发布时间 : 星期一 文章胡壮麟《语言学教程》（修订版）更新完毕开始阅读
Lastly, structural grammar describes even the smallest contrasts that underlie any construction or use of a 12.3.1
Early period: Boas and Sapir 1.
Boas
(1) There was no ideal type or form of languages, for human languages were endlessly diverse. (2) In the Introduction to his Handbook, Boas discussed the framework of descriptive linguistics.
He held that such descriptions consist of three parts: the sound of languages, the semantic categories of linguistic expression, and the process of grammatical combination in semantic expression.
language, not only those discoverable in some particular use.
2. Sapir
(1) He started from an anthropological viewpoint to describe the nature of language, with his main
focus on typology. He defines language as “a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols.”
(2) He also compares speech with walking, saying that walking is “an inherent, biological function
of men,” and it is “a general human activity that varies only in circumscribed limits as we pass from individual to individual,” and its variability is “involuntary and purposeless.”
(3) In discussing between speech and meaning, Sapir holds that the association of speech and
meaning is a relation that may be, but need not be, present.
(4) In discussing the relation between language and thought, Sapir holds that although they are
intimately related, they are not to be considered the same. Language is the means, and thought is the end product. Without language, thought is impossible.
(5) He says that all human races and tribes, no matter how barbaric or underdeveloped, have
their own languages. Language is the oldest human legacy, and no other aspects of any culture can be earlier than its language. Without language, there is no culture.
12.3.2 Bloomfield’s theory
Structuralism, also called in different cases “structuralist linguistics school,” “structural linguistics,” and
“structural grammar,” in its broad meaning, refers to the study of any language that regards language itself as an independent, phonological, grammatical and lexical system. In its narrow sense, it refers to the linguistic approach of Prague School, American Structuralism, or any other similar school, which supposes that any individual linguistic element must be associated for an analysis with other elements wherewith it occurs.
L. Bloomfield is regarded as one of the founders and representative figures of American Structuralism at the beginning of the 20 century. He laid much emphasis on the objectivity and systematicity of observable data in his study of language. He was more interested in the ways items were arranged than in meaning. To him meaning was simply the relationship between a stimulus and a verbal response, which could hardly be explained by any rigorous analytical method. It was claimed that by following some of the “discovering procedures” that he and his followers were able to arrive at an appropriate phonological and grammatical description of language under investigation.
For Bloomfield, linguistics is a branch of psychology, and specifically of the positivistic branch of psychology known as behaviorism. Behaviorism is a Principal scientific method, based on the belief that human beings cannot know anything they have not experienced. Behaviorism in linguistics holds that children
learn language through a chain of “stimulus-response reinforcement,” and the adult’s use of language is also a
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process of “stimulus-response.” When the behaviorist methodology entered linguistics via Bloomfield’s writing, the popular practice in linguistic studies was to accept what a native speaker says in his language and to discard what he says about it. This is because of the belief that a linguistic description was reliable when based on observation of unstudied utterances by speakers; it was unreliable if the analyst had resorted to asking speakers questions such as “Can you say … in your language?”
12.3.3
Post-Bloomfieldian linguistics
Influenced by Bloomfield’s Language, American linguists such as Z. Harris (1909 – ), C. Hockett (1916 – 2000), G. Trager, H. L. Smithm, A. Hill, and R. Hall further developed structuralism, characterized by a strict empiricism.
Harris’s Methods in Structural Linguistics (1951) is generally taken as marking the maturity of American descriptive linguistics.
Hockett was both a linguist and anthropologist, remaining firmly within the structuralist paradigm and hailed as a star of post-Bloomfieldian linguistics.
The most significant figure in continuing the structuralist tradition may be K. Pike (1912 – 2000), who and his followers have a special name for their technique of linguistic analysis — tagmemics.
12.4 Transformational-Generative (TG) grammar
1.
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
Chomsky believes that language is somewhat innate, and that children are born with what he calls a Language Acquisition Device, which is a unique kind of knowledge that fits them for language learning. He argues the child comes into the world with specific innate endowment, not only with general tendencies or potentialities, but also with knowledge of the nature of language. According to this view, children are born with knowledge of the basic grammatical relations and categories, and this knowledge is universal. The relations and categories exist in all human languages and all human infants are born with knowledge of them. According to Chomsky, there are aspects of linguistic organization that are basic to the human brain and that make it possible for children to acquire linguistic competence in all its complexity with little instruction from family or friends. He argues that LAD probably consists of three elements: a hypothesis-maker, linguistic universal, and an evaluation procedure.
2.
Development of TG grammar
Chomsky’s TG grammar has seen five stages of development. (1) The Classical Theory aims to make linguistics a science.
(2) The Standard Theory deals with how semantics should be studied in a linguistic theory.
