语言学名词解释

A Detailed Note for Modern Linguistics
Chapter 1: Introduction
the following terms:
1).Linguistics:It is generally defined as the scientific study of language.
2).General linguistics: The study of language as a whole is called general linguistics.
3).Applied linguistics: 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. In a broad sense, it
refers to the application of linguistic findings to the solution of practical problems such as the recovery of speech ability.
4).Synchronic study: The study of a language at some point in time. e.g. A study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare’s time is a synchronic study.
5).Diachronic study: The study of a language as it changes through time. A diachronic study of language is a historical study, which studies the historical development of language over a period of time. e.g. a study of the changes
English has undergone since Shakespeare’s time is a diachronic study.
6).Language competence: The ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language. A transformational-generative grammar（转化生成语法）is a model of language competence.
7).Language performance: performance is the actual realization of the ideal language user’s knowledge of the rules in linguistic communication.
8).Langue : Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community; Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to follow; Langue is relatively stable, it does not
change frequently.
9).Parole: Parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use; parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules; parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation.
10).Language: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.
11).Arbitrariness: It is one of the design features of language. It means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. A good example is the fact that different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different
languages.
12).Productivity: Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users.
13).Duality: Language is a system, which consists of two sets of structure, or two levels, one of sounds at the lower or basic level, and the other of meanings at the higher level.
14).Displacement: language can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future, or in far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts
removed from the immediate situations of the speaker.
15).Cultural transmission: While we are born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.
16).Design features: It refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication
n the following definition of linguistics: Linguistics is the scientific study of language.
Linguistics investigates not any particular language, but languages in general.
Linguistic study is scientific because it is based on the systematic investigation of authentic(可靠的，真实的) language data. No serious linguistic conclusion is reached until after the linguist has done the following three things:
observing the way language is actually used, formulating some hypotheses, and testing these hypotheses against linguistic facts to prove their validity.
are the branches of linguistics? What does each of them study? (语言学的主要分支是什么。每个分支的研究对象是什么？)
Linguistics mainly involves the following branches:
1)General linguistics, which is the study of language as a whole and which deals with the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods applicable in any linguistic study
2)Phonetics, which studies the sounds that are used in linguistic communication
3)Phonology, which studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication
4)Morphology, which studies the way in which morphemes are arranged to form words
5)Syntax, which studies how morphemes and words are combined to form sentences
6)Semantics, which is the study of meaning in lan?guage.
7)Pragmatics, which is the study of meaning not in isolation, but in the context of use
8)Sociolinguistics, which is the study of language with reference to society
9)Psycholinguistics, which is the study of language with reference to the workings of mind.
10)Applied linguistics, which is concerned about the application of linguistic findings in linguistic studies; in a nar?row sense, applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistic principles and theories to language teaching,
especially the teaching of foreign and second languages.
11)Other related branches are anthropological linguistics(人类语言学), neurological linguistics（神经语言学）, mathematical linguistics（数学语言学）, and computational linguistics（计算机语言学）.
makes modern linguistics different from traditional grammar? (现代语言学与传统语法有什么区别？)
Traditional grammar is prescriptive（规定性）; it is based on （描述性）; its investigations are based on
authentic and mainly spoken language data. It is supposed to be scientific and objective and the task of linguists is supposed to describe the language people actually use, whether it is
modern linguistics mainly synchronic（共时性） or diachronic（历时性）? Why?
(The description of language at some point in time is a synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study.)
Modern linguistics is mainly synchronic, focusing on the present-day language. Unless the various states of a language are successfully studied, it will not be possible to describe language from a diachronic point of view.
enjoys priority in modern linguistics, speech or writing? Why?
Modern linguistics gives priority to the spoken language for the following reasons:
First, speech precedes writing. The writing system is always a later invention used to record the speech. There are still some languages that only have the spoken form.
Then, a larger amount of communication is carried out in speech than in writing.
Third, speech is the form in which infants acquire their native language.
re 是如何区分语言langue和言语parole的？
(The distinction between langue and parole was made by the famous Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure early this century. Langue and parole are French words.)
Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to
follow while parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules. Langue is abstract; it is not the language people actually use, but parole is concrete; it refers to the naturally occurring language events. Langue
is relatively stable, it does not change frequently; while parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation.
y的语言能力competence和语言使用performance各指什么？
(American linguist N. Chomsky in the late 1950’s proposed the distinction between competence and performance.)
Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language. This internalized set of rules enables the language user to produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences and recognize
sentences that are ungrammatical and ambiguous. According to Chomsky, performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. Although the speaker’s knowledge of his mother tongue is perfect, his
performances may have mistakes because of social and psychological factors such as stress, embarrassment, etc? Chomsky believes that what linguists should study is the competence, which is systematic, not the performance,
which is too haphazard (偶然的).
is Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance? And what is their difference?
