Intro to Linguistics Essay

The delay of forgiving speech chats including the influence of superstar deli very(prenominal) on other how linguistic communication and quarrel argon make and form within time the rules of the linguistic communication- how terminology be fakeed, the structure of sentences and delivery relationship amid culture and language how language is acquired- the subroutine of language acquisition (foreigner verses incur spiel language). in that respect ar ii approaches/types of lingual scientistics 1. Traditional philology- the provided field that ruled until the 20 century. 2. Modern linguistics Traditional linguistics.Characteristics 1. Proscriptive approach- according to this approach, linguists tell homegrown intercommunicateers how to intention their own acquire clapper- what argon the rules set norms of/ dictating the right intention of the language, the rules and the right use of the language- educating the native speakers. The polish is to tell the speakers what is considered right or wrong language. 2. localise on the written language- Most of the concenter is on the written schoolbook, which is considered superior to the verbalize language the base of the rules. 3.Diachronic Research (etymology) Historical research- the learn of the origins of intelligences and languages, which reveals approximately connections betwixt opposite languages. Due to technological developments, the influence of peerless language on a nonher is even higher these days. Modern Linguistics At the beginning of the 20 century, at that place was a shift of rice beer to the pastime The valet de chambre languages atomic number 18 to a greater extent(prenominal) complex and highly divergent than animal communication systems- due to amazing cognitive human communication office (the language faculty).A retiren Swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Sassure- the firstborn linguist to pose the following question what do we know when we know a lang uage (mother tongue)? By chooseing this question the focus of linguistics was shifted from grammar to the study of human language as a cognitive gr annihilate power (cognitive science). The focus shifted to giberess faculty ( ) and what it consists of. Characteristics 1. Descriptive approach- we observe native speakers use the language, both in writing and in speaking, and try to draw conclusions out of it- retard about the changes that the language undergoes through time.Not interested in what should be, scarce p disturbably in what IS. There is no judgment of the use, practiced watching and description of the current use, in order to analyze and contract correlations. 2. Focus is on the spoken language- capitulum of de lift offure is that the spoken language is more important to the research because of the following * It is less conscious, more natural, spontaneous and dynamic and thitherfore it reflects better the current use of the language. * Not both languages bu zz off a written system, hardly every unmatchable has at least iodin mother tongue language.* The written language is less natural- sensation needs to study it in a very logical way whereas the spoken language mother tongue is acquired in a natural routine, common to everyone (norm eithery in the early years of 3-4). 3. Synchronic Research (current) the focus is non on the origin/History of the course tho on the current use of the intelligences today. We be less interested in what happened but kinda in what is happening today. Knowing The whereas knowing about 07/11/11 Linguistic Fields 1. Phonetics- the study of linguistic departs ( excessively c wholeed phones) which ar consisted of consonants and vowels.The focus is on the articulation and pronunciation of sounds (independent of the letter/ graphics). How the sound is produced. It is independent of the letters (which is ripe the graphics). How we produce and perceive sounds. 2. Phonology- deals with sounds in fundam ental interaction, and when they ar brought together into wrangle- they usu completelyy pretend apiece other. Cats(s), dogs(z)- mostthing very systematic- ( )) 3. Morphology- examines course structure, and the shipway words are added into our vocabulary, i. e. how we form new words.Ex- dis/content/ed/ness (the parts are also called Morphemes- small units of words) 4. Syntax- deals with sentence structure and the humbleing of sentences. We also examine differences surrounded by languages- the order of verb and its airfield, adj, nouns etc. In rundown, we examine Syntaxic Processing , for utilisation Without her contributions/ are hard to find. At first glance- it looks like more or lessthing is missing in the sentence, when really we did not process it in the right way- we cigaret look at the sentence as without her, contributions are hard to find.5. Semantics- the study of sum- both of words and sentences, and the logic behind them. 6. Pragmatics deals with me aning in context- how we understand one another beyond what is actually said (the use of the language). For fashion model do you accommodate the time? One wont answer yes but rather tell the person what time it is. Not like the dry literate meaning, Pragmatics deal with the actual use of language meaning in context- beyond the literate words that were actually said. 2 - * 6 ( = 6 ) * 6 ( = ) 7. Discourse Analysis- Like Pragmatics, this also examines the use of language, but the focus is on the text. Written vs. spoken text Narratives vs. expository text the use of conjunctions types of text diametric tenses complex vs. simple sentences the length of sentences vocabulary etc. 8. Language acquisition- we examine the process of acquiring a language- mother tongue and indeed foreign languages.How baberen acquire their mother tongue so briskly? How does the process happen? Which words are produced first etc. It is colligate to all the other field s mentioned above. 