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1、Chapter11.Languagecanbegenerallydefinedasasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.Languageisasystem.Systematic----rule-governed,elementsinitarearrangedaccordingtocertainrules;can’tbecombinedatwill.e.g.*bkli,*Iappleeat.Languageisarbitrar
2、y.Arbitrary----nointrinsicconnectionbetweenthewordandthethingitdenotes,e.g.“pen”byanyothernameisthethingweusetowritewith.Languageissymbolicinnature.Symbolic----wordsareassociatedwithobjects,actionsideasbyconvention.“Arosebyanyothernamewouldsmellasswee
3、t”----Shakespeare2.Thedesign/definingfeaturesofhumanlanguage(CharlesHockett)⑴ArbitrarinessNological(motivatedorintrinsic)connectionbetweensoundsandmeanings①Onomatopoeicwords(whichimitatenaturalsounds)aresomewhatmotivated(English:rumble,crackle,bang,….
4、Chinese:putong,shasha,dingdang…)②Somecompoundwordsarenotentirelyarbitrary,e.g.type-writer,shoe-maker,air-conditioner,photocopy…⑵Productivity/CreativityPeculiartohumanlanguages,usersoflanguagecanunderstandandproducesentencestheyhaveneverheardbefore,e.g
5、.wecanunderstandsentencelike“Ared-eyedelephantisdancingonthehotelbed”,thoughitdoesnotdescribeacommonhappeningintheworld.①Agibboncallsystemisnotproductiveforgibbondrawalltheircallsfromafixedrepertoirewhichisrapidlyexhausted,makinganynoveltyimpossible.②
6、Thebeedancedoeshavealimitedproductivity,asitisusedtocommunicateaboutfoodsourcesinanydirection.Butfoodsourcesaretheonlykindofmessagesthatcanbesentthroughthebeedance;beesdonot“talk”aboutthemselves,thehives,orwind,letaloneaboutpeople,animals,hopesordesir
7、es⑶Duality①Lowerlevel----sounds(meaningless)②Higherlevel----meaning(largerunitsofmeaning)③Acommunicationsystemwithdualityisconsideredmoreflexiblethanonewithoutit,forafargreaternumberofmessagescanbesent.Asmallnumberofsoundscanbegroupedandregroupedintoa
8、largenumberofunitsofmeaning(words),andtheunitsofmeaningcanbearrangedandrearrangedintoaninfinitenumberofsentences.(Wemakedictionaryofalanguage,butwecannotmakeadictionaryofsentencesofthatlanguage.⑷DisplacementLanguagecanbeusedtorefertothings,whi