Chapter 1  Invitations to Linguistics

Teaching aims: let the students have the general idea about language and linguistics.

Teaching difficulties: design features of language ; some important distinctions in linguistics

Teaching procedures

1.     language

1.1  Why study language?

A tool for communication

An integral part of our life and humanity

If we are not fully aware of the nature and mechanism of our language, we will be ignorant of what constitutes our essential humanity.

1.2  What is language?

1.2.1        different senses of language

what a person says( concrete act of speech)

a person’s consistent way of speaking or writing

a particular level of speaking or writing   e.g. colloquial language

an abstract system

1.2.2        definitions

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

What is communication?

A process in which information is transmitted from a source (sender or speaker) to a goal (receiver or listener).

A system----elements in it are arranged according to certain rules. They cannot be arranged at will.

          e.g. He the table cleaned. (×)  bkli  (×)

Arbitrary----there is no intrinsic (logic) connection between a linguistic form and its meaning.

Symbols----words are just the symbols associated with objects, actions, and ideas by convention.

Vocal--------the primary medium for all languages is sound, no matter how well developed their writing systems are.

          Writing systems came into being much later than the spoken forms.

          People with little or no literacy can also be competent language users.

Human ----language is human-specific.

         Human beings have different kinds of brains and vocal capacity.  

“Language Acquisition Device”(LAD)

1.3 Design features of language 语言的结构特征

Design features refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication.

a. arbitrariness----the form of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. The link between them is a matter of convention.

  E.g. “house”     uchi (Japanese)

                 Mansion (French)  

                 房子(Chinese)

conventionality----It means that in any language there are certain sequences of sounds that have a conventionally accepted meaning. Those words are customarily used by all speakers with the same intended meaning and understood by all listeners in the same way.

There are two different schools of belief concerning arbitrariness. Most people, especially structural linguists believe that language is arbitrary by nature. Other people, however, hold that language is iconic, that is, there is a direct relation or correspondence between sound and meaning, such as onomatopoeia.(cuckoo; crash)

For the majority of animal signals, there does appear to be  a clear connection between the conveyed message and the signal used to convey it, And for them, the sets of signals used in communication is finite.

b. duality----language is simultaneously organized at two levels or layers, namely, the level of sounds and that of meaning.

the higher level ----words which are meaningful

the lower or the basic level----sounds which are meaningless, but can be grouped and regrouped into words.

Dog: woof  (but not “w-oo-f ” )

          This duality of levels is, in fact, one of the most economical features of human language, since with a limited set of distinct sounds we are capable of producing a very  large number of sound combinations (e.g. words) which are distinct in meaning.

          The principle of economy

c. Creativity----language is resourceful. It makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users.(novel utterances are continually being created.)

    non-human signals ,on the other hand, appears to have little flexibility.

e.g. an experiment of bee communication:

The worker bee, normally able to communicate the location of

a nectar source , will fail to do so if the location is really ‘new’.

In one experiment, a hive of bees was placed at the foot of a

radio tower and a food source at the top. Ten bees were taken

to the top, shown the food source, and sent off to tell the rest of

the hive about their find. The message was conveyed via a bee

dance and the whole gang buzzed off to get the free food. They

flow around in all directions, but couldn’t locate the food. The

problem may be that bee communication regarding location

has a fixed set of signals, all of which related to horizontal

distance. The bee cannot create a ‘new ’ message indicating

vertical distance.

d. Displacement----human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present at the moment of communication.

 Bee communication:

 When a worker bee finds a source of nectar and returns to the

hive, it can perform a complex dance routine to communicate to

the other bees the location of this nectar. Depending on the type

of dance (round dance for nearby and tail-wagging dance, with

variable tempo, for further away and how far), The other bees can

work put where this newly discovered feast can be found. Bee

communication has displacement in an extremely limited form.

However, it must be the most recent food source.

e. Cultural transmission----genetic transmission

    You acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from parental genes.

The process whereby language is passed on from one generation to the next is described as cultural transmission.

1.4  functions of language

2.     linguistics

2.1   What is linguistics?

Linguistics is a scientific study of language .It is a major branch of social science.

Linguistics studies not just one language of any society, but the language of all human society, language in general.

A scientific study is one which is based on the systematic investigation of data, conducted with reference to some general theory of language structure.

    observation------generalization-----hypothesis------tested by further observation------theory

2.2  Main branches (scope) of linguistics

phonetics  语音学

phonology   音系学（音位学）

morphology  词法学

syntax      句法学

semantics    语义学

pragmatics   语用学

2.3  Important distinctions in linguistics

a.       Descriptive vs. prescriptive  “描写式”和 “规定式”

They represent two different types of linguistic study.

