Evolution of Language PDF

Evolution of language ​ The study of phylogenetic emergence of the ability to acquire a natural language which is genetically-conditioned and present only in humans Language change ​ Types: ○​ Phonetic and phonological – e.g OE scyrte → ModE shirt ○​ Syntactic – e.g O...

Evolution of language ​ The study of phylogenetic emergence of the ability to acquire a natural language which is genetically-conditioned and present only in humans Language change ​ Types: ○​ Phonetic and phonological – e.g OE scyrte → ModE shirt ○​ Syntactic – e.g OE Ic will slaep → ModE I will sleep ○​ Semantic – e.g OE gesælig ‘happy’ → ModE silly ‘stupid’ ○​ Pragmatic/Discourse – e.g. be + like as a discourse marker ​ Causes: ○​ Cognitive: economy principle, imperfect learning, analogical thinking (metaphor and metonymy) ○​ Structural: related to relations within language system, e.g. grammaticalization ○​ Social: language contact, geographical separation, cultural environment, social prestige Differences between languages ​ Linguistic typology - a field of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural and functional features ​ Phonological differences – how many and what kind of sounds they have ​ Example: ​ Uncommon consonants: ​ Clicks – only in southern and eastern Africa ​ Labial-velar plosives - /kp/, /gb/ ​ Pharyngeals - /ʕ̝/ aprox. /aaaa/ ​ „Th” sounds ​ World survey: ​ 449 languages don’t have these sounds ​ Morphological differences – what is their morpheme-per-word ratio; from analytic languages (e.g. English, Mandarin), through synthetic languages (e.g. Polish, Persian), to polysynthetic languages (e.g. Nahuatl) ​ Word order differences – ○​ SOV languages: Latin (c. 45%) – He her loves ○​ SVO languages: Mandarin (c. 42%) – He loves her ○​ VSO languages: Arabic (c. 9%) – Loves he her ○​ VOS languages: Malagasy (c. 3%) – Loves her he ​ Semantic differences – indicate how semantic fields and meanings of words differ Languages of the world ​ There are 7099 living languages ​ There 152 language families ​ The biggest language families are: ○​ Niger-Congo (1539 lgs) ○​ Austronesian (1256 lgs) ○​ Trans-New Guinea (482 lgs)  ○​ Sino-Tibetan (455 lgs) ○​ Indo-European (446 lgs) Language situation in the globalized world By Abram de Swaan ​ Peripheral languages - make up 98% of all languages, but are spoken by less than 10% of mankind. These are largely oral, and rarely have any kind of official status. ​ National languages - these are written, are taught in schools, and each has a territory to call its own. Examples are Latvian, Polish, Korean, Turkish etc. ​ Supercentral languages - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swahili – each of which (except for Swahili) boast 100 million speakers or more. ○​ These are languages you can travel with. They connect people across nations. They are commonly spoken as second languages, often (but not exclusively) as a result of their parent nation’s colonial past. ​ Hypercentral language - There is only one: English. It is the language to which the supercentral ones are connected. It holds the entire world language system together. ○​ It is the language that is used by the greatest number of non-native speakers in the world. ​ Anglo-Globalism: English in culture, like the dollar in economics, serves as the medium through which knowledge may be translated from the local to the global. Germanic languages ​ 47 languages ​ All descended from Proto-Germanic (c. 500 BC) ​ Spoken natively by around 500 mln people ​ North Germanic: Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic ​ West Germanic: English, Frisian, German, Dutch, Yiddish Balto-Slavic languages ​ 24 languages (5 Baltic, 19 Slavic) ​ Spoken by over 300 mln people ​ All descended from Proto-Balto-Slavic (c. 1500 BC) ​ All Slavic languages descended from Proto-Slavic (c. 500 AD) ​ 500 AD – 1000 AD – Common Slavic Period ​ 1000 AD – now – Differentiation ​ Baltic: Lithuanian, Latvian ​ East Slavic: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian, Rusyn ​ South Slavic: Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovene ​ West Slavic: Czech, Slovak, Kashubian, Silesian, Polish, Sorbian History of English ​ Celtic rule and Celtic languages (from c. 2200 BC) ​ Roman conquest of Britain (43-84 AD) – the introduction of Latin ​ Roman Britain (43 – 410 AD) ​ The introduction of Old English by Anglo-Saxon settlers in 400-600 AD ​ Old English period (400 – 1100)  ​ The introduction of Christianity around 600 AD – the influence of Latin ​ Viking invasion and rule over the part of British Isles (800 – 1100) ​ The introduction and the influence of Old Norse ​ Middle English period (1066-1500) ​ The Norman Invasion and rule – the introduction and influence of Old Norman (later Anglo-Norman, French) (1066 – 1500) ​ Early Modern English period (c. 1500 – c. 1700) ​ Modern English period (c. 1700 – now) English language ​ Major dialects of English: ○​ British English ○​ Welsh English ○​ Scottish English ○​ Irish English ○​ American English ○​ Canadian English ○​ West Indies and Bermuda English ○​ Australian English ○​ New Zealand English ○​ South African English ○​ African-American Vernacular English Historical reasons of present-day English distribution (British Empire, 1583-1997) Historical reasons of present-day distribution (American Empire, 1898-now) Polish language ​ Spoken by around 37,4 mln people in Poland ​ 741,000 in Germany ​ 615,000 in Lithuania (161,000 first-language users) ​ 144,000 in Ukraine ​ 100,000 in Israel (272,000 ethnic population) ​ 67,400 in Russian Federation ​ 33,600 in Czech Republic ​ 3,120 in Slovakia ​ 3,050 in Hungary ​ 2,080 in Romania History of Polish ​ Pre-written period (c. 900 – 1050 AD) ​ Old Polish period (c. 1050– 1500) ​ Middle Polish period (c. 1500 – 1750) ​ Polish was a lingua franca from 1500–1700 in Central and small portions of Eastern Europe, because of the political, cultural, scientific and military influence of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ​ Modern Polish period (c. 1750 – 1939) ​ Contemporary Polish (1939 – now) Dialects of Polish ​ There are two basic isoglosses : ○​ voicing of word‐final obstruents in Little Polish, Great Polish, and Silesia, for example, [brad muj] for /brat muj/ versus devoicing in Mazovia and Kashubian, for example, [vus muj] for /vuz muj/  ○​ the maintenance of a three‐way distinction in Great Polish and southern Silesia, for example, a) siano, ziarno, ciasto, dziadek; b) dusza, żaba; c) sam, car, zamek, sadza versus the merger of the latter two groups in Little Polish, northern Silesia and Mazovia, for example, dusa, zaba, capka, a phenomenon called “mazurzenie”. International Phonetic Alphabet ​ When we talk about speech sounds, we cannot rely on regular letters as their graphic representation. ​ We need to use a special set of symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). ​ In this alphabet, one symbol corresponds to one sound-type of a language, which is not the case in many alphabetic writing systems. ​ Examples: Pacific Ocean, Colonel, Cologne Phonetics ​ The study of the sounds of human speech. ​ It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds. ​ It focuses on phones which are defined as any distinct speech sounds. ​ Phones (e.g. [t]) are absolute, not specific to any language. Types of phonetics: ​ Articulatory phonetics – it studies the production of speech sounds (where, how) ​ Acoustic phonetics – it studies the physical characteristics of speech sounds (frequency, length, height, amplitude) ​ Auditory phonetics – it studies the reception and perception of speech sounds (acoustic cues, categorical perception of speech sounds) Phonology ​ The study of systematic organization of sounds in languages. ​ It is concerned with the functions of speech sounds. ​ It focuses on phonemes defined as the smallest units of sound that distinguish one word from another in a given language. ​ Phonemes (e.g. /t/) can be discussed only in reference to specific languages. Phones and phonemes ​ Allophones – these are phones viewed as the realisations of the same phoneme. ○​ Ten vs cień – E in Polish and French ○​ Pie vs spy – P in English and Thai ○​ Lulki vs rurki – L and R – Poles hear the difference, Japanese don’t Types of speech sounds ​ Consonants (24) – these are speech sounds articulated with a closed or semi-closed vocal tract. ○​ Obstruents ○​ 17 obstruents: ​ 6 plosives (with complete obstruction of an airflow) ​ /p/ pɪn pin, ​ /b/ bɪn bin,  ​ /t/ tɪn tin, ​ /d/ dɪn din, ​ /k/ kɪn kin, ​ /g/ gɪv give ​ 9 fricatives (with partial obstruction and turbulent airflow) ​ /f/ fɪn fin, /v/ vɪm vim, ​ /s/ sɪn sin, /z/ zu: zoo, /ʃ/ ʃɪn shin, ​ /ʒ/ ˈmeʒə measure, /ɪ/ hɪt hit, ​ /θ/ θɪn thin, /ð/ ðɪs this ​ 2 affricates (in between plosives and fricatives) ​ /tʃ/ tʃɪn chin ​ /dʒ/ dʒɪn gin ○​ 7 sonorants: ​ 3 nasals (with air escaping through the nose) ​ /m/ mɒk mock, ​ /ɒ/ nɒt not ​ /ŋ/ θɪŋ thing ​ 2 liquids (in between fricatives and vowels) ​ /r/ rɒk rock ​ /l/ lɒŋ long ​ 2 semivowel glides (similar to vowels but function as the syllable boundaries) ​ /w/ wɒsp wasp ​ /j/ jɒt yacht ​ Vowels – these are speech sounds articulated with an open or semi-open vocal tract. Consonants in Polish ​ 21 obstruents: ​ 6 plosives (with complete obstruction of an airflow) ○​ /p/ pik pik, /b/ bit bit, /t/ test test, ​ ○​ /d/ dɨm dym, /k/ kit kit, /g/ gen gen ​ 9 fricatives (with partial obstruction and turbulent ​ airflow) ○​ /f/ fAn fan, /v/ vilk wilk, ○​ /s/ sɨk syk, /z/ zbir, /ʃ/ ʃɨʃkA szyszka, ○​ /ʒ/ kAʒdɨ każdy, /x/ xɨmn hymn, ○​ /ɕ/ ɕfit świt, /ʑ/ ʑle źle ​ 6 affricates (in between plosives and fricatives) ○​ /ʧ/ ʧɨn czyn, /ʤ/ ʤem dżem, ○​ /ʦ/ ʦAʦkɔ cacko, /ʣ/ ʣvɔn dzwon, ○​ /ʨ/ ʨmA ćma, /ʥ/ ʥvik dźwig ​ 8 sonorants ○​ 4 nasals (with air escaping through the nose) ​ /m/ mɨʃ mysz, /n/ nAʃ nasz, ​ /ŋ/ tɨŋk tynk, /ɲ/ kɔɲ koń ○​ 2 liquids (in between fricatives and vowels) ​ /r/ rɨk ryk, /l/ luk luk ○​ 2 semivowel glides (similar to vowels but function as the syllable boundaries)  ​ /w/ wɨk łyk, /j/ jAk jak Voicelessness and voicing ​ Voicelessness – when a speech sound is produced without the vibrating larynx ​ Voicing – when a speech sound is produced with the vibrating larynx Voicing in English and Polish ​ In English, voiced obstruents occur in word-final