arbitrary

Chapter1InvitationstoLinguistics

Teachingaims:letthestudentshavethegeneralideaaboutlanguageand

linguistics.

Teachingdifficulties:designfeaturesoflanguage;someimportant

distinctionsinlinguistics

Teachingprocedures

ge

1.1Whystudylanguage?为什么学习语言

Atoolforcommunication交流的工具

Anintegralpartofourlifeandhumanity人类生活和人性中不可或缺的一

部分.

Ifwearenotfullyawareofthenatureandmechanismofourlanguage,

wewillbeignorantofwhatconstitutesouresntialhumanity.如果不

能完全理解语言的本质和结构,我们就会对人类的本质一无所知.

1.2Whatislanguage?什么是语言

1.2.1differentnsoflanguage语言的不同意义

ersonsays(concreteactofspeech)

aperson’sconsistentwayofspeakingorwriting

uiallanguage

anabstractsystem

er’sNewDictionraryoffersafrequentlyudnoftheword

“language”:

peech人类的言语

litytocommunicatebythismeans通过言语来交流的能力

mofvocalsoundsandcombinationsofsuchsoundstowhich

meaningisattributed,udfortheexpressionorcommunicationof

thoughtsandfeelings;用来表达或交流思想和感觉的一套声音及这些声音互

相结合的系统

ttenreprentationofsuchasystem系统的文字表达

estofdefinition,languageisameansofverbalcommunication.

最简洁的定义:语言是言语交流的一种方式.

Languageisinstrumentalinthatcommunicatingbyspeakingorwritingis

cialandconventionalinthatlanguageisa

socialmiosticandcommunicationcanonlytakeplaceeffectivelyif

alltheursshareabroadunderstandingofhumaninteractionincluding

suchassociatedfactorsasnonverbalcues,motivation,andsocio-cultural

gedistinguishesusfromanimals.因为说和写的交流方式是一

种有目的的行为,所以语言是实用性的;因为语言是社会符号,语言的交流只能在

所有参与者广泛理解了人类的那些非言语的暗示,动机,社会文化角色等等互相

关联的因素之后才能有效进行,因此语言又是社会的,约定俗成的.语言使人类区

别于动物.

1.2.2definitions

一.Languageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsudforhuman

communication.

Whatiscommunication?

Aprocessinwhichinformationistransmittedfromasource(nderor

speaker)toagoal(receiverorlistener).

Asystem----sinceelementsinitarearrangedaccordingtocertainrules

systematically,nnotbearrangedat

ablecleaned.(×)bkli(×)

Whydowesaylanguageisarbitrary?

Arbitrary----thereisnointrinsic(logic)connectionbetweena

linguisticformanditsmeaning,betweenthesoundsthatpeopleuand

plainsandixplained

bythefactthatdifferentlanguagehavedifferentwordsforthesame

object,

isonlyourtacitagreementofutteranceandconceptatworkandnotany

alexampleto

illustratethearbitraryoflanguageisafamousquotationfrom

shakepeare’splay:”RomeoandJuliet:Arobyanyothernamewould

smellassweet.一朵玫瑰不管它叫什么名字,闻起来都是一样香的.

Symbols----wordsarejustthesymbolsassociatedwithobjects,actions,

,peopleuthesoundsor

vovalformstosymbolizewhattheywishtoreferto.

Vocal--------theprimarymediumforalllanguagesissound,nomatter

gsystemscamemuch

tthatsmallchildrenlearnandcan

onlylearntospeakandlistenbeforetheywriteorreadalsoindicates

thatlanguageisprimarilyvocal,ratherthanwritten.

Writingsystemscameintobeingmuchlaterthanthespokenforms.

Peoplewithlittleornoliteracycanalsobecompetentlanguage

urs.

Human----languageishuman-specific.

Humanbeingshavedifferentkindsofbrainsandvocal

capacity.

“LanguageAcquisitionDevice”(LAD)

二.Whatcharacteristicsoflangaugedoyouthinkshouldbeincludedin

agood,comprenhensivedefinitionoflanguage?

Languageisarule-governedsystem;langaugeisbasicallyvocal;langauge

isarbitrary;langagueisudforhumancommunication.

1.3Designfeaturesoflanguage语言的结构特征

Designfeatures------referstothedefiningpropertiesofhumanlanguage

e

arbitrariness,duality,creativity/productivity,displacement,

cluturaltransmissionandinterchangeability.

Designfeatures-----arefeaturesthatdefineourhumanlanguages,such

asarbitrariness,duality,creativity,displacement,cultural

transmission,etc.(指决定了人类语言性质的特征.例如任意性,二重性,创造性,

移位性,文化转移性等.)

