr humour noir
Exercises
I. Divide the following words into their separate
morphemes:
1. recollection
2. idealistic
3. antecedent
4. unimaginable
re- + collect + -ion
ideal + -ist + -ic
ante- + -ced + -ent
un- +imagin(e) +-able
II. Add prefixes to the following roots.
press
depress, oppress, suppress, compress
-ced
recede, precede, antecedent
-tain
retain, contain, maintain
III. Match each expression under A with the one
statement under B that characterizes it.
A
a. noisy crow
b. scarecrow
c. the crow
d. crowlike
e. crows
B
1. compound noun
2. root morpheme plus derivation prefix
3. phrase consisting of adjective plus noun
4. root morpheme plus inflectional affix
5. grammatical morpheme followed by
lexical morpheme
IV. Write the one proper description from the list under
B for the underlined part of each word in A.
A
B
a. terrorized
1. free root
b. uncivilized
2. bound root
c. terrorize
3. inflectional suffix
d. lukewarm
4. derivational suffix
e. impossible
5. derivational prefix
f. receive
V. Can you underline the following words undergoing
the process of conversion?
1. He oked me finally.
2. The policeman cornered the thief.
3. He grinned as he pocketed the coin.
4. Bus the tray to the dishroom.
Syntax
Ancient Greek sýntaxis: “arrangement” or “setting
out together”
together
arrange
What is syntax?
the study of how words are combined to form sentences
and the rules which govern the formation of sentences.
(1) The girl chased the cat.
(2) The cat chased the girl.
* (3) The girl the cat chased.
* (4) The the girl cat chased.
* (5) Girl cat the the chased.
What is sentence? (P89)
1. traditional approach: a sequence of words
A. number: noun, pronoun --- singular, plural
B. gender: noun, pronoun
e.g. actor/actress, hero/heroin, he/she
C. case: subject, object, e.g. I/me, she/her
D. tense: 2 tenses (past/present)
E. aspect: e.g. perfect aspect
F: voice: active/passive
G: concord: e.g. this man, these men; a book,
some books
H: government: e.g. She gave a book to him.
simple
sentence
compound
non-simple
complex
2. functional view
interrogative
indicative
sentence
declarative
jussive
imperative
optative
Syntactic relations
Positional (sequential, syntagmatic) relations
The linear ordering of the words and the phrases
within a sentence
(1) John sat in the front seat.
(2) In the front seat sat John.
* (3) The seat front John sat.
* (4) Seat the front sat John.
* (5) The John sat the seat front.
Sentence patterns in English
Jane arrived. (SV)
Jane looks fine. (SVC)
Jane loves John. (SVO)
Jane gave John a kiss. (SVOO)
Jane called John honey. (SVCC)
Jane is in the house. (SVA)
Jane put her hand on John’s shoulder. (SVOA)
Substitutional (paradigmatic) relations
1) Classes or sets of words substitutable for each other
grammatically in sentences with the same structure.
e.g.
They
saw
the dog.
John
bit
the boy.
2) Groups of more than one word which may be
jointly substitutable grammatically for a single
word of a particular set.
e.g. A
B
C
D
Tom
left
my home
yesterday.
My father
The little boy
here
the school
last night
two days ago
Relation of Co-occurrence
words of different sets of clauses may permit, or require, the
occurrence of a word of another set or class to form a
sentence or a particular part of a sentence.
e.g. Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Hi, morning, you guys.
I should most certainly like to attend your party, Sir Reginald.
I’d love to come to your ball, Reg.
The hierarchical structure of sentence
sentences
are analyzed into
clauses
are analyzed into
phrases
are analyzed into
words
are analyzed into
morphemes
sentences
are used to build
clauses
are used to build
phrases
are used to build
words
are used to build
morphemes
More expensive clothes
the mother of
the mother of
the
the boy and the girl
boy and the
girl
Innateness theory
Children are born with an innate capacity for language
development. Children are not consciously taught the ‘rules’
of a language (eg plural formation), but seem to be able to
distil the rules from exposure to language
children are born with an LAD that enables them to hear
speech, analyse it, and derive the rules of the language.
Some propose that the LAD contains some of the universals
of human language such as subject-predicate relationships.
Semantics
Discussion:
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
The hamburger ate the man.
What is your feeling toward these two sentences?
What is a good sentence?
