2021年11月04日
語言研究的八個宏觀問題
1. Is language innate or learned？語言能力是與生俱來的還是后天學(xué)會的？
Noam Chomsky (1928—) vs. B. F. Skinner (1904—1990)
Behaviorism and Skinner:
--B. F. Skinner’s name became practically synonymous with the science and philosophy of behaviorism
--Skinner's most notable accomplishment was his work on the theory of operant behavior– related to operate conditioning (操作性條件)
--Stimulus–response–reinforcement(reward/punishment/absence of reward)–established behavior
--Although Skinner was highly identified with the conditioning of animals such as rats and pigeons (the "Skinnerbox"), his work also led to the development of techniques for modifying human behavior that have found widespread use in psycho-therapy and education.
--In the novel Walden Two, he described a utopian society in which behavior had been engineered to realize positive social values.
Universal grammar and Chomsky:
1）Language is a very complicated sound and meaning system, yet we almost master our native language around the age of three in terms of grammar.
2）Before three, kids don’t usually receive any systematic instruction on grammatical rules.
3）Damage to some parts of our brain will damage our language competence temporary or permanently.
4） It seems to be more difficult to learn a language after puberty.
5）The language ability is uniform in kids of different nations and ethnic groups.
e.g. a) John washed himself.
b) John washed him.
c) Bill said that John washed him.
d) Bill said that John washed himself.
e) John is said by Bill to have washed himself.
f) It is said by Bill that John had washed him.
g) His way of speaking makes Bill dislike John.
h) Bill’s absence from John’s birthday party does not mean that he dislikes John.
2. Does animal have language or is language unique to human beings? 動物有語言嗎，語言是人類獨有的嗎？
1) Experiments with chimpanzee – the case of Chomsky
2) Do animals have a communicative system?
3) What are the most outstanding features of human communication: complexity of the system, diversity, hierarchy, or displacement?
4) Is the organization of a society mediated through language?
3. Which is more important to language: the form or the function? 語言的形式與功能哪一個更重要——哪一個應(yīng)該成為語言研究的主要對象？
-Does a child acquire language mainly by acquiring its structure or its function?
-Basic ideas of structuralism
Structuralism began with publication of the work of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure in Cours delinguistique générale (1916; Course in General Linguistics, 1959，《普通語言學(xué)教程》).
Saussure made a distinction between parole (speech) and langue (language).
According to Saussure, the linguist’s task is to find the underlying rules of a particular language from examples found in speech.
Later scholars drew analogies between language and other forms of human behavior, based on the belief that a shared structure underlies many aspects of a culture. Anthropologists, for example, became interested in a structuralist approach to the interpretation of kinship systems and analysis of myth and religion.
American linguist Leonard Bloomfield promoted structuralism in the United States.
-Three basic principles of functionalism
They regard communication as the primary function of language, which shapes the forms languages take.
They attribute great importance to external (cognitive and sociocultural) factors in explaining linguistic phenomena, e.g. context.
They reject the claim that syntax is autonomous from semantics and pragmatics.
e.g. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
4. Is language mainly used for communication or for thinking?
語言主要用于交際還是用于思維？
--Most time of the day, even during our whole lifetime, we talked to ourselves.
--No knowledge of contextual factors can predict how we say things.
5. What is the relationship between language and thought?
語言與思維是什么關(guān)系？
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Relativism vs. determinism
--Benjamin Lee Whorf is best known for his work in developing the ‘Sapir-Whorf’ or ‘linguistic relativity hypothesis’.
--The central claim of the hypothesis is that the structures of language, in addition to providing a vehicle for the expression of thought, also shape thought by casting it in the mold of language-specific patternings.
--Whorf’s study of American Indian languages convinced him that the grammatical categories of languages structure both perception and conceptualization.
--Wilhelm von Humboldt had similar views.
--Counter-evidence: People of different languages understand each other perfectly well, perhaps after experiencing some initial culture shock?
--And translation is possible across languages.
6. Is language a neutral medium for representing the world, or is it closely related to power and ideology？
語言是一種描述世界的中立媒介還是與權(quán)力和意識形態(tài)緊密相關(guān)？
-Do we often use biased language when we engage in language activities, free talk or institutionalized talk?
-Power refers to social power rather political power.
-Take the sexist language for example.
7. Can Western linguistic theories be used to describe Chinese language with ease?
西方語言學(xué)理論能否用來有效地描述漢語？
—《馬氏文通》參照拉丁語語法和英語語法來描述漢語。
—郭紹虞，復(fù)旦大學(xué)教授，《漢語語法修辭新探》強調(diào)按漢語特點研究漢語語法。
—比如量詞、虛詞、四字結(jié)構(gòu)等漢語獨有的特征，它們在西方語法理論的框架內(nèi)難以得到充分描述。
8. Is language designed on the principle of economy or diversity?
語言是根據(jù)節(jié)省原則還是根據(jù)多樣原則設(shè)計？
--Ideational function
-interpersonal function
-stylistic necessity
語言研究的領(lǐng)域
Linguistic proper: the core fields語言學(xué)核心領(lǐng)域
1) phonetics: the sound of language語音學(xué)
2) phonology: the sound structure of language音系學(xué)，音位學(xué)
3) morphology: lexical structure形態(tài)學(xué)
4) syntax: sentence structure句法學(xué)
5) semantics: the propositional structure語義學(xué)
6) historical linguistics歷史比較語言學(xué)
Language as a social object
1) socio-linguistics社會語言學(xué)
2) pragmatics語用學(xué)
3) discourse analysis/discourse studies話語分析/話語研究
4) ethno linguistics/linguistic anthropology民族語言學(xué)/語言人類學(xué)
Language as a biological object
1) psycho linguistics 心理語言學(xué)
2) cognitive linguistics認(rèn)知語言學(xué)
3) neuro linguistics神經(jīng)語言學(xué)
4) first language acquisition第一語言習(xí)得
5) second language acquisition第二語言習(xí)得
Language as applications
1) applied linguistics (pedagogical study) 應(yīng)用語言學(xué)
2) computational linguistics 計算語言學(xué)
3) CALL (computer assisted language learning) 計算機輔助語言教學(xué)
4) stylistics (literary studies) 文體學(xué)
5) translation studies 翻譯研究
6) language of law, education, reading, business, etc.
7) language planning and language policy語言規(guī)劃與語言政策
7) corpus linguistics語料庫語言學(xué)
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