TheAmericanlinguistCharlesHockettspecifiedtwelvedesignfeatures.

Whatisarbitrariness?任意性

ariness----arbitrariness(任意性):onedesignfeatureofhuman

language,whichreferstothefactthattheformsoflinguisticsignsbear

nonaturalrelationshiptotheirmeaning.(人类语言的本质特征之一,指语

言符号的形式与意义之间没有自然的联系.)

kbetweenthemisamatterof

convention.

E.g.“hou”uchi(Japane)

Mansion(French)

房子(Chine)

(1)arbitrarybetweenthesoundofamorphemeanditsmeaning语言的音

和义之间的任意性

“arbitrary”,wemeanthereisnologicalconnection

betweenmeaningsandsounds.语言的意义和语音之间没有逻辑关系。

Agogmightbeapigifonlythefirstpersonorgroupofpersonshadud

gethereforeislargelyarbitrary.

guageisnotabsolutelyemtobesomesound-meaning

association,ifwethinkofechowords,like

“bang””crash””roar””rumble””cakle”,whicharemotivated

inacertainn.”

onomatopoeia拟声词---wordsthatsoundlikethesoundstheydescribe

那些发音像它们的描写的声音的词

mpounds(wordscompoundedtobeoneword)arenotentirely

arbitaryeither.“type”and”write”areopaqueorunmotivatedwords,

while“type-writer”islessso,ormoretransparentormotivatedthan

nsay“arbitrariness”isamatterof

degree.

arbitraryandonometopoeiceffectmayworkatthesametime.任意性和拟

声可以同时起作用。

muroushauntoffliesonsummereves.夏日黄昏，群蝇嗡嗡地非。

(2)Arbitraryatthesyntacticlevel句法上的任意性

Accordingtosystematic-functionalistsandAmericanfunctionlists,

languageisnotarbitraryatthesyntacticlevel.对于系统功能语言学家

和美国功能语言学家来说，语言在句法上是非任意的。

Syntax-----itreferstothewaysthatntencesareconstructedaccording

tothegrammarofarrangement.句法就是依据语法安排造句之法。

(3)Aribrtaryandconvention任意性和约定性

Thelinkbetweenalinguisticsignanditsmeaningisamatterof

convention.语言学上的符号和它的意义之间是约定俗成的关系。

Theothersideofcoinofarbitrariness,namely,conventionality.任意

性的相反面，即约定性。

conventionality----Itmeansthatinanylanguagetherearecertain

wordsarecustomarilyudbyallspeakerswiththesameintendedmeaning

andunderstoodbyalllistenersinthesameway.

Arbitrainessoflangaugemakesitpotentiallycreative,and

conventionalityoflanguagemakeslearningalanguagelaborious.任意性

赋予语言潜在的创造力，而语言的约定性又使学习语言变得费力。

people,especiallystructurallinguistsbelieve

Onthearbitrarinessoflinguisticssigns

SchoolofForeignLanguage

BeijingNormalUniversity

Arbitrarinessisonedesignfeatureofhumanlanguage,whichrefersto

thefactthattheformsoflinguisticsignsbearnonaturalrelationship

and,itcanbeenthatarbitrarinessdoexist

fromarbitrarybetweenthesoundofamorphemeanditsmeaning,.Onanother

hand,thelinkbetweenalinguisticsignanditsmeaningisamatterof

resomeconflictsbetweenarbitraryandconvention.

isnecessarytofindawaytoresolvetheconflicts.

By“arbitrariness”,wemeanthereisnologicalconnectionbetween

ghtbeapigifonlythefirstpersonorgroup

elyacceptedmeaningofthis

feature,whichwasdiscusdbySaussure,firstreferstothefactthat

theformsoflinguisticsignsbearnonaturalrelationshiptotheir

tance,wecannotexplainwhyabookiscalleda/buk/

andapena/pen/.lowing

=signifier--signified;the

relationbetweenisarbitrary(=stop,green=go);itcanbe

fiermeansbyits

mple,“Saussure"The

linguisticsignunites,notathingandaname,butaconceptanda

elementsareintimatelyunited,andeachrecallsthe

motivated,ary

inthatitactuallyhasnonaturalconnectionwiththe

signified."signifier+signified-referenttriad:Theinclusionofthe

conceptwithinthetriadofsignificationsuggeststhatthereisno

naturalorimmediaterelationbetweenthewordsandthemeaning.

FerdinanddeSaussureis,andrightlyso,consideredthefatherofmodern

heprincipalcontributionsofdeSaussuretoour

understandingoflanguageishisobrvationthatlinguisticsignsare

arbitrary,i.e.,thereisnonecessaryconnectionbetweenthesignified

nitudeofdeSaussure’scontributionisnot

somuchinthisobrvation,butratherinhilaborationofthe

implicationsofthatarbitrariness.

