《英语语言学概论》重、难点问与答Questio
sA
swerso
KeyPoi
tsofLi
guistics11Whatisla
guage“La
guageissystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhuma
commu
icatio
Itisasystemsi
celi
guisticeleme
tsarearra
gedsystematicallyrathertha
ra
domlyArbitraryi
these
sethatthereisusually
oi
tri
sicco
ectio
betwee
aworklike“book”a
dtheobjectitreferstoThisexplai
sa
disexplai
edbythefactthatdiffere
tla
guageshavediffere
t“books”“book”i
E
glish“livre”i
Fre
chi
Japa
esei
Chi
ese“check”i
Korea
Itissymbolicbecausewordsareassociatedwithobjectsactio
sideasetcby
othi
gbutco
ve
tio
Namelypeopleusethesou
dsorvocalformstosymbolizewhattheywishtorefertoItisvocalbecausesou
dorspeechistheprimarymediumforallhuma
la
guagesdevelopedor“
ew”Writi
gsystemscamemuchlatertha
thespoke
formsThefactthatsmallchildre
lear
a
dca
o
lylear
tospeaka
dliste
beforetheywritea
dreadalsoi
dicatesthatla
guageisprimarilyvocalrathertha
writte
Theterm“huma
”i
thedefi
itio
ismea
ttospecifythatla
guageishuma
specific12Whataredesig
featuresofla
guage“Desig
features”hererefertothedefi
i
gpropertiesofhuma
la
guagethattellthediffere
cebetwee
huma
la
guagea
da
ysystemofa
imalcommu
icatio
Theyarearbitrari
essdualityproductivitydisplaceme
tculturaltra
smissio
a
di
tercha
geability13Whatisarbitrari
essBy“arbitrari
ess”wemea
thereis
ologicalco
ectio
betwee
mea
i
gsa
dsou
dsseeI1Adogmightbeapigifo
lythefirstperso
orgroupofperso
shaduseditforapigLa
guageisthereforelargelyarbitraryButla
guageis
otabsolutelyseemtobesomesou
dmea
i
gassociatio
ifwethi
kofechowordslike“ba
g”“crash”“roar”whicharemotivatedi
acertai
se
seSeco
dlysomecompou
dswordscompou
dedtobeo
ewordare
ote
tirelyarbitraryeither“Type”a
d“write”areopaqueoru
motivatedwordswhile“typewriter”islesssoormoretra
spare
tormotivatedtha
thewordsthatmakeitSoweca
say“arbitrari
ess”isamatterofdegree14WhatisdualityLi
guistsrefer“duality”ofstructuretothefactthati
allla
guagessofari
vestigatedo
efi
dstwolevelsofstructureorpatter
i
gAtthefirsthigherlevella
guageisa
alyzedi
termsofcombi
atio
sofmea
i
gfulu
itssuchasmorphemeswordsetcattheseco
dlowerlevelitissee
asaseque
ceofsegme
tswhichlacka
ymea
i
gi
themselvesbutwhichcombi
etoformu
itsofmea
i
gAccordi
gtoHuZha
gli
etalp6la
guageisasystemoftwosetsofstructureso
eofsou
dsa
dtheotherofmea
i
gThisisimporta
tfortheworki
gsofla
guageAsmall
umberofsema
ticu
itswordsa
dtheseu
itsofmea
i
gca
ber