If a linguistic study aims to describe and analyze the language people actually use, it is said to be descriptive; if the linguistic study aims to lay down rules for “correct and standard” behavior in using language, i. e. to tell people what they should say and what they should not say, it is said to be prescriptive.

b.      Synchronic vs. diachronic   “共时”和 “历时”

The description of a language at some point of time in history is a synchronic study; the description of language as it changes through time is a diachronic study. A diachronic study is a historical study; it studies the historical development of language over a period of time.

c.       langue & parole      “语言” 和 “言语”

The distinction was made by the Swiss linguist Saussure in the early 20^th century.

Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of a speech community, and parole refers to the realization of language in actual use.

What linguists should do is to abstract langue from parole, i. e. to discover the regularities governing the actual use of language and make them the subjects of study of linguistics.

d.      Competence and performance    语言能力和语言运用

The distinction is discussed by  the American linguist N. Chomsky in the late 1950’s.

Competence----the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language.

Performance----the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication.

e.       Traditional grammar and modern linguistics

Modern linguistics started with the publication of F. de Saussure’ s book “Course in General Linguistics” in the early 20^th century. So Saussure is often described as “father of modern linguistics”.

The general approach traditionally formed to the study of language before that is roughly referred to as “traditional grammar.” They differ in several basic ways:

Firstly, linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive. A linguist is interested in what is said, not in what he thinks ought to be said. He describes language in all its aspects, but does not prescribe rules of “correctness”.

Secondly, modern linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tend to emphasize, may be over-emphasize, the importance of the written word, partly because of  its permanence.

Then, modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework. To modern linguists ,it is unthinkable to judge one language by standards of another. They are trying to set up a universal framework, but that would be based on the features shared by most of the languages used by mankind.

Homework

Questions and Exercises1,4,6,12

Self-study guide

Read  “A New Concise Course On Linguistics For Students Of English”  Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2   Speech Sounds

Teaching aims: let the students have the general idea about phonetics and phonology.

Focal points:  description of consonants and vowels; basic knowledge about phonology

Teaching difficulties: phoneme; allophone; minimal pair; complementary distribution

Teaching procedure

Language is a “system of vocal symbols”. Speech sounds had existed long before writing was invented, and even today, in some parts of the world, there are still languages that have no writing systems. Therefore, the study of speech sounds is a major part of linguistics.

As we know, there are two branches in linguistics, which deal with speech sounds. They are phonetics (the study of sounds) and phonology (the study sound patterns). In this chapter, we will discuss these two branches.

1. Phonetics

1.1 Speech production and perception

3 sub-branches of phonetics:

Articulatory phonetics----the study of the production of speech sounds

Acoustic phonetics----the study of the physical properties of the sounds produced in speech

Auditory phonetics----the study of the perception of speech sounds

1.2 Speech organs (vocal organs)

refers to the parts of the human body involved in the production of speech.

The three cavities of the vocal tract: the pharynx (pharyngeal cavity), the mouth (oral cavity), and the nose (nasal cavity). The air- stream coming from the lungs is modified in various ways in these cavities, resulting in the production of various sounds.

The pharyngeal cavity

Larynx: at the top of the trachea, the front of which is the Adam’s apple. This is the first place where sound modification might occur.

vocal folds (vocal cords): Vocal cords are two membranes, the positions of which gives different sounds.

●When the vocal cords are apart, the air can pass through easily and the sound produced is said to be voiceless. e.g. [p, s, t ]

●When they are close together, the airstreams causes them to vibrate and produces voiced sounds. e.g. [b, z, d]

●When they are totally closed, no air can pass between them, then produce the glottal stop [?]

The oral cavity

The oral cavity provides the greatest source of modification.

Tongue: the most flexible

Uvula, the teeth and the lips

Hard palate, soft palate (velum)

Alveolar ridge: the rough, bony ridge immediately behind the upper teeth

Various obstructions created within the oral cavity lead to the production of various sounder [p] [b]; [s] [z]; [k] [g]

The nasal cavity

The nasal cavity is connected to the oral cavity at the back of the mouth .The soft part of the roof of the mouth, the velum (soft palate) can be draw back to close the passage so that the air can only go through the mouth and produce vowels and most consonants. The passage can also be left open to allow air to exit through the nose and produce nasal consonants [m] [n] [g]

1.3 phonetic transcription 标音法

 a method of writing down speech sounds in a systematic and consistent way.

1.3.1 IPA (International phonetic Alphabet)

IPA: the abbreviation of International Phonetic Alphabet, which is devised by the International Phonetic Association in 1888 on the basis of the phonetic alphabet proposed at the time. It is a standardized and internationally accepted system of phonetic transcription.

