Language and Linguistics - Class 1 Handout PDF

Class 1 handout Language and linguistics – main definitions What is linguistics? Linguistics is the study of human language; it is the study of the organization, structure, form and functions of language. Prescriptive/normative vs. descriptive linguistics (gramm...

Class 1 handout Language and linguistics – main definitions What is linguistics? Linguistics is the study of human language; it is the study of the organization, structure, form and functions of language. Prescriptive/normative vs. descriptive linguistics (grammar) grammar as a set of rules for the correct /proper use of lg (describing what should be) eg. double negation is incorrect vs. describing how the language is used Synchronic: the study of the linguistic elements and usage of a lg at a particular moment (contemporary use) Diachronic: the study of the changes in language over time (the language change over time → Historical Linguistics) What does it mean to know a language? “To be able to understand, to produce, and to use one of the possible sign systems employed by human beings in order to communicate” (Lewandowska- Tomaszczyk 2010:13). Language is linked to/is one of human cognitive abilities; meanings can be identified with conceptualizations: “dynamic mental structures which portray things, humans, properties, and events” (mental pictures, imagery). What is language? „Language is an arbitrary system of signs, which is manifested in verbal behaviour and used by the society for communication” (Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk 2010:13) The science that deals with systems of signs Sign represents a unity between form and meaning: (e.g. music, painting, architecture, or LANGUAGE) is called SEMIOTICS. Semiotics – the study of signs. Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913): a sign is made up of two parts, the signifier and the signified. Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914): semiotics is the relationship between a symbol, icon, and an index. 'Nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign', (Peirce 1931:58) http://semioticaffyl2018.blogspot.com/2018/02/biografias-ferdinand-de- saussure.html https://anniehaydesign.weebly.com/colour-is-sound/semiotics Arbitrariness: no natural or necessary connection between a word's meaning and its sound or form. The link is a matter of convention, different conventions across languages, e.g. a cat, el gato, die Katze, cattus System: A set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network; a complex whole (Lexico.com) Communication: „The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium.” The transfer of information from the Sender to the Receiver/Addressee SIGNALS: signs used in communication/face-to-face verbal interaction. Paralanguage: non-verbal signals such as pitch, intonation, vocally-produced sounds + KINESICS (facial, bodily gestures, movements), PROXEMICS (distance between interlocutors) „We speak with our vocal organs, but we converse with our entire bodies” (Abercrombie in Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk 2010: 15) DESIGN FEATURES of language by Hockett, C. (1960) 1. Vocal-auditory channel 2. Broadcast transmission and directional reception 3. Rapid fading (transitoriness) 4. Interchangeability 5. Total feedback 6. Displacement 7. Arbitrariness 8. Productivity 9. Cultural transmission 10. Discreteness 11. Duality of patterning 12. Specialization 13. Semanticity Communicative functions of language: 1. Referential 2. Emotive 3. Conative 4. Phatic 5. Poetic 6. Performative 7. Metalinguistic https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roma_jakobson_theory.png Based on: 1.The Study of Language by G. Yule (chapter: ANIMALS AND HUMAN LANGUAGE) 2.Ways to Language by Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (ed) (chapter: LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE STUDIES)