Introduction to Linguistics(TEM-8)

What is Linguistics?

Linguistics is the scientific study of language.

What does it mean?

What does scientific mean? What does language mean?

Linguistics: the scientific study of language

the scientific study of languages

the scientific study of a language

Language = language in general, not a specific language.

Linguistics: The core Areas Phonetics: What are human speech sounds and how they are

produced?

Phonology: How do these sounds pattern systematically in languages?

Morphology: What is the internal structure of words?

Syntax: How do words combine into sentences?

Semantics: How do words or sentences carry meaning?

Pragmatics: How is language used in context?

Linguistics: Applications

Some areas where the core areas are applied are

Psycholinguistics: how is language processed in our minds, and how do we acquire language?

Historical linguistics: how do language change over time, and what are common ancestors?

Sociolinguistics: how does language differ across sociological variables like age, gender, region?

Neurolinguistics: what is language in our brains?

Typology: What are the differences and similarities between languages?

Computational linguistics: how can we make computers talk or simply understand human language?

What does this sentence mean?

Who did the coach want to shoot at the end of the game?

Hint: This sentence is multiply ambiguous.

Subject extraction

Object extraction

Prescriptive & descriptive approaches to the linguistic study

Prescriptive grammar aims to lay down rules for correct and standard behavior in using language.

Descriptive grammar aims to describe the language people actually use.

Modern linguistics is descriptive

Performance vs. CompetenceNoam Chomsky

Competence: native speakers' language intuition (research target of generative linguistics)

Performance: actual utterances (research target of descriptive or functional linguistics)

Langue and Parole

Saussure's distinction of langue and parole is similar to Chomsky's distinction of competence and performance.

Langue and competence both refers to the ideal knowledge of a particular language. Parole and performance both refers to the actual utterances.

However, the difference between Saussure and Chomsky is also obvious.

Saussure developed his contrast from a sociological view (e.g. langue is the knowledge of a particular language shared by all the members of a speech community),

but Chomsky developed his contrast from a biological view (e.g. Competence is the intuition of each individual, which is a genetic endowment).

What is language?

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

It is a system, including many different modules (phonology, morphology, syntax & semantics)

It is arbitrary. No inherent sound-meaning paring.

The primary medium for all languages is sound; therefore, language is mainly vocal.

Features of human languages

Human language is different from animal communication systems.

(i) arbitrariness: no inherent/logical connection between sounds and meanings.

(ii) productivity: a limited number of words can be used to express almost everything.

(iii) duality (of patterning): language has the ability to recombine small units in different orders.

(iv) displacement: language can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined objects in the past, present, or future, or in far-away places.

(v) cultural transmission: language is passed on from one generation to another generation.

Introduction to LinguisticsChapter 2: Phonetics

Phonetics: the study of speech sounds

Although different languages contain different sounds, the sounds of all the languages of the world constitute a class of sounds that the human vocal tract is able to make. All these sounds are human speech sounds. The study of human speech sounds is called phonetics.

Phonology: the study of sound patterns

When you know a language you know the sounds of that language, and you know how to combine those sounds into words. For example, If you know the sounds /p/, /a:/, /k/, you are able to combine them to form the words park or carp, but you know there is no sound pattern /a:pk/ or /a:kp/ in English.

The study of the way sounds form patterns is called phonology. Phonology aims to discover how speech sounds in a particular language form patterns.

This property is called "duality (in patterning)".

Three branches of phonetics

•Articulatory phonetics: the study of how the vocal tract produces the sounds of language

•Auditory phonetics: the study of the perception of speech sounds

•Acoustic phonetics: the study of the physical properties of the speech sounds

Organs of speech

A. The pharyngeal cavity: 13 windpipe, 12

glottis/vocal cords, 11 pharyngeal cavity

B. The oral cavity: 1/2 lips, 3/4 teeth, 5 teeth

ridge(alveolus), 6 hard palate,7 soft palate (velum), 14 uvula, 8 tip of tongue, 9 blade of tongue, 10 back of tongue

C. Nasal cavity: 15

咽腔

14

15

Vocal folds (cords)

The vocal folds, also known commonly as vocal cords, are composed of two membranes stretched horizontally across the larynx.

A slow-motion animation of the vocal folds vibrating during speech

voiced vs. voiceless

Vibration of the vocal cords results in "voicing", which is a feature of all vowels and some consonants. Such consonants are voiced.

When the vocal cords are drawn wide open, letting air go through the glottis without causing vibration, the sounds produced in such a condition are voiceless.

Three nasal consonants in English

bilabial nasal 双唇鼻音 : /m/

alveolar nasal 齿龈鼻音 : /n/

velar nasal 软腭鼻音 : sink, sing, song

Orthographic representation of speech sounds

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet):A standardized and internationally accepted

system of phonetic transcription.

The basic principle of the IPA is using one letter to represent one sound.

Classification of English sounds

English speech sounds: Vowels: Speech sounds which are produced

with no obstruction of the vocal tract, so no turbulence or a total stopping of the air can be perceived.

Consonants: Speech sounds which are produced by constricting or obstructing the vocal tract at some place to modulate the flow of air in the vocal tract.

Classification of English consonants

Manner of articulation （发音方式） Place of articulation （发音部位）

Manner of articulation

Place of articulation

Classification of English vowels

Vowels can be divided by a number of factors:

The hightest position of the tongue: front, central, back

The openness of the mouth: open, semi-open, semi-close, close

The shape of the lips: rounded, unrounded

The length of the vowels: long, short

The state of the larynx: tense (long vowels), lax (short vowels)

IPA vowels

Introduction to LinguisticsChapter 2: Phonology

Instructor: LIU Hongyong

Review questions

In what ways can English consonants be classified?

