Lecture 1 - core areas of language Flashcards
What is linguistics (definition)
1) The scientific study of language or of particular languages
2) The systematic study of the forms language can take and the ways language is used
Scholars who systematically study a language refer to themselves as…
linguists grammarians communications experts philologists (gr.: love of speaking, writing) -> teacher = all of the above
In what questions is linguistics particularly interested in?
Evolutionary linguistics (how and why did lang. develop)
Historical/diachronic linguistics (how and why is it constantly changing)
1st Language Acquisition, 2nd Language Acquisition
Multilingualism studies, Contact linguistics
Neurolinguistics, Psycholinguistics (how and where is it stored and processed)
Cognitive linguistics (how does it interact with cognition)
Sociolinguistics (How is it used in and shaped by society/social behavior/different societies/different groups of society)
Functional linguistics (What communicative functions does it have)
Typology (How do languages differ from each other)
FLT (Foreign) language teaching (How can/should a (foreign) language be taught best)
Name the branches of linguistics (=six core areas)
1) Phonetics
2) Phonology
3) Morphology
4) Syntax
5) Sematics
6) Pragmatics
Describe the core area “Phonetics”
The study of speech sounds
Describe the core area “Phonology”
the study of sound systems of individual languages, study of phonemes
Describe the core area “Morphology”
the study of the creation, structure and form of words and morphemes
Describe the core area “Syntax”
the study of structural units larger than one word (e.g. phrases, clauses, sentences)
Describe the core area “Semantics”
the study of word and sentence meaning (literal)
Describe the core area “Pragmatics”
the study of meaning in context, study of discourse
When did modern linguistics emerge?
Early 20th century
Who is seen as the “founding father” of and a key figure in modern linguistics (structuralism)?
Ferdinand deSaussure
Book: Cours de linguistique générale
-> his contribution is seen as a milestone in linguistics
Name the different central concepts of linguistics
1) Synchronic vs. diachronic
2) Descriptive vs. prescriptive
3) Langue vs. parole
4) Signifier vs. signified
central concepts of linguistics:
synchronic vs diachronic - describe!
Diachronic study of language:
-> Studies language over time, i.e. the changes that can be observed in the course of the history of a language (-> “historical linguists”)
Synchronic study of language:
- > Studies language at a certain point in time
- > abstraction, because language is constantly changing and developing (in transition)!
- > e.g. Old English 1000 AD, Present day English 2019
Language is an evolutionary ‘Complex Adaptive System’. Name 4 processes that can happen
New variant (mutation) Successful spread (replication) Competition between variants Layering (co-existence) or loss
central concepts of linguistics:
descriptive vs prescriptive - describe!
Descriptive:
- > describes neutrally how people speak/write
- > describes how language is actually used
- > doesn’t say what’s “right” or “wrong”
- > appropriate/inappropriate
- > formal/informal
- > standard/non-standard
Prescriptive:
- > tells people how to speak/write properly
- > normative rule of “correctness”
- > right/wrong
- > good/bad
- > well-formed/ill-formed
- > grammatical/ungrammatical
Linguists are descriptive but e.g. teachers are prescriptive
central concepts of linguistics:
langue vs parole - describe!
Langue (Competence):
- > shared language system
- > represents the mental knowledge that a speaker has stored in their brain
- > structure of an idealized language
- > interest in describing all elements of a language system, (sounds, words, sentences)
Parole: (Performance):
- > individual usage of the system in a given situation
- > language used by the individual
- > system put into practice
- > utterances at a specific point in time spoken/written by a specific person
- > speech event
central concepts of linguistics:
signifier vs signified - describe!
Signifier:
-> form (e.g. sound pattern)
Signified:
-> meaning or concept
Semiotics is … (definition)
The study of signs (language as a system of signs)
-> signifier vs signified
What is a sign?
the combination of from and meaning
- > a form/meaning pairing
- > function/behavior
Name three types of signs
1) Icon: form-meaning relation has resemblance (woman, man)
2) Index: form implies the concept indirectly (men’s and women’s shoes)
3) Symbol: form meaning is arbitrary (symbol for male, female)
The linguistic sign consist of two sides - name them and give examples
signifier -> sound-image
signified -> concept
bat -> signifier (the word)
bat -> signified (the image of the animal or the object)
What are exceptions to the rule “Linguistic signs are symbols: arbitrary but conventionalized?”
1) Onomatopoiea
= a word that imitates the sound it represents
-> semi-arbitrary, iconic signs
-> dog: wauwau, wuff, bowwow, …
2) Semi-iconic characters in some alphabets
- > e.g. mandarin character for child or double door
What is a word?
- an arbitrary conventionalized sign/symbol
- a form/meaning pairing
- stored in the human mind (langue) or produced as speech (parole) in spoken or written mode