(1) Conceptual meaning (denotative or cognitive meaning)
e.g. Man [+Human] [+Male] [+Adult]
Girl [+Human] [-Male] [-Adult]
(2) Connotative meaning
e.g. What is the connotative meaning of “woman”?
unappreciable properties: frail, prone to tears, cowardly,
irrational, inconstant, short-sighted
virtues: gentle, hardworking, sensitive
(3) Social meaning
 Dialect: the language of a geographical region or of a
social class.
 Time: the language of the 18th c., etc.
 Province: language of law, of science, of advertising,
etc.
 Status: polite, colloquial, slang, etc.
 Modality: language of memoranda, lectures, jokes,
etc.
 Singularity: the style of Dickens, etc.
domicile
residence
abode
home
•
•
•
•
very formal, official
formal
poetic
general
steed
horse
nag
gee-gee
•
•
•
•
poetic
general
slang
baby language
The five clocks by Martin Joos
Frozen
Formal Consultative Casual
Intimate
Formal <------------------------------> Informal
(4) Affective meaning
I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you
would be so kind as to lower your voices a little.
Will you belt up?
mother (love, care) vs. maternal parent (neutral)
(5) Reflected meaning
 dear
 click the mouse twice
(6) Collocative meaning
The associations a word acquires on account of the
meanings of words which tend to occur in its
environment.
 pretty: girl, boy, woman, flower, garden, colour,
village, etc.
 handsome: boy, man, car, vessel, overcoat,
airliner, typewriter, etc.
 rotten (general): addled eggs, rancid bacon and
butter, sour milk, putrid fish, fetid breath
.
(7) Thematic meaning
What is communicated by the way in which a
speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of
ordering, focus, and emphasis.
 Mrs Bessie Smith donated the first prize.
 The first prize was donated by Mrs Bessie Smith.
 They stopped at the end of the corridor.
 At the end of the corridor, they stopped.
synonymy
Synonymy is used to mean
“sameness of meaning”
buy/purchase
thrifty/economical/stingy
autumn/fall
flat/apartment
tube/underground
True synonyms are very rare. They may differ in one
or more of the following aspects:
(1) difference in origin
Anglo
Latin
French
ask
question
interrogate
belly
stomach
abdomen
time
age
epoch
(2) difference in shades of meaning
amaze vs. astound
(3) difference in stylistic meaning
pass away, decrease, die, kick the bucket, pop off
(4) difference in socio-expressive meaning (emotive
meaning)
steed (poetic in style) horse(neutral) nag(vulgar)
accomplice collusion collaborator
(5)difference in collocative meaning
accuse charge rebuke reproach
accuse …. of charge …with rebuke…for
reproach….. with/for (sth. or doing sth.)
Antonymy
oppositeness of meaning.
Gradable antonymy (mainly adj.)
good/ bad, long /short, narrow/ wide
Complementary antonymy (contradictory antonymy)
alive/ dead, male/ female, present/ absent, pass/ fail
Converse antonymy (relational opposites)
buy/ sell, lend/ borrow, before /after, teacher/
student, above /below
Hyponymy
( a matter of class membership)
the sense relation between two words in which the
meaning of one word is included in the meaning of
another word. E.g. cow/ animal, rose/ flower,
honesty/ virtue flower (superordinate)
rose
tulip
carnation
(co-hyponyms)
lily
Homonymy
words having different meanings are identical in
sound or spelling, or both.
3 kinds of homonymy



homophones e.g. sea/see night/knight
homographs e.g. lead (n.) / lead (v.)
complete homonyms e.g. fast (adj.) /fast (v.)
Sense relations between sentences
Entailment
Presupposition
A is inconsistent with B
A is synonymous with B
A is a contradiction
A is semantically anomalous
Entailment
(A→B, -B → -A)
A: He has been to France.
B: He has been to Europe.
A: John picked a tulip.
B: John picked a flower.
Presupposition
(A→B , -A→ B)
A: The queen of England is old.
B: England has a queen.
A: Is your father at home?
B: You have a father.
