Linguistics Comprehensive Notes

  • What is Linguistics?

    • Linguistics studies language as a cultural, social, and psychological phenomenon.

    • It seeks to understand what is unique and universal in languages, how language is acquired, and how it changes.

    • Linguistics is a cognitive science that links humanities, social sciences, education, and hearing and speech sciences.

    • Knowledge of linguistics is different from knowing a language; one can use a language without understanding its structure, and vice versa.

    • A linguist studies grammar, social and psychological aspects of language use, and relationships among languages.

    Principal Areas of Study in Linguistics

    • Phonology: Analyzes how sounds function in a language.

      • Example: The sound /p/ in English has two possible sounds, and whether or not a puff of air is released when pronouncing it depends on its position in a word.

    • Morphology: Studies the structure of words, focusing on morphemes (minimal units of meaning) and their combinations.

      • Example: "Imperfections" has four morphemes: "im" + "perfect" + "ion" + "s."

    • Syntax: Examines the structure of sentences, describing how words combine into phrases and clauses.

      • Example: How "I found a coin yesterday" can be embedded in "The coin that I found yesterday is quite valuable."

    • Semantics: Focuses on meaning in language, explaining how language sequences are matched with their meanings.

      • Example: "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" is grammatically correct but semantically meaningless.

    • Pragmatics: Studies how context affects meaning, where the intended meaning can differ from the literal meaning.

      • Example: "I'm expecting a phone call" can imply various requests or reasons depending on the context.

    Linguistics as a Science

    • Linguistics aims to be objective, systematic, consistent, and explicit in its account of language.

    • It collects data, tests hypotheses, devises models, and constructs theories.

    • It overlaps with both "hard" sciences (physics, anatomy) and "arts" subjects (philosophy, literary criticism).

    • Linguistics integrates science and humanities.

    Origins of Language

    • Darwin's vision: Early humans used musical ability "to charm each other" before articulate language developed.

    • The exact origin remains unknown. The ability to produce sound is ancient and shared with vertebrates; however, human language is different.

    • Speculation places the development of spoken language between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, before written language.

    • Absence of direct physical evidence has led to much speculation.

    Divine Source

    • Many traditions believe language originates from a divine source.

    • Experiments attempting to rediscover this original language involved raising infants without exposure to any existing language.

    • Herodotus's account of Psammetichus: Children isolated for two years reportedly spoke the Phrygian word bekos, meaning "bread."

    • King James IV of Scotland's experiment: Children purportedly spoke Hebrew spontaneously.

    • These experiments are generally not confirmed: children without language exposure do not develop language.

    • The Bible (Genesis 11:9) describes the events in Babel where God confounded the language of all the earth.

    Natural Sound Source

    • Bow-wow theory: Primitive words imitated natural sounds.

      • Examples: cuckoo, splash, bang, boom, rattle, buzz, hiss, screech, bow-wow.

    • Words that sound similar to noises they describe are examples of onomatopoeia.

    • Limited by the fact that many things and abstract concepts are soundless.

    Emotional Expression

    • Original sounds may have come from natural cries of emotion (pain, anger, joy).

    • Interjections like Ouch!, Ah!, Ooh!, Wow!, Yuck! are typically produced with intakes of breath, unlike normal speech.

    • Expressive noises contain sounds not otherwise used in speech production.

    Social Interaction Source

    • Yo-he-ho theory: Language originated from sounds during physical effort, especially coordinated efforts.

      • Early humans developed hums, grunts, groans, and curses to coordinate lifting and carrying.

    • Places language development in a social context; early humans lived in groups and needed communication for social organization.

    Physical Adaptation Source

    • Focuses on physical features that support speech production.

    • Transition to an upright posture and bipedal locomotion.

    Teeth, Lips, Mouth, Larynx, and Pharynx

    • Teeth: Human teeth are upright and even, adapted for grinding and chewing, aiding in sounds like /v/.

    • Lips: Human lips have intricate muscle interlacing, which helps in making sounds like /p/ or /b/.

    • Mouth: The human mouth is small, with a muscular tongue for shaping sounds.

    • Humans can close off the airway through the nose, which creates more air pressure in the mouth.

    • Larynx: The human larynx (voice box) is in a lower position and creates a longer cavity (pharynx), which acts as a resonator.

    • Lower larynx increases vocal power but also increases the risk of choking.

    Tool-Making Source

    • Manual gestures may have preceded language.

    • Evidence shows that humans developed preferential right-handedness and tool-making abilities around two million years ago.

    • Tool-making involves manipulating objects with both hands, indicating brain activity.

    • The human brain is lateralized, with specialized functions in each hemisphere.

    • Motor movements for complex vocalization and object manipulation are close in the left hemisphere.

    • Evolutionary connection between language-using and tool-using abilities reflects development of speaking brain.

    • Primitive tool-making involves bringing rocks into contact, symbolizing combining sounds for complex messages.

    • Humans progressed from naming objects to combining sounds for messages.

    Genetic Source

    • Infant development mirrors physical changes, with the brain and larynx developing rapidly.

    • Deaf children become fluent in sign language, indicating an innate capacity for language.

    • This ability is genetically hard-wired, suggesting a crucial mutation.

    • Speculations involve analogies with computers and genetics, searching for a "language gene."

    Animals and Human Language

    • Distinction between communicative signals and unintentionally informative signals.

    • Blackbird squawking at a cat is communication; black feathers are not.

    Properties of Human Language

    • Reflexivity: Humans can use language to think and talk about language itself.

    • Displacement: Humans can refer to past and future events, not limited to the immediate context.

      • Bees communicate location, but it is limited in range compared to human language.

