First Face-To-Face Meeting

HANDOUTS

FIRST FACE-TO-FACE MEETING 19 DECEMBER 2010

COURSE INSTRUCTOR: PROF MADYA DR AIN NADZIMAH ABDULLAH DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FACULTY OF MODERN LANGUAGES AND COMMUNICATION UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA 43400 SERDANG SELANGOR EMAIL: [email protected] [email protected]

OFFICE CONTACT: 03 8947 1202

1 | P a g e COURSE

DESCRIPTION

2 | P a g e BBI 3201 / INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL LINGUISTICS

The Course

The course Introduction to General Linguistics aims to provide basic knowledge of the kinds of questions linguists have asked and are asking about language. Providing a broad understanding of human language is of concern, i.e. what language is, what it is used for, and how it works.

The more immediate objectives of the course are to:  lead you to examine your own linguistic beliefs and attitudes  make you aware of both the diversity of language systems and their fundamental similarities  give you a reasonable ‘taste’ of most of the subfields of linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, historical and sociolinguistics  acquaint you with the basic concepts necessary to pursue further linguistic study.

I would like to stress that this course is intended to arouse curiosity about language. The material in lectures and the text has practical applications to the world we live in.

BBI 3201 provides an introduction to the scientific study of human languages, concentrating on the similarity and diversity of the languages of the world. The study of linguistics is divided into several areas. They are the study of  sounds and their patterns (phonetics and phonology)  words (morphology)  sentences (syntax)  how linguistic knowledge is applied in social situations in different cultures (sociolinguistics)  how languages change over time (historical or diachronic linguistics  how people learn languages (language acquisition).

Please take note that the ability to read, comprehend, and discuss issues from the lectures and text are essential. The readings for this course are difficult as the terminology is often technical. As a result, note that the course requires ‘active’ reading. By that, I mean that you must be willing to read everything assigned and, if necessary, ask questions about what you cannot and do not understand. Often, you are also expected to engage in inferential thinking. Many students have found my tests difficult because they never learned to read and question on anything more than the literal level. To get a good grade, you must therefore read and write well – in other words, you will have to think.

The TEXT for the course is

3 | P a g e Fromkin, V., Rodman, R. & Hyams, N. 2011. An Introduction to Language. Boston: Wadsworth. You are responsible for ALL the required readings from the text. Refer to the table below.

READINGS

TOPIC TEXT What is Language? Introduction to Linguistics Chapter 6

Phonetics and Phonology Chapter 4

Morphology Chapter 1

Syntax Chapter 2

Semantics Chapter 3

Language, society and culture Chapter 9

Language history and change Chapter 10

Development of writing Chapter 11

You are reminded to  keep in regular contact with course instructor and not leave problems until they become very difficult to deal with  read very carefully, assessment and evaluation procedures, and deadlines stated in the course outline

4 | P a g e ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION

5 | P a g e Assessment and Evaluation

You are responsible for the following.

ASSIGNMENT (value: 30% of course grade) (Due Week 9) You will be given a written assignment to work on. The questions will be given to you two weeks before the assignment is due.

MID-SEMESTER TEST (value: 30% of course grade) (Time and date will be set by Pusat Program Luar)

A multiple choice quiz comprising 40 questions will be given. You will be tested on the following: What is Language? Introduction to Linguistics Phonetics and Phonology Morphology Syntax

FINAL EXAMINATION (value: 40% of course grade) (Time and date will be set by Pusat Program Luar)

A one and a quarter hour (1¼) final examination will be held during the period scheduled for examinations. The examination will consist of 40 - 60 multiple choice questions. Topics tested during the final examination will cover those we have covered during the second half of the semester. Semantics Language, society and culture Language history and change Development of writing

Academic Honesty

Just so that you and I will have no misunderstandings about the consequences of cheating, I would like to stress academic honesty. I will not hesitate to award a failing grade to anyone whom I catch cheating. I will also give failing marks to anyone who hands in work which is plagiarized.

I am actually quite hesitant to put in this disclaimer because MOST students are honest and would not cheat. But there are always a few who try, for whatever reason and I shall deal severely with them.

