英语语言学介绍

语言学（linguistics）是以人类语言为研究对象的学科，探索范围包括语言的性质、功能、结构、运用和历史发展，以及其他与语言有关的问题。语言学被普遍定义为对语言的一种科学化、系统化的理论研究。并且语言是人类最重要的交际工具，是思想的直接现实。

语言是人类特有的沟通方式，在生物或心理层面上反映人类高度演化的心智能力，在社会文化层面上反映人类文明进步。语言学就是要研究人类最核心本能的语言能力，透过对口语、书面语甚至手语进行分析和研究，进而了解人类的本质。除了认识人类语言本质外，语言学研究还具有多种应用价值。在语言教育方面，借由对于语言本身的了解，编成各种词典、文法书、教科书供人学习语言，也有助于改善应对语言学习过程中遭遇到的困难与错误的能力。

在不同语言翻译方面，语言学理论对于笔译和口译有更多具体的指导，也有助于利用科技来进行机器翻译。

从狭义地来说，语言学告诉了我们字词句的组成，有了这个理论基础，我们当老师或者家教的时候，可以更好地解释语言现象。（而不是一再告诉学生说：这是个固定搭配，背下来就可以）  从广义来说，你可以更清晰地认识整个社会文化。

比如，语言学第七章，很多学校都很爱考的一个章节，“语言和社会”。其中就解释了女性说话方式和男性说话方式为什么不同？女性说话有些什么特点？（即女性语体）男人和女人本是同一人种，导致他们说话不同的是社会因素。在学习语言学之前，你可能从来都没有想过，语言学和社会文化还有诸多联系吧？所以说，它能发人深省啊。迄今，还很少有人从语言学的角度来观察和探索世界，这需要大家更多地沉淀自己、发自内心地热爱语言学，而不是仅仅视它为一门需死记硬背的考试。

大多数读linguistics的学生，毕业后都从事着和它南辕北辙的工作。我现在在研究生即将入学之余，自己制作了语言学的视频、和三五好友分享学习资源、开设YY语音上的语言学答疑小组、过的非常充实和丰富，但我也不敢说一定毕生从事语言学事业（也有学术尚浅的因素在内）。对于职业发展，或许语言学对学子的贡献并不显著。