position, e.g. dog, because, cod ​ In Polish, obstruents in word-final position are devoiced (voiceless), e.g. kod is pronounced as kot, pedagog is pronounced as pedagok, homofob is pronounced as homofop ​ This difference is the reason for many pronunciation errors. Progressive versus regressive voicing ​ In English, in obstruent clusters, voicing is progressive, e.g. dogs /dogz/, loves /lawz/, leaves /liwz/, knives /najwz/ → ​ In Polish, in obstruent clusters voicing is regressive, e.g. prośba /proźba/ ← ​ This difference is the reason for many pronunciation errors. Voicing agreement ​ In English, obstruent clusters do not have to agree in voicing, e.g. lifeboat, misjudge, anecdote ​ In Polish, obstruent clusters agree in voicing, e.g. anegdota, prośba ​ This difference is the reason for many pronunciation errors. Double consonants ​ In English, there are no double consonants. ​ In Polish, there are double consonants, e.g. wanna, panna, sutanna, wiosenna Vowels ​ Vowel is a sound produced with an open vocal tract. ​ In contrast, consonants are produced with a closed or semi-closed vocal tract. ​ Vowel is a sound that constitutes the peak (nucleus) of a syllable.  ​ In contrast, consonants form usually the onset or the coda of a syllable Syllables ​ Syllable is the unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. ​ It is typically made up of three components: ○​ the initial margin (onset) ○​ the peak (nucleus) ○​ the final margin (coda) ​ WATER ​ comprises 2 syllables: ○​ 1) wa (onset-nucleus) ○​ 2) ter (onset-nucleus-coda) ​ WODA ​ comprises 2 syllables: ○​ wo (onset-nucleus) ○​ da (onset-nucleus) Types of words ​ monosyllabic, e.g. dog, pies ​ disyllabic, e.g. avoid, siła ​ trisyllabic, e.g. Manhattan, kormoran ​ polysyllabic, e.g. constitution, katamaran Characteristics of vowels ​ They include: ○​ tongue height (vertical dimension) ○​ tongue backness (horizontal dimension) ○​ roundedness (lip articulation) Vowels in English ​ 12 basic vowels ​ They include: ○​ i – bit, sit (in between Polish Y and I) ○​ i: - beat, seat ○​ e – head, bed ○​ ae – mad, bad (in between Polish A and E) ○​ a – cup, mud ○​ a: - part ○​ o - dog, pot ○​ o: - lord, port ○​ u - book, look ○​ u: - do, pool ○​ ə - breakfast ○​ ɜː - bird (in between Polish E and U) Vowels in Polish ​ 6 basic vowels ​ They include: ○​ A – Awans  ○​ E – Emalia ○​ I – Iglo ○​ O – Okup ○​ U – Unia ○​ Y - Rowery ​ 2 nasal vowels ○​ They include: ą, ę ○​ They have a tendency to disappear in Polish ○​ Się – [się] ○​ Widzę – [widze] ○​ Kąt – [kont] ○​ Trąbka – [trompka] Diphtongs ​ These are long vowels that are heard as two separate vowel sounds. ​ In English we can find the following diphthongs: ○​ eɪ (wait) ○​ aɪ (bike) ○​ ɔɪ (toy) ○​ əʊ (coke, low) ○​ aʊ (crowd, loud) ○​ ɪə (here, leer) ○​ eə (pear, lair) ○​ ʊə (sure, lure) Triphthongs ​ These are long vowels that are heard as three separate vowel sounds. ​ English triphthongs include: ○​ /aʊə/ - power ○​ /aɪə/ - fire ○​ /eɪə/ - layer Vocalic and consonantal languages ​ Consonantal language - consonants constitute circa 70% of its phoneme inventory. ​ Vocalic language – consonants constitute less than 70% of its phoneme inventory. ​ Polish is a consonantal language. ​ English is a vocalic language. Dialects of British English vis-à-vis rhoticity ​ British English: ○​ Received Pronunciation – non-rhotic ○​ Other English dialects – mostly non-rhotic ○​ Scottish English – rhotic ○​ Welsh English – non-rhotic ○​ Irish English – rhotic From RP, through EE, to Cockney Dialects of English ​ American English – mostly rhotic ​ Canadian English - rhotic ​ Australian English – non-rhotic ​ New Zealand English – non-rhotic ​ South African English – non-rhotic Some Polish dialectal phonetic differences ​ Mazurzenie – wymowa „sz”, „ż”, „cz”, „dż” jak „s”, „z”, „c”, „dz”. Zjawisko to występuje w dialektach mazowieckim, małopolskim i na północnym Śląsku. ○​ Trojszczak = Trojscak ○​ Żona = Zona ○​ Czapka = Capka ○​ Dżdżownica = Dzdzownica What is morphology? ​ The study of words, their structure, and forms they take. It studies: ○​ the rules governing the internal structure of words, ○​ their free and bound forms, ○​ their modification in relation to one another in a specific language. Morpheme ​ The smallest and most elemental unit of language that relates sound to meaning. ​ It has: ○​ a grammatical function ○​ an independent meaning Types of morphemes ​ Free (lexical) morphemes – they can be independent words; open category, e.g. pen, nóż ​ Bound (grammatical) morphemes – they cannot be independent words; closed category, e.g. un-, -ed, -ful  ​ Example: Unselfish ​ (un) bound, (self) free, (ish) bound Types of bound morphemes ​ Derivational – they change the category or grammatical class of words, e.g. kind+ness, speak+er, alcohol+ic ​ Inflectional – they change the form of a word in order to express its relationship to other words in the sentence, e.g. walk+ing, kill+ed, dog+s, wy+robić, nad+robić, za+robić, prze+robić The parts of word ​ Prefix – root – suffix ​ Root – a morpheme that remains after all affixes have been removed ​ Stem – a morpheme to which you can add an affix ​ Affix - a morpheme