Exercises
1.Classify the following pairs of antonyms:
married-single male-female hot-cold
give-take
big-small
awake-asleep
north-south
logical-illogical win-lose
buy-sell
doctor-patient
above-below
2. Indicate what kind of relationship is between
the following pairs of words.
building /house
• hyponymy
husband/wife
• Converse antonymy
peaceful/tranquil • synonymy
male/female
• Complementary antonymy
pass/fail
• Complementary antonymy
heavy/light
• Gradable antonymy
tear (n.)/ tear (v.) • Hymophone
peace/piece
• Hymograph
Pragmatics
1. She is thin and tall and walks like a crane.
2. I have a pen.
I have one pen.
3. --I have a fourteen year old son.
-- Well, that’s all right.
-- I also have a dog.
-- Oh. I’m sorry.
4.
Slow
Children
At Play
The cooperative principle
the maxim of quantity:
•make your contribution as informative
as required;
•do not make your contribution more
informative than is required
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 relation: •be relevant
the maxim of manner:
•avoid obscurity of expression;
•avoid ambiguity; •be brief; •be orderly
1. --How did Jimmy do his history examination?
-- Oh, not at all well. They asked him things that
happened before the poor boy was born.
2. --Mrs. X is an old bag.
--The weather has been quite delightful
this summer, hasn’t it?
3. Johnny: Hey, Sally, let’s play marbles.
Mother: How is your homework getting along,
Johnny?
4. --Let’s get the kids something.
-- Okay, but I veto C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E.
5. --Name and title, please?
-- John Smith, Associate Editor and Professor.
6. --What did your sister buy at Sears yesterday?
-- She bought a red dress; she bought a green dress;
and she bought a blue dress.
7. Mom: Someone has eaten the cream off the cake.
Son: It wasn’t me.
8. Your clothes belong where your clothes belong;
my clothes belong where my clothes belong.
Look upstairs.
9. Miss X produced a series of sounds that
corresponded closed with the score of
“Home Sweet Home”.
the politeness principle
(Geoffrey Leech)
It tells us why people are often so indirect in conveying
what they want to say.
tact maxim:
• minimize cost to other;
• maximize benefit to other
generosity maxim:
• minimize benefit to self;
• maximize cost to self
approbation maxim:
• minimize dispraise of other;
• maximize praise of other
modesty maxim:
• minimize praise self;
• maximize dispraise self
agreement maxim:
• minimize disagreement between self and other;
• maximize agreement between self and other
sympathy maxim:
• minimize antipathy between self and other;
• maximize sympathy between self and other
-- We’ll all miss Bill and Agatha, won’t we?
-- Well, we’ll all miss Bill.
--Bob is really mischievous, isn’t he?
--Children are children.
--The hostess is an awful bore, don’t you think?
--The roses are lovely, aren’t they?
Chinese politeness (Gu Yueguo)
respectfulness:
self’s positive appreciation or
admiration of other concerning the
latter’s face, social status, etc.
modesty:
self-denigration
attitudinal warmth:
self’s demonstration of kindness,
consideration, and hospitality to other.
refinement:
self’s behavior to other which meets
certain standards
Grammatical rule: accuracy of form;
Semantic rule: meaningfulness;
Pragmatic rule: tacit, effectiveness.
Pragmatic failure: the inability to understand ‘what is
meant by what is said’ (Thomas, 1983)
grammatical error: grammaticality can be judged
according to prescriptive rules.
e.g.
-- Have you finished reading this book?
--Yes, I have finished reading this book.
没想到你做得一手好菜!
I didn’t expect that you could make such delicious food.
to a taxi driver: Do you mind taking me to the airport?
--Is the supermarket open on Sunday?
-- Of course.
to an acquaintance who has got a cold:
You’d better put on more clothes and drink more water.
A: Hello, how are you?
B: Fine, thanks. And you?
A: I’m fine. Where are you going?
B: To the library.
A: OK. Then I’ll see you later. So long.
马敏，1999，《大学英语基础教程》
A: Where are you going?
B: I’m going to the park. Where are
you going?
A: I’m going to the bus stop.
B: Good-bye.
A: Good-bye.
贾柱立，1991，《初级英语会话集锦----阶
梯式速成口语入门》
[B (a non-native speaker of English) has been staying
with A for several weeks. He has a passion for West
Side Story and has just played the film’s sound track
right through for the second time in one evening.]
A: Would you like to listen to something else now?
B: No.
[Two roommates, one American, and the other
Chinese, are conversing in the kitchen.]
American: Should we put some water in the refrigerator?
Chinese: You don’t have to ask my permission.
American: I’m not asking you for permission. I just want to
know if we should fill up the bottle of water in the
refrigerator.