6 | P a g e STUDENT

INFORMATION

7 | P a g e BBI 3201 Introduction to General Linguistics

Please provide me with the information below. (e-mail the completed form to [email protected])

Part One

Name: ______

Student number: ______

Address: ______

Telephone number(s): Home ______Mobile: ______Workplace: ______

Email: ______

Part Two

Have you ever taken courses in linguistics? ______

What do you expect to learn from the course BBI 3201 / Introduction to General Linguistics? ______

8 | P a g e Thank you for helping me to get to know you better. I hope we will have a fruitful semester ahead. Ain Nadzimah

9 | P a g e ASSIGNMENT

10 | P a g e ASSIGNMENT

PLEASE USE THIS COVER PAGE WHEN SUBMITTING YOUR ASSIGNMENT.

The objective of this assignment is to see how you are able to use your knowledge, rather than how you have memorized certain facts.

Please use BLOCK letters when filling in the details below.

Name: ______

Student number: ______

Address: ______

______

Telephone Contact: (Home) ______

(Office) ______

(Mobile) ______

E-mail (if any): ______

11 | P a g e INSTRUCTIONS

1. Attempt any TWO of the following questions. 2. Your answer MUST NOT be more than four pages long. 3. This assignment is to be handed in to your respective tutorial centers during WEEK 9. The assignment is to be submitted to the officer-in-charge. 4. You also need to email me a soft copy of the assignment. (Email: [email protected]) 5. Please take note that LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. 6. You are reminded to work on these questions on your own. However, you are at liberty to refer to texts and other relevant material.

QUESTIONS

1. What are some current concerns of scholars regarding language and its use?

2. Define the following: i. base ii. affix iii. prefix iv. suffix v. infix Provide two examples for each of the above.

3. Compare the vocal tract used in producing speech with a wind instrument like the oboe.

4. Define and discuss generative in reference to grammars.

5. Define the following: i. connotation ii. denotation iii. metaphor iv. synonym v. hyponym Provide two examples for each of the above.

6. When there is a choice between linguistic modes, as in telephoning a distant friend or sending a letter, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each mode?

REMEMBER … Whichever question you choose will involve doing some kind of reading and investigation. You have quite a bit of time to work on this assignment since it is due WEEK 9. Do not wait until the night before the due date to begin.

12 | P a g e LECTURE

OUTLINE

13 | P a g e What is linguistics? Branches of linguistics

 What linguistics is not

 Linguistics is not to be identified with four main fields. ( David Crystal, 1985)

 What linguistics is

 Definitions of linguistics

 Who is a linguist?

 ‘Of course I know what language is. I use it all the time.’ What is language?

 ‘Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication’ (Wardhaugh, 1994)

 The importance of understanding language

 The universals of language

 What do you know when you know a language?

 Branches of linguistics

14 | P a g e LECTURE

15 | P a g e WHAT IS LANGUAGE?

WHAT IS LINGUISTICS?

16 | P a g e What is the trait which most decisively distinguishes human beings from all other creatures on the planet ?

 Love ?  Warfare ?  Art and Music ?  Technology ?

 Language is the greatest human possession. It is a very complex phenomenon.

 It is the focal point of everything we do and it distinguishes man from other forms of life on earth.

 We need language to function. Without language our needs and wishes will never get the chance to be expressed.

What is language ?

 Language is a means of communication.  Language is a means of transferring thoughts from one mind to another.  Language is the systematic, conventional use of sounds, signs or written symbols in a human society for communication and self expression. (David Crystal, 1992)

Language provides the means for us to  take our place in society  express our wants  convey information  learn about the people and world around us

In short, language enables us to live effectively, to develop our capabilities, and to satisfy our curiosity about our surroundings.

The Origins of Language

 What is the world’s oldest spoken language?  Have all languages developed from a single source?  What was the language spoken in the Garden of Eden?

For centuries, people have speculated over the origins of human language. The questions above are fascinating and have provoked experiments and discussion whose history dates back 3000 years.

17 | P a g e The Origins of Language

 We have no direct knowledge of the origins and early development of language. We can only speculate, arrive at our own conclusions, and remain dissatisfied.  One group of 19th. century scholars (the Linguistic Society of Paris) took drastic action in 1866. They published an edict banning the discussion of the origin of language at their meetings.