9. Neuro Linguistic- examines how linguistic experience is represented in the brain. For example aphasia- brain injury that affects the part of the brain that understands linguistics. 10. Psycho Linguistic- a very large-scale field that examines the correlation surrounded by language and psychological cognitive processes (for example lexical retrieval).Sometimes one meaning of a word is more prominent than the other, depending on the context. For example bug- insect/ computer related problem. The field also examines what happens when in that location is no context- how we associate betwixt words and its meanings. For example word priming- Duck-(goose/ book)- the word duck primes with goose, faster than with the word book. 11. Historical Linguistics- examines the evolution of languages, the origin of words, and the relation between languages- how they genetically related to one another (Etymology). 12.Computational Linguistics-deals with building artificial in telligence, creating models that try to result how language works and use it in unalike applications. Related to the carrying out of linguistics. Information extraction, more practical. (for example Google translate). 13. Clinical linguistics ( )- the use of linguistic tools for speech therapy, for people who take hold language disorders (both kids and adults). 14. Social Linguistics- the field that examines the interaction between language and society (socio economic and cultural factors).Socio-linguistics We tick off between dialects- different varieties of the kindred language, as a result of m all factors. Types of Dialects- 1. geographic Dialect-changes according to region (city, country). In the states on that point are so many different dialects, depending on the area one grew up in. 2. Sociolect-typical for a definite group in the society, which has its own social, economic and cultural characteristics. 3. Idiolect-dialect that is typical to an mortal. It is both (prenominal)times gradual, and we dont always notice it. Usually bases on imitation. apiece of us speaks a little bit differently (intonation, pronunciation, vocabulary etc). 21/11/11 Linguistic intimacy- every 4-5 year old throw out speak the mother tongue language. Where does the ability to understand and speak a language comes from? The 2 opposed approaches argue on the source of that ability/knowledge Is it innate (genes) or acquired (comes from the purlieu, stimulates, feed post)? Two opposed currents in science, which throw great debate on the nature of human knowledge in general. They argue on the source of the human knowledge 1.Empiricism ( earth-closet plight Hume) -every person comes to the world, as a clean slate- run through no knowledge, which heart and soul that human knowledge equals the sum of examines. Nothing is innate, we are only furnished with the ability to respond. eitherone are born equal- with nothing innate. This message humans atomic number 50 be shaped- their thought disregard be manipulated using feedback and exposure. 2. freethinking (Decardes)-claim that human knowledge does not equal the sum of experiences we are born with some innate material- we are furnished with some ability, to which experience is added.Experience is not the only thing either people are equal, but this equation is based on richness- we all parcel something very basic and innate, to which environment is added. At the beginning of the second half of the 20 century, the argument of human knowledge continued with regards to the human language mother tongue (different theories) Behaviorism- As continuance of Empiricism- there was a current called Behaviorism (BF skinner, wrote the Verbal Behavior, 1957). B. F. muleteer claimed, based on Empiricism, that Linguistic knowledge is based solely on exposure and the ability to react- to learn from experience. That means everything is acquired, nothing is in the Genes. Skinner also claimed we expand our sets of sentences, by analogy (differ in only one thing- thus it is able to expand ones use with the other). For example a kid only perceive John ate an apple- but he pull up stakes be able to create the following sentence John ate an Orange using Analogy.This means, we learn and use language, by exposure +analogy. - In the following sentences, configuration of who does what changes (relationships between the entities) when ever-changing the word told to promise and still, it is automatically understood by a sister in his mother tongue John told bill to clean the direction John promised heyday to clean the live. How? -analogy is not decent to explain the above. -Noam Chomsky (Influenced from Rationalism wrote the Syntactic Structures, 1957) -a linguistic who argued against Skinners observations, claiming Analogy is not enough and we have to assume inborn/innate linguistic knowledge, common to all human beings ( disregarding of their language or culture), which is also