Language Preview

Chapter 1

Human Language SpecializationOrgan Survival SpeechLungs Exchange CO2 for

O2 Air flow

Vocal Cords Cover tube to lungs Vibration

Tongue Move food in mouth

Articulation (C & V)

Teeth Chew food Articulation (C)

Lips Seal oral cavity Articulation (C & V)

Nose Breathing Nasal resonance

Origin of Language: Theories Divine Gift

Monogenetic theory Human Invention

Echoic (imitative) Cries of nature Rhythmical grunts Love songs

Evolution of Linguistic Capacity Anatomical Neurological

Creative System Infinity of language

Grammar Pull the boat onto the beach ______ the boat

Word formation New word: “Soleme” Having the properties of Soleme =

“_______” Created in the process of “_____________”

Infiniteness Human language makes infinite

use of finite means.

The pink dog wanted a red balloon.

?Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

Recursive Rules This is the house that Jack built. This is the cheese that sat in the

house… This is the rat that ate the cheese that… This is that cat that killed the rat that… This is the dog that chased the cat…

Key Point Speakers of any language can

understand and produce sentences they’ve never heard before.

You tell me… a sentence you’ve never heard before

Ambiguity The man saw the fish with binoculars.

You tell me… John yelled “Duck”…

Grammatical or not…? The fish is swimming. *Fish the swimming is. ?Swimming is the fish. *The fishing is swim.

He saw two dogs. *He saw twos dog.

Japanese watashi-wa inu-ga mimashita

I (subject) dog (object) saw(I saw a dog)

*mimashita inu-ga watashi-wa (saw) dog (object) I (subject)

watashi-ga inu-wa mimashita I (object) dog (subject) saw(A dog saw me)

Grammatical or Not? John kissed the little old lady who

owned the shaggy dog. Who owned the shaggy dog John

kissed the little old lady.

Grammatical or Not? John is difficult to love. It is difficult to love John.

Grammatical or Not? John is anxious to go. It is anxious to go John.

You Tell Me

Grammatical/ungrammatical pairs

Linguistic Competence Internal/Innate grammar

Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics

Linguistic Competency Sound System

Phonetics Phonology

Words Form + meaning ≈ Arbitrary

relationship Sound Symbolism onomatopoeia

Competence vs. Performance Linguistic Competence

Knowing Mental grammar

Linguistic Performance Doing

Grammatical Principles Generality Parity Universality Mutability Inaccessibility

Grammatical or Ungrammatical?

He ain’t got none.

For Descriptive Linguistics: “Ungrammatical” means a native speaker would not have a reasonable expectation that the intended message will be understood

On final prepositions…

It is a rule up with which we should not put.

- Winston Churchill

Prove or Disprove… Language is systematic and rule-governed. Language is generative (has creative potential). Language is a set of arbitrary symbols. The symbols have conventionalized meanings The symbols are primarily vocal. Language is essentially human. Language is used for communication. Language operates in a speech community or culture. Language is acquired by all people in much the same

way; language acquisition and language learning both have universal characteristics.

Language changes.

Grammar“the system of operations for creating an indefinite number of sentences out of a finite number of elements”

Components of Grammar phonetic system

the sounds of the language phonological system

the sound patterns of the language lexical system

the words or vocabulary of the language morphological system

the patterns of word formation of language syntactic system

the structure of sentences of the language semantic system

the meanings of words and sentences of the language pragmatic system

how the language is used in the context of spoken discourse

Two Views of Language Noam Chomsky

Focus on ideal situation Homogeneous speech community Competence = performance

Dell Hymes Focus on real people

Speech community is critical Competence ≠ Performance

Noam Chomsky “Linguistic theory is concerned primarily

with an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech-

community, who knows its language perfectly and is unaffected by such

grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitation, distractions, shifts of

attention and interest, and errors in applying his [/her] knowledge of the

language in actual performance.”

Dell Hymes“A child from whom any and all of the grammatical

sequences of a language might come with equal likelihood would be, of course, a social monster. Within

the social matrix in which it acquires a system of grammar, a child acquires also a system of its use

regarding persons, places, purposes, other modes of communication, etc.--all the components of the

communicative events, together with attitudes and beliefs regarding them. There also develop patterns of

the sequential use of language in conversation, address, standard routines, and the like. In such acquisition

resides the child’s sociolinguistic competence (or more broadly, communicative competence), its ability to

participate in its society as not only a speaking but also a communicating member.”

You tell me… If you had to choose between

Chomsky & Hymes’ approaches, who would you support?

Is there a value in combining &/or balancing the two approaches?

Teaching Grammar Prestige dialect… Second language instruction…

For “tomorrow” Exercises

1-6 – All (they’re easy)

Read Chapter 2

Bring a small hand mirror to class