In what ways can English vowels be classified?

Phonology vs. Phonetics

1. Phonetics: it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages: phonetic features they possess, how they can be classified, etc.

2. Phonology: it aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form sound patterns. The conclusions we reach about the phonology of one language is very often langauge specific.

Phone, Phoneme, and Allophone

1. Phone: a phonetic unit or a segment (a consonant or a vowel). The speech sounds we hear and produce are all phones.

pit: [ph] [i] [th]

spit: [s] [p] [i] [th]

leaf: [l] [i:] [f]

feel: [f] [i:] [ł]

Phone, Phoneme, and Allophone

2. Phoneme: an abstract phonological unit of distinctive value that is represented or realized by a certain phone.

peak: [ph] [i:] [kh]speak: [s] [p] [i:] [kh]

There is a slight difference in the way [ph] and [p] are pronounced, but such a phonetic difference does not give rise to difference in meaning. so the phoneme /p/ is realized by two different phones.

Phone, Phoneme, and Allophone

3. Allophones: the different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic contexts.

pit: [ph] [i] [th]

spit: [s] [p] [i] [th]

leaf: [l] [i:] [f]

feel: [f] [i:] [ł]

/ p /

/ l /

Complementary Distribution

If the two similar sounds are allophones of the same phoneme, then they are said to be in complementary distribution, which means they cannot occur in the same phonetic environment.

dark / l /: at the end of a word

clear / l /: before a vowel

Some rules in phonology

1. Sequential rules 2. Assimilation rule 3. Deletion rule

Sequential rules

To find out all the phonemes of a language is only part of the task of the phonologist. He also has to find out in what way the phonemes can be combined.

/k/ /b/ /l/ /i/

possible arrangements: /kilb/, /blik/, /kilb/, /klib/, etc.

impossible arrangements: /lbki/, /ilbk/, /bkil/, etc. There are rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language. These rules are called sequential rules.

Sequential rules

In English, if three consonants occur together at the beginning of a word, the combination should obey the following three rules:

1. the first phoneme should be: /s/2. the second phoneme should be: /p/, /t/, /k/3. the third phoneme should be: /l/, /r/, /w/

spring, strict, square, scream sixths /siksθs/ CCCVCCCC

Assimilation rule

The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to another by "copying" a feature of the neighbouring phoneme, thus making the two phones similar.

Cantonese閊门 san mun --> sam mun唔好 m hou --> m mou今日 kam jat --> kam mat

Deletion rule

A sound segment may be deleted.

Examples: /g/ is deleted in ‘sign’ /sain/, but retained in ‘signature’;

‘he is’ /hi iz/ in fast speech becomes /hiz/

'memory' /meməri/ becomes /memri/

segmental vs. suprasegmental

segmental features 音段特征phonological features associated with consonants or

vowels

suprasegmental features 超音段特征phonological features associated not with segments,

but with larger units such as syllalbe, word, and sentence.

suprasegmental features

1. Stress: word stress and sentence stress 2. Tone 3. Intonation

stress

The location of stress in English distinguishes meaning.

'increase (n.) vs. in'crease (v.)'rebel (n.) vs. re'bel (v.)'permit (n.) vs. per'mit (v.)

Tone

Tones are pitch variations. 不同的音高 Pitch variations can distinguish meaning just like

phonemes. The tone is a suprasegmental feature associated with syllables.

Language with tones are called tone language.

Intonation

When pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as intonation.

Four basic intonation types of English, known as the four tones:

1. the falling tone2. the rising tone3. the fall-rise tone 4. the rise-fall tone

That's not the book he wants.

Introduction to LinguisticsChapter 3: Morphology

Instructor: LIU Hongyong

Morphology ( 形态学 )

Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words （词的内部结

构） (morphological structure of words)

& processes/rules of word formation （构词法） (morphological processes of word-formation)

Internal structure of words and rules for word formation

1. Internal structure

disapprove = dis + approve

2. Rules for word formation

disapprove *approvedis

dis+V--> V *V+dis-->V

Definition

Morphology: the study of the internal structure of words, and the rules by which words are formed.

Morpheme ( 语素） The morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of

language. (lexical and grammatical meaning) A morpheme must have a meaning, and it is the

smallest unit of meaning (the smallest sound-meaning union which cannot be further analyzed into smaller units)

Morpheme vs. Phoneme

A phoneme is a phonological unit (normally a sound) with contrastive value, which means replacing one sound with the other in a word can change the word's meaning.

但是 phoneme 本身不具有意义。pit: [p] [i] [t]

bit: [b] [i] [t]

/p/ 与 /b/ 是不同的两个 phoneme ，因为如果将 pit 中的 /p/ 换成 /b/ ，那么 pit 就变成了 bit ，词的意义发生了根本性的改变。但是这并不是说 /p/ 或者 /b/ 具有意义。

Morpheme vs. Syllable

The word lady can be divided into two syllables (la.dy), but it consists of just one morpheme, because a syllable has nothing to do with meaning.

The word disagreeable can be divided into five syllables (dis.a.gree.a.ble), but it consists of only three morphemes (dis+agree+able).

The word books contains only one syllable, but it consists of two morphemes (book+s) (Notice: the morpheme –s has a grammatical meaning [Plural])

books /-s/pigs /-z/boxes /-iz/

A morph is a physical form representing a certain morpheme in a language.

