本书探索语言、技术与社会之间的相互关系，讨论自文字——第一项专门为语言而设计的技术——到数码时代机器翻译、网络语言等各种与语言相关的创新。以语言技术史为线，以语言技术原理为点，以语言技术发展产生的社会影响为面，通过精心的引导，将语言、技术与学生个体和社会的重要议题关联起来，讨论书写系统与语言之间的关系、读写能力对认知和科学发展的影响、印刷机在中西方社会的影响、打字机对现代化办公与性别平等的影响、电报机与计算机编码的源起、机器翻译的使用和局限性、人工智能的突破以及未来前景、网络和社交媒体对语言产生的影响等话题。教材以思想性带动语言学习，通过描述、阐释、分析和评价语言、技术与社会之间的关系，增强学生的英语综合应用能力和学习共同体构建意识，发展学生的跨文化交际能力和批判性思维能力。

刘小侠
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北京大学英语语言文学博士，北京大学英语系副教授。研究方向为英语语言学，发表论文20篇，出版专著1部（Vilem Mathesius’Thoughts on Word Order: Toward a Linguistic Historiography. Prague: Bronx，2013），译著1部（奥托·叶斯柏森著《英语的成长和结构》,商务印书馆印行“语言学名著译丛”之一，已交稿待付梓），作为负责人完成省部级项目1个，本科重点课程建设项目2个，立项数字化教材建设项目1个，获得国家基金委青年骨干教师项目选派2次，参与教材编写3部，获得省部级教学奖1次，校级教学奖1次。

Contents Chapter I What Is Language .......................................................................1 Jumping-in .....................................................................................................................................1 1.1 What is language ..................................................................................................................2 1.2 Elements of language ...........................................................................................................3 1.2.1 Phonetics ...................................................................................................................3 1.2.2 Phonology .................................................................................................................8 1.2.3 Morphology.............................................................................................................10 1.2.4 Syntax .....................................................................................................................13 1.2.5 Semantics ................................................................................................................15 1.2.6 Pragmatics ..............................................................................................................19 Summing-up.................................................................................................................................21 References....................................................................................................................................22 Further reading.............................................................................................................................24 Chapter II How Writing Came About .......................................................25 Jumping-in ...................................................................................................................................25 2.1　How writing originated ......................................................................................................27 2.1.1　Pictographic theory .................................................................................................27 2.1.2　Token theory ...........................................................................................................29 2.2　Logogram at the root of invented writing ..........................................................................33 2.3　Mechanism in action: the rebus principle ..........................................................................36 2.3.1　Sumerian cuneiform ...............................................................................................36 2.3.2　Oracle bone inscriptions .........................................................................................37 2.4　Mechanism in action: the acrophonic principle .................................................................38 2.4.1　Egyptian hieroglyph ...............................................................................................39 2.4.2　Maya script ............................................................................................................. 40 2.5　Extension and differentiation ............................................................................................. 40 Summing-up ................................................................................................................................ 42 References ................................................................................................................................... 43 Further reading............................................................................................................................. 44 Chapter III How Writing Represents Language ........................................ 45 Jumping-in ................................................................................................................................... 45 3.1　Problems with a “universal” writing system ..................................................................... 46 3.2　Glottograhic: logographic vs. phonographic ..................................................................... 49 3.3　Phonographic writing systems ........................................................................................... 51 3.3.1　Syllabic writing ...................................................................................................... 51 3.3.2　Segmental writing .................................................................................................. 55 Summing-up ................................................................................................................................ 65 References ................................................................................................................................... 66 Further reading ............................................................................................................................ 66 Chapter IV Interaction between Language and Writing: Decipherment of Egyptian Hieroglyph ............................................................................... 67 Jumping-in ................................................................................................................................... 67 4.1　Rosetta Stone: pattern of fusion ......................................................................................... 70 4.2　The decipherment: competition and cooperation .............................................................. 72 4.3　Methodology of the decipherment ..................................................................................... 73 4.3.1　Distribution analysis for patterns ........................................................................... 73 4.3.2　Held-out data for verification ................................................................................. 75 4.3.3　The underlying language to stand on ..................................................................... 77 4.3.4　 Interaction between language and writing ............................................................ 81 4.4　Number of symbols and type of script ............................................................................... 83 Summing-up ................................................................................................................................ 84 References.................................................................................................................................... 86 Further reading ............................................................................................................................ 87 Chapter V Interaction between Language and Writing: Decipherment of Linear B .................................................................................. 88 Jumping-in ................................................................................................................................... 88 5.1　Linear B .............................................................................................................................. 89 5.2　The decipherment of Linear B ........................................................................................... 92 5.2.1　Alice Kober: building the grid ............................................................................... 92 5.2.2　Emmett Bennett: expanding with data ................................................................... 95 5.2.3　 Michael Ventris: assigning sound values .............................................................. 96 5.2.4　John Chadwick: supporting, refining, documenting ............................................ 101 5.3　Frequency, entropy, and more .......................................................................................... 103 Summing-up .............................................................................................................................. 106 References.................................................................................................................................. 108 Further reading .......................................................................................................................... 109 Chapter VI Writing, Literacy, and Society .............................................. 110 Jumping-in.................................................................................................................................. 110 6.1　Literacy: the multifaceted nature ..................................................................................... 112 6.2　Literate society vs. oral society ....................................................................................... 114 6.3　Alphabetic literacy vs. logographic literacy .................................................................... 117 6.4　Script reform and literacy rate: the Chinese case ............................................................ 119 6.4.1　Foreign attempts to romanize Chinese ................................................................ 120 6.4.2　Native attempts to romanize Chinese .................................................................. 122 6.4.3　Character simplification ....................................................................................... 127 Summing-up .............................................................................................................................. 128 References ................................................................................................................................. 130 Further reading .......................................................................................................................... 132 Chapter VII Printing, Stability, and Variability .........................................133 Jumping-in ................................................................................................................................. 133 7.1　Printing in China............................................................................................................... 134 7.1.1　Block printing ....................................................................................................... 137 7.1.2　Movable type printing........................................................................................... 138 7.2　Printing in Europe............................................................................................................. 