k nown as the assumption of innateness. The experience and the feedback are mapped on to these language biological properties (encoded in our genes). The experience and feedback are not enough to explain mother tongue knowledge We have to add it to something innate. Language is partially innateEvidence Chomsky proposed to apply his theory 1. Properties of human languages (natural languages, animals communication systems are excluded)- * Homogeneity- except for pathological compositors qualitys, all human beings acquire at least one mother tongue more or less at the same time regardless of their region, culture, socio-economical condition etc. This implies there is something biological in the acquiring of a mother tongue language- we are all the same. * Infiniteness- language is infinite- we have the ability to produce and understand an endless cast of sentences, including sentences that we have never comprehend beforehand.We have the ability to expand the language (for example- we never count to 1,000,000 but we can). * Identical properties across languages- there are some properties that all languages allocate (therefore- it has to be in the genes, otherwise how can it be explained? ). For example * All languages have nouns and verbs thus, it has to be some inborn categories. * Universal grammer rules/structures, that all languages share * John said that bloody shame bought a car. What did John affirm Mary bought? * Bill said that John said that Mary bought a car. What did Bill say that John said that Mary bought?* John spread the hearsay that Mary bought a car. What did John spread the rumor that Mary bought? incorrect sentence- any speaker will know this sentence is ungrammatical- impossible in face. What prevents speakers of using the above structure intuitively (in other languages as well)? Chomsky claimed that there are universal constraints (in all grammer of all languages) that prevent it. 28/11/11 2. Properties of the process of language ac quisition (mother tongue) * Process is quick and efficient- babe has to acquire a very complex system of rules, and he does it by the age of 4-5.By the age of 5 he already know the language (in comparison to the long and complex process of learning a foreigner language). It shows that there is something innate behind it, otherwise- it would have been a quick process also when learning foreigner language. * Critical period/age- there is a certain age in which the shaver must(prenominal)iness be overt to a language (the innate system has to be stimulated, activated), in order to acquire it- the age is usually around 6-8, and in some extreme cases it can go until adolescence (16).If it was not activated during the critical period, the child will have no mother tongue- he will have no grammer. He will be able to communicate in a basic function, but without the richness and infinity of the mother tongue acquisition, since the brain is no longer elastic enough to acquire a mother ton gue. The issue of critical period provides support for the importance of both exposer and innate theories. Chomsky agrees that exposer is crucial, but it is crucial to activate innate abilities.If it was only exposer it would have been possible to acquire a mother tongue at any age. * Process is spontaneous/ immune against external interference- the process happens by itself and the instructor/ parent cannot manipulate it. MCNeal (1964)-research that shows you cannot manipulate childs grammer, it will in the end change by itself with exposer. * Identical stages across languages- children acquire their mother tongue in parallel stages across linguistics, more or less at the same time, regardless of the language.This shows that there is some biological aspect to the process of mother tongue acquisition we have to assume something innate in order for the process to be so universal. (First they babble, then acquire first words, combining 2 words together, then start using sentences). * need of stimuli- stimuli(the input) is poor- it is not enough to explain hitly how a child acquires and get the hang his mother tongue a. The stimuli is partial and consists of errors- the child can never be exposed to everything, still he makes up sentences he has never heard before.What he is exposed to is limited, all the same what he can produce is endless. In addition, the stimuli consist of errors- he child doesnt always listen to complete/ grammatical correct sentences the input he hears consists of partial sentences and grammatical errors even the children know how to filter the errors and eventually acquire a perfect grammer. b. There is no teaching- the process of acquiring a mother tongue involves no methodological and pedagogical process (in regard to grammer). c. No negative evidence- there are mistakes that no child will ever make, even though he is not told ahead not to make them.For example John thinks he is smart (he can be either John or somebody else) VS. He thinks John is smart (he can never relate to John). When examining language acquisition, we visualize children making many mistakes, but no child will ever use the second sentence when he wants to refer to John. No child will make much(prenominal) mistakes to begin with- they just know, without being told ahead. De Sassure was the first one to ask what do we know when we know a language? What does it mean to know a language? He distinguished between the following terms * Langue-the rules of the language, that are agreed upon by some society.The rules of a language, but from a social point of positioning (a social term). * Parole-everything we use or say- the way we actually use the language (What we actually do, language wise). Linguists are generally more interested in the Langue (the knowledge). De Sassure didnt relate to the question of innateness- what abilities, if any, we have in our minds 12/12/11 Noam Chomsky used 2 other terms competency vs. writ of execution. 1. P erformance the same as Parole performance is how we actually use the language what we actually spell out or say. 2. Competence is not exactly the same as Langue.Both relate to the rules of the language, but Langue is about the society, the community (grammer is something social, that we all agree on- social interaction creating social agreement) and Competence is about the individual (the system one has in his mind some of it comes from the genes and some from the environment). Competence is the ability that each of us has to produce and understand an endless number of sentences. Every speaker of every language, has the ability (whether it is innate or not). The point of view of Chomsky and De Sassure is different when relating to the rules of the language.In modern linguistics- the focus is on the Langue- competency and not directly what we say/do with the language (the main goal is to crack the black box and understand how the system works). The performance is the mean to learn a bout the competency, not the direct end. It teaches us/indicates about the competence the way we speak or write tells us about how the knowledge is organized in ones mind. The main question that linguists ask is what does competence consist of? Chomskys Model UG+EXPOSER= G. Chomsky assumes innateness and that language faculty is to some extent universal (some things are common to all languages).He Offers a SPECIFIC model for this question When a child is born he is in the initial state. In this state, he has some specialised knowledge, overlap by all languages Universal Grammer (UG) it is the grammer that is common to all languages. In addition to the difference in vocabulary, there are grammatical differences between languages by the end of the critical period, he has more than the UG, he ends up with busy Grammer (PG, G)- specific grammer of a specific language. There are many Gs, as many as the number of languages in the world.A child is equipped with universal grammer, commo n to all languages, and during the first years he is exposed to his mother tongue and how it takes place (feedback, corrections, mistakes etc)- and acquires particular/specific grammer. UG+EXPOSER= G. The G is a combination of something innate and something that comes from the environment. What does the UG consist of? According to Chomskys model, UG consists of deuce things 1. Principles- rules that are innate and that are common to all languages (things that dont change at all from one language to another, such as the conception of rhinal consonants).2. Parameters- those are also rules that are innate, and are also part of universal grammer but in contrast to principals, these are open rules, whose value (fillings) are acquired during the exposer. The set are not common to different languages, thence they have to be acquired via exposer. For example in all language there is a vanquish in every sentence but in some languages the domain must be a separate entity- which means th e take position is always occupied vs. in some languages the subject can be dash offped ( side of meat does not allow the dropping of a subject cant say ate an apple.We must add a subject vs. Hebraical- represents the subject. In the cut language, we are not allowed to drop the subject, even when it is known who did the action Jai mange la pomme- the French ai is like the Hebrew , yet we still cannot drop the J we have to have a separate entity for the subject). This parameter is called the Null subject parameter ( )- The Parameter the subject must be gauged on an individual basis The Values of the Parameter (that has to be filled- determined through the acquisition process) Yes or No.In Hebrew and Italian the value is no (in some cases, we can have a sentence without a subject), in English and French the value is Yes. During the critical period, the child is exposed to the data in his mother tongue and they acquire the determine to the fixed parameters (the paramete r is innate, its values though are not innate- they change from language to language and acquired in the childs critical period). Another Parameter is * It is hot outside- * It seems that connect is late- * There is a cat in the room- In English the circumstance of the pronouns (functioning as the sentences subject) it and there is a must they cannot be dropped (it is not grammatical, although one will be perfectly understood if hell say it) in Hebrew, we can drop them. Even though semantically we dont need the subject, in English it must be filled. These pronouns are called Expletive / Pleonastic Pronouns- pronouns that do not refer to an entity, but theyre only function is to fill the subject position. They HAVE NO SEMANTIC ROLE, THEY ARE ONLY THERE TO FILL THE POSTION OF THE SUBJECT.We distinguish between pleonastic pronouns and referential pronouns, which refer to some kind of entity (he, she, w, they etc). It and There are not always swearing pronouns- they can also f unction as referential pronouns It is hot outside ( oath) vs. I cant eat the soup, (referential) the cat is there (referential) vs. there is a cat in the room (expletive). We can relate to it as two parameters 1. Parameter an expletive pronoun exists values yes/no. (In English- yes, in Hebrew- no). 