英语语言学lecture 新two.docVIP

PAGE  PAGE 11 Take language as a tool for access to some other fields rather than study it as a subject Language distinguishes us from animals because it is far more sophisticated than any animal communication system. What is language? It is very difficult to give a satisfactory definition. We may say “Language is a tool for human communication”. But that does not say anything about its defining properties, only about its function. There are many other systems (secret codes, traffic signals) performing the same function. We may say “Language is a set of rules.”; again that says nothing about its function, and there are other systems containing sets of rules. A tentative definition is given like the following: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. Language must be a system, since elements in it are arranged according to certain rules. And they can not be combined at will. Language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between the word pen and the thing we use to write with. That fact that different languages have different words for it speaks for the arbitrary nature of language. We say language is vocal because the primary medium is sound for all language, no matter how well developed are their writing systems. All evidence shows that writing systems came much later than the spoken forms. The fact that children acquire spoken language first before they can read or write also indicates that language is primarily vocal. The term “human” in the definition is meant to specify that language is very different from the communication systems other forms of life possess (such as bird songs and animal cries.) Step1. Design features of language What makes our language advantageous over animal “languages”/ distinctive from languages used by other species/ complicated and flexible? Arbitrariness @The forms of linguistic signs/morpheme bear no natural relationship to their meaning and objects. We can not