Sometimes different morphs may represent the same morpheme; i.e., a morpheme may take different forms. If so, they are called allomorphs of that morpheme.

Morpheme, Morph, Allomorph

two different spelling forms ， and three different phonological forms, but these different forms represent the same grammatical meaning [Plural])

Complementary Distribution Allomorphs are morphs in complementary distributioncomplementary distribution; i.e. they they

are never found in identical contexts.are never found in identical contexts. The choice of allomorph used in a given context is normally

based on the properties of the neighboring sounds.

Example: The third person singular verb suffix and the plural nominal suffix –s in English

[s][s] [z][z] [iz][iz]

morpheme

morphmorphmorph

allomorphsallomorphs PLURALPLURAL

Complementary Distribution

morpheme

negative morpheme in-

morph1: im morph2: in morph3: in

impossible indecent incomplete

[imp---] [ind---] [iŋk---]

bbilabialilabialstopstop

vvelarelarnasalnasal

alveolaralveolarstopstop

allomorphsallomorphs

bbilabialilabialnasalnasal

alveolaralveolarnasalnasal

vvelarelarstopstop

Classification of Morphemes

Morphemes can be classified in various ways.

free or bound

root or affix

inflectional or derivational

Free and Bound Morphemes

We can divide reader into read and –er. However, we cannot split read into smaller morphemes. This means that the word read is itself a single morpheme.

A morpheme which can stand alone as a word is called a free morpheme. By contrast, -er has to combine with other morphemes. So it is a bound morpheme.

Root, stem & affix

naturenatural naturalist

naturalistic

naturalism

unnatural

Stem: a root plus affixes

Affixes: bound morphemes which attach to roots or stems.

Root: the basic morpheme which provides the central meaning in a word

simple word

Complex Word

nature + al = natural

un + nature + al = unnatural

Base

Linguists sometimes use the word “Base” to mean any root or stem to which an affix is attached. In this example, nature, natural, and unnaturally would all be considered bases.

nature + al = natural

un + nature + al = unnatural

un + nature + al + ly = unnaturally

Root/base affix

Stem/base

complex word

Stem/base

affix

..

..

..

..

nature -al -ist

affix

bound root morphemes

-ceive: receive; perceive; conceive; deceive

-mit: permit; commit; transmit; admit; remit; submit

All mophemes are bound or free. Affixes are bound morphemes. Root morphemes, can be bound or free.

Free Bound

Root dog, cat, run, school…

(per)ceive, (re)mit, (homo)geneous,…

Affix (friend)ship, re(do), (sad)ly…

ceive was once a word in Latin ‘to take’, but in Modern English, it is no longer a word, so it is not a free morpheme.

Example of bound root

revive

vitamin

vital

vivacious

vivid viv-id: having the quality of life

re-vive: to live again, to bring back to life

vit-amin: life medicine

Latin root viv-/vit- meaning “life” or “to live”.

vit-al: full of life

viv-acious: full of life

Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes

Affixes can be divided into inflectional morphemes and derivational morphemes. This reflects two major morphological (word building) processes:

DerivationDerivationInflectionInflection

Helps to make new lexical words

Helps to ‘wrap’ lexical words for various

grammatical functions

Inflectional Morphemes

Inflectional morphemes do not change grammatical category of the base to which they are attached. They do not change the meaning of the base. They only carry relevant grammatical information, e.g. plural. Thus, book and books are both nouns referring to the same kind of entity.

The number of inflectional affixes is small and fixed. NO new ones have been added since 1500.

Examples of Inflectional Affixes

Suffix Stem Function Example

-s N plural book-s

-s V 3rd singular

present tense

sleep-s

-ed V past tense walk-ed

-ing V progressive walk-ing

-er Adj comparative tall-er

-est Adj superlative tall-est

Derivational Morphemes

Derivational morphemes form new words either by changing the meaning of the base to which they

are attached

kind ~ unkind; obey ~ disobey

accurate ~ inaccurate; act ~ react

cigar ~ cigarette; book ~ booklet or by changing the grammatical category (part of speech) of

the base

kind ~ kindly; act ~ active ~ activity

able ~ enable; damp ~ dampen

care ~ careful; dark ~ darkness

Examples of Derivational Affixes

Prefix Grammatical category of base

Grammatical category of output

Example

in- Adj Adj inaccurate

un- Adj Adj unkind

un- V V untie

dis- V V dis-like

dis- Adj Adj dishonest

re- V V rewrite

ex- N N ex-wife

en- N V encourage

Suffix Grammatical category of base

Grammatical category of output

Example

-hood N N child-hood

-ship N N leader-ship

-fy N V beauti-fy

-ic N Adj poet-ic

-less N Adj power-less

-ful N Adj care-ful

-al V N refus-al

-er V N read-er

Sum: Inflection and Derivation

Derivational morphemes are used to create new lexical items (lexemes).

Inflectional morphemes only contribute to the inflectional paradigm of the lexemes, which lists all the word-forms of the lexeme.

morpheme

Free

( 自由 )

free root ( 自由词根 )

Bound

( 粘着 )

bound root ( 粘着词根 )

inflectional affixes ( 语法性词缀 )

derivational affixes ( 词汇性词缀 )

affixes

Summary Words are composed of morphemes. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit. Morphemes can be classified into free morphemes an

d bound morphemes, roots and affixes, inflectional and derivational.

The concept of morpheme is important in explaining word-formation processes. In English the most central and productive word-formation processes are compounding and affixation. Compounding refers to the word-formation process of combining two free morphemes, and affixation refers to the word-formation process of adding affixes to roots.