2. Parameter a subject is a must values yes/no.(We can say that if a language must have a subject, it will necessary have Expletive pronouns and transgression versa If the subject is not a must- there are no expletive pronouns. there might be, but they will not be a must). The two things come together- * Cluster of properties- The Parameters come in clusters- one affects/ can teach about the other. The existence of Principles and Parameters strengthens the hypothesis of innateness, because it shows the go onrence of certain grammer structures is not random- there is something consistent across different languages, which therefore must be predetermined, innate.19/12/11 Some languages req uire an independent subject and in addition- they have expletive pronouns (it seems that the quiz will be difficult- expletive this soup is not tasty because it is cold. The it is referential- points to an entity). Proposition Stranding and Pied Piping Who did you speak to? can also be asked as followed To whom did you speak? - These are two possible grammatical structures that manifest the same idea. It is not possible in Hebrew This construction is called- Preposition Stranding- you desert the proposal of marriage by itself leaving the proposition by itself at the end of the sentence. It can be viewed as a parameter, differentiating languages. Another construction/parameter is Pied Piping- locating the proposition at the beginning of the sentence. This parameter is valued yes in both English and Hebrew (allowed in both languages). Material for the quiz is up to here -Phonetics and Phonology- These are both fields that deal with sound and specifically linguistic sou nds (phones- ) sounds that are parts of a language. Phones are divided into consonants (b, l, r, m) and vowels (e, a, i ). The preeminence doesnt refer to the letters, but to the sounds that are used naturally/ automatically.(Since the same sound can be expressed/ represented by different symbols/letters, for example the sound K- is represented by 4 letters k, c, q, ch. We will refer to all 4 as K). In Phonetics- Different sounds are examined in different languages how they are produced and how they are perceived- it is a technical field regarding how pronunciation works.One sound can be expressed/ represented by different symbols/letters or one letter u represents many sounds university, fur, put, cut etc. Conclusion there is no correspondence between sound and symbol. Phonetic systems (systems of symbols- used for transcription- write exactly as you here it- distinguish between spell and pronunciation) 1. global Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) a system of symbols, used mainly by lingu ists, in which every sound corresponds to one symbol and vice versa. 2. American Phonetic Alphabet (APA) similar, yet competing system to the IPA.These are two similar, yet competing, artificial languages/ systems, dealing with the ambiguity of the languages/ with the lack of correspondence between sound and symbol. Both systems are based on English letters, other than spare sounds/exceptions (that have no one specific letter in English that prescribe them) such as * in order to indicate/ write down sh we use stretched big s (IPA) or s(APA)- (the should be exonerate side down) * ch= t+stretched big S with a bow on top of them (IPA) or c (APA) * for th (such as in thin) = 0 with a line across it (APA+IPA) 26/12/11 A token(prenominal) check- * big- pig * sing- sang.* dean- teen (The only difference is the phone- t vs d. The spell is irrelevant) * knight- light These words are different in meaning, yet they are different in only one sound. The switch of the consonant g/ p chang es the meaning of the word. This kind of word couple ups are called token(prenominal) pair-a pair of words that differ from one another in meaning and in one phone (sound) only. (Only one difference in pronunciation- the spelling is irrelevant) * night- knight are not a minimal pair, because there is no difference in pronunciation. Phoneme- Phoneme- a minimal linguistic unit that can change the meaning.One of the goals of recognizing minimal pairs is to recognize the basic sounds in a language, that can cause a change of meaning. We use the tool of minimal pairs to identify and distinguish between the Phonemes of a language. Aspirated consonant ( ) * Spy vs. pie- when we pronounce pie, there is a greater puff of air when pronounced. This is also the case in stole vs. tall (in tall we puff much more air). These are aspirated consonants, which are marked with a little h on top of the consonant. They are two types for the same consonant- the regular and the aspirated one, where we puff a greater amount of air (pie tall).Are the aspirated consonants phonemes? (Can they distinguish between a minimal pair? -can we find a pair of words that the only difference between them is aspirated consonant vs. non-aspirated). In English, there is no such pair yet in the Hindi language we can find several examples. Conclusions 1. In English, they are not phonemes (vs. Hindi), because they can never come to pass in the same environment/location of the word, which means they are 2 manifestations/versions of the same thing. We can presage in which environment/ when the aspirated consonant will supervene. 