Early ‘Experiments’

 According to the Greek historian, Herodotus, the Egyptian King Psammethichus who reigned during the 7th. century BC wanted to find out which of all the peoples of the world was the most ancient.  His way of determining this was to discover the oldest language which, he thought, would be evidence of the oldest race.  He gave two new-born babies of ordinary men to a shepherd, to nurture among his flocks. He asked that no one should utter any speech to the infants. The infants were to be brought up in solitary isolation, and when it was time to feed them their milk, the shepherds were to bring the goats to them. Psammetichus wanted to discover what tongue the infants would utter first (when they were past meaningless whimperings).

 The Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1194-1250) also carried out an experiment with children.  He used infants too. He asked foster mothers and nurses to suckle, bathe and wash the children, but NOT to speak to them.  He wanted to know whether they would first speak the Hebrew language, Greek, Latin or Arabic, or the language of the parents to whom they were born.

 James IV of Scotland (1473-1513) took a dumb (hearing and speech impaired) young woman and her two children and furnished them with all necessary things pertaining to their nourishment, clothing, fire, candles.  He wanted to know what language the children would speak.  Some say they spoke good Hebrew. However, this is merely hearsay.

18 | P a g e Views on the Origin of Language

 Language originated in a paradise where its pristine form was perfectly logical and grammatical. Language was traced to the Garden of Eden. The first man and first woman spoke the language bestowed on them by their creator.  The ‘bow-wow theory’ suggested that speech arose through people imitating the sounds of the environment, especially animal calls. The evidence seems to be in the use of onomatopoeic words. However, few of these exist in language, and languages vary so much in the way they represent natural sounds, this theory has little support.

Views on the Origin of Language

 The ‘pooh-pooh’ theory suggests that speech arose through people making instinctive sounds, caused by pain, anger, or other emotions.  The ‘ding-dong’ theory suggests that speech arose because people reacted to the stimuli in the world around them, and spontaneously produced sound which in some way reflected the environment. The word mama is supposed to reflect the movement of the lips as the mouth approaches the breast, and bye-bye or ta-ta show the lips and tongue waving good-bye.

Views on the Origin of Language

 The yo-heave-ho theory suggests that speech arose because, as people worked together, their physical efforts produced communal, rhythmical grunts, which in due course developed into chants, and thus language.  The la-la theory suggests that speech arose from the romantic side of life, that is, from sounds associated with love, poetic feeling, perhaps even song. But, the gap between the emotional and the rational aspects of speech would still have to be accounted for.

Why Do Languages Differ From One Another ?

 The Old Testament relates that before the Tower of Babel, all men and women spoke the same language, and could understand one another without difficulty.  Human haughtiness eventually provoked God into punishing people by confounding their language and introducing mutually unintelligible tongues.  Given this story, language differences among people can be seen as a penalty for sinful behavior.

19 | P a g e Why Do Languages Differ From One Another?

 Similarly, Muslims believe that God spoke to Prophet Mohammed in a form of Arabic that was by definition ‘pure’ and ‘perfect’. The Holy Quran is viewed as the exemplar of pure and grammatically perfect Arabic.  The many varieties of present-day Arabic spoke in Africa and the Gulf, and elsewhere, are seen as having risen through the subsequent weakness and culpability of their speakers.

Why Do Languages Differ From One Another?

 Linguists take a different approach. They see the multiplicity of languages as the product of natural historical change.  Languages change as a result of people shaping and reshaping their languages to meet changing social and intellectual needs.  Languages also change as a reflection of contact with people speaking different languages.

Design Features of Language / Fundamental Properties of Language

 Duality of Patterning  Displacement  Open-Endedness  Stimulus-Freedom  Arbitrariness

Duality of Patterning  Every utterance we make consists of speech sounds, one after another.  How many different speech sounds can you produce ?  In fact, every human language operates with only a small set of speech sounds. Take English for example, consider the word cat, how many speech sounds does it contain ? (answer - 3, the k sound, the flat a, and the t sound)  For convenience, let us introduce special symbols for each of the speech sounds - / k /, / æ / and / t /. We use the slashes / / to indicate we are talking about distinctive speech sounds (phonemes).

