language2

Chapter 1 Language and Linguistics(語言學(xué))

1.1 What is language?

We u language in most of our waking life (and sometimes in dreams,

too). Language is so indispensable 不可缺少的；絕對必要的；責(zé)無旁

貸的to us that we all tend to take it for granted. Few of us ever think

about what it is that allows us to talk about everything in the univer and

our inner world, to do things together with others. As a learner of a

foreign language, have you ever thought about the nature of the subject

that you learn through painstaking艱苦的；勤勉的；小心的 effort? As a

professional English teacher, have you ever pondered仔細(xì)考慮；衡量 at

the nature of the subject you teach?

Probing探索；探查 into this question, one may understand the 多

multi-faceted nature of language. Language is many things indee的確；

實在；真正地；甚至

int. 真的（表示驚訝、懷疑、諷刺等）d: a mediumadj. 中間的，中等

的；半生熟的 of communication, a system of code, a carrier of culture,

an instrument for thinking, a glue of a community, a social institution. 制

度；建立；（社會或宗教等）公共機(jī)構(gòu)；, etc. This multi-faceted nature

of language explains the fact that there is no universally accepted

definitionn. 定義；[物] 清晰度；解說 of language. Linguists must face

up to this question, as language is the object of study in their rearch.

Hundreds of definitions have been propod 提議；計劃（propo的過

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去式和過去分詞）

adj. 被提議的；所推薦的 in the past. We cite a few here for discussion.

（注解）

Language is a system who parts can and must be consideredadj. 經(jīng)過

深思熟慮的；被尊重的 in their synchronic solidarity.. 團(tuán)結(jié)，團(tuán)結(jié)一致

(de Saussure, 1916)詳細(xì)?

adj. 不考慮歷史上變化的；限于一時的；完全同步的

[Languages is] a t (finiten. 有限之物

adj. 有限的；限定的 or infinite) of ntences, each finite in length and

constructed out of a finite t of elements (Chomsky, 1957)elim?nts] 詳細(xì)

?n. 基礎(chǔ)；原理

Language is a purely human and non-instinctive?n'st??(k)t?v] 詳細(xì)?

adj. 本能的；直覺的；天生的 method of communicating ideas, emotions

and desires by means of voluntarily[,vɑl?n't?r?li] 詳細(xì)?

adv. 自動地；以自由意 produced symbols. (Sapir, 1921)

Each of the definitions pinpoints查明；精確地找到；準(zhǔn)確描述

adj. 精確的；詳盡的

n. 針尖；精確位置；極 some aspects of the esnce of language, but all

have left out something.

In broad terms寬泛的說 大體上, linguists agree to define language

as a system of arbitrary['ɑ?b?t(r?)r?] 詳細(xì)?

adj. [數(shù)] 任意的；武斷的；專制的 vocal symbols ud for human

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communication(Wardhaugh 1977). This definition is bad on a number

of theoretical assumption 假定，設(shè)想s. Defined as such, language is en

as unique to human beings. In other words, it is assumed that only human

beings have language. Animal communication systems (bird chips, bee

dances, dog barks, and so on), are all excluded詳細(xì)?

v. 排除（exclude的過去式和過去分詞）；驅(qū)逐；拒絕接納

adj. 排除的. Is this justified['d??st?fa?d] 詳細(xì)?

v. 調(diào)整（justify的過去分詞）；證明…正當(dāng)

adj. 有正當(dāng)理由的；合乎情理的；事出有因的? Are communication

systems possd adj. 瘋狂的；著魔的by other creatures

qualitativelyadv. 定性地；從品質(zhì)上講 different from human language?s

1.2 Features of human languages Many philosophers and linguists

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believe that language is unique to man. Language is a human trait 特性，

特點；品質(zhì)；少許 that ts us apart from other living creatures. They spell

out a number of features of language which are not found in animal

communication systems.

(i) Creativity / productivity

Creativity is the first and foremostadj. 最重要的；最先的 striking

adj. 顯著的，突出的，驚人的；打擊的；罷工的feature of human language.

It refers to the fact that language provides opportunities for nding

messages that have never been nt before and for understanding novel

messages. The grammaticaadj. 文法的；符合語法規(guī)則的l rules and the

words of a language are finite,['fa?na?t] 詳細(xì)?

n. 有限之物adj. 有限的；限定的 but the ntences are infinite. Every

speaker us language creatively. Even a child acquiring?'kwa?r] 詳細(xì)?

n. 捕獲，探測；習(xí)得；瞄準(zhǔn)

v. 獲得（ his mother tongue can put speech sounds and words into novel

adj. 新奇的；異常的combinations to express meanings. This feature is not

found in animal communication systems. Talking birds such as parrots can

imitate human utterances,['?t(?)r(?)ns] 詳細(xì)?

n. 表達(dá)；說話；說話方式 but they cannot gmen'gm(?)nt] 詳細(xì)?

n. 段；部分vt. 分割vi. 分割t the sounds and the words in the phras

they imitate and putthem in a different quence.['si?kw(?)ns] 詳細(xì)?

