Preview Introduction Origins of language Communication systems
Functions of language Universal properties of language Definitions
of language Approaches to the study of language
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Language History is universal and basic. Its about every event
that involves all people at all times and in all places Yes, but
how would you record and interpret that history without
language?
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Language A means to pass a record of what has happened from one
generation to the next through stories and sagas, even before
written records Development of tools to meet a broad range of needs
impossible without language
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Language Capacity for self-awareness and abstract thought
dependent on language The ability to transfer complex information,
to discuss the meaning of events and outcomes of alternative
actions, to share feelings and ideas impossible without
language
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Origins of language Shrouded in obscurity The ability to model
the world and to communicate using language the single most
advantageous evolutionary adaptation of the human species
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Origins of language Over thousands of years, the human species
developed a vocal tract flexible enough to make a wide range of
distinguishable sounds and the ability to perceive differences
among those sounds The ability to use these sounds in systems which
could communicate meaning Language a distinctive attribute of the
human species
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Communication Communication transfer of information Sign a
basic unit of communication Sign sth that stands for sth else to
communicate it (communicate = to make sth common)
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Communication signcommunicationhumananimal Passage of
information, formulation of inferences
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Communication humannaturalverbal non-verbal (gestures, etc.)
artificial (street signs)
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Code Sender intentionally produces a sign for the recipient How
can the recipient interpret the sign? Code a set of signs,
determined by convention, that provides the rules of interpretation
All communication systems - codes
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Language Signifiant expression, form, the aspect that can be
perceived (e.g. the word cat, spoken or written) Signifie the
content, information transmitted by signifiant (the concept of a
cat)
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Semiotic triangle
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(a) sign', (b) 'thought or reference' and (c) 'referent'
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Freedom from stimulus Language independent from stimuli, i.e.
external aspects of a situation Distinguishes human from animal
language Human verbal messages free, no deterministic aspect
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Distancing The possibility to formulate messages which are
distant in space and time characteristic of human language as
opposed to animal communication
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Social transferability Anthropologically, any language is
socially and culturally transmitted Any human being acquires at
least one language (mother tongue) and can learn other languages
Innate language faculty: universal properties of language empty
slots filled by material provided by the environment
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Transferability of medium: spoken and written Primacy of the
spoken language: Ontogenetic (a child first learns to speak)
Filogenetic (writing developed much later in human history) Social
primacy of the written language in modern societies (higher
cultural prestige; science, education, law)
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Multifunctionality of language Expresses thought Transmits
information Initiates, maintains and regulates cooperative
activities and social relationships Expresses feelings and states
of mind Resolves problems Creates possible worlds (literary
creation)
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R. Jakobsons classification Channel (contact) Phatic f. Sender
(emotive or expressive f.) Message (poetic f.) Code (metalinguistic
f.) Context Referential f.) Receiver (conative f.)
Language functions Emotive (expressive)-expresses the speakers
feelings (What a surprise!) Referential information about external
reality Conative making the recipient act in a particular way (Open
the window!) Phatic establishing contact (Hello!) Poetic function
focuses on the message (Carl Sandburg: The fog comes in on little
cat feet; metaphor) Metalinguistic focuses on the code Whats the
subject of this sentence?
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Universal properties of language Although languages differ in
many ways, they are made possible by the same genetic information,
processed in the brain in the same ways and they share some
fundamental features and structural characteristics Understanding
and explaining the properties which are universal to all languages,
as well as those which vary across languages task of
linguistics
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Universal properties of language Modularity Compositionality
and recursion Discreteness Productivity Arbitrariness Reliance on
context Variability
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Modularity Language a modular system: produced and interpreted
by using a set of component subsystems (or modules) in a
coordinated way Different regions of the brain associated with
different aspects of language processing
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Modularity Production and interpretation of speech sounds
phonetics Words and their structure morphology Structure of
sentences syntax Lexicon interacting with these properties Meaning
semantics Discourse - organization of language beyond the
sentence
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Compositionality and recursion Languages organized into
constituents, allowing more complex units to enter structures where
simpler ones are also possible
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Compositionality: examples She sat down. The smart woman sat
down. The tall, dark-haired, smart woman with the bright red
sweater and pearl necklace sat down.
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Compositionality Being composed of constituents gives language
a balance of structure and flexibility Constituents can be moved or
replaced by other constituents, but you cant move or replace a
constituent with a word that is not a constituent (Smart with the
bright red sweater sat down*)
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Compositionality Constituents can be moved, but you can only
move a complete constituent (Possible: She is very smart; very
smart, she is, but not: Smart, she is very)
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Recursion Property of language which allows grammatical
processes to be applied repeatedly, combining constituents to
produce and infinite variety of sentences of indefinite length
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Recursion Profound implications noone can learn a language by
memorizing all the sentences of that language, so there must be
another explanation for how human beings are able to learn them The
human brain finite, but recursiveness means that it is capable of
producing and understanding an infinite number of sentences
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Productivity Language can always produce messages that have
never been produced before Infinite combinations of basic units
whose number is limited Rule-based creativity: infinite
productivity based on a limited number of principles and rules
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Productivity Languages can systematically combine the minimal
units of meaning, called morphemes, into new words, whose meaning
is nonetheless deducible from the interaction of its morphemic
components A way in which languages change to meet the changing
communicative needs of their speakers
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Productivity The productivity of languages derives from the
fact that they are organized around a finite set of principles
which systematically constrain the ways in which sounds, morphemes,
words, phrases and sentences may be combined Since languages place
no limits on the use of recursive processes, they are potentially
infinitely productive
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Discretness Units of language are not continuous; there is a
limit between one element and the next
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Discreteness The range of sounds that human beings can make
continuous, but all languages divide that continuous space of sound
into discrete territories Sounds that are discrete in one language
may not be discrete in another
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Discreteness Language composed of sounds, words, sentences etc.
