HSR130 Week 2 - What is Language? PDF

HSR130: Introduction to Language & Communication What is Language? Week 2 Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 1  Before We Start… What is your mother tongue? Do you use Standard Arabic language in your everyday li...

HSR130: Introduction to Language & Communication What is Language? Week 2 Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 1  Before We Start… What is your mother tongue? Do you use Standard Arabic language in your everyday lives? We use Arabic dialect; what is the definition of ‘dialect’? According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, dialect is a form of a language that is spoken by a particular group of people or in a particular region distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language. Give me examples of dialects. What do we mean by ‘language’ ? Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 2  What is language? What is the part of speech of the word ‘Language’? Noun Look up the word ‘Language’ in online English dictionaries. Write the keywords used in to describe the word Language. According to Sapir (1921), Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols (8). Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 3  What is communication? What is the part of speech of the word ‘Communication’? Noun Look up the word ‘communication’ in online English dictionaries. Write the keywords used in to describe the word communication. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior. Bottom Line  Communication encompasses the exchange of information using diverse methods, while language represents a unique and crucial mode of communication. Although language is exclusive to humans, the capacity to convey information is not restricted to human beings. Numerous animal species possess their own methods of communication. Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 4 Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 5  The Design Features of Language So we need to ask, what distinguishes human language from the forms of communication employed by the different animal species? What are the key features of human language that make it different? How is human language special? 1. Human language permits displacement (or displaced reference) 2. Human language is characterized by discrete infinity 3. Human language is combinatorial Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 6 1. Human language permits displacement (or displaced reference) Language enables us to refer to things that are NOT in the immediate environment Animal communication is almost always limited to the here and now and context driven – animals react to immediate stimuli 2. Human language is characterized by discrete infinity Languages use a finite (limited) number of sounds to make an infinite (unlimited) set of meanings. Individual sounds are meaningless (e.g., the English phoneme /f/ has no meaning) 3. Human language is combinatorial We can further combine words into larger meaningful units (phrases and sentences) Animal communication systems do not have this quality of combining Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 7 units to create meanings What does it mean to know a Language? Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 8 1. When linguistics was transformed into science? 2. Who is the one behind this remarkable transformation? 3. Why do you think this transformation of linguistics as a field of science is significant? 4. Why Linguistics is considered a science? 5. How do we learn a language? 6. How to improve our second language? 7. Is there any thing genetic about language? 8. If there is nothing genetic about language, how some of us can learn a language faster? 9. What we know when we know a language? Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 9  What does it Mean to Know a Language? Linguistic knowledge What is linguistic knowledge? - Linguistic knowledge is unconscious knowledge, which allow you to speak (or sign) and be understood by others who know that language. What does this knowledge include? Knowledge about grammar, lexis, syntax, structure, style, and what else? - The ability to use a language requires profound knowledge that most speakers don’t know that they know Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 10 a. Knowledge of the Sound System - When we know a language, we know what sounds (or signs) are used in the language and which sounds (or signs) are not. Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 11 Knowledge of the Sound System also includes knowing how the sounds of the language can be combined : * Which sounds may start a word * Which sounds may end a word * Which sounds may follow each other within a word - Knowing the sounds of your language also involves knowing how your face looks when you produce them Can someone tell me how we produce the sound of each letter in Arabic? Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 12 Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 13 b. Knowledge of Words - Knowing a language also means identifying certain strings of sounds as meaningful words. - Most words in all languages are arbitrary connections of sound to meaning. Example: = English (hand) Arabic (‫)يد‬ French (main) Russian (рука) - Knowing a language does not mean we know its history or the etymology of words. - Many words of English have a common ancestor with similar words in other languages. - Languages changes so there will always be protolanguages - Dr. Fatima Alblooshi The structure of protolanguages ‘dies’ with its speakers. 10/04/2024 14 c. Creativity of Linguistic Knowledge - Every language has an infinite number of possible sentences. - Knowing a language enables you to: * Create a sentence that has never been uttered before * Understand a sentence that has never been uttered before - Most sentences we use are new; very few sentences are stored in our brains - Our knowledge of language allows us to separate possible sentences from non-sentences. Example: AR: ‫قضاء أحب نهاية‬ // ‫أحب قضاء عطلة نهاية األسبوع مع عائلتي‬ ‫عطلة عائلتي مع األسبوع‬ EN: I like to spend weekends with my family // to spend like Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 15 weekends family with  Linguistic Knowledge vs. Performance Linguistic It refers to what we know about a language Knowledge (knowledge) Mostly unconscious knowledge about (also know as sounds, structures, meanings, words, and linguistic rules for combining linguistic elements competence) It refers to how we use this knowledge in Performan actual speech production and comprehension ce For example, in speech we stammer, pause, and produce slips of the tongue Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 16  Are you LOST? Are you confused? Is there anything unclear? Any burning questions? Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 17  What’s Next? Week 2: “First and Second Language Acquisition” Stages of First Language Acquisition Stages of Second Language Acquisition First Language vs. Second Language Acquisition Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 18  Participation Question Go to the Blackboard to complete the participation question. If you fail to complete the task, you will lose your participation grade for today's class. Dr. Fatima Alblooshi 10/04/2024 19