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    Linguistics 1:Introduction to the Study

    of Language

    Class 1, Week 1S. Shademan

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    Teaching Staff

    Instructor: Shabnam Shademan

    Teaching Assistants: Niki Foster ([email protected])

    Mattyas Huggard ([email protected])

    Michael Lefkowitz ([email protected]) Joe Buffington ([email protected])

    Ryan Sandell ([email protected])

    Lauren Winans ([email protected])

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    Ponderings about Language

    1. Why is it so easy to acquire, speak andunderstand our native language?

    2. How is it that, despite differences in intelligence,culture, and environment, all children aresuccessful at acquiring language?

    3. Although each of us knows a language, what dowe know about Language?

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    Human Linguistic Creativity

    There are important, specificproperties that contribute to the

    vast expressive power of humanlanguage.

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    We are able to memorize thousands ofwords, which are an arbitrary pairing of

    sound and meaning.

    house

    maison

    domcasa

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    We can combine words to form sentencesto communicate infinitely many messages.

    John has a beautifulhouse.

    Thathouse burned in a fire.

    I walked into myhouse and saw the newpuppy.

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    Some questions we will

    address:

    What is Language? What aspects of our linguistic knowledge are

    language specific and what parts are universal?

    What enables us to speak, understand, andmake judgments about our language?

    How do children acquire a language, or morethan one language?

    Is speech necessary to Language?

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    What is Language?

    Language is:

    (a) a cultural artifact

    (b) communication

    (c) thought

    (d) an instinct

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    Language: a Cultural Invention?

    All languages are exquisitely complex instructure.

    ChickasawAkchihilhachoksha

    I am not making you dance yet

    Ak-chi-hilha-ch-ok-sha

    1sg.neg-2sg-dance-make-neg.-yet

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    Southern Paiute

    Words for we:

    tammi you and Itangwa you and I and one other

    nmmwi I and at least one other but notyou

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    But there are Universals too

    All languages have nouns and verbs.

    All languages have a way to indicatewhether an event is completed or not:John is building the house.

    John built the house.

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    More Universal Properties

    All languages are discrete combinatorialsystems, i.e. finite number of symbols(words) combine and permute to form

    larger units (sentences).

    All languages have ways of indicatingnegation, asking a question, indicatingmore than one.

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    More Universal Properties

    All languages have recursive devices, i.e. waysof adding one sentence to another. Coordination

    The war continued and more people died.

    The war continued and more people died and westood by watching.

    Subordination

    No one cares that John is sleeping.

    Nobody knows that no one cares that John issleeping.

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    More Universal Properties All languages share certain constraints, e.g.

    you cannot question one member of acoordination.

    John and Paul sang a song.Who sang a song?

    *Who did John and ___ sing a song?

    (*means the sentence sounds odd or weird, i.e.it violates a rule of the language)

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    Universal Grammar

    These grammatical properties holdregardless of culture.

    Proposal: there is a general blueprint

    that all languages follow.

    Cultures differ a lot. If Language weresimply a cultural invention, we would not

    expect universals.

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    Language as Communication?

    Some elements in language have nocommunicative value.

    Itseems like John is stressed out

    = John seems to be stressed out.

    There is a man on the roof.

    = A man is on the roof.Dude, that was, like, so not, you know,

    whatever.

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    Why cant we ask.

    *Who did John and __ play the guitar?

    While we can ask

    John played the guitar and who else?

    Who did John play the guitar with?

    Language is usedfor communication, but

    it is not onlya communication system

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    Language as thought

    The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide amedium of expression for the worldview and mentalhabits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc [Englishsocialism] but to make all other modes of thought

    impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak hadbeen adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, aheretical thought that is, a thought diverging from theprinciples of Ingsoc should be literally unthinkable, at

    least so far as thought is dependent on words...

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    Newspeak

    A person growing up with Newspeak as his solelanguage would no more know that equalhad oncehad the secondary meaning of politically equal orthat free once had the meaning intellectually free

    than, for instance, a person who had never heard ofchess would be aware of the secondary meaningsattaching to queenand rook. There would be manycrimes and errors that would be beyond his power to

    commit, simply because they were nameless andtherefore unimaginable.

    George Orwell 1949, Appendix to 1984

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    Does language control thought?Sexist language

    Everybody must hand in his h.w. on time.

    Chairman, fireman,

    Change our language, change ourthoughts?

    Everybody must hand in theirhw on time.

    Chairperson, chair, firefighter

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    Linguistic Determinism

    (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis)

    Peoples thoughts are determined by the

    categories made available by their

    language.

    Yesterday I cookedlamb. Tomorrow Iwill

    cook ham.

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    Linguistic Relativity (weaker

    version)

    Differences among languages causedifferences in the way their speakers think.

    The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax(Prof. Geoff Pullum, UC Santa Cruz)

    Snow, sleet, slouch, blizzard, avalanche,hail, hardpack, powder, flurry, dusting

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    If linguistic determinism were

    right: How could a child ever learn any word?

    How could a L2 learner learn a word thatdoes not have an equivalent in his L1?

    How could we ever translate from onelanguage to another?

    How could we ever coin a new word, useslang, etc.?

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    If language were thought:

    Expressions like the following would have nomeaning:

    I meant to say

    I didnt mean to sayI cant quite express what I mean...

    The gist of this lecture is

    Our thoughts are different from the language

    we use to express them.

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    What language is, and is not Language is not thought, though it is used to express

    and influence our thoughts.

    Language is not a cultural invention, though it isculturally transmitted and an important vehicle fortransmitting culture.

    Language is not communication, though we use

    language to communicate.

    Language is a biologically determined cognitive ability an instinct part of human genetic make-up.

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    Language as an Instinct

    Language develops spontaneously in the childwithout instruction or conscious effort.

    Language unfolds in all children in essentiallythe same way and at the same time, regardlessof parentage or culture.

    Humans acquire and use language with easebecause our brains are designed to do so.

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    Language is an Instinct All languages conform to certain rules or patterns:

    grammars

    Some rules are specific to a particular language orlanguages.

    Some rules are the same across all languages:Universal Grammar

    The universals reveal to us the essential character ofhuman language.

    The study of language provides a window to the mind.

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    Do you think in French?