Language Variation Notes

Universal Grammar

  • Definition: A theory that suggests all humans are born with an innate understanding of the principles of language, which aids language acquisition despite limited evidence.
  • Contradiction: While Universal Grammar proposes universals in all languages, there is notable linguistic diversity.
  • Purpose: To explore limits of language variation and compatibility with Universal Grammar.

Word Order

  • Variation: Languages can differ significantly in sentence structure.
  • Terminology:
    • Noun Phrase (NP): Always contains a noun.
    • Verb Phrase (VP): Always contains a verb.
    • These elements are called heads of the phrases, determining basic meaning.
  • Example:
    • English NP: "the student from CT" (head: student)
    • English VP: "gave a book to Anusha" (head: gave)

Sentence Structure in English and Japanese

  • English Structure: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
    • Hierarchical representation: [Subject [Verb Object]]
    • Detailed structure: [[NP Subject] [VP V [NP Object]]]
  • Comparison with Japanese:
    • Japanese structure: Subject-Object-Verb (SOV)
    • English: "Yoshi ate sushi"
    • Japanese: "Yoshiga sushio tabeta"

Parameters of Universal Grammar

  • Principles: Universal arrangements like hierarchical structures in sentences do not require learning.
  • Parameters: Points in word arrangement where languages differ must be learned through experience.
    • Example: Differences in sentence structure are due to parameters concerning element arrangement.

Head Parameter

  • Positioning: Languages differ in head positioning within phrases:
    • Japanese: Head is always in the final position.
    • English: Head is not positioned at the end.

Language Surveys and Structures

  • Total of 1,376 languages observed:
    • SOV Languages: 564 (e.g., Japanese, Hindi)
    • SVO Languages: 488 (e.g., English, French)
    • Other structures like OSV are infrequent or not present.

Morphology and Head Parameter

  • Compound Structures:
    • Example in English: "dog house" vs. "house dog"; right-hand head rule applies.
    • Combinations can include nouns and adjectives, where the rightmost element determines meaning and category.
  • Contrast with Vietnamese: Left head positioning impacts meaning.

Phoneme Inventories

  • Contrast in Sounds: Differences in languages arise partly from varying phonemic inventories (sets of speech sounds).
  • Vowel Characteristics:
    • Classified by properties of articulation: height, front-ness, and lip rounding.
  • Vowel Distribution:
    • Smallest inventory recorded: 3 vowels
    • Largest: 24 vowels
    • English has a notable 14 vowels, including diphthongs.

Universality of Certain Vowels

  • Essential Vowels: Almost all languages include [a], [i], and [u].
    • Reason: These vowels are distributed far apart in vowel space, allowing for distinctive use in words.

Summary of Findings

  • Linguistic Variation: Wide variation observed in phoneme selection while maintaining certain universal aspects (inclusion of [i], [a], [u]).
  • Word Order: Systematic variation showing limits; based on parameters within Universal Grammar.
  • External Pressures: Some variations determined by external factors rather than parameters.