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XI Theories and Schools of Modern Linguistics

XI Theories and Schools of Modern Linguistics. Contents. 12.0 Introduction 12.1 The Prague School 12.2 The London School 12.3 American Structuralism 12.4 Transformational-Generative Grammar 12.5 Revisionists or rebels?. 12.0 Saussure (1857-1913).

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XI Theories and Schools of Modern Linguistics

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  1. XI Theories and Schools of Modern Linguistics

  2. Contents 12.0 Introduction 12.1 The Prague School 12.2 The London School 12.3 American Structuralism 12.4 Transformational-Generative Grammar 12.5 Revisionists or rebels?

  3. 12.0 Saussure (1857-1913) • The Swiss linguist “father of modern linguistics” “a master of a discipline which he made modern” • His students. • W. D. Whitney (1827-1894)—arbitrariness. • E. Durkheim (1858-1917)—social • S. Freud (1856-1939)—continuity of a collective psyche: collective unconscious

  4. Lg: complex and heterogeneous phenomenon • linguists need to ask what he is trying to describe. • Lg is one of social facts, which are the ideas in the “collective mind” of a society and radically distinct from individual psychological acts. • Saussure believes lg is a system of signs. • Sound (signifier)+ideas(signified)=sign (a system of convention) • Dichotomy: langue-parole; syntagmatic-paratagmatic; synchronic-diachronic • langue: the structure of a system that gives the potential for the words or utterances to exist • Parole: what people actually say or what appears on the page

  5. Saussure’s contribution • 1. Saussure provided a general orientation, a sense of the task of linguistics • 2. He influenced modern linguistics in the specific concepts. the arbitrary nature of the sign, langue-parole; synchrony-diachrony; syntagmatic-aradigmatic relations. • pushed linguistics into a brand new stage • Saussurean linguistics.

  6. 12.1 The Prague School • Mathesius (1882-1946) • A special style of synchronic linguistics • Most important contribution: sees lg in terms of function • 1. It was stressed that the synchronic study of lg is fully justified. • 2. Emphasis on the systemic character of lg. Elements are held to be in functional contrast or opposition. • 3. Lg was looked on as functional as it is a tool performing a number of essential functions or tasks for the community using it.

  7. 12.1.2 Phonology and phonological opposition • Prague School Contribution: phonology and the distinction between phonetics and phonology • Trubetzkoy: Principle of Phonology (1939) • Three criteria: --1. Their relation to the whole contrastive system --2. Relations between the opposing elements --3. Their power of discrimination

  8. Bilateral opposition (双边对立): the features which two phonemes share belong only to them. • Multilateral opposition(多边对立): a more loosely established relationship • Proportional opposition (均衡对立) : if the same contrastive features also serve as the differentiating criterion for other pairs of phonemes. • Isolated opposition (孤立对立) : if the contrastive feature is unique to the pair. It is not a contrastive feature of any other pairs of phonemes in the lg • Privative opposition(否定对立) : one member of a contrastive pair may be characterised by the presence of a certain feature, the other by its absence.

  9. Gradual opposition (渐次对立): If the pairs share different degrees of a feature. • Equipollent opposition (等价对立): if the pair is not in gradual opposition, nor in privative opposition, they are logically equipollent. • Neutralisable opposition (中和对立): the opposition occurs when two sounds contrast in some position but not in others. • Constant opposition (不变对立): the pair of sounds occurs in all possible positions without neutralising effect.

  10. Trubetzkoy’s contribution to phonological theory 1. He showed distinctive functions of speech sounds and gave an accurate definition for the phoneme. 2. By making distinctions between phonetics and phonology and between stylistic phonology and phonology, he defined the sphere of phonological studies. 3. By studying the syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between phonemes, he revealed the interdependent relations between phonemes. 4. He put forward a set of methodologies for phonological studies, such as extracting phonemes and the method of studying combinations.

