linguistics: lecture 1

C-linguistics 1(click on title for sound) : 

C-linguistics 1(click on title for sound) Introduction: What is linguistics? What is language? Schools of linguistics

What is Linguistics? : 

What is Linguistics? The systematic study of languages Tries to analyse: what language is how language works what languages have in common how languages vary how children acquire language social differences in language usage how language reflects the mind how languages change over time

The Scope of Linguistics? (According to Aitchison) : 

The Scope of Linguistics? (According to Aitchison) Phonetics Phonology Syntax (Morphology) Semantics Pragmatics Sociolinguistics Psycholinguistics Applied linguistics Computational linguistics Stylistics Philosophical linguistics Anthropological linguistics Typology (Comparing languages) French Diachronic studies O.E M.E E.M.E

The descriptive and prescriptive schools : 

The descriptive and prescriptive schools An old battle Prescriptive perspective Descriptive perspective

The Prescriptive Perspective : 

The Prescriptive Perspective Prescriptivists try to prescribe rules of ‘correctness’. “The boy whom I spoke of” not “The boy who I spoke of”. These rules are often based on Latin grammar and ‘logic’, neither of which can be applied to English! These rules are based on the written language, with the misconception that the written language is somehow the basis for the spoken language. Prescriptivists advocate the ‘standard’, i.e. the dialect of the powerful elite, as ‘correct’. Important prescriptivists: Lowth 1762, Murray 1794

The Descriptive Perspective : 

The Descriptive Perspective Descriptivists try to describe a language. “I ain’t got no money” is grammatical because it is systematically used by native speakers. The language in use today (synchronic perspective) is of main interest. Does not try to advocate dying forms such as the subjunctive. Spoken language is primary to the descriptivist. All variants of a language, standard or ‘vulgar’ are of equal interest and value. Important descriptivists: Sweet 1891, Jespersen 1933

What is language? : 

What is language? Human language A system of sound signals Arbitrary Duality Structure dependent Creative Displacement Important names: Saussure, Jespersen, Chomsky

The system: an example : 

The system: an example John <--->is <---> eating <---> his <---> food <---> greedily Sandra We John They I am are is was were swallowing eating chewing my your his her our pasta food lunch hungrily greedily reluctantly syntagmatic paradigmatic

Historical perspectives: schools of linguistics 1 : 

Historical perspectives: schools of linguistics 1 In 1786 Sir William Jones discovered that Sanskrit, Persian, Greek and Latin showed too many similarities to be merely coincidental [these languages are] sprung from the same source, which, perhaps, no longer exists The search for Proto-Indo-European had begun; language was regarded as a developing species (cf. Darwin’s ideas)

Historical perspectives: schools of linguistics 2 : 

Historical perspectives: schools of linguistics 2 1907-1911 Ferdinand Saussure designed a new approach to linguistics in his Course in General Linguistics (Fr. Cours de linguistique générale) I am the father of modern linguistics. I believe in synchronic studies as the most important pursuit of a linguist, I distinguish between ‘langue’ and ‘parole’, I insist that language is a carefully built system and claim that the sign is a combination of the signifier and the signified. Modern structural linguistics had begun

Saussurean Linguistics : 

Saussure on the General Nature of Language three Saussurean claims about the nature of language language is a matter of sociology language is systematic there are two sides to language: langue = the social side parole = the individual side Saussurean Linguistics

The arbitrary nature of the sign : 

The arbitrary nature of the sign

American Descriptivist Schools 1 : 

American Descriptivist Schools 1 Off-shoot from anthropology which aimed to document dying Native American Languages Important individuals: Frans Boas Leonard Bloomfield Frans Boas (1858–1942) Edward Sapir Benjamin Lee Whorf Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897–1941)

American Descriptivist Schools 2 : 

American Descriptivist Schools 2 Sapir worked with Native American languages and together with Whorf he is described as a ”mentalist”. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is formulated from their claims: Language determines the way we think (linguistic determinism) The distinctions encoded in one language are not found in any other language (linguistic relativity) Result: Language determines the way we think — the conceptual organization of our language forces us to perceive and interpret the world in a certain way. Translation from one language to another is impossible.

Chomsky : 

Chomsky The thinking of Noam Chomsky was very influential during the second half of the 20th century Some Chomskyan notions: Not interested in specific description of a language but rather general principles applicable to all languages (universal grammar) The structure of the human mind determines language. This is part of human nature and must be genetically inherited Chomsky makes a distinction between competence and performance The pursuit of a transformational, generative grammar to describe the Universal Grammar (inherited, in the mind of speakers) is central to his work.