现代语言学重要名词解释.doc

Applied linguistics~In a broad sense, applied linguistics is the study of various applications of linguistic (and ic) scholarship to related practical fields. In a narrow sense applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistic theories and principles to language teaching, especially the teaching of foreign and second languages.
Prescriptive study~It is an attitude to linguistic studies which aim to lay down rules for “correct” behaviour, ., to tell people what they should say an what they should not say.
Descriptive study~It is a linguistic study which describes and analyzes the language people actually use.
Competence and performance~They are distinctions drawn originally by the American linguist . Competence refers to the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language, ., the ability all native speakers have of being able to understand and produce sentences which they have never heard before. Performance on the other hand refers to the actual realization of this knowledge in munication.
Arbitrariness~By arbitrariness, we mean that there is no logical connection between meaning and sounds,.,a dog might be a pig if only the first person or group of persons had used it for a pig. Language is largely arbitrary, but not entirely arbitrary.
Productivity~It refers to the ability to construct and understand an indefinitely large number of sentenc