《新编简明英语语言学教程》

atapersonsays(e.g.badlanguage,expressions)thewayofspeakingorwriting(e.g.Shakespeare’slanguage,Luxun’slanguage)aparticularvarietyorlevelofspeechorwriting(e.g.languageforspecialpurpose,colloquiallanguage)theabstractsystemunderlyingthetotalityofthespeech/munity(e.g.Chineselanguage,firstlanguage)monfeaturesofallhumanlanguages(e.g.Hestudieslanguage)munication.(socialfunction)asetofrules.(rule-governed).Sapir’sdefinition(1921)“Languageisapurelyhumanandnon-municatingideas,emotionsanddesiresbymeansofvoluntarilyproducedsymbols.”.Hall’sdefinition(1968)Languageis“municateandinteractwitheachotherbymeansofhabituallyusedoral-auditoryarbitrarysymbols.”.Chomsky’sdefinition(1957)“FromnowonIwillconsiderlanguagetobeasetof(finiteorinfinite)sentences,eachfiniteinlengthandconstructedoutofafinitesetofelements.”.