语言学是对语言的系统研究，对于一个学习英语的人来说，应该懂一点语言学的知识，它可以在理论上对学习语言有指导作用，有助于更好的学习语言，下面介绍一点语言学知识。

I. Introduction

1. What is Language

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

2. What is Linguistics(语言学)

Linguistics is the scientific study of language.

3.Some Basic Distinctions(区分) in Linguistics

3.1 Speech and Writing

One general principle(原则) of linguistic analysis is the primacy of speech over writing. Writing gives language new scope(范畴) and uses that speech does not have.

3.2 Descriptive(描述性) or Prescriptive(说明性)

A linguistic study is descriptive if it describes and analyses facts observed; it is prescriptive if it tries to lay down rules for "correct" behavior.

3.3 Synchronic(共时) and Diachronic(历时) Studies

The description of a language at some point in time is a synchronic study and The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study.

3.4 Langue(语言) and Parole(言语)

This is a distinction made by the Swiss linguist F.De Saussure (索绪尔）early last century. langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community and parole refers to the actualized(实际的) language, or realization of langue.

3.5 Competence(能力)and Performance(行为)

Competence is the ideal language user's knowledge of the rules of his language. Performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances(发声).

4.The Scope of Linguistics

General linguistics is the study of language as a whole.

Phonetics(语音学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription.

Phonology(音韵学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the sound patterns of languages.

Morphology(词法) is the branch of linguistics which studies the form of words.

Syntax(句法) is the branch of linguistics which studies the rules governing the combination of words into sentences.

Semantics(语义学) is the branch of linguistics which studies the meaning of language.

Applied linguistics(应用语言学) is the study of the teaching of foreign and second languages.

Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society.

Psycholinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and the mind.

Historical Linguistics(历史语言学) is the study of language changes.

Anthropological linguistics(人文语言学) uses the theories and methods of anthropology to study language variation and language use in relation to the cultural patterns and beliefs of man.

Neurolinguistics(神经语言学) studies the neurological basis of language development and use in human beings.

Mathematical linguistics(数学语言学) studies the mathematical features of language, often employing models and concepts of mathematics.

Computational linguistics(计算语言学) is an approach to linguistics in which mathematical techniques and concepts(概念) are applied, often with the aid of a computer.

II. Phonetics(语音学）

1. scope of phonetics

Speech sounds may be studied from different angles, thus we have at least three branches of phonetics:

Articulatory phonetics(发音语音学）we may examine the way in which a speech sound is produced to discover which vocal organs are involved and how they coordinate(协调） in the process.

Auditory phonetics （听觉语音学）we may look into the impression a speaker makes on the hearer as mediated(调节） by the ear, the auditory nerve(神经） and the brain.

Acoustic phonetics (声学语音学） we study the physical properties of speech sounds, as transmitted（传送） between mouth and ear.

2. The vocal organs

The vocal organs may be viewed as consisting of three parts, the initiator of the air-stream,(气流发生器官） the producer of voice（声音发生器官） and the resonating cavities.（声音共振器官）

3. Consonants(辅音）

Places of articulation(发音部位）: bilabial,(双唇） Labiodentals,（唇齿） dental,（齿） alveolar,（齿龈） retroflex,（卷舌） palate-alveolar,（上齿龈） palatal,（上颚） velar,（软腭） uvular,（小舌） glottal(声门）

Manners of articulation: plosive,（暴破） nasal,（鼻音） trill,（颤音） lateral,（边音） fricative,（摩擦） approximant,（近似音） affricate（破擦）

4. Vowels (元音）

The classification of vowels: the height of tongue raising (high, mid, low), the position of the highest part of the tongue(front, central, back), and the degree of lip rounding(rounded, unrounded)

III. Phonology（音韵学）

1. phonemes(音素）：a distinctive(有区别的） sound in a language.

2. Allophones(音位变体）：The nondistinctive sounds are members of the same phoneme.

3. Minimal pairs(最小对立体）： word forms which differ from each other only by one sound.

4. Free variation (自由变异）：If two sounds occurring in the same environment(环境）, they does not produce a different word form, but merely a different pronunciation of the same word.

5. Complementary distribution(补充分类）：Not all the speech sounds occur in the same environment. When two sounds never occur in the same environment

6.Suprasegmental phonology(超音段音位）：the study of phonological properties(性质） of units lager than the segment-phoneme. They are syllable(音节）， stress,（重音） word stress, sentence stress. pitch （音调）and intonation（语调）.

IV. Morphology（词法）

1. inflection(构形法）：the grammatical relationships through the addition of inflectional affixes.(屈折词缀）

2. Word-formation(构词）：the processes(过程） of word variations signaling lexical relationships.（表明词法关系） They are compound(合成）and derivation (派生）.

3. Morpheme(词素）： the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expression and content.

4. Allomorph(同质异象变体）： some morphemes have considerable variation, for instance, alternate shapes or phonetic forms.

5. Types of morphemes: They are roots,(词根） affix（词缀） and stem（词干）.

6. Lexicon(语言词汇）：in its most general sense, is synonymous with vocabulary.

7. Closed-class words(封闭性） and open-class words(开放性）：the former whose membership is fixed or limited and the latter whose membership is in principle(实际上） indefinite or unlimited.