Duality of Patterning  Now, if someone asks you what the English word / k æ t / means, you will have no trouble in answering. But suppose, someone asks you what the English phoneme / k / means? This time it is impossible for you to answer as the phoneme

20 | P a g e / k/ has no meaning in English ( nor / æ / or / t / ).  But now notice something else. These same meaningless phonemes can be rearranged to produce different words with different meanings. Thus the order /tæk/ produces the word tack, while /ækt/ produces the word act, /æt/ gives at, and /tækt/gives tacked or tact.  What is happening is that, by combining a very small set of meaningless speech sounds in various ways, we can produce a very large number of different meaningful items--words.  All human languages are constructed in this way, and this is called duality of patterning or duality.

Why is duality of patterning significant ?

 Suppose, every individual sound we could produce had its own meaning, then the number of different meanings we could express would be no greater than the number of sounds we could produce.  Since we can’t produce more than a hundred speech sounds due to the restricted capacity of our vocal apparatus, the result would be that a language could contain only about a hundred words. This would be catastrophic. Imagine English consisting no more than a hundred words.

Duality of Patterning

 Duality is unique to human language.  Incidentally !! How many phonemes are there in English? Answer : around 40. Why such a vague answer? Because not all English speakers use exactly the same set of speech sounds. Do you pronounce the words book or buck differently or identically ? People who pronounce them differently have one more vowel than those who pronounce them identically)

Displacement

 Displacement is the use of language to talk about things other than the here and now.  In contrast to animals, humans have a sense of the past and future. We are able to talk about last night’s badminton game, our childhood, or the behavior of dinosaurs which lived over a 100 million years ago. On the other hand, a gorilla, cannot tell his fellows about his parents, his adventures in the jungle, or his experiences of the past.

Displacement

21 | P a g e  Displacement is thus our ability to convey a meaning that transcends the immediately perceptible sphere of space and time.  The use of language to talk about things other than the ‘here and now’ is a characteristic of human language.  Although some animals seem to possess abilities appropriating those of displacement, they lack the freedom to apply this to new contexts. The dance of the honey bee, for instance, indicates the locations of rich deposits of food to other bees. This ability of the bee corresponds to displacement in human language, except for a lack of variation. The bee frequently repeats the same pattern in its dance, whereas humans are able to invent ever new contexts.

Open-Endedness

 Open-endedness is the ability to say things that have never been said before, including the possibility to express invented things or lies.  A large pink spider wearing sunglasses and a polka dot sarong danced across the floor of the Faculty of Modern Language Studies. . It is most unlikely that you have ever seen the sentence above. However, you have no difficulty in understanding it, even though you may not believe it.

Stimulus-Freedom  Stimulus-freedom is the ability to say anything you like in any context.  Stimulus-freedom is another aspect that distinguishes human language from animal communication.  Humans have the ability to say anything they like in any context. This ability is only restricted in certain ceremonial contexts such as church services, etc., where a fixed form is expected to be followed. The possibility to violate this fixed linguistic behavior is then a source of jokes, such as a bride’s ‘NO’.  Non-human animal signals are not stimulus-free, but rather stimulus bound. This means that a non-human animal produces a particular signal only when the appropriate stimulus is present.

Arbitrariness

 Arbitrariness is the absence of any connection between a linguistic form and its meaning.  The overwhelming presence of arbitrariness in language is the chief reason it takes so long to learn the vocabulary of a foreign language. It is generally impossible to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

22 | P a g e Animal Signaling Systems Vs Human Languages

 Lacking duality, displacement, open-endedness, stimulus-freedom, animal signaling systems are most definitely different from human language.  Virtually all ‘utterances’ by non-human animals appear to relate directly, and exclusively, to the time and place of uttering.  Human language is unique on this earth, and without it, we could not count ourselves as human at all.

Language

 Language is many things. It is a system of communication, a medium of thought, a vehicle for literary expression, a social institution, a matter for political controversy, a factor for nation building.  All normal human beings speak at least one language, and it is hard to imagine much significant social or intellectual activity taking place in its absence. The gift of language is the single human trait that marks us all genetically, setting us apart from the rest of life. Lewis Thomas, The Lives of a Cell

The Importance of Understanding Language

An accurate appreciation of language is worth acquiring for several reasons.  Most human knowledge and culture is stored and transmitted in language. Language is everywhere. It permeates our thoughts, mediates our relations with others, and even creeps into our dreams.  Many serious problems in today’s world involve language in an essential way. To what extent are language differences barriers to understanding? Is a universal language feasible or desirable?

