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    Language and Linguistics 2

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    Sirikan Sriwisan
    The document defines key concepts in linguistics including what language is, the different modes of language acquisition and learning, the scope of linguistics as a field of study, and definitions of applied linguistics. It provides information on fundamental linguistic concepts such as the arbitrary nature of language and its creative and cultural aspects. Various linguists' definitions of language are also presented, focusing on its systematic nature and use for communication.

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    Language and Linguistics 2

    Uploaded by

    Sirikan Sriwisan
    175 views40 pages
    The document defines key concepts in linguistics including what language is, the different modes of language acquisition and learning, the scope of linguistics as a field of study, and definitions of applied linguistics. It provides information on fundamental linguistic concepts such as the arbitrary nature of language and its creative and cultural aspects. Various linguists' definitions of language are also presented, focusing on its systematic nature and use for communication.

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    The document defines key concepts in linguistics including what language is, the different modes of language acquisition and learning, the scope of linguistics as a field of study, and definitions of applied linguistics. It provides information on fundamental linguistic concepts such as the arbitrary nature of language and its creative and cultural aspects. Various linguists' definitions of language are also presented, focusing on its systematic nature and use for communication.

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    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    175 views40 pages

    Language and Linguistics 2

    Uploaded by

    Sirikan Sriwisan
    The document defines key concepts in linguistics including what language is, the different modes of language acquisition and learning, the scope of linguistics as a field of study, and definitions of applied linguistics. It provides information on fundamental linguistic concepts such as the arbitrary nature of language and its creative and cultural aspects. Various linguists' definitions of language are also presented, focusing on its systematic nature and use for communication.

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    What is language?

    A. The system of human communication which consists of structured arrangement of sound into larger units, e.g. morphemes, words, sentences. B. A variety of language, spoken in one part of a country or by people belonging to a particular social class.

    Can language also refer to non-human system communication such as the language of bees?
    A. Yes. B. No.

    Which is true?
    A. Speech is the primary mode of language; writing is a secondary one. OR B. Writing is the primary mode of language; speech is a secondary one.

    Which is true?
    A. Acquisition is the conscious representation of grammatical knowledge that has resulted from instruction OR B. Acquisition refers to the unconscious development of the target language system as a result of using the language for real communication

    Which is true?
    A. Learning is the conscious representation of grammatical knowledge that has resulted from instruction OR B. Learning refers to the unconscious development of the target language system as a result of using the language for real communication

    Which is true?
    A. First language is acquired naturally. OR B. First language is acquired unnaturally. (only learn from school)

    What is Linguistics?
    A. Linguistics is the study of specific languages with the goal of learning to read, write or speak them. Or B. Linguistics is the scientific study of the phenomenon of human language.

    C. Linguistics is concerned with trying to make people speak properly.


    Or

    D. Linguists are concerned with describing how people speak.

    E. Linguistics is highly relevant for primary and secondary school teachers. Or F. Linguistics is not relevant for primary and secondary school teachers.

    What is applied linguistics?


    A. general principles of the structure and functioning of languages B. the application of the ideas and methods of linguistics to practical problems which have something to do with language, esp. the analysis of second-Language teaching

    What is Computational Linguistics?


    A. is the process of converting texts from one natural language to another natural language without any human intervention. B. is an applied field that combines the traditional field of linguistics with the newer field of computer science.

    Some Fundamental Concepts


    Every language is complex. All languages are systematic. Speech is the primary mode of language; writing is a secondary one. First language is acquired naturally.

    Definition of Language from many linguists

    Bloomfields definition (1933)


    Human speech differs from the signallike actions of animals. In human speech, different sounds have different meaning. To study this co-ordination of certain sounds with certain meanings is to study language.

    Chomskys definition (1957)


    When we study human language, we can approaching what some might call the human essence, the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man.

    Lehmanns definition (1968)


    Language is a system for the communication of meaning through sound. More precisely, language, viewed as a system, consist of three subsystems: one semantic, one syntactic, and one phonological.

    Sapirs definition (1921)


    Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.

    Saussures definition (1915)

    Language is a system of sign that express ideas,

    What is language?
    Language is a code that we learn to use in order to communicate ideas and express our wants and needs. Reading, writing, speaking, and some gesture systems are all forms of language.

    The design/defining features of human language (Charles Hockett)

    Arbitrariness Productivity/Creativity Duality Displacement Cultural transmission

    Arbitrariness
    --No logical or necessary relationship between the sound of the words and their meanings. - The connection between the words and its meanings is arbitrary. (the sounds change depending on the language) - Onomatopoeic words (which imitate natural sounds) are somewhat motivated.

