Chapter 1 Properties of Language 1
1 Introduction—Nature or Nurture? 1
2 The Nature of Language 3
2.1 Creativity 3
2.2 Arbitrariness of linguistic signs 5
2.3 Duality 7
2.4 Displacement 8
2.5 Structure-dependence 9
3 Linguistic Competence and Linguistic Performance 11
4 Descriptive Grammar and Prescriptive Grammar 12
5 Summary 14
Exercises 15
References 16
Chapter 2 The Structures of Language 17
1 Introduction 17
1.1 Levels of linguistic organization 17
1.2 How many levels are there? 17
1.3 Evidence of structures 18
2 Patterns of Speech Sounds:Phonology 20
3 The Words of Language:Morphology 23
3.1 What is a morpheme? 24
3.2 Derivational morphology 25
3.3 Inflectional morphology 26
4 Sentence Structures:Syntax 27
4.1 Word order 27
4.2 Grammaticality judgment 27
4.3 Ambiguity 29
4.4 Recursiveness 30
5 Summary 31
Exercises 32
References 33
Chapter 3 Meaning of Language 34
1 Meaning in the Objective World 34
1.1 Arbitrariness and iconicity 35
1.2 Linguistic relativity and determinism 36
1.3 The logical approach to language meaning 37
2 Meaning in the Language System 40
2.1 The many meanings of a word 42
2.2 Some well-known word relations 44
2.3 Componential analysis 50
2.4 Meaning beyond words 52
3 Summary 55
Exercises 56
References 56
Chapter 4 Origins of Language 58
1 Introduction 58
2 Defining the Topic 59
2.1 The origin,the origins or origins of language? 59
2.2 Speech or written language? 60
2.3 Origins of language in general or origins of specific languages? 60
2.4 The meanings of the word origin 60
2.5 Where do we look for evidence? 61
3 Search for the Source:Creationism vs.Evolutionism 61
3.1 The divine origin theory 62
3.2 The inner spirit theory 63
3.3 The nature theory 64
3.4 The sing-song theory 65
4 Search for the Beginning 65
4.1 Full-blown language 65
4.2 Gesture theory 66
4.3 Ta-ta theory 67
4.4 Yo-he-ho theory 67
4.5 Supply and demand theory 67
4.6 Rousseau and Herder's reflective theory 68
5 Search for the Causes 70
5.1 Language for gossiping 71
5.2 Language as social control 71
5.3 Language as social contact 72
5.4 Language through trial and error 73
6 Bickerton's Bioprogram 74
7 Summary 79
Exercises 81
References 81
Chapter 5 Language in Use:The Pragmatic Perspective 83
1 What Is to Study Language in Use? 83
2 How Is More Communicated than Is Said? 85
2.1 Implying and inferring meanings 85
2.2 Being cooperative 88
2 3 Flouting the maxims 91
3 How to Do Things with Words 94
3.1 Performing three acts at once 96
3.2 Performing appropriate speech acts 98
3.3 Classifying speech acts 101
4 HoW to Sound Polite 104
4.1 Face matters 104
4.2 Lend me a stamp 108
5 Summary 112
Exercises 113
References 114
Chapter 6 Language and Power 115
1 What Is Meant by"Power"? 115
2 What Is the Relationship Between Power and Language? 116
3 How Is Power Exercised Through Language? 118
3.1 Face-to-face conversation 118
3.2 Ideology,common sense and power 119
3.3 Standardization 124
3.4 Discourse conventions 126
4 The Power of Language 129
4.1 Powerful language vs.powerless language 129
4.2 Techniques and strategies people use to insert influence and control 132
5 Summary 138
Exercises 139
References 139
Chapter 7 Language and Gender 141
1 Introduction 141
1.1 Why"gender"not"sex"? 141
1.2 Research review 142
2 Gender-Distinctive Use of Language 143
2.1 Manifestations of gender differences in language 143
2.2 Possible explanations 144
3 Gender-Distinctive Conversational Styles 146
3.1 Manifestations of gender differences in conversational styles 146
3.2 Possible explanations 148
4 Gender-Related Discrimination in Language 149
4.1 Addressing terms and naming conventions 150
4.2 Marked feminine terms 151
4.3 Generic he and man 153
4.4 Male and female ordering 154
4.5 Derogation of feminine words 155
5 Summary 157
Exercises 158
References 158
Chapter 8 First Language Acquistion 161
1 Research Methods in the Study of Child Language Acquisition 161
1.1 Diaries and parental reports 161
1.2 Observational data 162
1.3 Experiment 163
2 Language Development 165
2.1 Phonological development 165
2.2 Semantic development 166
2.3 Grammatical development 168
2.4 The development of communication skills 171
3 Theories on Child Language Acquisition 172
3.1 The innatist theory（天赋论） 173
3.2 The learning theory（学习论） 176
3.3 The cognitive theory（认知论） 178
3.4 The social interactionist theory（社交论） 179
4 Summary 180
Exercises 182
References 183
Chapter 9 Second Language Acquistion 185
1 Second Language Learning and Acquisition 186
2 Components of L2 Communicative Competence 188
3 Differences Between First and Second Language Acquisition 190
3.1 Initial state and L1 transfer 191
3.2 Instruction and L2 development 192
3.3 Input,interaction and L2 development 193
4 Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition 195
4.1 Age 195
4.2 Language aptitude 197
4.3 Cognitive style 198
4.4 Motivation 201
4.5 Learning strategies 202
5 Summary 203
Exercises 203
References 204
Chapter 10 Language and the Brain 206
1 Brain Structure and Function 206
2 Hemispheric Dominance and Lateralization 208
2.1 Ways to find out language dominance and lateralization 210
2.2 Contributions of the right hemisphere 214
3 Localization of Function 215
4 Brain Maturation and Critical Age for Learning 217
5 Language Handicap 219
5.1 Aphasia 219
5.2 Dyslexia 221
6 Summary 222
Exercises 224
References 224
Chapter 11 Language,Metaphor and Thought 226
1 A Preliminary Question 226
2 What Does Language Reflect? 228
3 What Is the Nature of Thought? 231
4 What Is the Nature of Categorization? 234
4.1 The objectivist view of categorization 235
4.2 The prototype theory of categorization 238
5 Conceptual Metaphor 240
6 Summary 249
Exercises 250
References 251