that is attached to a root or a stem to form a new word or word form ○​ prefixes (before the stem) (un)kind, (nie)miły ○​ suffixes (after the stem) happ(ier), szczęśliw(szy) ○​ interfix (between stems) father-(in)-law, język(o)znawstwo ○​ infixes (within root) abso(bloody)lutely, malut(eń)ki ○​ circumfixes (on both sides of root or stem) (en)light(en), (za)łatw(ić) Analytic and synthetic languages ​ Analytic languages – they have a low ratio of morphemes per word. ○​ Examples: English, Afrikaans, Chinese, Vietnamese ​ Synthetic languages – they have a high ratio of morphemes per word. ○​ Examples: Polish, Arabic, Finnish Onomatopoeia ​ It is based on conceived analogy (iconicity) between the form of the sign and its referent. ​ Examples: ○​ cock-a-doodle-doo versus kukuryku ○​ woof woof versus hau hau ​ Ideophones – it is a class of words that vividly evoke sensory impressions Reduplication ​ It is based on the repetition of a word or a morpheme. ​ Examples: ○​ bye bye ○​ figo fago (partial reduplication) ○​ misz masz (partial reduplication) ○​ piga (to strike in Swahili), piga piga (to strike repeatedly) Affixation ​ Examples: ○​ (un)real, (wy)jechać ○​ mad(ness), szaleń(stwo)  ○​ (u)kra(dł), (wy)kra(dł), (za)kra(dł) ○​ (u)krad(nie), (wy)kra(dnie), (za)kra(dnie) Compounding ​ The creation of a new word that consists of more than one stem. ​ Examples: ○​ science + fiction = science-fiction ○​ game + boy = gameboy ○​ smart + phone = smartphone ○​ praca + dawca = pracodawca ○​ zlew + zmywak = zlewozmywak Clipping ​ The creation of a new word by shortening it without changing its class. Examples: ○​ gymnasium – gym ○​ telephone – phone ○​ discotheque - disco ○​ na razie – nara ○​ spokojnie – spoko ○​ Jak się masz – siema Back-formation ​ The creation of a new word by removing some part of the existing word. It changes the class of a given word from noun to verb. Examples: ○​ editor – to edit ○​ baby-sitter – to babysit Conversion ​ The creation of a word (of a new word class) from an existing word (of a different word class) without any change in form. Usually from noun to verb. Examples: ○​ access – to access ○​ chair – to chair ○​ host – to host Acronymy ​ Making new words from initial sounds, letters or strings of words and pronouncing them like words. Examples: ○​ NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization ○​ AIDS - acquired immunodeficiency syndrome ○​ G.O.A.T – greates of all time Abbreviation ​ Making new words from initial sounds, letters or strings of words and pronouncing them letter by letter. Examples: ○​ NBA – National Basketball Association ○​ PKP – Polskie Koleje Państwowe ○​ USA – United States of America Blending ​ The combination of elements from two words that includes some erasing. Examples: ○​ velcro – velvet + crochet ○​ Brangelina – Brad Pitt + Angelina Jolie ○​ Sponcon – sponsored + content ○​ Infobesity – information + obesity ○​ pstrokaty – pstry + srokaty brexit ​ ​ cyborg ​ ​ wiksa​ ​ sebix​ ​ flota email​ ​ sexting​​ ​ grubo​ ​ kablować​ odjaniepawlić emoticon​ smog​ ​ ​ kminić​ ​ kebs vlog​ ​ brunch​​ ​ nieogar​ janusz sitcom​ ​ breathalyzer​ ​ propsować​ melanż textpectation glamazon​ ​ adaśki​ ​ atencjusz doggolingo​ biopic​ ​ ​ dzban​ ​ bezbek Inflection ​ The process in which a word’s structure is modified in order to express grammatical information about: ○​ person ○​ number ○​ case ○​ gender ○​ degree ○​ mood ○​ aspect Grammatical tense ​ Grammatical tense – a category that expresses time relative to the moment of speaking. ​ It is usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, especially in their conjugation patterns. Verb inflections for tense in English ​ English has: ○​ 4 basic tenses (present, past, future, future in the past) ○​ 2 morphological tenses (present, past) ○​ Information about tense is expressed by the combination of morphological markers on verbs (inflectional affixes) and auxiliaries. Verb inflections for tense in Polish ​ Polish has: ○​ 3 morphological tenses (past, present, future) ○​ No Past perfect tense Rozmawiałem z człowiekiem, którego spotkałem w kinie.  ○​ Information about the tense is primarily expressed by means of morphological markers on verbs (inflectional affixes) Grammatical aspect ​ Grammatical category that expresses how an action, event or state, denoted by a verb, extends over time ​ There are two basic types of aspects: ○​ Perfective aspect - indicates events and actions that are unitary, bounded and finished ○​ Imperfective aspect - indicates events and actions that are continuous, repetitive and unfinished Grammatical mood ​ Feature of verbs that enables speakers to express their attitude to what they are saying ​ There are 3 basic moods: ○​ Indicative ○​ Imperative ○​ Conditional Verbal nouns ​ In English, the suffix -ing, e.g. singing, dancing ​ In Polish, the suffix -(e)anie, e.g. śpiewanie, tańczenie Summary of verb inflections in English ​ English verbs can have only the following inflections: ○​ the suffix -(e)s in a third person singular present tense, e.g. eats, dances ○​ the suffix -ed in a past tense, e.g. danced, worked ○​ the suffix -ing in a present participle and