LESSON 1 LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS

LIN1001 LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS

CONTENTS

• HUMAN LANGUAGE AND ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

• THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

• SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE AND WRITING SYSTEM

LANGUAGES

• WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF ‘LANGUAGE’?

• IS LANGUAGE THE EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF THE HUMAN SPECIES?

• WHAT IS THE PROPERTIES OF ‘HUMAN LANGUAGE’?

WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF ‘LANGUAGE’?

• IF LANGUAGE IS VIEWED ONLY AS A SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION, THEN MANY SPECIES

COMMUNICATE.

• DANCE LANGUAGE OF HONEYBEE

• AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE USED TO TEST THE CHIMPANZEES (WASHOE & SARAH)

• ARE THE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS USED BY OTHER SPECIES ALL LIKE HUMAN LINGUISTIC

KNOWLEDGE?

• MOST ANIMALS POSSES SOME KIND OF ‘SIGNALING’ COMMUNICATION SYSTEM.

HUMAN LANGUAGE &

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

• THE POSSESSION OF LANGUAGE DISTINGUISHES HUMANS FROM OTHER ANIMALS.

• HUMAN LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE IS ACQUIRED BY CHILDREN WITH NO EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION, AND

IS USED CREATIVELY RATHER THAN IN RESPONSE TO INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL STIMULI.

• HUMAN LANGUAGE IS DIFFERENT FROM ANIMAL COMMUNICATION IN TERMS OF:

• BIOLOGICAL ASPECT

• NEUROLOGICAL ASPECT

• HUMANS ARE BORN WITH THE ABILITY TO LEARN LANGUAGE.

• SPECIFIC AREAS OF HUMAN BRAIN ARE DEVOTED TO LANGUAGE.

HUMAN LANGUAGE PROPERTIES

• ARBITRARINESS

• CREATIVITY

• DISPLACEMENT

• DISCRETENESS

• CULTURAL TRANSMISSION

(YULE, 2010)

ARBITRARINESS

• DO YOU KNOW ITS MEANING IN THESE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE ALPHABET?

ARBITRARINESS

• A WORD OF EVERY LANGUAGE CONSIST OF ‘FORM’ AND ‘MEANING’.

• SUCH A CONNECTION BETWEEN ‘FORM’ AND ‘MEANING’ IS ARBITRARY, KNOWN AS A ‘LINGUISTIC SIGN’.

• THERE IS NO “NATURAL” CONNECTION BETWEEN A LINGUISTIC FORM AND ITS MEANING. (YULE, 2010: 12)

• A LANGUAGE MAY BE SIMPLY DEFINED AS ‘A SIGN SYSTEM’.

• THAT IS, THE FORM OF A WORD IS INDEPENDENT OF ITS MEANING AND VICE VERSA.

ARBITRARINESS

• H-O-U-S-E (ENGLISH)

• บ้-า-น (THAI)

• M-A-I-S-O-N (FRENCH)

• 家-庭 (JAPANESE)

• 房-子 (CHINESE)

kvinii

ACTIVITY: THE FOLLOWING ARE WORDS IN SOME DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. HOW MANY OF THEM CAN YOU UNDERSTAND?

(FROMKIN ET AL, 2007, PP. 5-6)

1. right on! (in Hausa)

doakam 2. teacher (in Warao)

_____

_____

odun

asa

toowq

bolna

wartawan

inaminatu

yawwa

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

3. reporter (in Indonesian)

4. to speak (in Hindi-Urdu)

5. is seeing (in Luiseno)

6. morning (in Japanese)

7. wood (in Turkish)

8. living creatures (in Tohono O’odham)

9. a large parasol (in Twi)

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

CREATIVITY

• HUMANS ARE CONTINUALLY CREATING NEW EXPRESSIONS AND NOVEL UTTERANCES BY

MANIPULATING THEIR LINGUISTIC RESOURCES TO DESCRIBE NEW OBJECTS AND SITUATIONS.

(YULE, 2010: 13)

• A FIXED SET OF SIGNALS FOR COMMUNICATION. THE POTENTIAL NUMBER OF UTTERANCES IN

ANY HUMAN LANGUAGE ARE CONVEYED VIA A FIXED SET OF SIGNALS FOR

COMMUNICATION.

