The Study of Language

Chapter 6

The Study of LanguageSecond edition

George Yule

Contents

The origins of languageThe development of writing

The properties of language

Animals and human language

The sounds of language

Contents

The sound patterns of languageWords and word-formation processes

Morphology

Phrases and sentences: grammar

SyntaxSemantics

The origins of language1 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 3 4The pine source

The natural-sound source The bow-wow theory

The pooh-pooh theory

Glossogenetics The yo-heave-ho theory

The oral-gesture source

Glossogenetics

Scientific explanations:Physiologically teeth, lips, mouth, tongue, larynx, pharynx, and so on Socially the interactional function

the transactional function

The development of writingLogographic system:(语标系统)"Pictures" are used to represent particular images in a constant way.

Pictograms

Ideograms

a more fixed symbolic form derived from the "pictures" mentioned above

Logograms

When symbols come to be used to represent words in a language, they are described as examples of word-writing, or 'logograms'.

Phonographic system: (音符系统)Rebus writing Rebus writing is a process in which the symbol for one entity is taken over as the symbol for the sound of the spoken word used to refer to that entity.

Syllabic writing

Syllabic writing is a writing system that employs a set of symbols which represent the pronunciations of syllables.

Alphabetic writing

Alphabetic writing is a writing system in which the single-symbol to single-sound correspondence was fully realized.

The properties of languageUnique properties: 1 2 3 4 5 6Arbitrariness Duality

Creativity/ Productivity

Displacement

Cultural transmission

Discreteness

Cultural transmission

Cultural transmission refers to the process whereby language is passed on from one generation to the next.

Discreteness

The fact that the pronunciation of the forms pack and back leads to a distinction in meaning can only be due to the difference between the p and b sounds in English. This property of language is described as discreteness.

Animals and human language

The results of many experiments show that animals do not have the ability to learn human language.

The sounds of languagePhonetics:The general study of the characteristics of speech sounds.1

articulatory phonetics

2

acoustic phonetics

3

auditory phonetics

Articulation: voiced and voicelessWhen the vocal cords are spread apart, the air from the lungs passes between them unimpeded.

voiced

soundsWhen the vocal cords are drawn together, the airfrom the lungs repeatedly pushesthem apart as itpasses through, creating a vibration effect.

voiceless

Vowels:monophthongs diphthongs triphthongs

Consonants: Place of articulation:bilabials, labiodentals, dentals, alveolars, alveo-palatals, palatal, velars and glottals

Manners of articulation:stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, approximants, lateral

The sound patterns of languagePhon

ology is the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language. Phonemes: Each one of these meaningdistinguishing sounds in a language is described as a phoneme.

Allophones: When we have a set of phones, all of which are versions of one phoneme, we refer to them as the allophones of that phoneme.

Minimal pairs: When two words such as pat and bat are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme, occurring in the same position, the two words are described as a minimal pair. Minimal sets: based on the vowel phonemes:feat, fit, fat, fate, fought, foot

based on the consonant phonemes:big, pig, rig, dig, wig

Phonotactics(音位配列学) refers to constraints on the sequence or position of English phonemes. e.g. Forms such as [fsIg] or [rnIg] do not exist in English. Consonant clusters like /spr/ or /str/ can be at the beginning instead of the end of the word.