gerund, e.g. dancing, eating Loanwords ​ Words which are adopted from one language (the donor language) and incorporated into another language without translation Loanwords in English ​ c. 250,000 words (OED) ​ c. 29% of English words come from French ​ c. 29% of English words come from Latin ​ c. 26% of English words come from Germanic languages including Old English and Proto–Germanic ​ c. 6% of English words come from Greek Polish borrowings in English ​ babka ​ bigos ​ kielbasa ​ pierogi ​ sejm  ​ zloty ​ spruce (świerk) Loanwords in Polish ​ ok. 150 000 słów (WSJP) ​ 40 000 słów obcego pochodzenia (WSWO) ​ ok. 26% słów obcego pochodzenia, w tym: ○​ francuski - 5889 (14,7%) ○​ łaciński - 5806 (14,5%) ○​ grecki - 4096 (10,24%) ○​ angielski - 3593 (8,9%) ○​ niemiecki - 2978 (7,4%) ○​ włoski - 1250 (3,1%) False friends ​ Words in two languages that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in meaning ○​ embarrassed - embarazada (sp. pregnant) ○​ sensible - sensible (fr. sensitive) Polish-English false friends Polish English Dom publiczny Public house dywan Divan ewentualnie Eventually fart Fart facet Facet hełm Helm no No Polish English patetyczny Pathetic plaster Plaster prezerwatywa Preservative  renta Rent pensja Pension obskurny Obscure Conjugation versus declension ​ inflection - the process in which a world's structure is modified in order to express grammatical information ​ inflection is divided into: ○​ conjugation - the modification (inflection) of the verb from its basic form ○​ declension - the modification (inflection) of the noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb, numeral or article Declension in English and Polish ​ in English, declension concerns: ○​ nouns ○​ pronouns ​ in Polish, declension concerns: ○​ nouns ○​ pronouns ○​ adjectives ○​ numerals Noun inflections for case ​ in English: ○​ the suffix -'s (Saxon Genitive) marks 1 case i.e. the possessive form of a noun ○​ other cases are unmarked ​ in Polish: ○​ a wide range of suffixes marking 7 cases Case ​ it is a grammatical category that reflects the function performed by a word e.g. noun or pronoun, in phrase or sentence ​ in analytic languages, this information is usually conveyed by means of prepositions or inferred from the context ​ in synthetic languages, this information is conveyed by means of suffixes attached to nouns and other word classes Number ​ it is a grammatical category that expresses count distinctions, e.g. one, two, more than two ​ in both languages, nouns are inflected for number Noun inflections for number ​ in English:  ○​ plural is created by suffixing variants of -s morpheme ○​ plural can be also created by alteration of the stem vowel ​ foot - feet ​ goose - geese ​ man - men ​ in Polish: ○​ the rules for pluralization are more complex than in English ○​ there is no alteration of the stem vowel as in English (foot-feet) ○​ plural depends on the gender of a noun (5 gender classes) and morphological properties of the stem Noun inflections for gender ​ in English: ○​ gender of a noun is (usually) not marked morphologically ○​ gender is usually logical. Most inanimate nouns are neuter (exceptions are, e.g. fem. moon, masc. sun) ○​ it does not have any effects on the form of the associated verbs or modifiers (no agreement requirements) ​ in Polish: ○​ every noun has a grammatical gender ○​ gender coincides with natural for human beings, i.e, the gender of a noun is a direct function of the sex of its referent (fem. dziewczyna, Eng. girl) ○​ exceptions are young humans (as in English, e.g. niemowlę) and diminutive or augmentative forms (e.g. chłopaczysko) ○​ otherwise, Polish gender is usually non-logical ○​ the assignment of gender is signaled by means of an inflectional ending ○​ as in other synthetic languages, in Polish endings are multifunctional ○​ the same ending signals noun gender and noun case ○​ the three main gender forms are characteristic of words that stand in an agreement with nouns: adjectives, demonstratives, pronouns and numerals, e.g. ten niewysoki, trzeci od lewej chłopak Grammatical agreement and gender ​ it happens when a word form changes depending on the other words to which it relates ​ in English: I am, he is - verb and its subject agree in person ​ in Polish: Ja jestem, ty jesteś - verb and its subject agree in person ​ in Polish: mały samochód - adjective and noun agree in gender Adjective inflections ​ in English: ○​ adjectives do not inflect for case, number, gender or person ​ in Polish: ○​ adjectives inflect for case, number, gender and person ○​ they agree in case, number, gender and person with the nouns they describe Fixed word order  ​ a rigid and predictable sequence of sentence elements (subject, verb, object, direct object, indirect object, complements) to convey semantic information ​ upside: information load is lowered ​ downside: a fixed word order reduces expressiveness Free word order ​ labelling (marking) sentence elements in some way to convey semantic information ​ upside: expressiveness is increased ​ downside: added marking increase information load in the speech stream Word order in English and Polish ​ English is a primarily analytic