142 7.2.1　Manuscripts and scribes........................................................................................ 143 7.2.2　Gutenberg and the printing press.......................................................................... 143 7.2.3　Gutenberg and the Gothic type ............................................................................ 145 7.2.4　Printing and the standardization of English ......................................................... 147 Summing-up............................................................................................................................... 154 References ................................................................................................................................. 155 Further reading .......................................................................................................................... 157 Chapter VIII Typewriter, Mind, and Style............................................... 158 Jumping-in ................................................................................................................................. 158 8.1　Malling-Hansen and Writing Ball .................................................................................... 159 8.2　Sholes and the QWERTY keyboard ................................................................................ 161 8.2.1　Theories on the QWERTY rationale .................................................................... 161 8.2.2　Head start and path dependency .......................................................................... 166 8.3　Typewriter and writing style ............................................................................................ 168 8.4　Chinese typewriter ........................................................................................................... 171 8.4.1　Characters of common usage and movable typewriter ....................................... 171 8.4.2　Divisible type and combinatorial typewriter ....................................................... 173 8.4.3　Search-writing and MingKwai typewriter ........................................................... 174 8.5　Typewriter and women’s entrance into office .................................................................. 176 Summing-up .............................................................................................................................. 178 References.................................................................................................................................. 179 Further reading .......................................................................................................................... 180 Chapter IX Telegraph, Morse Code, and Global Connectivity...................181 Jumping-in ................................................................................................................................. 181 9.1　The semiotic architecture: Morse Code ........................................................................... 182 9.2　Logographic writing and Morse Code ............................................................................. 186 9.3　“Communication” reconceptualized ................................................................................ 191 9.4　Journalistic style, news objectivity, and information consumption................................. 193 9.5　Cable adventure, a thread across the ocean, and global connectivity.............................. 196 Summing-up............................................................................................................................... 198 References.................................................................................................................................. 199 Further reading .......................................................................................................................... 200 Chapter X Linguistics, Rationalism, and Rule-Based Machine Translation ..................................................................................................201 Jumping-in ................................................................................................................................. 201 10.1　Formal grammar and MT ....................................................................................................... 203 10.2　Parsing: constituency vs. dependency............................................................................... 204 10.2.1　Constituency structure ........................................................................................ 205 10.2.2　Dependency structure ......................................................................................... 207 10.2.3　Trees and brackets............................................................................................... 208 10.3　Types of RBMT ......................................................................................................................210 10.3.1　Direct translation approach................................................................................. 211 10.3.2　Transfer approach ............................................................................................... 212 10.3.3　Interlingual approach ......................................................................................... 215 10.4　Achievements and limitations............................................................................................ 216 Summing-up ......................................................................................................................................... 217 References.................................................................................................................................. 218 Further reading .......................................................................................................................... 219 Chapter XI Corpora, Empiricism and Data-driven Machine Translation .............................................................................................. 220 Jumping-in ................................................................................................................................. 220 11.1　Text, corpora, and SMT ................................................................................................. 221 11.2　Probability and SMT....................................................................................................... 226 11.3　IBM models: groundwork of SMT ................................................................................ 228 11.4　Scope of SMT: from word to sentence .......................................................................... 231 11.5　Neural MT and beyond .................................................................................................. 233 Summing-up............................................................................................................................... 237 References.................................................................................................................................. 239 Further reading........................................................................................................................... 240 Chapter XII MT Literacy and MT Ethics ............................................... 241 Jumping-in ................................................................................................................................. 241 12.1　Ambiguity, thy name is language .................................................................................. 242 12.1.1　Lexical ambiguity ............................................................................................... 242 12.1.2　Morphological ambiguity ................................................................................... 243 12.1.3　Syntactical ambiguity ......................................................................................... 245 12.1.4　Discoursal ambiguity ......................................................................................... 246 12.2　MT ethics ........................................................................................................................ 249 12.3　MT literacy in the scholarly community ....................................................................... 253 12.3.1　As text creator .................................................................................................... 253 12.3.2　As MT user ......................................................................................................... 254 Summing-up .............................................................................................................................. 255 References ................................................................................................................................. 257 Further reading .......................................................................................................................... 259 Chapter XIII Social Media and Language Play........................................ 260 Jumping-in ................................................................................................................................. 260 13.1　Language: spoken vs. written ........................................................................................ 262 13.2　Language online: a third kind? ...................................................................................... 263 13.3　Features of CMC ............................................................................................................ 264 13.4　Language play in WeChat group chat ............................................................................ 266 13.4.1　Bracketed annotation and Cooperative Principle............................................... 266 13.4.2　Bracketed annotation and Politeness Principle .................................................. 270 13.4.3　Bracketed annotation: playing by flouting maxims ........................................... 273 Summing-up............................................................................................................................... 275 References ................................................................................................................................. 277 Further reading .......................................................................................................................... 278 Master Bibliography.................................................................................. 279 Works Consulted ....................................................................................... 299 Name Index ............................................................................................... 307 Subject Index............................................................................................. 314 List of Figures.......................................................................................................318