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1、Important distinctions in linguistics1.9.1 Descriptive vs. prescriptiveTo say that linguistics is a descriptive science is to say that the linguist tries to discover and record the rules to which the members of a language-community actually conform and does not seek to impose upon them other rules,
2、or norms, of correctness.Prescriptive linguistics aims to lay down rules for the correct use of language and settle the disputes over usage once and for all.For example, “Dont say X.” is a prescriptive command; “People dont say X.” is a descriptive statement. The distinction lies in prescribing how
3、things ought to be and describing how things are. In the 18th century, all the main European languages were studied prescriptively. However, modern linguistics is mostly descriptive because the nature of linguistics as a science determines its preoccupation with description instead of prescription.1
4、.9.2 Synchronic vs. diachronicA synchronic study takes a fixed instant (usually at present) as its point of observation. Saussures diachronic description is the study of a language through the course of its history. E.g. a study of the features of the English used in Shakespeares time would be synch
5、ronic, and a study of the changes English has undergone since then would be a diachronic study. In modern linguistics, synchronic study seems to enjoy priority over diachronic study. The reason is that unless the various state of a language are successfully studied it would be difficult to describe
6、the changes that have taken place in its historical development.1.9.3 Langue langue is not spoken by an individual, parole is always a naturally occurring event. What a linguist should do, according to Saussure, is to draw rules from a mass of confused facts, i.e. to discover the regularities govern
7、ing all instances of parole and make them the subject of linguistics.1.9.4 Competence and performanceAccording to Chomsky, a language users underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called the linguistic competence, and the actual use of language in concrete situations is called performance.
8、 Competence enables a speaker to produce and understand and indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speakers competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speakers performance does not always m
9、atch his supposed competence. Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rather than performance. Chomskys competence-performance distinction is not exactly the same as, though similar to, Saussures langue-parole distinction. Langue is a social product and a set of conventions of a c
10、ommunity, while competence is deemed as a property of mind of each individual. Saussure looks at language more from a sociological or sociolinguistic point of view than Chomsky since the latter deals with his issues psychologically or psycholinguistically.1.9.5 Etic vs. emicThese two terms are still
11、 very vague to me. After I read Ji Daohongs book, I can understand them better, but because they are vaguely mentioned in Hus book, it seems very difficult for me to understand them fully. icywarmteaBeing etic means researchers making far too many, as well as behaviorally and inconsequential, differ
12、entiations, just as often the case with phonetics vs. phonemics analysis in linguistics proper.An emic set of speech acts and events must be one that is validated as meaningful via final resource to the native members of a speech community rather than via appeal to the investigators ingenuity or int
13、uition alone.Following the suffix formations of (phon)etics vs (phon)emics, these terms were introduced into the social sciences by Kenneth Pike (1967) to denote the distinction between the material and functional study of language: phonetics studies the acoustically measurable and articulatorily de
14、finable immediate sound utterances, whereas phonemics analyzes the specific selection each language makes from that universal catalogue from a functional aspect.End of Chapter 12.8Phonemes and allophones2.8.1 Minimal pairsMinimal pairs are two words in a language which differ from each other by only
15、 one distinctive sound and which also differ in meaning. E.g. the English words tie and die are minimal pairs as they differ in meaning and in their initial phonemes /t/ and /d/. By identifying the minimal pairs of a language, a phonologist can find out which sound substitutions cause differences of
16、 meaning.2.8.2 The phoneme theory2.8.3 AllophonesA phoneme is the smallest linguistic unit of sound that can signal a difference in meaning. Any of the different forms of a phoneme is called its allophones. E.g. in English, when the phoneme / occurs at the beginning of the word like peak /, it is said with a little puff of air, it is aspirated. But when / occurs in the word like speak /, it is said without the puff of the air, it is unaspirated. Both the aspirate