    Productivity/creativity
    ----Peculiar to human languages users of language can understand and produce sentences they have never heard before, e.g. we can understand sentence like A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the hotel bed, though it does not describe a common happening in the world. A gibbon call system is not productive for gibbon draw all their calls from a fixed repertoire which is rapidly exhausted, making any novelty impossible. The bee dance does have a limited productivity, as it is used to communicate about food sources in any direction. But food sources are the only kind of messages that can be sent through the bee dance; bees do not talk about themselves, the hives, or wind, let alone about people, animals, hopes or desires

    Duality (double articulation)


    Lower level----sounds (meaningless) Higher level----meaning (larger units of meaning) A communication system with duality is considered more flexible than one without it, for a far greater number of messages can be sent. A small number of sounds can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning (words), and the units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences. (we make dictionary of a language, but we cannot make a dictionary of sentences of that language.)

    Displacement
    ----Language can be used to refer to things, which are not present: real or imagined matters in the past, present or future, or in far-away places. A gibbon never utters a call about something he ate last year There is something special about the bee dance though. Bees communicate with other bees about the food sources they have found when they are no longer in the presence of the food. In this sense, the bee dance has a component of displacement. But this component is very insignificant. For the bees must communicate about the food immediately on returning to the hive. They do not dance about the food they discovered last month nor do they speculate about future discoveries.

    Cultural transmission
    ----Language is culturally transmitted (through teaching and learning; rather than by instinct). Animal call systems are genetically transmitted. All cats, gibbons and bees have systems which are almost identical to those of all other cats, gibbons and bees. A Chinese speaker and an English speaker are not mutually intelligible. This shows that language is culturally transmitted. That is, it is pass on from one generation to the next by teaching and learning, rather than by instinct. The story of a wolf child, a pig child shows that a human being brought up in isolation simply does not acquire human language.

    LAD = Language Acquisition Devices

    The origin of language


    The divine-origin theory---- Language is a gift of God to mankind. The invention theory---- imitative, cries of nature, the grunts of men working together. The evolutionary theory---- the result of physical and psychological development.

    Aspects of Language Development


    Halliday (1984) We learn language. We learn through language. We learn about language.

    How Should We Study Language?

    Observe (we collect data and analyze it) Hypothesize (we hypothesize a rule) Test (we gather more data to test our
    hypothesis)

    Conclude (we write a final rule based on


    our observation and tests)

    This is the scientific method!!!

    What is linguistics?
    ----Linguistics is the scientific study of language. ----A person who studies linguistics is known as a linguist.

    The scope or major branches of linguistics


    Theoretical linguistics 1. Phonetics 2. Phonology 3. Morphology 4. Syntax 5. Semantics Use of linguistics 1. Applied linguistics 2. Sociolinguistics 3. Psycholinguistics

    Theoretical linguistics
    Phonetics----speech sound (description, classification, transcription): articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, auditory phonetics. Phonology----sound patterns of languages Morphology----the form of words Syntax----the rules governing the combination of words into sentence. Semantics----the meaning of language (when the meaning of language is conducted in the context of language use----Pragmatics)

    Use of linguistics
    Applied linguistics----linguistics and language teaching Sociolinguistics---- social factors (e.g. class, education) affect language use Psycholinguistics----linguistic behavior and psychological process Stylistics----linguistic and literature

    Why Do Teachers Study Linguistics?

    To know how language works. To help their students. To make good decisions. To be more effective.

    Applied Linguistics

    What is Applied Linguistics?


    According to the Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics (1985) there are two definitions: the study of second or foreign language learning and teaching. the study of language and linguistics in relation to practical problems, such as lexicography, translation, speech pathology, etc.

    Definitions
    Applied linguistics uses information from sociology, anthropology, and information theory as well as from linguistics in order to develop its own theoretical models of language and language use, and then uses this information and theory in practical areas such as syllabus design, speech therapy, language planning,literacy, bilingualism and authorship identification.

    An Overview of Applied Linguistics


    Therefore, applied linguistics involves a- what we know about language b- how it is learned c- how it is used The primary concern of applied linguistics has been second language acquisition theory, second language pedagogy and the interrelationship of both areas.

    Theoretical linguistics

    Pedagogy

    Applied Linguistics

    Sociology

    Psychology

    Scope of applied linguistics


    Language teaching and learning Language testing Psycho- and neurolinguistics Sociolinguistics Discourse analysis Computational linguistics Translation studies

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