【正文】 peaker‘s textforming potential. ? This function relates our abilities to construct texts out of our utterances and writings. Halliday calls it the textual function. We can see it as using language to bring texts into being. ? This function expresses the relation of language to the verbal and nonverbal situational environment. ? These terms are interpreted as functional ponents of the semantics system. They are present in every use of language in every social context. A text is a product of all three. The three metafunctions of language are closely related to context and realized in the lexicogrammar of language. ? They are interwoven in discourse. According to Halliday, every sentence in a context is multifunctional and has three metafunctions simultaneously. This is the essential nature of a functional theory. ? (A quick look at the 2 questions on P. 20.) Assignment : ? Collect and write down as many as possible the following: 1. The 3 kinds of signs: icon, index, symbol. 2. The pleasure function of language at the three levels: sound, syntax, and meaning. The Origin and Classification of Language ?Man‘s interest in his own origin and his own nature has resulted in many theories on the origin of language. ? A study of the history of languages show that many languages develop from a single one. ? Many scientists today believe that man arose in many different places of the world. If this is the case, there were many protolanguages (原始語言 ), from which the modern language families developed. The Origin of Language ? Biologists, anthropologists （ 人類學(xué)家 ） , psychologists, neurologists（ 神經(jīng)學(xué)家 ） , and linguists have done a wide range of studies in the origin of language. ? Some have looked at the problem of whether primitive man had the physiological（ 生理上的 ） capacity to speak. ? The reports show that the human vocal tract （ 聲道 ） evolved from a nonhuman primate form to facilitate efficient munication. ? Some hold that learning to use tools and learning language are interrelated skills. ? With the development of the human society, man learned to use tools by hand and tools promoted the development of speech, because learning involved language. Language Families ? The role of intercultural contact is a real problem in studying many language families. ? Both types of classification ignore the relevance of cultural links between languages. ? With the passage of time and the development of intercultural munication, languages influence each other by contact and may borrow words from each other. ? Sometimes languages that have no historical relationship can converge so that they seem to be members of the same family. ? Thus, it is often very difficult to decide whether two languages look similar because they share a mon origin, or because they have borrowed from each other. ? However, many achievements have been made in the classification of languages. ? According to Crystal (1987), there are at least 29 languages families in the world. What is Linguistics? ? Linguistics is the science of language and is usually defined as the systematic study of language or, as a discipline that describes all aspects of language and formulate theories as to how language works. ? Linguistics is the study of language as a system of human munication. ? Linguistics is principally concerned with the universals of the human mind. ? For many scholars, the main purpose of linguistics is to develop a general theory of language and theories on aspects of language. ? The primary goal of linguistics is to explain not only how meanings are construed but also how they maintain a systematic relation to the already linguistically construed socially defined world. Tasks of Linguistics ? As a science, linguistics demands a rational and scientific outlook on language. It takes an objective view of language and all linguistic phenomena. ? Linguists study language and reflect on it in a detached and unbiased way. They make no value judgments about languages. ? Linguistics formulates explanations of the phenomena of language, and also observes and analyses data found in natural language according to the general principles of empirical （ 經(jīng)驗(yàn)式的 ）research procedures. ? Linguistics will find out the mon features of all languages, the range of variations among languages, the difference of human languages from animal munication. ? Linguistics will also find out the evolution of language, the analysis of unwritten languages, the change of languages, the relation of language to the society. ? Linguistics starts from such simple concepts such as speech sound, word, sentence, meaning, and text. These features each correspond roughly to the major areas of linguistic investigation and each is presented in one or the other of the branches of linguistics. Some Important Distinctions in Linguistics Langue and Parole (語言與言語 ） Langue: the linguistic system itself。 the abstract system。 something which differs human beings from animals. （ 是言語社會集體使用的語言系統(tǒng) 。 ） Parole: the particular actualities of individual utterances。 the use of the language in utterances. (指說話的個人在實(shí)際情景中說出的具體語段 。 ） ? 語言本身是中性的 ， 不帶感情色彩的 ， 而語言的使用即言語是有感情色彩的 。 因此 ， 我們不能說 : You language is dirty. 但可以說： Your parole is dirty. 又如 ， 我們不能說： I hate English. It‘s a racialist language. 因?yàn)椴皇怯⒄Z這門語言有種族歧視 ， 而是這語言在被使用時(shí) （ parole) 帶上了種族歧視的色彩 。 ? Language is systematic, but parole is not. 正如讓 50個人用同一門語言 （ langue) 去描述同一個人 ， 就會有完全不同的言語 (parole)出現(xiàn) 。 . Tom, donkey! 這句話就可以根據(jù)當(dāng)時(shí)的情景