Hvad er sprog?

1
Hvad er sprog?

• (det er dælme et godt spørgsmål!)

2
Googl det!

• a systematic means of communicating by the use
  of sounds or conventional symbols
• linguistic process the cognitive processes
  involved in producing and understanding
  linguistic communication "he didn't have the
  language to express his feelings"
• the mental faculty or power of vocal
  communication "language sets homo sapiens apart
  from all other animals"
• terminology a system of words used to name
  things in a particular discipline "the language
  of sociology
• wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

3
What is Language?
Language is the official peer-reviewed journal of
the Linguistic Society of America, published
since 1925. It is published quarterly and
contains articles and reviews on all aspects of
linguistics, focusing on the area of theoretical
linguistics.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language (journal) Languag
e is the debut solo album by New Zealand singer,
Annie Crummer released in 1992.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language (Annie Crummer
album)
4
Klassiske dikotomier

• Sprogsystem - sprogbrug
• Synkroni - diakroni
• Kompetence - performans
• Kategori - variation

5
Hvad gør sprog?

• Kommunikation
• overførelse af information?
• 2. ordens repræsentationssystem (Thrane 2008)
• udførelse af handlinger?
• sproget er en form for social adfærd
• sproget er en form for interaktiv og kognitiv
  praksis (begge Engberg-Pedersen et al. 2005 22,
  142)

6
Hvor er sprog?

• I hovedet?
• Chomsky innateness
• Katz sprog læres
• idiolekt
• I verden?
• Saussure både socialt produkt (parole) og
  socialt accepterede konventioner (langue) (1959
  9)
• sprogning, stil

7
Lingvistikkens objekt I

• From the outset we must put both feet on the
  ground of langue and use langue as the norm of
  all other manifestations of langage.
  Saussure 1959 9 (fra Agha 2007 221)
• Linguistics considers only those vocal features
  which are alike in the two utterances and only
  those stimulus-reaction features his term for
  meaning which are alike in the two utterances.
  Bloomfield 1926 154 (fra Agha 2007 225)

8
Lingvistikkens objekt II
If Saussure metonymically narrows the object of
linguistics from language to langue, Chomsky
narrows it to grammar, and, eventually, even
further, to models of grammar. Agha 2007
226 A question of great contention is whether
the referent of the noun grammar in this
technical sense GG TKC corresponds to any
empirical phenomenon (and, if so, precisely what
aspect of human affairs it illuminates, apart
form the analysts own intuitions)... Agha 2007
226-27
9
Lingvistikkens objekt III
... the impulse to replace the study of language
with the study of a language-fraction ... has
continued to re-direct the energies of
practitioners caught in its grip toward smaller
and smaller fractions of language as ordinarily
understood, and indeed ... toward a fraction of
language so much smaller than language itself as
to make doubtful its own continuing relevance as
an epistemic project. Agha 2007 218-19 (mine
fremhævelser)
10
Aghas favorit
A Boasian linguistics is oriented to all the
aspects of language that Saussure differentiates
by name - what we might, more neutrally, call
language structure, discourse, and
historical languages - but approaches their
systematic study in ways that emphasize their
practical interconnection in moments of empirical
study and their systematic integration in the
task of theory building. Agha 2007 229
11
Lingvistikkens målsætning?

• At undersøge og forklare sprogets struktur i sig
  selv uden henvisning til eksterne forhold (
  autonomitesen fx Torben Thrane 2008)
• At undersøge og forklare sprogets rolle i
  menneskers samliv (fx Asif Agha ... The study of
  any aspect of human affairs can be illuminated by
  the study of language... 2007 219)

12
Og lidt mere at tænke over...

• Mulighedsbetingelser?
• Samtænke system og variation?
• Det hele...

13
Henvisninger

• Agha, Asif (2007) The Object Called Language
  and the Subject of Linguistics. Journal of
  English Linguistics 35. Sage Publications
  (217-235)
• Engberg-Pedersen, Elisabeth et al. (2005) Dansk
  Funktionel Lingvistik En introduktion.
  København KU
• Innateness and Language. Stanford Encyclopedia of
  Philosophy. http//plato.stanford.edu/entries/
  innateness-language/
• Katz, Aya (2008) Language is Learned.
  http//hubpages.xom/hub/Language-is-Learned
• Thrane, Torben (2008) Hvis funktionalisme er
  svaret - hvad er så spørgsmålet? NyS 36