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现代语言学第七章

(2009-11-17 14:18:02)
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杂谈

 Historical linguistics

1,Historical linguistics

Historical linguistics is the subfield of linguistics that studies language change.历史语言学是研究语言变化的一个语言学分支。

Historical linguists are concerned with the historical development of languages and the processes involved in language change. Historical linguists study the nature of language change and the causes that lead to language change.历史语言学家研究语言的历史发展和语言变化的过程。历史语言学家们研究的对象为语言变化的本质及导致这些语言变化的原因。

 

2,The purpose and significance of the historical study of language对语言进行历史研究的目的和意义

The historical study of language is of great importance to our understanding of human languages and human linguistic competence.研究语言变化对于理解人类语言和人类的语言能力极其重要。

Researches in historical linguistics shed light on prehistoric developments in the evolution of language and the connections of earlier and later variants of the same language, and provide valuable insights into the kinship patterns of different languages.历史语言学的研究成果揭示语言演化的史前发展和同一语言早期与后期变体之间的联系,为不同语言的亲缘关系提供洞见。

Diachronic linguistics: the term diachronic linguistics may be used instead of historical linguistics as a way of referring to the approach which studies language change over various periods of time and at various historical stages.历时语言学这个说法取代历史语言学,历时语言学研究语言在不同的时间阶段和不同的历史时期中发展变化的方法。

Synchronic linguistics: the term synchronic linguistics refers to the study of variation in language in different places and among different groups at a given point in time.共时语言学指的是在一个给定的时间点里,对不同地域和不同人类群体中所使用的语言变体的研究。

 

3,The nature of language change语言变化的本质

All living languages change with time.所有的活语言都随着时间的变化而变化。

As a general rule, language change is universal, continuous and, to a considerable degree, regular and systematic.语言的变化是普遍的,连续的,在一定程度上也是规则的和系统的。

The historical development of a language is hardly a sudden transformation of one language into another, but a gradual and constant process, often indiscernible to speakers of the same generation.语言变化是一个缓慢的渐变的过程,其变化是同代人所不易察觉的。

Language development may be regarded as linguistic evolution form one stage to another.语言的发展可以看作是语言从一个阶段到另一个阶段的演化过程。

 

4,The historical development of English

(1)Major periods in the history of English

It is generally accepted that the history of the English language is divided into the periods of Old English(roughly from 449 to 1100), Middle English(roughly from 1100 to 1500) and Modern English(roughly from 1500 to the present).

(2)Linguistic change of English英语语言系统的变化

Language change is essentially a matter of change in the grammar. The change in the grammar of a language is usually regraded as linguistic change. Linguistic change occurs in all components of the grammar, including changes in the sound, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic systems.语言变化本质上是语法变化,也就是语言系统的变化。语言系统的变化出现在语法的各个组成部分,包括语音系统、形态系统、句法系统、词汇系统、语义系统等。

1】Sound change

Vowel sound change 

eg.     Middle E      Modern E

five     fi:v           faiv

feet     fe:t           fi:t

Sound loss 

eg.      Old E        Middle E        Modern E

nicht(night)    nixt                          nait

name      na:ma:        na:me            neim

love        lufu          luve             l^v

Sound addition

      eg.      emty  ------  empty

              timer  ------  timber

Sound movement

 eg.     Old E        Modern E

bridd          bird

hros          horse

2】Morphological change

Affix loss

Affix addition

3】Syntactic change

Rule loss

Rule additon

Rule change

4】Lexical change

Lexical loss

     eg.  Old E 

rice (realm or kingdom)   

wer ( man)

Lexical addition

The history of English lexical expansion is one that is characterized with heavy borrowing and word formation

In addition to borrowing, new words have been added to English through word formation rules such as compounding, derivation, acronym formation, blending, abbreviation, clipping, back-formation and coinage.

Compounding: compounding is a process of combining two or more words into one lexical unit.   eg.  big-mouth  three-year-old

Derivation refers to the process by which new words are formed by the addition of affxes to the roots, stem or words. 

eg.  uglification  finalize

An acronym is a word created by combining the initials of a number of words.

   eg. UNESCO(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)

blending is a process of forming a new word by combining parts of other words

   eg.  smog(smoke+fog)  motel(motor+hotel)

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase which represents the complete form.

   eg.  TV(television)  Jan(January)

Clipping is a kind of abbreviation of otherwise longer words or phrases.

   eg.  gym(gymnasium)   e-mail(electronic mail)

Back-formation is a precess by which new words are formed by taking away the suffix of an existing word.

eg.  typewrite(typewriter)   edit(editor)

Coinage refers to the invention of a new word, often from the brand-name or trade-mark of a product.

   eg.  kodak(film for photography)     xerox(photo copier)

5】Semantic change

Semantic change refers to the change of meaning of a word.语义变化是指词义的变化。

As language changes over time, the meaning of a word may deviate from its original denotation through the process of semantic broadening or narrowing. Another noticeable type of semantic change involves a substantial alteration in the meaning of a word, known as semantic shift.语言随时间的变化而变化,词义可通过语义广义化、语义狭义化、语义演变同原义发生变异。