但，倘若真的静心研读，它一定对你的气质修养、为人处世、生活心态起到了很大的帮助。不管从事哪行哪业，我都将非常热爱语言学。

语言学是对语言的系统研究,对于一个学习英语的人来说,应该懂一点语言学的知识,它可以在理论上对学习语言有指导作用,有助于更好的学习语言,下面介绍一点语言学知识. I. Introduction 1. What is Language Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. 2. What is Linguistics(语言学) Linguistics is the scientific study of language. 3.Some Basic Distinctions(区分) in Linguistics 3.1 Speech and Writing One general principle(原则) of linguistic analysis is the primacy of speech over writing. Writing gives language new scope(范畴) and uses that speech does not have. 3.2 Descriptive(描述性) or Prescriptive(说明性) A linguistic study is descriptive if it describes and analyses facts observed; it is prescriptive if it tries to lay down rules for "correct" behavior. 3.3 Synchronic(共时) and Diachronic(历时) Studies The description of a language at some point in time is a synchronic study and The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study. 3.4 Langue(语言) and Parole(言语) This is a distinction made by the Swiss linguist F.De Saussure (索绪尔）early last century. langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community and parole refers to the actualized(实际的) language, or realization of langue. 3.5 Competence(能力)and Performance(行为) Competence is the ideal language user's knowledge of the rules of his language. Performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances(发声). 4.The Scope of Linguistics General linguistics is the study of language as a whole. Phonetics(语音学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription. Phonology(音韵学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the sound patterns of languages. Morphology(词法) is the branch of linguistics which studies the form of words. Syntax(句法) is the branch of linguistics which studies the rules governing the combination of words into sentences. Semantics(语义学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the meaning of language. Applied linguistics(应用语言学) is the study of the teaching of foreign and second languages. Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society. Psycholinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and the mind. Historical Linguistics(历史语言学) is the study of language changes. Anthropological linguistics(人文语言学) uses the theories and methods of anthropology to study language variation and language use in relation to the cultural patterns and beliefs of man. Neurolinguistics(神经语言学) studies the neurological basis of language development and use in human beings. Mathematical linguistics(数学语言学) studies the mathematical features of language, often employing models and concepts of mathematics. Computational linguistics(计算语言学) is an approach to linguistics in which mathematical techniques and concepts(概念) are applied, often with the aid of a computer. II. Phonetics(语音学） 1. scope of phonetics Speech sounds may be studied from different angles, thus we have at least three branches of phonetics: Articulatory phonetics(发音语音学）we may examine the way in which a speech sound is produced to discover which vocal organs are involved and how they coordinate(协调） in the process. Auditory phonetics （听觉语音学）we may look into the impression a speaker makes on the hearer as mediated(调节） by the ear, the auditory nerve(神经） and the brain. Acoustic phonetics (声学语音学） we study the physical properties of speech sounds, as transmitted（传送） between mouth and ear. 2. The vocal organs The vocal organs may be viewed as consisting of three parts, the initiator of the air-stream,(气流发生器官） the producer of voice（声音发生器官） and the resonating cavities.（声音共振器官） 3. Consonants(辅音） Places of articulation(发音部位）: bilabial,(双唇） Labiodentals,（唇齿） dental,（齿） alveolar,（齿龈） retroflex,（卷舌） palate-alveolar,（上齿龈） palatal,（上颚） velar,（软腭） uvular,（小舌） glottal(声门） Manners of articulation: plosive,（暴破） nasal,（鼻音） trill,（颤音） lateral,（边音） fricative,（摩擦） approximant,（近似音） affricate（破擦） 4. Vowels (元音） The classification of vowels: the height of tongue raising (high, mid, low), the position of the highest part of the tongue(front, central, back), and the degree of lip rounding(rounded, unrounded) III. Phonology（音韵学） 1. phonemes(音素）：a distinctive(有区别的） sound in a language. 2. Allophones(音位变体）：The nondistinctive sounds are members of the same phoneme. 3. Minimal pairs(最小对立体）： word forms which differ from each other only by one sound. 4. Free variation (自由变异）：If two sounds occurring in the same environment(环境）, they does not produce a different word form, but merely a different pronunciation of the same word. 5. Complementary distribution(补充分类）：Not all the speech sounds occur in the same environment. When two sounds never occur in the same environment 6.Suprasegmental phonology(超音段音位）：the study of phonological properties(性质） of units lager than the segment-phoneme. They are syllable(音节）, stress,（重音） word stress, sentence stress. pitch （音调）and intonation（语调）. IV. Morphology（词法） 1. inflection(构形法）：the grammatical relationships through the addition of inflectional affixes.(屈折词缀） 2. Word-formation(构词）：the processes(过程） of word variations signaling lexical relationships.（表明词法关系） They are compound(合成）and derivation (派生）. 3. Morpheme(词素）： the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expression and content. 4. Allomorph(同质异象变体）： some morphemes have considerable variation, for instance, alternate shapes or phonetic forms. 5. Types of morphemes: They are roots,(词根） affix（词缀） and stem（词干）. 