Introduction to Language Detmar Meurers

Ling 201, Spring ’04 Handout 1

2 Language and Linguistics
Language is a system that associates sounds (or gestures) with meanings in a way that uses
words and sentences.
Basic Concepts of Language and Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It tries:
• first, to observe languages and to describe them accurately,
• then, to find generalizations within what has been described,
1 Objectives of the course 1 • finally, to draw conclusions about the general nature of human language.

2 Language and Linguistics 2

Applied linguistics attempts to make practical use of the knowledge derived from
3 Speech vs. Writing 2 general linguistic research – in order, for example, to:
3.1 Why it is sometimes claimed that writing is primary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
• improve the ways in which a student’s native language is taught
3.2 Linguists’ reasons for claiming that speech is primary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
• help people learn foreign language more efficiently
4 Competence vs. Performance 3 • write better dictionaries

5 Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Approach to Language 4 • improve therapy for people with language problems
5.1 Descriptive Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 • search the Internet more efficiently and successfully
5.2 Prescriptive Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Linguistics overlaps and (ideally) cooperates with: psychology, sociology, anthropology,
5.3 Prescriptivism vs. Descriptivism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
philosophy, logic, mathematics, computer science, speech pathology, acoustics, music,
6 The parts of Grammar 5 cryptanalysis, etc.
6.1 Phonetics and Phonology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.2 Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.3 Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.4 Semantics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3 Speech vs. Writing
6.5 Pragmatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1 Why it is sometimes claimed that writing is primary
7 Arbitrariness (Conventionality) 7
• Written texts tend to be more carefully worded and better organized than spoken
7.1 Limited Exceptions: Onomatopoeia and Sound Symbolism . . . . . . . . . . . 7
texts, they contain fewer errors, hesitations, and incomplete sentences, because writing
7.2 Why is Arbitrariness an Advantage? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
is usually planned in advance, is subject to fewer time constraints, is proofread, etc.
However: How about instant messaging, quick e-mails?
• Spelling is more uniform across different individuals and places using the same
1 Objectives of the course language than is pronunciation.
However: UK: tyre, draught, colour, dialogue, penalise, centre, defence, . . .
• To make you aware of your beliefs about and attitudes towards language. USA: tire, draft, color, dialog, penalize, center, defense, . . .
Moreover: Is uniformity the same as primacy?
• To show you how surprisingly diverse human languages are, and yet how fundamentally
similar they are in many ways. • Written texts last and can be preserved for a long time.
However: CDs, tapes, . . . can preserve speech
• To acquaint you with the different aspects of language and how they can be studied.
• Writing styles change much more slowly than speech styles, and so writing
• To teach you some of the tools and techniques used in the analysis of language and to seems more “permanent” and “authoritative”.
develop your reasoning abilities by application of these tools. However: This can be is also disadvantage – writing lags behind the times.

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3.2 Linguists’ reasons for claiming that speech is primary 5 Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Approach to Language
• There are many societies which only speak their language and do not write it. And no
society uses only a written language (with no spoken form).
5.1 Descriptive Approach

• Historically, spoken language existed much earlier than writing. • Linguists attempt to describe the grammar of the language that exists in the minds of
its speakers, i.e. to create a model of speakers’ mental grammar.
Writing was invented in Sumer (Mesopotamia, current Iraq) about 6000 years ago.
• The resulting descriptive grammar describes person’s basic linguistic knowledge.
• We learn to speak before we learn to write.
It explains how it is possible to speak and understand and it summarize what speakers
• Most people say more during one month than they write during their entire lives. know about the sounds, words, phrases and sentences of their language.

• Writing must be taught, whereas spoken language is acquired automatically. • Creating a descriptive grammar involves observing the language and trying to discover
the principles or rules that govern it.
• Psycholinguistic evidence suggest that the processing and production of written lan-
guage is overlaid on the spoken language centers in the brain (plus certain other cen- • Descriptive rules accept as given the patterns speakers actually use and try to account
ters). for them. Descriptive rules allow for different dialects of a language and even variation
within one dialect.
• Speech contains information that writing lacks: intonation, stress, voice quality . . .

5.2 Prescriptive Approach

4 Competence vs. Performance
• Prescriptivists tell you someone’s idea of what is “good” or “bad”.
Competence: the speaker’s unconscious knowledge of his/her language enabling him/her • Prescriptive rules make a value judgment about the correctness of certain utterances
to produce and understand an infinite number of sentences and generally try to enforce a single standard. For example:
Performance: the actual usage of competence in communication; subject to physical/biological
limitations (memory, breathing), hesitations, errors, etc. – Don’t split infinitives; don’t say: to easily understand
– Don’t end a sentence with a preposition; don’t say Where are you from?
”What’s one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?” – Don’t use me in a subject of a sentence; don’t say You and me went to the store.
”I don’t know”, said Alice, ”I lost count.”
– Don’t use ain’t; don’t say Ain’t it the truth?
”She can’t do Addition, ” the Red Queen interrupted.
• The people who prescriptive grammar make up the rules of the grammar.
Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
• They attempt to impose the rules for speaking and writing on people without much
Another example: regard for what the speakers of a language actually say and write.

(1) The mouse escaped. • So-called prescriptive grammar usually focuses only on a few issues and leaves the rest
of a language undescribed (unprescribed?). In fact, from the linguistic point of view,
(2) The mouse the cat was chasing escaped.
this is not grammar at all.
(3) The mouse the cat the dog barked at was chasing escaped.
..
.

• Performance point of view: terrible

5.3 Prescriptivism vs. Descriptivism
• Competence point of view: unproblematic
In summary: Linguists describe language, they do not prescribe it.