8. Word class(词性）：It displays a wider range of more precisely defined classes.

9. Lexeme(词位）：the smallest unit in the meaning system of a language that can be distinguished from other smaller units.

10. Idiom(习语，成语）：Most phrasal lexemes are idioms. It is especially true for a sequence of words(词序） which is semantically（语义上） and often syntactically(句法上） restricted.（限制）

11. Collocation(搭配）： the habitual(习惯的） co-occurrences （同时出现）of individual lexical items.

V. Syntax (句法）

1. Positional relation or word order（词序）：the sequential(顺序） arrangement of words in a language.

2. Construction or constituent (句子结构）： the overall process of internal (内部）organization of a grammatical unit .

3. Syntactic function(句法功能）： the relationship between a linguistic form and other parts of the linguistic pattern in which it is used. The names of functions are expressed in terms of subjects, objects, predicates, modifiers,(修饰语） complements（补语）, etc.

4. Category(范畴）：It refers to classes and functions in its narrow sense, e.g. noun, verb, subject, predicate, noun phrase, verb phrase, etc. The categories of the noun include number, gender, case and countability.

5. Phrase: a single element of structure containing more than one word, and lacking the subject-predicate structure typical of clause.

6. Clause: a group of words with its own subject and predicate, if it is included in a larger sentence.

7. Sentence: It is the minimum part of language that expresses a complete thought.

VI. Semantics

1. Conceptualism or mentalism (概念主义）：Following F. De Saussure(索学尔）'s "sign" theory, the linguistic sign is said to consist of a signifier （所指）and signified（被指）, i.e., a sound image and a concept, liked by a psychological（心理的） "associative" bond.（相关联系）

2. Mechanism(机械主义）：Some linguists, Bloomfield,(布鲁费尔德） for example, turned to science to counter（反）-act the precious theories and this leads to what call the mechanistic approach（方法）. The nature of this theory has nothing to do with the scientific study of mental phenomena.（智力现象）

3. Contextualism （语境主义）：It is based on the presumption(假定） that one can derive meaning from or reduce it to observable context.

4. Behaviorism (行为主义）：Behaviourists attempt to define (定义）the meaning of a language form as "the situation(情景） in which the speaker utters（说话） it and the response（反应） it calls forth in the hearer."

5. functionalism (功能主义）：Functionalists as represented (代表）by the Prague school（布拉格学派） linguists and neo-Firthian （新弗斯）linguists, approach the problem from an entirely new orientation（方法）. They argue（争辩） that meaning could only be interpreted（解释） from its use or function in social life.

6. Sense relationships: While reference deals with the relationship between the linguistic elements, words, sentences, etc.,and the non-linguistic world of experience, sense relates to the complex system of relationships that hold between the linguistic elements themselves. They include synonymy(同义词），antonymy(反义词）,hyponymy(下层次）Polysemy(一词多义）and Homonymy (同音异义词）

7. Semantic analysis: It includes 1) componential（成分） analysis which defines the meaning of a lexical element in terms of semantic components.(意义成分）2) predication (表述）analysis in which the meaning of a sentence is not merely the sum of the meanings of the words which compose it. 3) relational components in which the semantic analysis of some words presents a complicated picture, because they show relations between two and perhaps more terms.

VII. Language Variation (语言变化）

1. Lexical change(词汇的变化）：changes in lexis.

2. Invention: (新造词）new entities.

3. Compounding:(合成词）New words are sometimes constructed by combining two old words.

4. Blending: (混合词）：It is a relatively complex form of compounding, in which two roots are blended by joining the initial part of the first root and the final part of the second root, or by joining the initial parts of the two roots.

5. Abbreviation or clipping:(缩写）A new word is created by cutting the final part or cutting the initial part.

6. acronym:(取首字母的缩写词）It is made up from the first letters of the name of an organization, which has a heavily modified (修饰） headword.

7. Metanalysis:(再分化）It refers to a process through which a division is made where there were note before.

8. Back-formation:(逆构词） It refers to an abnormal(非正常） type of word-formation where a shorter word is derived by deleting(去掉） an imagined affix from a longer form already present in the language.

9. Analogical creation:(类比造词）It can account for（说明） the co-existence of two forms, regular and irregular, in the conjugation(结合） of some English verbs.

10. Borrowing（借用）：English in its development has managed to widen her vocabulary by borrowing words from other languages.

11. Phonological change(音变）：It is related to language variation in the phonological system of language. It includes loss,(省音） addition,（加音） assimilation,（ 同化）dissimilation.（异化）

12. Grammatical change: Changes in both morphology（词法） and syntax（句法） are listed under this heading.

13. Semantic change:(语义变化）It includes broadening,（语义扩大） narrowing,（语义缩小） meaning shift,（意义转化） class shift（词性转换） and folk etymology.（词源变化）

14. Orthographic change ：(正字法）Changes can also be found at the graphetic level.