Chapter one
Invitations to Linguistics
The nature of language
A definition:
Language is human speech; the ability to
communicate by this means; a system of
vocal sounds and combinations of such
sounds to which meaning is attributed,used
for the expression or communication of
thoughts and feelings; the written
representation of such a system,(Webster's
New World Dictionary)
What does it mean to,know’’ a
language?
A,knowing the sounds that are part of
the lge and those that are not;
the strange pronunciation of the
foreigner e.g,Bach ch German sound
outside the English sound system,e.g,
this that:
zis zat th is not French sound
system.speaker’s unconscious knowledge
of that fact.
B,knowing which sounds may start a
word,end a word,and follow each
other.
Ghana word, Nkrumah begins with ng
sound,not present in English
C,knowing that certain sounds or sound sequence
signify or represent different concepts or
meanings.
e.g,boy different from toy or girl
knowing the system that relates sounds and meaning.
The relationship between speech sounds and meanings
they represent is for most part an arbitrary one,
The sound of the word,house” signify the concept,a
building for people to live in”; if you know French the
same meaning is represented by,maison”,Russian,by
“dom” ;
Chinese,房子,, These different words show that the
sounds of words are only given meaning by the
language in which they occur,
D,knowledge of a language enables
you to combine words to form
phrases,and phrases to form
sentences,to be able to produce new
sentences never spoken before and
to understand sentences never heard
before,
Noam Chomsky calls this ability ---the part
of the creative aspect of language use,
E,knowing what sentences are appropriate in
various situations; (pragmatics more details)
There is no limit on the length of any sentence and
therefore no limit on the number of sentences,
E.g,When you know the sentence you can say:
This is the house.
or
This is the house that Jack built,
or
This is the malt that lay in the house that jack built,
or
This is the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that
ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
Language is Systematic
People can learn and use a language,Two
basic systems,a system of sounds ; a
system of meanings,It's called the duality
of language,Concern,features of the two
systems and their relationship.
A,Features of Sounds
Two levels, primary and secondary e.g.[b],[e],and [d] (secondary
level) are meaningless by themselves,put together [bed]( primary
level) is meaningful,
A small number of sounds are repeated ---finite
The combinations of sounds to form units of meanings ---infinite
B,The relationship of two systems
Agreed-upon sound-meaning relations and sequences
A set of organizing principles (rules) that control any system of
language.
E.g,slid and snid + possible znid and sntd -impossible
Syntax of a language,rules for the formation of sentences,or
phrases and clauses.
the ordering of words:
E.g,The boss hit Tom.
Tom hit the boss,
The hit tom boss,*
E.g,She read the book you gave her yesterday
Language is Symbolic
People use signs to communicate,
The working of signs is called by Saussure
"semiology",by Pierce "semiotics“,
Signs ---ubiquitous in human society,
the location of language in sign systems
and the relationship between an object
and the sign that stands for the object.
Language is Arbitrary
A,No logical connection between meaning and sounds,e.g,dog to
denote the animal dog,pig,animal pig
e.g,skin not skni has nothing to do with the nature of skin
B,Implied meaning of Arbitrary
sign = a concept and a sound image combined
sign= a signified and a sinifier
a,The speaker of a language does not have the power to
change a sign in any way once it has become established in the
language community.
b,Arbitrary = the result of the need to express a wide range
of meanings speakers associate linguistic signs with things and
concepts,based on the convention established in the community.
Language is Primarily Vocal
All language use sounds,Writing is based
on speaking,to capture sounds and
meanings on paper.
The primary medium of language is sound.
Why?
Five reasons,
1,Children learn to speak before they learn to read and
write.
2,Children automatically learn a language as they grow
up.18 months -12 yrs, sufficient exposure to writing,
not natural,needs teachers
3,The spoken form came earlier than written form in
history.
4,writing is based on speech.
5,Spoken language is used more often than writing.
Implied Meaning,
1,Writing extends language beyond the limitations of
time and space.
2,Written language is more polished than speech,great
differences; e.g,classical Latin & language used in
Roman Empire.
Language is Human Specific
Human language is different from animal communications in the
following aspects.
1,the ability to refer to things far removed in time and space=
displacement of lge
2,the ability to produce the understand an indefinite number of novel
sentences.=creativity of lge
3,learning -a more important factor in human language than in animal
communication.
4,Language is complex in its structure.
5,Animal communication system is closed,whereas human lge is open
6,Humans can perform acts with lge.= performative function of lge
Language is used for
Communication
We use more words than we use gestures
when we communicate with others.
Why is so?
Just reflect on what we have discussed
above.
The functions of language
– Informative record the facts,speakers experience
determine our ways of looking at things
– Interpersonal function the individual is identified
and reinforced,personality
– Performative speech act theory,naming of a ship
– Emotive function nervous energy
– Phatic communion ritual exchanges about health
or weather e.g,nice day Good luck
– Recreational fuction chanting verbal duelings
poetry writing
– Metalingual function talk about itself
What is linguistics?
– Main branches of linguistics
– Phonetics the production of speech,
– Phonology studies the rules governig the structure,the
sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables.
– Morphology the internal organization of words,the minimal
units of meaning –morphemes and word-formation process.
– Syntax principles of forming and undrstanding correct English
sentences
– Semantics How meaning is encoded in a language
– Pragmatics the study of meaning in context.
– Psycholinguistics the interrelation of language and mindin
processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition
– Sociolinguistics the social function of language and the social
characteristics of its users,
– Anthropological linguistics the history and structure of
unwritten languages
– Computational languistics the use of computer to process or
produce huamn language
Important Distinctions in
Linguistics
Descriptive and prescriptive
Synchronic and diachronic
Langue and parole
Competence and performance
Etic and emic
Invitations to Linguistics
The nature of language
A definition:
Language is human speech; the ability to
communicate by this means; a system of
vocal sounds and combinations of such
sounds to which meaning is attributed,used
for the expression or communication of
thoughts and feelings; the written
representation of such a system,(Webster's
New World Dictionary)
What does it mean to,know’’ a
language?