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n. [數(shù)][計] 序列；順序；續(xù)發(fā)事件vt. 按順序排好

Results of experiments show that even animals clost in kin[k?n]

詳細(xì)?n. 親戚；家族；同族adj. 同類的；有親屬關(guān)系的；性質(zhì)類似的 to

human beings cannot match children in learning and using language. In the

1930s, Winthrop and Luella Kellogg raid their infant[k?n] 詳細(xì)?

n. 親戚；家族；同族adj. 同類的；有親屬關(guān)系的；性質(zhì)類似的 son

together with an infant chimpanzee named Gua. When the boy could

understand I say what I mean and I mean what I say, Gua could understand

neither, although it understood some words. Several decades later, another

chimpanzee, named Nim Chimsky (after the famous American linguist

Noam Chomsky, who states that language is unique to human beings) was

taught American Sign Language, under careful experimental conditions,

including record keeping and video taping. After analyzing the video tapes

of Nim's conversations, the rearchers found that only 12% of Nim's

utterances were spontaneous[sp?n'te?n??s] 詳細(xì)?adj. 自發(fā)的；自然的；

無意識的, and of the 88% where the teacher initiated . 開始，發(fā)起；開創(chuàng)

signing, half of Nim's respons were imitations n. 模仿，仿造；仿制品

adj. 人造的，of the teacher's utterance. Children initiate ?'n???e?t] 詳

細(xì)?n. 開始；新加入者，接受初步知識者

vt. 開始，創(chuàng)始；發(fā)起；使初步了解

adj. 新加入的；接受初步知識的conversations more and more frequently

as they grow older. Children hardly ever imitate in conversation. Children

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become increasingly creative in their language u, but Nim and other

chimpanzees in similar experiments showed almost no tendencyn. 傾向，

趨勢；癖好 toward such creativity (Fromkin and Rodman, 1998). Facts

like the em to suggest that creativity is a feature that distinguishes

d?'st??gw??] 詳細(xì)?vt. 區(qū)分；辨別；使杰出，使表現(xiàn)突出

vi. 區(qū)別，區(qū)分；辨別human language from communication systems of

other creatures.

The ideationaladj. 概念的；觀念的；構(gòu)想的；設(shè)想的 function

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When we u language to identifyvi. 確定；認(rèn)同；一致

vt. 確定；識別；使參與；把…看成一樣 things, to think, or to record

information, we u language as a symbolic adj. 象征的；符號的；使用

符號的 code n. 代碼，密碼；編碼；法典 to reprent the world around

us. Playing this function, language rves as a medium that links a person

with the world. Everything in mind exists through language. The

ideational function is, then, the function language plays in human

cognitionn. 認(rèn)識；知識；認(rèn)識能力, in our conceptualizationn. 概念化；

化為概念 of the world. It is this function of language, in a n在某種

意義上, that brings the world into our mind.

The interpersonaladj. 人際的；人與人之間的 function

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In addition to using language to conceptualizevt. 使概念化

vi. 概念化 the world, we u it as a medium to get along in a community.

We u it to identify ourlves and others, to soothe vt. 安慰；使平靜；

緩和vi. 起撫慰作用or anger someone, to argue with or to convince

others, to thank or to apologize to somebody, and more importantly, to get

things done together with others or by others. This function of language

binds約束捆綁 individualsn. 個人；個體 together. With this function

language is able to glue all members of a speech community.

The textualadj. 本文的；按原文的 function

In using language, we organize messages in a logical adj. 合邏輯的，

合理的；邏輯學(xué)的 way so that they fit in with the other messages and

with the wider contextn. 環(huán)境；上下文；來龍去脈 in which we are

talking or writing. When we speak or write we usually don't confinen. 界

限，邊界vt. 限制；禁閉 ourlves to single phras or ntences; we

stringn. 線，細(xì)繩；一串，一行vt. 扎，縛；使排成一列，串起；伸

展，拉直vi. 連成一串；排成一列 them together to form a text. There are

expressions that refer vt. 涉及；委托；歸諸于；使…求助于vi. 參考；

涉及；提到；查閱 backwards and forwards, or substitut n. 代用品；代

替者vi. 替代vt. 代替e for others, or link phras or ntences. They

play the role of bringing units of language into unityn. 團(tuán)結(jié)；一致；聯(lián)

合；個體.