language and it has a fixed word order ​ Polish is a more typically synthetic language and it has a free word order Peter hit Jacob Piotr uderzył Jakuba Jacob hit Peter - change of meaning Jakub uderzył Piotra Hit Peter Jacob - ungrammatical Uderzył Jakuba Piotr Hit Jacob Peter - ungrammatical, Uderzył Piotr Jakuba change of meaning Word order in contrast ​ SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) is a basic word order in English and Polish ​ SVO is the default word order when there is no contextual information ​ however, SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) is also very common in Polish, e.g. Ja to lubię ​ SOV is very common because the Subject usually encodes the topic and indicates what the rest of the sentence is about Syntax in contrast: articles ​ in English, there are articles, e.g. the, a, an, zero article ​ in Polish, there are no articles. This meaning is either not conveyed or conveyed by means of other elements ​ A book was put on the shelf. The book was old and heavy. ​ Książka była położona na półce. Ta książka była stara i ciężka. Syntax in contrast: subject ​ in English, the subject Noun Phrase is obligatory ○​ She loves travelling ○​ It's raining ○​ It's already 11 o'clock ​ in Polish it is not obligatory ○​ Kocha podróże ○​ Pada ○​ Jest już 11 godzina Independent and dependent clause  ​ Independent clause - it is a clause that can be a sentence on its own, it contains a subject and a predicate, it makes sense by itself ​ Dependent clause - it is a clause that provides additional information to the independent clause, it cannot be a sentence on its own, it doesn't make sense by itself, it modified the independent clause or is its component Complementizer deletion ​ the presence of a complementizer in English is in many cases optional ​ in Polish complementizer cannot be deleted as freely as in English ​ I know (that) he left versus Wiem (że) on wyszedł ​ The fact (that) he left is known to me versus Fakt, (że) on wyszedł jest mi znany Relative clause (Zdanie względne) ​ it is a dependent clause with an element whose interpretation is provided in an independent clause ​ it is a post-modifier of a noun phrase ​ relative clauses are introduced by relative pronouns: ○​ English: who, that, which, what ○​ Polish: kto, który, co, jaki Relative clauses in contrast ​ Polish kto/kogo/komu/z kim has a more restricted distribution that who/whose/whom which can appear in all relative clause replacing human and non-human noun phrases: ○​ The book whose/which cover is yellow ○​ Książka czyjej/której okładka jest żółta ​ on the other hand, English what is more restricted than Polish co ​ English what replaces non-human nouns only ​ on the other hand, Polish co: ○​ Widziałem chłopca, co biegał - I saw a boy who was running ○​ Ściąłem drzewo, co wyrosło przed domem - I cut a tree which had grown in front of the house Deletion of relative pronouns ​ Polish does not allow for the deletion of relative pronouns: ○​ The book __ Mary found is wonderful ○​ Książka, którą Maria znalazła jest wspaniała Contrasts: conjunctions ​ the English and versus the Polish i/a ​ a - conveys the idea of contrast ​ i - doesn't convey the idea of contrast ○​ Jacek poszedł do kina, a Janek został w domu. ○​ Jack went to the cinema and John stayed at home Questions  ​ it is a linguistic expression used to make a request for information, or the request made using such an expression ​ question types: ○​ yes-no questions and alternative questions ○​ wh-questions (non-polar questions) ○​ tag questions ○​ echo (intonation) questions, e.g. She went to Brussels? Contrasts: yes-no questions ​ in English, they are formed by inversion ○​ Can the dog swim? ​ in English, they are formed by introducing do particle ○​ Do you like me? ​ in Polish, they are formed by introducing czy particle and by inversion ○​ Czy pies może pływać? ○​ Lubisz mnie?/Czy mnie lubisz? Contrasts: wh-questions ​ Very significant difference between the two languages ​ What is this? versus Co to jest? ​ Who do you think about? versus O kim myślisz? Contrasts: tag questions ​ in English, they are atypically complex ○​ She is French, isn't she? ​ in Polish they are very simple ○​ Jest Francuzką, prawda/co nie/czy nie/nieprawdaż? Contrasts: passive ​ in Polish the verb agrees with the subject Noun in number and in gender ○​ On był widziany przez nas ○​ He was seen by us ○​ One były widziane przez nas ○​ They were seen by us ​ Polish lacks the lexical counterpart of get: ○​ Mary got promoted by the boss ○​ Mary została awansowana przez szefa ○​ I got hit by a car ○​ Uderzył mnie samochód ​ some words block passivation ○​ He was reminded of his duties ○​ On był przypomniany o swoich obowiązkach ○​ A promotion is expected by me ○​ Awans jest spodziewany przeze mnie Existential sentences ​ English sentences with the quasi-subject there:  ○​ There is a cat in your room ○​ W twoim pokoju jest kot Semantics ​ every word and every sentence is associated with at least one meaning ​ semantics is the part of linguistic theory which deals with conventional meanings of words and sentences Types of semantics ​ lexical semantics - the study