Semantic broadening:semantic broadening refers to the process in which the meaning of a word becomes more general or inclusive than its historically earlier denotation.语义广义化是指词义变得比原义更具有概括性或包容性。

Semantic narrowing: semantic narrowing is a process in which the meaning of a word becomes less general or inclusive than its historically earlier meaning.词义狭义化是指词义变得比原义的概括性或包容性狭小的过程。

Semantic shift: semantic shift is a process of semantic change in which a word loses its former meaning and acquires a new, sometimes related, meaning.语义演变是指词丧失原义而获得新的或相同意义的语义变化过程。

 

5,Language family

Historical and comparative linguistics: The study of ongoing changes that have undergone is sometimes called historical and comparative linguistics.对语言方面所经历的那些持续不断的变化的研究一般被称作历史或比较语言学。

It is historical in the sense that it deals with the historical development of individual languages.从历史的意义看,历史比较语言学研究具体语言的历史发展。

It is comparative in the sense that it aims at developing and elucidating the genetic relationships that exist between and among languages, classifying related languages into language families, and reconstructing their ancestral languages.从比较的意义看,历史比较语言学的目标是发掘和解释语言之间的亲缘关系、把相关语言划分为语系、从建其母语。

Classifying genertically related languages:

It is estimated that more than five thousand languages are spoken in the world today.

Comparative reconstruction: A language family is established by the use of a method known as comparative reconstruction.语系是通过一个叫作比较重建法的方法建立起来的。

In terms of the number of individual speakers and indvidual language, four language families are considered to be the most important. They are the Indo-European Family, the Sino-Tibetan Family, the Austronesian Family and the Afroasiatic Family.

The Indo-European language family:

The Indo-European language family (or Indo-European for short) is the first and most widely investigated language family of the world.

 

6,The causes of language change

Sound assimilation: Sound assimilation refers to the physiological effect of one sound on another. Assimilative processes are phonological changes due to physiological mechanisms.语音同化是指一个语音对另一个语音的生理影响。同化过程是由于生理机制而发生地语音变化。

Rule simplification and regularization:Rule simplification and regularization are a type of spontaneous morphological rule change that involves exceptional plural forms of nouns.规则的简化与统一是一种涉及名词复数的特殊形式的自然的形态规则变化。

Internal borrowing: Another kind of change that is caused by the need to lessen the burden on memory is called internal borrowing. In order to reduce the number of exceptional or irregular morphemes, speakers of a particular language may borrow a rule from one part of the grammar and apply it generally.另外的一种因为减少记忆负担的需要而引起的较大的语言变化叫做内部借用。为了减少特别的、不规则的音位的数量,某一特定语言的使用者可能会从该语言语法的一部分中抽取一条规则并把它加以普遍应用。

Elaboration: Rule elaboration occurs when there is a need to reduce ambiguity and increase communicative clarity or expressiveness.当有必要减少歧义或增加交际的明晰性或表达力的时候,就可能出现规则的细化。

Sociological triggers: Linguists have become increasingly aware of sociological causes for language change. It is not only geographical, but also socio-political, boundaries, that set limits to the degree of intercommunication among people living in the same community. One social dialect may be modified by contact with another.社会因素:语言学家们已经越来越意识到社会因素在语言变化中的作用。生活在同一个社会团体之间的人们不仅仅有地理上的界限,而且有社会政治等方面的界限,限制着人们相互交往的程度。一种社会方言会通过相互接触和交往而改变。

Cultural transmission: One of the most pervasive sources seem to be the continual process of cultural transmission across generations. Although a new generation has to find a way of using the language of the previous generation, it has to find expression_rs that can best communicate the views and concepts of the time and the changed and ever-changing social life, and re-create the language of the community.文化传播:语言变化另一个无处不在的原因似乎离不开人们代代相传的那种持续不断的文化传播。尽管新的一代人必须想方设法学会使用前人的语言,但对于他们所处的时代中那些变化了的或不在变化着的社会生活中所特有的概念和观念,他们也必须找出一些更好的表达方法来交流这些东西,且必须重新创造属于他们集团的语言。

Children’s approximation toward the adult grammar: The way children acquire the language is another basic cause for language change. Generally speaking, children acquire their native language not through formal instruction of grammatical rules. They usually construct their personal grammars by themselves and generalize rules from the linguistic information they hear. Their language develops in stages until it approximates the grammatical rules of the adult language.儿童习得语言的方式构成了语言变化的又一基本原因。语言习得的学者们所普遍认同的一个观点是,儿童习得母语的时候并不是通过语法规则在形式上的指定。孩子们通常自己构筑他们个人的语法体系,并从他们所听来的信息中概括出语言规则。他们语言的发展分阶段进行直至他们接近了成人的语法准则。

 

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