Linguistics 270

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Linguistics 270

• Call 04494
• David Laurence

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Syllabus and the first Writing Assignment
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What is Linguistics, anyway?
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Broadly, linguistics is

• The study of the phenomenon of human language.
• What principles underlie all human languages? Can
  these principles tell us anything about the
  workings of the human mind?
• How do different people is different places at
  different times use language differently? What
  can this tell us about human societies and how
  they change?

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Linguistics is not

• A study of how a given language is used
  correctly.
• Barring people with actual brain damage, all
  instances of language use are completely and
  equally regular, logical and rule-governed.
• Thus, from a linguistic standpoint, all languages
  and dialects stand on completely equal footing -
  it is impossible to say that one language or
  dialect is linguistically better than another.
• Whether a given language or dialect is socially
  more appropriate than another in a given
  situation is a different, and very interesting,
  question, however.

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Major Subfields of Linguistics

• -or-
• What do yall, you know, do?

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Anthropological Linguistics

• The study of the interrelationship between
  language and culture
• Does our language influence the way we think, or
  just reflect it?

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Applied Linguistics

• The application of the methods and results of
  linguistics to such areas as
• language teaching
• national language policies
• Lexicography
• translation
• language in politics, advertising, classrooms,
  and courts

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Historical Linguistics

• The study of how languages change through time
  and the relationships among languages

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Morphology

• The study of the ways in which words are
  constructed out of smaller units that have a
  meaning or grammatical function

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Neurolinguistics

• The study of the brain and how it functions in
  the production, perception and acquisition of
  language

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Phonetics

• The study of speech sounds
• How they are produced physically in the vocal
  tract
• Their acoustic properties
• How they are perceived
• Computer speech and speech recognition

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Phonology

• The study of the sound system of language
• How the particular sounds used in each language
  form an integrated system for encoding
  information
• How such systems differ from one language to
  another

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Pragmatics

• The study of how the meaning conveyed by a word
  or sentence depends on aspects of the context in
  which it is used, such as
• Time
• Place
• Social relationship between the speaker and
  hearer
• The speakers assumptions about the hearers
  beliefs and knowledge

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Psycholinguistics

• The study of the interrelationship of language
  and cognition
• Language acquisition

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Semantics

• The study of meaning
• How words and sentences are related to the (real
  or imaginary) objects they refer to and the
  situations they describe

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Sociolinguistics

• The study of the interrelationships of language
  and social structure
• The study of linguistic variation
• The study of attitudes toward language

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Syntax

• The study of the way in which sentences are
  constructed
• How sentences are related to each other

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A Quiz!

• Yay!

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Finally

• Finding contacts before you leave today, get
  e-mail addresses from at least 2 other students.
• We will write a Minute Paper tomorrow, so
  remember to visit the moodle, register, and check
  out the rubric for Minute Papers.