Both Saussure and Chomsky make the distinction between the abstract language system and the actual use of language. Their purpose is to single out one aspect of language for serious study.
They differ in that Saussure takes a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of
the mind of each individual.
characteristics of language do you think should be included in a good, comprehensive definition of language?
Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.
First of all, language is a system, i.e. elements of language are combined according to rules.
Second, language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between the word and the thing it refers to.
Third, language is vocal because the primary medium is sound for all languages.
The term “human” is meant to specify that language is human-specific.
features of human language have been specified by Charles Hockett to show that it is essentially different from any animal communication system? 人类语言的甄别性特征是什么？
ariness（任意性）: (课本答案：a sign of sophistication only humans are capable of) It means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. Although language is arbitrary by nature, it is not entirely arbitrary.
Non-arbitrary words make up only a small percentage of the total number. The arbitrary nature of language is a sign of sophistication and it makes it possible for language to have an unlimited source of expressions.
tivity（创造性）: （课本答案：creativity: animals are quite limited in the messages they are able to send）Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the con?struction and interpretation of an infinitely large
number of sentences, including those they have never said or heard before.
y（二重性）: （课本答案：a feature totally lacking in any animal communication）It means that language is a system, which consists of two sets of structure, or two levels, one of sounds at the lower level and the other of
meanings at the higher level. At the lower or the basic level, there is the structure of individual and meaningless sounds, which can be grouped into meaningful units at the higher level. This duality of structure or dou?ble articulation
of language enables its users to talk about anything within their knowledge.
cement（移位性）: （课本答案：no animal can “talk” about things removed from the immediate situation）Language can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present,
or future, or far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker.
5. Cultural transmission（文化传递性）： （课本答案：details of human language system are taught and learned while animals are born with the capacity to send out certain signals as a means of limited communication）While we are
born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.
you think human language is entirely arbitrary? Why?
Language is arbitrary in nature, it is not entirely arbitrary, because there are a limited number of words whose connections between forms and meanings can be logically explained to a certain extent, for example, the onomatopoeia,
words which are coined on the basis of imitation of sounds by sounds such as bang, crash, etc.. Take compounds for another example. The two elements “photo” and “copy” in “photocopy” are non-motivated, but the compound is not

arbitrary.

Chapter 2: Phonology
the terms:
1).phonetics: Phonetics is defined as the study of the phonic medium of language; it is concerned with all the sounds that occur in the world’ s languages
2).auditory phonetics: It studies the speech sounds from the hearer’s point of view. It studies how the sounds are perceived by the hearer.
3).acoustic phonetics: It studies the speech sounds by looking at the sound waves. It studies the physical means by which speech sounds are transmitted through the air from one person to another.
4).international phonetic alphabet [IPA]: It is a standardized and internationally accepted system of phonetic transcription.
5).Broad transcription: the transcription with letter-symbols only, i.e. one letter-symbol for one sound. This is the transcription normally used in dictionaries and teaching textbooks.
6).Narrow transcription: is the transcription with letter-symbols together with the diacritics. This is the transcription used by the phoneticians in their study of speech sounds.
7).diacritics: is a set of symbols which can be added to the letter-symbols to make finer distinctions than the letters alone make possible.
8).Voiceless（清音）: when the vocal cords are drawn wide apart, letting air go through without causing vibration, the sounds produced in such a condition are called voiceless sounds.
9).Voicing （浊音）: Sounds produced while the vocal cords are vibrating are called voiced sounds.
10).Vowel: the sounds in production of which no articulators come very close together and the air stream passes through the vocal tract without obstruction are called vowels.
11).Consonants: the sounds in the production of which there is an obstruction of the air stream at some point of the vocal tract are called consonants.
12).phonology: Phonology studies the system of sounds of a particular language; it aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.
13).phone: Phones can be simply defined as the speech sounds we use when speaking a language. A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. It does not necessarily distinguish meaning.
14).phoneme: a collection of abstract phonetic features, it is a basic unit in phonology. It is represented or realized as a certain phone by a certain phonetic context.
15).allophone: The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophones of that phoneme. For example [l] and [l]
16).phonemic contrast: Phonemic contrast refers to the relation between two phonemes. If two phonemes can occur in the same environment and distinguish meaning, they are in phonemic contrast.
17).Complementary distribution: refers to the relation between two similar phones which are allophones of the same phoneme, and they occur in different environments.
18).minimal pair: 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 words are said to form a minimal pair. For example: bin and pin.
