1. Lingua Inglese I Lucilla Lopriore lucilla.lopriore@uniroma3.it

2. What is language? Linguists understand language as a system of arbitrary vocal signs. Language is rule governed, creative, universal, innate, and learned, all at the same time. It is also distinctly human.

3. Language Because we believe that there is an inevitable connection between a word and the thing it represents, the word is very powerful. Names are extremely important and the possession of language can be very dangerous (Tower of Babel). We avoid naming certain taboo objects, we may avoid directly naming things which we fear or stand in awe of, such as God, and things which are unpleasant or unclean, such as birth, death, bodily parts and functions, or disease. Instead, we substitute euphemisms.

4. Language… gives expression to our thoughts; is used to transmit information, also known as its “communicative function”; is used to maintain social intercourse (greetings, talk about the weather etc.); is often referred to as its “phatic” function; provides the raw material for works of literature.

5. Signs Human language consists of signs: things that stand for or represent something else. Linguistic signs involve sequences of sounds which represent concrete objects and events as well as abstractions. Signs may be related to the things they represent in a number of ways.

6. SIGNS (Peirce, ) 1. Iconic: resemble the things they represent (eg, photographs,diagrams, star charts, or chemical models); 2. Indexical: point to or have a necessary connection with the things they represent (eg, smoke to fire, a smile to happiness, or a frown to anger); 3. Symbolic: are only conventionally related to the thing they represent (eg, a flag to a nation, a rose to love, a wedding ring to marriage).

7. The levels of language Phonetics: The physical properties of speech Phonology: The study of linguistic sounds Morphology: The study of word structure Syntax: The study of utterance/sentence structure Text/discourse structure: The study of higher-level structures Context and use: The influence of situation, participants and functions

8. The smallest units of language: sounds Phonetics is the study of the sounds that human beings use to communicate through language; It is mostly concerned with individual speech sounds that follow each other in a linear fashion, just as letters do in the written language; The word cat is made up of three letters when written (c-a-t) and three sounds when spoken [k-æ-t].

9. Orthography and Sounds Alphabetic spelling represents the pronunciation of words. However, the sounds of the words in a language are unsystematically represented by orthography, i.e. Spelling.

10. Orthography and Sounds The English language is not phonetic. Words are not spelled as they are pronounced There is no one to one correspondence between the letters and the sounds or phonemes.

11. Sounds Mark Twain offered a phonetic alphabet for English. fishghoti the gh = f as in rouGH the o = i as in wOmen the ti = sh as in naTIon

12. Phonology Phonology deals with the system and pattern of speech sounds in a language. Phonology of a language is the system and pattern of speech sounds.

13. Phonetics vs Phonology Phonetics The study of speech sounds. Phonology The study of the way speech sounds form patterns.

14. Segmental units of sound Segment is any discrete unit that can be identified, either physically or auditorily, in the stream of speech. In phonetics, the smallest perceptible segment is a phone. In phonology, the smallest segment is a phoneme

15. Phones A speech segment that possesses distinct physical or perceptual properties A particular occurrence of a speech segment The basic unit revealed via phonetic speech analysis

16. Phonemes In human language, a phoneme is the smallest unit of speech that distinguishes meaning. Phonemes are not the physical segments themselves, but abstractions of them. The /t/ sound found in words like tip, stand, writer, and cat are examples of phonemes.

17. Phones vs Phonemes We use slashes / / for phonemes We use brackets [ ] for phones. The vowel “phoneme” in the words bead and bean is represented as /i/ The “phone” is represented as [i]

18. VOWELS & CONSONANTS Phonetically, it is easy to give definitions: a vowel is any sound with no audible noise produced by constriction in the vocal tract, and a consonant is a sound with audible noise produced by a constriction.

20. IPA vowel chart

21. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldser vice/learningenglish/grammar/ pron/features/spelling/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldser vice/learningenglish/grammar/ pron/features/spelling/ http://www.antimoon.com/reso urces/phonchart.htm

22. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5 RekixAMoM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dABo _DCIdpMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dABo _DCIdpM 24 English accents http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xryP2 eaxAlEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xryP2 eaxAlE The future of language – David Crystal

23. From Jeffries Ch. 1 = all Ch.2 = all

24. History of English

26. INDO-EUROPEAN family of languages 3000 bc Proto-Indo-European (reconstructed from Latin, Greek and Sanskrit) CELTIC – ITALIC – GERMANIC GERMANIC: North Germanic = Scandinavian languages East Germanic = Gothic West Germanic = German, Dutch, Frisian and English

27. THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH WORDS Where does the word English come from? In the 5th/6th cent. 3 Germanic tribes invaded and settled in the island (England) inhabited by the CELTS. The ANGLES settled to the north of the river Thames. The JUTES settled in Kent, Hampshire & the isle of Wight. The SAXONS settled in the rest of Southern England. The 3 tribes probably spoke mutually intelligible dialects. At that time the language was ENGLISC, referred to as Anglo-Saxon. OLD ENGLISH = 5th to 11th century

29. Traces of the origins in modern English CELTIC language: Names of rivers: Avon, Dee, Ouse, Severn, Thames Names of towns & cities: London, Dover, Leeds, York LOAN WORDS: incorporated from other languages through BORROWING NATIVISED: spelling and pronunciation adapted to the system Which of these words were native English words and which loan words? Cheese-Curtain-Drift-Empty-Flavour-Grain-Hepatitis-Khaki Misogynist-

30. ANGLO-SAXON words: Anglo-Saxon words occur more frequently than loan- words They tend to be short They are associated with a level of informality, e.g. “Speaking Anglo-Saxon”= plain, blunt speaking “Anglo-Saxon words”= taboo words/4-letter-words Sweat/Perspire Climb/Ascend Book/Volume Begin/Commence

31. BORROWED WORDS From incidental cultural contact From political conquest From cultural invasion The Norman Conquest – The Crusades – The Renaissance – Second World War – British Empire -

32. OLD NORSE SK - skill, skin, skirt, sky SC - shirt - BY Whitby, derby (village) - SCALE Seascale (hut) - THORPE Mablethorpe (small village)

33. The NORMANS: FRENCH MIDDLE-ENGLISH - ity; - our; - ant Higher level Formal Law Social & cultural conditions: gastronomic terms (grill, fry, stew), hunt (chase, scent), nobility (duke, viscount, prince), chivalry (courtly, generous, enemy)

34. From Latin & Greek - LATIN: St.Augustine 597 & after the Renaissance -ecclesiastical terms: ascension, baptize, salvation -um; -us; -ex/-ix - GREEK: agnostic, diagnosis, athlete -is (analysis, crisis); - on (neutron, phenomenon)

35. New Words COMPOUNDING: combining 2 or more existing words in order to form a third word. Most word-classes may contain compounds. E.g. double-glazing, motorway, into, yourself… CONVERSION: a word is converted from one word-class to another without change of form.

36. DERIVATION: adding to an existing word (affixes). A linguistic process (historic), different word-classes (e.g. –ion), another kind of word (e.g. -hood), meaning (e.g. dis-, un-). - ation: derives a noun from a verb, - ful : derives an adjective from a noun, - ify : derives a verb from an adjective or from a noun, - ly : derives an adverb from an adjective, - ment : derives a noun from a verb, En- : derives a verb from a noun, Re- :.means ‘again’, Be- : derives a verb from an adjective

37. WORD-FORMATION PROCESSES BLENDING 2 words together retaining one of each, e.g. telegenic CLIPPING Abbreviated words, e.g. fridge, exam, ad BACK FORMATION Removal of affixes, e.g. babysitter, double-glaze ACRONYMS Composed of the initial letters of the words of a phrase, e.g UNESCO, BBC

38. EXERCISES 1.From the Anglo-saxon? LET – LEWD – LIAR – LICK – LID 2.Which ones are French loan words? PEDAL-PEDOMETER-PEIGNOIR- PELLET-PENCIL-PENSION-PERFORM- PERFUME 3. Which ones are Latin loan words? SUBDIVIDE-SUBSIDY-SUBURB SUCTION-SUFFIX-SUGGEST-SUPERB

39. 4. Equivalent Latin or French loan word: INEXPENSIVE-INSOLENT- IMPENETRABLE- ILLUMINATION-OCCUPIED/ENGAGED- PURCHASE-EMPLOYEE-TRAVERSE- POSSESS-DONATE 5. geocentric, geochronology, geology, geomagnetic, geophysics, …..

40. HOW THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WAS DEVELOPED www.youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSYwPTUKv dw www.youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S- rCdkG4_QI&feature=related Ask the Editor (Merrion-Webster) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNi2AM B4PJw&feature=related New words in the Oxford English Dictionary