1. LING 103
Introduction to
English Linguistics
2017

2. Lecture times Room Tutorial times Room
LING 103: INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
Lecturer / tutor: Dr Keith Montgomery
Office: Rm. 320 Arts 2; phone: ext
Office hours: Monday Tuesday
Lecture times Room
Monday 13: : (Sci. Maths & Physics, Rm 102)
Thursday 10: : (Biology Building, Rm 100)
Tutorial times Room
Monday : : G07 (Old Choral Hall, Room G07)
Tuesday : : (1-11 Short Street, Room 332)
Wednesday 16: :00 421W-501 (Architecture - West, Room 501)
PRESCRIBED TEXT
Kuiper, Koenraad and Scott Allan. An Introduction to English Language: Word, Sound and Sentence. 4th Ed.

3. Tutorials will begin in WEEK 2 You are expected to take an active part in all tutorials Tutorial purpose is to refine lecture material by questioning discussion practical exercises

4. What is Language?
Language is a complex communication system, unique to humans.
The estimated 7000 natural languages on the planet are:
a. endlessly creative
b. recursive
c. exhibit displacement
We combine these traits (universals) in unique ways every day and create a range of expressions far beyond any other known system of animal communication
Can or will animals speak? No
They lack
genetics
physiology
There just must be some way to mutate our FOX2P gene

5. Why study linguistics?
You may simply wish to study language and its structure for its own sake. But
consider the following quotation
Language acquisition “is doubtless the greatest intellectual feat any
one of us is ever required to perform.”
Leonard Bloomfield: Language (1933)
We do not all perform this equally well. Amongst other things, your study of linguistics will give you tools to help others and to
teach language – either first or second
restore language – speech therapy etc.
preserve language – record and preserve one of the many
endangered languages on the planet
– devise written forms for languages without them
create language – artificial languages, computer / speech recognition
software

6. Spoken vs. Written language Spoken language is: ‘Human communication using a range of sounds that speakers share, formed into units that are meaningful to the speakers, delivered in patterns that are accepted by the speakers’ The definition highlights four basic building blocks all spoken languages sounds = phonology formed = morphology in patterns = syntax meaningful = semantics

7. Middle English /knɪxt/ Modern English /naɪt/
Spoken vs. Written language Written language: ‘A written language is the representation of a spoken language by means of a commonly accepted writing system. Written language must be actively taught. No natural language is purely written’ Not all languages have a written form. Those that do find that their written language does not keep pace with their spoken form e.g. knight English spelling is littered with these relics of its older forms (the study of which falls under Historical Linguistics)
Middle English /knɪxt/
>
Modern English /naɪt/

8. What does linguistics involve
What does linguistics involve? Linguists investigate and record language. It is a truism that ALL languages constantly change overtime. Amongst other things, linguists look for: Innovations Long term changes How language is or was being used Linguistic research is descriptive. Description vs. Prescription The attempt to control how you use a language by ‘rules’ is a prescriptive approach to language. Typical prescriptive rules include; Do not use double negatives. Do not start a sentence with and, or, but etc. etc. The key difference? A prescriptivist seeks to prevent or correct your language ‘errors.’ Linguists investigate what you are saying and how and perhaps why you are saying it. They do not prescribe what you should or should not say.

9. Total number of sounds? _______
Speakers of all languages know a lot about their languages, usually without knowing that they know it!
Exercise 1: With your neighbour, read the sentence below aloud and decide how many individual sounds are used to create it. Divide them into consonant and vowel sounds.
The aardvark is a medium–sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa.
Total number of sounds? _______
In this total, there are different consonants and different vowels
Surprise!
In total, English speakers use up to 44 individual sounds (24 consonants and 20 vowels) which we try to represent with an alphabet of just 26 letters.
55 – 59 depending on your accent (dialect) 19 11

10. For most people, there are about 15 meaningful items
Morphology
Exercise 2. How many individual meaningful items are used to create the sentence?
The aardvark is a medium–sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa
For most people, there are about 15 meaningful items
Meaningful Less obvious meanings other examples
The = a definite thing
aardvark
is singular, third person, present tense it/he/she eats ants
a = one of the type the lion is a cat etc.
medium
size + -ed = noun > adjective (pointed stick, left handed etc.)
burrow + -ing = verb > adjective (running water, sleeping cat etc.)
nocturne + al = noun > adjective (cranial, basal etc.)
mammal
native to
Africa

11. Deeper analysis The actual number of meaningful items present can also depend on the depth of your analysis, the knowledge you have of a borrowed word’s origins etc. For example, in the sentence above aardvark = aarde ‘earth’ + vark ‘pig’ (Afrikaans) native = nat- + -ive nat- = ‘birth / life’ (nation, natal, nature etc.) Should I panic because I was unaware of some /any of this stuff today? In short, NO! The depth of analysis we undertook in the exercises above is specialised knowledge for most people. By the end of LING 103, you will have the knowledge of language structure to readily perform this kind of task.