Generallyspeaking,therearetwodifferentschoolsofbeliefconcerning

ople,especiallystructurallinguistsbelievethat

eople,however,holdthatlanguage

isiconic,thatis,thereisadirectrelationorcorrespondencebetween

soundandmeaning,suchasonomatopoeia.(cuckoo;crash).Forthe

majorityofanimalsignals,theredoesappeartobeaclearconnection

betweentheconveyedmessageandthesignaludtoconveyit,andfor

them,thetsofsignalsudincommunicationisfinite.

However,accordingtodeSaussuriananalysis,itiasytoconfuthe

arbitrarinessoflinguisticsignwithitsneutrality,andattimesthis

appearstobethecaindeSaussure’sCourinGeneralLinguistics

(cf.p.[106]).WhiledeSaussureiscorrectthatsignsarearbitrary

intheirrelationshiptothesignified,itdoesnotfollowthatsigns

arechonbythelanguagecommunityatrandom.

Forexample,whiletheEnglishsign‘woman’intirelyarbitraryin

itsrelationshiptothesignified(andcouldbereplaced,say,by‘xyz’),

thechoiceofthisparticularsignfromaninfinitenumberofpossible

signsisnotarbitrary,butclearlyinfluencedbyaperceivedrelationship

betweenitssignifiedandthatwhichissignifiedbythesign‘man’.

Thefactthatthearbitrarynatureofsignscannotbeequatedwith

randomnessmeansthatwecanneverassumethatlinguisticsignsare

neutral.

Asisclearfromtheaboveexample,aparticularchoiceofsignscanbe

suggestiveofanecessaryrelationshipbetweenthesignifiedconcepts

(e.g.,man/woman);however,thenecessityofthisrelationshipisan

ethesignsareinfactarbitrary,anyapparent

relationshipbetweenthesignsiscontingent,r

words,thelinguisticsignsweinheritfromourlanguagecommunitysuggest

tous,sometimesinverystrongterms,thewayinwhichtheworldis,but

suchsuggestionscouldbewithoutadequategrounds(anddifficultto

overcomebecauoftheirrootednessinthelanguagestructure).

AnexamplethatcomestomindistheuoftheEnglishsign‘he’for

gnisarbitrary,andcouldbe

replacedby‘she’or‘it’,butthehistoricalconventionalchoiceof

‘he’ontheonehandreflectsaparticularmalebiasinthelanguage

community,andontheotherhandreinforcesthatbias,asthefeminist

notjustnitpicking;theparticular

conventioninthiscaleadsustoassumemalenesswheregenderisunknown,

andpre-disposustoexpectamale–itsignificantlyskewstheway

weunderstandtheworldandactinit.

Theforcesthatcreatethelanguagestructurefromwithinwhichwe

generateourutterancesandtexts,andthroughwhichweetheworld,

uently,languagecannotbeadequately

understoodordescribedinpurelya-historical/

conclusionis,ofcour,notnew,butwhattheargumentshowsisthat

itisnotsomuchphilosophicalone,asntiallylinguistic–itall

comesdowntothearbitrarinessofsigns.

Semiologydealswiththesketchofageneraltheoryofsignsthatstudies

udinglalangueparlée

inmiologytofeaturesociality,weareabletoclassifylalangueparley.

AsFerdinanddeSaussuregraspedthecommongroundofsystemsofsigns:

sociality,hegraspedtheesnceoflinguisticsigns,whichcanbe

visualizedinlalangueparléuently,hedelimitedtheobjectof

linguisticstudy:lalangueparlély,ifwewanttostudy

miology,weshouldstartwithlalangueparlée,themainsystemofsigns,

us

evidentthatSaussurepaidcloattentiontomiologyforthepurpo

visualwriting

reprentsthestructureof1'fyinglalangue

parlénsystemofwriting

rvestomarklinguisticunitsandstructuresalreadyperceivedby

speakers,thusthewritingbecomestheframeorwayormediumfor

perceivinglinguisticunitsandstructures,andprovidesthenotionsand

categoriesforspeculatingthestructuresoflalangueparlée,namely,

itresultsfromthesignsystemofwritingtoperceivestructuresofla

langueparlée,

attentiontothenormismeanttopayattentiontotheconventionand

socialityofcollectivity,mappearsin

pureforms,andeverythingthatconcernsformsmustbepartofmiology.

Wheretherearedifferences,therearevalues,anddifferencesarebad

uponl'

reallytheprimarytruththatthelinguisticsignisarbitrary,onlyin

aflashwhilethesignwhichiscreatedcorrespondstoconcept.

