Transcript The Study of Language * Part I

The Study of
Language – Part I:
Why study it?
P. Sebastian
Why study linguistics?
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It’s what makes us distinctly human.
The more you know the more effective you are.
It’s interesting.
A well-educated person should know something about
language.
5. “The study of language is ultimately the study of the mind.”
Aspects of Language Development
• Learn language
• Learn through language
• Learn about language
Deductive vs. Inductive Approaches
• Rule instruction vs. linguistic investigation
Linguistic Investigation
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Eu tenho os livros.
Posso ter os bilhetes por favor?
O gato correu para a casa.
Eu conheci o professor hoje.
Você tem as mochilas?
• What do the words o, a, os, and as mean in Portuguese and
what are their functions?
• What determines their usage?
As regras
• http://www.learn-portuguese-with-rafa.com/portuguesedefinite-articles.html
More investigations!
• http://translate.google.com/#en/no/I%20have%20the%20boo
ks.%20%0ACan%20I%20get%20the%20tickets%20please%3F%
20%0AThe%20cat%20ran%20to%20the%20house.%20%0AI%2
0met%20the%20teacher%20today.%20%0ADo%20you%20hav
e%20the%20backpacks%3F
The Human Language
• 3:00-4:25 – Language is made up of rules that we must follow in order to
communicate. There are violations of grammar rules that prevent meaning
and there are those that simply distort it.
• 9:15-10:20 – Sounds, words, sentences (Language Productivity)
• 28:45-30:30 – “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”
• 30:30-35:00 Universal Grammar, differences and similarities between
languages
• In what ways are human languages similar?
• 38:00-39:50 – Grammar of Warlpiri (inflective with suffixes to denote
function of words)
• 44:00-45:00 - How effective is language?
• What is a spiral?
• Draw a picture of “it’s not going to rain”
• 50:00 – Displacement though abstraction (talking about future/past etc.)
The Study of
Language – Part II:
What it is and what it
ain’t
P. Sebastian
Why study language – Language Files
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It’s what makes us distinctly human
It is evidence of our thoughts, ideas, and feelings
It reflects identity
Design tools for language instruction, design computers that
can interact with humans using language, and treat people
with language disorders
Some important concepts
• Linguistic competence vs. Linguistic performance
• The speech communication chain p. 7
• Are there other models of speech communication?
• Try talking to each other at the same time.
What you know when you know a language
• Phonetic system
• Sounds production
• Phonological system
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Possible sound combinations
Pterodactyl, fsap, libg
Spaff, blig, splunch
Word endings
• Morphological system
• Word parts
• Syntactical system
• I will pick the package up at eight o’clock.
• Package up pick at o’clock will the eight I.
• Semantic system
• Pragmatic system
What you don’t (necessarily) know when you
know a language
• How to write
• Grammar (prescriptive)
• Linguistics vs. applied linguistics
• How do prescriptive rules that do not describe natural
language use survive?
Descriptive vs. Prescriptive
Descriptive and Prescriptive Rules
• Handouts & 3 groups: come up with some descriptive rules for
the grammar in the text provided.
Prescriptive grammar
• Advantages
• Efficient for large
amounts of information
or information too
complex to discover on
your own
• Allows for cognitive
application (processing)
• Good for learners who
don’t have exposure to
context
• Provides a standard
reference point
• Limitations
• Less authentic
• Detached from culture
• *(different between L1
and L2 acquisition)
• Doesn’t improve fluency
in language
• Not as powerful, lessons
are not retained as long
Descriptive grammar
• Advantages
• *See previous slide and
think backwards
• Allows learner to follow
personal
interests/curiosities
• Motivating/exciting/inte
resting
• Removes stigmas biases
• Allows learner to create
their own context
• Using comparisons and
contrasts
• Flexible to pace of
learner
• Limitations
• Onerous (timeconsuming and such)
• Lacks clear structure
• Often complex
• Requires more prep
• Assessment is a beast
• Norm-referencing is
complicated
What is Language?
• “Knowing how, when and why to
say what to whom.”
• Standards for Foreign Language Learning
• Which linguistic areas do associate with each part of this sentence?
The Study of
Language – Part III:
Design Features
P. Sebastian
9 Ideas About Language
-H. Daniels
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Children learn their native language swiftly, efficiently, and largely
without instruction
Language operates by rules
All languages have three major components: a sound system, a
vocabulary, and a system of grammar
Everyone speaks a dialect (a variety of a particular language which has a certain set of
lexical, phonological, and grammatical rules that distinguishes it from other dialects)
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Speakers of all languages employ a range of styles and a set of
subdialectes or jargons
Language change is normal (simplification and regularization p 29)
Languages are intimately related to the societies and individuals
who use them (language and culture p. 31)
Value judgments about different languages or dialects are matters
of taste
Writing is derivative of speech (fish = ghoti p. 34)
Natural vs. Constructed
Language
• “The distinction between constructed languages and natural
languages is that constructed languages are not the sort of
system that a child can acquire naturally.”
Hockett’s Design Features of
Language
• Some guy on Youtube
• Wikipedia
• Features unique to
human language:
• Discreteness
• Moveable parts
• Displacement
• Talking about things not
present
• Productivity
• Moving the moveable
parts to create novel
utterances
Arbitrary or Iconic?
The Onomatopoeia
• Animal sounds in other languages
Discussion Questions and
other Activities
• #25 on p. 33
• Act. 26