Chapter ONE——Language and Linguistics

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目錄

1-1——「語(yǔ)言與語(yǔ)言學(xué)」之Language

1-1-1術(shù)語(yǔ)背誦on language

1-1-2 The Definition of Language-廣度

1-1-3 The Design Feature of Language-廣度

1-1-4論述題on language-規(guī)范

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我們今天繼續(xù)，繼續(xù)拓展，1-1-3，

「Design Features」——Arbitrariness、Duality、Creativity[胡]、Productivity[戴]、Displacement、Cultural transmission、Interchangeability(互換性)

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著名哲學(xué)家Bertrand Russel曾說(shuō)過(guò)，“No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor but honest.”，不論一只狗叫得多么賣(mài)力，它都表達(dá)不了它父母貧窮但誠(chéng)實(shí)。

以及，In order to mate, propagate and cooperate in their colonies(為了在種群中繁衍、合作), species like birds and bees also communicate by singing or dancing, following a very elaborate routine too(遵循復(fù)雜的慣例).

但，統(tǒng)統(tǒng)不是Language?。?！

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So, what makes human language so sophisticated? and distinctive from languages used by other species? The features that define our human languages can be called DESIGN FEATURES.[胡]

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Design Features——

a). DESIGN FEATURES refers to the defining properties of human language that tell the difference between human language and any system of animal communication.[星火]

b). The features that define our human languages as distinctive from languages used by other species can be called DESIGN FEATURES.[胡]

c). DESIGN FEATURES refer to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication.[戴]

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Arbitrariness，S哥提出來(lái)的，對(duì)，是區(qū)別langue與parole的Saussure。

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[戴]就詞匯方面來(lái)說(shuō)，詞匯都有任意性，只是有或多或少的任意性。

Onomatopoeic words(擬聲詞), such as rumble(隆隆聲), crash(碰撞聲), cackle(咯咯嘎嘎笑聲), bang(爆炸聲) in English, and compound words, such are photocopy(photo+copy), they are not entirely arbitrary.

易錯(cuò)——The arbitrary nature of language is a sign of sophistication and it makes it possible for language to have an unlimitid source of expressions.[戴]

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[胡]At the Syntactic Level(句法層面), language is not arbitrary. But, in other words, syntax(句法) is less arbitrary than words.

語(yǔ)言學(xué)胡大師，說(shuō)話很有藝術(shù)，可以說(shuō)語(yǔ)言不是任意的，也可以說(shuō)任意性小。

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Arbitrariness的對(duì)立面是conventionality, 約定性?means it is conventional to say things and you cannot change the expression any other way even if you think it does not look or sound logical.[胡]

易錯(cuò)——Arbitrariness of language makes it potentially creative.[胡]

對(duì)于外語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)者來(lái)說(shuō)，語(yǔ)言的約定性比任意性更值得關(guān)注[胡]。

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Duality——It refers to the property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level, and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization.[胡]

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[易錯(cuò)點(diǎn)]Roughly speaking, the elements of the spoken language are sounds which do not convey meaning in themselves. The only function of sounds is to combine with one another to form units that have meaning, such as words.[胡]話語(yǔ)的組成元素是本身不傳達(dá)意義的語(yǔ)音，語(yǔ)音的唯一作用就是相互組合構(gòu)成有意義的單位。

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[易錯(cuò)點(diǎn)]我們聽(tīng)一門(mén)不懂的外語(yǔ)時(shí)，流利的說(shuō)話者像是在用連續(xù)的語(yǔ)流說(shuō)話。However no language is truly continuous.

To convey discrete meanings(離散的意義), there have to be discrete units(離散的單位), and the first task in decoding(解碼) a new language is finding out these discrete units.

最底層的單位是由bets of meaningless sounds which occur in chumps(抱團(tuán)出現(xiàn)) that we call syllables(音節(jié)). Scores of syllables become the carries of hundreds of meaningful segments of words that are called morphemes(音素).

