Linguistics调整后Lecture02Introduction幻灯片.pptVIP

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 3 Basic distinctions in linguistics However, emphasizing the primacy of speech is by no means to deny the importance of writing, which gives language new scope and uses that speech does not have. First, with writing, messages can be carried through space and time. Second, oral message are subject to distortion, either intentional or otherwise, causing misunderstanding, while written messages remain exactly the same whether read a thousand years later or ten thousand miles away. Everything considered, speech is believed to more representative of human language than writing. Most modern linguistic analysis is thus focused on speech, different from traditional grammar of the 19th century and therebefore. 3 Basic distinctions in linguistics 3.3 Langue and parole Early last century, the father of modern linguistics, F. de Saussure, made an important distinction between “langue” and “parole”. Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community. Parole refers to particular realizations of langue. Langue is the social, conventional side of language, while parole is individualized speech 3 Basic distinctions in linguistics Parole is the concrete manifestation of language either through speech or through writing. Langue is the abstract knowledge necessary for speaking, listening, writing and reading. It is relatively stable and systemic, whereas parole is more variable and may change according to contextual factors. Parole and langue together constitute language. For Saussure, parole is a mass of confused facts and not suitable for systematic investigation. What the linguist has to do is to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make them the subject of linguistics. 3 Basic distinctions in linguistics 3.4 Competence and performance A comparable distinction to langue and parole is mad