Introduction to theoretical linguistics

Lyons, John 1968. Introduction to theoretical linguistics. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press

The Greek philosophers debated whether language was governed by 'nature' or 'convention' was a commonplace of Greek philosophical speculation. To say that a particular institution was 'natural' was to imply that it had its origin in eternal and immutable principles outside man himself (and was therefore inviolable); to say that it was 'conventional' implied that it was merely the result of custom and tradition (that is, of some tacit agreement, or 'social contract', among the members of the community - a 'contract' which, since it was made by men, could be broken by men). (Lyons 1968: 4)

Täpselt nagu vaidlused universalistide ja relativistide vahel näoilmete üle.

...the traditional term 'paradigm' is merely the Greek word for 'model' or 'example'. (Lyons 1968: 7)

Püha müristus! Etymo is Greek for 'true' or 'real'!

That the dispute between the 'analogist' and the 'anomalists' was not settled once and for all by Greeks is hardly surprising. In the first place, the distinction between descriptive and prescriptive (or normative) grammar was not clearly drawn (that is to say, the distinction between describing how people actually speak and write and prescribing how they ought to speak and write: we shall discuss this distinction in some detail later: cf. 1.4.3). (Lyons 1968: 7)

Kõlab analoogiliselt erinevusega akadeemilise mitteverbaalse suhtlemise kirjanduse ja aimekirjanduslike kehakeeleõpikute vahel.

There are more important differences between spoken and written language than those brought about by the development of homophony and homography. No writing-system represents all the significant variations of pitch and stress which are present in spoken utterances; and the conventions of punctuation to distinguish different kinds of sentences (e.g. the use of an exclamation-mark or question-mark, rather than a full-stop) and the practice of italicizing words for emphasis constitute, at best, an indirect and imperfect means of supplying this deficiency. Moreover, in the typical situations in which the written language is used there is no direct, face-to-face confrontation of writer and reader; information which might be carried by the gestures and facial expressions accompnaying speech must therefore be conveyed verbally. The fact that there are invariably such differences as these between speech and writing means that written language cannot be regarded as merely the transference of spoken language to another medium. (Lyons 1968: 40)

Väga ilmne, aga siiski meeldiv kohata trükis. Lisaks veel meediumite küsimus ja Birdwhistelli tähelepanek, et nii lingvistiline kui kineesiline on infrakommunikatiivsed süsteemid - "päris suhtlemine" kasutab kõiki kanaleid.

Although spoken language may be associated with various conventional gestures and facial expressions, these gestures and expressions do not realize formal units of the same level as those realized by the constituent sounds of the accompanying words: that is to say, a particular gesture does not combine with sounds to make a word in the way that two or more sounds combine to make a word. (Lyons 1968: 61)

Väga julge väide. Kindlasti võib leida ka erandi mis seda ümber lükkab.

...by 'functional' is to be understood 'relevant for the purpose of communication'... (Lyons 1968: 99)

Hästi öeldud!

The organ (or that part of it) which is brought into contact with (or close to) the point of articulation is called the articulator... (Lyons 1968: 104)

Foneetikas on "artiklaatori" mõiste päris kena, aga mis oleks "selle organi" üldnimetus MVS-s?

...the native speaker has learned to respond to certain phonetic differences as functional in his language and to neglect others as irrelevant for the purpose of communication. (Lyons 1968: 113)

Sensory gating.

Pole paha! Märksõnade (siltide) hulka lisandus lingvistika. Nüüd järgmise juurde...