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1、Firstofall,languageisasystem,becauseelementsoflanguagearecombinedaccordingtorules.Secondly,languageisarbitrarybecausethereisnointrinsicconnectionbetweenformandmeaning,orbetweenthesignandwhatitstandsfor.Differentlanguageshavedifferentwordsforthesameobjectinthewor
2、ld.Thisfactisagoodillustrationofthearbitrarynatureoflanguage.Thisalsoexplainsthesymbolicnatureoflanguage:wordsarejustsymbols;theyareassociatedwithobjects,actions,ideas,etc.byconvention.Thirdly,languageisvocalbecausetheprimarymediumissoundforalllanguages,nomatter
3、howwell-developedtheirwritingsystemsare.Theterm"human"inthedefinitionindicatesthatlanguageispossessedbyhumanbeingsonlyandisverydifferentfromthecommunicationsystemsofotherlivingcreatures.Theterm"communication"meansthatlanguagemakesitpossibleforitsuserstotalktoeac
4、hotherandfulfilltheircommunicativeneeds.2.Whydopeopletakedualityasoneoftheimportantdesignfeaturesofhumanlanguage?Canyoutelluswhatlanguagewillbeifithasnosuchdesignfeature?Dualitymakesourlanguageproductive.Alargenumberofdifferentunitscanbeformedoutofasmallnumberof
5、elements–forinstance,tensofthousandsofwordsoutofasmallsetofsounds,around48inthecaseoftheEnglishlanguage.Andoutofthehugenumberofwords,therecanbeastronomicalnumberofpossiblesentencesandphrases,whichinturncancombinetoformunlimitednumberoftexts.Mostanimalcommunicati
6、onsystemsdonothavethisdesignfeatureofhumanlanguage.Iflanguagehasnosuchdesignfeature,thenitwillbelikeanimalcommunicationalsystemwhichwillbehighlylimited.Itcannotproduceaverylargenumberofsoundcombinations,e.g.words,whicharedistinctinmeaning.3.Whatarethesevenfuncti
7、onsofhumanlanguage?Informative;InterpersonalFunction;Performative;EmotiveFunction;PhaticCommunion;RecreationalFunction;MetalingualFunction4.Howisphonologydifferentfromphonetics?Theydifferintheirapproachandfocus.Phoneticsisofageneralnature;itisinterestedinallthes
8、peechsoundsusedinallhumanlanguages:howtheyareproduced,howtheydifferfromeachother,whatphoneticfeaturestheypossess,howtheycanbeclassified.Phonology,ontheotherhand,isint