Chapter One Introduction
Grace Tan
I. Assignment-checking:
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What is language?
What are the design features of language?
What are the functions of language?
How to distinguish the :
Linguistics vs.traditional grammar
Descriptive vs. prescriptive
Synchronic vs. diachronic
Langue vs.parole
Competence vs.performance
II.Introduction to New Contents
1.1 Why Study Language?
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Language is such an integral part of our life and
humanity that too much about it has been taken
for granted.
1.2 What is Language?
 Language
is a system of
arbitrary vocal symbols used
for human communication.
1.3 Design Features of
Language
Arbitrariness
 Duality
 Creativity
 Interchangeability
 Displacement
 Specialization
 Cultural transmission
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1.3.1 Arbitrariness
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The forms of
linguistic signs bear
no natural
relationship to their
meaning.—Saussure
 Father of modern
linguistics
1) Arbitrariness between a
morpheme and its meaning
Onamatopoeia words are not arbitrary:
叮咚， 轰隆，叽里咕噜
 The murmurous haunt of flies on
summer eves.
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---Ode to a Nightingale by John
Keats
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Written ex
vow vow
 myoww
 ba
door
 sahee
 cuck-roo-coo
 bwack
 guwru guwrun
 dhun
 tik
 ting-ting
1. a cat
2.a horse
3.a slamming
4. a bell
5. a cock
6. a dog
7. a sheep
8. a clock
9. a pig
10. a duck
2) Arbitrariness at the syntactic level
Systemic-functionalists (功能主义者)：
Language is not arbitrary at the syntactic
level.
 A) He came in and sat down.
 B) He sat down and came in.
 C) He sat down after he came in.
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3) Arbitrariness and conventionality
The link between a linguistic sign and its
meaning:
 Arbitrariness vs. Conventionality
 (creative)
(laborious)
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Some compound words are not entirely
arbitrary, e.g. type-writer, shoe-maker,
air-conditioner, photocopy…
Practice:
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You may be familiar with the following
proverbs. How do you perceive them
according to the arbitrariness and
conventionality of language:
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
Rome was not built in a day.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
All roads lead to Rome.
1.3.2 Duality
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Lower level---sounds (meaningless)
• Higher level---meaning (larger units of
meaning)
Hierarchy of language
Sounds ---syllables--- morphemes
--- words --- phrases ---clauses -- sentences/utterances --texts/discourses
 语言的双重性表现在两方面：
 1. 用自身无意义的 语音构成 有意义的语
言单位
 2. 用小单位构成大单位
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1.3.3 Creativity/Productivity
Language is resourceful because of its
duality and recursiveness递归性
 1) create new meanings:
 2) Potential to create endless sentences
 EG: A red-eyed elephant is dancing on
the hotel bed.
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Animals: limited and confined to a small
set of message
1.3.4 Displacement
Human languages enable their users to
symbolize objects, events and concepts
which are not present (in time and
space) at the moment of communication.
 Time: Confucius (2550 years ago)
 Space: North Pole
 Animals: immediate stimulus control
 A dog cannot tell that its master will be
home in a few days.
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1.5 Functions of Language
Language is above all, as any semiotic
system, for communication.
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---Roman Jakobson
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1) Phatic function/Communion
 The
social interaction of language
 Mrs. P sneezes violently.
 Mrs. Q: Bless you.
 Mrs. P: Thank you.
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 Good morning, God bless you, Nice
day, etc.
2) Directive function指令功能
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Imperative sentences
3) Informative function
 Ideational
function in functional
grammar
 Declarative sentences
 Eg:Road closed.
 Please aim carefully.
4)Interrogative function 疑问功能
What time is it now? √
 If Winter comes, can Spring be far
behind? ×
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5) Expressive function 表达功能
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Language is used to reveal the speaker′s
attitudes and feelings.
Eg: MY GOD! God, Damn it, What a sight,
Wow, Ugh, Oh.我和我的小伙伴都惊呆了。
6) Evocative function 情感功能
Language is used to create certain
feelings in the hearer.
