1、A Cultural History of the English Language 1第1页lAgendaIntroduction Old EnglishMiddle English Early Modern English Present-Day English World Englishes2第2页Introduction lDefinition of LanguagelFunctions of the LanguagelThe Origin of LanguagelFamilies of Languages lThe Indo-European FamilylLanguages Cha
2、nge3第3页 lWhat is Language?Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.Sapir(1921)萨丕尔(1921):语言是人类非本能交际方式,经过有意发出声音或写出语言符号等伎俩,来到达传递思想、交流感情和满足欲望目标。Language is a set of sentences,each finite in length and const
3、ructed out of a finite set of elements.Chomsky(1957):乔姆斯基(1957):语言是一套句子集合,每句长度有限,且由有限语言成份组成。4第4页lHumanlSymbolslSystemlCommunication5第5页Funtions of Language?6第6页The Origin of LanguageThe Tower of Babel 7第7页Five Theories of the Origins of LanguagelThe Bow-Wow TheorylThe Pooh-Pooh Theory lThe Ding-Dong
4、 TheorylThe o-he-Ho TheorylThe La-la Theory Otto Jespersen(1860-1943),Danish linguist8第8页The top 20 languagesl1.Mandarin Chinesel2.Englishl3.Spanishl4.Hindi l5.Arabicl6.Portuguesel7.Bengali 孟加拉语8.Russian9.Japanese10.German11.French 12.Javaness13.Korean14 ItalianD.Crystal,()The Cambridge Encyclopedia
5、 of Language9第9页Language Families10第10页Types of Linguistic Classification lGenetic Classification 谱系分类法lTypological classification 类型分类法11第11页lTypologcial classification is to group the langauges into structural types,on the basis of phonology,grammar or vocabulary rather than in terms of any real o
6、r assumed historical relationshop.12第12页lIsolating,analytic or root languages l lInflectional(Fusional)languageslAgglutinating languages lPolysynthetic languages13第13页lIsolating,analytic or root languages:words consist of single morphemes;most words consist only of a root.Mandarin Chinese,Vietnamese
7、;孤立语我 买 橘子 吃14第14页l lInflectional(Fusional)languagesInflectional(Fusional)languages 屈折语屈折语:words consist of stem and affixes which often mark several grammatical categories simultaneously.Greek,Latin,Sanskrit,Russian.le.g.The biggest boys have been asking.15第15页lAgglutinating languages:粘着语粘着语:words
8、are built up out of a long sequentce of units,with each unit expressing a particular grammatical meaning,in a clear one-to-one way.Finnish,Hungarian,Estonian,Swahili斯瓦希里人语,Turkish,Japanese form words in this way.lExamples in Estonian1.Ta on kohvikus.lhe is coffeehouseinlHe is in the coffee house.2.L
9、hme kohvikusse.lgowe coffeehouseintolLet us go into the coffee house.3.Ma tulen uuest kohvikust.lI come newfrom coffeehousefromlI am coming out of the new coffee house.16第16页lPolysynthetic languages 多式综合语多式综合语:words are foten very long and complex,containing a mixture of aglutinating and inflectiona
10、l features.They consist of long strings of stems and affixes,which may translate as an entire English sentence,as in Eskimo,Mohawk,Australian languages.l1.rikuyki I see you.l2.rikuykiik I see you all.l3.rikuykiku We see you.riku:seeyki:first person singular actor and second person singular objectik:
11、marks object as pluralku:marks actor as plural17第17页The Language Families of the World 18第18页The Indo-European Family EnglishGermanSwedishFrenchItalianSpanishwinterWinterWinterHiverInvernoInviernofootFus FotPeidPeidePietwozweiTvaDeuxDueDosmemichMigMoiMe me19第19页lDiscovery of Sanskrit“The Sanskrit la
12、nguage,is of a wonderful structure;more perfect than the Greek,more copious than the Latin,and more exquisitely refined than either,there is a similar reason,though not quite so forcible,for supposing that both the Celtic,though blended with a very different idiom,had the same origin with the Sanskr
13、it;and the Old Persian might be added to the same family”Sir William Jones(1746-94)20第20页 Indo-European family of languages 印度印度-欧罗巴语系欧罗巴语系Latin and the modern Romance languages拉丁语,罗曼诸语言The Germanic languages日尔曼语族The Indo-Iranian languages,印度-伊朗语族including Hindi and Sanskrit梵语The Slavic Languages:斯拉
14、夫语族e.g.RussianThe Celtic Languages凯尔特语族,包含爱尔兰语,苏格兰盖尔语,Gaelic languages高卢语,康沃尔语,威尔士语及布列塔尼语The Balticlanguages 波罗地语族of Latvian and Lithuanian(but not Estonian);Greek.21第21页Germanic East NorthWest Gothic IcelandicNorwegianDanishSwedishHigh Low German Yiddish DutchFlemishAfrikaansEnglsih 22第22页Language
15、ChangelWhat changes?lHow does language change?lWhy 23第23页lSound changelGrammatical changelSpelling changelSemantic change24第24页lSome types of semantic changeExtension:e.g.office,salaryNarrowing:e.g.meat,deer,girl,starve,Shift:e.g.navigator,Figurative use e.g.craneAmelioration:e.g.naughtyPejoration 语
16、义转贬语义转贬:e.g.nortorious New words and old25第25页lSome surprising etymologies:villainfarm labourertaxation fault findingprettyingenious 灵巧,有独创性,vulgarordinaryslywiseorchardgarden(without fruit trees)26第26页lbribesteal ldout fear lhandsome easy to handle(15th century)lhappyluckylsillyhappy(13th century)l
17、tall handsome(14th century)lwallet bag for holding goods for journeylholidayholy day27第27页How does language change?lChange from abovelChange from below 28第28页William Labov s studySaksMacys KleinsWilliam Labovs study,1970s29第29页Another studyMarthas Vineyard30第30页Movewment of peoples A shift of power Technology 31第31页HomeworklGroupworkThe magic power of language32第32页