1. Language: A Preview LI 2013 Nathalie F. Martin
Prendre le temps de me presenter

2. Outline of Today’s Class
Humans made to speak
Language
Grammar
Objective:
Understand how humains are made to speak.
See the study of language and grammar through a linguistic perspective.
Language : A Preview (O’Grady, p. 1-11)

3. What Is Linguistics? “The _____ study of _____ _____ .”
Scientific study of language, covering the _____ (morphology and syntax; see grammar), _____ (phonology, phonetics), and _____ (semantics), as well as the _____ of the relations of languages to each other and the _____ place of language in human behavior.

4. What Is Linguistics? Ferdinand de _____ : _____ of modern linguistics.
His students published his course notes in 1916.
Cours de linguistique générale.

5. What is Language?
Language is the method of _____ _____ __, either _____ or _____ , consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.

6. Language(s)
A language is more than a simple instruments used for communication:
It the can be the object of _____ _____ ;
It can also show _____ between different people and social groups.
Etc.

7. Language, Languages and Speech
Terminology:
Language
Language(s)
Speech

8. Chapter 1 (O’Grady & Archibald)
Language: A Preview
Chapter 1 (O’Grady & Archibald)
1.1 Specialized for Language
1.2 Creative System
1.3 Grammar and Linguistics Competence

9. 1.1 Specialization for Language
Contemporary Linguistics Analysis: p. 2.
1.1 Specialization for Language
Organ
Survival
Speech
Lungs
Exchange CO2 for O2
Vocal Cords
Cover tube to lungs
Tongue
Move food in mouth
Teeth
Chew food
Lips
Seal oral cavity
Nose
Breathing

10. Specialization for Language: Made to Speak

11. Contemporary Linguistics Analysis: p. 5.
1.2 A Creative System
The Creativity Aspect of Language
Human language must be _____ : allowing novelty and innovation is response to new thoughts, experiences, and situations

12. 1.3 The Components of a Grammar
Contemporary Linguistics Analysis: p. 5.
1.3 The Components of a Grammar
Linguistic Performance:
_____ _____this knowledge in actual speech production and comprehension.
Linguistic Competence:
What you _____ about a language.

13. What You Know About Grammar
Grammatical or not…?
The fish is swimming.
*Fish the swimming is.
?Swimming is the fish.
*The fishing is swim.
He saw two dogs.
*He saw twos dog.

14. What You Know About Grammar
Knowledge of the _____ _____ : Knowing what sounds are in that language and what sounds are not.
Knowledge of _____ : Knowing the sound units that are related to specific meanings.
Knowledge of _____ : Knowing how to form sentences.

15. Prescriptive Grammar
1762; Bishop Robert Lowth; A Short Introduction to English Grammar with Critical Notes.
Examples:
Many of those rules were based on Latin grammar. Latin was assumed as the respected scientific language in the 15th – 17th Centuries.

16. Descriptive Grammar
1985; Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik; A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language.
Based on a corpus of actual spoken and written English.

17. The Components of a Grammar
Contemporary Linguistics Analysis: p. 5.
The Components of a Grammar
_____ _____ : the articulation and perception of speech sounds
_____ _____ : the patterning of speech
_____ _____ : word formation
_____ _____ : sentence formation
_____ _____ : the interpretation of words and sentences.

18. Contemporary Linguistics Analysis: p. 5.
Grammar
« As you can see, the term grammar is used in a special way within linguistics. A linguist’s grammar is not a _____ and it is not concerned with just the form of words and sentences. Rather, it is an intricate system of knowledge that encompasses _____ and _____ as well as _____ and
_____ __.»

19. The Truth About Grammar
1.3.1 Generality: All languages have a grammar
1.3.2 Parity: All grammars are equal
1.3.3 Universality: Grammars are alike in basic ways
1.3.4 Mutability: Grammars change over time
1.3.5 Inaccessibility: Grammatical knowledge is subconscious

20. The Truth About Grammar: Generality
Contemporary Linguistics Analysis: p. 5.
The Truth About Grammar: Generality
All languages have a grammar
Fundamental claim of modern linguistics
Can be _____ _phonetically, phonologically, morphologically, syntatically, semantically.
_____ and _____ languages
_________ and also different _________ of the same language.
Example:

21. The Truth About Grammar : Parity
Contemporary Linguistics Analysis: p.67.
The Truth About Grammar : Parity
All grammars are equal
No such thing as a ___________ language.
No such thing as a ____ grammar and a ____ grammar.
Since all grammars tell speakers how to form and interpret the words and sentences of their language.
« (….) language analysis must reflect the way it is actually used, not someone’s idealized vision of how it should be used. »
_____ _____, not prescriptive
Also see analogy: Steven Pinker’s illustration (p. 7)

22. The Truth About Grammars: Universality
Contemporary Linguistics Analysis: p. 7.
The Truth About Grammars: Universality
Grammars are _____ in basic ways
All languages have:
Small set of contrastive sounds that help to distinguish word from each other;
Have more consonant sounds than vowel sounds;
Any language that has an f sound has an s sound;
All languages have an ah sound (like in the word father);
Universal constaints on how words can be put together to form sentences.

23. The Truth About Grammars: Mutability
Contemporary Linguistics Analysis: p. 8.
The Truth About Grammars: Mutability
Grammars _____ _____ _____
Features that are not universal and fixed are subject to change over time;
Example:

24. The Truth About Grammars: Inaccessibility
Contemporary Linguistics Analysis: p. 8.
The Truth About Grammars: Inaccessibility
Grammatical knowledge is _____ _____
Largely subconscious and not accessible to introspection
Speakers of a native language know what sounds right or what sounds wrong … but they are not sure how they know.
Example: