Lecture 1 - core areas of language

Question 1

What is linguistics (definition)

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Scholars who systematically study a language refer to themselves as…

Answer 2

linguists
grammarians
communications experts
philologists (gr.: love of speaking, writing)
-> teacher = all of the above

Question 3

In what questions is linguistics particularly interested in?

Answer 3

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)

Question 4

Name the branches of linguistics (=six core areas)

Answer 4

1) Phonetics
2) Phonology
3) Morphology
4) Syntax
5) Sematics
6) Pragmatics

Question 5

Describe the core area “Phonetics”

Answer 5

The study of speech sounds

Question 6

Describe the core area “Phonology”

Answer 6

the study of sound systems of individual languages, study of phonemes

Question 7

Describe the core area “Morphology”

Answer 7

the study of the creation, structure and form of words and morphemes

Question 8

Describe the core area “Syntax”

Answer 8

the study of structural units larger than one word (e.g. phrases, clauses, sentences)

Question 9

Describe the core area “Semantics”

Answer 9

the study of word and sentence meaning (literal)

Question 10

Describe the core area “Pragmatics”

Answer 10

the study of meaning in context, study of discourse

Question 11

When did modern linguistics emerge?

Answer 11

Early 20th century

Question 12

Who is seen as the “founding father” of and a key figure in modern linguistics (structuralism)?

Answer 12

Ferdinand deSaussure
Book: Cours de linguistique générale
-> his contribution is seen as a milestone in linguistics

Question 13

Name the different central concepts of linguistics

Answer 13

1) Synchronic vs. diachronic
2) Descriptive vs. prescriptive
3) Langue vs. parole
4) Signifier vs. signified

Question 14

central concepts of linguistics:

synchronic vs diachronic - describe!

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Language is an evolutionary ‘Complex Adaptive System’. Name 4 processes that can happen

Answer 15

New variant (mutation)
Successful spread (replication) 
Competition between variants
Layering (co-existence) or loss

Question 16

central concepts of linguistics:

descriptive vs prescriptive - describe!

Answer 16

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

Question 17

central concepts of linguistics:

langue vs parole - describe!

Answer 17

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

Question 18

central concepts of linguistics:

signifier vs signified - describe!

Answer 18

Signifier:
-> form (e.g. sound pattern)

Signified:
-> meaning or concept

Question 19

Semiotics is … (definition)

Answer 19

The study of signs (language as a system of signs)

-> signifier vs signified

Question 20

What is a sign?

Answer 20

the combination of from and meaning

• > a form/meaning pairing
• > function/behavior

Question 21

Name three types of signs

Answer 21

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)

Question 22

The linguistic sign consist of two sides - name them and give examples

Answer 22

signifier -> sound-image
signified -> concept

bat -> signifier (the word)
bat -> signified (the image of the animal or the object)

Question 23

What are exceptions to the rule “Linguistic signs are symbols: arbitrary but conventionalized?”

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What is a word?

Answer 24

• 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