Chapter one 1, Definition of Language There is no universally accepted definition of language. But one definition is more popular: language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. (语言是人类用来交际的具有任意性的语音符号体系。) 2, Features of Language Creativity (Productivity); Duality; Arbitrariness; Displacement; Cultural transmission; Interchangeability; Reflexivity 3, Functions of Language Ideational function; Interpersonal function; Textual function 4, Types of Language English belongs to the West Germanic division of the Indo-European family. 5, Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Chapter two 1, Phonetics The study of speech sounds is called Phonetics. 2, phonetic transcription International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): Consonants: 1) fricatives: /??????????????????/ 2) stops: /? ? ? ??? ? / 3) affricates: /?? ??? ????????????/ 4) nasals: /? ? ? / 5) liquids: /???/ 6) glides: /j w/ Vowels: 1) fronts: /????????/ 2) centrals: /? ????/ 3) backs: /???? ???? ??/ 4) Diphthongs: /????? ??? ????? ?? ?? ??/ Chapter three 1, Phonology Phonology studies those speech sounds of a language that can distinguish words. 2, Phoneme & Allophone (音位和音位变体) 3, Stress Stress is the comparative loudness of one or more syllables over others in a word. 4, Intonation (语调) Intonation is the variation of pitch to distinguish utterance meaning. 5, Tone (声调) Tone is the variation of pitch to distinguish words. Chinese is a kind of tone language. Chapter four 1, Morphology (形态学) Morphology is the study of the internal structure and the formation of words. 2, Morpheme & Allomorph The smallest meaningful unit of language is called a morpheme, and different forms of a morpheme are called allomorphs. E.g. water, book, -ful, in-, -s, -es, en-. (prefix 前缀; suffix 后缀; affix 词缀) 3, Formation of English words 1) Derivation (派生) 2) Compounding (合成) 3) Conversion (转类) 4) clipping (截短) (vet- veterinarian, fridge- refrigerator, ad- advertisement) 5) blending (缩合) (breakfast lunch—brunch, smoke fog—smog, motor hotel—motel) 6) backformation (逆向构词) (edit- editor) 7) acronym (首字母缩略) (UNESCO，UK) 8) coinage (生造词) (Kodak, Coca-cola) 9) Eponym (有来由的词) (watt, sandwich) Chapter five 1, Syntax (句法) Syntax is the analysis of sentence structure. 2, Different approaches to syntax 1) Traditional grammar: elements of the sentence, part of speech, the order of words. 2) Structural grammar: form class, immediate constituent. 3) Transformational-generative grammar (转换生成语法): Chomsky 4) Systemic-functional grammar (系统功能语法): Halliday Chapter six 1, Semantics Semantics is the study of meaning. 2, Lexical meanings 1) referential meaning (指称意义): also called denotative meaning, the central meaning of words, more stable and universal. 2) associative meanings (联想意义): less stable and more culture-specific. a> connotative meaning (内涵意义) b> social meaning (社会意义) c> affective meaning (情感意义) d> reflected meaning (反映意义) (chicken thigh – drumstick, cock—rooster ) e> collocative meaning (搭配意义) 3, Lexical sense relations 1) synonymy (近义词): Synonyms are words which have different forms but similar meanings. 2) antonymy (反义词): Antonyms are words which are opposite in meaning. a) gradable antonyms (分级反义词): (rich—poor, big—small, hot—cold) b) complementary antonyms (互补反义词): (dead—alive, male—female, pass—fail.) c) reversal antonyms (互逆反义词): (come—go, buy—sell, up—down, father—son.) 3) homonymy (同音/同形异义词): (tale—tail, flour—flower, bear—bear, ground—ground.) 4) polysemy (多义词) 5) hyponymy (上下义): hyponyms (下义词): (tiger, lion, elephant, dog). Superordinates (上义　　　词): (animal) 4, Categorization Categorization refers to the process by which people use language to classify the world. 5, Prototype Prototypes are the typical and central members of a category. (chair—furniture, car—automobile) 6, Metaphor (隐喻) 1) two views: Aristotle sees metaphor as a rhetorical device that makes language use colorful; Another view holds that metaphors are a cognitive device. (face of a watch, head of a state, waste time, warm color, holes in our argument) 2) features: systematicity, creation of similarities, and imaginative rationality. Chapter seven 1, Pragmatics Pragmatics is the analysis of meaning in context. The meanings communicated through language are of two types: conventional meanings and intentional meanings. The former is studied in semantics and the latter in pragmatics. 2, Deixis (指示): deixis means pointing via language. 1) Person deixis: personal pronoun, personal names, titles, kinship terms, forms for occupations and vocatives (呼语). Sometimes, people use person deictics in a way different from their common usages. Look at the following cases: Let’s enjoy ourselves. (inclusive we) // Let’s give you a hand. (exclusive we) // (A doctor to his patient) How are we feeling today? (you) // Science tells us that smoking is harmful to our health. (people in general) Billy wants an ice-cream, Mummy. (I) // 今天我们将要讨论“指示”这种现象。（我）// 这回你就听老师一句话吧。（我） Who has frightened our baby? (you) // 宝宝乖，宝宝不哭。（你）// My back is aching, doctor. (you) 2) Time deixis: time adverbials (now, then , today, tomorrow…), time words (morning, noon, month, Monday…), time phrases (in a while, within a week…), tense 时态.