Major word-formation processes

Affixation (Derivation) Compounding

Endocentric compounds Exocentric compounds

Affixation

Affixation involves adding affixes to a root morpheme (or a stem) to- derive a new word

(derivation: teach-er)- to realize certain grammatical function

(inflection: boy-s)

An affix is a bound morpheme. There are four types of affixes: prefix, suffix, infix, and circumfix.

Compounding

Compounding is a word-formation process consisting of combining two or more roots to form a compound .

airmail air force air-conditioner

flowerpot flower pot flower-pot

airline air line air-line

girlfriend girl friend girl-friend

Spelling is not a reliable criterion to determine the compound status.

Endocentric Compounds

Semantically, an endocentric compound indicates a sub-grouping within the class of entities that the head denotes. Thus, a schoolboy is a kind of boy,

a bedroom is a kind of room, and

a teapot is a kind of pot.

The first root in each case functions as a modifier of the head

which specifies the meaning of the head more precisely.

向心複合詞向心複合詞

HeadHead心心

Exocentric Compounds

Compounds need not always contain a head. Such compounds are called exocentric compounds.

The meaning of an exocentric compound is opaque. It is impossible to work out what an exocentric compound means from the sum of the meanings of its parts.

異心複合詞異心複合詞

Examples of Exocentric Compounds (English)

Pickpocket: it is not a pocket, but a person who picks things out of other’s pocket illegally.

Blue collar: it is not a collar, but a person who wears blue-collared uniform at work.

Laptop: it is not the top of one’s lap, but rather the portable computer.

Blockhead: it is neither a kind of block nor a kind of head but rather an idiot.

Turncoat: it is not a kind of coat but a renegade.

Minor word-formation processes

Initialism and acronyms Clipping Blending Back formation Words from proper names

Clipping

Clipping involves the type of word-formation device in which only part of the stem is retained. The beginning may be retained as in lab (from laboratory), the end as in phone (from telephone), the middle as in flu (from influenza).

More examples of Clipping

dorm (dormitory) photo (photograph)

demo (demonstration) memo (memorandum)

exam (examination) bus (omnibus)

fridge (refrigerator) maths (mathematics)

bike (bicycle) auto (automobile)

ad (advertisement) copter (helicopter)

gym (gymnasium) prof (professor)

Blending

A blend may be defined as a new lexeme built from parts of two (or more) words or a word plus a part of another word, for example, brunch (breakfast + lunch); smog (smoke + mog).

Words formed in this way are called ‘blends’. Blending = clipping + compounding.

More examples of blending

smoke + fog smog

Oxford + Cambridge Oxbridge

motor + hotel motel

slang + language slanguage

American + Indian Amerind

slim + gynmastics slimnastics

Back-formation

donate donation

edit editor

ept inept

daydream daydreamer

Which word is older? Which word do we have first?

Back-formation

Back-formation is the making of a new word from an older word which is mistakenly thought to be its derivative.

It involves the shortening of a longer word by cutting away an imagined/supposed derivational suffix.

editoredit edit + or edit

But how can I judge which is

right?

The word edit is often cited as an example of back-formation. In other words, edit is not the source of editor, as dive is not the source of diver, which is the expected derivational pattern; rather, the opposite is the case.

Edit in the sense “to prepare for publication,” first recorded in 1793, comes from editor, first recorded in 1712 in the sense “one who edits.”

Diachronic evidence ( 历时证据 ):

editor: first recoded in 1712

edit: first recoded in 1793, almost a hundred years later.

More examples of back-formation

peddle peddler televise television

baby-sit baby-sitter housekeep housekeeper

daydream daydreamer mass-produce mass-production

greed greedy ept inept

vaccum-clean

vaccum-cleaner eavesdrop eavesdropper

donate donation typewrite typewriter

Words from Proper Names

Another minor word-formation process is the creation of new words from proper names. The transition from proper names to common nouns is a gradual one.

Proper names People’s name Name of places Book names

A good example: sandwich

It originates from John Montagu (1718-92), Fourth Earl of Sandwich. He was so fond of gambling that he would not leave the gambling table to have a proper meal. He was said to eat while playing. Later,

people used his name to refer to all similar food.

Introduction to LinguisticsChapter 4: Syntax

Syntax

Syntax studies the organization of words into phrases, and phrases into sentences.

word

phrase

sentence

word

sentence

Morhpeme

Orgnization principles: Linear order & Hierarchical structure

There are two basic principles of sentence orgnization: linear word order （线性结构） hierarchical structure （非线性结构、纵向层级结

构）

Hierarchical structure

Although linear order is an important principle of sentence organization, sentences are more than just ordered sequences of words.

We need more intelligent leaders.

The same linear order, but different hierarchical structure; therefore, different interpretations (ambiguity)

more intelligent leaders

more intelligent leaders

Category （范畴）

Syntactic (word-level) category word class; parts of speech

Phrasal (phrase) category

Syntactic categories

Verb (V) attack, kill, kiss, read, love, minimize, quit...

Noun (N) bath, concept, friend, girl, happiness, idea, key ...

Adjective (A) active, beautiful, friendly, happy, lucky, interesting ..

Adverb (Adv) again, always, actively,fairly, interestingly, never, very...

Preposition (P) at, about, for, from, ,in, of, to, under...

Determiner (D) a, an, the, this, that, these, those...

Pronoun (D) I, me, we, us, you, he, him, she, her, it, they, them...

Auxiliary (I) do, be, can, have, may, must, ought to, should, will...

