1. What Is Language ?

2. LANGUAGE
Possession of language distinguishes humans from other animals.
Language is the source of human life and power
Only by the act of learning a language does the child become human being
So we all become human if we know one language

3. What does knowing a language mean?
This can be termed as linguistic knowledge.
We can speak and be understood by others
Capacity to produce sounds that signify certain meanings
Profound knowledge of the language comes instinctively

4. What does knowing a language mean contd……
Simplest conversation requires knowledge about a language that speakers are aware of
A speaker can produce a sentence with two relative clauses without knowing what relative clauses are.
MY FATHER WHO WAS A GOVT SERVICE HOLDER AND WHO NOW IS RETIRED HAS JOINED A BANK AS AN ADVISER.
It happens with all languages.

5. What then Is Language?
A system which associates sounds (or gestures) with meanings using words and sentences.
A set of grammatically correct utterances (ie . Words, sentences, e.t.c)
Language uses a finite set of elements(sound s,words) to create an infinite set of possible sentences.

6. Language contd…
Language is rule governed ,or systematic, with respect to the sound meaning correspondence at all levels.
A system for representing things ,actions, ideas and states.
A tool people use to communicate their concepts of reality to others.
A set of utterances that is intelligible to a linguistic community.

7. Features of language Language is a learned human behavior
All human societies have language .
Languages share certain universal traits
Language use involves many psychological and emotional factors.
Language ability is not innate in humans i.e genetically transmitted.
Language ability is common to individuals with vastly different levels of intelligence.

8. Language Universals/Universal Grammar
All languages have vowels,consonants and rules that govern pronunciation.
All languages have stress and tone.
All languages have nouns and verbs and ways to express descriptors such as size or colour.
All languages have notions : ways of talking about abstract things and functions : ways to communicate in certain ways such as apologizing, persuading ,
All languages have a way to pose questions ,give commands and make statements.

9. Definitions of 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
Language is a purely human and non instinctive method of communicating ideas ,emotions and desires s by means of voluntary produced symbols. Edward Sapir

10. Definitions of language contd….
A language is a “set (finite or infinite) of sentences ,each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.” Noam Chomsky
Language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral auditory arbitrary symbols” R.A.Hall

11. What is Linguistics??
Linguistics is the scientific study of language .
What does that mean?
What does scientific mean?
What does language mean?

12. Linguistics : The scientific study of language
Scientific means
Systematic
Falsifiable
Formal (in some way)
We need a strict terminology to say unambiguously what the facts and /or our hypotheses are.

13. Linguistics : The scientific study of language
Elements of a scientific theory :
Empirical adequacy
Maximal simplicity/economy
A good theory accounts for everything we observe,at the same time excluding everything that is not observed,in a maximally simple way.

14. Linguistics :The scientific study of language
Language = language in general,not some specific language.
What is so interesting about language?
It is uniquely human capacity
Almost all humans acquire a language
Language is generative in nature (it uses a finite set of symbols to produce an infinite set of forms)
All languages share certain properties (language universals)

15. Linguistic knowledge Knowledge of the sound system Knowledge of words
Knowledge of sentences and non sentences

16. Knowledge of the sound system
Knowing what sounds or signs are in that language and what sounds are not.One may substitute an English sound for a non English sound.
Coup de tante
Entrepreneur …..Jiauddin
One tends to substitute an English sound for a non English sound
If pronounced as the non English way then sounds outside the English sound system is used.

17. Knowledge of words
Knowing that certain sound sequences signify certain concepts or meanings. Knowing a language means knowing words ( sound units) that are related to specific meanings.
The relationship between speech sounds and the meanings they represent in the languages of the world is an arbitrary one .

18. Knowledge of sentences and non sentences
Language is simply not a set of words. Why?
Knowledge of a language determines which strings of words are and which are not sentences .So linguistic knowledge requires in addition of knowing the words of a language, knowing the rules for forming sentences and making the kinds of judgments .Not ruled by any judge or even rules taught by grammar .They are unconscious constraints on sentences formation that are learned when language is acquired.

19. Linguistic knowledge and performance
A speaker’s linguistic knowledge permits them to form longer sentences by joining sentences. They are theoretically possible but highly improbable.
There is a difference between having the knowledge to produce sentences and applying this knowledge.
What we know is our linguistic competence
And
How we use this knowledge is our linguistic performance.

20. What is grammar?
The grammar of a language consists of the sounds and the sound patterns ,the basic units of meaning such as words and the rules to combine all of these to form sentences with the desired meaning.It represents our linguistic competence .To understand the nature of a language we must understand the nature of grammar,the internalized unconscious set of rules that is part of every language.
Speaker’s knowledge of grammar
Shared knowledge of grammar

21. Grammatically Judgments
1.Peter kissed the girl who he met at the party.
2. Linguistics is a subject which I love to talk about.
3. We managed to finally complete the task.

22. Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Grammars
Prescriptive grammar rules :
Thou shalt use whom as an object relative pronoun!
Thou shalt not strand prepositions!
Thou shalt not split infinitives!
Traditional school grammars are generally prescriptive .

23. Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Grammars
Descriptive grammars
Observe how people speak
Describe usage without value judgments
Allow for variation
Linguists are interested in description rather than prescription because they want to know how language is actually used ,not how some people think how it should be used.

24. WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT LANGUAGE
1.Wherever humans exist ,language exists.
2.There are no primitive languages..all languages are equally complex and equally capable of expressing any idea in the universe .the vocabulary of any language can be expanded to include new words for new concepts.
3.All languages change through time .
4.The relationships between the sounds and meanings of spoken languages and between the gestures and meanings of sign languages are for the most part arbitrary.

25. 5.All human languages use a finite set of discrete sounds or gestures that are combined to form meaningful elements of words,which themselves may be combined to form an infinite set of possible sentences.
6.All grammars contain rules of a similar kind for the formation of words and sentences.
7.Every spoken language includes discrete sound segments like p,n,or a,that can all be defined by a finite set of sound properties or features.Every spoken language has a class of vowels and a class of consonants.
8.Similar grammatical categories (for example,noun,verb)are found in all languages.

26. 9.There are universal semantic properties like male or female,animate or human,found in every language in the world.
10.Every language has a way of negating,forming questions,issuing commands,referring to past or future time and so on.
11. Speakers of all languages are capable of producing and comprehending an infinite set of sentence
12.Any normal child born anywhere in eth world,of any racial ,geographical ,social or economic heritage,is capable of learning any language to which he or she is exposed.The differences we find among languages cannot be due to biological reasons.

27. Linguistics :The core areas
Phonetics : What are human speech sounds and how they are produced?
Phonology : How do these sounds pattern systematically in languages?
Morphology : What is the internal structure of words?

28. Syntax : How do words combine into sentences?
Semantics : How do words or sentences carry meaning ?
Pragmatics : How is language used in contexts?

29. Linguistics : Applications
Some areas where the core areas are applied are :
Psycholinguistics : How is language processed in our minds ,and how do we acquire language?
Historical linguistics : How do languages change over time,and what are common ancestors?

30. Linguistics : Applications
Sociolinguistics : How does language differ across sociological variables like age, gender , region ?
Neurolinguistics : What is language in our brains?
Typology: What are the differences and similarities between languages?
Computational Linguistics : How can we make computers talk or simply understand human language?