(be going to…, shall, will, have done sth…) 3) Place deixis: place adverbs (here, there, in, out, up, down…), demonstratives (this, that) Commonly, we seem to use these expressions according to our knowledge of whether it is near us or not. But in our real communications, things seem not so simple. Look at the examples: (through the phone) who’s this speaking? Is this …? // (calling mum) 妈妈，家里都好吧？我明天回来。// (answering the door) coming! // 有空到我家来玩。有空到我家去玩吧。 John is behind the truck. (two interpretations) // Bob is the man to the left of Mark. 4) Discourse deixis: it is also called textual deixis, functioning as reference to some portion of the discourse. I bet you haven’t heard this story. (demonstrative) // It’s cold outside, however, it’s very warm in the room. (text connectors) // last, next, following, previous… This sentence is not true. (right or wrong?) 3, Speech act (言语行为): actions performed via speaking are called speech acts. 1) locutionary act (言内行为): the act of producing a meaningful linguistic expression is called locutionary act. 2) illocutionary act (言外行为): the act of communicating intention through utterance. 3) perlocutionary act (言后行为): the act of bringing about an effect. 4, Cooperative principle & implicature (会话合作原则和会话含义) Quantity maxim (数量准则) Make your contribution (说的话) as informative as is required (for the current purpose of the exchange交流). Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. Quality maxim (质量准则) Try to make your contribution one that is true: Do not say what you believe to be false. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. Relation maxim (关系准则) Be relavent. Manner maxim (方式准则) Be perspicuous (明了): Avoid obscurity (晦涩) of expression. Avoid ambiguity (歧义). Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity赘述). Be orderly. The trigger (触发) of conversational implicature In fact, conversational implicature may also arise even when all the maxims are observed. e.g.: --I am out of petrol. –There is a garage round the corner. (You can get petrol there.) a> (A recommendation letter for a student): Dear sir, Mr. X is good at English, and he is never late for my class. Yours. // Women are women, war is war. Children are children. b> --Where is John? –He’s gone to the library, he said so when he left. // 合同 a> irony. // metaphor. // hyperbole b> I’m sure that the professor will soon come in with a cola in his hand. --Mrs. X is an old bag. –Fine weather, isn’t it? // (debtor to debt collector) 来，喝酒！ –Let’s buy something for the kids. –Ok, but don’t buy I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M. // --他在晚会上唱歌了吗？--他昨天发出了一些类似于两只蝴蝶的声音。// 你昨天晚上吃药没有开灯吧？// (tell something unpleasant) 5, The politeness principle (礼貌原则) (i) Tact maxim (策略) (a)Minimize the cost to others; (b) Maximize the benefit to others; e.g.: Would it be possible for you to lend me your car? (ii) Generosity maxim (宽宏) Minimize the benefit to self; (b) Maximize the cost to self; e.g.: Do have another sandwich. (would you have another sandwich?) (iii) Approbation (flattery) maxim (赞扬) Minimize dispraise of others; (b) maximize praise of others; e.g.: What a marvelous cook you are. (iv) Modesty Maxim (谦虚) (a) Minimize praise of self. (b) maximize dispraise (贬损) of self; e.g.: --What a bright boy you are. You always get full marks. –Thank you. I have very good teachers. (v) Agreement Maxim (赞同) (a) Minimize disagreement between self and others; (b) Maximize agreement between self and others; e.g.: Yes, I can’t agree with you more. // Maybe you are right, but I think… (vi) Sympathy Maxim (同情) (a) Minimize antipathy (厌恶) between self and others; (b) Maximize sympathy between self and others. e.g.: I’m sorry to hear that. // 哎哟，怎么搞得呀？肯定会很疼吧？来我帮你看看。 Chapter eight 1, Variety (语言变体): variety is the form of a language used by any group of speakers or used in a particular field. 1) standard variety (标准语) 2) regional dialect (地域方言) 3) sociolect (社会方言) 4) register (functional dialect, 功能方言) 2, Grades of formality (语言的正式等级): frozen (刻板), formal, consultative, casual, intimate. 3, Some terms: Pidgins (洋泾浜语), bilingualism (双语), multilingualism (多语), code-switching (语码转换), taboo (禁忌), euphemism (委婉语) 4, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (萨丕尔-伍尔夫假说) The hypothesis has been interpreted in two ways. Determinism: our language determines our thinking. This strong version has been rejected as it runs counter to the fact that peoples of different cultural backgrounds can understand each other. Relativism: culture affects the way we think through language, especially in our classification of the experienced world. Chapter nine 1, Second Language Acquisition (SLA) (第二语言习得) The process by which a language other than the mother tongue is learnt in a natural setting or in a classroom. 2, Views of SLA 1) Nativist (先天论者) view: they explain acquisition on the basis of assuming an innate biological endowment that makes learning possible. 2) Environmentalist (环境论者) view: they hold that experience is more important than innate contributions in learning a second language. 3) Functionalist (功能论者) view: language acquisition takes place in the process of learning to communicate.