  11. 12.1.3 Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP) • A theory of linguistic analysis which refers to an analysis of utterances in terms of the information they contain. The principle is that the roles of each utterance part is evaluated for its semantic contribution to the whole. • Czech linguists: a sentence contains a point of departure and a goal of discourse. • The point of departure is equally present to the speaker and to the hearer—it is the ground on which they meet ( THEME). • The goal of discourse presents the very information that is to be imparted to the hearer (RHEME)

  12. FSP is used to describe how information is distributed in sentences. It particularly deal with the effect of the distribution of known information and new information in discourse. ---Sally stands on the table Subjectpredicate Themerheme --On the table standsSally. predicatesubject Theme rheme

  13. J. Firbas: Communicative Dynamism • Linguistic communication is not a static phenomenon, but a dynamic one. CD is meant to measure the amount of information an element carries in a sentence. The degree of CD is the effect contributed by a linguistic element, for it pushes the communication forward. • He was mad. --He was hurrying to the railway station. --I have read a nice book.

  14. 12.2 The London School • B. Malinowski (1884-1942) • J. R. Firth (1890-1960) • M. A. K. Halliday • The importance of context of situation • The system aspect of language

  15. 12.2.1 Malinowski’ theory • Concerned with the functioning of lg. • Lg is to be regarded as a mode of action, rather than as a counterpart of thought • The meaning of an utterance does not come from the ideas of the words comprising it but from its relation to the situational context in which the utterance occurs. • Utterances and situations are bound up inextricably with each other and the context of situation is indispensable for the understanding of the words. • Data for study, complete utterances in actual situation • One sound in two situations--context

  16. 12.2.2 Firth’s theory • Basic understanding of lg: Regard lg as a social process, as a means of social life. In order to live, human beings have to learn, and learning lg is a means of participation in social activities. Lg is a means of doing things and of making others to do things. It is a means of acting and living. • Firth saw lg as sth both inborn and acquired. • The object of study: language in actual use • Goal of linguistic study: to analyze meaningful elements of lg in order to establish corresponding relations between linguistic and non-linguistic elements.

  17. Method of linguistic study: to decide on the composite elements of lg, explain their relations on various levels, and ultimately explicate the internal relations between these elements and human activities in the environment of lg use. • Firth attempted to integrate linguistic study with sociological studies, for human beings are inseparable from cultural values, and lg is an important part of cultural values, linguistics can help reveal the social nature of human beings. (table)

  18. By context of situation, Firth meant a series of contexts of situations, each smaller one being embedded into a larger, to the extent that all the contexts of situation play essential parts in the whole of the context of culture. • Entire cultural setting of speech • Personal history of the participants • The context of human activity at the moment

  19. Typical context of situation • Social situations determine the social roles participants are obliged to play. Since the total number of typical contexts of situation is finite, the total number of social roles is also finite. • “Conversation is much more of a roughly prescribed ritual than most people think. Once someone speaks to you, you are in a relatively determined context and you are not free just to say what you please”

  20. The integration of situational context and the linguistic context of a text 1. The relevant features of the participants: persons, personalities (a) the verbal action of the participants (b) the non-verbal action of the participants 2. The relevant topics, including objects, events, and non-linguistic, non-human events. 3. The effect of the verbal action

  21. Firth’s second contribution • Prosodic analysis • Prosodic unit

  22. 12.2.3 Halliday and Systemic-Functional Grammar • Sociologically oriented functional linguistic approach. • Effect on lg teaching, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, stylistics, and machine translation. • Two components: systemic grammar and functional grammar.

  23. Systemic grammar and functional grammar • Two inseparable parts for an integral framework of linguistic theory. • Systemic grammar aims to explain the internal relations in lg as a system network, or meaning potential. This system consists of subsystems from which lg users make choices. • Functional grammar aims to reveal that lg is a means of social interaction, based on the position that lg system and the forms that make it up are inescapably determined by uses of functions which they serve.

  24. Two facts: • 1. Lg users are actually making choices in social interaction • 2. Lg is inseparable from social activities of man. • Object of study: the actual use of lg.

  25. Systemic grammar • Concerned with the nature and import of the various choices which one makes in deciding to utter one particular sentence out of the infinitely numerous sentences that one’s lg makes available. • The central component of a systemic grammar is a chart of the full set of choices available in constructing a sentence.