2. marginal pairs are used to distinguish between phonemes and also to determine which consonants and vowel are not phonemes. 2/1/2012 Pig big (minimal pair) vs. Pie, spy (not a minimal pair since there are 2 differences in pound). In English, aspirated and regular Complementary Distribution- these two sounds never occur at the same environment/ same location of the words, which means they are two manifestations of the same thing of the phone p. This means P is the phoneme which has two manifestations aspirated and regular (non-aspirated). This means that this phone has two allophones.Two ways of language representation- 1. Phonemes- the general term for linguistics sounds. These are the basic sounds of a language, and are language specific (are not the same in different languages). They are part of the Underlying Representation (UR) the way and the place words and sounds in specific, are represented in our mind- in the backstage- accost representation. The phoneme has two manifestations one is the actual p and the other is the aspirated one. 2. What we actually say are allophones. Allophones are in the Phonetic/ Representation (PR) what comes out of our mouths (articulation).Every phoneme is also an allophone, but not the other way around Thus, there are some things that are represented in the PR, yet are not represented in the UR (like the aspir ated p). In the Ur we have the regular P phoneme, which has two manifestations in the PR In English, the only case we see an aspirated P is in the beginning of a word and before a vowel (both must occur together). In all other case the P will not be aspirated. For example Possible, put, pink, pan, etc. vs. apply, spring, institute etc. This means the aspirated P has no independence existence- we can predict its occurrence.The default is the regular P and only in a specific environment will have an aspirated P. The aspirated P doesnt exist in the UR Another example is regular N vs. the back N They cannot distinguish between minimal pairs in English- will never occur in the same environment. We will find the back n only before the sounds k and g- in specific environment, which is predictable. For ex bank, Bangkok, rank, chunk, rang, ring, thanks, bring. The normal N is the default will occur everywhere else, except for before the sounds g and k sounds.These two allophones are two ve rsions of the same thing (of the one phoneme) that never occur in the same environment- complementary distribution. N is the phoneme, which has two allophones n and back n. We can predict exactly where each of the manifestations will occur. * The phoneme is in the UR and the allophones are in the PR. * The default is always in the UR The phoneme. * The allophones are always in complementary distribution- meaning they never occur in the same environment and will never distinguish between minimal pairs.You can nver find in English 2 words where the only difference between them will be n and back n. * Minimal pairs are the tools to identify phonemes. Distinctive Features 1. Aspiration The pair pal- pal (with aspirated p) in Hindi these two words are different in meaning and in one phone only. In specific, they are different in one feature only aspirated vs. non-aspirated. This means, they constitute a minimal pair (In Hindi). Aspiration this feature in Hindi contradictory the Engli sh, we have both because they have independent existence- each of them is a phoneme on its own.Aspiration this feature in Hindi, unlike English, is a Distinctive Feature- a feature that distinguishes between 2 phonemes in the same language and as a result it can create a difference between minimal pairs. Aspiration is not a classifiable feature in Hebrew and English. It is a distinctive feature in Hindi language. 2. give tongue to ( )- Dean Teen d- Is a voice (+voice) consonant ( ) and t is voiceless (- voice). This feature, called voicing, creates different meaning in both words. Thus, it is a distinctive feature in English, because it can distinguish between minimal pairs.Minimal pair- a minimal pair is a pair of words that differ from one another in one meaning, 1 phone (sound) only, and the 2 phones must be different in one feature 9/1/2012 Phonetic features of consonants- What makes sound/phones different from one another? Linguistic sounds are called phones, and are divid ed into consonants and vowels. The difference between the two in the production of vowels the air flows freely, however in the production of consonants the air is blockade to some extent. The speech organs- body organs that are involved in the production of phones (Lips, tongue, nose, teeth, and palate).Generally, the following are involved the oral cavity and the nasal cavity ( ). The consonants differ from one another according to 3 criteria 1. infinite of articulation- the location in which the air is blocked and the consonant is produced (B- in the lips T- in the tongue P-in the lips and teeth) 2. Manner of articulation ( ) relates to the manner of the air flow and the course of blocking. For example n- blocked in the nose. 3. Voicing- relates to the vibration/ the lack of vibrat.