However,thearbitrarynatureofthesignisofnoimportanceassoon

asthesignbecomesasocialfact,becauitisindependentofthesocial

rtofthesocialfactis

rwords,Saussure

regardedthearbitrarynatureasthefirstprincipleofthelinguistic

signontheonehand,andthoughtontheotherhandthatitdoesnotreally

angueisalreadyinexistenceforalltime,andwhatwe

ore,thesignis

arbitrarywithrespecttotheconcept,whichhasnothingtodowiththe

sign,whileintermsofthelanguagecommunityinwhichthelinguistic

signisud,esanctionedbythecommunity.

Wecanconcludethatthenatureoflinguisticsignissociality.

Thelanguageisnotsoarbitrarywhensomewordswithdifferentdegrees

ofonomatopoeia,namely,wordsthatsoundlikethesoundstheydescribe.

e,.Thelinguisticformsemtohaveanaturalbasis.

ButinEnglish,totallydifferentwordsareudtodescribethesound.

Forexample,thedogbarkswowwowinEnglishbutwangwangwanginChine.

Soifyoureaditaloud,youmayfeeltheconnectionbetweenthesounds

effectdoesnotreallyresultfromthewhispering

soundsthemlves,foryouwillhavetoknowthemeaningsofthewords

murmurus,summer,this,

justthinkofusingthesimilarsoundingwordmurderoustosubstitute

murmurs,andnoconnectionwhatsoeverwillbeestablishedbetweenthe

soundsandthelittlenoisoftheflyingmosquitoes.“Itisonlywhen

youknowthemeaningthatyouinferthattheformisappropriate.”

(Widdowson,1996:6)Thisalsoappliestomanycasoftheso-called

onomatopoeicwords.

Accordingtosystemic-functionalistsandAmericanfunctionalists,

axwereferto

thewaysthatntencesareconstructedaccordingtothegrammarof

ow,theorderofelementsinantencefollows

certainrules,andthereisacertaindegreeofcorrespondencebetween

rwords,syntax

islessarbitrarythanwords,especiallyinsofarasthiskindoforder

efollowingthreentencesforexample,a:Hecame

inandsatdown.b:Hesatdownandcamein.c:Hesatdownafterhecame

in.

Whenwesay(a)werefertothequenceofactions;ifwesay(b)

thereaderswilltakeitasmeaningtheoppositequenceofreal

happenings—perhapshegotintohiswheelchairandpropelledhimlfinto

(c)withthehelpoftheword“after”wecanreverthe

orethefunctionalistsholdthatthemost

strictlyarbitraryleveloflanguageexistsinthedistinctiveunitsof

soundsbywhichwedistinguishpairsofwordslikepinandbin,orfish

anddish.

WhenwetalkaboutArbitrarinessandconventions,whatthenisthelink

betweenalinguisticsignanditsmeaning?Itisamatterofconvention.

Herewehavetolookattheothersideofthecoinofarbitrariness,namely,

arinessoflanguagemakesitpotentiallycreative,

learnersofaforeignlanguage,itistheconventionalityofalanguage

thatismoreworthnoticingthatitsarbitrariness.

Allinall,therearetwodifferentschoolsofthoughtonwhether

and,itcanbeenthat

arbitrarinessdoexistfromarbitrarybetweenthesoundofamorphemeand

herhand,thelinkbetweenalinguisticsignandits

sthatthereisnoabsolute

r,westillcanfindtherearesomeconflicts

betweenthetwodifferentschoolsofthoughtonwhetherlinguisticsings

sthatinanylanguagetherearecertain

wordsarecustomarilyudbyallspeakerswiththesameintendedmeaning

ainessoflangauge

makesitpotentiallycreative,andconventionalityoflanguagemakes

kbetweenalinguisticsignandits

inion,eachoftheschoolsof

eisnoneedtoresolvetheconflictsbetween

stlikeacontradiction,

ca,thistwo

schoolsofthoughtcanexistandimpulsiveeachother.

References:

1,langueandparole--thelanguagesystemandtheindividualutterance

<<--objectofstructuraliststudy:langue;thesystemofrules,the

grammar,underlyingliteraryworks>>

2,Williams,otions“lexicallyrelated”and“head

ofaword”.LinguisticInquiry12.245-74.

3,Zubizarreta,ationbetweenmorphophonologyand

morphosyntax:sticInquiry

16.247-90.

4,Paivio&Begg(1981),PsychologyofLanguage-PrenticeHallInc

(1981)

5,TheWholeisLessthantheSumofthePartsJuly12th,2005

6,(1994),LanguageAcquisition-BehavioralandBrain

Sciences

7,&(1990),NaturalLanguageandNaturalSelection

-BehavioralandBrainSciences13.