These are the major ones but there are others.

D(determiner) :articles, demonstrative pronouns, pronouns, quantifiers…

Phrase & Phrase Structure Rule

Syntactic categories are organized into larger units called “phrases” according to the phrase structure rule.

Phrase Structure Rule ( 短语结构规则 ):

- tells us how to construct phrases

- generate a tree

- predicts the ungrammaticality of other structures

Noun Phrase (NP) NP → N+PPstudents of linguitics map of China NP → AP+Nvery smart students extremely important thing

NP

N PP

AP NP

students of lingusiticsvery smart

Preposition Phrase (PP)

PP→ P+DP

in the book

P DP

head complement

NP

N’

N’ PP

N PP from England

teachers of English

Introduction to LinguisticsChapter 5: Semantics

Instructor: LIU Hongyong

What is semantics?

Semantics is the study of meaning. More specifically, semantics is the study

of the meaning of words and sentences in particular.

Meaning: The object of semantics

What is meaning?

How can you know the meaing of a word?

Dictionary definition

If a word's meaning is its dictionary definition, then understanding this meaning requires understanding the meanings of the words used in the definitions.

pride: the quality of being proud

proud: feeling or showing prideCircularity: 循环定义

Different conceptions of meaning

The naming theory The conceptulist view Contextualism Behaviorism

The naming theory: definition

The naming theory（命名说） is one of the oldest notions concerning meaning. According to this theory, the linguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language, are simply labels of the objects they stand for. So words are just names or labels for things.

The physical object is the meaning of the name.

Problems with the naming theory

1. The theory seems applicable to nouns only. 2. There are nouns which denote things that do

not exist in the real world at all. 3. There are nouns that do not refer to physical

objects, but abstract notions.

The conceptualist view

According to the conceptualist view(概念论 ), there is no direct link between a linguistic form [a word, a phrase or a sentence] and what it refers to.

The symbol or a word refers to “things” by virtue of the concept associated with the form in the speaker's mind; and the concept is the meaning of the word.

Semantic triangle 1. 形式与意义直接相关，

用实线连接。意义通过符号形式来表达，形式是语义的载体。

2. 意义是在各观事物的基础上概括而成的，是客观事物在头脑中的概括反映，两者也有直接联系，用实线连接。

3. 形式和所指之间没有必然的联系，故而两者间用虚线连接，所以同一事物可以用不同的形式来表示。

SYMBOL/FORM REFERENT

(Ogden and Richards 1923: The meaning of meaning)

THOUGHT/REFERENCE (concept )

The strong points of the conceptualist view 概念论解决了指称论留下的难题：有的语言符号形式有意义，而没有所指，例如 unicorn, dragon, Santa Claus, etc.

The weak points of the conceptualist view

Different people's mental image may be very different from each other. for a student, the word 'lecture' will probably

be associated with an image of one person standing in front of a blackboard and talking;

for a teacher, the word 'lecture' will probably be associated with an image of many students sitting in rows facing forward.

The weak points of the conceptualist view

Even so, both the student and the teacher understand the word 'lecture' as meaning more or less the same thing, despite the difference in mental images.

It is hard to see how a word like this could mean essentially the same thing for different people if meanings were just mental image.

Contextualism: definition

Contextualism（语境论） holds the position that meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, and context. According to this view, one can derive meaning from observable contexts.

"for a large class of cases, the meaning of a word is its use in the language."

Language is always used in a certain context. It is the context that determines the meaning of a paritcular word.

Situational context VS. linguistic context

1. Situational context refers to the particular spatiotemporal situation in which an utterance occurs, the main components of which include, apart from the place and time of the utterance, the speaker and the hearer, the actions they are performing at the time, the various objects and events exising in the situation.

2. Linguistic context, some times known as context, is concerned with the probability of a word’s co-occurrence or collocation with another word, which forms part of the ‘meaning” of the word, and also concerned with the part of text that precedes and follows a particular utterance.

Behaviorism: definition

According to this view, the meaning of a language form is the “situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer”. (Bloomfield 1933: 139)

Bloomfield（布龙菲尔德）：意义就是讲话人的刺激和听话人的反应。（meaning as speaker’s Stimulus and hearer’s Response ）

Example: analyze the meaning of the sentence “I’m Thirsty” from the behaviorist view

Jill Jack S________ r …… s ________ R

S = Jill saw an apple r = Jill said “I’m Thirsty” s = Jack heard Jill said “I’m thirsty” R = Jack picks the apple for Jill

Jill JackS________ r …… s ________ R

Meaning consists in the relationship between the speech and the practical events

We catch the meaning of the speech of "r...s" by observing the behavior (the prctical events).

practical events

speech (words, phrase, sentences)

Summary: different conceptions of meaning

The naming theory words→things

The conceptulist view words→concepts→things

Contextualism & Behaviorism stimuli→words→responses

Semantics

Lexical semantics word meaning

Compositional semantics phrase/sentence meaning

Sense and Reference Semantics is not concerned with the study of the external

world. Semantics is not able to cope with the study of how language refers to the external world, either. [Notice the weak points of the conceptualist view of meaning]

The primary focus of semantics is on the way how people relate words to each other according to their "sense", rather than their reference (referent).

A word's reference (referent) is the object it refers to. A word's sense is the way the object is presented/identified.

Example: the morning star vs. the evening star

different sense: 清晨出来的星星

different sense: 傍晚出来的星星

the same reference

Reference

Reference means what a linguistic form refers to in a particular context in the real world;

it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience.