As a science, linguistics
• is not in the business of making value judgments about language use.
• studies how language really is used and then attempts to describe the facts, in order
to analyze and, eventually, explain them.

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An Analogy: 6.2 Morphology
• Physicists: Morphology – the word structure and of systematic relations between words.
Morpheme – the building-blocks of words, the smallest linguistic unit which has a meaning
– don’t complain that objects fall to earth
or grammatical function.
– simply observe and describe the fact of falling, then try to discover the laws that
Words are composed of morphemes (one or more).
are behind it.
Sing-er-s, answer-ed, un-kind-ly
• Linguists:
In comparison with many other languages, English has rather simple morphology.
– don’t say that people shouldn’t use ain’t
– simply observe that some people in certain situations do use ain’t (without judg-
ing, although they do note any systematic correlations of such use with particular
groups, regions, situations, styles, etc.)
6.3 Syntax
Syntax – phrase and sentence structure
Syntacticians try to discover rules that govern word order and form. For example:
6 The parts of Grammar word order: The book is on the table. *Table book on is the the.
form (agreement): I am here. *I are here.
Grammar is a language system, a set of principles (rules) that underlie a language. form (cases): I like her. *I like she.
Note: In linguistics, placing an asterisk (*) before a sentence marks that sentence as un-
Mental Grammar – the knowledge of language that allows a person to produce and un- grammatical.
derstand utterances
Grammar can be described as having different parts:

• phonetics
6.4 Semantics
• phonology
Semantics is the literal meaning of sentences, phrases, words and morphemes.
• morphology
E.g., What is the meaning of the word vegetable?
• syntax E.g., How does the word order influence meaning of sentence in English? How about Russian?
• semantics
• pragmatics

Since linguists study all of these, the terms are also used to refer to subfields of linguistics. 6.5 Pragmatics
Pragmatics studies language usage, especially how context influences the interpretation of
utterances – the same sentence can be used to do different things in different situations.
E.g., Gee, it’s hot in here! can be used either to state a fact or to get someone open a
6.1 Phonetics and Phonology window.
Phonetics – the production and perception of speech sounds as physical entities.
E.g., [v] is pronounced by bringing the lower lip into contact with upper teeth and forcing Simply put: Semantics is the literal meaning and pragmatics is the meaning and use in
air out of the mouth while the vocal folds vibrate and nasal cavity is closed off. context.

Phonology – the sound patterns (the sound system of a particular language) and of sounds
as abstract entities.
In English, a word never starts with [kn] (note that knife starts with [n] not [k]), while in
German it is possible (e.g., Knabe ‘boy’)
In Setswana (a language of southern Africa), a consonant is always followed by a vowel –
when the speakers adopted the word Christmas from English, they pronounce as kirisimasi.

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7 Arbitrariness (Conventionality) • Sound symbolism refers to the very vague, elusive way in which certain sounds “feel”
more appropriate for describing certain objects or meanings than do other sounds.

The relation between form and meaning in language can be either: – the vowels [i] or [ ] seem to suggest smallness
teensy-weensy, wee, little, Tommy (vs. Tom), squeak ; but: big
• arbitrary (conventional), in which case: – the vowels [a, o, u] suggest largeness
– the meaning is not deducible from the form large, humongous; but: small
– the form is not deducible from the meaning – to English speakers, gl- suggest brightness:
– the connection between the form and meaning must be learned via memorization glint, glitter, gleam, glow ; but: glove, glue, glum, glop
– to English speakers, -ash suggest sudden action:
• non-arbitrary bash, brash, crash, clash, flash, dash, flash, mash, slash, smash, splash
– the meaning is (at least partly) derivable from the form, and vice versa E.g., buzz
‘sound made by (the wings of) bees’
iconicity – the most extreme example of non-arbitrary form/meaning connection: the
form shows a physical correspondence to the meaning and vice versa 7.2 Why is Arbitrariness an Advantage?
Non-language examples: • It allows users of a communication system to adopt the most convenient means available
for communicating, since it obviates any need for the forms of signs to bear an inherent
• arbitrary: traffic lights, tornado warning siren
relationship to their meanings.
• non-arbitrary: a “no-smoking” sign (with a crossed-out cigarette), a deer-crossing sign
• It also makes it much easier for users of a communication system to refer to abstract
(with a silhouette of a deer)
entities, since it is hard to find a combination that involves an inherent link between a
form and an abstract meaning.
Language is overwhelmingly arbitrary.

If language were not arbitrary, then:

• different languages would not use different words for the same thing (in fact, there
would be just one language), as they obviously do:
Terms and concepts to remember
English tree, French arbre, German Baum, Russian derevo, Japanese ki, Korean namu. Language, linguistics, grammar (language system), mental grammar, descriptive approach,
prescriptive approach, competence, performance, phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax,
• word forms would not change over time.
semantics, pragmatics, arbitrary (conventional), iconic, onomatopoeia.
Old English (before 1100) hūs → Modern English house
• word meanings would not change over time
Middle English (before 1500) girle ‘child’ → Modern English girl ‘girl’
Middle English nice ‘ignorant’ → Modern English nice ‘pleasant’

7.1 Limited Exceptions: Onomatopoeia and Sound Symbolism

There are two very limited and partial exceptions to the arbitrariness of language:

• Onomatopoeia = words whose sound imitates either the sound they denote or a
sound associated with something they denote. These words are not entirely arbitrary.
However, different languages represent the same natural sounds in slightly different
ways
(e.g. English cock-a-doodle-doo 6= German kikeriki), which shows that they are not
completely non-arbitrary, either.

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