Contemporary Linguistics

Chapter 1Intro to Language

All humans are specialized for language

• Speech organs– Mouth—teeth, tongue, lips, throat—vocal cords,

lungs—breathing, nasal cavity– Brain—(more later in Ch 14) specialized lobes for

production and reception of spoken and written language

• All human cultures develop spoken language– UN definition of a human – a primate who uses

language

All languages share:

• Creativity– Speakers can use given vocab to say something

understandable never said before• In 2nd grade, I married a giraffe.

• Grammar– All human languages, and all dialects of any

human language have a grammatical system• Change over time– If they are still living languages

All grammars are equal linguistically!

• Some grammars are more likely to lead to higher paying employment.

• But all grammars are equally good at conveying information to those in that dialect group.

• Even dialects used by those who cannot read standard English are grammatical in that they follow their own rules and structure.

All grammars are alike in some ways

• All human languages have more consonant than vowel sounds

• All human languages have words for what people do (verbs) and for things (nouns)

• Any language with a /f/ also has an /s/• All languages have the vowel /ɑ/ • Most languages fall into two patterns:– S-V-O as in John ate the burger– S-O-V as in he his swin heolde (OE) for he his pigs held.

Subconscious grammar

• It is easier to see this if you have ever tried to explain a rule of English to a non-native speaker!

• For example, whenever a native speaker of English has multiple adjectives, he will put last the adjective that is also a noun.– “yellow brick road” never “*brick yellow road”

• American English speakers go “to school” but “to the hospital,” and British English speakers go “to school” and “to hospital.” They also wait “on line” while we American wait “in line.”

Prescriptive vs. Descriptive

• A prescriptive linguist, or grammarian, or dictionary writer PRESCRIBES correct usage for others– Very 18th C!

• A descriptive linguist, grammarian, or dictionary writer DESCRIBES what native speakers are actually doing to get their meanings across to one another– Very modern!