19).suprasegmental features: the phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are called suprasegmental features. The main suprasegmental features include stress, tone and intonation.
20).tone: Tones are pitch variations, which are caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords. Pitch variation can distinguish meaning just like phonemes. The meaning- distinctive function of the tone is especially
important in tone languages, for example, in Chinese.
21).intonation: When pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as intonation. For example, English has four basic types of intonation: the falling tone, the
rising tone, the fall-rise tone and the rise- fall tone.
are the two major media of communication? Of the two, which one is primary and why? 语言交际的两大媒介是什么？哪一个是基本的交际媒介？为什么？
Speech and writing are the major media of communication. Speech is considered primary over writing. The reasons are: speech is prior to writing in language evolution, speech plays a greater role in daily communications, and speech
is the way in which people acquire their native language.
are the three branches of phonetics? How do they contribute to the study of speech sounds? 语音学的三个分支是什么。它们是如何研究语言学的？ (可参照一下课文原话，可能更容易理解)
1)Articulatory phonetics describes the way our speech organs work to produce the speech sounds and how they differ.
2)Auditory phonetics studies the physical properties of the speech sounds, and reaches important conclusion that phonetic identity is only a theoretical ideal.
3)Acoustic phonetics studies the physical properties of the speech sounds, the way sounds travel from the speaker to the hearer; it deals with the sound waves through the use of such machines as a spectrograph（声谱仪）.
are the articulatory apparatus of human being contained?
Pharyngeal cavity, oral cavity and nasal cavity.
is voicing and how is it caused? 什么叫浊音化？它是如何形成的？
Voicing is the result of the vibration of the vocal cords. When the vocal cords are drawn wide apart, letting air go through without causing vibration, the sounds produced in such a way are voiceless. When vocal cords are held together
tautly so that the air stream vibrates them, the sounds produced in this way are voiced.
is the function of nasal cavity? How does it perform this function?
The function of nasal cavity is to nasalize the sounds that are produced. It does this by closing the air passage connecting the oral and nasal cavities so that the air stream can only go through the nasal cavity.
be the various parts in the oral cavity which are involved in the production of speech sounds?
The various pats of the tongue: the tip, the front, the blade, and the back; the uvula; the soft palate; the hard palate; the teeth ridge (alveolar); the upper and lower teeth; the lips.
broad transcription and narrow transcription differ? 宽式标音和严式标音有什么区别？
The broad transcription is the transcription of sounds by using one letter to represent one sound.
The narrow transcription is the transcription with diacritics （变音符号） to show detailed articulatory features of sounds.
In broad transcription, the symbol [l] in used for the sound [l] in words like leaf [li:f], feel [fi:l], build [bild], and health [helθ]. The sound [l] in all these words is differ slightly. The [l] in [li:f], occurring before a vowel, is called a clear
[l], and no diacritic is needed to indicate it; the [l] in [fi:l] and [bild], occurring before another consonant, is called dark [l], indicated in narrow transcription as [l]. Then in [helθ], the sound [l] is followed by the dental sound [θ], it is
thus called a dental [l], and transcribed as [helθ]（注：l下有一个向下的框，无法打印） in narrow transcription.
are the English consonants classified? 英语的辅音是如何分类的？
1)by manner of articulation.
（plosive爆破音）: [p],[b],[t],[d],[k],[g]
ives（磨擦音）: [f],[v],[s],[z],[ θ],[??], [∫ ], [?], [h]
ates（破擦音）: [ t∫], [d?]
s（lateral边音，流音）: [l], [r]
（鼻音）: [m],[ n],[? ?]
（semivowels半元音）: [w], [ j]
2)by place of articulation :
al（双唇音）: [p],[b],[m],[w]
ental（唇齿音）: [f],[v]
（舌齿音）: [θ],[? ?]
ar（齿龈音）: [t],[d],[s],[z],[n],[l],[r]
l（腭音）: [∫], [?],[ t∫ ], [d?], [j]
（软腭音）: [k], [g], [? ]
l（喉音，声门单）: [h]
criteria are used to classify the English vowels? 英语的元音是如何分类的？
1) According to the position of the tongue, vowels may be distinguished as front vowels such as [i:] [i] [e] [?] [a], central vowels such as [?:] [?] [?], and back vowels such as [u:] [? ] [?:] [? ] [ɑ:]
2) According to the openness of the mouth, we classify the vowels into four groups: close vowels such as [i:] [i] [u:] [? ], semi- close vowels such as [e] [?:], semi-open vowels such as [?] [?:], and open vowels such as [?] [a] [? ] [? ]
and [ɑ:].