    • Arbitrariness: There is no natural connection between a linguistic form and its meaning.

      • Most animal signals have a clear, non-arbitrary connection to the message.

    • Productivity: Humans continually create new expressions and utterances.

      • Animal communication systems are fixed and limited; lacks the ability to manipulate signals for novel experiences.

    • Cultural Transmission: Language is acquired in a culture with other speakers, not inherited.

      • Animals are born with specific signals produced instinctively.

    • Duality: Language is organized at two levels: distinct sounds and distinct meanings.

      • Animal signals appear as single fixed forms.

    The Equality of Languages

    • All languages have developed to express the needs of their users and are, in some sense, equal.

    • It is difficult to quantify language to say whether all languages have the same amounts of grammar, phonology, or semantic structure.

    • There is nothing intrinsically limiting, demeaning, or handicapping about any of them.

    • All languages meet the social and psychological needs of their speakers.

    Primitive Languages

    • The idea that there are such things as 'primitive' languages has been disproven.

    • Edward Sapir was one of the first linguists to attack the myth that primitive people spoke primitive languages.

    • Every culture has a fully-developed language, regardless of how 'primitive' it is.

    • Languages correlate with recognized anthropological groups.

    • Complex grammar, and no natural language is simple or wholly regular.

    Languages of Excellence

    • Opinions about the 'natural superiority' of certain languages has no scientific merit.

    • Nationalism: Language evaluations were often tied to questions of national identity.

    • Languages should not be valued on the basis of the political or economic influence of its speakers.

    • It is not possible to rate the excellence of languages in linguistic terms.

    Phonetics

    • The sounds of spoken English do not match up with letters of written English, necessitating the need for the phonetic alphabet.

    • The general study of speech sounds is called phonetics, involving acoustic, auditory and articulatory phonetics.

    Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

    • Voiceless sounds: Vocal folds are spread apart, and air from the lungs passes between them unimpeded.

    • Voiced sounds: Vocal folds are drawn together, and air from the lungs repeatedly pushes them apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect.

    Place of Articulation

    • Consonant sounds are produced by constricting the oral cavity with the tongue and other parts of the mouth.

    • Terms describing sounds denote the location inside the mouth at which the constriction takes place.

    Consonants

    Bilabials

    • Sounds formed using both upper and lower lips.

    • Examples: /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/

    Labiodentals

    • Sounds formed with upper teeth and lower lip.

    • Examples: /f/, /v/

    Dentals

    • Sounds formed with tongue tip behind upper front teeth.

    • Voiceless: /θ/

    • Voiced: /ð/

    Alveolars

    • Sounds formed with the front part of the tongue on the alveolar ridge (rough, bony ridge immediately behind and above the upper teeth).

    • Examples: /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/, /r/

    Palatals

    • Sounds produced with the tongue and palate.

    • Examples: /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/, /j/

    Velars

    • Sounds produced with the back of the tongue against the velum.

    • Examples: /k/, /g/, /ŋ/

    Glottals

    • Sounds produced without active use of the tongue and other parts of the mouth.

    • Example: /h/

    Manner of Articulation

    • Describes sounds in terms of how they are articulated.

    Stops

    • Sounds produced by some form of "stopping" the air stream.

    • Examples: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/

    Fricatives

    • Sounds produced by almost blocking the air stream and having the air push through a very narrow opening.

    • Examples: /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/

    Affricates

    • Sounds produced with af brief stopping of the air stream with an obstructed release which causes some friction.

    • Examples: /tʃ/, /dʒ/

    Nasals

    • Sounds produced with the velum lowered and the air stream flowing out through the nose.

    • Examples: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/

    Liquids

    • Sounds that are voiced.

    • Lateral liquid: /l/

    • /r/: Formed with the tongue tip raised and curled back near the alveolar ridge.

    Glides

    • Sounds that are voiced and occur at the beginning of we, wet, you and yes.

    • Examples: /w/, /j/

    Glottal Stops and Flaps

    • Glottal Stop/[ʔ]/: Space between vocal folds (glottis) is closed completely, then released.

    • Flap/[ɾ]/: Tongue tip taps the alveolar ridge briefly.

    Vowels and Diphthongs

    • Vowel sounds are produced with a relatively free flow of air and are typically voiced.

    Phonology

    • Phonology is the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language.

    • Concerned with the abstract or mental aspect of the sounds in language rather than with the actual physical articulation of speech sounds.

    • Phonology is about the underlying design, the blueprint of each sound type, which serves as the constant basis of all the variations in different physical articulations of that sound type in different contexts.

    Phonemes

    • Each meaning-distinguishing sound is described as a phoneme.

    • Phoneme functions contrastively.

    • Sound which does not share those features would be expected to behave differently.

    Phones and Allophones

    • Phones are phonetic units and appear in square brackets.

    • When we have a set of phones, all of which are versions of one phoneme, we are referring to them as allophones of that phoneme.

    Minimal Pairs and Sets

    • When two words are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme, it is known as minimal pair.

    • When a group of words can be differentiated, each one from the others, by changing one phoneme then we have a minimal set.

    Phonotactics

    • Definite patterns in the types of sound combinations permitted in a language knowns as phonotactics.

    • Constraints are operating on a unit that is larger than the signal segment or phoneme.

    Syllables

    • The syllable must contain a vowel or vowel-like sound, including diphthongs.

    • Technically, the basic elements of the syllable are the onset followed by the rhyme.

    Consonant Clusters

    • Both the onset and the coda can consist of more than one consonant, also known as a consonant cluster.

    • It is unusual for languages to have consonant clusters of this type.