TED TALK

• texting is seen as improper use of language

• writing is seen as very formal language

• writing isn’t very natural or common way of communication

• writing is not similar to speech

• speech is very casual

• texting is more similar to speech then writing

• back in the day when we spoke speeches like writing, it was very unnatural

• pragmatic particles: words that are part of the structure of communication

→ ex. LOL

• slash can also be used in text to change the conversation

• being biadialectal/bilingual can be benefical

• we have criticised skill of english for years

TOP HAT 1 NOTES

• language helps us communicate → build community

• we have set expectations about how to use a language

• linguistics is learning about how the use of languages have evolved and changed

• 7,168 languages exist

• computer languages may be considered as languages

→ linguists are not really interested, may only be used to analyze data

• languages that are not word languages are not studied by linguists

→ ex. body language

• to describe the term language is hard

• but all of us are experts in languages

• sign language is different from body language

• body language does not have grammar → pretty arbitrary

• sign language has its own system and grammar

→similar to how spoken languages are

• mental grammar/linguistics competence: subconscious grammar rules we follow in our head

→ linguists what to understand and learn how this system works

• unacceptable sentence → not normal

• even if we cannot explicitly describe rules of a language, still has internalized knowledge

• being a native speaker of a language means:

  • you know what sounds are used in the language

  • know words and combinations of words

  • know what combinations of words are meaningful

• language acquisition: learning a language without specific instructions

→ picking it up naturally

• learning: learning a language with instructions and steps

• children's language is a unconscious → pick up languages spoken at a early age

• language learning is conscious and hard to do

• language acquisition is supplemented by language instruction

→ due to language rules, spelling and writing

• 4 aspects of a language

  • discreteness: set of units that can be combined to communicate (ex. sounds, words)

  • grammar: systems of rules of how to

  • productivity: ability to use a language to create messages

  • displacement: to be able to talk about things not present infront of you

  → ex. past, present

• crabs and cuttlefish do not speak a language

→ signals are not used in a specific way

• bees use dance to describe food source

→ displacement

• Pierre dogs use alarm calls to describe predators

→ displacement

• ape and champ good communication → some even use sign

• dolphins use whistles to describe things, can understand grammar

• ^ ape and dolphin above are not natural

• animals do not usually display all 4 aspects of language

• may turn out human language and animal communication are not that different

• charles hockett made criteria that distinguishes human language from animal communication such as:

  • semanticity: language signals have meaning

  • arbitrariness: no connection between form of signal and meaning

  → except onomatopoeic words, some vary by language

  • discreteness: language signals made up of small units to make other words

  • displacement: speech about non-present things

  • productivity: can produce and understand new concepts that make sense in the language

• animals have communication systems but do not follow hockett guidelines

• grammar are set of rules in a language

• grammar has many meanings such as:

  • study of how sentences in a languages are made

  → morphology and syntax

  • prescriptive grammar

  • generative grammar: body rules that provide an outcome of permissable sentences

  • set of rules accounting for constructions

  • knowledge and use of indicated forms for speaking/writing

• linguists consider grammar as generative grammar

• grammar is a mental system of rules in the head of native speakers

• grammar allows native speakers to produce sounds and signs and organize them into words/sentences

→ animals do not have these grammar conditions

• mental grammar can be broken into 5 components (interact with each other but looked at separately):

  • phonetics: perception and expression of speech

  • phonology: possible sound combinations

  • morphology: structure of words

  • syntax: sentence structure

  • semantics: meaning/interpretation of sentences

• know abstract rules for a language → know how to produce and understand sentences in language

• grammatical utterance: possible sentence in language

• ungrammatical utterance: not possible sentence in language

• a native speaker would never naturally make an ungrammatical sentence

• linguist defintion of grammar is different then normal people

• double negatives (two words of negation) near each other is seen as ungrammatical is also seen as proper english

• speakers of a language may be able to distinguish familiarity and formality

• register: style/manners of speaking

→ is about appropriateness not grammatically

• the type of register used is based on situation

• there are two types of registers:

  • informal register: casual speaking (ex. what y’all watching)

  • formal register: formal speaking (ex. what are you watching)

• two types of approachment to grammar

  • descriptivist: actual use of language in situations and groups

    • does not favour any type of language

    • no correctness

    • describes how grammatical rules operate

    • focused on mental/unconscious rules to speak that language

    • all varieties of a language are valid and have their own logic

    • no scientific reason for a language to fit a certain mold

    • languages always change

    • languages adopt words from other places

  • descriptive rules:

  • the and a precede nouns

  • adjectives before nouns

  • SVO (subject, verb, object)

  • prescriptivist (traditional): there is a standard to speaking a language

    • levels of logic

    • classic/older forms of a language are better

    • warned against foreign words (words from other languages)

  → should or shouldn’t speak, incorrect or correct ways of language

  • prescriptive rules:

    • do not end sentence with a preposition

    • do not split infinitive (to+base)

    • no double negatives

• prescriptive rules are not based on natural speech

• linguistics is more interested in descriptive grammar

• prescriptive and descriptive grammar both have rules BUT:

  • prescriptive mandates language (what speakers should or shouldnt do)

  • descriptive describes language ( what speakers do or dont do)

• descriptive rules form grammatically judgements

→ opinion from a native speaker whether a sentence is well constructed or not (based on dialect)

• language variety: dialect

• prescriptive and descriptive rules can overlap

• standard language: most popular/common version of a language

• standard languages are based on what “higher” class people speak

• if seen as grammatical in one language, can be seen as ungrammatical in another and vice versa

• speakers know unconsciously if an utterance is acceptable or not

• linguistics performance: action of speaking or performing the language

• linguistics competence: mental grammar/unconscious rules of grammar

• 5 characteristics of grammar:

  • generality: each language has its own grammar

  • parity: all grammars are equal, none are better

  • mutability: grammars change within strict limits

  • inaccessibility: grammar knowledge is unconscious → language just works, cant describe how it does, it just does

  • universality: all grammars are alike in a basic principle way