【精品】课件---本科生语言学讲稿（二）.pptVIP

Lectures on Linguistics Lecture One  Introduction What is linguistics? Linguistics vs traditional grammar Scope of linguistics What is language? The design features of language Functions of language Some basic distinctions in linguistics What is linguistics? Linguistics can be defined as the scientific or systematic study of language. It is a science in the sense that it scientifically studies the rules, systems and principles of human languages. It deals with a wide range of linguistic phenomena, analyzes them, and makes general statements about them. Linguistics versus traditional grammar Some people would probably think that linguistics is only a new name for traditional grammar. But that is not the case. Traditional grammar is usually based on earlier grammars of Latin or Greek and applied to some other languages, often inappropriately. Traditional grammar emphasizes such matters as correctness, linguistic purism, literary excellence, the use of Latin models and the priority of the written language. Linguistics differs from traditional grammar at least in three basic ways. 1) linguistics describes languages and does not lay down rules of correctness. Linguists are interested in what is said, not what they think ought to be said. So they are often said to be descriptive, not prescriptive. 2) Linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. It is believed that speech came into being first for any human language and the writing system came along much later. 3) Traditional grammar is based on Latin and it tries to impose the Latin categories and structures on other languages, while linguistics describes each language on its own merits. Scope of linguistics Linguistics is a comparatively young science, but it has developed several important branches. The major branches of linguistics include phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, which can be called microlinguist