一．1.How is Sausure’s distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky’s dintinction between competence and performance?Sausure made a distinction between langue and parol. According to Sausure, Language refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community; Parol refers to the realization of language in actual use. As a social product, language is a set of convention, or generalized rules of a language that members of a speech community seem to abide by. Parol, on the other hand, is the concrete use of the conventions or application of the rules. Langue is abstract, parol is specific to a situation; Langue is not actually spoken by anyone, parol is always a naturally occuring event; Langue is relatively stable and systematic, parol is subject to personal and situational constrains. What a linguist has to do is to discover the regularities govering all instances of parole and langue. This distinction is very importaant and far-influential.Similar to the distinction between langue and parole is the distinction between competence and performance made by Chomsky in the 1950s. Competence is the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language. Performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in speech. A speaker’s compentence is stable but his performance is often inflenced by psychological and social factors. Such as pressure, distress, anxiety, etc. Compentence enables a speaker to produce and understand an infinite number of sentences, but his performance does not always match his compentence.Chomsky’s competence is similar to Sausure’s langue, performance is similar to parole, and both of them holding that language consists of specific realizations and abstract underlying linguistic rules. Sausure thinks that langue should be the subject of linguistics, and Chomsky also agrees that the focus of linguistics should be the ideal user’s competence, not his performance. However, Sausure looks at language more from a sociological perspective while Chomsky looks at it more a psychological perspective.2.Linguistic potential and actual linguistic behaviourHalliday made the distinction between linguistic potential and actual linguistic behaviour in the 1960s. Halliday looks at language from a functional point of view; he is more concerned with what speakers do with language. With language, there is a wide range of things a speaker can do in the culture he is in. His linguistic potentialis is similar to Sausure’s langue and Chomsky’s competence. and his actual linguistic behaviour is similar to the notions of parole and performance. Among the distinctions, parole, performance and actual linguistic behaviour have a lot in common; but langue, competence and linguistic potential differ considerably. They are similar only in one aspect, that is, they all refer to the constant which underlies the utterances that constitute parole/performance/actual behaviour. Their differenc is fairly obvious. Langue is a social property while linguistic potential something available for the speaker to select from. Competence is a form of “knowing”while linguistic potential is a set of possibilities for “doing”. The competence versus performance distinction is one between what a person “knows” and what he “does”, while the linguistic potentialversus actual linguistic behaviour distinction is one between what a person “can do”and what a person “does”.二．Terms1.Phonetics(语音学) :It is the branch of liguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription.2.Phonology（音系/音位学）:It is the branch of liguistics which studies how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication.3.Morphology(形态学)：It is the branch of liguistics which studies how the smallest meaningful units in a language are arranged to form words.4.Syntax(句法学)：The word combination is rule-governed, the study of these rules is called syntax as a major branch of linguistics.5.Semantics(语义学): The study of meaning of language is known as semantics.6.Pragmatics(语用学):The branch of liguistics which studies the meaning in the context of use is called pragmatics.7.Psycholinguistics(心理语言学):It is the interdisciplinary study which examines the relationship between language and human brain.8.Sociolinguistics(社会语言学):It is the interdisciplinary study of the relationship between language use and the structure of society.9.Anthropological linguistics(人类语言学):It is the investigation that uses the theories and methods of anthropology to study language variation and language use in relation to human cultural patterns and beliefs.putational linguistics(计算机语言学):As a branch of communications engineerings, it is the use of computers and computer techniques to further linguistics research and specific problem solving.11.Neurolinguistics(神经语言学): It is the branch of liguistics concerned in principle with the physical representation of language or linguistic processes in the brain.12.General linguistics(普通语言学):The study of language as a whole is often called General linguistics.13.Synchronic linguistics(共时语言学):The description of a language at some point in time is a synchronic study, also called synchronic linguistics.14.Diachronic linguistics(历时语言学):The description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study, also called diachronic linguistics.15.Macrolinguistics(宏观语言学):Linguistics is not the only field concerned with language,other disciplines (学科)are also preoccupied with language.16.Descriptive or prescriptive(描写式和规定式):A linguistics study is Descriptive if it describes and analyses facts observed. It is Prescriptive if it tries to lay down rules for “correct” behaviour.17.Etic(唯素的):Refers to the linguistic units containing “-etic”, for instance, phonetic, morphetic, which are used to describe linguistic facts in detail without distinctive features, are first used to describe sounds.18.Emic(唯位的): :Refers to the linguistic units containing “-emic”, for instance, phonemic, morphemic, which are used to describe abstract linguistic rules with distinctive features, are first used to describe phonemes.。