语言学术语(1).

1. Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human

communication.

2. Linguistics is generally defined as the study of language.

3. Phonetics is defined as the study of the phonic medium of language; it is

concerned with all the sounds that occur in the world’s languages.

4. Phonology aims at discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns

and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication.

5. Morphology refers to the study of the internal structure of words and the

rules by which words are formed.

6. Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to

form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences.

7. Semantics can be simply defined as the study of meaning.

8. Pragmatics is the study of how speakers of a language use sentences to

effect successful communication.

9. Sociolinguistics is the sub-field of linguistics that studies the relation

between language and society, between the uses of language and the social structures in which the users of language live.

10．Psycholinguistics is the study of language processing. It is concerned with

the processes of language comprehension and production.

11. If the linguistics study aims to lay down rules for “correct and standard”

behavior in using language, it is said to be prescriptive

12. If a linguistic study aims to describe and analyze the language people

actually use, it is said to be descriptive

13. Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members

of a speech community.

14.Parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use.

15. Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules

of his language.

16. Chomsky defines performance as the actual realization of this knowledge

in linguistic communication.

17. Design Feature refers to the defining properties of human language that

distinguish it from any animal system of communication.

18. Arbitrariness means that there is no logical connection between meanings

and sounds.

19. Productivity means that language is productive or creative in that it

makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users.

20. Duality means that language is a system, which consists of two sets of

structures, or two levels.

21. Displacement means that language can be used to refer to things which

are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future, or in far-away places.

22. CulturaTransmission shows that language is culturally transmitted. 23. A phone is a phonetic unit or segment.

24. Phoneme is a phonological unit that is of distinctive value.

25. The most basic element of meaning is traditionally called morpheme 26. Prefix is the morphemes that occur only before other morphemes.

Suffix is the morphemes that occur only after other morphemes. 27. Root

28. Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or

similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb.

29. Transformation is a special type of rule that can move an element from

one position to another.

30. Deep Structure (or D-structure) is formed by the XP rule in accordance

with the head’s sub-categorization properties.

Surface Structure is corresponding to the final syntactic form of the

sentence which results from appropriate transformations.

31. Performative is the sentences that did not state a fact or describe a state,

and were not verifiable.

Constative is the statements that either state or describe, and were thus

verifiable.

32. Synonymy refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning. 33. Antonymy is used for oppositeness;

34. Homonymy refers to the phenomenon that words having different

meanings have the same form.

35. Polysemy means that different words have the same or similar meaning,

and the same word may have more than one meaning.

36. Hyponymy refers to the sense relation between a more general, more

inclusive word and a more specific word.

37. Dialect (7 types) Regional dialect, Sociolect, Language gender,

Language and age, Idiolect., Ethnic dialect

38. The type of language which is selected as appropriate to the type of

situation is Register

39. Field (Tenor, Mode)of Discourse 40. Learning Strategy(3 types) 41. Personality

42. Culture, in a broad sense, means the total way of life of a people,

including the patterns of belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques, and language that characterizes the life of the human community.

43. Context

44. Acquisition refers to the child’s acquisition of his mother tongue. 45. Learning

46.Transfer(2 types) A distinction made between positive transfer and

negative transfer. While the former would facilitate target language learning, the later would interfere.

47. Error（Mistake）Errors defined as unintentionally deviant from the target

language and not self-corrigible by the learner suggest failure in competence, mistakes as either intentionally or unintentionally deviant forms and self-corrigible suggest failure in performance.

48. Interlanguge established as learners’ independent system of the second

language which is of neither the native language nor the second language, but a

continuum or approximation from his native language to the target language.

Fossilization is defined as a process occurring from time to time in which

incorrect linguistic features become a permanent part of the way a person speaks or writes a language.

49. Language aptitude refers to a natural ability for learning a second

language.

50. Motivation（4 types） defined as the learner’s attitudes and

affective state or learning drive, has a strong impact on his efforts in learning a second language. Instrumental motivation, Integrative motivation, Resultative motivation, Intrinsic motivation.