The fact that we hear speech as a sequence of individual sounds,
words and sentences incredible accomplishment Children in the first
year or two learn to pick out words from the stream of speech with
no instruction
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Reliance on context Pronounciation of one and won: the same
sequence of sounds can represent different concepts in the same
language The meaning of a sentence depends on the context in which
it is uttered The context: sentence or sentences which precede it,
or the broader physical or social circumstances in which the
sentence is uttered
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Reliance on context: examples Its cold in here could be a
complaint, a request to close the window, or even a compliment
Languages rely on the connection between form (what is said) and
context (when, where, by whom, and to whom it is said) to
communicate much more than is contained in a sequence of
words.
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Variability The language people use varies depending on whos
speaking and the situation in which they are speaking Variation
essence of information Variability of language indexical Speakers
vary the language they use to signal their social identities
(geographical, social status, ethnicity, gender) and also to define
the immediate speech situation
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Variability People show who they are by the variety of language
they use - they reveal their geographical origin and social status.
They signal membership in a range of overlapping social groups:
male or female, teenager or adult, member of an ethic group,
etc.
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Variability People also use language variation to communicate
the situation and purpose in which they are talking, as well as the
roles they are playing in those situations
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Variability A large part of a speech communitys culture is
transacted through language variation Norms of appropriate language
use help speakers to construct and negotiate their relations
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Variability The unwritten rules for the various forms and uses
of language can vary from one cultural milieu to another, within
and between societies, even between genders This raises the risk of
misunderstanding when speakers unknowingly behave according to
different cultural norms, but enriches our ways of seeing the world
when those differences are understood
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The descriptive approach Language universal characteristic of
human beings All languages (and language varieties) equal Language
varieties differ because over time they have adapted to differing
needs of their speech communities Each language equally functional
in meeting the communicative needs of its speech community
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The descriptive approach Sometimes when two or more speech
communities come into contact, one group will have more power; the
language variety of the dominant group is often perceived as having
higher status as well, especially if speaking it affords increased
access to power or wealth; language varieties spoken by the less
powerful groups often stigmatized as incorrect or bad language
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The descriptive approach Linguists take language as they find
it, rather than attempting to regulate it in the direction of
preconceived criteria
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Language A finite system of elements and principles that make
it possible for speakers to construct sentences for particular
communicative functions
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Grammatical competence Knowing the meanings signified by
different sound sequences and how to combine units of meaning into
words, phrases and sentences
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Communicative competence To be effective, speakers have to
combine grammatical competence with the knowledge of how to use
grammatical sentences appropriately to the purpose and context at
hand
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Defining language the knowledge included in the grammatical
competence + the ability to use that knowledge to accomplish a wide
range of communicative tasks language
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Definition of language Language is a) a code B) which organizes
a system of signs which are C) primarily phonic-acoustic D)
fundamentally arbitrary F) capable of expressing anything G)
possessed as interiorized knowledge which allows to produce
infinite sentences starting from a limited number of elements
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General principles for the analysis of language Synchronic and
diachronic approach Langue et parole Paradigmatic and syntagmatic
axis Levels of analysis
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Synchronic and diachronic study Syn (with) + chronos (time) Dia
(across) + chronos Diachrony study of language over time (history)
Synchrony study of language at a definite moment in time Two
approaches - complementary
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Langue et parole Distinction between the abstract system
(langue) and its concrete realization (parole): Ferdinand de
Saussure System and use (Louis Hjelmslev) Competence and
performance (Noam Chomsky)
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Langue et parole Langue (system, competence) a set of
interiorized rules of a language that constitute our capacity to
produce messages in a certain language; abstract, unconscious
competence shared by all members of a linguistic community Parole
individual linguistic act, concrete realization of a message in a
particular language
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Langue et parole Langue et parole: opposition between the
abstract, social and constant on the one hand (langue) and
concrete, individual and variable on the other (parole)
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Paradigmatic and syntagmatic axis Paradigmatic axis concerns
relations on the level of the system, syntagmatic axis concerns
relations on the level of structures that realize the
potentialities of the system Paradigmatic and syntagmatic
dimensions constitute a double perspective according to which the
structures, combinations of linguistic signs, function
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Paradigmatic and syntagmatic axis Paradigmatic axis: repository
from which linguistic units can be taken, syntagmatic axis makes
sure that the combinations of units are formed on the basis of
restrictions of any language Organization according to the two
principles very important because it results in different
distribution of elements of a language, allowing us to recognize
classes of elements which share the same distribution properties in
opposition to those that have different distribution
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Paradigmatic and syntagmatic axis Syntagmatic axis Paradigmatic
axis
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Levels of analysis Phonetics and phonology Morphology Syntax
Semantics
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Levels of analysis Phonetics and phonology Morphology
SyntaxLexicon and semantics Physical reality External world
cognitively codified
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Levels of analysis Phonetics and phonology, semantics link with
external reality Phonetics physical support to communication
Semantics: conceptualisation and cognitive categorisation of our
world
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Levels of analysis Morphology and syntax internal levels on
which the system is organised according to the principles that
govern the language faculty
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The diversity of linguistics General linguistics Historical
linguistics Language acquisition Sociolinguistics Psycholinguistics
Cognitive linguistics Computational linguistics Corpus linguistics
Applied linguistics (foreign language learning, LSP, translation
studies, forensic linguistics etc.)
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Summary Communication systems Functions of language Universal
properties of language Study of language