指称意义：即表明词语跟语言外部世界的关系的意义。

Major Sense Relations

Synonymy Polysemy Homonymy Hyponymy Antonymy

Synonymy

Synonymy refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning. Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms.

Types of Synonyms

1. Dialectal

2. Stylistic (formal vs. informal)

3. Emotive

4. Collocational

Source of synonyms

Why are there so many synonyms in English? The primary reason for this has to do with the heavy

borrowing from other languages, especially from French and Latin.

English French Latin

ask question interrogate

time age epoch

begin commence

buy purchase

9. The words “kids, child, offspring” are examples of _____.

A. dialectal synonyms B. stylistic synonyms

C. emotive synonyms D. collocational synonyms

Emotive meaningNegative

There are 2,000 vagrants in the city.Neutral

There are 2,000 people with no fixed addresses in the city.

PositiveThere are 2,000 homeless in the city.

All three of these expressions refer to the same people, but they will invoke different emotive associations in the readers’ mind: a ‘vagrant’ is a public nuisance, while a homeless person is a worthy object of pity and charity.

Evaluative Meaning

Snarl words are marked derog. (=derogatory). Purr words are marked apprec.(=appreciatory).

snarl words purr words snarl words purr words

stupid innocent notorious famous

cunning clever politician statesman

skinny slender complacency confident

miserly thrifty nosy curious

die pass away fat plump

Polysemy: definition

Polysemy is the phenomenon where the same one word may have more than one meaning. Such a word is called a polysemous word.

face: the front of the heada surface of a thinga person's countenance

a person

primary meaning & derived meaning

At the time when the word was created, it was endowed with only one meaning.

This first meaning is the primary meaning.

With the development of the language, more and more meanings become associated with the word.

These later meanings are called derived meaning, as they are derived from the primary meaning.

Example: face

the front of the head

(Primary Meaning)

outward appearance

(Derived Meaning)

a person

(Derived Meaning)

self-respect

(Derived Meaning)

the surface of a thing

(Derived Meaning)

countenance

(Derived Meaning)

We can get the derived meanings by extension,

narrowing, analogy, transfer, etc.

Homonymy ( 同形 / 同音不同义 )

Homonymy refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form, i.e., different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both. Such words are called homonyms.

lie: make an untrue statement.

lie: put oneself in a resting position.

Types of homonymy

Perfect homonyms (complete homohyms) Homographs Homophones

Perfect homonyms

Perfect homonyms: words identical in both sound and spelling, but different in meaning

lie: vi.lie: vi.

bank: n.bank: n.

bear: n. bear: vt.

Homographs: words identical only in spelling but different in sound and meaning.

bow: vi. to bend one’s head as a greeting

bow: n. the device used for shooting arrows

sow: n. female pig

sow: vi. to scatter seeds

perfect: v. /- ’-/

perfect: adj. /’- -/

Homographs

Homophones: words identical only in sound but different in spelling and meaning.

son deer right

sun dear write

pair stationary

pear stationery

Homophones

Hyponymy( 词义之间的 ) 下义关系 Hyponymy is the sense relationship that relates

words hierarchically. The underlying observation is that some words have a more general meaning, while others have a more specific meaning, while referring to the same entity.

FOOD

MEAT

We are not going to have any food today.

We are not going to have any vegetables today.

VEGETABLE

MEAT VEGETABLEFRUIT

BEEF PORK MUTTON

CABBAGE CELERY SPINACH

APPLE PEACH ORANGE

superordinate They are subordinate terms. They are hyponyms of the superordinate term FOOD.

FOOD

Reading from the bottom of the hierarchy, ORANGE is a ‘kind of’ fruit, which is a kind of food.

They are subordinate terms. They are hyponyms of the superordinate term MEAT.

Antonymy ( 反义关系 )

Antonymy is a relationship of ‘meaning opposition’ that may hold between two words.

Antonyms can be defined as words which are opposite in meaning.

Major types of antonyms ： Gradable antonyms Contradictory or complementary antonyms Converse antonyms

Gradable antonyms

Gradable antonyms include pairs like the following:

beautiful ugly

expensive cheap

fast slow

hot cold

long short

rich poor

wide narrow

These pairs are called gradable antonyms because they do not represent a more/less relation. The words can be the end-points of a continuum ( 连续体 ). Since they are gradable, they allow comparison.

Contradictory (complementary) antonyms

Contradictory antonyms include pairs like the following:

asleep awakedead aliveon offremember forgetwin losetrue false

These pairs are called contradictory antonyms because they represent an either/or relation.

If you permit some behavior, then it is not forbidden.

Since they are not gradable, they do not allow comparison.

Converse antonyms ( 逆行 )

The following are examples of converse antonyms ：

lend borrowhusband wife above belowbefore afterbehind in front ofbuy sellgive receiveparent childspeak listen

Lend is the converse of borrow and vice versa; i.e. the substitution of one member for the other does not change the meaning of a sentence if it is accompanied by the change of subject and object.

John lent Mary five dollars.

Mary borrowed five dollars from John.

The bridge is above the river.

The river is below the bridge.

This behavior is allowed.

This behavior is not prohibited.

Mary is John’s wife. John is Mary’s husband.

? ？ Mary is not John’s husband.

I allow you to introduce Mary.

*You forbidden me to introduce Mary.

Contradictory antonymsvs. Converse antonyms

Converse antonyms are relational antonyms.

Contradictory antonyms are either/or antonym.

I don’t forbidden you to introduce Mary.