6. Lexicon(语言词汇）：in its most general sense, is synonymous with vocabulary. 7. Closed-class words(封闭性） and open-class words(开放性）：the former whose membership is fixed or limited and the latter whose membership is in principle(实际上） indefinite or unlimited. 8. Word class(词性）：It displays a wider range of more precisely defined classes. 9. Lexeme(词位）：the smallest unit in the meaning system of a language that can be distinguished from other smaller units. 10. Idiom(习语,成语）：Most phrasal lexemes are idioms. It is especially true for a sequence of words(词序） which is semantically（语义上） and often syntactically(句法上） restricted.（限制） 11. Collocation(搭配）： the habitual(习惯的） co-occurrences （同时出现）of individual lexical items. V. Syntax (句法） 1. Positional relation or word order（词序）：the sequential(顺序） arrangement of words in a language. 2. Construction or constituent (句子结构）： the overall process of internal (内部）organization of a grammatical unit . 3. Syntactic function(句法功能）： the relationship between a linguistic form and other parts of the linguistic pattern in which it is used. The names of functions are expressed in terms of subjects, objects, predicates, modifiers,(修饰语） complements（补语）, etc. 4. Category(范畴）：It refers to classes and functions in its narrow sense, e.g. noun, verb, subject, predicate, noun phrase, verb phrase, etc. The categories of the noun include number, gender, case and countability. 5. Phrase: a single element of structure containing more than one word, and lacking the subject-predicate structure typical of clause. 6. Clause: a group of words with its own subject and predicate, if it is included in a larger sentence. 7. Sentence: It is the minimum part of language that expresses a complete thought. VI. Semantics 1. Conceptualism or mentalism (概念主义）：Following F. De Saussure(索学尔）'s "sign" theory, the linguistic sign is said to consist of a signifier （所指）and signified（被指）, i.e., a sound image and a concept, liked by a psychological（心理的） "associative" bond.（相关联系） 2. Mechanism(机械主义）：Some linguists, Bloomfield,(布鲁费尔德） for example, turned to science to counter（反）-act the precious theories and this leads to what call the mechanistic approach（方法）. The nature of this theory has nothing to do with the scientific study of mental phenomena.（智力现象） 3. Contextualism （语境主义）：It is based on the presumption(假定） that one can derive meaning from or reduce it to observable context. 4. Behaviorism (行为主义）：Behaviourists attempt to define (定义）the meaning of a language form as "the situation(情景） in which the speaker utters（说话） it and the response（反应） it calls forth in the hearer." 5. functionalism (功能主义）：Functionalists as represented (代表）by the Prague school（布拉格学派） linguists and neo-Firthian （新弗斯）linguists, approach the problem from an entirely new orientation（方法）. They argue（争辩） that meaning could only be interpreted（解释） from its use or function in social life. 6. Sense relationships: While reference deals with the relationship between the linguistic elements, words, sentences, etc.,and the non-linguistic world of experience, sense relates to the complex system of relationships that hold between the linguistic elements themselves. They include synonymy(同义词）,antonymy(反义词）,hyponymy(下层次）Polysemy(一词多义）and Homonymy (同音异义词） 7. Semantic analysis: It includes 1) componential（成分） analysis which defines the meaning of a lexical element in terms of semantic components.(意义成分）2) predication (表述）analysis in which the meaning of a sentence is not merely the sum of the meanings of the words which compose it. 3) relational components in which the semantic analysis of some words presents a complicated picture, because they show relations between two and perhaps more terms. VII. Language Variation (语言变化） 1. Lexical change(词汇的变化）：changes in lexis. 2. Invention: (新造词）new entities. 3. Compounding:(合成词）New words are sometimes constructed by combining two old words. 4. Blending: (混合词）：It is a relatively complex form of compounding, in which two roots are blended by joining the initial part of the first root and the final part of the second root, or by joining the initial parts of the two roots. 5. Abbreviation or clipping:(缩写）A new word is created by cutting the final part or cutting the initial part. 6. acronym:(取首字母的缩写词）It is made up from the first letters of the name of an organization, which has a heavily modified (修饰） headword. 7. Metanalysis:(再分化）It refers to a process through which a division is made where there were note before. 8. Back-formation:(逆构词） It refers to an abnormal(非正常） type of word-formation where a shorter word is derived by deleting(去掉） an imagined affix from a longer form already present in the language. 9. Analogical creation:(类比造词）It can account for（说明） the co-existence of two forms, regular and irregular, in the conjugation(结合） of some English verbs. 10. Borrowing（借用）：English in its development has managed to widen her vocabulary by borrowing words from other languages. 11. Phonological change(音变）：It is related to language variation in the phonological system of language. It includes loss,(省音） addition,（加音） assimilation,（ 同化）dissimilation.（异化） 12. Grammatical change: Changes in both morphology（词法） and syntax（句法） are listed under this heading. 13. Semantic change:(语义变化）It includes broadening,（语义扩大） narrowing,（语义缩小） meaning shift,（意义转化） class shift（词性转换） and folk etymology.（词源变化） 14. Orthographic change ：(正字法）Changes can also be found at the graphetic level.