A,knowing the sounds that are part of
the lge and those that are not;
the strange pronunciation of the
foreigner e.g,Bach ch German sound
outside the English sound system,e.g,
this that:
zis zat th is not French sound
system.speaker’s unconscious knowledge
of that fact.
B,knowing which sounds may start a
word,end a word,and follow each
other.
Ghana word, Nkrumah begins with ng
sound,not present in English
C,knowing that certain sounds or sound sequence
signify or represent different concepts or
meanings.
e.g,boy different from toy or girl
knowing the system that relates sounds and meaning.
The relationship between speech sounds and meanings
they represent is for most part an arbitrary one,
The sound of the word,house” signify the concept,a
building for people to live in”; if you know French the
same meaning is represented by,maison”,Russian,by
“dom” ;
Chinese,房子,, These different words show that the
sounds of words are only given meaning by the
language in which they occur,
D,knowledge of a language enables
you to combine words to form
phrases,and phrases to form
sentences,to be able to produce new
sentences never spoken before and
to understand sentences never heard
before,
Noam Chomsky calls this ability ---the part
of the creative aspect of language use,
E,knowing what sentences are appropriate in
various situations; (pragmatics more details)
There is no limit on the length of any sentence and
therefore no limit on the number of sentences,
E.g,When you know the sentence you can say:
This is the house.
or
This is the house that Jack built,
or
This is the malt that lay in the house that jack built,
or
This is the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that
ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
Language is Systematic
People can learn and use a language,Two
basic systems,a system of sounds ; a
system of meanings,It's called the duality
of language,Concern,features of the two
systems and their relationship.
A,Features of Sounds
Two levels, primary and secondary e.g.[b],[e],and [d] (secondary
level) are meaningless by themselves,put together [bed]( primary
level) is meaningful,
A small number of sounds are repeated ---finite
The combinations of sounds to form units of meanings ---infinite
B,The relationship of two systems
Agreed-upon sound-meaning relations and sequences
A set of organizing principles (rules) that control any system of
language.
E.g,slid and snid + possible znid and sntd -impossible
Syntax of a language,rules for the formation of sentences,or
phrases and clauses.
the ordering of words:
E.g,The boss hit Tom.
Tom hit the boss,
The hit tom boss,*
E.g,She read the book you gave her yesterday
Language is Symbolic
People use signs to communicate,
The working of signs is called by Saussure
"semiology",by Pierce "semiotics“,
Signs ---ubiquitous in human society,
the location of language in sign systems
and the relationship between an object
and the sign that stands for the object.
Language is Arbitrary
A,No logical connection between meaning and sounds,e.g,dog to
denote the animal dog,pig,animal pig
e.g,skin not skni has nothing to do with the nature of skin
B,Implied meaning of Arbitrary
sign = a concept and a sound image combined
sign= a signified and a sinifier
a,The speaker of a language does not have the power to
change a sign in any way once it has become established in the
language community.
b,Arbitrary = the result of the need to express a wide range
of meanings speakers associate linguistic signs with things and
concepts,based on the convention established in the community.
Language is Primarily Vocal
All language use sounds,Writing is based
on speaking,to capture sounds and
meanings on paper.
The primary medium of language is sound.
Why?
Five reasons,
1,Children learn to speak before they learn to read and
write.
2,Children automatically learn a language as they grow
up.18 months -12 yrs, sufficient exposure to writing,
not natural,needs teachers
3,The spoken form came earlier than written form in
history.
4,writing is based on speech.
5,Spoken language is used more often than writing.
Implied Meaning,
1,Writing extends language beyond the limitations of
time and space.
2,Written language is more polished than speech,great
differences; e.g,classical Latin & language used in
Roman Empire.
Language is Human Specific
Human language is different from animal communications in the
following aspects.
1,the ability to refer to things far removed in time and space=
displacement of lge
2,the ability to produce the understand an indefinite number of novel
sentences.=creativity of lge
3,learning -a more important factor in human language than in animal
communication.
4,Language is complex in its structure.
5,Animal communication system is closed,whereas human lge is open
6,Humans can perform acts with lge.= performative function of lge
Language is used for
Communication
We use more words than we use gestures
when we communicate with others.
Why is so?
Just reflect on what we have discussed
above.
The functions of language
– Informative record the facts,speakers experience
determine our ways of looking at things
– Interpersonal function the individual is identified
and reinforced,personality
– Performative speech act theory,naming of a ship
– Emotive function nervous energy
– Phatic communion ritual exchanges about health
or weather e.g,nice day Good luck
– Recreational fuction chanting verbal duelings
poetry writing
– Metalingual function talk about itself
What is linguistics?
– Main branches of linguistics
– Phonetics the production of speech,
– Phonology studies the rules governig the structure,the
sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables.
– Morphology the internal organization of words,the minimal
units of meaning –morphemes and word-formation process.
– Syntax principles of forming and undrstanding correct English
sentences
– Semantics How meaning is encoded in a language
– Pragmatics the study of meaning in context.
– Psycholinguistics the interrelation of language and mindin
processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition
– Sociolinguistics the social function of language and the social
characteristics of its users,
– Anthropological linguistics the history and structure of
unwritten languages
– Computational languistics the use of computer to process or
produce huamn language
Important Distinctions in
Linguistics
Descriptive and prescriptive
Synchronic and diachronic
Langue and parole
Competence and performance
Etic and emic
