1/ What is linguistics?
什么是语言学？
 
Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language. It studies not any particular language, but languages in general.
 
2/ The scope of linguistics
语言学的研究范畴
 
The study of language as a whole is often called general linguistics. (普通语言学)
 
The study of sounds, which are used in linguistic communication, is called phonetics.（语音学）
The study of how sounds are put together and used in communication is called phonology. （音系学）
 
The study of the way in which morphemes are arranged to form words are called morphology. （形态学）
 
The study of how morphemes and words are combined to form sentences is called syntax. （句法学）
 
The study of meaning in language is called semantics. （语义学）
 
The study of meaning in context of use is called pragmatics. （语用学）
 
The study of language with reference to society is called socio-linguistics. （社会语言学）
 
The study of language with reference to the working of mind is called psycho-linguistics. （心理语言学）
 
The study of applications (as the recovery of speech ability) is generally known as applied linguistics. （应用语言学） But in a narrow sense, applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistic principles and theories to language teaching and learning, especially the teaching of foreign and second language.
 
Other related branches include anthropological linguistics, （人类语言学） neurological linguistics, （神经语言学） mathematical linguistics, （数字语言学）and computational linguistics. （计算机语言学）
 
3/ Some important distinctions in linguistics
语言学研究中的几对基本概念
 
Prescriptive and descriptive 规定与描写
 
If a linguistic study describes and analyzes the language people actually use, it is said to be descriptive, if it aims to lay down rules to tell people what they should say and what they should not say, it is said to be prescriptive.
 
Modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar. Traditional grammar is prescriptive while modern linguistics is descriptive. The task of linguists is supposed to describe the language people actually use, whether it is “correct” or not.
 
Synchronic and diachronic 共时和历时
 
The description of a language at some point in time is a synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study. In modern linguistics, synchronic study is more important.
 
Speech and writing 口头语与书面语
 
Speech and writing are the two major media of communication. Modern linguistics regards the spoken form of language as primary, but not the written form. Reasons are: 1. Speech precedes writing; 2. There are still many languages that have only the spoken form; 3. In terms of function, the spoken language is used for a wider range of purposes than the written, and carries a larger load of communication than the written.
 
Langue and parole 语言和言语
 
The Swiss linguist F. de Saussure made the distinction between langue and parole early 20th century.
 
Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. Saussure made the distinction in order to single out one aspect of language for serious study. He believes what linguists should do is to abstract langue from parole, to discover the regularities governing the actual use of language and make them the subjects of study of linguistics.
 
Competence and performance 语言能力和语言运用
 
Proposed by American linguist N. Chomsky in the late 1950’s.
 
He defines competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language, and performance the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. He believes the task of the linguists is to discover and specify the language rules.
Chapter Two Phonology
一、定义
1.宽式音标Broad transcription
The transcription of speech sounds with letter symbols only.
2.窄式音标Narrow transcription
The transcription of speech sound with letters symbols and the diacritics.
3.清音Voiceless
When the vocal cords are drawn wide apart ,letting air go through without causing vibration ,the sounds produced in such a condition are called voiceless sounds.
4.浊音Voicing
Sounds produced while the vocal cords are vibrating are called voiced sounds.
5.元音Vowel
The sounds in the production of which no articulators come very close together and the air stream passes through the vocal tract without obstruction are called vowels.
6.辅音Consonants
The sounds in the production of which there is an obstruction of the air stream at some point of the vocal tract are called consonants.
7.音位Phoneme
The basic unit in phonology, it’s a collection of distinctive phonetic features.
8.音位变体Allophones
Different phones which can represent a phoneme in different environments are called the allophones of that phoneme.
9.音素phone
A phonetic unit or segment. it doesnot necessarily distinguish meaning, it’s a speech sound we use when speaking a language.
10.最小对立对Minimal pair
When two different forms are identical in every way except for one sound segment which occurs in the same place in the strings, the two words are said to form a minimal pair.
11.超切分特征Suprasegmental
The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segment are called suprasegmental features. the main suprasegmental features include stress ,intonation and tone.
12.互补分布complementary distribution    P35
Two allophones of the same phoneme are said to be in complementary distribution.
13.语言的语音媒介Phonic medium of language
 The limited range of sounds which are meaningful in human communication and are of interest to linguistic studies are the phonic medium of language.
 在人类交际中有着一定意义、对语言学研究来说举足轻重。有限的声音是语音媒介。
14.爆破音stops
When a obstruction created by the speech organs is total or complete, the speech sound produced with the obstruction released and the air passing out again is called a stop or a plosive.
they are[b] [p] [t] [d] [k] [g]
二、知识点
1.statistics resulting from careful investigations show that there have been over5,000languages in the world, about two thirds of which have not had written form.
2. of the two media of language,speech is more basic than writing.
3.Phonetic  组成
 ⑴Articulatory phonetics 发音语音学longest established, mostly developed
  ⑵Auditory   phonetics  听觉语音学
  ⑶Acoustic   phonetics  声学语音学
4.articulatoryApparatus /Organs of Speech
 
Pharyngeal cavity– 咽腔
Oral ...–      口腔greatest source of modification of air stream found here
Nasal …– 鼻腔
5.The tongue is the most flexible, responsible for more varieties of articulation than any other, the extreme back of the tongue can be raised towards the uvula and a speech sound can be thus produced as is used in Arabic and French.
6.Obstruction between the back of the tongue and the velar area results in the pronunciation of[k] and[g],the narrowing of space between the hard palate and the front of the tongue leads to the sound[j];the obstruction created between the tip of the tongue and the alveolar ridge results in the sounds[t]and[d].
7.nasal consonants: [m] / [n] / [η]