CREATIVITY

• THE POTENTIAL TO CREATE WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS TO CONVEY NEW IDEAS AND

EXPERIENCES AROUND US. LANGUAGE MUST BE PRODUCTIVE IN ORDER TO MEET THE

CHANGING AND INCREASING COMMUNICATIVE DEMANDS OF THEIR SPEAKERS.

WEBCAM GOLF CAR

STICKY NOTES

CREATIVITY

(A) MIKE DECIDED TO BUY AN APARTMENT.

(B) MIKE DECIDED TO BUY A BIG APARTMENT. (AN ADJECTIVE CAN MODIFY A NOUN)

(C) MIKE DECIDED TO BUY A BIG FULLY-FURNISHED APARTMENT.

(D) MIKE DECIDED TO BUY A BIG FULLY-FURNISHED APARTMENT IN LONDON. (A PREPOSITION

PHRASE CAN MODIFY A NOUN) (TIMYAM, 2010, P. 2)

(“SYSTEMATIC”)

THE OLD, OLD, OLD, OLD MAN CAME.

(HOW MANY “OLDS” ARE TOO MANY?)

RULES + LEXICON

CREATIVITY

CREATIVITY IS AN INTRINSIC FEATURE OF LANGUAGE; HOWEVER, THERE ARE ALSO LIMITS ON

WHICH INNOVATIONS CAN OCCUR.

ACT - REACT HAPPY - *REHAPPY

USE - REUSE EVENT - *REEVENT

CYCLE - RECYCLE OUT - *REOUT

DECORATE - REDECORATE CAREFULLY - *RECAREFULLY

BROADCAST - REBROADCAST SOME - *RESOME

DISPLACEMENT

• DISPLACEMENT IS THE CAPABILITY OF LANGUAGE TO COMMUNICATE ABOUT THINGS THAT

ARE NOT PRESENT WITHOUT SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL LIMITATIONS, OR EVEN THINGS THAT

ARE NOT HERE IN IMMEDIATE ENVIRONMENT (YULE, 2012, P.12).

• “TOMORROW, I WILL GO TO SEE THE MOVIE”, “I DIDN’T SEE THE MOVIE YESTERDAY.”

• “NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN ANGEL, SERPENT, AND NO ONE HAS EVER GONE TO HEAVEN AND

HELL.”

DISCRETENESS

DISCRETENESS REFERS TO THE FACT THAT ELEMENTS IN LANGUAGE HAVE DEFINABLE BOUNDARIES (CRYSTAL,

2008). THEY CAN BE BROKEN INTO DISTINCT SMALLER LINGUISTIC UNITS (KANOKSILAPATHAM, 2012, P. 7).

- I

, , - LOVE

,,, -CATS I LOVE CATS.

sounds words sentences

CULTURAL TRANSMISSION

• WHILE WE MAY INHERIT PHYSICAL FEATURES SUCH AS BROWN EYES AND DARK HAIR FROM

OUR PARENTS, WE DO NOT INHERIT THEIR LANGUAGE. WE ACQUIRE A LANGUAGE IN A

CULTURE WITH OTHER SPEAKERS AND NOT FROM PARENTAL GENES.

• THEREFORE, LANGUAGE IS SOCIALLY LEARNED BEHAVIOUR, A SKILL THAT IS ACQUIRED AS ONE

GROWS UP IN A SOCIETY.

CULTURAL TRANSMISSION

• LANGUAGE IS NOT INSTINCT, BUT LEANING LANGUAGE IS INSTINCT.

FATHER: AMERICAN

MOTHER: THAI-ENGLISH

WHEN SHE WAS A CHILD, CINDY LIVES IN PATTAYA.

WHAT LANGUAGES CAN SHE SPEAK? (A) ENGLISH

(B) THAI

(C) BOTH

FUNCTIONS OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

• INFORMATIVE “I WAS ABSENT BECAUSE OF SICKNESS.”

• EXPRESSIVE “WE ENJOY VISITING AN AMUSEMENT PARK.”

