Contemporary Linguistics

1
Contemporary Linguistics

• Chapter 1
• Intro to Language

2
All humans are specialized for language

• Speech organs
• Mouthteeth, tongue, lips, throatvocal cords,
  lungsbreathing, nasal cavity
• Brain(more later in Ch 14) specialized lobes for
  production and reception of spoken and written
  language
• All human cultures develop spoken language
• UN definition of a human a primate who uses
  language

3
All languages share

• Creativity
• Speakers can use given vocab to say something
  understandable never said before
• In 2nd grade, I married a giraffe.
• Grammar
• All human languages, and all dialects of any
  human language have a grammatical system
• Change over time
• If they are still living languages

4
All grammars are equal linguistically!

• Some grammars are more likely to lead to higher
  paying employment.
• But all grammars are equally good at conveying
  information to those in that dialect group.
• Even dialects used by those who cannot read
  standard English are grammatical in that they
  follow their own rules and structure.

5
All grammars are alike in some ways

• All human languages have more consonant than
  vowel sounds
• All human languages have words for what people do
  (verbs) and for things (nouns)
• Any language with a /f/ also has an /s/
• All languages have the vowel /?/
• Most languages fall into two patterns
• S-V-O as in John ate the burger
• S-O-V as in he his swin heolde (OE) for he his
  pigs held.

6
Subconscious grammar

• It is easier to see this if you have ever tried
  to explain a rule of English to a non-native
  speaker!
• For example, whenever a native speaker of English
  has multiple adjectives, he will put last the
  adjective that is also a noun.
• yellow brick road never brick yellow road
• American English speakers go to school but to
  the hospital, and British English speakers go
  to school and to hospital. They also wait
  on line while we American wait in line.

7
Prescriptive vs. Descriptive

• A prescriptive linguist, or grammarian, or
  dictionary writer PRESCRIBES correct usage for
  others
• Very 18th C!
• A descriptive linguist, grammarian, or dictionary
  writer DESCRIBES what native speakers are
  actually doing to get their meanings across to
  one another
• Very modern!