Analysis of meaning

Componential analysis Predication analysis

Componential Analysis

Componential Analysis is a way proposed by the structural semanticists to analyze word meaning. The approach is based upon the belief that the meaning of a word can be decomposed into meaning components, called semantic features（语义特征） .

Componential Analysis

The analysis of word meaning is often seen as a process of breaking down the sense of a word into its minimal components, which are known as semantic features or sense components.

man woman child

[+human] [+human] [+human]

[+adult] [+adult] [-adult]

[+male] [-male] [+/-male]

Componential Analysis

Man: [+human, +adult, +male]

Woman: [+human, +adult, -male]

Boy: [???]

Girl: [???]

man woman boy girl

[+human] [+human]

[+adult] [+adult]

[+male] [-male]

We can use three semantic features to

define four words

Predication Analysis

Predication analysis is a way proposed by G. Leech to analyze the sentence meaning. In this framework, the basic unit is called predication （述谓结构） , which is the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence.

Examples

(1) Tome smokes.

(2) Tom is smoking.

(3) Tom has been smoking.

(4) Tom, smoke.

(5) Does Tom smoke?

(6) Tome does not smoke.

SMOKE (TOM)

Predication

argument

predicate

论元

谓词

Introduction to LinguisticsChapter 6: Pragmatics

Instructor: LIU Hongyong

Pragmatics

To fully understand the meaning of a sentence, we must understand the context in which it is used.

Pragmatics is concerned with how people use language within a context and how they use language in particular ways.

This chapter examines how factors such as time, place, and the social relationship between speaker and hearer affect the ways in which language is used to perform different functions.

Origin and development of pragmatics

Development in linguistics(1) Saussure: 语言学所要研究的是“语言”（ langue ），而

不是“言语”（ parole ），因为语言是一个手一定规则制约的体系，而言语则不是，只有语言才能经得起严谨的、科学的分析，而言语则不能。

(2) Chomsky: 以句法为中心，把语言的意义排除在语言研究之外。

(3) The rise of semantics.(4) The rise of Contextualism: Malinowsky, Firth, Halliday

Semantics: The meaning of language was considered as something intrinsic , and inherent, i.e., a property attached to language itself. Therefore, meanings of words and sentences are studied independent of language use.

Pragmatics: It would be impossible to give an adequate description of meaning if the context of language use is left unconsidered. Therefore, context is taken into consideration.

Pragmatics vs. semantics

Both semantics and pragmatics study the meaning of a linguistic form. However, they are different. What essentially distinguishes them is whether the context is considered.

If it is not considered, the study is in the area of semantics; if it is considered, the study is in the area of pragmatics.

Importance of Context

Context determines the speaker’s use of language and also the hearer’s interpretation of what is said to him.

1. Sentence meaning: BAG (BE HEAVY)

2. Possible pragmatic meanings: An indirect, polite request, asking the hearer

to help him carry the bag. (When?) A declining of someone’s request for help.

(When ？ )

“My bag is heavy”

More examples

Try to think of contexts in which the following sentences can be used for other intentions or purposes than just stating facts.

(1) The room is messy.

(2) Oh, it is raining.

(3) The music of the movie is good.

(4) You have been keeping my notes for a whole week now.

What is a speech act?

Just as people can perform physical acts, such as hitting a baseball, they can perform mental acts, such as imagining hitting a baseball. People can also perform another kind of act simply by using language; these are called speech acts.

We use language to do a lot of things.

Some common speech acts

Speech Act Function

Assertion conveys information

Question elicits information

Request (more or less politely) elicits action

Order demands action

Promise commits the speaker to an action

Threat commits the speaker to an action that the hearer does not want

Sentence types

Certain speech acts are so central to communication that we have special sentence types to mark them.

Sentence Type Example

Declarative He is cooking in the kitchen.

Interrogative Is he cooking in the kitchen?

Imperative Cook the chicken!

Sentence types

Certain speech acts are so central to communication that we have special sentence types to mark them.

Sentence Type Speech Act

declarative assertion

interrogative question

imperative order or request

Notice that interrogative sentences typically express questions, but this association does not always hold.

Speech act theory

1. John Austin’s model of speech acts

Speech act theory: a philosophical explanation of the nature of linguistic communication. It aims to answer this question: “What do we do when using language?”

The model of three speech acts: according to this model, a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously when speaking: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary

Locutionary act: act of uttering words, phrases,

clauses Illocutionary act: the act of expressing the

speaker’s intention Perlocutionary act: the act performed by or

resulting fro saying something, the consequence of the utterance

Principles of conversation The philosopher Paul Grice formulated a Cooperative

Principle, which he believed underlies language use, according to which we must make sure that what we say in conversation satisfy the purposes of the conversation.

Grice argued that there are a number of conversational rules, or maxims, that regulate conversation in the spirit of the Cooperative Principle.

Four maxims

The maxim of quantity Make your contribution as informative as required. No

more and no less. The maxim of quality Do not say what you believe to be false and do not say

what you lack evidence for. The maxim of relation Be relevant The maxim of manner Avoid obscurity, ambiguity. Be brief and orderly.

Introduction to LinguisticsChapter 7: Language Change

Introduction All languages change through time, but how they

change, what drives these changes, and what kinds of changes we can expect are not obvious.

By comparing different languages, different dialects of the same language, or different historical stages of a particular language, we can discover the history of languages.

Introduction

Historical linguistics is concerned with language change. It is interested in what kinds of changes occur (and why), and equally important, what kinds of changes don’t occur (and why not).

Languages change in all aspects o the grammar: the phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics.

