Introduction to Introduction to Contemporary Contemporary

Linguistics Linguistics

For undergraduates

Lecture 1Lecture 1

Human language

In the beginning was the In the beginning was the WordWord..

-- -- BibleBible

God created the world by a Word, instantaneously, without toil or pains.

-- Talmud

Both these pieces of scripture point to the primacy of language in the way human beings conceive of the world.

Language figures centrally in Language figures centrally in our lives.our lives.

We discover our identity as individuals and social beings when we acquire a language during childhood

Language serves as a means of cognition and communication

Language provides for present needs and future plans, and at the same time carries with it the impression of things past.

-- Widdowson

Other myths about languageOther myths about language

Babel Tower

Functions of language Functions of language recognized by ancient peoplerecognized by ancient people

To achieve something by giving order

To praise the Almighty

To challenge the heaven

What exactly does a human being physically possess that embodies his outstanding capability?

Muscle

Hands

Sensory organs

Ability to think

Ability to calculate

Ability to speak

Artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence

To liberate our brain

Language is uniquely human.Language is uniquely human.

People talk. They communicate their thoughts and experience, their hopes and fears to others; they transmit their accumulated knowledge and beliefs to their children, by means of oral sounds. Others listen and comprehend. These facts are true of all communities of human beings, from the most primitive to the most sophisticated.

Language is uniquely human.Language is uniquely human.

We human beings can create new meanings and shape our own reality unconstrained by the immediate context.

Any other species’ communication lacks such flexibility. As Bertrand Russell once observed: “No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor but honest”.

Language is uniquely human.Language is uniquely human.

Any human baby can learn at least one language. The learning is spontaneous and effortless.

However, no one knows how complex the mind of man operates to organize his experience and thoughts into communicable form anytime he speaks.

Language as phenomenaLanguage as phenomena

LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGESLANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES

Language is the system of human communication which consists of the structured arrangement of sounds (or their written representation) into larger units, e.g. morphemes,words, sentences, utterances.

Languages are particular systems of human communication, e.g. the French language, the Hindi language.

Languages and countriesLanguages and countries

Sometimes a language is spoken by most people in a particular country, for example, Japanese in Japan, but sometimes a language is spoken by only part of the population of a country, for example, Tamil in India, French in Canada.

In some cases, there is a continuum from one language to another. Dialect A of Language X on one side of the border may be very similar to Dialect B of Language Y on the other side of the border if Language X and Language Y are related. This is the case between Sweden and Norway and between Germany and the Netherlands

The scientific study of language or of particular languages is called

linguistics.

Varieties of languageVarieties of language

dialect accent sociolect temporal dialect register idiolect standard dialect

Two attitudes:

prescriptive

descriptive

Language as an entityLanguage as an entity

TIME-HONORED PROBLEMSTIME-HONORED PROBLEMS

WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGE?

WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

TRADITIONAL THEORIESTRADITIONAL THEORIES OFOF Linguistics Linguistics

Plato (427?-347 B.C.)

There is a universally correct and acceptable logic of language for man to follow in expressing his ideas.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.):

Language is arrived at by convention and agreement of the speakers of a given language.

DISPUTES DISPUTES IN IN MODERN LINGUISTICSMODERN LINGUISTICS

NATIVISM MENTALISM

There is a biological, physiological entity inside our brain which decides that we speak.

BEHAVIORISMEMPIRICISM

Our brain was blank when we were born. Language is a social, empirical entity.

Chomsky’s epistemology of Chomsky’s epistemology of the knowledge of languagethe knowledge of language

Human beings are born with something that other species are not born with, i.e. human language faculty.

The initial state of human language faculty is called UG.

Due to the effect of later experience, our brain/mind develops from the initial state into the steady state, which corresponds to the competence of speaking a human language.

UGUGuniversal grammaruniversal grammar

Every speaker knows a set of principles which apply to all languages and also a set of parameters that can vary from one language to another, but only within certain limits.

ExampleExample

People can accept: in the classroom (in English) きょうしつ 教室 に (in Japanese)

but can’t accept in any language: the in classroom

A principle:A principle:structural dependencystructural dependency

A knowledge of language relies on knowing structural relationships in a sentence rather than looking at it as a sequence of words.

PP (prepositional phrase)

P NP

DET N

in the classroom

PP (prepositional phrase)

P NP

DET N

the in classroom

PARAMETER:HEAD RIGHT P P

(postposition phrase)

NP P

教室 に

PARAMETERPARAMETER::HEAD LEFTHEAD LEFT PP (preposition phrase)

P NP

DET N

in the classroom

According to According to Chomsky, Chomsky,

Knowledge of language is the result of the interaction of UG and later experience.

The process for human language faculty to grow inside human body along a genetically-pre-determined course resembles the way a human being grows two arms instead of two wings according to the magic of human genes.

DIFFERENTDIFFERENT VOICES VOICESCONNECTIONISMCONNECTIONISM (EMERGENTISM)(EMERGENTISM)The mental-neural mechanisms

responsible for both lexical and grammatical processing are not unique to language.

The neural mechanisms that “do” language also do a lot of other things.

DIFFERENTDIFFERENT VOICES VOICES LEARNER’S VARIETYLEARNER’S VARIETY DeSaussure, Chomsky, indeed all

researchers customarily take perfect mastery of a language to be the crucial case, and a perfect speaker’s linguistic knowledge – a speaker who has mastered a “real language” to perfection – to be the primary object of linguist’s efforts.

-- Klein (1998)

The object of inquiryThe object of inquiry Nature is a physical continuum. It does

not break itself into physics, chemistry, psychology, linguistics, syntax, pragmatics, phonetics…, which are not facts but our decisions. They are different levels (perspectives) from which we talk about the world.

fields in linguisticsfields in linguistics

Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics …

Theory and disciplineTheory and discipline

Linguistics is not a theory. Syntax is not a theory. Pragmatics is not a theory.

They are all domains we circumscribe from the nature for the convenience of our understanding.

Newton’s Gravity is a theory. Einstein’s Relativity is a theory. Darwin’s Evolution is a theory. Chomsky’s UG is a theory.

TextbookTextbook

Introduction to Contemporary Linguistics

by Zheng Chao

to be published two weeks later

Course WebsiteCourse Website

A course website has been established to provide informative, interactive, and dynamic support to the textbook. The keys to the exercises of each chapter are also offered there. The website address is

www.lintroduction.com .

Reading RecommendationReading Recommendation

Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics.

by Richards, J. el al,1998. 外语教育与研究出版社 & Cambridge Uni. Press

牛津语言学入门丛书Linguistics by H.G. Widdowson 上海外语教育出版社 2001

More recommendations in the textbook (p. 13)  

TeachingTeaching

Not all the content of each chapter will be taught in class.

Topics of each chapter will be dealt with from rearranged perspectives in classroom teaching .

Students are encouraged to give their own ppt-aided presentation in class from the third lecture.

SuggestionsSuggestions

Preview and review each chapter;Dealing with all the exercises after class;Search the library for additional readings;Summarize what you have understood in a

notebook;Share your interest and achievements with

other students by discussion and contributing to our website.

About final examinationAbout final examination

An all-inclusive test

No term paper