3) According to the shape of the lips, vowels are divided into rounded vowels and unrounded vowels. In English all the front and central vowels are unrounded vowels, all the back vowels, with exception of [ɑ:], are rounded.
4) According to the length of the vowels, the English vowels can also be classified into long vowels and short vowels. The long vowels include [i:] [?:] [?: ] [u:] [ɑ:]，while the rest are short vowels.
is the difference between a monophthong and a diphthong?
A monophthong is one for which the organs of speech remain in a given position for a period of time. A diphthong is a vowel sound consisting of a deliberate glide. The organs of speech starting in the position of one vowel and
immediately moving in the direction of another vowel, for example: [i:], [i] are monophthongs, and [a? ], [e? ] are diphthongs.
do phonetics and phonology differ in their focus of study? Who do you think will be more interested in the difference between [l]and [l], [p] and [ph], a phonetician or a phonologist? Why?
Phonetics: description of all speech sounds and their fine differences. It not necessarily distinguish meaning.
Phonology: description of sound systems of particular languages and how sounds function to distinguish meaning. It is realized as certain phone and it distinguish meaning.
A phonetician would be more interested in such differences because such differences will not cause differences in meaning, but can make finer distinctions of the sounds.
is a phone? How is it different from a phoneme? How are allophones related to a phoneme?
Phone: a speech sound, a phonetic unit. （It not necessarily distinguish meaning）
Phoneme: a collection of abstract sound features, a phonological unit. (realized as certain phone, distinguish meaning)
Allophones: actual realization of a phoneme in different phonetic contexts.
is a minimal pair and what is a minimal set? Why is it important to identify the minimal set in a language?
Minimal pair: two sound combinations identical in every way except in one sound element that occurs in the same position.
Minimal set: a group of sound combinations with the above feature.
By identifying the minimal pairs or the minimal set of a language, a phonologist can identify its phonemes.
15. What are phonemic contrast, complementary distribution, and minimal pair? 什么叫音位对立？什么叫互补分布？什么是最小对立对？(p34)
If two phonetically similar sounds can occur in the same environments and they distinguish meaning, they are in phonemic contrast. [p], [b]

If two phonetically similar sounds are two allophones of the same phoneme and they occur in different environments, they are said to be in complementary distribution. [p], [ph].
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 words are said to form a minimal pair. For example, kill and bill.
n with examples the sequential rule, the assimilation rule and the deletion rule. (每条规则记一个例子)
Sequential rule: rule governing the combination of sounds in a particular language.
Assimilation rule: rule assimilating one sound similar to the following one by copying one of its phonetic features.
Deletion rule: rule governing the deletion of a sound in a certain phonetic context although it is represented in spelling.
are supresegmental features? How do the major suprasegmental features of English function in conveying meaning? 什么是超音位特征？它是如何影响语义的？ (p40)
Suprasegmental features are phonological features above the sound segment level.
The major suprasegmental features in English are word stress, sentence stress and intonation.
1)The location of stress in English distinguishes meaning, such as `import and im`port. The similar alternation of stress also occurs between a compound noun and a phrase consisting of the same elements. A phonological feature of
the English compounds is that the stress of the word always falls on the first element and the second element receives secondary stress, for example: `blackbird is a particular kind of bird, which is not necessarily black, but a black
`bird is a bird that is black.
2) Sentence stress refers to the relative force which is given to the words in a sentence. The more important words such as nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and demonstrative pronouns, are pronounced with greater force and
made more prominent. And the other categories of words (articles, personal pronouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions, and conjunctions) are usually not stressed. But to give special emphasis to a certain notion, a word in sentence that is
usually unstressed can be stressed to achieve different effect. Take the sentence “He is driving my car.” For example, to emphasize the fact that the car he is driving is not his, or yours, but mine, the speaker can stress the possessive
pronoun my, which under normal circumstances is not stressed.
3)English has four basic types of intonation, known as the four tones: When spoken in different tones, the same sequence of words may have different meanings. Generally speaking, the falling tone indicates that what is said is a
straight-forward, matter-of-fact statement, the rising tone often makes a question of what is said, and the fall-rise tone often indicates that there is an implied message in what is said.
does sentence stress mean?
Sentence stress refers to the relative force which is given to the words in a sentence. Some words are more important than others, and the more important words are pronounced with greater force and made more prominent. The more
important words in English are nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and demonstrative pronouns, and the other categories of words (articles, personal pronouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions, and conjunctions) are usually not
stressed. To give special emphasis to a certain notion, a word in a sentence that is usually unstressed can be stressed. For example: He is driving my car. My may be stressed to emphasize the fact that the car is mine.