Introduction:
Syntax: the study of the structure and ordering of the component
within a sentence.
Why we use syntax: to avoid the transfer of the patterns of the
first language. Ex: if you are a
Spanish person and you want to speak English you do not
translate the sentence from Spanish
to English because each language has it own pattern: Estudio
Engles = I study English. v obj s v obj
School of linguistics:
- Traditional grammar (TG) descriptivism. - Historical
linguistics 19th c. - Modern linguistics 20th c: 1. European
structuralism = De Saussure. 2. American structuralism. 3.
Functionalism. 4. Generativism = Chomsky.
Traditional grammar:
The Greek period 5thc
In the Greek period was a debate between two schools of
philosophy: the naturalist and the
conventionalist.
The conventionalist: believed that language was based on social
agreement (arbitrary)
therefore, there were no connection between an object and it
name. Ex: table is known as
table because a group of people were agree that it should be
named as that
The naturalist: as Plato believed that language was the outcome
of nature, it mean that
words imitated the sounds in nature = onomatopoeic words. Ex:
the telephone ring, the word
ring is named as that because of the sounds that make the
telephone when someone is
calling. As if there is something in it that says that it is my
name.
And another debate between two another groups of philosophers,
the analogists: who
believed that language was regular. The anomalists: who believed
that language was
irregular.
Ex: book = books / pen = pens / window = windows regularity in
language. Parenthesis = parentheses / phenomenon = phenomena /
mouse = mice. irregularity in language. English language has both
analogy and anomaly so; language cannot be totally
regular or irregular.
Historical linguistics:
Historical linguistics is the study of changes of language over
time.
Sometimes, we have that language is influenced or reconstructed
by another language and that
is proto-language, like the in the Indo European language.
Historical linguistics has two sub branches: etymology and
comparative linguistics.
Etymology: the study of the origin of words: how, why, when and
in which circumstance the
words enter the language.
Comparative linguistics: also called comparative philology is
the study of the similarities
and differences between languages.
(Philology: the study of the ancient text.)
Why we study comparative linguistics: in order to group the
languages in language families
and language branches. Ex: if two languages are similar = they
came from the same source
(origin) = proto language.
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Proto Indo European family language family
branch branch branch
Spanish French English German Italian French language language
language
Romance branch proto Germanic Latin
When we have the same branch we have proto language
Language branch is called also sub-branch. And there are some of
branches:
Modern liguistics: European structuralism
De Saussure: His thought was: why should we study linguistics
diachronically, why dont we study it synchronically, so he moved
the study of language from diachronic to synchronic
relationships.
Structuralism: Are the dichotomies of the school of Ferdinand De
Saussure.
Dichotomy 1: The signified and the signifier:
For Saussure the main element for the study of language is the
sign.
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sign object= concrete
concept= abstruct
name object/concept
sound letter
combination combination seen imagine
the signifier signified
For example:
Signified
Sign = tree =
Signifier
Dichotomy 2: langue and parole
Langue is the whole system of language that precedes and makes
speech possible. A sign is a
basic unit of langue. Langue is abstract.
Parole is the concrete use of the language. It is the usage of
the system, but not the system.
Dichotomy 3: syntagm and paradigm
In order to produce parole, the speaker goes to:
- Selection: taking place on the paradigmatic axis. -
Combination: taking place on the syntagmatic axis. Example:
They could do it
She can do it
I might do it syntagmatic axis
He would do it
Paradigmatic axis
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object/ concept(meaning)
Tree seen /tri:/ heard (name)