  26. Difference of systemic grammar from other linguistic theories • It attaches great importance to the sociological aspects of lg. • It views lg as a form of doing rather than a form of knowing, distinguishes linguistic behaviour potential from actual linguistic behaviour. • It gives a relatively high priority to description of the characteristics of particular lgs and particular varieties of lgs. • It explains a number of aspects of lg in terms of clines. • It seeks verification of its hypotheses by means of observation from texts and by means of statistical techniques • It has as its centre the category of the system.

  27. The whole lg is conceived as a system of systems. • Concerned with establishing a network of systems of relationships, which accounts for all the semantically relevant choices in the lg as a whole. • Axis of choice and axis of chain. (table) • The system is a list of choices that are available in the grammar of a lg, between which it is possible to choose. So they are meanings, which the grammar can distinguish.

  28. Functional Grammar • Basic understanding: lg is what it is because it has to serve certain functions • Lg development in children is the mastery of linguistic functions and learning a lg is learning how to mean. • Seven functions in children. • Adult’s lg become more complex, and is reduced to a set of highly coded and abstract functions, which are meta-functions: the ideational, the interpersonal, and the textual functions.

  29. Ideational function • The ideational function is to convey new information, to communicate a content that is unknown to the hearer. It is a meaning potential, for whatever specific use one is making of lg he has to refer to categories of his experience of the world. • Transitivity: material processes, mental processes, relational processes, verbal processes, behavioral processes, existential processes.

  30. The Interpersonal Function • It embodies all uses of lg to express social and personal relations. This includes various ways the speaker enters a speech situation and perform a speech act.

  31. The textual function • It refers to the fact that lg has mechanisms to make any stretch of spoken or written discourse into a coherent and unified text and make a living passage different from a random list of sentences. (p. 315) • Biding devices which help make a discourse into a coherent and unified text is called collectively as the Cohesion of a text.

  32. Realization of three functions • Because lg serves as a generalised ideational function, we are able to use it for all the specific purposes an dtypes of context which involve the communication of expereince. • Because it serves a generalised interpersonal function, we are able to use it for the specific forms of personal expression and social interaction. • A prerequisite to its effective operation under both these headings is what we have referred to as the textual function, whereby lg becomes text, is related to itself and to its context of use. Without the textual component of meaning, we should not be able to make any use of lg at all.

  33. 12.3 American Structuralism • A branch of synchronic linguistics that emerged independently in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century. • Why so distinct from European tradition? --started at the end of 19th century --traditional grammar has little influence --only one language-English --pioneers are anthropologists

  34. 12.3.1 Early period: Boas and Sapir • BOAS: Handbook of American Indian Languages (1911): an important introduction which is a good summery of the descriptive approach to lg. 1. There is no ideal type or form of lg, for human lgs were endlessly diverse. 2. Opposed to the view that lg is the soul of a race. • There were only differences in lg structure, while there is no difference between lgs in terms of being more or less reasonable or advanced.

  35. The framework of descriptive linguistics: it consists of three parts. • 1. The sound of lgs. • 2. The semantic categories of linguistic expression • 3. The process of grammatical combination in semantic expression. • The important task for linguists is to discover a lg’s particular grammatical structure and to develop descriptive categories appropriate to it. • His methodology is analytical , without comparing it with European lgs.

  36. Sapir: Language: An introduction to the Study of Speech (1921) • Focus on typology • Lg is the means and thought is the end product; without lg, thought is impossible. • The universal feature of lg: distinct phonetic systems, concrete combinations of sound and meaning, various means of representing all kinds of relations.

  37. Bloomfield’s theory • The principal representative of American descriptive linguistics. • 1933-1950 the Bloomfieldian Era, in which the American descriptive linguistics formally came into being and reached its prime development. • Language (1933): the model of scientific methodology and the greatest work in linguistics. • Linguistics is a branch of psychology, esp. Behaviourism. • Behaviourism holds that human beings cannot know anything that they have not experienced.

  38. Behaviourism holds that children learn lg through a chain of Stimulus-Response reinforcement., and adult use of lg is also a process of stimulus-response. • S—r-------------------s—R • It is believed that a linguistic description was reliable when based on observation of unstudied utterance by speakers. Therefore, the popular practice in linguistic study was to accept what a native speaker says in his lg and to discard what he says about his lg.

