What Is Linguistics?

Linguistics is the study of language. Knowledge of linguistics, however, is different from knowledge of a language. Knowledge of linguistics means knowing and understanding the internal structure of a language without actually speaking it. It is a complex field and includes five principal areas of study:

Phonetics

• is the study of the sounds of language and their physical properties.

• describes how speech sounds are produced by the vocal apparatus (the lungs, vocal cords, tongue, teeth, etc.) and provides a framework for their classification.

Phonology

• Involves analyzing how sounds function in a given language or dialect, e.g. /p/ has two possible sounds in English depending on its position in a word.

• If you place a sheet of paper near your mouth and pronounce the words pin and spin, the paper will vibrate after the /p/ in the first word but not after the same sound in the second word. This puff of air occurs when /p/ is in the initial position of a word in English.

• Phonologists examine such phonetic shifts to construct theories about linguistic sounds in one language that can be used in comparing linguistic systems.

• The analysis of sounds in different languages can be very useful for foreign language teachers.

Morphology

• is the study of the structure of words.• Morphologists study minimal units of meaning,

called morphemes, and investigates the possible combinations of these units in a language to form words. For example, the word “imperfections’ is composed of four morphemes: im + perfect + ion + s. The root, perfect, is transformed from an adjective into a noun by the addition of ion, made negative with im, and pluralized by s.

Syntax

• is the study of the structure of sentences.• describes how words combine into phrases

and clauses and how these combine to form sentences. For example, “I found a coin yesterday” is embedded as a relative clause in the sentence, “The coin that I found yesterday is quite valuable.”

• describes the rules for converting the first sentence into the second.

Semantics • is the study of meaning in language.• The goal of semantic study is to explain how

sentences of language are matched with their proper meanings and placed in certain environments by speakers of the language.

• The importance of meaning is revealed in the following well known example from Chomsky (1957): “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” Though grammatical, this sentence is largely meaningless in ordinary usage.

What Is Language?

• Human use of language seems to be irrepressible: ideas of thought, the mind, and language seem to be inextricably bound up together for humans.

• Animals also have communication systems – where do these leave off and human language begin? Can we find the roots of human language in animal communication?

• Can animals, such as non-human primates, learn to use language, or is language something specific to humans?

• To help delineate what language is, we need to compare human language to other communication systems to see how they are the same, and how they are different.

What is language?

• Some linguists (eg Chomsky, 1957, Macphail, 1982, both cited in Pearce, 1987) have argued that language is a unique human behaviour and that animal communication falls short of human language in a number of important ways.

• Chomsky (1957) claims that humans possess an innate universal grammar that is not possessed by other species. This can be readily demonstrated, he claims, by the universality of language in human society and by the similarity of their grammars. No natural non-human system of communication shares this common grammar.

• Macphail (1982, cited by Pearce, 1987) made the claim that "humans acquire language (and non-humans do not) not because humans are (quantitatively) more intelligent, but because humans possess some species-specific mechanism (or mechanisms) which is a prerequisite of language-acquisition".

Human Language

• E. Sapir (1921) Language is a purely human and non-

instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.

Human Language

• N. Chomsky (1957)Language is a set of infinite

sentences, each finite in length, and constructed out of a finite set of elements. Language has biological foundation.

Various definitions of language

Language is:- a system of arbitrary, vocal symbols which

permit all people in a given culture, or other people who have learned the system of that culture, to communicate or to interact

(Finocchiaro 1964)

a system of communication by sound, operating through the organs of speech and hearing, among members of a given community, and using vocal symbols possessing arbitrary conventional meanings

(Pei 1996) any set or system of linguistic symbols as used in

a more or less uniform fashion by a number of people who are thus enabled to communicate intelligibly with one another

(Random House Dictionary of the English Language 1966)

a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication

(Wardhaugh 1972) any means, vocal or other, of expressing or

communicating feelings or thought … a system of conventionalized signs, especially words, or gestures having fixed meanings

(Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language 1934)

a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings

(Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language 1961)

In composite, language : is systematic and generative. is a set of arbitrary symbols. Those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also

be visual. The symbols have conventionalized meanings to

which they refer. is used for communication. operates in a speech community or culture is essentially human, although possibly not limited

to humans. is acquired by all people in much the same way.

Animal Communication and Language

• How do the forms of communication used by animals differ from human language?

• Can animals be taught to use languages that are analogous to or the same as human language?

Natural Animal Communication

• Animal communication is “the transmission of a signal from one animal to another such that the sender benefits, on average, from the response of the recipient.”

(Slater, 1983; Pearce, 1987).

This loose definition permits the inclusion of many types of behaviour and allows “communication” to be applied to a very large range of animals, including some very simple animals.

Natural animal communication can include:

• Chemical signals (used by some very simple creatures, including protozoa).

• Smell (related to chemical signals, e.g. pheremones attract, skunk secretions repel).

• Touch. • Movement.• Posture (e.g. dogs, geese).• Facial gestures (e.g. dogs snarling).• Visual signals (e.g. feathers).• Sound (e.g. very many vertebrate and invertebrate

calls).

Such signals are designed to:-

• Attract (especially mates).

• Repel (especially competitors or enemies).

• Signal aggression or submission.

• Advertise species.

• Warn of predators.

• Communicate about the environment or the availability of food.

Such signals may be:-

• Instinctive, that is genetically programmed.

• Learnt from others.

Systems of communication are not unique to human beings. Other animal species also communicate in a variety of ways.

Communication can be defined to include both signals and symbols.

Signals are sounds or gestures that have a natural or self-evident meaning [example of someone crying (=emotion), laughing (=emotion), animal cries (=indicating fear, food, or hunt)]. In this regard, we can consider that most animal communication is genetically determined and includes hoots, grunts, or screams that are meant to mean only one thing and are used every time in the same situation.

So there is only one way to express one thing and it never changes.

• Animal communication tends to consist primarily of signals.

• In contrast, human communication is dependent on both signals and symbols.

• Symbols are sounds or gestures that have meaning for a group of people – it is the cultural tradition that gives it meaning (e.g. green light = go).

• Symbols have to be learned and are not instinctive; the meanings are arbitrary.

Conclusion • Language is a system of communication.

• Communication includes both signals and symbols.

• There are various systems of communication

• These systems of communication are not unique to human beings.

• Animals also communicate in a variety of ways.

Animal communication tends to consist primarily of signals.

• In contrast, human communication is dependent on both signals and symbols.

• Signals are sounds or gestures that have a natural or self-evident meaning.

• Symbols are also sounds or gestures that have meaning for a group of people – it is the cultural tradition that gives it meaning.

Thus, as foreign or second language teachers, it is important to know something about this system of communication which we call language.

Your understanding of the components of language will determine to a large extent how you teach a language: whether effectively or uneffectively.

Questions to ponder• What is language?• What are the characteristics of language?• What is natural animal communication?• How do the forms of communication used by

animals differ from human language?• Can animals be taught to use languages that are

analogous to or the same as human language?• Can we find the roots of human language in

animal communication?