Sound change

Sound changes tend to be systematic; it is possible to see a regular pattern of pronunciation changes throughout the history of the English language.

Example: knight [nait]

Modern English spelling contains many “silent letters,” which are actually just remnant indicators of earlier pronunciations. To anyone leaning English, the presence of such letters can be quite troublesome.

(i) Word-initial velar stop consonants [k] and [g] were lost when they occurred before the nasal [n]:

Middle English Modern English

gnawn gnaw

knixt knight

Morphological and syntactic change

1. Change in “agreement” rule 2. Change in negation rule 3. Process of simplification 4. Loss of inflection

(Refer to the examples on P.96-97)

Changes in the meaning

1. Widening of meaning 2. Narrowing of meaning 3. Meaning shift a. elevate b. degrade

Some recent trends

1. Moving towards greater informality

2. The influence of American English

3. The influence of science and technology

a. space travel

b. computer and internet language

c. ecology

Causes of language change

1. The rapid development of science and technology

2. Social and political changes and political needs

3. The way children acquire the language

4. Economy of memory

Introduction to LinguisticsChapter 8: Language and Society

Definition

Sociolinguistics is the sub-field of linguistics that studies the relation between language and society, between the uses of language and the social structures in which the users of language live.

Speech Community and Speech Variety

Speech Community

The social group that is singled out for any special study is called the speech community. In sociolinguistics, it refers to the a group of people who have the opportunity to interact with each other and who share not just a single language with its related varieties, but also attitudes toward linguistic norms.

Speech Variety

Speech variety, or language variety, refers to any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker or a group of speakers.

9. The distinctive features of a speech variety may be all the following EXCEPT

A. lexical B. syntactic

C. phonological D. psycholinguistic

Two approaches to sociolinguistic studies

1.Macro-Sociolinguistics2.Micro-Sociolinguistics

Varieties of language

Dialects: varieties related to the user Registers: varieties related to the use

Dialectal varieties

1. Regional dialects

A regional dialect is a linguistic variety used by people living in the same geographical region.

2. Sociolect

Sociolect, or social-class dialect, refers to the linguistic variety characteristic of a particular social class.

3. Language and gender

The language used by men and women have some special features of their own.

Question: In what ways is language used by women

different from that by men?

4. Language and age

In many communities the language used by the old generation differs from that used by the younger generation in certain ways.

5. Idiolect

Idiolect is a personal dialect of an individual speaker that combines elements regarding regional, social, gender, and age variations. In other words, an individual speaker’s regional and social background, his gender and age jointly determine the way he talks. And the language he uses, which bears distinctive features of his own, is his idiolect.

6. Ethnic dialect

An ethnic dialect is a social dialect of a language spoken by a less privileged population that has experienced some form of social isolation such as racial discrimination or segregation.

Register ( 语域 )

What is Register?

Register ( 语域 ) refers to the type pf language which is selected as appropriate to the type of situation.

Three variables to determine the register: Field of discourse Tenor of discourse Mode of discourse

Field of discourse

Field of discourse ( 话语范围 ) refers to what is going on. It is concerned with the purpose and topic of communication. It answers “Why” and “about what”.

Tenor of discourse

Tenor of discourse ( 话语基调 ) refers to the role of relationship in the situation in question: who are the participants in the communication groups and in what relationship they stand to each other. “To whom”.

What is the relation between the speaker and the listener?

4. Mode of discourse

Mode of discourse ( 话语方式 ) mainly refers to the means of communication. “How”.

Spoken or written?

Degree of formality

1. General idea

Language used on different occasions differs in the degree of formality, which is determined by the social variables.

Stylistic varieties

Stylistic varieties

Five degrees of formality Frozen Formal Consultative Casual Intimate

Different styles can be analyzed at three levels: syntactic, lexical and phonological

Variation at the lexical levelMore formal Less formal

offspring children

reply answer

tolerate put up with

9. The words “kids, child, offspring” are examples of _____.

A. dialectal synonyms B. stylistic synonyms

C. emotive synonyms D. collocational synonyms

Pidgin and Creole

Pidgin

Definition: A pidgin is a special language variety that mixes or blends languages and it is used by people who speak different languages for restricted purposes such as trading.

Features: limited vocabulary and very reduced grammatical structure

Creole

Definition: When a pidgin has become the primary language of a speech community, and is acquired by the children of that speech community as their native language, it is said to have become a Creole.

Features: the structure of the original pidgin is expanded, the vocabulary vastly enriched, new syntactic-semantic concepts developed.

9. A special language variety that mixes languages and is used by speakers of different language for purpose of trading is called ____.

A. dialect B. idiolect

C. pidgin D. register

Introduction to LinguisticsChapter 9: Language and Culture

What Is Culture?

In a broad sense, culture means the total way of life of a people including the patterns of belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques, and language that characterizes the life of the human community.

What Is Culture?

In a narrow sense, culture may refer to local or specific practice, beliefs or customs, which can be mostly found in folk culture, enterprise culture or food culture etc.

Types of culture

1. Material cultural: concrete, substantial and observable

2. Spiritual culture: the products of mind (ideologies, beliefs, values, and concepts of time and space, for example), abstract, ambiguous, and hidden

The relationship between language and culture

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

It is a hypothesis concerning the relationship between language and thought, proposed by Whorf, under the influence of Sapir, his teacher.

According to this hypothesis, the structure of the language people habitually use influences the ways they think and behave. That is to say, different languages offer people different ways of express the world around, they think and speak differently. This hypothesis is also called “Linguistic relativity.”