The Importance of Understanding Language

 Should writers of dictionaries bow to popular usage?  Language is of central importance because so many of our thoughts assume linguistic form.  Accurate machine translation, if it can be achieved at all, can hardly be programmed without a reasonably sophisticated knowledge of language on the part of the programmer.

In short, language should be understood because it is there.

23 | P a g e The Universal Traits of Language

Characteristics that apply to all known languages, everywhere, at any one time, are called universal traits. The exact number of such traits will vary according to the classifying system used, but here we shall discuss five major ones:

 Language is human  Language is spoken  Language changes  Language is systematic  Language is symbolic

Language is Human  No species beside homo sapiens appear to use the communication system of language in the same way that humans beings do.  Belonging only to human beings, language is therefore species specific.  With some exceptions, there is no instance of a human being not using language.  To be human is, above all, to speak.

Language is Spoken  All languages, whether they are now or were ever written, were and are first spoken.  All adult language users speak more often, and speak more utterances, than they ever write.

Language Changes  All languages change.  Any language is in a constant, slow process of alteration.  Constructions are dropped or added, old patterns combined in new ways, new words coined from old parts.  Languages also show variation over space. At any particular time, many different versions of the same language will be spoken in different regions by different types of people. The variations are collectively known as dialects.

Language is Systematic  Every language in the world regulates itself, fits its units and unit groups together in predictable ways, and produces systematically intelligible sounds and sentences.  No language’s systems are more ‘primitive’ or more ‘advanced’ than any others  All languages are complex but regular at all levels, from sound to sentence.

Language is Symbolic  Words have no inherent, innate, or divinely decreed meanings. Words merely stand for, represent, or symbolize meaning.

24 | P a g e What do you ‘know’ when you ‘know’ a language ?

 Knowing a language differs from using that knowledge. Many people consider ‘knowing’ a language to be the ability to speak that language well.  Linguists look at this ‘knowledge’ as linguistic competence. Your linguistic competence is your (mostly) unconscious knowledge of the rules of language.  This competence differs in significant ways from linguistic performance, which is your actual speech behavior.

What do you ‘know’ when you ‘know’ a language? When you ‘know’ a language, you actually ‘know’  the sound system (phonology)  morphology  syntax  semantics  styles of speech

If I have one OOT and you have two, you have two ______. If I have one WUG and you have two, you have two ______. If I have one TOASH and you have tow, you have two ______.

What is Linguistics?  Linguistics is the scientific study of language.  Linguistics is a word often prone to misinterpretation. ( What are linguistics ? )  Linguistics is the study of human language.

What Linguistics is NOT Linguistics is NOT to be identified with four main fields (David Crystal,1985) :  comparative philology, or philology, or the study of the history of language  the learning of many languages or polyglottism  literary criticism, or other fields involving a scale of values, such as speech training  the traditional study of grammar

Who is a Linguist?  The linguist is one who wants to find out language ‘works’.  The linguist must be as objective as possible.  He must avoid making careless, impressionistic judgments about what he thinks happens in language, and must take into account of the usage of the native speakers of the language he is investigating.  The linguist must be descriptive and NOT prescriptive.

25 | P a g e Major Sub-Disciplines of Linguistics Some major sub-disciplines of linguistics cover a wide range of topics.  anthropological linguistics  applied linguistics  historical linguistics  neurolinguistics  psycholinguistics

Goals of Linguistics To determine how linguistic knowledge  is represented in the mind  is acquired  is perceived and used  relates to other components of cognition

26 | P a g e TUTORIAL

WORKSHEET

27 | P a g e BBI 3201 LECTURE ONE TUTORIAL WORKSHEET

Discuss the following questions.

1. What do the barking of dogs, the meowing of cats and the singing of birds have in common with human language? What are some of the basic differences?

2. In what sense is linguistics a science? Does this imply it is not one of the humanities?

3. What is the difference between the descriptive and the prescriptive (or normative) approach to the investigation of language?

4. In what sense, and to what degree, is written language the same as spoken language? What kinds of information are impossible, or very difficult, to encode in writing, though they are naturally and normally encoded in speech?

28 | P a g e