L103 Course Overview

What does every speaker know? The sound system — phonetics/phonology The lexicon (words/morphemes) — semantics / morphology How words combine — syntax / semantics How language is used — pragmatics / discourse How all of this works together — at least unconsciously These are some of the things we will study in this course…

The sounds of a language… We know the sounds of our language: which sounds are in our language and which sounds are not. English has [t], but it does not have clicks, like some languages of Africa such as !Xhosa.

The sounds of a language… We know where sounds can be in our language… For example English speakers know the [ŋ] sound in sing cannot appear at the beginning of a word Does this mean [ŋ] cannot appear at the beginning of words in all human languages? NO! — Kpelle ŋwana ‘wound, hunt’ (verb)

The sounds of a language… We know how sounds can combine — this is often shown when a word from one language is borrowed into another: McDonalds — in English consonant clusters allowed ( [mk] and [ldz] )becomes… makudonodurusu in Japanese — consonant clusters are not allowed in Japanese

The lexicon: words and morphemes…. What is the lexicon? Our mental dictionary — the words we know: chicken, dog, house, gringo, calle, perro, walk, run… also the pieces of words, or morphemes, that we know: -ed, -ing, un-,-o, -a… Everyone has a different lexicon, why? Different backgrounds, regional variation, but most speakers of a language share a core set of words... what are these? Things like the following: family terms (uncle, aunt, mother, father, etc); prepositions (on, in, at); articles (the, a, an), etc.

Meaning: semantics and pragmatics... We know the context of an utterance shapes meaning: slang — cool sarcasm — nice shirt humor — “Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing in my pajamas I’ll never know.” -Marx (Groucho)

Meaning: semantics and pragmatics... We know words and utterances can be ambiguous… “I like the Spanish teacher.” Spanish teacher A teacher of Spanish or a teacher from Spain? “The door is unlockable.” Unlockable Cannot be locked or can be changed from a state of being locked?

Pieces of words… What is morphology? The study of how words are formed or marked via other processes. Morphemes are the pieces of words: bases, roots and affixes. walk walked walking walks walk walk -ed walk -ing walk -s

Pieces of words… We know which morphemes are productive and which are not. English plural -en or -s? — children, brethren, cats, dogs.... MP3? MP3ren??? We know how to use affixes. For example morphemes for not un- im- dis- unhappyimhappy dishappy unpossible impossible dispossible unbelief imbelief disbelief This is easily(?) learned by children, and often difficult for second language learners.

How words combine… What is syntax? The study of how words are ordered or built into sentences or phrases. We “know” where words go in relation to one another… English vs. Japanese inu-ga shannon-o kandashannon-o inu-ga kanda dog shannon bitshannon dog bit ‘The dog bit Shannon.’‘The dog bit shannon.’ Shannon bit the dog. ≠ The dog bit Shannon. Shannon-o inu-ga kanda. = Inu-ga Shannon-o kanda.

To summarize… Speakers know a great deal about language: the sound system — phonetics/phonology the lexicon (words/morphemes) — semantics / morphology grammar or syntax (how words combine) — syntax / semantics how language is used — pragmatics the context of an utterance how all of this works together — at least unconsciously

To summarize… In this class we will look at phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics/discourse. Loosely stated these are... Phonetics is the study of human speech sounds; Phonology is the study of how speech sounds are organized in a given language. Morphology is the study of how words are formed. Syntax is the study of how words combine into sentences. Semantics is the study of meaning in words and sentences. Pragmatics is the study of how context affects language use and meaning, and discourse is the study of speech beyond the sentence.

One last thing… Grammar is a term that has many different meanings. In general, a grammar is a theory regarding the structure of language in general or a specific language. It may be a theory regarding: the elements within language or a language, i.e. a descriptive grammar; how the language ought to be used, i.e.. a prescriptive grammar; how the language ought to be taught, i.e.. a pedagogical grammar; how language is constructed in the mind/brain, e.g. a theoretical or formal grammar.

Next time… Read Chapter 1 & 2 of the online text…