Slide 1Slide 2Slide 3Slide 4Slide 5Slide 6Slide 7Slide 8Slide 9Slide 10Slide 11Slide 12Slide 13Slide 14Slide 15Slide 16Slide 17Slide 18Slide 19Slide 20Slide 21Slide 22Slide 23Slide 24Slide 25Slide 26Slide 27Slide 28Slide 29Slide 30Slide 31Slide 32Slide 33Slide 34Slide 35Slide 36Slide 37Slide 38Slide 39Slide 40Slide 41Slide 42Slide 43Slide 44Slide 45Slide 46You get to spend the evening in jail with Justin Bieber. Naturally, you You get to spend the evening in jail with Justin Bieber. Naturally, you engage in some deep, intellectual conversations: about life, love, and engage in some deep, intellectual conversations: about life, love, and language. language. “I have a pet chimpanzee,” Mr. Bieber tells you. “And he can “I have a pet chimpanzee,” Mr. Bieber tells you. “And he can understand me when I tell him things. And he can communicate to me understand me when I tell him things. And he can communicate to me through sign language. He has language.” through sign language. He has language.” ““Well,” you respond. “That depends on how you define ‘language.’”Well,” you respond. “That depends on how you define ‘language.’”““Oh really,” Bieber comes back. “How would YOU define language, Oh really,” Bieber comes back. “How would YOU define language, then?” then?” IN GROUPS: What is ‘LANGUAGE’??IN GROUPS: What is ‘LANGUAGE’??LANGUAGE is… LANGUAGE is… UnitsUnits RulesRulesworwordsdssounsoundsdsphrasesphrases//sentencsentences/es/paragraparagraphphmeaninmeaningsgssystesystem m interinternalnalsystesystemmexterexternalnalHow is language a How is language a system?system?comprises interacting, interrelated & comprises interacting, interrelated & interdependent componentsinterdependent componentssounds sounds wordswordsmeaningsmeaningsphrasesphrasessocial usessocial usessoundsphrasessocial usesmeaningswordsChapters 1 & 10What is Language?Arbitrary and conventional relationships between sound (form) and meaning (concept)•arbitrary = no connection btw. sound & object hand main nsa ruka (English) (French) (Twi) (Russian)•conventional = we have to memorize the sound-meaning relationship by hearing it used the same from other speakersArbitrary and conventional relationships between sound (form) and meaning (concept)•However, onomotopoeia = sound symbolism–buzz, quack, creak, susurrate, sl- words, gl-words, fl-words –cross-linguistic onomotopoeiaSign Language = Arbitrary & ConventionalCOME AGAIN….?creative aspect of language•Every language has an infinite number of possible sentences (creative productivity)–Create a sentence that has never been uttered before–Understand a sentence that has never been uttered before•Most sentences we use are new; but there are some sentences stored in our brain, i.e. not created–‘Jeet’ ‘sup?’ ‘have a good one’ –Idiomatic phrases (‘straight from the horse’s mouth’)Linguistic competence vs. linguistic performance •Competence: what we know about a language; our innate capacity for language–Mostly unconscious knowledge about sounds, structures, meanings, words, and rules for combining linguistic elements–Competence doesn’t differ among “normally functioning” persons•Performance: how we use this knowledge in actual speech production and comprehension–We can theoretically create an infinitely long sentence, but physical constraints make this impossible–In speech we stammer, pause, and produce slips of the tongue–Performance abilities differ from person to personMultiple Meanings of “Grammar”•teaching grammar: explicitly states the rules of a language and is used to learn another language or dialect.–assume the student already knows one language and then compares the grammar of the new language to the one they already knowe.g. “In English, the conjugational ending for 3rd person singular is –s.”•language faculty grammar: a speaker’s knowledge of the units and rules of their specific language–rules for combining sounds into words, word formation, making sentences, assigning meaning–when a sentence is ungrammatical in a linguistic sense, it means that it breaks the rules of the shared mental grammar of the languagee.g. We went to the store yesterday. vs *Yesterday went we the store to•Universal Grammar (UG) refers to the universal properties that all languages share –part of a biologically endowed human language faculty–the basic blueprint that all languages follow–theory proposed by Noam Chomsky in 1950s, by looking closely at phonology & syntax in Sound Pattern of English•Looking for evidence of UG can tell scientists something about the universal ways that people think, view the physical and metaphysical world, negotiate social contexts, and encode meaning.Multiple Meanings of “Grammar”Does your language affect the way you think, or the way you perceive the world around you?If so, to what extent?13Quiz1.What is the relationship between form and meaning, in language? a. symbolic b. arbitrary c. prescriptive 2. Linguists generally advocate for a _____ approach to studying language. a. prescriptive b. conventional c. descriptive 3.Linguists call our innate capacity for language our linguistic ____. a. performance b. creativity c. competence4. What does the acronym IDIOM stand for, as McWhorter uses it in his book What Language Is?14GRAMMAR GORILLAS IN CAMBRIDGEPrescriptive vs. Descriptive Approach to Language•Descriptive: approaching language with an unbiased perspective, examining and describing a true model of the speaker’s mental grammar–In other words, a descriptivist describes the linguistic rules that people use when they speak their language–The point of view is that grammars from every language and dialect are equale.g. In African American Vernacular English, speakers express habitual aspect with the SAE verb ‘be’” (Why you be mad?)•Prescriptive approach: attempts to prescribe what rules of language people should use to speak “properly”–The view of a prescriptive grammarian is that some grammars are better than others–Bishop Robert Lowth’s A Short Introduction to English Grammar with Critical Notes (1762)e.g. “When expressing habitual aspect, a speaker of AAVE must conjugate SAE ‘to be’ with the subject, and insert an appropriate adverb.” (“You are always