1.4 Types of language

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1.4.1 Natural languages and artificial adj. 人造的；仿造的；虛偽的；

非原產(chǎn)地的；武斷的languages

A natural language is one that is the mother tongue of an ethnic adj.

種族的；人種的community. It is estimatedadj. 估計的；預(yù)計的；估算

的 that there are about 4,000 natural languages in the world. The

uncertainty is due to various factors. Firstly, new peoples, and therefore

languages, continue to be discovered in the unexplored未勘查過的

regions n. 地區(qū)；地域；領(lǐng)域（region的復(fù)數(shù)）of the world. Secondly, a

language may die --- there are no longer native speakers of the language.

This is happening to languages of smaller communities of the world.

Thirdly, the distinctionn. 區(qū)別；差別；特性；榮譽(yù)、勛章 between

language and dialect n. 方言，土話；同源語；行話；個人用語特征

adj. 方言的is not always clear-cutadj. 清晰的；輪廓鮮明的.

Among natural languages in the world, some have achieved special

status n. 地位；狀態(tài)；情形；重要身分 due to historical reasons and are

chon as official languages. Latin ud to be a medium of education in

Western Europe throughout the middle ages, and French the language of

international diplomacy n. 外交；外交手腕；交際手段 from the 17th to

the 20th century. Today, English is the (an) official language of over 40

countries. It tops the list of official languages, with an estimated

population of 1,400 million English speakers. Natural languages that are

ud to break the barrier n. 障礙物，屏障；界線vt. 把…關(guān)入柵欄of

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communication between nations are called world lingua franca.難懂的

混合語

Before world lingua francas were ud, people ud to desire a

universal language. The desire led to the invention of artificial languages

--- languages which are specially invented to facilitatevt. 促進(jìn)；幫助；

使容易 international communication. The idea began to flourish n. 興

旺；茂盛；揮舞；炫耀；華飾vi. 繁榮，興旺；茂盛；活躍；處于旺

盛時期vt. 夸耀；揮舞 in the 17th century. Since then a number of

artificial languages have been invented, among which Esperanto n. 世

界語 still exists today. It was created by a Polish oculistn. 眼科醫(yī)生，

[眼科] 眼科醫(yī)師, Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof (1859-1917). The scheme

n. 計劃；組合；體制；詭計vt. 計劃；策劃vi. 搞陰謀；擬訂計劃

was first published in Russian, using the pudonym n. 筆名；假名

‘Doktoro Esperanto’ (Doctor Hopeful). Although Esperanto is taught in

some schools and universities and some journalsn. 學(xué)術(shù)期刊（journal的

復(fù)數(shù)）；日記；日記賬 are published in it, the artificial language is still yet

to be accepted as an international language.

1.4.2 Genetic adj. 遺傳的；基因的；起源的classification 分類；類

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別，等級 of languages

Genetic (or genealogical) classification, one of the two main ways of

classification, is bad on the assumption n. 假定；設(shè)想；擔(dān)任；采取 that

languages have diversified adj. 多樣化的；各種的v. 使…多樣化

（diversify的過去分詞） from a common ancestor n. 始祖，祖先；被

繼承人. It us early remains as evidence, and deductions n. 扣除 are

made to reconstruct vt. 重建；改造；修復(fù)；重現(xiàn) the parent language

when no written remains can be found. This approach n. 方法；途徑；接

近

vt. 接近；著手處理vi. 靠近has been widely ud in Europe in the 19th

century. The outcome 結(jié)局 is the establishment n. 確立，制定；公司；

設(shè)施 of language families, the names of which generally indicate. 表明；

指出；預(yù)示；象征 their geographical adj. 地理的；地理學(xué)的

distributionsn. 分布；分配.

The Indo-European n. 印歐語系adj. 印歐語系的family is one of

the largest families. Languages of this family are the ones that first spread

throughout Europe and many parts of southern Asia. Their parent

language ‘Proto-Indo-European' is believed to have been spoken before

3000 BC, and to have split up adj. 劈開的vt. 分離；使分離；劈開；離

開vi. 離開；被劈開；斷絕關(guān)系into different languages during the

subquent adj. 后來的，隨后的 millennium n. 千年期，千禧年；一

千年，千年紀(jì)念；太平盛世，黃金時代. The family has now split up into

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nearly 10 division n. 除法；部門；分割；師（軍隊）；[體]賽區(qū)s. English

belongs to the West Germanicn. 日耳曼語

adj. 德國的；德語的；日耳曼人的；日耳曼語的 division (See Appendix

II for the divisions of Indo-European family and the daughter

languages).