Meeting unexpectedly a friend he hadn’t seen for
years, Jim voiced his surprise:
A: No! B: Yes! C: Oh! D: Hey!
B is in the way.
A: may I get through here?
B: a. Yes, please.
b. Yes.
c. Yes (opening a passage way).
d. (Opening a passageway without demur.)
“You are to be here by eight.” The relationship
between the speaker and the hearer is probably
A: teacher and student
B: husband and wife
C: sisters
D: friends
When introducing yourself to someone you don’t know at
a party, what would you say?
A: Hi, I’m…
B: May I introduce myself to you and at the
same time I make your acquaintance?
C: Hi, I’d like to meet you.
D: Hi, I’m… Do you know many people here?
Bob and David are former classmates.
Bob: I’ve got a job.
David: You haven’t!
By this David means
A. “Really?” B. “You’re joking.”
C. “Impossible.” D. “ No, you haven’t got a job.”
Mr green has just come out of the school cinema and met
Mr Zhou.
Zhou: What do you think of the film?
Green: I can’t praise this film too highly.
By this, Mr Green means
A. The film is just so-so. B. This film is not good.
C. The film is so good that it deserves high praise.
D. The film is OK, but it doesn’t deserve high praise.
linguistics
applied linguistics
language teaching
Language acquisition
first language acquisition
&
second language acquisition
first language
?
?
foreign language ?
target language ?
second language
•*unconsciously vs. conscious
•*concentrating on meaning vs. code
•*learnt from reality vs. course books
and syllabus
L1/NL
FL/SL (TL)
interlanguage
language
teaching
language
learner
The nature of language
a. The structural view 结构主义
b. The functional view 功能主义
c. The interactional view 交互法
The nature of language learning
Acquisition and learning 习得和学得
Behaviorism 行为主义
Cognitivism 认知主义
Humanism 人本主义
结构主义：
语言是有结构成分组成的系统。
这些成分与词汇结合起来表达意义。每种语言中这种结构
成分都有限定的数目，学习者要学的是这些成分，即发音和
组音成词的规则，构词法、句法规则。一旦掌握了这些规则和
一定数量的词汇，就算是懂得这门语言了。
功能主义：
语言是结构成分组成的系统。学习者学会用这些成分去做事情
（即完成某些功能)。学习者要懂得使用什么语法规则和词汇表
表达什么意念（如过去、现在、必要性、可能性）。懂的一种语
言就是知道如何用语法与词汇表达一定的意念，以此完成需要完
成的功能。
交互法：
语言是交际的工具，主要用来建立和维持人与人之间的关系。
语言学习者除了要懂得语法和词汇之外，还需要知道在各种场合
中使用语言的规则。
结构主义的观点把懂得一种语言局限在掌握结构规则和词汇上。
功能主义的观点增加了需要懂得如何运用规则去做事情。
交互法的观点认为要知道用语言做事情，就要知道在什么场合、
什么时间、如何去做才算是得体。
行为主义
学习是通过强化建立刺激与反应之间的联结
一切学习都是通过条件作用，在刺激和反应之间建立直
接联结的过程。
认知主义：
学习不是在外部环境的支配下被动地形成刺激反应联结，
而是主动在头脑内部构造认知结构，常常与顿悟相联系。
学习是如何使客观的知识结构，通过新旧知识之间的交互
而转化为学生的认知结构。
人本主义：
强调人的整体性，关心和尊重人的尊严和价值，开发人
的内在潜能。重视人的自我发展。
Grammar-translation method 语法翻译法
1. 认为句子是语言的基本单位，语言由一组描写规则构成，衡
量一种语言的知识就是看学习者是否熟知这些规则，是否能
迅速、准确地把母语译成外语，或把外语译成母语。
2. 强调记忆语法规则和词汇的重要性。
Audio-lingual method 听说法
1. 认为语言是一组音位、形态、句法系统。懂得一种语言就是
要懂得这种语言的规则系统。
2. 学习语言依靠一系列的而刺激-反应-奖励连锁。
Communicative approach 交际法
1.语言有一组规则系统构成；
2.相同的语法结构在不同的语境中会完成不同的功能。
不同的语法结构在不同的语境中可以完成相同的功能。
Silent way 沉默法、 community language learning 社团学习法、
暗示法(suggestopedia)