of word meaning ​ sentence (compositional, prepositional) semantics - the study of sentence meaning ​ text semantics - the study of meaning of the units larger than sentences Meaning and its aspects ​ meaning is the information conveyed in the process of communication ​ basic aspects of meaning include: ○​ reference, i.e. something in the external world (entities, events) singled out by the lexical item, e.g. laptop, whiteboard ○​ conceptual information ​ types ○​ basic definition of the lexical item (denotative meaning) ○​ connections with other lexical items (e.g. collocates, synonymy, hyperonymy) ○​ non-defininig, non-criterial, stereotypical, characteristic associations of the referent of the word often specific to a given culture which can also change according to the user's viewpoint (connotative meaning) ○​ social, discourse and register features of the lexical item (social meaning), e.g. koń versus rumak ○​ emotional information conventionally or situationally associated with the lexical item (affective meaning), e.g. ty leniu! Reference ​ it is a physical or non physical object or relation pointed out (singled out) by a given lexical item ○​ reference of concrete nouns and verbs, e.g. window, to eat ○​ reference of abstracts nouns and verbs, e.g. sadness, to think ○​ reference of proper names, e.g. Konin, Andrzej Duda ○​ reference of indexical expressions, e.g. this, that, these, those, here, there, today, yesterday, tomorrow Cross-linguistic differences in reference of concrete verbs Sense (denotative meaning) ​ the basic definition accompanying the lexical item ​ more or less what you can find in a dictionary ​ the lexical item can have one basic definition - then it's called monosemous ​ however, it is very common for lexical items to have more than one definition - they are called polysemous ​ in other words, such lexical items have several senses that go together with their own referents 1 lexical item - 1 referent - 1 sense ​ lexical item: KAYAK ​ referent: ​ sense: a small, light, narrow boat, pointed at both ends, with a covering over the top, which is moved by using a paddle (=short pole with a wide, flat part) 1 lexical item - 3 referents - 3 senses ​ lexical item: MOLE ​ referents: ​ senses: animal; spy; mark on skin Connotation  ​ non-defining, non-criterial, stereotypical, characteristic properties of the referent of the word ​ the associations specific to a given culture, in particular emotional associations ​ two words may have more or less similar senses, e.g. childish and youthful, but they would differ in terms of associations they have in given language or culture Negative, positive and neutral connotations ​ English: ○​ childish versus youthful ○​ bossy versus authoritative ○​ retarded versus mentally-disabled ○​ house versus home ​ Polish: ○​ wieśniak versus mieszkaniec wsi ○​ Żyd versus skąpiec ○​ murzyn versus Afroamerykanin Stylistic meaning ​ these are social, discourse and register features of the lexical item ○​ friend (general item) - buddy (informal) - bro (US informal) - mate (UK slang) - pal (informal) - homeyhomie (US slang) ○​ samochód (generał term) - wóz, bryka, fura (informal and colloquial style) ○​ koń (generał term) - rumak (poetic style) Semantic fields ​ these are segments of reality represented by a set of related lexical items ​ the words in a semantic field are not necessarily synonyms ​ what times them together is the fact that they are about the same general phenomenon ​ examples of semantic fields: ○​ family ○​ politics ○​ university ○​ dating Synonymy ​ the sameness of meaning ​ however, what are usually regarded as synonyms turn out to differ in non-denotative and non-referential aspects of meanings ○​ well-off versus rich ○​ autumn versus fall ○​ smart versus intelligent Polysemy ​ when the word has several related meanings ​ relatedness of meanings is usually based on the shared etymology (the study of the history of words) The polysemy of RUN  1.​ go quickly - I can run a mile in five minutes 2.​ travel - Trains are still running, despite the snow 3.​ operate - Keep clear of the machines while they're running 4.​ flow - I can feel trickles of sweat running down my neck 5.​ to be or become - Differences between the two sides run deep 6.​ hole - Oh no, my tights have run 7.​ show - Channel 4 is running a series on the unfairness of the legal system 8.​ politics - Mrs Thatcher wanted to run a fourth time 9.