• DIRECTIVE “SHUT UP!”

• INTERACTIONAL “HAVE A NICE DAY.”

SPOKEN & WRITTEN LANGUAGE

• “SPOKEN FORM” OR “WRITTEN FORM”

• “SPOKEN LANGUAGE” VS. “WRITTEN LANGUAGE”

• “SPOKEN LANGUAGE” VS. “WRITTEN LANGUAGE” & SPEECH STYLES

• SPEECH STYLES

• FROZEN STYLE

• FORMAL STYLE

• NEUTRAL STYLE (SLANG, JARGON, ARGOT, ETC)

• INFORMAL STYLE

• INTIMATE STYLE

SPOKEN & WRITTEN LANGUAGE

• GREETING

FROZEN STYLE: GOOD MORNING, YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS/YOUR MAJESTY.

FORMAL STYLE: GOOD MORNING, MR. SMITH.

NEUTRAL STYLE: HELLO, SMITH.

CASUAL STYLE: HEY, BILL. WHAT’S UP?

INTIMATE STYLE: HI, CINDY! HOW’S MY LITTLE CUTIE?

(KANOKSILAPATHAM, 2012, P. 237)

WRITING SYSTEM

• ALPHABETIC WRITING SYSTEM (EX ENGLISH, THAI, FRENCH)

• WORD OR LOGOGRAPHIC WRITING SYSTEM (EX CHINESE, JAPANESE: KANJI)

• SYLLABIC WRITING SYSTEM (EX JAPANESE: HIRAGANA FOR NATIVE WORDS)

(EX JAPANESE: KATAKANA FOR LOAN WORDS)

ALPHABETIC WRITING SYSTEM

• ALPHABETIC WRITING SYSTEM IS A SYSTEM IN WHICH BOTH CONSONANTS AND VOWELS

ARE SYMBOLIZED.

• A STANDARD SET OF LETTERS (BASED ON CERTAIN GENERAL PRINCIPLE) REPRESENT SPEECH

SOUNDS.

• EXAMPLE C REPRESENT

A REPRESENT CAT , ACT

T REPRESENT

ALPHABETIC WRITING SYSTEM

• IN SOME CASES, LETTERS MAY NOT REPRESENT ONE SOUND. IT IS NOT ONE-TO-ONE

RELATIONSHIP.

• EXAMPLE ข REPRESENT IN ขา

ข REPRESENT IN สขุ

WORD OR LOGOGRAPHIC WRITING SYSTEM

• IN A WORD-WRITING (OR LOGOGRAPHIC WRITING SYSTEM), A WRITTEN CHARACTER

REPRESENTS BOTH THE MEANING AND PRONUNCIATION OF EACH WORD.

• LONGER WORDS MAY BE FORMED BY COMBINING TWO WORDS.

• EXAMPLE REPRESENT BUY REPRESENT

REPRESENT SELL - SELLING AND BUYING

- BUSINESS (INTERACTION)

(PINYIN)

SYLLABIC WRITING SYSTEM HTTPS://WWW.NHK.OR.JP/LESSON/THAI/SYLLABARY/

• SYLLABIC WRITING SYSTEM IS A SET OF WRITTEN SYMBOLS THAT REPRESENT SYLLABLES

• A SYMBOL IN SYLLABLES TYPICALLY REPRESENT “CONSONANT” FOLLOWING BY “VOWEL”, OR

ONLY VOWEL TO MAKE A WORD.

• EXAMPLE お

い

おいしい --- YUMMY, TASTY, DELICIOUS

し

い

SYLLABIC WRITING SYSTEM

• EXAMPLE HOTEL

ホ

テ ホテル

ル

REFERENCES

• FROMKIN, V. ET AL. (2007). AN INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE. (8TH EDITION) BOSTON:

THOMSON HIGHER EDUCATION.

• KANOKSILAPATHAM, B. (2012). ENGLISH SOCIOLINGUISTICS AT WORK. NAKORN PATHOM:

SILPAKORN UNIVERSITY.

• TIMYAM, N. (2010). AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LINGUISTICS. BNGKOK: THAILAND

RESEARCH FUND.