Unit 1 What Is Language

INTRODUCTION TO
LINGUISTICS
WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
When we study human language, we are approaching what
some might call the “human essence,” the distinctive qualities of
mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man.
NOAM CHOMSKY, Language and Mind, 1968

WHY DO YOU SPEAK?
To di
sting
betw uish
een i s the
To express thoughts huma The method of Langua
ge
n and e o f
by using particular anim human so urc
form of words and al m an life
communication hu r.
p o w e
speech of people in using spoken or and
a social group written words
HOW CAN YOU SPEAK?
A.Inherited B.taught
In Africa
To some people of Africa, a

newborn child is a kintu, a
“thing,” not yet a muntu, a
“person.” It is only by the act of
learning language that the child
becomes a human being.
Displacement
Arbitrariness
Productivity
Cultural Transmission
Duality
1. DISPLACEMENT
The ability how human convey meaning to something

which is not happened now and here.
Displacement in human
People can talk

about Saturn
even if they
never see it.
Displacement in animal
Bees can communicate

simply about their food
sources but they cannot
express their thought as
humans do.
2. ARBITRARINESS
There is no natural connection between the word or sound and the

thing it denotes, which means we cannot tell what is the meaning
of a word simply by looking at it.
Example
English French Russian
House = Maison = Dom

Resemblance between sign and language
2.1 Iconicity
▶ There is a direct correlation between form and meaning.
▶ If you want to know a language sign, you need to know the language.
gl- = sight
glare glint gleam glitter glossy
glaze glance glimmer glimpse glisten.
2.2 onomatopoeic word

▶ Words that seem to resemble sounds. (Bang, Splash, Buzz, Oink, Cuckoo)
English Finnish
crow of a rooster cock-a-doodle-doo iskukkokiekuu
Istanbul
Turkey gobble gobble glu-glu

3. PRODUCTIVITY
• This is an important characteristic of human
language allowing us to continuously create
new utterances, combining the ‘building
bricks’ of language in ever new ways, whether Myspace Facebook
these be sounds, words or sentences. Human
languages are therefore continually evolving.
selfie Tablet
Howdy Google
• Animal is also enable to communicate but
they cannot come up with new types of
Code
communication.
4. Cultural Transmission
▶ The idea that human language is not completely innate and acquisition depends in
part on the learning of a language.
▶ There is no genetic component (although Noam Chomsky challenges this with his
theory of Universal Grammar) which would enable a child to simply start speaking
e.g. English at a certain age, but rather that children need to be exposed to a
language (and culture) in order to acquire it.
 A Korean child from a Korean parent and was adopted and raised in France. France is his first
language not Korean. (He cannot speak Korean which would be inherited from their Korean
parents.)
▶ Many animals, however, do seem to pass the ability to communicate on to their

offspring genetically e.g. dogs will bark even if they have never heard another do
5. Duality (or ‘double articulation’)
There is a vast number of sounds to communicate with one another by combining
within 44 phonemes in English.
Meaningless phonic segments (phonemes) are combined to make meaningful words,
which in turn are combined again to make sentences.
Alphabets Written language

Levels of
language
Phonemes spoken language
WHAT IS GRAMMAR?
Grammar
Grammar of a language consists of sounds and sound patterns.
Forming meaningful words into a sentences which you desired.
Prescriptive and Descriptive Grammar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFlBwBwL_iU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukYRvOQw_B4
Let’s recap
▶ Prescriptive grammar is what you were taught to do correctly.
New Grammar rule of Lowth in 1762 (Renaissance) of Prestige Dialect

I don’t have none. I don’t have any.
You was fatter than me. You were fatter than me.
Case of double negative which is correct in other language beside English.
▶ Descriptive grammar is how you use the language.

 Mental grammar
 The modal or description of this internalized grammar.
WHAT IS LINGUISTICS?
Definition of Linguistics
It is the
scientific Language forms
study of
language
Language meaning
Language in context
What do linguists study?
 Phonetics =sounds
 Phonology =sound patterns
 Morphology=structure of words
 Syntax =structure of phrases
 Semantics =meaning
 Pragmatics =meaning in context
 Discourse analysis =conversation analysis
 Language Acquisition
 Sociolinguistics=Relationship of language and society/social

Theories of language analysis
▶ First period
 Parts of Speech (POS)
You close the door.
Pronou+verb+noun
▶ Second period
 Grammatical structure
S+V+O
▶ Third period
 Generative Grammar or Phrase Structure (PS)
Generative Grammar
1. Competence VS Performance
1. Competence
- Innateness of linguistic knowledge that allows a
person to match sounds and meaning
- Unconscious knowledge of grammar that allows
speaker to use and understand a language.
2. Performance
The ability to produce and comprehend sentences in a
language.
Noam Chomsky
Generative Grammar
2. Surface Structure VS Deep Structure
2.1 Deep Structure

I hit a dog.
It is an abstract representation of
A dog is hit by me.
structural rules.
2.2 Surface Structure
It is an discrete form of language

structure resulted from transformational
rules or modification.
Transformational Rules
Examples
Universal Grammar
Common features of grammar to all languages.
Universal Grammar is innate because human has Language Acquisition Device
(LAD).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLNFGWJOXjA
ASSIGNMENT
1 Why cannot the parrot's mimic be considered as language?

2 Why is human ready to speak while animals are not?
3 “Look at the dog with one eye.” and “This shirt color is not fast”
Explain the different ambiguity between these sentences.
4 Explain how a variety of sentence structures which have one
meaning.
5 Why do a Chinese born girl whose first language is Thai
cannot speak Chinese?
6. WHY DOES ONE OBJECT CAN BE CALLED DIFFERENTLY
AND SOMETIME THE SOUND IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THE
OBJECT?
7 WHY ISN'T THE BIRD VOICE EVOLVED CONSTANTLY?
8 EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENT BETWEEN GRAMMAR WHICH WE
INSTINCTIVELY UNDERSTAND AND THE ONE WE SET AS A
STANDARD.
9 WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND
LINGUISTICS?

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INTRODUCTION TO

NOAM CHOMSKY, Language and Mind, 1968

To some people of Africa, a

The ability how human convey meaning to something

People can talk

Bees can communicate

There is no natural connection between the word or sound and the

English French Russian

House = Maison = Dom

glare glint gleam glitter glossy

glaze glance glimmer glimpse glisten.

2.2 onomatopoeic word

crow of a rooster cock-a-doodle-doo iskukkokiekuu

Turkey gobble gobble glu-glu

▶ Many animals, however, do seem to pass the ability to communicate on to their

Alphabets Written language

New Grammar rule of Lowth in 1762 (Renaissance) of Prestige Dialect

Case of double negative which is correct in other language beside English.

▶ Descriptive grammar is how you use the language.

 Phonology =sound patterns

 Syntax =structure of phrases

 Pragmatics =meaning in context

 Discourse analysis =conversation analysis

 Sociolinguistics=Relationship of language and society/social

2.1 Deep Structure

2.2 Surface Structure

It is an discrete form of language

1 Why cannot the parrot's mimic be considered as language?

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