The Danish grammarian Jespersen first proposed the idea in 1886.

The first version of IPA was published in August 1888.

The latest version was devised in 1993 and corrected in 1996.

The basic principle: using a separate letter selected from major European languages for each distinctive sound and the same symbol should be used for that sound in any language in which it appears.

1.3.2 Two ways to transcribe speech sounds

Broad transcription: transcription with letter-symbols only.  

This is the transcription normally used in dictionaries and teaching textbooks.

Narrow transcription: transcription with letter-symbols together

with the diacritics.

This is the transcription required and used by the phoneticians in their study of speech sounds.

Diacritics: A set of symbols added to the letter-symbols to show that it has a sound value different from that of the same letter without the mark.

1.4 English speech sounds

1.4.1 Classification

Consonants: sounds produced by constricting and obstructing the vocal tract at some place.

Vowels: sounds produced with no obstruction.

pure vowels (monophthong)—vowels where the quality      remains constant throughout the articulation.

vowel glides----vowels where there is an audible change of quality

Semi-vowels ( semi-consonants) : the sounds produced with little obstruction.(also called glides or transition sounds)   

e.g. yet  wet  hot

1.4.2 Description

Consonants (P39-44)

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

Vowels (P45-52)  

the quality of vowels depend on position of tongue and the shape of lips.

Four criteria (parameters) of vowel description:

①the height of tongue raising: high, middle, low

②the position of highest part of the tongue :front, central, back

③the shape of the lips (the degree of lip-rounding ) : rounded, unrounded

④the length or tenseness of the vowel : tense vs. lax or long vs. short

2. Phonology

2.1 phonology and phonetics

Phonetics and phonology are the two disciplines dealing with speech sounds. While both are related to the study of sounds, they differ in their approach and focus. Phonetic studies how speech sounds are made, transmitted and received. Phonology, on the other hand, is essentially the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds. It aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.

Phonology is concerned with the abstract and mental aspect of the sounds in language rather than with the actual physical articulation of speech sounds.

Phonological knowledge permits a speaker to produce sounds which form meaningful utterance, to recognize a foreign accent, to make up new words.

2.2 phonemes, phones and allophones

phone: the speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones. It’s a phonetic unit or segment. (in the mouth)

Conventionally, phones are placed within square brackets “[]”(phonetic transcription)

Phones do not necessarily distinguish meaning. Usually phones of different phonemes distinguish meaning.

phoneme: A sound which is capable of distinguishing one  word or one shape of a word from another in a given language is a phoneme. It’s a basic unit in phonological analysis. It is not any particular sound, but an abstract segment. In actual speech, a phoneme is realized phonetically as a certain phone. (the sound type in the mind)

The phoneme is the smallest meaning-distinguishing unit.

Phonemes are placed in slashes “/  / ”  (phonemic transcription)

e.g.Neither the sound [p] in pit or the sound [b] in bit is a phoneme. They are phones; they are the phonetic realization of the phoneme /p/ and /b/.

allophone: when we have a set of phones, all of which are versions of one phoneme, we refer to them as the allophones of that phoneme.

One phoneme may have several allophones, but the choice of an allophone is rule-governed.

2.3 Minimal pairs and complementary distribution

  Phonetically similar sounds might be related in two ways. If they are two distinctive phoneme, they might form a contrast; e.g. /p/and /b/ in [pit] and [bit]; If they are allophones of the same phoneme, then they don’t distinguish meaning, but complement each other in distribution, i.e. they occur in different phonetic context.

Strictly speaking, every sound is different from every other sounds. But in phonology some of the difference may be ignored

A basic way to determine the phonemes of a language is to see if substituting one sound for another result in a change of meaning.

2.3.1        Minimal pairs (最小对立体)

When two different forms are identical in every way except for one sound segment, which occurs in the same place in the strings, the two sound combinations are said to form a minimal pair.

When two words such as pat and bat are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme, occurring in the same position, the two words are described as a minimal pair.

Minimal pairs are established on the basis of sound and not spelling.

Three requirements for a minimal pair:

same number of segment

one phonetic difference in the same place

different meaning

e.g. a  minimal pair : lit-lip; phone-tone; pill-bill

a minimal set:  beat, bit, bet, boot, but, bite

The minimal pair test helps establish which sounds contrast in a language.

2.3.2 Complementary distribution

Not all speech sounds occur in the same environment, when the two sounds never occur in the same environment they are said to be in complementary distribution.

Not all phones in complementary distribution are considered to be allophones of the same phoneme. They must be phonetically similar and in complementary distribution.

2.3.3        Free variation

A phone may sometimes has free variants.