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[易錯(cuò)點(diǎn)]Stratification(分層) of Duality——this organization of levels on levels——is the physical manifestation(具體體現(xiàn)) of the“infinite use of finite means，”the trait(特性) that most distinguishes human communication and that provides itself tremendous resourceful.[胡]

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[易錯(cuò)點(diǎn)]We can perceive the advantage of DUALITY, which lies in the great productive power our language is endowed with(被賦予的). A large number of different units can be formed out of a small number of elements(大量的單位由很少數(shù)量的成分構(gòu)成)——for instance, a considerable number of words out of a small set of sounds, around 48(48個(gè)音素) in the case of(就…而言) the English language. And out of the huge number of words, there can be endless number of sentences, which in turn can form unlimited number of texts.[胡]

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This duality of structure or double articulation(結(jié)構(gòu)二重性) of language enable its users to talk about anything within their knowledge.[戴]

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Creativity[胡]——By Creativity, we mean language is resourceful because of itself duality and itself recursiveness.

The creativity of language partly originates from its duality, because of duality the speaker is able to combine the basic linguistic units to form an infinite set of sentences, most of which are never before produced or heard.

In another sense, language is creative, that is, itself potential to create endless sentences. The recursive nature of language provides a theoretical basis for possibility.

For instance, we can write a sentence like the following and go on endlessly: He bought a book which was written by a teacher who taught in a school which was known for its graduated who…

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語(yǔ)言是緩慢變化的，and we can use Creativity to create new meaning.

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語(yǔ)言比信號(hào)燈復(fù)雜得多，信號(hào)燈的信號(hào)就沒(méi)有創(chuàng)造性，信號(hào)燈所表達(dá)的意思不能被賦予新的含義。

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創(chuàng)造性這種能力使人類(lèi)語(yǔ)言區(qū)別于其他生物，for example, birds can only convey a limited range of messages.

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Productivity[戴]——Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by itself users.

This is why they can produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences, including sentences they have never heard before.

然后，動(dòng)物的交流沒(méi)有能產(chǎn)性。

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Displacement, means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present(in time and space) at moment of communication. 因此我們可以提到孔子或北極，雖說(shuō)前者已故兩千多年而后者距離我們非常遠(yuǎn)。

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動(dòng)物交流沒(méi)有位移性，比如，a dog cannot tell people that its master will be home in few days.

Most animals respond communicatively as soon as they are stimulated by some occurrence of communal interest.(發(fā)生關(guān)乎共同利害的事情，大多數(shù)動(dòng)物才會(huì)被激發(fā)出特定的反應(yīng))[胡]

換句話說(shuō)，such animals are under “immediate stimulus control(直接刺激控制)”.

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與此同時(shí)，Human language is, unlike animal communication systems, stimulus-free(不受刺激控制), and what we are talking about need not be triggered by any external stimulus in the world or any internal state.(無(wú)論我們講什么無(wú)須由外界或內(nèi)部的刺激引發(fā)).[胡]

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當(dāng)然，語(yǔ)言學(xué)大師，大師說(shuō)話不能說(shuō)那么死板，有特殊情況，比如蜜蜂的舞蹈能指示食物源，食物源在時(shí)間和空間上是過(guò)去的和遙遠(yuǎn)的。我們稱(chēng)the honeybee’ dance exhibits displacement a little bit(展示了少許的位移性).

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Our language enables us to communicate about things that do not exist or do not yet exist.

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Displacement benefits human beings by giving them the power to handle generalizations and abstractions.

Cultural transmission[戴]——we were all born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned.

An English speaker and a Chinese speaker are both able to use a language, but they are not mutually intelligible.

A Chinese baby born and brought up in London by an English family will speak English, while an English child brought up in Beijing by a Chinese aunt will speak Chinese.

It is passed on from one generation to the next through teaching and learning, rather than by instinct.

與此同時(shí)，animal call system are genetically transmitted, i.e, animals are born with the capacity to produce the set of calls peculiar(特有的) to their species.

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Interchangeability[原處不詳]——指的是任何人即是信息的發(fā)出者，又可以是信息的接收者，即any human being can be both a producer and a receiver of message, and his roles as a speaker and a hearer can be exchanged at ease.

但這個(gè)應(yīng)該可能不是人類(lèi)特有的，也不是考試重點(diǎn)，僅作選擇判斷題。

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