 Jokes, ad, propaganda
 E.g.: Once god came up 2 me & granted
me a wish. I asked 4 world peace. That's
impossible, he said. Then I asked him 2
give u brains. He said, "Let me try world
peace".
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7) Performative function施为功能
 It
originates from the philosophical
study of language represented by
Austin and Searle, whose theory
now forms the back-bone of
pragmatics.
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Eg: I now declare the meeting open.
I bet you two pounds it will rain tomorrow.
1) Linguistics vs.traditional grammar
Linguistics describes language while
traditional grammar aims to lay down rules of
correctness.
② Linguists regard the spoken language as
primary, not the written.
③ Traditional grammar is based on Latin and
tries to impose the Latin categories and
structures on other language while linguistics
describes each language on its own merits.
①
2) Scope of linguistics
microlinguistics
 Phonetics (语音学)
 Phonology （音系学）
 Morphology （形态学）
 Syntax （句法学）
 Semantics （语义学）
 Pragmatics （语用学）
3） Important distinctions in
linguistics
Descriptive vs. prescriptive
 Synchronic vs. diachronic
 Langue
vs. Parole
 Competence vs. performance
 synatagmatic vs.paradigmatic relations
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Prescriptive vs. descriptive
1. describe and analyze the
language people actually use--descriptive.
 2. lay down rules for correct and
standard behavior in using
language---prescriptive.
 Eg: It is I.
It is me.
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Synchronic共时性 vs. diachronic
历时性
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The description of a language
at some point of time in history is
a synchronic study.
 2. The description of a language
as it changes through time is a
diachronic study.
Practice:
22. The following are some book titles of linguistics.
Can you judge the synchronic and diachronic
orientation just from the titles?
 English Examined: Two centuries of Comment on
the Mother-Tongue.
 Protean Shape: A Study in Eighteenth-century
Vocabulary and Usage.
 Pejorative Sense Development in English.
 The Categories and Types of Present-Day English
Word-Formation.
 Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black
English Vernacular.
Langue 语言vs. parole言语
Langue ：abstract and stable
Parole : it refers to the naturally occurring
language events; varies from person to
person, and from situation to situation.
Competence语言能力 vs.
performance语言行为
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Competence is the knowledge you
(subconsciously) possess about how to
speak a language.
Performance is your real world linguistic
output. Performance may accurately reflect
competence, but it also may include speech
errors due to slips of the tongue or, as
Chomsky points out in the quote above,
external factors such as memory problems,
etc.
Eg: We swimmed in the ocean this
weekend.
Syntagmatic vs.paradigmatic
relations 横组合 vs .纵聚合
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Syntagmatic relations are relations between
units present in the same sequence or
construction, syntagmatically related elements
form structures.
Paradigmatic relations are relations
between a unit and other units that can
replace it in a given sequence.
Paradigmatically related units form systems.
 The horizontal/linear vs.vertical relations
III.Problem-solving
IV. After-class assignments:
1.Review:
1)the definition, features, and main
functions of language.
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2)Exercises and discussion questions on P18.
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2.Preview chapter two:
Chapter 2 Previewing
questions:
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1.What does phonetics include? Why? 语音学涉及的
范围主要是哪些方面? 为什么?
2.How does linguist transcribe speech sounds?语音学
家是如何来描写语音的?
3.How to differ vowels and consonants? 元音和辅音有
什么区别?
4. How to tell phonetics from phonology? What are
their basic units?语音学和音系学的主要差别在什么地
方? 它们分别以什么为分析基础单位?
5.What is the actual use of minimal pairs? 最小对立体
有什么实用功能?
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6.What are the principal distinctive features of
consonants?辅音的主要区别特征是什么？
 7.How to structure syllables and how to tell
open syllables from closed syllables? Use
examples to illustrate this.如何划分音节并区分
开音节和闭音节？实例说明。
 8.How do you understand intonation in
Chinese? Is it a speech sound,phoneme or
distinctive feature?你是怎样来看待汉语的声调
的? 声调到底是语音? 还是音位? 或者说是区别
特征?