AAAD 421 Exam 1

Linguistics

• The study of how languages work; structure, meaning, and use

• not the study of how to learn to speak a language

Linguists Study

• language form

• meaning

• use

• origins and change

• pronunciation and sound

• language policy

Language form

• how language is structured

meaning

• how language communicates meaning

pronunciation and sound

• phonology: how sounds function within a particular language and how sound differences can convey meaning

• phonetics: the physical property of speech sounds (not language specific)

Phonology, phoneme, phone

• phoneme: a language-specific category that a particular language treats as meaningful

• phone: the actual sound you hear (NOT language specific)

• KEY IDEA: each language can have its own phonemes; a phoneme has phones as its phonetic realization

Big L language vs Little l language

• BIG L language: biologically determined

• Little l language: culturally determined

Communication vs language

• communication = broader process of exchanging information

• language = structured set of symbols and rules used by a specific community

  • complex

  • symbolic

  • systematic

  • a tool

  • interactive

  • community specific

  • projective/reflective (self-expression)

3 Types of Signs used in Communication

• iconic: signifier form resumes the signified meaning

  • usually a picture

  • ex: a picture of a person on a restroom sign

• indexical: the signifier gives directional information

  • ex: no right turn sign,

• arbitrary: no inherent relationship between form and meaning

  • IMPORTANT: language is arbitrary

Why is Language Arbitrary

• connection between words (the signifier) and meaning exists because people in a particular language or community agree that the form represents the meaning

Design Features of Human Language

• Arbitrariness: the connection between words and meaning is agreed upon by speakers of the language

• Discreteness: language is discrete because it has clear boundaries

  • continuous stream of speech is divided into: sounds + words + sentences

  • to non-speakers, that language will be continuous

• Duality:

  • linguistic units are:

    • observable physical events

    • produce a concept in your mind

  • Ex: someone says the word dog (physical), and you think of a dog (concept)

• Productivity/Creativity

  • Humans are capable of unlimited expression, and NO set amount of words can be formed

  • rule-governed creativity

• Displacement

  • ability to communicate about things that are not in the here and now

  • can talk about past, present or future

  • main idea = human language communication is not stimulus bound

• cultural transmission

  • language is learned from people in your community

• interchangeability

  • all members of a language community can be BOTH speakers and listeners

Big L language

• the unique human capacity for acquiring and using a language

• the language instinct: humans appear to have a natural ability to acquire language

• universal grammar: humans possess an innate underlying capacity for language and that human languages share certain fundamental properties

Little l Language

• culturally specific language system

  • symbols, rules, grammar

• Platos cave analogy

  • Little l language is evidence of Big L language

  • prisoners in cave with shadows on wall

Components of language

• phonetics = study of non-language-specific speech sounds

• phonology = study of how sounds function within a specific language

• morphology = study of the structure of words

  • morpheme = smallest meaningful units of language

    • roots, prefixes, suffixes

• syntax = study of how words are organized into phrases and sentences

• semantics = literal/conventional meaning

  • literal meaning of words

• pragmatics = study of how context and speaker intention affect meaning

• sociolinguistics = study of the relationship between language and society

  • note: why some people may use different language varieties depending on who they are talking to

    • dialectology = study of dialects and regional/social varieties of language

grammar

• rules that govern linguistic behavior

• instructs on how to:

  • create words, sounds, sentences, texts, and participate in conversations