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Defining language
" Language  the central object of study in
linguistics.
" The term covers several different concepts:
Introduction to linguistics
 A specific language, e.g. Russian, Polish, etc.
 Language faculty: the general ability to use
Lecture 1: Language and linguistics
language.
 Primary characteristic that distinguishes humans
from animals.
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Defining language Defining linguistics
" Two definitions important for linguists: " Linguistics  the science that studies language
(i.e. language faculty).
 A human system of communication which uses
structured vocal sounds and can be embodied in
" To do this, linguists distinguished two levels of
other media, e.g. writing, print or physical signs.
language:
 Competence: the abstract mental system of rules,
 A particular instatiation of such a system, e.g.
principles and constraints which are shared by
Polish, Arabic, etc.
speakers.
" All these examples are NATURAL LANGUAGES
 Performance: and the real utterances produced
= mother tongues.
by individual speakers on particular occasions.
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The subfields of linguistics (1) The subfields of linguistics (2)
" Phonetics: deals with the sounds of language. " Semantics: deals with the meanings of words,
sentences and texts.
" Phonology: deals with how the sounds are
organized. " Pragmatics: deals with how sentences and
texts are used in the world (i.e. in context).
" Morphology: deals with how sounds are put
together to form words. " Text linguistics: deals with units larger than
sentences, e.g. paragraphs and texts.
" Syntax: deals with how sentences are formed.
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The subfields of linguistics (3) Act of communication
" It is an instance of linguistic communication:
" Other field that look at language from the
perspective of another discipline:
 the exchange of ideas, information, etc. between
 Sociolinguistics: language in the society. two or more persons.
 Psycholinguistics: psychology of language.
" In an act of communication there are usually:
 Historical linguistics: the history of language.
 at least a speaker (sender),
 Neurolinguistics: language and the brain.
 a message which is transmitted,
 Language pedagogy: teaching.
 and a person or persons for whom this message is
 Computational linguistics: computers and
intended (the receiver).
language.
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Components of an act of
Modes of communication
communication
" Source/sender: the person who initiates the " Verbal communication includes messages
message. sent with words / language.
 spoken or written.
" Message: the information transmitted
 verbal and non-verbal. " Nonverbal communication includes messages
sent through body language:
" Channel: medium through which messages
 posture, gestures, touch, facial expressions, and
reaches the receiver (auditory, visual, etc)
physical appearance.
" Receiver: the person to whom the message is
targeted/addressed.
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Functions of language Functions of language
" The purposes of the language used in human
3. Directive: influencing the behaviour and
communication:
attitudes of others (relates to the receiver):
1. Informative function  conveying information
order, request, demand, warning, advice, etc.
(relates to the meaning of the message):
 e.g. Close the door, will you?
explanation, definition, description
4. Phatic: maintaining social contact rather than
 e.g. My brother is coming today.
exchanging info (relates to the channel of
2. Expressive: conveying the sender's feelings and
attitudes (relates to the sender): positive,
communication),
negative, ironical, sentimental, etc.
 e.g. Are you still there? Nice weather, isn t it?
 e.g. I hate you.
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Functions of language Approaches to language
5. Metalinguistic: communicating facts about " Prescriptive: stating what is considered right
language itself (relates to the code and form and wrong in a language.
of the message),
 Passing judgements, e.g. "Splitting infinitives is
wrong."
 e.g. You said 'nucular' instead of 'nuclear'. What
do you mean when you say& ..?
 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.
 îSome 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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