Modern Linguistics Tutorial (Language and Literature Series, Wuming Translation Library)

Author: Hockett
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1986-10-18
Features: Hockett's A Course in Modern Linguistics was published in 1958. It is both a comprehensive theoretical work of American structural linguistics and a comprehensive textbook discussing various aspects of linguistics. Since its publication, despite the impact of various emerging theories in linguistics, it has been reprinted repeatedly and has been published in Polish (1969) and Spanish (1971) translations, still regarded by the linguistic community as a comprehensive, solid, and reliable manual of modern linguistics. The Chinese translation is divided into two volumes based on the discussion of synchronic description principles and diachronic evolution patterns of language, published in 1986 and 1987, respectively. The entire book consists of 64 chapters, excluding the introduction (), and is summarized into 12 major issues.
(1) Signaling through sound: Phonology. This section primarily discusses the phonological theory and methodology of structuralist linguistics.
(2) Phonology and grammar: Different levels of models. This section primarily discusses the structure of language, with Chapter 16, "The Structure of Language," serving as the backbone of the entire book.
(3) The grammatical system. This section primarily discusses the grammatical theory and analytical methods of structuralist linguistics, with Chapter 31, "The Core of Grammar," being particularly crucial.
(4) Morphophonemic systems. This section discusses the phonemic encoding of morphemes and the issue of morphemic identity.
(5) Idioms.
(6) Synchronic dialectology.
(7) Individual ontogeny. This section studies the development of an individual's speech habits from childhood to adulthood.
(8) Phylogeny. This section discusses the patterns of historical evolution of language.
(9) Prehistoric states of language. This section discusses the basic methods for investigating the prehistoric states of language.
(10) Writing.
(11) Literature.
(12) The position of man in nature. This section discusses the fundamental differences between human language and animal "language," holding significant importance for research on the origins of human language.
Among these, the first four issues (Chapters 2–35) discuss the structure of language and the principles and methods of analyzing language, which can be referred to as the "Description Part"; the last eight issues (Chapters 36–64) discuss the patterns of linguistic evolution and the principles and methods for exploring the process of linguistic evolution, which can be referred to as the "History Part."
Hockett believed that "language is a complex system of habits," comprising five subsystems: the grammatical system, the phonemic system, the morphophonemic system, the semantic system, and the phonetic system. Among these, the grammatical system, the phonemic system, and the morphophonemic system are the central systems, while the semantic system and the phonetic system are the peripheral systems. The main task of A Course in Modern Linguistics is to describe the central system of language, specifically to organize the phonemic system and the grammatical system of language, and to connect these two different-level systems through the morphophonemic system as an "intermediary."
The theoretical framework and descriptive techniques for describing language as presented by Hockett in A Course in Modern Linguistics represent a summary of the long-term research achievements of linguists in the American structuralist school. A notable feature is the further proceduralization of the description of the language's central system, which can be summarized as the basic principles of "from the surface to the core" and "unidirectional hierarchical progression." The phonological research methods summarized in A Course in Modern Linguistics are effective, and the grammatical description procedures are concise and practical. If Bloomfield's Language is considered the foundational work of American structuralist descriptive linguistics, then Hockett's A Course in Modern Linguistics can be seen as a concluding work of the mature stage of American structural descriptive linguistics.