​ end - We've run out of money Homonymy, homography, homophony ​ when unrelated words with different meanings have the same form (spelling or pronunciation) ​ however, on closer historical inspection many homonymous items turn out to be related ○​ bank - an organisation where people and businesses can invest or borrow money, change it to foreign money ○​ bank - sloping raised land, especially along the sides of a river ○​ deer - a quite large animal with four legs that eats grass and leaves, the male has antlers (=wide horns like branches) ○​ dear - used to address someone you love or are being friendly to Linguistic relativity hypothesis Inference: ​ Differences exist in linguistic categories across languages ​ Linguistic categories determine aspects of individuals’ thinking Then ​ Aspects of individuals’ thinking differ across linguistic communities according to the language they speak Frames of reference Frames of reference: basic ways to refer to coordinate systems when describing object positions. ​ Relative (egocentric) – relies on the speaker’s perspective at the time of description of the orientation of particular objects. E.g. left, right ​ Absolute (geocentric) – the positioning of the objects is described via a more fixed feature of the environment, e.g. north, south ​ Intrinsic – relies on features of environment, e.g. at the front of the mountain, at the back of the lake Dead reckoning task Task: To point in particular cardinal directions when prompted to do so ​ Participants were transported from their normal environments to a novel location. They were unaware that their dead reckoning skills would be tested. ​ After being transported to locations at least two kilometers (and typically much more, as far as 350 km) away, they were asked to point in the direction of unobservable landmarks including a “home” landmark. ​ Conclusions: The speakers of geocentrically biased languages consistently outperformed members of the other groups. Time ​ Research by Núnez and Sweetser (2006) ​ English: ​ Linguistic evidence for THE FUTURE IS IN THE FRONT and THE PAST IS IN THE BACK metaphor, e.g. I’m looking forward to seeing them again. What lies ahead? ​ Aymara: ​ qhipa uru [future day, lit. eack/behind day] ​ nayra mara [last year, lit. eye/sight/front year] Task: Observation of co-speech gestures ​ Results: ​ English: pointed frontward when referring to future events, and rearward when referring to past events. ​ Aymara: pointed frontwards when referring to past events, and pointed rearward when referring to events in the future. ​ Fluency in Aymara relates to frontward gestures referring to the past, whereas fluency in Spanish relates to bakcward gestures Quantities Numerical cognition Humans have 2 systems for counting: ​ for exactly discriminating small quantities ​ for inexactly estimating larger quantities Pre-linguistic infants and monkeys can recognize the differences between 1 to 3. The introduction of new mathematical concepts into cultures can fundamentally alter facets of the relevant societies. Research by Everett and Madora (2012) Task: One-to-one matching task ​ English: numerical language ​ Piraha: anumerical language Results: Unlike English speakers, Piraha speakers struggle with basic quantity recognition task. Conclusion: If your language does not have names for numbers higher than 3, you will have greater problems with exactly recognizing such quantities. Colour perception ​ Human vision is capable of discriminating as many as two million colours. ​ This ability is clearly not language dependent. ​ We can be confident that there is a genetically driven aspect of colour discrimination shared by all humans. Disparate discrimination of colour categories Colour discrimination is comparably faster when hues cross lexical boundaries. ​ Example: goluboy (light blue) and siniy (dark blue) in Russian ​ Example: Himba (live in desert) and Berinmo (live in rainforest) are adept at perceiving differences in colours that straddle lexical boundaries in their native language. However, they struggle when attempting to discriminate colours across a boundary (green/blue) that is not lexically codified in their language. General conclusions ​ Number words are crucial to allowing humans to precisely recognize exact quantities greater than three. ​ Piraha lack the clear recognition of 1-to-1 correspondences between equal sets of quantities greater than 3 ​ Piraha lack the successor principle (every number has a successor that is equal to n+1) ​ This is one of the most radical of linguistic relativity effects !!! ​ Despite that Piraha are perfectly adopted to their local ecology. Metaphors and problem solving ​ Boroditsky and Thibodeau (2011) The influence of linguistic metaphors on social problem-solving strategies Task: stories about crime problem, asking participants about potential solutions ​ Results: ​ Different metaphors used, different solution strategies proposed ​ Crime is a beast → enforcement solutions ​ Crime is a virus → reform solutions General conclusions about linguistic relativity Experience for speaking (Levinson 2003): ​ one gains experience with certain ways of thinking, i.e. develops certain mental habits because of the exigencies of one’s native language. ​ There is evidence for structural linguistic relativity. ​ Relativistic effects owe themselves to differences in linguistic practices. ​ Systematic differences in linguistic practice can and do create divergent cognitive habits. Like all habits they may be hard to break. ​ You break your cognitive habits when you learn a new language. To sum up… ​ In the most general sense, humans are the same, i.e. they think and perceive the world in a similar manner. ​ However, there is a large room for variation in our thinking and perception. ​ This variation is due to the influence of culture and language. ​ Thus, we can talk about diversity within universality.