Language

When we want to tell other people what we think, we can do it not only with the help of words, but also in many other ways.

An Englishman who could not speak Italian was once traveling in Italy. One day he entered a restaurant and sat down at a table. When the waiter come, the Englishman opened his mouth, put his fingers in it, took them out again and moved his lips. In this way he meant to say, "Bring me something to eat." The waiter soon brought him a cup of tea. The Englishman shook his head and the waiter understood that he didn't want tea, so he took it away and brought him some coffee. The Englishman, who was very hungry by this time and not at all thirsty, looked very sad. He shook his head each time the waiter brought him something to drink. The waiter brought him wine, then beer, then soda-water, but that wasn't food, of course. He was just going to leave the restaurant when another traveler came in. When this man saw the waiter, he put his hands on his stomach. That was enough: in a few minutes there was a large plate of macaroni and meat on the table before him.

As you see, the primitive language of signs is not always very clear. The language of words is much more exact.

Words consist of sounds, but there are many sounds which have a meaning and yet are not words. For example, we may say "Sh-sh-sh" when we mean "keep silent." When babies laugh, we know they are happy, and when they cry, we know they are ill or simply want something.

It is the same with animals. When a dog says "G-r-r" or a cat says "F-f-f" we know they are angry.

But these sounds are not language. Language consists of words which we put together into sentences. But animals can not do this: a dog can say "G-r-r" when he means "I am angry," but he cannot say first "I" and then "am" and they "angry." A parrot can talk like a man; it can repeat whole sentences and knows what they mean. We may say that a parrot talks, but cannot say that it really speaks, because it cannot from new sentences out of the words it knows. Only man has the power to do this.

語言

如果我們想把我們所想的事情告訴給別人，我們不但可以用話語還可以用很多其他方法來表示。

有一次，一位不會說意大利語的英國人在意大利境內(nèi)旅游。有一天，他走進(jìn)了一家飯館后就在餐桌旁坐下了。一位男服務(wù)員走過來以后，這位英國人就張開了嘴，把兩個手指放進(jìn)了嘴里，然后又把手指拿出來，接著又動了動嘴唇。他用這種辦法想表示說"給我拿些吃的東西來"。這位服務(wù)員馬上就給他端來了上杯茶水。這英國人搖了搖頭，這們服務(wù)員明白了，他不要茶，于是就把茶端走了，并給他端來了咖啡。這位英國人看起來很不高興，因為他到這個時候已經(jīng)很餓了，可是他根本不渴。每當(dāng)服務(wù)員給他端喝的東西他都搖頭。服務(wù)員給他端來葡萄酒、又端來啤酒、又端來汽水，當(dāng)然這些都不是食品。他剛打算要離開這家飯館時，突然另一位旅客進(jìn)來了。只見這個人一見了服務(wù)員，就把他們又手放到肚子上。這就行了：過了兩三分鐘就在他面前的餐桌上擺上了一大盤子意大利通心面條和肉。

正如你所看到的這個場面一樣，原始的手勢語并不總是能表達(dá)清楚的，詞句語言就能表達(dá)得清楚得多。

話語是由聲音所組成的，但具有下定意義的聲音并不都是話語。例如，我們說"噓！"表示"別出聲"。當(dāng)嬰兒笑了，我們知道他們高興了，當(dāng)嬰兒哭了，我們就知道他們病了或只不過是要什么東西。

動物也一樣。當(dāng)狗發(fā)出"嗚！"的聲音或貓發(fā)出"呋！"的聲音。我們就知道它們發(fā)怒了。

但這些聲音都不是語言。語言是組詞成句的。動物都不能組詞成句：一條狗要表示我發(fā)怒了，只能發(fā)出"嗚"的聲音，但狗就不會先說"我"再說"發(fā)怒"再說"了"。一只鸚鵡會像人一樣學(xué)舌，也能重復(fù)一些完整的句子，也可以懂得這些句子的意思。我們只能說鸚鵡會學(xué)舌，但我們不能說鸚鵡會真正發(fā)表講話。因為鸚鵡不會用所知道的單詞形成一些新的句子。只有人才有造句的本領(lǐng)。