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Introduction to linguistics

Lecture 1: Language and linguistics

Defining language

• Language

– the central object of study in

linguistics.

• The term covers several different concepts:

– A

specific language

, e.g. Russian, Polish, etc.

– Language faculty

: the general ability to use

language.

– Primary characteristic

that distinguishes humans

from animals.

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Defining language

• Two definitions important for linguists:

– A human system of communication which uses

structured vocal sounds and can be embodied in
other media, e.g. writing, print or physical signs

.

– A particular instatiation of such a system

, e.g.

Polish, Arabic, etc.

• All these examples are

NATURAL LANGUAGES

= mother tongues.

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Defining linguistics

• Linguistics

– the science that studies language

(i.e. language faculty).

• To do this, linguists distinguished two levels of

language:

– Competence

: the abstract mental system of rules,

principles and constraints which are shared by
speakers.

– Performance

: and the real utterances produced

by individual speakers on particular occasions.

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The subfields of linguistics (1)

• Phonetics

: deals with the sounds of language.

• Phonology

: deals with how the sounds are

organized.

• Morphology

: deals with how sounds are put

together to form words.

• Syntax

: deals with how sentences are formed.

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The subfields of linguistics (2)

• Semantics

: deals with the meanings of words,

sentences and texts.

• Pragmatics

: deals with how sentences and

texts are used in the world (i.e. in context).

• Text linguistics

: deals with units larger than

sentences, e.g. paragraphs and texts.

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The subfields of linguistics (3)

• Other field that look at language from the

perspective of another discipline:

– Sociolinguistics

: language in the society.

– Psycholinguistics

: psychology of language.

– Historical linguistics

: the history of language.

– Neurolinguistics

: language and the brain.

– Language pedagogy

: teaching.

– Computational linguistics

: computers and

language.

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Act of communication

• It is an instance of linguistic

communication

:

– the exchange of ideas, information, etc. between

two or more persons.

• In an act of communication there are usually:

– at least a

speaker

(

sender

),

– a

message

which is transmitted,

– and a person or persons for whom this message is

intended (the

receiver

).

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Components of an act of

communication

• Source/sender:

the person who initiates the

message.

• Message:

the information transmitted

– verbal

and

non-verbal

.

• Channel:

medium through which messages

reaches the receiver (

auditory, visual

, etc)

• Receiver:

the person to whom the message is

targeted/addressed.

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Modes of communication

• Verbal communication

includes messages

sent with words / language.

– spoken or written.

• Nonverbal communication

includes messages

sent through body language:

– posture, gestures, touch, facial expressions, and

physical appearance.

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Functions of language

• The purposes of the language used in human

communication:

1. Informative

function – conveying information

(relates to the meaning of the message):
explanation, definition, description

– e.g.

My brother is coming toda

y.

2. Expressive

: conveying the sender's feelings and

attitudes (relates to the sender): positive,
negative, ironical, sentimental, etc.

– e.g

. I hate you

.

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Functions of language

3. Directive

: influencing the behaviour and

attitudes of others (relates to the receiver):
order, request, demand, warning, advice, etc.

– e.g.

Close the door, will you?

4. Phatic

: maintaining social contact rather than

exchanging info (relates to the channel of
communication),

– e.g.

Are you still there? Nice weather, isn’t it?

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Functions of language

5. Metalinguistic:

communicating facts about

language itself (relates to the code and form
of the message),

– e.g.

You said 'nucular' instead of 'nuclear'

.

What

do you mean when you say…..

?

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Approaches to language

• Prescriptive

: stating what is considered right

and wrong in a language.

– Passing judgements, e.g. "Splitting infinitives is

wrong."

– So saying

To boldly go where no one has gone

before

is a bad sentence, because it splits the

infinitive to go.

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Approaches to language

• Descriptive

: this approach consists of describing

the facts, e.g.

– ˮSome people split infinitives, some don’t. Which kind

of people split infinitives? When do they do that?
What can be used to split an infinitive?”

• Descriptive linguistics

aims at

finding

the rules

that govern a particular language.

• Prescriptive linguistics imposes

arbitrary rules,

even if they are not used by the speakers of the
language.

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