  39. Post-Bloomfieldian Linguistics • Characterised by a strict empiricism. • The appropriate goal for general linguistics was to devise explicit discovery procedures to enable the computer to process linguistic raw data about any lg and form a complete grammar without the intervention by the human linguists. • They focus on direct observation. • They also took a interest in the discourse level in order to develop discovery procedures for structure above the sentence level.

  40. Some works • Harris: Methods in Structural Linguistics (1951): marking the maturity of American descriptive linguistics. • Hockett: A Course in Modern Linguistics (1958): a well-known textbook in the American descriptive tradition. It contains and develops many of the insights gained from the work carried out within the structuralist paradigm from 1930s onwards. • K. Pike (1912-2000) Tagmemics (法位学) • Sydney M. Lamb: stratificational grammar (层次语法).

  41. Structuralism is based on the assumption that grammatical categories should be defined not in terms of meaning but in terms of distribution, and that the structure of each lg should be described without reference to the alleged universitality of such categories as tense, mood, and parts of speech.

  42. Structural grammar describes everything that is found in a lg instead of laying down rules. --The aim is confined to the description of lgs, without explaining why lg operates the way it does. • Structural grammar is empirical, aiming at objectivity in the sense that all definition and statements should be verifiable or refutable.—no complete grammar. • Structural grammar examines all lgs, recognizing and doing justice to uniqueness of each lg.—no adequate treatment of meaning. • Structural grammar describes even the smallest contrast that underlies any construction or use of a lg, not only discoverable in some particular use.

  43. 12.4 Transformational-Generative Grammar • Noam Chomsky (1928-) • Syntactic Structure (1957) marked the beginning of the Chomskyan Revolution.

  44. Five stages: • 1.The Classical Theory aims to make linguistics a science. • 2.The Standard Theory deals with how semantics should be studied in a linguistic theory. • 3. The Extended Standard Theory focused discussion on language universals and universal grammar. • 4. The Revised Extended Standard Theory focuses discussion on government and binding. • 5. The Minimalist Program is a further revision of the previous theory.

  45. 12.4.1 The innateness Hypothesis • Children are born with Language Acquisition Device (LAD), which is a unique kind of knowledge that fits them for lg learning. • Children are born with knowledge of the basic grammatical relations and categories, and this knowledge is universal. • The study of lg can throw some light on the nature of the human mind. • A reaction against behaviourism in psychology and empiricism in philosophy.

  46. What children learn seems to be a set of rules rather than individual sentences, although children are not born knowing a lg, they are born with a predisposition to develop a lg in much the same way as they are born with the predisposition to learn to walk. • LAD: three elements: 1. A hypothesis maker (look for regularity, make hypothesis) 2. Linguistic universals 3. An evaluation procedure (more than one version of grammar)

  47. 12.4.2 What is generative grammar? • A system of rules that in some explicit and well-defined way assigns structural descriptions to sentences. • Every speaker of a lg has mastered and internalised a generative grammar that expresses his knowledge of his lg. • It is not limited to particular lgs, but the reveal the unity of particular grammars and universal grammars.

  48. Three levels to evaluate a grammar • Observational adequacy:grammar are able to produce correct explanations for raw linguistic data • Descriptive adequacy: grammars should not only produce correct explanations for raw linguistic data, but also produce correct explanation for the linguistic competence of the speaker and hearer. • Explanatory adequacy: grammars that are sufficiently described should reveal linguistic competence and then relate it with universal grammar in order to be related to the initial state of the human mind for the purpose of revealing human cognitive systems. • It is after successful descriptions of many lgs and subsequent generalizations of universal features of human lg that it is possible to explore the initial state of the human mind that contains universal grammars.

  49. Hypothesis deduction • Immediate Constituents analysis cannot deal with the following sentences: • John is easy to please. • John is eager to please. • Visiting relatives can be tiresome. • Flying plane is dangerous.

  50. 12.4.3 The classical theory • Features: 1. Emphasis on generative ability of lg. 2. Introduction of transformational rules. 3. Grammatical descriptions regardless of meaning. • Three grammars: • 1. Finite state grammar: the simplest type of grammar which, with a finite amount of apparatus, can generate an infinite number of sentence. However, it is impossible to construct an observationally adequate English grammar which is a finite-state grammar.

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