Other language families and their geographical distributionsn. 分派；

分派；分銷（ are shown in Appendix I. Most of the world's languages

can be grouped into families by the comparative methods. However, there

are language isolaten. [生物] 隔離種群vt. 使隔離；使孤立；使絕緣

adj. 隔離的；孤立的vi. 隔離；孤立s, the ones which have no known

historical connection with any other language.

1.4.3 The typologicaladj. 類型的；類型學(xué)的 classification n. 分類；

類別，等級of languages

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This is the other of the two main ways of classifying languages.

It is bad on a comparison of the formal similarities or differenc

es which exist between languages. It is an attempt to group langua

ges into structural types, on the basis of phonologyn. 音系學(xué)；音韻

學(xué)；語音體系, morphologyn. 形態(tài)學(xué)，形態(tài)論；[語] 詞法，[語] 詞

態(tài)學(xué)

and syntaxn. (事物的)聯(lián)系體系(或次序)；(組成部分的)系統(tǒng)(或有條

理)的排列；【語言學(xué)】

.

Phonologically, languages can be grouped in terms of how

they u speech sounds --- how many and what kinds of vowelsn.

元音；母音adj. 元音的 they have, whether they u tonesn. 語

氣；色調(diào)；音調(diào)；音色vt. 增強(qiáng)；用某種調(diào)子說vi. 顏色調(diào)和；呈

現(xiàn)悅目色調(diào), and so on. Chine, for example, is a tone language,

while English is not.

Morphologically, languages can be classified on the basis

of the way words are constructed. Some European linguists in

the 19th century recognized three main types: (a) analytic

(isolating) languages, such as Chine and Vietnamen. 越南

人；越南語adj. 越南的；越南人的; (b) synthetic n. 合成物

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adj. 綜合的；合成的，人造的(inflecting) languages, with Latin,

Greek and Arabic as clear cas; (c) agglutinating vi. 粘合；

成膠狀vt. 使粘合；使凝集adj. 膠合的；粘結(jié)的languages, Turkish,

Japane and Swahiln. 斯瓦希里人；斯瓦希里語adj. 斯瓦希里人

的i, for example. In type (a), there are no inflectionsn. 彎

曲，變形；音調(diào)變化, or formal changes；grammaticaladj. 文法

的；符合語法規(guī)則的 relationships are shown through word order.

In type (b), grammatical relationships are expresd by

changing the internal adj. 內(nèi)部的；內(nèi)在的；國內(nèi)的structure of

the words, typicallyadv. 代表性地；作為特色地 by changing the

inflectional屈折的；屈曲的；抑揚(yáng)的 endings. In type 排好版

(c), words are built out of a long quence of units, with each

unit expressing a particular grammatical meaning.

Syntacticallyadv. 依照句法地；在語句構(gòu)成上, languages can

also be classified by obrving their word order in the ntence,

that is, whether the word order is fixed or free and what kind

of order is favoredadj. 有利的；受到優(yōu)待的；受到喜愛的

v. 贊成；寵愛；幫助（favor的過去分詞）；給…以恩惠. The three

basic elements of the ntence, the subject, the predicaten.

謂語，述語adj. 謂語的；述語的vt. 斷定為…；使…基于

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vi. 斷言，斷定 (verb) and the object can be arranged in six

different orders:

(a) SVO

(b) SOV

(c) VSO

(d) VOS

(e) OVS

(f) OSV

The most frequent word orders found in languages of the world

are (a), (b), and (c), in which the subject precedes the object.

It is obrved that the order of other ntence componentsn.

成分；組件；[電子] 元件adj. 組成的，構(gòu)成的 is most frequently

correlatedadj. 有相互關(guān)系的v. （使）相關(guān)聯(lián)；（使）相互對照 with

the order of the three main components. If a language is

basically a VO language, then the auxiliaryn. 助動詞；輔助者，

輔助物；附屬機(jī)構(gòu)adj. 輔助的；副的；附加的 verb tends to

precedevt. 領(lǐng)先，在…之前；優(yōu)于，高于vi. 領(lǐng)先，在前面 the verb;

adverbs tend to follow the verb; and the language utilizes vt.

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利用 prepositions n. 介詞；前置詞. English, as an example of

SVO languages, exhibits all the three tendencies.

Although languages in the world are diversified adj. 多樣化的；各種

的v. 使…多樣化（diversify的過去分詞）, they are also remarkablyadv.

顯著地；非常地；引人注目地 similar in many ways. The similarities

provide esntial data for the study of universality of language. This will

be shown in the following chapters.

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