If two sounds occurring in the same environment do not contrast, that is, the substitution of one for the other does not produce a different word form, but merely a different pronunciation of the same word, then the two sounds are in free variation.

2.4  Distinctive features

The features that a phoneme possesses, making it different from other phonemes, are its distinctive features.

Distinctive features are language-specific.

e.g. “ba” (爸) “pa”(怕)

In Chinese, these two sounds are distinguished by aspiration , while in English they are distinguished by “voicing”

2.5 suprasegmental features 超音段特征

The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments

Homework

Questions and Exercises 1,2，3, 4

Self-study guide

Read “Modern Linguistics” by He Zhao-xiong

 Chapter 2  Phonology

Chapter 3     Lexicon

Teaching aims: let the students have a brief knowledge about morphemes and the basic word-formation methods

Focal points: definition and classification of morphemes; major word-formation methods

Teaching procedure

Lexicon：In its most general sense, lexicon is synonymous with vocabulary. In its technical sense, it deals with the analysis and creation of words.

1.      Word

1.1 What is word

A unit of expression that has universal intuitive recognition by native-speakers, whether it is expressed in spoken or written form.

1.2 Three senses of “word”

a.       a physical definable unit: a cluster of sound segments or letters between two pause or blank

b.      the common factor underlying a set of forms

c.       a grammatical unit

e.g. It is kind of you ,Miss Hou.

Every word plays a grammatical part in the sentence.

1.3 Classification of word

a.       Variable vs. invariable words

b.      Grammatical words vs. lexical words

c.       Closed-class words vs. open-class words

2.      The formation of word

2.1  Morphology

Definition：Morphology is a branch of linguistics, which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.

The two fields (p88)

   Inflectional morphology: the study of inflections

   Derivational morphology: the study of word-formation

2.2  Morpheme: the minimal unit of meaning

2.2.1        Definition

Morpheme is the smallest meaning-bearing unit.

2.2.2        Types of morphemes

morpheme  free:  free root       

           bound   bound root    root

                      affix       inflectional  

                             derivational    prefix

                                        suffix

Free morphemes: morphemes which may constitute words by themselves

Bound morphemes: morphemes which can not be used by themselves, but must be combined with other morphemes to form words

Inflectional morpheme: a kind of bound morphemes which manifest various grammatical relations or grammatical categories such as number, tense, degree and case.

E.g. workers, children; walking, walked; biggest ; John’s

Derivational morpheme: a kind of bound morphemes , added to existing forms to create new words. There are three kinds according to position: prefix, suffix and infix.

prefix: change meaning   dis-; un-; mis-

suffix: change part of speech    -ly; -ness; -tion

infix:  some languages also have infixes, affix morphemes that are inserted into root or stem morphemes to divide them into two parts.

tatawa   “a person who will laugh”

tumatawa   “a person who is laughing”

ngitad       “dark”

ngumitad     “to be dark”

In this language, the infix –um- is inserted after the first consonant of a noun or adjective. (fikas- “strong”   fumikas-- “to be strong”)

2.3  morpheme and phoneme (p93-95)

2.3.1  allomorph

A morpheme is a linguistic abstraction; it is a concept. It needs to be represented in certain phonological and orthographic forms. Those forms are called morphs.

In morphemic transcription, morphemes in the abstract notion are put between braces like

Allomorph: A morpheme may have alternate shapes or phonetic forms. The variant forms of the same morpheme are called its allomorphs.

2.4  Lexical change

2.4.1        Lexical change proper

Major ways to create new words:

Compounding: a process of combining two or more words into one lexical unit.

blackboard   godfather   baby-sit  cross-cultural

Derivation: the process by which new words are formed by the addition of affixes to the roots or words.

   e.g. finalize   widen   hospitalize  clockwise (顺时针)

Blending : a process of forming a new word by combining parts of other words.

smog(smoke+fog); brunch smaze(smog+haze); telecast(television+ broadcast); motel (motor +hotel)

Abbreviation: a shortened form of a word or phrase which represents the complete form.

        e.g. TV(television) Dr(doctor) hr(hour)  ft(foot or feet)

clipping: a kind of abbreviation of longer words or phrases

        e.g. telephone---phone    memorandum---memo

           electronic mail---e-mail  high fidelity---hi-fi

Acronym: a word created by combining the initial letters of a number of words.

e.g. UNESCO  APEC  Sars  CD   laser  radar (radio   detecting and ranging)

 Initialism: VOA  BBC  WTO

Back-formation: a process by which new words are formed by taking away the suffix of an existing word.

        televise (from television) donate (from donation) enthuse (from enthusiasm)

Borrowing