Chapter one  Introduction
   
     一、定义
1.语言学Linguistics
Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.
2.普通语言学General Linguistics
The study of language as a whole is often called General linguistics.
3.语言language
Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.
语言是人类用来交际的任意性的有声符号体系。
4.识别特征Design Features  
It refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication.
     语言识别特征是指人类语言区别与其他任何动物的交际体系的限定性特征。
     Arbitrariness任意性
     Productivity多产性 （创造性）
     Duality双重性
     Displacement移位性
    Cultural transmission文化传递
5.语言能力Competence （抽象）
Competence is the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language.
6.语言运用performance  （具体）
Performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication.
   语言运用是所掌握的规则在语言交际中的具体体现。
7.历时语言学Diachronic linguistics
The study of language change through time. a diachronic study of language is a historical study, which studies the historical development of language over a period of time.
8.共时语言学Synchronical linguistics
The study of a given language at a given time.
9.语言langue （抽象）
The abstract linguistic system shared by all members of a speech community.
10.言语parole （具体）
The realization of langue in actual use.
11.规定性Prescriptive
It aims to lay down rules for ”correct” behavior, to tell people what they should say and what should not say.
12.描述性Descriptive
A linguistic study describes and analyzes the language people actually use.

二、知识点
1.language is not an isolated phenomenon, it’s a social activity carried out in a certain social environment by human beings.
语言不是一种孤立的现象，而是人类在一定的社会环境下进行的一种社会活动。
2.几种观点和现象的提出者：
⑴瑞士语言学家F.de Saussure :Langue和parole的区别
⑵美国语言学家N.Chomsky :in1950针对Saussure’s langue&parole提出Competence和performance
⑶曾经对语言概念下过定义的语言学家
Sapir---language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communication ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.
Hall----language is the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.
Chomsky---from now on I will consider language to be a set of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.
⑷美国语言学家Charles Hockett :提出了语言的识别特征design features
3.the word ’language’ preceded by the zero-article ,it implies that linguistics studies not any particular language.
Language一词前不加冠词说明语言学家不只研究一种特定的语言。
4.in order to discover the nature of the underlying language system ,what the linguists has to do first if to study language facts.
5.language is a complicated entity with multiple layers and facts, so it's hardly possible for the linguistics to deal with it all at once.   判断题
6.Frist drew the attention of the linguists were the sounds used in languages.最先引起语言学家注意的是语言的发音。
三、问答题
1.what are major branches of linguistics? what does each study?
Phonetics----it’s defined as the study of the phonic medium of language, it’s concerned with all the sounds that occur in the world’s languages.
Phonology---the study of sounds systems—the inventory of distinctive sounds that occur in a language and the patterns into which they fall.
Morphology---It’s a branch of a grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.
Syntax-------it's a subfield of linguistics that studies the sentence structure of a language.
Semantics---It’s simply defined as the study of meaning in abstraction.
Pragmatics---the study of meaning in context of words.
Sociolinguistics—the study of language with reference to society.
Psycholinguistics---the study of language with reference to the working of the mind.
Applied linguistics---the application of linguistic principles and theories to language teaching and learning.
2.why do we say language is arbitrary?
Language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between the sounds that people use and the objects to which these sounds refer.