(3) The Extended Standard Theory focuses discussion on language universals and universal grammar. (4) The Revised Extended Standard Theory (or GB) focuses discussion on government and binding. (5) The Minimalist program is a further revision of the previous theory.
The development of TG grammar can be regarded as a process of constantly minimalising theories and controlling the generative power. Although TG grammar has involved putting forward, revising, and cancelling of many specific rules, hypotheses, mechanisms, and theoretical models, its aims and purposes have been consistent, i.e. to explore the nature, origin and the uses of human knowledge or language.
3.
Features of TG grammar
The starting point of Chomsky’s TG grammar is his innateness hypothesis, based on his observations that some important facts can never be otherwise explained adequately. TG grammar has the following features:
(1) Chomsky defines language as a set of rules or principles.
(2) Chomsky believes that the aim of linguistics is to produce a generative grammar which captures the tacit
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knowledge of the native speaker of his language. This concerns the question of learning theory and the question of linguistic universals.
(3) Chomsky and his followers are interested in any data that can reveal the native speaker’s tacit
knowledge. They seldom use what native speakers actually say; they rely on their own intuition. (4) Chomsky’s methodology is hypothesis-deductive, which operates at two levels:
a.
b.
the linguist formulates a hypothesis about language structure – a general linguistic theory; this is tested by grammars for particular languages
each such grammar is a hypothesis on the general linguistic theory
第二部分 重点章节测试题
Test One: Invitations to Linguistics
I. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human __________. A. contact A. tree
B. communication
B. typewriter
C. relation
D. community
D. bang
Which of the following words is entirely arbitrary?
C. crash
The function of the sentence “Water boils at 100 degrees Centigrade.” is __________. A. interrogative
B. directive
C. informative
D. performative
In Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate the host or the people present are likely to say“碎碎（岁岁）平安”as a means of controlling the forces which they believes feel might affect their lives. Which functions does it perform? 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
A. Interpersonal
B. Emotive
C. Performative
D. Recreational
Which of the following property of language enables language users to overcome the barriers caused by time and place, due to this feature of language, speakers of a language are free to talk about anything in any situation? A. Transferability
B. Duality
C. Displacement
D. Arbitrariness
Study the following dialogue. What function does it play according to the functions of language? — A nice day, isn’t it?
— Right! I really enjoy the sunlight. A. Emotive utterances. A. Performance
B. Competence
C. Langue
D. Parole
When a dog is barking, you assume it is barking for something or at someone that exists hear and now. It couldn’t be sorrowful for some lost love or lost bone. This indicates the design feature of __________. A. cultural transmission A. Psycholinguistics C. Sociolinguistics
B. productivity
C. displacement
D. duality
__________ answers such questions as how we as infants acquire our first language.
B. Anthropological linguistics
D. Applied linguistics
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B. Phatic
C. Performative
D. Interpersonal
__________ refers to the actual realization of the ideal language user’s knowledge of the rules of his language in Choose the best answer. (20%)
(5) Chomsky follows rationalism in philosophy and mentalism in psychology.
10. __________ deals with language application to other fields, particularly education. II.
11. Language is a means of verbal communication. Therefore, the communication way used by the deaf-mute is not
language.
12. Language change is universal, ongoing and arbitrary.
13. Speaking is the quickest and most efficient way of the human communication systems. 14. Language is written because writing is the primary medium for all languages.
15. We were all born with the ability to acquire language, which means the details of any language system can be
genetically transmitted.
16. Only human beings are able to communicate.
17. F. de Saussure, who made the distinction between langue and parole in the early 20 century, was a French
linguist.
18. A study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare’s time is an example of the diachronic study of
language.
19. Speech and writing came into being at much the same time in human history. 20. All the languages in the world today have both spoken and written forms.
III. Fill in the blanks. (10%)
21. Language, broadly speaking, is a means of __________ communication.
22. In any language words can be used in new ways to mean new things and can be combined into innumerable
sentences based on limited rules. This feature is usually termed __________.
23. Language has many functions. We can use language to talk about itself. This function is __________.
24. Theory that primitive man made involuntary vocal noises while performing heavy work has been called the
__________ theory.
25. Linguistics is the __________ study of language.
26. Modern linguistics is __________ in the sense that the linguist tries to discover what language is rather than lay
down some rules for people to observe.
27. One general principle of linguistic analysis is the primacy of __________ over writing. 28. The description of a language as it changes through time is a __________ study.
29. Saussure put forward two important concepts. __________ refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all
members of a speech community.
30. Linguistic potential is similar to Saussure’s langue and Chomsky’s __________.
IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)
31. Design feature 32. Displacement
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A. Linguistic theory C. Applied linguistics
B. Practical linguistics D. Comparative linguistics
Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)